Assignment is to read the 22 page IPCC AR4 summary for policymakers Essay

Assignment is to read the 22 page IPCC AR4 summary for policymakers (SPM) (Introduction plus 5 sections) and write a concise summary of it - Essay Example shift in animal and plant ranges together with the earlier timing of various spring events has been linked to warming in the terrestrial ecosystems while changes in ice, frozen ground and snow have resulted in a general increase in both the total number and size of glacial lakes (Ipcc, 2007). It has been shown that the energy balance of the world’s climate system has been altered by changes in the atmospheric concentration of aerosols and various green house gases, solar radiation and total land cover. During the period ranging between 1970 and 2004, Carbon dioxide emissions have been shown to have grown by about 80%. The atmospheric concentration methane and carbon dioxide have exceeded the pre industrial levels recorded from ice cores over the last 650,000 years. This has mainly been attributed to the use of various agricultural products and fossil fuels (Ipcc, 2007). If the Emission of GHG continues at the current rate, this will potentially cause changes in the planet’s global climate system to be larger in the 21st century than those previously observed in the 20th century. Warming is expected to reduce the ocean and terrestrial uptake of CO2 resulting in an increase in the ocean’s acidity with an expected average decrease of its PH by about 0.1 units (Ipcc, 2007). The Greenland ice sheet is expected to continue contracting, a factor that is expected to continue playing a vital contribution to the increasing rise in sea levels after 2100, with various models suggesting the eventual virtual complete elimination of the ice sheet after a millennia. There are several adaptation and mitigation options available touching on various aspects. These include expanding water storage, harvesting and conservation techniques, the adjustment of agricultural product varieties and planting dates, reduction of the world’s dependency on a mostly single source of energy and opting for green energy, creation of storm surge barriers and sea walls to help create a

Leading and managing Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Leading and managing Change - Essay Example Throughout the history, leadership remains an important point for interest for the social scientists, theorists and experts (Boal and Hooijberg, 2000, p515). The leadership theories and philosophies evolved from the beginning of the twentieth century and up to present day the experts have identifies several important characteristics that are supposed to be essential parts of the leaders’ personalities. The organizations usually encounter wide range of changes in their operations either in form of change in working structure or induction of new technology within the business and it is their core responsibility to create readiness for change in the organization (Boeker, 1992, p400). Changes are inevitable for the organizations in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive business environment. However, only well planned and well manages changes could provide desired benefits to the firms by fostering efficiency, productivity and performance of the organization. In ca se of implementing any type of change the organizations have to encounter resistance from the employees due to the threats they foresee in case of change implementation. Their resistance strongly affect the organizational readiness for change implementation hence the leadership has to strategically work for retaining the employees’ trust and confidence upon the organization so that they can take the change positive and beneficial for them (Singh et al, 1986, p611). The success of change implementation depends upon number of critically important factors. Among these factors the readiness for change in an important one that any organization could not afford to ignore while planning a change. The readiness for change is reflected through the beliefs of the members of the organization, their attitude and intention for making the change successful. The members either respond favourable towards the change by supporting it or they respond elsewise by resisting the change and change effort. In such case, the leadership has to perform key role in changing the members' perceptions so that they can develop favourable response and belief towards the change and could support it rather resisting against the change. The essay discusses the leadership theories in the context of change management and discusses how different leadership attributes and qualities help in managing change and preparing readiness in the organization for change. The essay discusses the importance of organizations’ readiness for change and analyses the role of leadership in creating readiness in the organization for change by all the stakeholders the continuation or positive change in the vision and working patterns of the firms. In this regard, the paper reviews the literature exist around the topic and strives to explore the issue with the help of the reference of the relevant literature. Readiness for Change The management of change management is very crucial and challenging activity a nd important concept within the discipline of management that basically refers to the implementation of change in controlled method using predefined framework. There are certain important principles that are supposed to be followed for successful change management. It is important to get the support from the environment and system to make change successfully implemented in to the organization. The importance of leadership in the context of change management has been recognized and explained by the theorists from time to time and it has been widely accepted