Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in action Article

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in action - Article Example Kellogg has had a rich history of corporate social responsibility which is designed to address the challenges posed by the dynamic external environment. The company has been involved in a wide range of activities and initiatives which are aimed at enhancing the quality of life both within and beyond the organization. In terms of activities internal to the organization, Kellogg encourages employee volunteerism, promotes diversity at work place and ensures a healthy and safe workplace. It ensures provision and sale of nutritious product in a bid to promote healthy living for all its customers. As a part of its CSR initiatives Kellogg contributes to various institutions which promote healthy living and food consumption among its customers. This includes contribution of funds to YMCAs Activate America campaign, Action for Healthy Kids initiative which is involved in reducing obesity among kids; the Kelloggs Swim Active program which provides swimming facilities to youngsters in the UK, as part of its mission to promote healthy lifestyles; the Global FoodBanking Network which is actively involved in providing hunger-relief to various countries across the world etc., among many others. The motto of the company indicates a strong social commitment as an inherent aspect of its trade, a tradition which the management has followed since over a hundred years. Its dedicated efforts to ensure a safe and healthy environment for its workforce, promotion of equality and diversity at workplace, a dedicated commitment to conserve and protect natural resources for promoting sustainable growth; and a broad social goal of ensuring well being of the community at large, as a part of its corporate social responsibility strategy, helped the company gain widespread acclaim and support. It helped the company in creating a positive reputation in the market, and in generating goodwill among its investors. The company

