2500 1day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

2500 1day - Essay Example Some environmental management plans of the University include biodiversity management plan, carbon management plan, energy efficiency management plan and environmental sustainability policy. The University has joined the EcoCampus scheme that is aligned with ISO 14001 which is an international environmental management standard. The University building policy is based on preventing overheating of the building, ensuring utilization of natural ventilation and light, minimizing heat loss and equipping the buildings with energy efficient equipment. Generally, all the contractors must supply the university with a company environmental policy in order to show evidence on the ability to ensure the buildings meet the expected environmental building standards. The environmental sustainability plan aims at minimizing the impact of the University activities on the environment and ensuring that green IT systems are functional within all the campuses. The plan also ensures the carbon emissions are monitored and calculated according to the amount of energy utilized and all targets are achieved within the stipulated time period. The environmental sustainability is also geared at minimizing harmful chemical disposal, excessive carbon emissions, water wastage and improving the wellbeing of the stakeholders. The environmental management and sustainability system of Edinburgh Napier University includes environmental, economic, ethical and social factors (Edinburgh Napier University, 2013). The university is committed to entrenching the principles of sustainability in the planning and operations processes throughout all the activities of the organisation. The University has supported the carbon management programme. The current environmental sustainability plan promotes sustainability in all teaching and research activities in the University. The University has partnered with other stakeholders in encouraging the awareness of sustainability approaches and encourages the

Sociology (Social Movements) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sociology (Social Movements) - Essay Example As a strategy for the clarification of the aforementioned, the differences between past and present social movements shall be elucidated with particular focus upon identity movements within the context of the information age. An example which exposes the difference between past and present social movements is the feminist movement. As Melucci explains, the feminist movement was traditionally focused upon equality, as in the attainment of legal and social recognition of gender equality. While the present feminist movement shares much in common with its predecessor, the fact is that they are distinct in one key aspect. Notably, earlier feminist movements demanded equality while the present one calls for equality with a recognition of differentiation. The current feminist movement is new in the sense that it no longer aspires towards equality and same-ness but equality within the parameters of individuation and individuality. The message of the movement is not that the genders are equal but that women are equal to men and reserve both their collective right to maintain their distinctness as females and their individual right to forge their unique identity, define themselves and shape their bodies. Proceeding from the above, it is evident that Melucci partly defines current social movements as new, even if they have their roots in the past, because of the very nature and content of their public message. While the group message, in the present as in the past, is there, it is bound with an individual message which effectively states that, apart from the group identity, there is an individual identity which shall not be subsumed by group affiliation, ideology or culture. Individuation and the right to maintain unique individuality are, therefore, the key distinctions. The determination to maintain individuality, concomitant with the individuation process, invariably leads to conflict. Culture and ideology impose not just behavioral rules upon people but effectively shape their worldview, culminating in the forging of a common, a shared, identity. Within the context of this process, individuality is largely suppressed and the real self is rarely allowed expression. Insofar as contemporary social movements are distinguished by their fortification of the right to individuality and are supportive of the individuation process, conflicts are bound to arise. These conflicts are, as Melucci explains, carried out in the public sphere by a multitude of individuals acting as public, and individual, actors. The conflict here is between the established order, with its determination to impose particularistic definitions of individuality upon people and the determination of individuals to articulate the parameters of their on individuality and to give expression to their real but, previously, silenced, selves. From this perspective, one may even assert that the newness of contemporary social movements also emanates from the newness of the conflicts which they have generated. To a large degree, the identified area of newness has been largely instigated by the very nature of the contemporary information age. Given the proliferation of information channels and the ever-expanding capacities for individual communication on the