a world of difference essay

Twilight Zone Museum

"a world of difference" - essay #12.

A World of Meaning in "A World of Difference"

A World of Difference

Barbara johnson.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think? Rate this book Write a Review

Friends & Following

Community reviews.

Join the discussion

Can't find what you're looking for.

U.S. Dictionary.com Newsletter

Fill in the form below and receive news in your email box, a world of difference: definition, meaning, and origin.

The phrase "a world of difference" indicates a significant or substantial change, improvement, or contrast between two states or conditions. It emphasizes a large and often positive difference.

• It signifies a major change or contrast.
• Often used to highlight a substantial improvement or significant difference.

What Does "A World of Difference" Mean?

The phrase "a world of difference" typically means there is a huge or significant change or contrast between two things. It is often used to emphasize how much better, more effective, or different something is when compared with something else. For example, if someone starts a new diet and exercise regime and sees major health improvements, they might say, "It's made a world of difference to my well-being." This indicates a substantial positive change.

Taking a closer look at what the phrase means:

• It usually implies a positive change or improvement.
• It can be used in various contexts, including personal experiences, product comparisons, and changes in situations or environments.
• The phrase is often used to emphasize the effectiveness of a change or decision.
• It's a way of highlighting the significance of a difference or contrast.
• Similar expressions include "night and day," "a huge difference," and "like chalk and cheese."

Where Does "A World of Difference" Come From?

The exact origin of "a world of difference" is not clearly documented, but it has been a part of English idiomatic expressions for many years. The phrase uses the word "world" to denote an ample, encompassing space, thus suggesting a vast or significant difference or change. As with many idioms, the usage and context of "a world of difference" have evolved. Initially, it might have been used more literally to describe vast physical distances or differences. Today, it's more metaphorical, highlighting contrasts in everything from opinions to quality.

10 Examples of "A World of Difference" in Sentences

Understanding an idiom is often easier when you see it used in context.

Here are ten sentences that demonstrate the versatility and applicability of "a world of difference":

• Switching to a healthier diet made a world of difference in my energy levels.
• There's a world of difference between reading about a place and actually visiting it.
• Using quality ingredients can make a world of difference in the taste of a dish.
• For some, there might not be much distinction, but for me, there's a world of difference between the two concepts.
• Having a supportive partner during trying times can make a world of difference .
• There's a world of difference between constructive criticism and plain negativity.
• Living near the park as opposed to the busy street has made a world of difference in our daily lives.
• Upgrading my computer made a world of difference in my work efficiency, enabling me to move forward in my career.
• There's a world of difference between listening and truly understanding someone.
• Having a mentor in the early stages of my career made a world of difference in my professional growth; their help was much appreciated .

Examples of "A World of Difference" in Pop Culture

The idiom "a world of difference" has been referenced in various aspects of pop culture, emphasizing its relevance and widespread use.

Here are some examples:

• In the 1998 film " Sliding Doors ", the two parallel universes showcase "a world of difference" between the two paths the protagonist could take based on a single moment.
• The popular TV series " Stranger Things " delves into an alternate dimension called the Upside Down, which is a "world of difference" from the real world, with its dark, cold, and distorted environment.
• In literature, the classic novel " Brave New World " by Aldous Huxley presents a dystopian future that is a world of difference from our current society, highlighting the extremes of technological advancements and societal control.

These instances in pop culture illustrate how the idiom is used to convey significant differences.

Synonyms: Other/Different Ways to Say "A World of Difference"

There are various ways to express the same sentiment as "a world of difference."

• Chalk and cheese
• Day and night
• Apples and oranges
• Like night and day
• Black and white
• Two different animals
• Poles apart
• Worlds apart
• As different as night and day

10 Frequently Asked Questions About "A World of Difference":

• What does the idiom "a world of difference" mean?

It refers to a significant or noticeable difference between two things or situations.

• Where did the idiom "a world of difference" originate?

The exact origins are unclear, but the concept of using "world" to signify vastness can be traced back to ancient literature and scriptures.

• How is "a world of difference" used in pop culture?

It has been referenced in TV shows like "Stranger Things" and in literature, such as the novel "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

• Can "a world of difference" be used in both positive and negative contexts?

Yes, it can be used to highlight either a positive change or a negative disparity, depending on the context.

• Are there other idioms similar to "a world of difference"?

Yes, idioms like "chalk and cheese" and "like night and day" convey similar meanings.

• Is "a world of difference" used globally or is it specific to English-speaking countries?

While the idiom is prevalent in English-speaking countries, similar expressions with the same meaning might exist in other languages and cultures.

• How has the usage of "a world of difference" evolved over time?

Originally, it might have been used more literally to describe vast physical distances or differences. Today, it's more metaphorical, highlighting contrasts in opinions, quality, and more.

• Is "a world of difference" a formal or informal expression?

It's a neutral expression and can be used in both formal and informal contexts.

• Can "a world of difference" be used in professional settings?

Yes, it can be used in professional settings to emphasize a significant change or improvement, among other contexts.

• Why are idioms like "a world of difference" important in language?

Idioms add color and depth to language, allowing for more expressive and nuanced communication.

Final Thoughts About "A World of Difference"

This idiom , with its vivid imagery and universal applicability, encapsulates the vastness of difference between two things.

• It emphasizes the vastness of difference, whether in opinions, situations, or experiences.
• The idiom is versatile, fitting seamlessly into various contexts, from casual chats to professional discussions.
• Its presence in pop culture, literature, and everyday conversations testifies to its enduring relevance.
• Understanding and using idioms like "a world of difference" enriches communication, making it more expressive and relatable.

Related posts:

• Been There: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Clutch Up: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Slip Back: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Get To: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Alongside of You: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• I Can't Thank You Enough: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Pert Near: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Advise Of: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Led Me to Believe: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Back to the Wall: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Trouble is Brewing: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• You Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Abandoning Ship: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Make Headway: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Gird Up Loins: Definition, Meaning, and Origin

We encourage you to share this article on Twitter and Facebook . Just click those two links - you'll see why.

It's important to share the news to spread the truth. Most people won't.

• Do a Number On: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Start At: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Mince Matters: Definition, Meaning, and Origin
• Stayed Back: Definition, Meaning, and Origin

A World Of Difference In James Sire's The Universe Next Door

A World of Difference (Introduction): In the book The Universe Next Door written by James Sire begins with a brief explanation of what a Worldview is. As stated in the book by Sire, “The essence of a worldview lies deep in the inner recesses of the human self. A Worldview involves the mind, but it is first of all a commitment, a matter of the soul. It is spiritual orientation more than it is a matter of mind alone” (pg.20, Sire). The author states that it is from the heart that all one’s thoughts and actions proceed. The basis of the introduction of Sire’s book is answering the seven basic questions of worldview, including “what is prime reality- the really real? what is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us? what is a human being? what happens to a person after death? Why is it possible to know anything at all? And finally, how do we know what is right and wrong?” (pg.22). Also, the author asserts that by being able to answer some or many of the seven worldview questions that an individual has, then people can form their own worldviews for themselves. Sire discusses nine different worldviews by answering those seven questions, explaining them and depicting what each worldview system believes and does not. Thus, Sire closes the introduction of the book with two questions, “Which is your universe ? And Which are the universes next door?” (pg. 24 Sire). A Universe Charged with The Grandeur of God (Christian Theism): Sire begins chapter one discussing

The Universe Next Door Essay

Worldview or vision of life is framework or set of fundamental beliefs thru which we view world and our

The Worldview Of The Christian Worldview

The word worldview means how an individual view the world around them. A worldview is a complete system of how we perceive the world and process it. According to Waddell (2014), “a worldview is a foundational set of assumptions to which one commits that serves as a framework for understanding and interpreting reality and deeply shapes one’s behavior.” The worldview of an individual is usually influenced by the person’s cultural background, life experiences, and upbringing. The Christian worldview is under the board umbrella of theism, which is “a worldview that entails belief in the existence of at least one personal and intelligent divine being” (Cosgrove, 2006). A person of a Christian worldview itself is someone who believes in the teaching of Jesus Christ and believes God created the world and everything in it. This paper would attempt to summarize and analyze the essential elements of the Christian worldview describing God, Humanity, Jesus, and Restoration. The writer will also reflect on his own worldview.

Personal Worldview Inventory : Worldview

With regard to James Sire, comprehension of someone’s worldview incorporates seven questions that must be addressed. The major question asks what prime reality is. This particular question simply asks what is real in the world. As an individual, I poses some faith in a god. The other question seeks to understand how people understand the surrounding nature. Dispute arise on this question. My faith stands that God created man and all what is on earth and heaven. Similarly, I also tend to hold some believe in the story of evolution and the probabilities of

Worldview Essay

The phrase “worldview” is a mental framework of all people and groups to interpret the nature of reality and the world we live in. It is philosophical, metaphysical or an ideological reality of the world we live in. The worldview is also used in understanding the law governing relationships among human beings, nature and the purpose of human life. They are attitudes and ideas about the world we live in and a thorough understanding of the systems of all the beliefs which hope will provide all the answers to the range of questions within ourselves as human beings. In most cases, worldviews are as a result of our human life experiences, and they subsequently shape as individuals in the approach we have to live. This paper

Main Components Of The Christian Worldview

A worldview is the way a person views and interprets the world around them. Life experiences and spiritual influences play a part in forming one’s worldview. A person’s worldview helps them to determine beliefs on creation, humanity, morals and what happens after death. According to Waddell, (2014) “Worldviews are also like lenses found in eyeglasses that serve as the means through which a person sees the world.” (para. 43) In this paper, the main components of the Christian worldview will be discussed, to include God, humanity, Jesus, restoration and analysis of Christian Faith as well as a reflection of my own beliefs.

Wgu Worldview Task 1

1 According to (Weider & Gutierrez, 2014), there are many different approaches to evaluating or determining a person’s worldview. Many people’s view of the world is formed/shaped by their culture, ethnicity, friends, family and/or religion. Often times, they find their faith through personal encounters with families and friends. For Christians, our worldviews are formed through our faith which is strengthen through us studying the Holy Bible.

Worldview : A Christian Worldview

Throughout this class we have discussed the different worldviews that an individual may have. This class has taught me that a worldview is how an individual understands the world and their place in it. “A worldview consist of what a person believes to be real and true, what a person values, how a person makes decisions, and what forms a person’s desires, longings, and goals” (Fuller, Lecture One). An individual’s worldview is the motivating force behind their every emotion, decision, and action. A worldview is what helps an individual make sense of life and this world. A worldview will provide answers for many different questions in life. A few of the questions that a worldview helps answer are questions of origin, human dilemma, hope, and destiny.