Impact of mass communications and mass media within modern culture

Impact of mass communications and mass media within modern culture The culture is very diverse. It is quite evident that due to the dramatic development of mass communications and mass media the modern culture impacts on many national cultures around the world. Every society is a legacy of the institutes. These institutes are kind of a collection of habits and customs. Without culture, the real freedom is impossible. Many researchers are certain that modern challenges require a resolute approach to the problems, and that chief problems appear in the area of culture and their solution is in the development of culture. All nations that are cultured in a traditional sense have their folklore, their own cultural identity elaborated by many generations. Thor Hansen claimed: Culture is something that evolves out of the simple, enduring elements of everyday life; elements most truthfully expressed in the folk arts and crafts of a nation. We make history; but we are also made by our history. Individuals and societies constantly move in history and use it as a reservoir of experience, allegiance and ideals that craft identities and outlooks. The patina of history ages the present. But more important: when today is steeped in a vision of the past it becomes a means to envision and shapes a trajectory into the future. History is never a dead letter, even if we fail to learn its lessons, or refuse anything except reliving its mistakes. (Sardar, 2002, p.11) Tradition, heritage, modernism all contested terms. But no less contested are the very words art and history, the one leading away from, the other towards, a time-based judgement of the ethical outcomes of creative practice. But it is precisely when the terms are held in dialectical conflict that they function together to produce illuminations not just of the past, not just of the present, but of the processes of change in which we all humanity now alive must take our places. (Sardar, 2002, p.14) The aim of the present work is to found such phenomena as modernism, postmodernism and contemporary art as cultural reference points. In connection with this aim, the following tasks can be set: to look at the history of these movements; to relate the art movements under concern with social developments. Cultural situation of the end of XIX first half of XX centuries developed under the sign of modernism. Fauvism, impressionism, cubism, futurism, abstractionism, Dadaism, surrealism are not nearly the full list of modernistic art movements. Modern (fr. Moderne means newest, modern, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil) European and American art style of the end of XIX early XX centuries. Modernism is variously argued to be a period, style, genre or combination of the above; but it is first of all word, one that exists, alongside cognate words. Its stem, modern-, is a term that, from the latin modo, means current, and so has a far wider currency and range of meanings than modernism. (Childs, 2008, p. 12-13) The new style spread all over Europe and first influenced architecture and decorative art. Modern representatives used new technical and structural facilities, open-plans, unique architectural decor in order to create extraordinary, deeply individualized buildings. Plastic and fluent lines, floral patterns are typical for modern. Modern architecture,  new architectural style that emerged in many Western countries in the decade after World War I. It was based on the rational use of modern materials, the  principles  of functionalist planning, and the rejection of historical precedent and ornament. This style has been generally designated as modern, although the labels International style,  Neue Sachlichkeit,  and functionalism have also been used. (Answers.com) Speaking about modern in the broad sense the term avant-gardism may also be used. In other words the art movements mentioned above can be named either modernist or avant-garde ones. Avant-Garde the term was first applied to artists in the nineteenth century to indicate those whose work seemed to be at the forefront of new developments in art as opposed to artists who hitched their artistic fortunes to Academic conformity and as such its linguistic fortunes have paralleled Modernism (although theorists such as Peter Burger prefer to see the two as separate). Some critics have argued that with the demise of Modernism and the inception of Post Modernism, avant-gardes too have disappeared. (Investigating Modern Art, 1996, p. 173) Considering the above mentioned material we can state that avant-gardism is connected with the retreat of culture from realism and declaration of art independence from reality. Creation of new and unique style and language in art. Let us go into particulars of art movements of modernism. Impressionists were against conventionalities of classicism, romanticism and academism, they insisted on the beauty of day-to-day life, simple democratic motives, strove for true-to-life honesty of picture, tried to catch the impression got from what an eye sees at the particular moment. The landscape is considered the most typical theme of impressionists. (Britt, 1990, p. 11) Cubism signified total rupture of connection with real image of the nature, which had been predominating in European painting since Renaissance. The aim of Picasso and Braque was to construct three-dimension form on the plane, its partitioning into geometric elements. Both painters were inclined to simple tangible forms, uncomplicated themes, what was especially typical of early cubism. (Britt, 1990, p. 159-161) Dadaists didnt develop their own original style. They lurched from one extreme to another, tried by any means (including provocative behavior) to shock self-complacent middlebrow. Cross-cutting, collage and ready-made (ordinary items presented as a work of art) were favorite Dadaism genres. Dadaism became popular very fast (especially in New York, where Marcel Duchamp was its leader), but the formed movement existed for a small period of time only. (Britt, 1990, p.203-210) It influenced much to other movements, in particular to surrealism (in its devotion to absurd and fantastic), abstract expressionism and conceptual art. Freuds theory of the unconscious and his method of free associations as a way to pass from consciousness to the unconscious are the source of Surrealism. However, the forms of these ideas expression were quite different among surrealists. For instance, Dali drew his illogical paintings, resembling nightmares, with religious exactitude, likelihood enhancing impression of hallucination or delusion. Mark Ernst, in his turn, worked out his paintings nearly automatically, turned off his mentality, preferring arbitrary characters, which often transferred into abstraction. Though Joan Miro is distinguished from other surrealistic painters by variety and cheerfulness of paintings. (Britt, 1990, p. 226-245) If we aggregate all historic facts and description of modernism in art, it is possible to assert that the feature of this movement is harmonious combination of very different things, and it constitutes its attractiveness and uniqueness. The age of modernism needed painters with universal talents. Postmodernism literally means something after modernism, or the contemporary times. The genealogy of the term postmodernism dates back to 1917. It was first used by the German philosopher Rudolf Pannwitz in his work Crisis of European Culture. He was talking about a new person, called to overcome the decline. It was just a paraphrase of the Nietzsches idea of a superman. (Cahoone, 2003, p.2) If we disregard further uses of the term, the next stage, leading directly to modern disputes, was a literary discussion of the sixties in the USA. (Ward, 1997, p. 8-9) Initially, postmodernism denoted the crisis of avant-garde literature in it. However, later the term acquired a positive meaning denoting hopes to overcome the crisis, in particular, the gap between elite and mass culture. This term is used more and more often to characterize innovations in literature and art, and also transformations in the social and economic, technological and social and political sphere. (Ward, 1997, p. 4-7) Postmodernism receives the status of a notion in 80s first of all thanks to the works of Lyotard who spread the discussion of postmodernism to the sphere of philosophy. (Ward, 1997, p. 169-170) In the culture of postmodernism there is a trend called neo-expressionism. This is a trend in the art of certain artists in the USA and Europe, especially Germany, which appeared at the end of 1970s. The artists turned again to the expressive means of Expressionism, every time creating a very individual style, often charged with aggression and nervous twist. (Heartney, 2001, p. 13-18) In the postmodernism epoch there were such interesting terms as postmodernist feminism. From the mid 80s, the increasing number of feminists who studied the implications of postmodernism for the benefit of feminism discussed the problem of their common foundation and even described their own theories as postmodernist ones. According to Linda Nicholson, if feminism continues this movement towards a more historical, non-universal, non-essentialist theory, the one that acknowledges differences between women, then feminism will become postmodernism in its essence. However, this movement also means that feminism should reject universal statements concerning the gender, patriarchate and concerning women or a woman. For many feminists it means rejecting too much. (Heartney, 2001, p. 51-54) In the seventies, new trends appeared in the architecture. There is even an exact date July 15, 1972. On this day a block of new comfortable houses was blown up in the city of Saint Louis. (Introducing Postmodernism, 2004, p. 115) I think that postmodernism serves as assimilation of the experience of artistic avant-garde. However, unlike avant-garde, postmodernism fully erases the border between formerly independent spheres of spiritual culture and levels of consciousness between scientific and ordinary consciousness, high art and kitsch. The postmodernist attitude to culture appears as a result of violating the purity of such a phenomenon as art. Postmodernism consciously moves away from creating original works to collage. And the strategy of postmodernism does not consist in assertion of destruction versus creation.

