Global warming threatens Arctic

THE ARTICLE

BNE: The Arctic ice is melting at a dangerous speed and may completely
disappear by the end of this century. This is according to scientists at America’s
National Snow and Ice Data Centre* (NSIDC). Experts said recent satellite images
showed the volume of sea ice was the lowest it has ever been. An area five times
larger than the UK has disappeared since 1978 and the melting is getting faster.
This year was the warmest Arctic summer in 400 years. Dr. Mark Serreze from the
NSIDC said the worrying trend of melting ice caps is because of global warming.

The NSIDC’s leader Dr. Ted Scambos said the Arctic Circle is melting so
quickly that it may never recover. He said the Arctic is caught in a dangerous
process that man cannot reverse. Less sea ice means the Earth cannot reflect the
suns rays and cool itself. Warmer seas then melt more ice. The loss of sea ice in one
year increases the loss in the next year. Current ice loss is estimated at eight
percent per decade. This means there may be no ice at all during the Arctic
summer of 2060. Dr. Scambos warned: “It is pretty certain a long-term decline is
underway.”
Purpose of a E-commerce Web Site

There are many purposes for e-commerce efforts. Too often, organizations
design web sites without considering what the purpose is for the web site. The
purpose helps define the type of information needed to support the web site. The
target audience(s) and purpose( s) should determine the type of information,
amount of information, and mechanics for accessing the information from the
support system. For instance, the prospective buyer is looking for benefits. When
he/she finds the product or service that provides the desired benefits, a transaction
will take place. If the seller’s message includes a complete company history,
product features, and attributes, and other irrelevant information instead of
benefits, the prospective buyer will quickly lose interest and visit another site.
Also, the web site must be designed to provide easy access to the desired
information through a logical series of linkages. The user must be able to 24
Advertising and Marketing in Electronic Commerce understand the linkages and
quickly access only the information desired.

A major issue, often overlooked, is whether the web site is designed to

replace the organization’s current marketing and advertising strategies or
supplement present efforts. A company can use e-commerce as its only means of
generating sales or as a means to enhance its present traditional advertising and
marketing endeavors. Different marketing and advertising strategies apply for
brick-and-mortar companies versus those organizations that do business only over
the Internet. For example, a retail chain can use e-commerce to add to its existing
customer base supplementing its instore sales. E-commerce could be used to
generate an inquiry for the retailer. Then, the retailer or dealer could close the sale,
or, sales may be completed online. The on-line sales supplement the organization’s
traditional in-store sales. Part of the information system consists of getting existing
customers to visit the web site to view additional merchandise: clearance items,
items that are no longer stocked by the retailers (bulky items like furniture, special
orders, etc.).

Establishing an interface between in-store customers and Web contacts is

essential. An organization can replace its brick-and-mortar outlets by choosing to
do business only by e-commerce. In this case, the existing dealerships, retail
establishments, etc., are closed. For example, retail chain Z closes all stores
converting all marketing operations to on-line activities. A catalog business has the
same options as a brick-and-mortar operation: to continue to do business by
catalog and supplement its orders through e-commerce or to convert entirely to e-
commerce and dispense with the catalog. Clearly, the place strategy shifts from
emphasis on the retail location to emphasis on the on-line location. However, the
distribution strategy becomes more important in terms of the ability to fulfill
customer orders on time and in a satisfactory manner. Promotion strategies
emphasize attracting the target audience to the web site and obtaining on-line
orders instead of the store or dealership visits where merchandise can be seen,
touched, tasted, smelled, etc., before purchasing and, often, serviced after the sale.
The information base of present and desired customers, their wants and needs, a
means of tracking orders, deliveries, and customer satisfaction must be established.
Finally, a new business can decide to maintain both e-commerce and brick-and-
mortar sites (supplemental) or to rely exclusively on e-commerce techniques for
advertising and marketing its products and services.
Knowledge Management

In concept, knowledge creation and management has been a concern of

humanity throughout our existence as civilized species. In the context of business
and industry, the current focus on knowledge management stems from
developments in information technology and from the realization of the strategic
importance of knowledge to the success of the organization. Knowledge
management is a set of organizational practices that combine the information
processing capacity of information technology with the creative and innovative
capacity of people to create, capture, organize, store and retrieve, diffuse, present,
and maintain knowledge for the organization’s benefit.
Door-to-door Sales
 Memory of a pre-Internet America, door-to-door sales of brushes (Fuller
brush men), vacuum cleaners, encyclopedias and bibles were all part of the
incorporation of rural and even suburban America into national consumption. As
envoys of modernity these sales representatives (generally male) also had dubious
reputations: the traveling salesman and the farmer’s daughter is a standard
scenario of American dirty humor. Yet their era was fading by the time of Albert
and David Maysles’ documentary Salesman (1969). While females also participated
in these areas, they were known for appointment/party sales of domestic goods
and cosmetics—Avon and Tupperware.
Fish are Friends, Not Food
New findings from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) reveals that fish have feelings, and are sensitive, intelligent
creatures. From this they argue that we should treat fish the same as we do other
animals, and not eat them. They started a new campaign yesterday called the Fish
Empathy Project to increase our awareness of fish rights. They also deem other
aquatic life forms such as crabs and seashells to have the right not to be eaten.
PETA spokesman, Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan outreach, said “No one would
ever put a hook through a dog’s or cat’s mouth … Once people start to understand
that fish are just as intelligent, they’ll stop eating them.”The campaign has come
under fire from major groups such as the American Heart Association, which
recommends fish as part of a healthy and balanced diet. John Connelly of
America’s National Fisheries Institute said, “It’s irresponsible to discourage people
from eating fish at a time when doctors and dietitians advise eating it twice a week
… If anything, we should be eating more fish.” The fears are that if fish welfare
groups such as PETA encourage removing fish from our diets, the population will
be left with too few nutritional choices and a whole spate of health problems will
emerge due to a poor diet. Man cannot live on tofu alone.PETA highlight the
health hazards of eating fish, stating a “toxic brew—bacteria, contaminants, heavy
metals” reach us through the food chain. Dangers include PCBs, dioxins,
radioactive substances, and cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium, and arsenic,
which can cause liver and kidney damage, nervous system disorders, fetal damage,
cancer and impaired mental development. Seafood is also the number one cause of
food poisoning in the USA as fish eat human and animal feces carrying dangerous
bacteria like E. coli. The Food and Drug Administration fails to test fish for many
of these chemical and bacterial health hazards, which are stored in our body fat for
decades.