Things That Influence My Personal Worldview Essay

• 2 Works Cited

In this first part of this paper I will be explaining my worldview. There are three influences I will focus on to give an in depth look at how I came to my

Ethical And Moral Behavior And Christian World View

“A Worldviews give faith-based answers to a set of ultimate and ground- ing questions. Everyone operates on the basis of some worldview or faith-based understanding of the universe and persons— examined, or unexamined, implicit or explicit, simplistic or sophisticated. One way or

Example Of A Worldview Research Paper

What is a world view? A worldview is an individual’s view on life. It is the philosophy with which we live. It makes us who we are and is shaped by our experiences, culture, and background (Smith, 2015). A worldview is fluid, it changes as we change and discover our identities. It is made up of the questions that humans may ask to determine their wealth to the world or their purpose in life. Our worldview can make us gravitate toward other individuals with similar beliefs. It is a unifying factor in our day to day interactions with people and the world as a whole. It is the way that we determine what is “considered meaningful, what is worth doing, and which causes may require sacrifice”

World View: A Critical Thinking Assignment

I. A worldview is a person's concept of what the world is, how the world operates, and the place he or she has in the world. The worldview can also encompass the philosophy of life held by the person, because life philosophy and understanding of the world are generally linked to one another. In other words, a person who has a highly religious worldview would very likely have a philosophy of life that encompassed the need for a kinder world, and that included the relationship between what happens in this world and the promise of an afterlife. The person who has an atheistic worldview would be expected to have a philosophy of life that was different from that of a religious person, and that encompassed different things that were important to that person. A worldview can change over time, of course, because it is generally shaped by parents and school at an early age. As a person ages, he or she explores the world and sees it differently, which can lead to a change in the overall worldview held by that person and how he or she will choose to respond to the world in the future.

Ethics and Worldviews

A worldview is the set of beliefs that is fundamentally grounded in each person’s heart whether they realize it or not, whether they hold true to it or not. Put simply, it is the basis on which a person lives his/her life. Therefore, ethics, the defining of right and wrong in life, is a crucial aspect of each worldview. Some would say ethics is based on feeling, others would say religious beliefs, while still others would say ethics is based on the law or the standards of behavior accepted by society. The absence of ethics is also a theme in some worldviews. While James W. Sire discusses several different worldviews in The Universe Next Door, the ethical beliefs held by each worldview

• 3 Works Cited

Today’s society consists of many worldviews. Most people tend to pull beliefs from different religions, but often stick to one main worldview. A worldview to me is the gathering of beliefs that shape what we do on a daily basis and forms our overall view on life. When I look at my beliefs critically, I am able to see my worldview and see how it compares to different worldviews, but also how it compares mainly to the Christian Worldview.

Worldview : How Does It Influence Our Daily Lives?

A worldview is a system of beliefs that we model our lives after. It is how we perceive the world and others around us (Rusbult, n.d.). A person’s worldview is affected by how he/she is raised, his/her culture, his/her living situation (Rusbult, n.d.). A person’s parents and upbringing plays an important part in how that person interacts with others and thinks. A world view is like wearing colored glasses (Gutierrez, 2014). The way we see things, or perceive things, is based on the color of the glasses we are wearing. Where did we get these colored glasses? We obtain our “worldview glasses” from our parents, our culture, our friends, the media, and our religious beliefs. (109 words)

Worldview Reflection Paper

In the book, The Universe Next Door (2009), Sire communicates various worldviews. "For any of us to be fully conscious intellectually, we should not only be able to detect the worldviews of others but be aware of our own" (pg. 12). This provided a great basis and enabled me to think of my own worldview. Before this class, I hadn 't really given it much thought, about my worldviews. After reading the book, attending

Related Topics

A World of Difference: Respecting and Valuing Diversity

By dr. erick witherspoon, generation ready.

“Cultural and social diversity is certainly not a new issue facing us humans. It has always existed, and we remain challenged by it. However, the burgeoning complexity of our times calls upon us as educators to face this challenge more directly to value diversity, honor it with integrity, and to preserve the cultural dignity of our students. “

 Lindsey, Roberts & Campbell Jones, 2005 (p.xv)

The student population in th e United States is becoming increasingly diverse with a growing rang e of languages, races, cultures and values. Th is has resulted in a growing cultural gap between teachers and their students as they struggle to better serve students in response to demo gra phic change .

In the fall of 2014, for the first time, the overall number of Latino, African – American, and Asian students in public K – 12 classrooms surpassed the number of non – Hispanic whites. This enrollment milestone reflects not only a cultural shift b ut also a host of challenges for educators, including more students living in poverty, more who will require English – language instruction, and more whose life experiences will differ from those of their teachers. The greatest challenge in education is ack nowledging and addressing the issue that the majority of the student population is now made up of the students whom schools historically have served least well.

Research is beginning to link the persistent achievement gap to lack of cultural proficiency in schools. Every student brings a unique cultural background to school and every day many students struggle to navigate the conflicting cultures between home and school. Too often in schools , teachers’ cultural blindness means they see the cultural differences as impediments r ather than assets. As a result, many students become disengaged from their schooling and we see this reflected in low graduation rates and low achievement among students of color (Landa 2011). Cultural proficiency is an integral component in creating a school environment that promotes equitable outcomes for every student.

“Evidence shows that high-quality teaching is the most important influence school scan have on high-quality outcomes for students with diverse learning needs. Evidence also shows that effective teaching and learning depends on the relationship between teachers and students and students’ active engagement.”

At the heart of cultural proficiency are the principles of trust, respect for diversity, equity, fair ness, and social justice. It reinforces and builds on the work of the last forty years as education has endeavored to challenge and address injustice, raci sm, exclusion and inequali ty through policy, awareness raising, and an inclusive curriculum . T he aim of cultural proficiency is for every student to acquire a strong sense of identity , through understanding and empathy , affirmation and opportunity. Every student needs and deserves a safe, challenging, and supportive learning environment — especially student s who have special needs, cultural or language differences, or live in poverty .

In becoming culturally responsive schools need to be prepared and supported to provide high – quality instruction to every student every day, including stu dents who are English language learners (ELLs), special education students, and other historically underserved and under – represented student populations. There can be no educational excellence without educational equity . Understanding the full impact of i nequities is the first step to creating inclusive learning environments, supportive schools, and targeted instruction that reflects high expectations for every student.

Moving towards Cultural Proficiency

The move for schools to become culturally proficient is ongoing and has been a slow process spanning four decades. It began in the 1970s with growing attention given to cultural awareness internationally; an initial step towards understanding difference between cultural groups. The focus was on the recognition of differences and similarities between cultural groups. While there was some understanding about other cultures, there was only an emerging awareness that catering to cultural differences in the classroom may require a change in educational practice.

In the early 1980s, there was a focus on cultural sensitivity which includes not only an awareness that diversity exists between and within cultural groups but a refusal to make value judgments against differences such as being better or worse, or right or wrong – they are simply different (Eisenbruch & Volich, 2005).

In the mid-1980s the focus shifted from cultural sensitivity to a demand for cultural competence. Cultural competence as a concept was developed in the United States as a result of the health care system seeking to improve access for the increasing diversity of its population and to address inequities in social service delivery to Native American populations (Grote, 2008). By the mid-1990s the term cultural competency was being used widely in education; however, the impact at the classroom level on teaching practices varied greatly across the country.

In the 2002 adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act and the need for schools and districts to report on disaggregated data once again drew attention to the staggering disparities in educational achievement between white and minority students.

By 2012 there was a renewed effort to narrow the cultural gap between teachers and an increasingly diverse student body. The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) requires states to incorporate at least one “other indicator” into their accountability systems in addition to such traditional measures as student-test scores. There was a call for schools to be culturally responsive and for teachers to have the ability to understand, interact and communicate effectively and sensitively with people from a cultural background that is different to one’s own, and to demonstrate this ability with proficiency.

Cultural proficiency is characterized by respect for culture, ongoing self-reflection, expansion of knowledge and commitment to improving practices and relationships. 

Cultural Proficiency as a Continuum

While the move in education towards cultural proficiency began in the 70s with an effort to raise cultural awareness, becoming culturally proficient is a developmental process— in any given school there may be teachers at various stages of the process. Cultural proficiency was first described as a multi-stage continuum in the 1990s to give people a reference point to where they were in the process towards proficiency (Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M. 1989).

The first three steps on the continuum (i.e. Cultural Destructiveness, Cultural Incapacity, Cultural Blindness) see cultural difference as a problem (Lindsay et al. 2007). Here teachers refer to students as underperforming.

• Cultural destructiveness, where attitudes, policies and practices seek to eliminate cultural differences.
• Cultural incapacity, where the teachers may acknowledge cultural difference but lack the capacity or desire to do anything to improve outcomes for minority students.
• Cultural blindness, where the teachers operate with an underlying belief that all people are the same and culture and color make no difference.

“As schools and teachers work to strengthen their cultural proficiency, they can reflect on their progress along a cultural proficiency continuum that indicates unique ways of seeing and responding to difference.”

(Continuum Adapted from Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M. 1989.)

The next three points on the continuum (Cultural Pre-Competence, Cultural Competence, Cultural Proficiency) reflect a shift from blaming the students to acknowledging the ways in which we are failing our students and their communities.

• Cultural pre-competence – when teachers are aware of what they don’t know about working in diverse settings and allowing for the possibility of moving in a positive, constructive direction.
• Cultural competence – when teachers accept and respect cultural differences, continue self assessment of cultural awareness, and pay careful attention to the dynamics of cultural differences.
• Cultural Proficiency – making the commitment to be increasingly effective in meeting the educational needs of culturally diverse students.

It is difficult to talk about cultural proficiency without also talking about the persistent achievement gap between minority students and their peers. Equity will be a reality when students from minority racial, cultural, socio-economic, and linguistic backgrounds experience statistically similar rates of meeting high standards as do students from the majority culture.

Closing the Achievement Gap

For over 50 years, the achievement gap that separates low-income and minority students from other students has been a source of concern. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been testing students for forty years and has drawn attention to the substantial and significant achievement gaps. For more than a generation, from the 1970s onwards, the focus was on improving the education of poor and minority students.

Not surprisingly, the gaps narrowed between 1970 and 1988. The achievement gap between African American and white students was cut in half, and the gap separating Latinos and whites declined by one-third. Over the years, however, the fundamental trends underlying them have remained consistent. The progress made in the 70s and 80s came to a halt around 1988, and during the 90s the gaps even widened slightly. From 2003 on the gap has once again begun to narrow.

While the results show that since the 1970s black and Hispanic students have made great strides in improving performance in reading and mathematics, a gap still separated them from their white peers. An analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2009 and 2011 showed that black and Hispanic students trailed their white peers by an average of more than 20 test-score points on the NAEP math and reading assessments at 4th and 8th grades, a difference of about two grade levels (NCES, 2009, 2011).

At the current rate of progress, it will take another 38 years to eliminate the gap. The presence of an achievement gap is a warning that something has gone wrong in education. It is not a diagnosis but rather a symptom. Making a diagnosis requires looking past the demographic trends to the variables that research has shown to influence student learning.

There have been many state, district and school reforms advocated as ways to close the achievement gap such as reducing class size, extending the school day, providing more scheduled time for teachers to meet, and introducing new curricula. All are worthy innovations but the research repeatedly shows that reforms like these, focused on school and schedule structures, do not lead to significant student achievement gains (Hattie 2009).

To increase the achievement levels of minority and low-income students, we need to focus on what really matters—strengthening the instructional core in schools. Students need good teachers who set high standards for every student and a challenging curriculum. This is not new information— over 10 years ago in March 2004 the ASCD released the following position statement:

• “ The ASCD believes that all underserved populations—high poverty students, students with special learning needs, students of different cultural backgrounds, non-natives peakers, and urban and rural students—must have access to:
• Innovative, engaging, and challenging course work (with academic support) that builds on the strengths of each learner and enables students to develop to their full potential;
• High-quality teachers supported by ongoing professional development; and
• Additional resources for strengthening schools, families, and communities.

Adopted March 2004

The recent adoption of new, more rigorous standards has provided an opportunity for schools to reflect on the quality of their curriculum. Students are more likely to succeed when the curriculum is challenging, engaging and culturally responsive to the diversity of the students and community.

