Should Marijuana Be Legalized Essay - 1372 Words

Legalization of Weed Growing up, everyone is told that, â€Å"Drugs are bad for you,† time and time again. Now as a kid you don’t really understand the reasoning behind it, but you listen to your authority figure regardless. I remember being told this my entire life and even to this very day. But as I got older I realized that people would still use drugs even though it’s illegal. I could never understand why someone would go against the law and jeopardize their life just to use drugs? The drug that I am talking about is marijuana, and surprisingly it is all around us. Marijuana is even referred to in today’s media Mainstream media sources that people enjoy, like music, movies, and TV shows, do not even bother to leave the drug out of their system. Now being a young adult and having my own personal experience with the drug and knowing its effects on others, I wonder why it’s not legal. Why is it that this drug has become illegal all over the world? The debate t o legalize marijuana in the United States of America has been fought over nonstop since the existence of the drug. Marijuana has been tested and proven to provide a very positive impact on the American society for many reasons. Some of these reasons are for America’s economy, health and even crime. These reasons could very well help America thrive in the future and that is why Marijuana should be legalized in the United States of America. This naturally found plant known as marijuana is recognized all around theShow MoreRelatedShould Marijuana Be Legalized?849 Words   |  4 Pageswhether marijuana should be legalized. Around 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. In the state of Illinois, medicinal use of marijuana has been passed on April 17, 2013. Since January 2014, patients are able to obtain marijuana with a doctor s recommendation. The new debate is whether marijuana should be legalized for the general public as a recreational drug. Although some believe that marijuana is harmless, and that it has beneficial medicinal uses, marijuana shouldRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1715 Words   |  7 PagesMarijuana in Society Cannabis, formally known as marijuana is a drug obtained from the tops, stems and leaves of the hemp plant cannabis. The drug is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. Only substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are used more (â€Å"Marijuana† 1). In the U. S. where some use it to feel â€Å"high† or get an escape from reality. The drug is referred to in many ways; weed, grass, pot, and or reefer are some common names used to describe the drug (â€Å"Marijuana† 1). Like mostRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1489 Words   |  6 Pagescannabis plant or marijuana is intended for use of a psychoactive drug or medicine. It is used for recreational or medical uses. In some religions, marijuana is predominantly used for spiritual purposes. Cannabis is indigenous to central and south Asia. Cannabis has been scientifically proven that you can not die from smoking marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized to help people with medical benefits, econo mic benefits, and criminal benefits. In eight states, marijuana was legalized for recreationalRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1245 Words   |  5 PagesMarijuana is a highly debatable topic that is rapidly gaining attention in society today.   Legalizing marijuana can benefit the economy of this nation through the creation of jobs, increased tax revenue, and a decrease in taxpayer money spent on law enforcement.   Ã‚  Many people would outlaw alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, gambling, and tanning beds because of the harmful effects they have on members of a society, but this is the United States of America; the land of the free and we should give peopleRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1010 Words   |  5 PagesThe legalization of marijuana became a heated political subject in the last few years. Twenty-one states in America have legalized medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington are the only states where marijuana can be purchased recreationally. Marijuana is the high THC level part of the cannabis plant, which gives users the â€Å"high† feeling. There is ample evidence that supports the argument that marijuana is beneficial. The government should legalize marijuana recreationally for three main reasonsRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1231 Words   |  5 Pagesshows the positive benefits of marijuana, it remains illegal under federal law. In recent years, numerous states have defied federal law and legalized marijuana for both recreational and medicinal use. Arizona has legalized marijuana for medical use, but it still remains illegal to use recreationally. This is absurd, as the evidence gathered over the last few decades strongly supports the notion that it is safer than alcohol, a widely available substance. Marijuana being listed as a Schedule I drugRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1350 Words   |  6 Pagespolitics in the past decade would have to be the legalization of marijuana. The sale and production of marijuana have been legalized for medicinal uses in over twenty states and has been legalized for recreational uses in seven states. Despite the ongoing support for marijuana, it has yet to be fully legalized in the federal level due to cultural bias against â€Å"pot† smoking and the focus over its negative effects. However, legalizing marijuana has been proven to decrease the rate of incrimination in AmericaRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1145 Words   |  5 PagesLegalizing Marijuana Marijuana is a drug that has been actively used for centuries. This drug can be traced back to 2737 BC by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung. He spoke about the euphoric effects of Cannabis and even referred to it as the â€Å"Liberator of Sin.† Since early on, marijuana was seen as a medicinal plant that was recommended for medical uses. Marijuana is currently in schedule I, which means that physicians are not allowed to prescribe it in the United States (Hart, Ksir 2013). This drugRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?997 Words   |  4 PagesLegalize It: The Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana Should marijuana be legalized? Many Americans have been asked this question or have heard some type of news about the issue. Marijuana is commonly known as cannabis which refers to the dried up hemp plant cannabis sativa, even though marijuana is a plant and has no chemical additives it has been a tropic of controversy for many years but nowadays it is in the spotlight more than ever. For centuries, marijuana has been used by people throughout theRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized? Essay1457 Words   |  6 PagesSHOULD MARIJUANA BE LEGALIZED? Marijuana is a drug that has sparked much controversy over the past decade as to whether or not it should be legalized. People once thought of marijuana as a bad, mind-altering drug which changes a person’s personality which can lead to crime and violence through selling and buying it. In the past, the majority of citizens believed that marijuana is a harmful drug that should be kept off the market and out of the hands of the public. However, a recent study conducted