Prostitution Should be Legalized :: Argumentative Persuasive Prostitutes Essays

Prostitution Should be Legalized Prostitution is known as the oldest profession in the world, however, many states in the U.S. outlaw it. The textbook definition of prostitution is the "act or practice of engaging in sexual acts for money" ("Prostitution," Macmillan 805). Nevada is the first in the United States to legalize prostitution. Although the long term effects of legalized prostitution is uncertain, the short term effects have been economically beneficial. Prostitution should be legalized because not only could it financially benefit the country, but it could also reduce crime. There are many reasons why prostitution is illegal in 49 U.S. states today. First, and foremost, many people feel that prostitution should stay illegal in order to preserve morality. Parents do not want their children to grow up thinking that prostitution is acceptable. Worse yet, parents do not want to hear their children say, "When I grow up, I want to be a prostitute." Christianity also looks down upon prostitution because according to their beliefs, the act of sex is only to be done when a man and a women are in love and married. Monogamy is to be practiced in the marriage, and any violation of this is considered a sin. Another reason why the preservation of morality is so important is that people's morals shape the future of a nation. Many people feel that if prostitution is legalized, then its long term effects would be detrimental to the United States. The divorce rate in the United States peaked at an all time high in 1980 ("Marriage" 56). By the legalization of prostitution, this would allow room for husbands and wives to commit adultery. Thus, leading the marriage to a divorce. "The divorce rate has really increased over the centuries. In the U.S. today, the divorce rate is fifty percent of the U.S." (Holland 86). Second, prostitution is a great health risk to the U.S. because of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A major concern about STDs is the spread of AIDS, which is currently a deadly STD because a cure has not been found for the disease. The transmission of STDs is already on the rise due to many uneducated teenagers having unprotected sex. In addition, most of theses teens are not going to a physician to be screened for STDs. Because of this, many curable STDs are going untreated and being spread throughout a community.