The academic quality of the curriculum is influenced not just by content but also by teacher expectations for students. Numerous studies have demonstrated that students’ patterns of progress and achievement are impacted by their teacher’s expectations (American Educational Research Association [AERA], 2004). Evaluations of successful schools have also found a direct connection between a culture of high expectations and student success (Kannapel & Clements, 2005).

Essential Elements of Cultural Competency

• A valuing of cultural diversity
• Conducting a cultural self-assessment
• Managing the dynamics of difference
• Acquiring and institutionalizing cultural knowledge
• Adapting to diversity and cultural contexts

(Source: National Centre for Cultural Competence 2006)

A high-quality curriculum and high expectations for learners are insufficient on their own. Rather, they go hand in hand with creating an optimal learning environment that generates an atmosphere of trust. The social setting teachers provide is equally as important as the physical environment. Schools that value academic achievement and maintain high expectations are more likely to establish safe, inclusive learning environments. More importantly, they do this through adherence to a culture of high expectations rather than mandates and policy decisions (Casey, 2000; Kannapel & Clements, 2005).

The quality of the classroom teacher is more important than a challenging and engaging curriculum: “the most important thing a school can do is to provide its students with good teachers” (Goldhaber, 2002, p. 52). There is a growing body of research that has found that teachers have more influence on student achievement than any other characteristic of schools (Hattie 2009). An analysis of data from the UTD Texas School Project found that high quality teachers substantially closed the achievement gap, especially for low-income elementary school students (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005).

Effective teachers who know their students as learners provide instruction that is differentiated and flexible. Students are expected to work hard, are motivated to succeed, and are provided with an array of supports.

In schools where the teachers are culturally proficient, students’ cultural backgrounds of language, race, gender, and socio-economic status are seen as strengths to build on. Cultural proficiency forms the foundation for curriculum, instruction, assessment, and leadership that values and responds to students’ cultures. This belief in all students’ ability to learn requires educators to be aware of how their assumptions inform their individual values and behaviors.

Through the process of critical reflection educators are better able to identify their own bias and identify hidden barriers to inclusion. It is also important to reflect on how practices, language and the curriculum may reinforce stereotypes or the dominant culture (Cave et al., 2005; Reifel and Brown, 2004).

Critical reflection is an ongoing process that requires an understanding that there is no one right approach to working with students. It is therefore important that professionals look critically at their philosophy, theory and practice to ensure they are providing the best possible support for each student. Educational practices that respond to and value cultural diversity are usually good practices for all students.

Full References are in PDF

• Even more »

Account Options

• Try the new Google Books
• Advanced Book Search
• Barnes&Noble.com
• Books-A-Million
• Find in a library
• All sellers  »

Get Textbooks on Google Play

Rent and save from the world's largest eBookstore. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone.

Go to Google Play Now »

From inside the book

Other editions - view all, common terms and phrases, references to this book, bibliographic information.

Make a Difference: Change the World, Change Yourself

The relationship between society and individuals is closely connected, and what we do as individuals can have an impact on society as a whole. This means that the choices we make, both for ourselves and for others, can make a real difference in the world. However, many people who want to make a positive impact on the environment and society don’t know where to begin.

To help out, this article provides a guide for readers. It explains how acts of kindness can make us feel happier, and it offers seven practical ways that people can make a positive difference in the world.

CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

According to Jane Goodall, we cannot get through one day without making a difference. The question is, what kind of a difference do we want to make?

We now have scientific proof that, the more we care about the happiness and wellbeing of our fellow humans, the happier we get . One pleasant side effect of making that kind of a difference is that, by changing the world around us, we change ourselves. And vice-versa. It is a “virtuous cycle.” So let’s get down to business and talk about three ways we can make a difference.

Top 7 Ways to make a  difference

Here are the top 7 ways to make a difference for your life and the world you live in:

1. Volunteer your time

Giving back to your community can be a fulfilling way to contribute to the world around you. Volunteering also provides an opportunity to connect with others and build strong relationships .

2. Donate to charity

If you have financial resources to spare, consider donating to a cause that you care about. This could be a local charity or a larger organization that is working to make a difference in the world.

These are some of the most well known websites that provide opportunities to volunteer:

• Volunteermatch
• Pointsoflight

3. Practice gratitude 

Taking time to appreciate the good things in your life can help cultivate a positive mindset and increase happiness. Consider keeping a gratitude journal or simply taking a few moments each day to reflect on what you are thankful for.

4. Reduce your environmental harm  

Taking steps to reduce your environmental impact can help to create a healthier planet for future generations. Also, proactive behavior for protecting the planet can improve your happiness since it helps you to engage with Earth in a meaningful way . 

According to United Nations , simple changes like: 

• Using public transportation
• Consuming less water
• Being a well informed consumer and so on can all make a difference.

5. Be kind to others 

Spreading positive vibes and emotions can make the world a happier place. Small acts of kindness can have a big impact on those around you. Whether it is: 

• Complimenting a stranger
• Helping a neighbor
• Or simply smiling at someone who looks like they could use it. 

6. Learn about science of happiness

One of the most enjoyable ways of making a meaningful difference is to learn more about the new science of happiness (the focus of this website) and sharing insights with your loved ones . You will discover, or perhaps you have discovered, that depression and unhappiness are not only generated by the “wrong” DNA. Many people are digging their own “unhappiness hole” out of pure ignorance. They have no idea how much of an impact their actions, or life skills, have on their mood.

• Practice self-care : Taking care of yourself is essential for your own happiness and well-being. This might include exercise, meditation, or simply taking time to do activities that you enjoy.

• Speak up for what you believe in : Whether it’s writing to your elected officials, participating in a peaceful protest, or simply having a conversation with someone who holds different beliefs than you, speaking up for what you believe in can help to create positive change in the world.
• Spread joy : Finally, don’t underestimate the power of spreading joy and positivity. Whether it’s through sharing a funny meme, sending a heartfelt message to a loved one, or simply expressing your enthusiasm for something you’re passionate about, spreading joy can help to make the world a happier place.

7. Learn about other cultures

Expanding your understanding of different cultures and perspectives can help to foster empathy and reduce prejudice. Consider reading books or watching films from other countries, or engaging in conversation with people from diverse backgrounds.

Act of Kindness

If you are too busy to volunteer, or you are looking for easier ways to make a difference, small acts of kindness can go a long way..and they are infectious! Acts of kindness not only bring happiness to those you assist, science shows that they can provide a big lift to your mood as well.  Randomactofkindness website is a treasure.

Finally, if you would like to make a difference with a few taps on your keyboard, please support our cause . We teach about depression prevention (a leading cause of opioid abuse) in schools .

Further Readings

We offer several articles that introduce habits practiced by happy individuals. Here, we have selected three of them for you.

• Relationships and Happiness
• Unique Strengths & Happiness
• The Philosophical Basis of Caring, Compassion, and Interdependence

Start Your Journey to Happiness. Register Now!

Pursuit-of-Happiness.org  ©2024

Essay Papers Writing Online

The impact of community service – a deep dive into the power of giving back to society.

Community service essays serve as a powerful tool for individuals to reflect on their experiences, values, and impact on the world around them. Through the process of writing about their volunteer work, students are able to articulate the positive changes they have made in their communities and explore the lessons they have learned along the way.

Community service essays also play a crucial role in highlighting the importance of giving back to society and fostering a sense of empathy and compassion in individuals. By sharing personal stories of service, students can inspire others to get involved and make a difference in their own communities.

Moreover, community service essays can help students gain valuable skills such as critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving, as they reflect on the challenges and successes of their volunteer experiences. By documenting their service work, students can also showcase their commitment to social responsibility and community engagement to colleges, scholarship committees, and potential employers.

Why Community Service Essays Matter

In today’s society, the importance of community service essays cannot be overstated. These essays serve as a platform for individuals to showcase their dedication to helping others and making a positive impact on their communities. Through these essays, individuals can share their experiences, insights, and perspectives on the value of giving back to society.

Community service essays also play a crucial role in raising awareness about different social issues and encouraging others to get involved in volunteer work. By sharing personal stories and reflections, individuals can inspire and motivate others to take action and contribute to the betterment of society.

Furthermore, community service essays provide an opportunity for individuals to reflect on their own values, beliefs, and goals. Through the process of writing these essays, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world, leading to personal growth and development.

In conclusion, community service essays matter because they have the power to inspire change, raise awareness, and promote personal growth. By sharing their stories and insights, individuals can make a difference in their communities and create a more compassionate and giving society.

The Impact of Community Service Essays

Community service essays have a profound impact on both the individuals writing them and the communities they serve. These essays serve as a platform for students to reflect on their experiences and articulate the lessons they have learned through their service work.

One of the primary impacts of community service essays is the opportunity for self-reflection. Students are encouraged to critically analyze their experiences, challenges, and accomplishments during their community service activities. This reflection helps students develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their values, and their role in the community.

Another significant impact of community service essays is the awareness they raise about social issues and community needs. By sharing their stories and insights, students can shed light on important issues and inspire others to get involved in community service. These essays can also help community organizations and stakeholders better understand the needs of their communities and how they can address them effectively.

Overall, community service essays play a vital role in promoting social responsibility, empathy, and civic engagement. They empower students to make a positive impact in their communities and contribute to creating a more compassionate and inclusive society.

Guidelines for Writing Community Service Essays

When writing a community service essay, it is important to follow certain guidelines to ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Here are some tips to help you craft a powerful and compelling essay:

• Start by brainstorming ideas and reflecting on your community service experiences.
• Clearly define the purpose of your essay and what you hope to convey to your readers.
• Organize your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
• Use specific examples and anecdotes to support your points and showcase your personal growth.
• Highlight the impact of your community service activities on both yourself and others.
• Showcase your passion and dedication to serving your community.
• Be authentic and honest in your writing, and avoid exaggerating or embellishing your experiences.
• Edit and proofread your essay carefully to ensure clarity, coherence, and proper grammar.

Examples of Effective Community Service Essays

Community service essays can have a powerful impact on the reader when they are well-written and thoughtful. Here are a few examples to inspire you:

1. A Well-Structured Essay:

This essay begins with a compelling introduction that clearly articulates the author’s motivation for engaging in community service. The body paragraphs provide specific examples of the author’s experiences and the impact they had on both the community and themselves. The conclusion ties everything together, reflecting on the lessons learned and the importance of giving back.

2. Personal Reflection:

This essay delves deep into the author’s personal experiences during their community service work. It explores the challenges they faced, the emotions they encountered, and the growth they underwent. By sharing vulnerable moments and candid reflections, the author creates a connection with the reader and demonstrates the transformational power of service.

3. Future Goals and Impact:

This essay not only discusses past community service experiences but also looks toward the future. The author shares their aspirations for continued service and outlines how they plan to make a difference in the world. By showcasing a sense of purpose and vision, this essay inspires the reader to consider their own potential for impact.

These examples illustrate how community service essays can be effective tools for conveying meaningful stories, inspiring others, and showcasing personal growth. By crafting a compelling narrative and reflecting on the significance of service, you can create an essay that leaves a lasting impression.

How Community Service Essays Empower Individuals

Community service essays provide individuals with a platform to express their thoughts, share their experiences, and make a meaningful impact on society. By writing about their volunteer work and the lessons they have learned, individuals can empower themselves to create positive change and inspire others to do the same.

