For the Love of Water Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

For the Love of Water - Essay Example Major bodies and political institutes have gained control over the water distribution channels of the world and are making a lot of money at the expense of the poor persons. Water has now turned into an expensive commodity that can only be afforded by the well off while the rest have to do with spring water, or even dirty ditch water. Positive and negative externalities There are positive and negative externalities as far as water supply is concerned. The positive externalities are; the suppliers of the water are making millions as the commodity is in demand since we cannot do without water. It is the big corporations that are gaining from this business. These corporations are headed by persons who are believed to be associated with the World Bank. So as the World Bank imposes regulations on countries concerning the privatization of water supply then these corporations cash in. Privatization Privatization being the transfer of the ownership or business title to the private sector has turned the water supply system into a mess. Initially as the governments would supply water through their own ministries, there was sanity in the industry. As time went by, pressures have been exerted especially on the developing countries to privatize the water supply systems. Initially, the private sectors made the people believe that they were out to help them have water supply but this was not the case. It is common sense that as these companies supply water, they are in business and would want to make an extra coin for their investors. Privatization was meant to equip the cities with portable water and sewerage which did happen but only to those people who could afford the change. A lot of people who earn very little couldn’t afford the change and thus have to do with well water or borehole water where available. In other places in the world, the private sector connected water then charged for the water supply or consumption that people use. When these people are not ab le to pay for the water, it is cut off. These people have now turned rebellious and are reconnecting the pipes themselves to get the water. Some do this in the night. Advantages of privatization. Privatization though considered a bad omen by the people especially of the developing countries has its own advantages though not many. It has created employment as these corporations set up firms in these countries to supply water. These firms also contract persons to do the piping and sewerage construction, thereby creating money making avenues for the people on the ground. With the coming of the pipe water, it is believed that the rate of people getting water borne diseases was reduced as these water supplying corporations cleaned and disinfected the water. According to FLOW (2013) bad and infected water kills more than even AIDS and other diseases. Privatization was also a God sent blessing to the water bottling companies as the rate at which people are taking bottled water is very high and it created a booming business. To the people that were able to pay, sewerage and piped water is a blessing as compared to fetching water at a river or borehole. Disadvantages of privatization With these advantages came many disadvantages. People are excluded from portable water in cities. They don’t have water nor the money to buy the basic commodity. The kind of wages that these people get cannot allow them to have all the water that they would require to live healthy lives. They have to make do with very little water and do all they need to with this. What they can do away with like bathing daily, and cleaning their clothes, they don’t do on a daily basis but just when it is really necessary. The private water suppliers have neglected them. For these suppliers it is just

What are the strengths and limitations of the methods of 'political Essay

What are the strengths and limitations of the methods of 'political economy' in offering us insights into the operation of t - Essay Example Studies depict that the media units reach the reader through catchy information that propels the purchases and drives out competition. However, the act is often a tricky affair as the media may employ propaganda to enrich the information and reach the reader with the desired degree of perception (Skinner, 2005, p. 2). The context documents the theories and theorists on the limitations and strengths of the media in relevance to the political economy method and the general environment. The Political Economy Method Media channels release news to the environment meant to convey information on the actual outcome of events that affect the lives of individuals. In the competitive media industry, the channels shift concerns towards profitability rather than practice the right approaches to the environment through abiding by the code of conduct. For example, the readers do not expect that the information conveyed to them could be ill yet interesting, but on the other hand, it is a criterion a pproach that only catchy information would sale to the readers profitably (Mcchesney, 2008, p. 45). The practice implies a conflicting situation to the ethical code of conduct and the prevailing cultural values and the extent upon which the media practices further contrast with the will to deliver information and that of amassing profits (Plappert, 2010, p. 3). The media practices of the political economy method meant to derive the following set of views. The media industry depicted a continuous overflow in the market that threatened concentration, as this would normally implicate negative returns on revenues. The media depicted that globalization pursued the industry and based on the decreased diversity, chances were that the international audience would tend to react towards information in a similar manner (Wasko, Murdock and Sousa, 2011, p. 24). Prospects were that the method would hinder any negative influence from the opposition and other groups that would perceive a chance to indict charges towards the media practices. According to the team on political economy, Raymond established that the media and the public established different interests, but the extent to which the public would affect the media, was dependent on private interests of the media stakeholders (Winseck and Jin, 2011, p. 76). The Problem Approach of the ‘Political Economy’ Method in Relation to the Media The method of political economy in relation to the actual consciousness of the society through media communication raised a heated debate in the 1970s. The theorists of the political economy approach outlined the importance of the method and that it enhanced the welfare of the individual society members negatively. In a way, the media would articulate communicative programs to monetary related objectives and ensure that the public felt the salient role of the information in the society (Wasko, Murdock and Sousa, 2011, p. 28). The media would evolve accordingly through the pr ocesses and programs that related inversely to the economic propulsion but ethnically contrasted with societal beliefs and norms. The theory of ‘political economy,’ as initially indicated by Marx and Engels, targeted to realize ethics alongside economic values. This would further imply the aspect of consciousness towards the society. The contrast is that towards the end of implementation of the theory, the result was a positive economic approach to the business culture with less relation to the societal welfare, thus