Figures in literature Essay

â€Å"As figures in literature, the women portrayed in these stories are either worshipped of they are victims; they are rarely just allowed to be themselves†. Women of the nineteenth century were generally regarded as being inferior to men and were treated with little respect. At the beginning of the century, women enjoyed few of the legal, social or political rights that are now taken for granted in western countries. This meant that they could not vote, could not sue or be sued, could not testify in court, were rarely granted legal custody of their children in cases of divorce, were barred from institutions of higher education and had extremely limited control over personal property after marriage. Women were expected to remain subservient to their fathers and husbands. Their occupational choices were also extremely limited. Middle and upper class women generally remained at home, caring for their children and running the household while lower-class women often were domestic servants or labourers. Many women had to fight the battle of conforming to society’s views against their own freedom and independence, an idea which â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, â€Å"The Woman’s Rose† and â€Å"26 Men and a Girl† discuss and explore. Therefore women often could not be themselves. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† shows the narrator’s struggle to deal with both mental and physical confinement. The narrator is mentally trapped by the views of society and her husband, John. She is not allowed to be herself so she confides in â€Å"dead paper†. This allows the reader to see who she is – a strong-minded and independent woman, shown by the repetition of â€Å"personally†. Physically the narrator is trapped by the room which she is staying in, â€Å"for the windows are barred†. These barred windows can symbolise entrapment or a prison cell. From the beginning of the text the story is very personal as it is written in the first person. The narrator is very interesting as she writes using many one sentence paragraphs, making the story seem very realistic, â€Å"Still I proudly declare that there is something queer about it. † The realism comes from the narrator’s style of writing – continuous streams of thought which could also suggest her state of mind. In the story the narrator shows us that she does not get anything she wants, â€Å"John has complete control†. John controls every aspect of the narrator’s life, even her thoughts. This becomes clear when she is writing, but then stops and contradicts herself. The narrator finds herself stopping her line of thought for fear of what John would say, â€Å"I know John would think it absurd. † Everything in and around the house is separated and divided, boxed in, and locked like a prison, much as she is held captive in her own room, â€Å"there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people†¦ I never saw such a garden – large and shady, full of box-bordered paths,† In fact, the house itself seems designed for men. Larger-than-life mansions were typically symbols of masculine aggression and competitiveness, while it’s being a â€Å"hereditary estate† reminds us it was probably passed down to men in the family. It is immediately apparent in the story that the narrator is treated as being inferior to many men, particularly her husband John. Being a physician, he has made a ‘schedule’ for her. She is told to stay in bed, suppress her imagination, and most importantly to discontinue her writing, even though it makes her feels better, but she does not say a word. Her schedule also makes her unable to show her true personality. The readers are the only ones who really know what the narrator is like, â€Å"Personally I disagree with their ideas,† she writes, â€Å"Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. † From this repetition of â€Å"personally† we can assume that the narrator is very independent. This statement, â€Å"What is one to do? † implies a lack of self-confidence and a feeling of inferiority. She speaks as though her opinions do not count in any way. However, she is very accepting of this, which was often the general feeling of women at the time. The narrator belittles herself several more times throughout the story â€Å"I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already†. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is driven by the narrator’s enthusiasm to interpret the wallpaper and realise that it symbolizes something that affects her directly. The wallpaper develops its symbolism throughout the story. At first it seems merely unpleasant; it is ripped and an â€Å"unclean yellow. † The worst part of it is the formless pattern, which fascinates the narrator as she attempts to figure out how it is organized. After staring at the paper for hours, she sees a ghostly sub-pattern behind the main pattern visible only in a certain light. She then sees a woman, which could be a sign that her mental state is deteriorating, or it could be a projection of the narrator onto the wallpaper. This woman puts an element of mystery and excitement in the narrator’s life and it gives her something to think about other than her own health. The desperate woman is constantly crawling and stooping, looking for an escape from behind the main pattern, which has come to resemble bars of a cage. The bars of the cage can symbolise the barred windows in the narrator’s room which in turn symbolise jail. The wallpaper can also represent society’s view in which the narrator finds herself to be trapped by. When the narrator finally identifies herself with the woman trapped in the wallpaper, she is able to see that other women are forced to creep and hide behind the domestic patterns of their lives, and that she herself is the one in need of rescue. The horror of this story is that the narrator must lose herself to understand herself. She has untangled the pattern of her life, but she has torn herself apart by getting free of it. An odd detail at the end of the story reveals how much the narrator has sacrificed. Now she is horribly â€Å"free† of the constraints of her marriage, her society, and her own efforts to repress her mind. The narrator has no name which could show the lack of identity and recognition women were used to in the nineteenth century. However, the fact that the narrator has no name could mean that Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted the narrator to symbolise all women at that time. The narrator seems to have a lack of self esteem and is unsure about her thoughts and what she wants to say. This can be seen when she breaks up her sentences using hyphens, â€Å"I wonder – I begin to think – oh I wish John would take me away from here! † The narrator is free of her constraints of her marriage as she has detached herself from her husband, John. While she would usually call him â€Å"John† or â€Å"my husband† she now refers to him as â€Å"that man†, which can underline the fact that her strength as a woman and also her strength as a character has increased. The end of the story shows a switch in power between the narrator and John. At the beginning John had all the power, however at the end the narrator has power over him. We can see this when John comes into the locked room and faints in her path, â€Å"now why should that man have fainted? â€Å", [†¦ ] â€Å"I had to creep over him every time† which can also suggest the fact that women can gain temporary control over men, but they will never seem to be free of them. At the end of the story the narrator believes she has won, â€Å"I’ve got out at last† by setting the woman free from behind the main pattern of the wallpaper. By setting the woman free from behind the wallpaper it can also suggest to the narrator is being set free as well. The narrator made a huge sacrifice in escaping and as a result, at the end of the story, we see that she has lost her narrative; her writing has become less fluent and fragmented, with no structured pattern. This can be seen on the last two pages with the extensive use of exclamation marks. There would be many social consequences of the narrator’s actions. By setting free the woman, it implies that the narrator and the woman are very much the same, as they are both trapped; the yellow wallpaper is trapping the woman, but the barred windows and society are trapping the narrator.