• Through community service essays, individuals can reflect on the importance of giving back to their communities and the value of helping those in need.
• These essays can serve as a source of motivation and inspiration for individuals to continue their philanthropic efforts and make a difference in the world.
• By sharing their stories through community service essays, individuals can raise awareness about social issues and promote greater empathy and understanding among their peers.

Overall, community service essays empower individuals to take action, advocate for change, and contribute to building a more compassionate and equitable society.

Related Post

How to master the art of writing expository essays and captivate your audience, step-by-step guide to crafting a powerful literary analysis essay, convenient and reliable source to purchase college essays online, tips and techniques for crafting compelling narrative essays.

• Our Program Divisions
• Our Three Academies
• Government Affairs
• Statement on Diversity and Inclusion
• Our Study Process
• Conflict of Interest Policies and Procedures
• Project Comments and Information
• Read Our Expert Reports and Published Proceedings
• Explore PNAS, the Flagship Scientific Journal of NAS
• Access Transportation Research Board Publications
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Economic Recovery
• Fellowships and Grants
• Publications by Division
• Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
• Division on Earth and Life Studies
• Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
• Gulf Research Program
• Health and Medicine Division
• Policy and Global Affairs Division
• Transportation Research Board
• National Academy of Sciences
• National Academy of Engineering
• National Academy of Medicine
• Publications by Topic
• Agriculture
• Behavioral and Social Sciences
• Biography and Autobiography
• Biology and Life Sciences
• Computers and Information Technology
• Conflict and Security Issues
• Earth Sciences
• Energy and Energy Conservation
• Engineering and Technology
• Environment and Environmental Studies
• Food and Nutrition
• Health and Medicine
• Industry and Labor
• Math, Chemistry, and Physics
• Policy for Science and Technology
• Space and Aeronautics
• Surveys and Statistics
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Searchable Collections
• New Releases

VIEW LARGER COVER

Making a World of Difference

Engineering ideas into reality.

Fifty years ago, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was founded by the stroke of a pen when the National Academy of Sciences Council approved the NAE's articles of organization. Making a World of Difference commemorates the NAE anniversary with a collection of essays that highlight the prodigious changes in people's lives that have been created by engineering over the past half century and consider how the future will be similarly shaped. Over the past 50 years, engineering has transformed our lives literally every day, and it will continue to do so going forward, utilizing new capabilities, creating new applications, and providing ever-expanding services to people. The essays of Making a World of Difference discuss the seamless integration of engineering into both our society and our daily lives, and present a vision of what engineering may deliver in the next half century.

• Engineering and Technology — Policy, Reviews and Evaluations

Suggested Citation

National Academy of Engineering. 2014. Making a World of Difference: Engineering Ideas into Reality . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18966. Import this citation to: Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager

Publication Info

What is skim.

The Chapter Skim search tool presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter. You may select key terms to highlight them within pages of each chapter.

What is a prepublication?

An uncorrected copy, or prepublication, is an uncorrected proof of the book. We publish prepublications to facilitate timely access to the committee's findings.

What happens when I pre-order?

The final version of this book has not been published yet. You can pre-order a copy of the book and we will send it to you when it becomes available. We will not charge you for the book until it ships. Pricing for a pre-ordered book is estimated and subject to change. All backorders will be released at the final established price. As a courtesy, if the price increases by more than $3.00 we will notify you. If the price decreases, we will simply charge the lower price. Applicable discounts will be extended.

Downloading and Using eBooks from NAP

What is an ebook.

An ebook is one of two file formats that are intended to be used with e-reader devices and apps such as Amazon Kindle or Apple iBooks.

Why is an eBook better than a PDF?

A PDF is a digital representation of the print book, so while it can be loaded into most e-reader programs, it doesn't allow for resizable text or advanced, interactive functionality. The eBook is optimized for e-reader devices and apps, which means that it offers a much better digital reading experience than a PDF, including resizable text and interactive features (when available).

Where do I get eBook files?

eBook files are now available for a large number of reports on the NAP.edu website. If an eBook is available, you'll see the option to purchase it on the book page.

View more FAQ's about Ebooks

Types of Publications

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of a world of difference in English

A world of difference.

• alternative
• dissimilarly
• dissimilitude
• non-comparability
• non-comparable
• non-congruent
• non-identical
• unrepresentative
• unrepresentativeness
• unstandardized
• untraditional
• untraditionally

Examples of a world of difference

Translations of a world of difference.

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

call centre

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

a large office in which a company's employees provide information to its customers, or sell or advertise its goods or services, by phone

Varied and diverse (Talking about differences, Part 1)

Learn more with +Plus

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
• English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
• English–Dutch Dutch–English
• English–French French–English
• English–German German–English
• English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
• English–Italian Italian–English
• English–Japanese Japanese–English
• English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
• English–Polish Polish–English
• English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
• English–Spanish Spanish–English
• English–Swedish Swedish–English
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
• English    Idiom
• Translations
• All translations

To add a world of difference to a word list please sign up or log in.

Add a world of difference to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Community — Making a Difference: The Power of Positive Impact

Making a Difference: The Power of Positive Impact

• Categories: Community Organizational Culture

About this sample

Words: 571 |

Published: Sep 12, 2023

Words: 571 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

The motivation behind making a difference, the avenues of making a difference, the lasting impact of making a difference.

• Volunteerism: Volunteering time, skills, or resources to support charitable organizations, community initiatives, or humanitarian causes.
• Advocacy and Activism: Championing social, political, or environmental issues through awareness campaigns, lobbying, and grassroots movements.
• Philanthropy: Donating funds or resources to charitable organizations, foundations, or initiatives that address specific societal challenges.
• Education and Mentorship: Sharing knowledge, expertise, and guidance with others to empower them and foster personal growth.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Developing solutions, products, or services that address unmet needs or societal problems.
• Environmental Stewardship: Taking actions to protect and preserve the natural world, from conservation efforts to sustainable practices.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Sociology Business

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1319 words

3 pages / 1230 words

2 pages / 1096 words

1 pages / 2634 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Community

Most dark skins feel as if they’re not accepted, and are negatively influenced about their skin, so some will bleach their skin just to fit in society. In addition, some celebrities are accused of bleaching to progress with the [...]

Community, a term often used and yet uniquely understood by each individual, holds a special place in my heart. In this essay, I will delve into my personal definition of community, shaped by my experiences, values, and beliefs. [...]

Americorps, often referred to as the "domestic Peace Corps," is a national service program dedicated to addressing critical community needs in the United States. Established in 1993, Americorps engages thousands of Americans in [...]

Random Deathmatch (RDM) is a term that is commonly used in the gaming community, especially in multiplayer online games. It refers to a situation where a player kills another player without any valid reason or justification. In [...]

Many different thing hold us back throughout life. Barriers such as time and commitments can keep us from participating in many different events. Loeb’s third chapter of Soul of a Citizen takes a deeper look into what really [...]

Originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense the Black Panther Party was first founded in 1966 by Huey Newton amid the mass hate towards the black community like MLK and Malcolm X. Eventually, Newton adopted a [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

IB TOK Essay: To what extent do you agree with the claim that “there’s a world of difference between truth and facts” WM

To what extent do you agree with the claim that "there's a world of difference between truth and facts" (Maya Angelou)? Answer with reference to two areas of knowledge. Word count: 1597 Can truth and fact coexist? That depends on the context that the concepts of, truth and fact, are defined. That is why to discuss whether there is a world of difference between truth and facts, the terms world of difference, truth and fact should be defined carefully

Related Papers

NICHOLAS SALAKO

Herb Spencer

This review/essay consists of two related parts. The review is of the popular 260-page book with this title by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. As this struck me as being more poetic than philosophical, I preceded it with a metaphysical/philosophical essay on the same subject, mainly drawn from the chapter of the book "Great Ideas" (1992) by Mortimer Adler. This essay illustrates how confused we are about this central and important concept. Here, we see what a pathetic contribution has been made by professional philosophers over the last 2,500 years in trying to help people understand this concept that should be vital to every sentence they have ever spoken. This also provides insights into the 'Fake News' swamp we have finally fallen into. The book's subtitle is an accurate description of what a perplexed "Seeker of the Truth" will find in an inclusive and fair summary of mankind's attempts to prove that speaking to one another is a useful and valuable activity. This is a topic found at the heart of many of my own recent writings, which are cross-referenced here.

Eliminating truth as a proper subject for philosophical inquiry has been the suggestion of at least two lines of thought. One the one hand, there are deflationary accounts of truth, which can often be understood as claiming that truth is not a substantive property of statements. They infer that the property of truth is not a substantive property from the premise that “whatever can be said with the [truth] predicate can always be said without it” (Lynch 2001, 113) The other view, on the other hand, advocated by Richard Rorty, does not try to define truth as a trivial property, but argues that the talk of truth and attempts to define it are not useful if we want to do good and productive philosophy. To oversimplify, we call a statement true, on this view, not because it is a successful representation of reality, but because that statement is justified, and this is pretty much all there is to know about truth. I will argue that deflationism about truth does not explain how truth functions in our language, and that deflationism often operates on a troublesome metaphysical framework where phrases like “substantive property” have legitimate uses. I will instead propose a framework, inspired by Hilary Putnam’s natural realism, which will not only provide answers to the deflationist but also to the concerns of Rorty. In my framework, it will turn out that there is still something that we can say about truth, which is that truth is a representational function between statements and a conceptualized reality.

Journal of the Philosophy of History

Frank Ankersmit

Miriam Antonucci

Jean MacPhail

This article is Part I of a compilation of Swami Vivekananda’s commentaries on the mantra from the Rig Veda: Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti: Truth is one; the wise call it variously. Vivekananda interprets this ancient mantra as a means to understand how, because of our innate dualistic vision, we so regularly fail to interpret constructively the relationship between facts/events and data/experiences, and how our various “incompatible” interpretations have perennially led to misunderstanding, hatred, and bloodshed. The motive of Swami Vivekananda is to open out the discussion and by means of applying the intent of the mantra to resolve conflict and lay a foundation for ongoing understanding and building positively in all realms of human endeavor. This is the first in my overview of fifteen Upanishadic mantras, five of which are classical mahavakyas and the other ten “auxiliaries” to them. This mantra is, in my view, a key to understanding the often-indirect meaning of the other mahavakyas themselves, all of which call for the capacity to abandon dualistic dogmas and to open out more and more to the experience of the deepest levels of human consciousness from one level to another. Swami Vivekananda quoted this mantra on many occasions and in considerable depth. The result is a quite large text, which I have decided to present in two parts. The present, first text focuses on the role the human mind habitually plays in this ancient, apparently never-ending drama. In Part II Vivekananda goes into historical contexts of how the insight into the mantra developed in India especially and how this phenomenon contrasted with the views of cultures contemporary to it. These remarks set the stage for later cultural misunderstandings and conflicts, which conclude the second part of this work.

Oswaldo Chateaubriand

Although in recent times the notion of fact, or of state of affairs, made something of a come back, for many years it was considered a disreputable notion. 1 What is it about facts, or states of affairs, or similar entities, that is so problematic? As I see it, there are three main reasons for questioning such entities. To begin with, there is the claim that various arguments show that if one ascribes denotation to sentences, then all distinctions collapse to the two truth-values. So, the most natural interpretation of facts, or states of affairs, as the denotation of sentences seems to be blocked by these arguments. By discussing in some detail the arguments given by Frege, Church, Davidson, and Gödel, I have tried to show that they do not establish that conclusion.

Robin Sommers

An A n a ly s is o f th e C oncept o f T ruth________________________________________________ T itle o f Dissertation P h ilo so p h y __________________________________Ph.D.________________ December. 1965

mats rosengren

Silvana Seabra

RELATED PAPERS

Kvasny Prumysl

Milan Starec

Rukya Hassen

Aufstieg und Niedergang der roemischen Welt II

Sandra Citroni Marchetti

Karla Rosário Brumes

Journal of Nanobiotechnology

Abdollah Salimi

Revista Fronteiras, Dourados

Carlos X Azevedo Netto

Jeffrey Stock

Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences, D. Histology & Histochemistry

mona ragheb

Current Research: Cardiology

jamilah alrahimi

2019 5th Experiment International Conference (exp.at'19)

Ariel Barreto

AIP Conference Proceedings

Heru Suryanto

Arjan Durresi

Journal of laboratory automation

Júlia Formosinho

Weed Research

Mounir MEKKI

hjhjgf frgtg

Caesar C. Swiecki

IJMRAP Editor

Iheringia. Série Zoologia

Francisco Leonardo Tejerina Garro

Tropical Animal Health and Production

Mustafa Kemal sarıbay

Geology, Ecology, and Landscapes

SAURABH SINGH

Patrice Carde

La Revue de Médecine Interne

Raouf Hajji

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

Jean Dudler

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Cultures around the World Descriptive Essay

Culture is the way of life of a given people. It entails how people behave and perceive different life issues. It includes aspects like religion, customs, language, beliefs, food among others. Culture varies from one place to the other depending on the circumstances surrounding a place such as climate and environment and how people perceive things.

The difference between cultures brings about the issue of culture shock. Culture shock is experienced differently by various people and is believed to be temporary. In this assignment, I will give my experience and how culture shock affected me.

It was last year when I decided to have a change of environment; after having a very tight school schedule. I held the idea that spending my summer on a farm far away from the busy city life would be a relief to me. Since childhood, I had spent my life in the city and hence I was used to city life and all the attributes that go along with it. This made the countryside look so different for me in regard to various aspects including the environment, the customs, the food taken, the values and beliefs among other things.

The first thing that gave me problems was the environment and climate in the new place. Initially, I found it interesting due to the fact that it was free from congestion and pollution and everything seemed cool.

It was however very cold, which made me to clad in warm clothing so as to put up with the weather. Communication is another concept that was so different. Unlike in the city, respect in the countryside was a key issue especially when interacting with people who are much older. I had to be taught the words I would use when addressing older people.

Although it sounded awkward, I had no choice but to learn. Shaking hands was also important since you had to show concern to the other person. People had to engage in lengthy conversations whenever they met differing to the city life where they just say hello and leave. Food and how meals were taken was also amazing. Most of the food offered to me was very unfamiliar; some tasting okay while others were just unbearable. Meals were taken many times a day and people took time together.

This is unlike in the city where everyone is rushing and taking a meal together as a family is rare. Some customs in the countryside also seemed unbearable, for instance, having to work hard for specified duration of time and having resting hours. It is a relaxed experience compared to the busy lifestyle in the city. Generally, some of the feelings that I experienced as a result of culture shock include feeling out and misunderstood, frustration, anxiety, homesickness and worse still developing a negative attitude towards the new culture.

It is evident that culture shock is a reality that people have to face from time to time as they encounter different cultures that are markedly different from theirs. This is mainly because of the differences that exist in regard to values and beliefs. All in all, culture shock is temporary and requires just some time before one adjusts and thus move away from the confusion.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 31). Cultures around the World. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cultures-around-the-world/

"Cultures around the World." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/cultures-around-the-world/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Cultures around the World'. 31 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Cultures around the World." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cultures-around-the-world/.

1. IvyPanda . "Cultures around the World." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cultures-around-the-world/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Cultures around the World." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cultures-around-the-world/.

• Community Health Nursing Course
• “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay”: Psychological Analysis of Main Characters
• Song Composition: Adele’s "Hello"
• Discovering the Humanities
• Islamic Living: Effective Cross-Cultural Communication
• Similarities and differences between the Cherokee’s and euro-American norms
• Redneck Culture
• Comparison of the Australian and Indonesian Culture

Find anything you save across the site in your account

In the campus protests over the war in Gaza, language and rhetoric are—as they have always been when it comes to Israel and Palestine—weapons of mass destruction.

By Zadie Smith

A philosophy without a politics is common enough. Aesthetes, ethicists, novelists—all may be easily critiqued and found wanting on this basis. But there is also the danger of a politics without a philosophy. A politics unmoored, unprincipled, which holds as its most fundamental commitment its own perpetuation. A Realpolitik that believes itself too subtle—or too pragmatic—to deal with such ethical platitudes as thou shalt not kill. Or: rape is a crime, everywhere and always. But sometimes ethical philosophy reënters the arena, as is happening right now on college campuses all over America. I understand the ethics underpinning the protests to be based on two widely recognized principles:

There is an ethical duty to express solidarity with the weak in any situation that involves oppressive power.

If the machinery of oppressive power is to be trained on the weak, then there is a duty to stop the gears by any means necessary.

The first principle sometimes takes the “weak” to mean “whoever has the least power,” and sometimes “whoever suffers most,” but most often a combination of both. The second principle, meanwhile, may be used to defend revolutionary violence, although this interpretation has just as often been repudiated by pacifistic radicals, among whom two of the most famous are, of course, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr . In the pacifist’s interpretation, the body that we must place between the gears is not that of our enemy but our own. In doing this, we may pay the ultimate price with our actual bodies, in the non-metaphorical sense. More usually, the risk is to our livelihoods, our reputations, our futures. Before these most recent campus protests began, we had an example of this kind of action in the climate movement. For several years now, many people have been protesting the economic and political machinery that perpetuates climate change, by blocking roads, throwing paint, interrupting plays, and committing many other arrestable offenses that can appear ridiculous to skeptics (or, at the very least, performative), but which in truth represent a level of personal sacrifice unimaginable to many of us.

I experienced this not long ago while participating in an XR climate rally in London. When it came to the point in the proceedings where I was asked by my fellow-protesters whether I’d be willing to commit an arrestable offense—one that would likely lead to a conviction and thus make travelling to the United States difficult or even impossible—I’m ashamed to say that I declined that offer. Turns out, I could not give up my relationship with New York City for the future of the planet. I’d just about managed to stop buying plastic bottles (except when very thirsty) and was trying to fly less. But never to see New York again? What pitiful ethical creatures we are (I am)! Falling at the first hurdle! Anyone who finds themselves rolling their eyes at any young person willing to put their own future into jeopardy for an ethical principle should ask themselves where the limits of their own commitments lie—also whether they’ve bought a plastic bottle or booked a flight recently. A humbling inquiry.

It is difficult to look at the recent Columbia University protests in particular without being reminded of the campus protests of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, some of which happened on the very same lawns. At that time, a cynical political class was forced to observe the spectacle of its own privileged youth standing in solidarity with the weakest historical actors of the moment, a group that included, but was not restricted to, African Americans and the Vietnamese. By placing such people within their ethical zone of interest, young Americans risked both their own academic and personal futures and—in the infamous case of Kent State—their lives. I imagine that the students at Columbia—and protesters on other campuses—fully intend this echo, and, in their unequivocal demand for both a ceasefire and financial divestment from this terrible war, to a certain extent they have achieved it.

But, when I open newspapers and see students dismissing the idea that some of their fellow-students feel, at this particular moment, unsafe on campus, or arguing that such a feeling is simply not worth attending to, given the magnitude of what is occurring in Gaza, I find such sentiments cynical and unworthy of this movement. For it may well be—within the ethical zone of interest that is a campus, which was not so long ago defined as a safe space, delineated by the boundary of a generation’s ethical ideas— it may well be that a Jewish student walking past the tents, who finds herself referred to as a Zionist, and then is warned to keep her distance, is, in that moment, the weakest participant in the zone. If the concept of safety is foundational to these students’ ethical philosophy (as I take it to be), and, if the protests are committed to reinserting ethical principles into a cynical and corrupt politics, it is not right to divest from these same ethics at the very moment they come into conflict with other imperatives. The point of a foundational ethics is that it is not contingent but foundational. That is precisely its challenge to a corrupt politics.

Practicing our ethics in the real world involves a constant testing of them, a recognition that our zones of ethical interest have no fixed boundaries and may need to widen and shrink moment by moment as the situation demands. (Those brave students who—in supporting the ethical necessity of a ceasefire—find themselves at painful odds with family, friends, faith, or community have already made this calculation.) This flexibility can also have the positive long-term political effect of allowing us to comprehend that, although our duty to the weakest is permanent, the role of “the weakest” is not an existential matter independent of time and space but, rather, a contingent situation, continually subject to change. By contrast, there is a dangerous rigidity to be found in the idea that concern for the dreadful situation of the hostages is somehow in opposition to, or incompatible with, the demand for a ceasefire. Surely a ceasefire—as well as being an ethical necessity—is also in the immediate absolute interest of the hostages, a fact that cannot be erased by tearing their posters off walls.

Part of the significance of a student protest is the ways in which it gives young people the opportunity to insist upon an ethical principle while still being, comparatively speaking, a more rational force than the supposed adults in the room, against whose crazed magical thinking they have been forced to define themselves. The equality of all human life was never a self-evident truth in racially segregated America. There was no way to “win” in Vietnam. Hamas will not be “eliminated.” The more than seven million Jewish human beings who live in the gap between the river and the sea will not simply vanish because you think that they should. All of that is just rhetoric. Words. Cathartic to chant, perhaps, but essentially meaningless. A ceasefire, meanwhile, is both a potential reality and an ethical necessity. The monstrous and brutal mass murder of more than eleven hundred people, the majority of them civilians, dozens of them children, on October 7th, has been followed by the monstrous and brutal mass murder (at the time of writing) of a reported fourteen thousand five hundred children. And many more human beings besides, but it’s impossible not to notice that the sort of people who take at face value phrases like “surgical strikes” and “controlled military operation” sometimes need to look at and/or think about dead children specifically in order to refocus their minds on reality.

To send the police in to arrest young people peacefully insisting upon a ceasefire represents a moral injury to us all. To do it with violence is a scandal. How could they do less than protest, in this moment? They are putting their own bodies into the machine. They deserve our support and praise. As to which postwar political arrangement any of these students may favor, and on what basis they favor it—that is all an argument for the day after a ceasefire. One state, two states, river to the sea—in my view, their views have no real weight in this particular moment, or very little weight next to the significance of their collective action, which (if I understand it correctly) is focussed on stopping the flow of money that is funding bloody murder, and calling for a ceasefire, the political euphemism that we use to mark the end of bloody murder. After a ceasefire, the criminal events of the past seven months should be tried and judged, and the infinitely difficult business of creating just, humane, and habitable political structures in the region must begin anew. Right now: ceasefire. And, as we make this demand, we might remind ourselves that a ceasefire is not, primarily, a political demand. Primarily, it is an ethical one.

But it is in the nature of the political that we cannot even attend to such ethical imperatives unless we first know the political position of whoever is speaking. (“Where do you stand on Israel/Palestine?”) In these constructed narratives, there are always a series of shibboleths, that is, phrases that can’t be said, or, conversely, phrases that must be said. Once these words or phrases have been spoken ( river to the sea, existential threat, right to defend, one state, two states, Zionist, colonialist, imperialist, terrorist ) and one’s positionality established, then and only then will the ethics of the question be attended to (or absolutely ignored). The objection may be raised at this point that I am behaving like a novelist, expressing a philosophy without a politics, or making some rarefied point about language and rhetoric while people commit bloody murder. This would normally be my own view, but, in the case of Israel/Palestine, language and rhetoric are and always have been weapons of mass destruction.