Nutrition and Diet Therapy Essay

As one can see from this table, my calorie consumption was consistently under or at the maximum limit that Supertracker set for me. Compared to the first food journal and diet analysis that I completed this is a drastic  change for the better. I followed my own recommendation to decrease my daily caloric intake from the first diet analysis. As you may recall from my first diet analysis, I exceeded my total calories limit for each of the five days; one day I consumed over 2500 calories. I was proud to see that I was capable of making such a healthy change by using a little self-control. c) According to the â€Å"five-hundred rule†, in order to lose or gain one pound of body fat per week, one must have a difference of 500 kcalories either way (500 more to gain, 500 less to lose) than the body uses per day for 7 days. This adds up to a difference of 3500 kcalories in order to lose a pound (Lutz & Przytulski, 2011). For day one, I consumed 561 kcalories less than my limit of 180 0 kcal. On day two, I ate 789 kcal less than my limit and burned 822 kcal by biking. On day three, again I ate 565 kcal less than my limit and burned 822 kcal by biking. I ate 480 kcal less than my body used on day four. However, day five consisted of almost the full 1800 kcal (1795 exactly) consumed and expended. For the whole week, this adds up to a difference of 4,044 kcal. In other words, I lost a little over a pound during the week of 10/7-10/11 because I ate 2400 kcal less than my body used and burned 1644 kcal by means of physical activity. As you may recall, I did not engage in any physical activity during the first diet analysis, so doing so played a large role in my success. d)  (United States Department of Agriculture). In comparing the meal summary reports from diet analysis one to diet analysis two, I see that I ate less overall during the time period for diet analysis two. For a couple of the days, I didn’t eat very much for dinner and for almost all for the days, I decreased my portion sizes. For example, on 10/10, I only ate one slice of French toast for breakfast. Before I completed my first diet analysis and recommendations, I might have eaten two or three slices at a time. Also, I ate less fast food during the second diet analysis compared to the first; this fulfills another recommendation (decrease fast food intake). Likewise, I can see in this meal summary that I made the effort to eat fruits and vegetables—another recommendation fulfilled. e) I did indeed change my physical activity for this diet analysis. I rode my bike two nights out of the five for an hour each time. This is an improvement compared to my complete lack of physical activity  during the first diet analysis. I think I made the change because of how awful it looked on paper to not have exercised at all for almost a full week. Additionally, it felt good to be doing something healthy for my body and I’m glad I made the effort. f) The three foods highest in kcalories are listed in the table below: Food Number of kcal Macaroni and cheese 672 Chili with beef, beans, and cheese 635 Chicken pot pie 486 From the first diet analysis, the following were the foods highest in kcal and their number of kcal: Food Number of kcal Double cheeseburger 748 Burrito 628 Potato salad 525 Comparing the two, I see that my food with the highest number of calories for diet analysis two was lower than the food with the highest number of calories from diet analysis one. In other words, I improved in that the foods that I consumed for diet analysis two were not quite as high in caloric count. g) I could still use some tips and guidance as to how to reduce the number of calories that I consume in order to continue to meet caloric recommendations. So, upon researching the topic, I found that according to an article by Harms et al. (2012), there are two simple ways of reducing the number of calories in one’s diet. First, eliminating food items that are high in calories and replacing them with food items that are low in  calories can make a big difference in one’s total calorie count. For instance, I could eliminate about 136 calories for every time that I replace a can of Coke for a bottle of sparkling water. This concept and recommendation is more appealing to me and has a better chance of success than my earlier recommendation from diet analysis one of simply eliminating Coke. Another example of an exchange that I could make is switching from 2% milk to skim milk in order to cut the calories in half while still receiving the beneficial nutrients of milk like calcium and vitamin D (Harms, R. W. et al. 2012). The second way that I could reduce my total calorie count is by reducing the sizes of the portions of food that I am consuming. In the article by Harms et al. (2012), there is a good reminder that as the serving size is increased, the total number of calories increases; so, if I eat double or triple the serving size, I am also eating double or triple the total calories. As I stand right now, I do not read food labels. However, if I would read the food labels of the foods that I eat in order to discover the true serving size and calorie count, I am sure that I would be enlightened. An example of a reduced serving size for me could be eating a 4 inch pancake instead of a 6 inch pancake, eliminating more than half of the calories consumed (Harms, R. W. et al. 2012). Reducing portion sizes was also a recommendation from my first diet analysis, yet I did not know the impact it could have on my calorie count. Another step I can take in reducing the total number of calories that I am consuming is by not skipping meals. As I look at my first diet analysis as well as my second one, I can see where I skipped meals just drinking a glass of milk for breakfast or a can of Coke or a bottle of water for lunch or dinner. This is not a wise choice. Skipping meals makes a person hungrier, in turn making it more difficult to limit portion sizes and make healthy food choices at the next meal. Instead, filling up on foods that are high in fiber and water like fruits, vegetables, and soups can help with satiety while controlling and reducing caloric intake. References 5 ways to cut 500 calories from your diet. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/gallery/500_calories?pg=6 Harms, R. W., Berge, K. G., Hagen, P. T., Litin, S. C., Sheps, S. G., Edwards, B. S., †¦ Pruthi, S. (2012, June 19). Counting calories: getting back to weight loss basics. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calories/WT00011/NSECTIONGROUP=2 Lutz, C. A. & Przytulski, K. R. (2011). Nutrition and diet therapy (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company United States Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Meal summary report. Retrieved from https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/MealSummaryReport.aspx