It is in fact perhaps the most acute example in the world of the use of words to justify bloody murder, to flatten and erase unbelievably labyrinthine histories, and to deliver the atavistic pleasure of violent simplicity to the many people who seem to believe that merely by saying something they make it so. It is no doubt a great relief to say the word “Hamas” as if it purely and solely described a terrorist entity. A great relief to say “There is no such thing as the Palestinian people” as they stand in front of you. A great relief to say “Zionist colonialist state” and accept those three words as a full and unimpeachable definition of the state of Israel, not only under the disastrous leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu but at every stage of its long and complex history, and also to hear them as a perfectly sufficient description of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived in Israel or happened to find themselves born within it. It is perhaps because we know these simplifications to be impossible that we insist upon them so passionately. They are shibboleths; they describe a people, by defining them against other people—but the people being described are ourselves. The person who says “We must eliminate Hamas” says this not necessarily because she thinks this is a possible outcome on this earth but because this sentence is the shibboleth that marks her membership in the community that says that. The person who uses the word “Zionist” as if that word were an unchanged and unchangeable monolith, meaning exactly the same thing in 2024 and 1948 as it meant in 1890 or 1901 or 1920—that person does not so much bring definitive clarity to the entangled history of Jews and Palestinians as they successfully and soothingly draw a line to mark their own zone of interest and where it ends. And while we all talk, carefully curating our shibboleths, presenting them to others and waiting for them to reveal themselves as with us or against us—while we do all that, bloody murder.

And now here we are, almost at the end of this little stream of words. We’ve arrived at the point at which I must state clearly “where I stand on the issue,” that is, which particular political settlement should, in my own, personal view, occur on the other side of a ceasefire. This is the point wherein—by my stating of a position—you are at once liberated into the simple pleasure of placing me firmly on one side or the other, putting me over there with those who lisp or those who don’t, with the Ephraimites, or with the people of Gilead. Yes, this is the point at which I stake my rhetorical flag in that fantastical, linguistical, conceptual, unreal place—built with words—where rapes are minimized as needs be, and the definition of genocide quibbled over, where the killing of babies is denied, and the precision of drones glorified, where histories are reconsidered or rewritten or analogized or simply ignored, and “Jew” and “colonialist” are synonymous, and “Palestinian” and “terrorist” are synonymous, and language is your accomplice and alibi in all of it. Language euphemized, instrumentalized, and abused, put to work for your cause and only for your cause, so that it does exactly and only what you want it to do. Let me make it easy for you. Put me wherever you want: misguided socialist, toothless humanist, naïve novelist, useful idiot, apologist, denier, ally, contrarian, collaborator, traitor, inexcusable coward. It is my view that my personal views have no more weight than an ear of corn in this particular essay. The only thing that has any weight in this particular essay is the dead. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

The day the dinosaurs died .

What if you started itching— and couldn’t stop ?

How a notorious gangster was exposed by his own sister .

Woodstock was overrated .

Diana Nyad’s hundred-and-eleven-mile swim .

Photo Booth: Deana Lawson’s hyper-staged portraits of Black love .

Fiction by Roald Dahl: “The Landlady”

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By Ruth Margalit

By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

By Jay Caspian Kang

By Susan B. Glasser

Essay On How To Make A Difference To The World

On 5th December 2013 the world lost one of its greatest men. Can you guess who this is? It is none other than Nelson Mandela. This man unlike many other men sacrificed his life for his race, country and colour. He spent 27 years in prison and still did not give up. He truly made a difference in this world and the life he lived definitely has an impact on us. Many people believe that they don’t have what it takes to make a difference to the world. They believe only people like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and the likes, are capable of making a difference. The truth is, every one of us is put in this world to contribute and make a difference to the world in our own unique way. It need not be anything …show more content…

You don’t need to start a revolution you can do something as simple as throwing your packet of chips in the dustbin. It need not be an enormous thing it just needs to be something that you’ve done with a lot of heart and with good intentions. 2. Start Now “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank There is no one best time to start to make a difference to the world. You needn’t wait for someone to say something nice to you to say something nice back to them. You need to say something nice first. You need to take the initiative to do things. Don’t wait for others to tell you. 3. Your Contribution is Never Too Small “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.” – Author Unknown You think that everything has been taken care of by somebody and your contribution is not going to make much of a difference, then you’re wrong. You can’t stop the world from being mean, rude and spiteful but you can start by being kind. Don’t break down people with your words rather build them up. Always think twice before you say something mean. What counts is the effort you made to stop yourself from saying something

Should Ernie Barnes Be Considered A Hero?

His heroic actions in society helped a lot of people who were around him and people who knew him. He organized

Medgar Evers Research Papers

The whole nation was in shock at his death because he was a world leader in civil rights. His impact on today's society is tremendous because he has many institutes dedicated to him and helping his cause. He was so important to the world because his work led to the freedom of Americans. He granted freedom that was originally supposed to be had in the first place but was unfairly stolen from them. He is such an important piece of history because of his life's work and his legacy is so

Indian Independence Movement Gandhi Dbq Essay

This is a fair statement to make as he did do a lot of work in the Indian Independence Struggle (from here on out referred to at the Struggle) but he was not the only person involved. There were many activists and great leaders that have gone unmentioned throughout the Struggles written history. Here these individuals and groups will be exposed and the truth of their works and their true efforts acknowledged. They played a massive role in the independence of India possibly more so than Gandhi himself.

Why Is Southern Hospitality Important In Today's Society

In America’s society today there are many basic commandments that we must follow such as Southern hospitality. Young children use their manners when they are in the presence of their elders, men being gentlemen to women, don’t take another person’s life, uses common courtesy, listen to people that you look up to, and also the golden rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Why are the commandments so important in today’s society? Southern hospitality is helping people without asking for their kindness. For example being welcoming and having a pleasant spirit such as when people visit your home, helping the less fortunate at the homeless shelters.

Thurgood Marshall Accomplishments

Over the years, many people have achieved greatness in some form. Whether it is inventing things for the good of mankind, helping the poor, or championing the rights of the mentally ill; many people have made a difference in the world. Others have achieved greatness in strange ways, for example, the few who have achieved posthumous honor. Some examples of people who have worked for the greater good are Dorothea Dix, who was a champion for the rights of the mentally ill; Thomas Edison, who produced hundreds of machines for the good of mankind; and Thurgood Marshall, who fought to end segregation in universities across America. These people all strived to make a difference in the lives of not only the people close to them, but the entire world.

National Junior Honor Society Report

I always serve my community in any way possible. I am always a good leader for groups, sports, etc., I always welcome new ideas even if

Lucy Flucker Knox Quotes

You can alway do something with a positive effect. Lucy Flucker Knox was a brave and honest women. She never gave up and was optimistic. It would be good to make a good difference and be positive about it. I look up to her because she always tried to make a great, positive

Dr. Cleamon Moorer: Character Analysis

This world is filled with issues and millions of people are the victims of these issues. We not only have responsibility to our family and our community, but we also have a duty to help and care for each other in the world despite the racial and status differences. In the community setting, it is important to take part of organizations that establish rules beneficial to the public. We have a commitment on this earth, as global citizens to be beneficial and decrease the poverty, the shootings, and the plagues to make this world a better place for the present and the

Rosa Parks Refusal

You can make a difference if you do something that will change the World we live in. Maybe start recycling more, fighting for something you believe in can make a difference. Rose Parks' refusal on the bus contribute to the fight for equality because it started the Montgomery Boycott 361 days or 13 months of protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. Now today anyone no matter what color or race can sit anywhere they want

Irving Yalom's Fat Lady

We should practice controlling our countertransference that we show to others. If any, we don’t always have to express them. We should be considerate to know that others have feelings and the way we look at them or communicate with them won’t always be positive to them. Everything we do or say should be done with

Making A Difference In My Community Essay

Making a Difference in My Community What are your long-term personal and education goals? How has knowledge or awareness of your own culture and other cultures affected your understanding of yourself? What key experiences with your own and/or other cultures influenced your goals and your interactions with others? Please provide specific examples.

Socrates And Nelson Mandela Comparison

Nelson Mandela was no exception from being a good leader when it comes to his bravery to undergo harsh difficulties. Throughout his life, Mandela constantly had to reveal the heroism hidden within him, in order to go through tough situations or make onerous decisions thrown at him, not just in the political field, but also in his ordinary life. At the age of 9, Nelson Mandela’s father passed away, so in order to continue his schooling, he was sent miles away from home and his beloved family. Even in a much more sophisticated and unfamiliar environment with no relatives to take care and look after him, Nelson Mandela was still determined to study and give himself a good education for his future. (Nelson, Kadir)

Research Paper On Nelson Mandela

NELSON MANDELA Nelson Mandela is one of the influence people in the 20th century politics. He was the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 and elected by fully representative democratic election. He was also a politician, an activist, fighting against HIV/AIDS in Africa, promoting global peace and South African anti apartheid revolutionary. One thing that he did for the Africans and affects the world was about to end the apartheid, a system that try to separated the races of black skin over white skin people in South Africa. Because of him right now there is no differentiate between those people again.

Essay: Can One Person Change The World?

FLHD 1500 Can One Person Change the World? I definitely believe that it only takes one person to impact the word, make a huge difference and change it a better place. That this one person even if not being able to do a lot materially to change the world, still has the power to inspire others and help that person changes the world. It may be hard to believe, but I have a strong belief that one person can set an example for others that may affect the outcome of any and every situation. I always ask myself this question and as Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” and that is absolutely true.

Essay On Community Service

Community service does not only have a profound impact on our community, but the impact it has on the individual people is even greater. The concept of community service has always been something that I grew up with, and now that I am older I better understand how important community service is for society. I have participated in community service activities. Starting in elementary school, I helped feed the homeless and rescue animals. Even with my wide range of volunteer experience, it was difficult to find an activity that would be meaningful and fulfill my thirty-hour obligation for my senior project.

More about Essay On How To Make A Difference To The World

Related topics.

• United States
• President of the United States
• Black people
• African American
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• South Africa

• Australia edition
• Europe edition
• International edition

‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair

Exclusive: Survey of hundreds of experts reveals harrowing picture of future, but they warn climate fight must not be abandoned

• World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

Climate change series name

We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future..., they are terrified, but determined to keep fighting. here's what they said.

“Sometimes it is almost impossible not to feel hopeless and broken,” says the climate scientist Ruth Cerezo-Mota. “After all the flooding, fires, and droughts of the last three years worldwide, all related to climate change, and after the fury of Hurricane Otis in Mexico, my country, I really thought governments were ready to listen to the science, to act in the people’s best interest.”

Instead, Cerezo-Mota expects the world to heat by a catastrophic 3C this century, soaring past the internationally agreed 1.5C target and delivering enormous suffering to billions of people. This is her optimistic view, she says.

“The breaking point for me was a meeting in Singapore,” says Cerezo-Mota, an expert in climate modelling at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. There, she listened to other experts spell out the connection between rising global temperatures and heatwaves, fires, storms and floods hurting people – not at the end of the century, but today. “That was when everything clicked.

“I got a depression,” she says. “It was a very dark point in my life. I was unable to do anything and was just sort of surviving.”

Cerezo-Mota recovered to continue her work: “We keep doing it because we have to do it, so [the powerful] cannot say that they didn’t know. We know what we’re talking about. They can say they don’t care, but they can’t say they didn’t know.”

In Mérida on the Yucatán peninsula, where Cerezo-Mota lives, the heat is ramping up. “Last summer, we had around 47C maximum. The worst part is that, even at night, it’s 38C, which is higher than your body temperature. It doesn’t give a minute of the day for your body to try to recover.”

She says record-breaking heatwaves led to many deaths in Mexico. “It’s very frustrating because many of these things could have been avoided. And it’s just silly to think: ‘Well, I don’t care if Mexico gets destroyed.’ We have seen these extreme events happening everywhere. There is not a safe place for anyone.

“I think 3C is being hopeful and conservative. 1.5C is already bad, but I don’t think there is any way we are going to stick to that. There is not any clear sign from any government that we are actually going to stay under 1.5C.”

‘Infuriating, distressing, overwhelming’

Cerezo-Mota is far from alone in her fear. An exclusive Guardian survey of hundreds of the world’s leading climate experts has found that:

77% of respondents believe global temperatures will reach at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels, a devastating degree of heating;

almost half – 42% – think it will be more than 3C;

only 6% think the 1.5C limit will be achieved.

The task climate researchers have dedicated themselves to is to paint a picture of the possible worlds ahead. From experts in the atmosphere and oceans, energy and agriculture, economics and politics, the mood of almost all those the Guardian heard from was grim. And the future many painted was harrowing: famines, mass migration, conflict. “I find it infuriating, distressing, overwhelming,” said one expert, who chose not to be named. “I’m relieved that I do not have children, knowing what the future holds,” said another.

The scientists’ responses to the survey provide informed opinions on critical questions for the future of humanity. How hot will the world get, and what will that look like? Why is the world failing to act with anything remotely like the urgency needed? Is it, in fact, game over, or must we fight on? They also provide a rare glimpse into what it is like to live with this knowledge every day.

The climate crisis is already causing profound damage as the average global temperature has reached about 1.2C above the preindustrial average over the last four years. But the scale of future impacts will depend on what happens – or not – in politics, finance, technology and global society , and how the Earth’s climate and ecosystems respond.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has convened thousands of experts in all these fields to produce the most authoritative reports available, which are approved by all governments. It was founded in 1988 by the United Nations, which was concerned even at that time that global heating could “be disastrous for mankind if timely steps are not taken at all levels”.

The IPCC’s task was to produce a comprehensive review and recommendations, which it has now done six times over 35 years. In terms of scale and significance, it may be the most important scientific endeavour in human history.

The IPCC experts are, in short, the most informed people on the planet on climate. What they think matters. So the Guardian contacted every available lead author or review editor of all IPCC reports since 2018. Almost half replied – 380 out of 843, a very high response rate.

Their expectations for global temperature rise were stark. Lisa Schipper, at the University of Bonn, anticipates a 3C rise: “It looks really bleak, but I think it’s realistic. It’s just the fact that we’re not taking the action that we need to.” Technically, a lower temperature peak was possible, the scientists said, but few had any confidence it would be delivered.

Their overwhelming feelings were fear and frustration. “I expect a semi-dystopian future with substantial pain and suffering for the people of the global south,” said a South African scientist who chose not to be named. “The world’s response to date is reprehensible – we live in an age of fools.”

‘Running away from it is impossible’

So how do the scientists cope with their work being ignored for decades, and living in a world their findings indicate is on a “ highway to hell ”?

Camille Parmesan, at the CNRS ecology centre in France, was on the point of giving up 15 years ago. “I had devoted my research life to [climate science] and it had not made a damn bit of difference,” she said. “I started feeling [like], well, I love singing, maybe I’ll become a nightclub singer.”

She was inspired to continue by the dedication she saw in the young activists at the turbulent UN climate summit in Copenhagen 2009 . “All these young people were so charged up, so impassioned. So I said I’ll keep doing this, not for the politicians, but for you.

“The big difference [with the most recent IPCC report] was that all of the scientists I worked with were incredibly frustrated. Everyone was at the end of their rope, asking: what the fuck do we have to do to get through to people how bad this really is?”

“Scientists are human: we are also people living on this Earth, who are also experiencing the impacts of climate change, who also have children, and who also have worries about the future,” said Schipper. “We did our science, we put this really good report together and – wow – it really didn’t make a difference on the policy. It’s very difficult to see that, every time.”

Climate change is our “unescapable reality”, said Joeri Rogelj, at Imperial College London. “Running away from it is impossible and will only increase the challenges of dealing with the consequences and implementing solutions.”

Henri Waisman, at the IDDRI policy research institute in France, said: “I regularly face moments of despair and guilt of not managing to make things change more rapidly, and these feelings have become even stronger since I became a father. But, in these moments, two things help me: remembering how much progress has happened since I started to work on the topic in 2005 and that every tenth of a degree matters a lot – this means it is still useful to continue the fight.”

‘1.5C is a political game’

In the climate crisis, even fractions of a degree do matter: every extra tenth means 140 million more people suffering in dangerous heat. The 1.5C target was forced through international negotiations by an alliance of uniquely vulnerable small island states. They saw the previous 2C target as condemning their nations to obliteration under rising oceans and storms.

The 1.5C goal was adopted as a stretch target at the UN climate summit in Paris in 2015 with the deal seen as a triumph, a statement of true multilateral ambition delivered with beaming smiles and euphoric applause. It quickly became the default target for minimising climate damage, with UN summits being conducted to the repeated refrain of: “Keep 1.5 alive!” For the target to be breached requires global temperatures to be above 1.5C across numerous years, not just for a single year.

It remains a vital political target for many climate diplomats, anchoring international climate efforts and driving ambition. But to almost all the IPCC experts the Guardian heard from, it is dead. A scientist from a Pacific Island nation said: “Humanity is heading towards destruction. We’ve got to appreciate, help and love each other.”

Schipper said: “There is an argument that if we say that it is too late for 1.5C, that we are setting ourselves up for defeat and saying there’s nothing we can do, but I don’t agree.”

Jonathan Cullen, at the University of Cambridge, was particularly blunt: “1.5C is a political game – we were never going to reach this target.”

The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather , delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been otherwise impossible. Millions of people have very likely died early as a result already. At just 2C, the brutal heatwave that struck the Pacific north-west of America in 2021 will be 100-200 times more likely.

But a world that is hotter by 2.5C, 3C, or worse, as most of the experts anticipate, takes us into truly uncharted territory. It is hard to fully map this new world. Our intricately connected global society means the impact of climate shocks in one place can cascade around the world, through food price spikes, broken supply chains, and migration.

One relatively simple study examined the impact of a 2.7C rise , the average of the answers in the Guardian survey. It found 2 billion people pushed outside humanity’s “climate niche”, ie the benign conditions in which the whole of human civilisation arose over the last 10,000 years.

The latest IPCC assessment devotes hundreds of pages to climate impacts, with irreversible losses to the Amazon rainforest, quadrupled flood damages and billions more people exposed to dengue fever. With 3C of global heating, cities including Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Miami and The Hague end up below sea level .

“It is the biggest threat humanity has faced, with the potential to wreck our social fabric and way of life. It has the potential to kill millions, if not billions, through starvation, war over resources, displacement,” said James Renwick, at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. “None of us will be unaffected by the devastation.”

“I am scared mightily – I don’t see how we are able to get out of this mess,” said Tim Benton, an expert on food security and food systems at the Chatham House thinktank. He said the cost of protecting people and recovering from climate disasters will be huge, with yet more discord and delay over who pays the bills. Numerous experts were worried over food production: “We’ve barely started to see the impacts,” said one.

Another grave concern was climate tipping points , where a tiny temperature increase tips crucial parts of the climate system into collapse, such as the Greenland ice sheet, the Amazon rainforest and key Atlantic currents. “Most people do not realise how big these risks are,” said Wolfgang Cramer, at the Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology.

‘All of humanity needs to come together and cooperate’

In the face of such colossal danger, why is the world’s response so slow and inadequate? The IPCC experts overwhelmingly pointed to one barrier: lack of political will. Almost three-quarters of the respondents cited this factor, with 60% also blaming vested corporate interests.

“[Climate change] is an existential threat to humanity and [lack of] political will and vested corporate interests are preventing us addressing it. I do worry about the future my children are inheriting,” said Lorraine Whitmarsh, at the University of Bath in the UK.

Lack of money was only a concern for 27% of the scientists, suggesting most believe the finance exists to fund the green transition. Few respondents thought that a lack of green technology or scientific understanding of the issue were a problem – 6% and 4% respectively.

“All of humanity needs to come together and cooperate – this is a monumental opportunity to put differences aside and work together,” said Louis Verchot, at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. “Unfortunately climate change has become a political wedge issue … I wonder how deep the crisis needs to become before we all start rowing in the same direction.”

Dipak Dasgupta, an economist and former government adviser in India, said short-term thinking by governments and businesses was a major barrier. Climate action needed decade-long planning, in contrast to election cycles of only a few years, said others.

A world of climate chaos would require a much greater focus on protecting people from inevitable impacts, said many scientists, but again politics stands in the way. “Multiple trillions of dollars were liquidated for use during the pandemic, yet it seems there is not enough political will to commit several billion dollars to adaptation funding,” said Shobha Maharaj, from Trinidad and Tobago.

The capture of politicians and the media by vastly wealthy fossil fuel companies and petrostates, whose oil, gas and coal are the root cause of the climate crisis, was frequently cited. “The economic interests of nations often take precedence,” said Lincoln Alves at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.

Stephen Humphreys at the London School of Economics said: “The tacit calculus of decision-makers, particularly in the Anglosphere – US, Canada, UK, Australia – but also Russia and the major fossil fuel producers in the Middle East, is driving us into a world in which the vulnerable will suffer, while the well-heeled will hope to stay safe above the waterline” – even with the cataclysmic 3C rise he expects. Asked what individual action would be effective, he said: “Civil disobedience.”

Disinformation was a major concern for scientists from Brazil to Ukraine. This was polarising society, compounding a poor public understanding of climate risk and blinding people to the fact almost all the climate solutions needed were at hand, they said.

“The enormity of the problem is not well understood,” said Ralph Sims, at Massey University in New Zealand. “So there will be environmental refugees by the millions, extreme weather events escalating, food and water shortages, before the majority accept the urgency in reducing emissions – by which time it will be too late.”

‘Capitalism has trained us well’

“Fight for a fairer world.” That simple message from one French scientist reflected the thoughts of many, who said the huge gap between the world’s rich and poor was a giant barrier to climate action, echoing the chasm between those responsible for the most emissions and those suffering most from the impacts.

Global solidarity could overcome any environmental crisis, according to Esteban Jobbágy, at the University of San Luis in Argentina. “But current growing inequalities are the number one barrier to that.”

Aditi Mukherji, at the CGIAR research group, said: “The rich countries have hogged all the carbon budget, leaving very little for the rest of the world.” The global north has a huge obligation to fix a problem of its own making by slashing its emissions and providing climate funding to the rest of the world, she said. The Indian government recently put a price tag on that: at least $1tn a year.

Overconsumption in rich nations was also cited as a barrier. “I feel resigned to disaster as we cannot separate our love of bigger, better, faster, more, from what will help the greatest number of people survive and thrive,” said one US scientist. “Capitalism has trained us well.”

However, Maisa Rojas, an IPCC scientist and Chile’s environment minister, said: “We need to communicate that acting on climate change can be a benefit, with proper support from the state, instead of a personal burden.”

She is one of a minority of the experts surveyed – less than 25% – who still think global temperature rise will be restricted to 2C or less. The IPCC vice-chair Aïda Diongue-Niang, a Senegalese meteorologist, is another, saying: “I believe there will be more ambitious action to avoid 2.5C to 3C.”

So why are these scientists optimistic? One reason is the rapid rollout of green technologies from renewable energy to electric cars, driven by fast-falling prices and the multiple associated benefits they bring, such as cleaner air. “It is getting cheaper and cheaper to save the climate,” said Lars Nilsson, at Lund University in Sweden.

Even the rapidly growing need to protect communities against inevitable heatwaves, floods and droughts could have an upside, said Mark Pelling, at University College London. “It opens exciting possibilities: by having to live with climate change, we can adapt in ways that bring us to a more inclusive and equitable way of living.”

Such a world would see adaptation go hand in hand with cutting poverty and vulnerability, providing better housing, clean and reliable water and electricity, better diets, more sustainable farming, and less air pollution.

However, most hope was heavily guarded. “The good news is the worst-case scenario is avoidable,” said Michael Meredith, at the British Antarctic Survey. “We still have it in our hands to build a future that is much more benign climatically than the one we are currently on track for.” But he also expects “our societies will be forced to change and the suffering and damage to lives and livelihoods will be severe”.

“I believe in social tipping points ,” where small changes in society trigger large-scale climate action, said Elena López-Gunn, at the research company Icatalist in Spain. “Unfortunately, I also believe in physical climate tipping points.”

Back in Mexico, Cerezo-Mota remains at a loss: “I really don’t know what needs to happen for the people that have all the power and all the money to make the change. But then I see the younger generations fighting and I get a bit of hope again.”

Note: Julian Ganz provided the technical support to conduct the survey, which was sent on 31 January 2024. Men made up 68% of the respondents, women 28% and 4% preferred not to state their gender. This mirrors the gender split of the IPCC authors overall. A large majority of the scientists – 89% – were aged between 40 and 69 and they were from 35 different countries across the world, with every continent represented by dozens of experts. The age and gender questions were not mandatory but were answered by 344 and 346 respondents respectively.

Excerpts of footage and images taken from the Guardian’s climate coverage

• Climate crisis
• Climate science

Most viewed

Advertisement

A Timeline of the History Between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump

Nearly two decades after they met in Nevada, Daniels and Trump met face to face again in a Lower Manhattan courtroom in the first criminal trial against a former United States president.

• Share full article

By Matthew Haag and Michael Rothfeld

• Published May 7, 2024 Updated May 9, 2024

Nearly two decades after Stormy Daniels and Donald J. Trump met in Nevada, they came face to face again in a Lower Manhattan courtroom, where the first criminal trial against a former United States president is taking place.

Here is a timeline of their history:

Mr. Trump attended the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., where Wicked Pictures, the production company whose adult films Ms. Daniels starred in, had set up a tent.

According to Ms. Daniels, the two met at the event, then met again for dinner and had consensual sex in a hotel room. She said that Mr. Trump told her that she could appear on his reality television show, “The Apprentice.”

Mr. Trump had been married to his current wife, Melania, for about a year. His youngest son, Barron, had been born several months before. There are photos of Mr. Trump and Ms. Daniels at the tournament, but he has denied having sex with her.

January 2007

Ms. Daniels attended a Trump Vodka launch party at Les Deux, a club in Los Angeles.

Ms. Daniels flew to New York City and met Mr. Trump outside his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. Later that month, she attended a Miss USA event in Los Angeles with tickets that she said Mr. Trump had set aside at the box office.

A year after the Lake Tahoe golf tournament, Mr. Trump invited Ms. Daniels to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss her possible appearance on “The Apprentice,” she recalled in a 2018 interview with “60 Minutes.” She never appeared on the show.

Ms. Daniels considered selling her account of sex with Mr. Trump for $15,000 to Bauer Publishing, the publisher of “Life & Style” magazine, The Wall Street Journal reported in March 2018 . Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, heard about the possible deal and intervened. Ms. Daniels was not paid.

Ms. Daniels took a polygraph test that supported her account of having had sex with Mr. Trump.

October 2011

A gossip website, The Dirty, reported that Ms. Daniels “had sex with Donald after one of his golfing events.”

Mr. Trump secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

October 2016

After The Washington Post published a recording of Mr. Trump making lewd remarks on the set of “Access Hollywood,” the damage to his campaign gave Ms. Daniels new leverage to sell her story.

Her agent negotiated a deal with the editor of The National Enquirer, but David Pecker, then the tabloid’s publisher, declined to pay.

But Mr. Pecker had agreed to help Mr. Trump suppress bad news, as he testified. So he and Dylan Howard, the editor, tipped off Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer. They referred him to Ms. Daniels’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, to negotiate the hush-money deal.

Mr. Davidson and Mr. Cohen then exchanged emails and phone calls about a possible hush-money deal to bury Ms. Daniels’s account. Mr. Howard was also part of the negotiations.

Near the end of the month, Mr. Cohen wired Ms. Daniels $130,000 from a newly formed entity, Essential Consultants.

November 2016

Mr. Trump won the presidential election.

February 2017

The repayment to Mr. Cohen began and continued throughout the year in installments. The payments totaled $420,000, which included a reimbursement for the hush-money deal, a bonus and additional cash for tax considerations.

The Trump Organization recorded the payments as “legal expenses,” citing a legal retainer with Mr. Cohen. Prosecutors say there was no retainer and that recording the payments as “legal expenses” was a falsification of business records — the basis of the criminal charges against Mr. Trump.

January 2018

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ms. Daniels received $130,000 to stay silent about her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen made the payment to her days before the 2016 election.

Ms. Daniels denied having had an affair with Mr. Trump in a statement later in the month. Ms. Daniels later disavowed that statement and said that she felt she had no choice but to sign it.

The F.B.I. executed a search warrant on Mr. Cohen’s Rockefeller Center office and Park Avenue hotel room.

August 2018

Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court, admitting to having made illegal campaign contributions to support Mr. Trump in 2016, including his payment to Ms. Daniels.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation into the hush-money deals involving Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records stemming from Ms. Daniels’s hush-money deal.

Ms. Daniels and Mr. Trump met again at a Lower Manhattan courtroom in his criminal trial.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.

Matthew Haag writes about the intersection of real estate and politics in the New York region. He has been a journalist for two decades. More about Matthew Haag

Michael Rothfeld is an investigative reporter in New York, writing in-depth stories focused on the city’s government, business and personalities. More about Michael Rothfeld

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

News and Analysis

Michael Cohen was paid to fix Donald Trump’s problems. Now, as he prepares to take the stand in Trump’s criminal trial, he’s one of them .

Ahead of Cohen’s testimony, Justice Juan Merchan told prosecutors to keep Cohen from speaking about the case .

Witnesses have described Trump monitoring the minutiae of his business , a portrait prosecutors are drawing to help convince the jury that he couldn’t have helped but oversee the hush-money payment.

More on Trump’s Legal Troubles

Key Inquiries: Trump faces several investigations  at both the state and the federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers.

Case Tracker:  Keep track of the developments in the criminal cases  involving the former president.

What if Trump Is Convicted?: Could he go to prison ? And will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s presidential campaign? Here is what we know , and what we don’t know .

Trump on Trial Newsletter: Sign up here  to get the latest news and analysis  on the cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

In photos: At least 83 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil

By Jintak Han | May 7, 2024

Record-breaking floods in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 83 people over the past week, and another 111 were reported missing, local authorities said Monday.

Renan Mattos/Reuters

In the state capital, Porto Alegre, water levels of the Guaíba River peaked at 17.5 feet (5.33 meters) on Sunday — far exceeding the previous record of 15.6 feet (4.76 meters) observed in 1941, according to the prefectural government.

At least 291 people were injured, while damage from the rains forced more than 129,000 people from their homes. Approximately 20,000 took refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters.

May 6 | Porto Alegre, Brazil

An aerial view of the flooded Beira-Rio Stadium.

A group of volunteers on a flooded street.

Giulian Serafim/AFP/Getty Images

A car is filled with water on a flooded street in the Menino Deus neighborhood.

A military truck transports people out of the flooded area.

Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

Volunteers help residents evacuate from their homes in the Farrapos neighborhood.

May 5 | Porto Alegre, Brazil

An area after the flooding of Guaíba River.

May 5 | Canoas, Brazil

People are rescued after flooding.

Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

People are rescued by residents.

Rescue workers evacuate a flood victim.

A flooded street.

Anselmo Cunha/AFP/Getty Images

People wade through floodwaters.

People walk through floodwaters.

May 5 | Roca Sales, Brazil

Houses destroyed by floods.

Gustavo Ghisleni/AFP/Getty Images

May 5 | Jacarezinho, Brazil

People walk inside a shop destroyed by flash floods.

Diego Vara/Reuters

May 5 | Encantado, Brazil

An injured dog lies in the mud after heavy rains and floods.

Volunteers provide food, medical attention and clothing to people rescued from flooded houses at a gas station used as a meeting point.

Carlos Fabal/AFP/Getty Images

Julio Manichesque walks on the roof of his house after floods.

A flooded area after the flooding of Lake Guaiba.

May 4 | Porto Alegre, Brazil

A woman is evacuated from a flooded area.

May 4 | Canoas, Brazil

Rescue teams and volunteers help flood victims.

Alisson Moura/AFP/Getty Images

A man is rescued by military firefighters.

May 4 | Roca Sales, Brazil

A man is rescued after being injured during the floods.

May 3 | Eldorado do Sul, Brazil

Floodwaters overtake the streets.

May 3 | Porto Alegre, Brazil

A man wades through a flooded section of the city.

Carlos Macedo/AP

Residents of coastal islands near the shore of Lake Guaíba carry their belongings after being rescued.

Isaac Fontana/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

May 2 | Encantado, Brazil

A woman carries two rescued cats.

People and a dog are rescued from the islands of Lake Guaíba.

May 1 | Encantado, Brazil

Houses next to the Taquari River are submerged by floodwaters.

May 1 | Sinimbu, Brazil

A house partially destroyed by heavy rains.

A resident climbs a rescue truck.

May 3 | Encantado, Brazil

A woman walks through mud as she tries to get to her house.

May 2 | Lajeado, Brazil

Two men are rescued by military firefighters.

Jeff Botega/Agencia RBS/Reuters

People throw bags across a puddle as they evacuate flooded areas.

Vehicles covered in mud.

Horses wade through a flooded beach along the Jacui River.

People and their pets are rescued from the flooding.

Renan Mattos/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Residents are rescued by the Brazilian army.

Displaced people take shelter in a public facility.

A displaced person rests at a shelter.

More from the Post

Historic floods kill 83, leaving Brazil and its president shaken, angry

The new face of flooding

The latest from The Washington Post

Photo editing and production by Jintak Han and Troy Witcher

Springfield College grads challenged to make difference in neighborhoods, world

• Updated: May. 12, 2024, 4:10 p.m. |
• Published: May. 12, 2024, 3:52 p.m.

• Jeanette DeForge | [email protected]

SPRINGFIELD — In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the guest speaker at Springfield College. On the 60th anniversary of his speech, this year’s graduates were told to look back and follow through on the faith and optimism he showed so many years ago.

Martin Dobrow, professor of communications, served as the main speaker at this year’s commencement address, telling students he would take them on a virtual train ride to the past at the “little college that could.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.