Slave Resistance - 1895 Words

Abstract Since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, captured Africans thought and plotted of ways to resist their bondage. After landing in America enslaved Africans resisted slavery in many forms; some of these were passive while others were more outright and violent. This essay will discuss forms of resistance used by slaves during their journey to America, as well as common forms of resistance slaves used while living on plantations. These forms of resistance were running away, slave revolts, and subtle day to day resistance. Regardless of the form of resistance used, slaves were not content living a life of bondage and used all means available to resist no matter the consequence. The transition into a life of slavery†¦show more content†¦Deep down the slave owners lived in the constant fear of the slaves rebelling against their lives in bondage. Slaveholders understood that as long as slavery existed so too would resistance. This is one of the reasons why slaveholders tried to improve the material conditions of the slaves. The above forms of resistance were more noticeable and sometimes violent, however, slave also resisted in subtle ways. These were known as day to day resistance. Slaves were often considered lazy and dumb by their slave owners. The image of the African slave in the Americas has left a lasting perception that all slaves were docile and eager to assimilate to the culture of their captives. The stereotypical image of a slave was that of a lazy, easy going, childlike, irresponsible, helpless, smiling, shiftless, dancing, and senseless singing slave who was content with his life as a servant. This image has transcended decades. It was b elieved that the typical African slave in the Americas did not rebel against their oppressors. This could not be further from the truth, but slaves often used this stereotype to their advantage often to get out of work and punishment. Small acts of resistance though dangerous were regular events in slave communities. â€Å"The slightest command could be wrongly interpreted or carelesslyShow MoreRelatedEssay on Slavery - Slave Resistance1173 Words   |  5 Pagescomplete myth. Most slaves were dissatisfied with their stations in life, and longed to have the right of freedom. Their owners were acutely conscious of this fact and went to great lengths to prevent slave uprisings from occurring. An example of a drastic measure would be the prohibition of slaves receiving letters. They were also not allowed to converge outside church after services, in hopes of stopping conspiracy. Yet the slaves still managed to fight back. In 1800, the first major slave rebellion wasRead MoreThe Diver se Forms Of Slave Resistance And Rebellion3083 Words   |  13 PagesTitle: The main purpose of this research is to enumerate the diverse forms of slave resistance and rebellion, also with those specific methods of each of it .Slavery society was a unique society existed in the United States of America in the 18th and 19th centuries, a dark period full of exploitation, rudeness and oppression. By analyzing, comparing and concluding both of the efficiency and affluence of various anti-slavery attempts carriedRead MoreEssay on The Impact of Slave Resistance1752 Words   |  8 Pages Slave resistance in the 18th century had a huge impact on the abolition of slavery. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence which was written in 1776, once wrote this famous phrase that, â€Å"all men are created equal.† In America, equality of humanity was long desired, sought after by slaves, and abolitionists since the first African slaves were brought over by ship to the Virginian colony in 1619. Much felt that slavery should not exist, t hat it should not be allowedRead MoreResistance and Opposition From the first slaves came resistance and rebellion in hopes of gaining700 Words   |  3 Pages Resistance and Opposition From the first slaves came resistance and rebellion in hopes of gaining freedom or simply to make the life of their owners miserable. The African people first began to rebel in their homeland. A number of attempts were made in Africa to either stop the trade or cut it down significantly.’ More attempts were made with the passing or laws preventing slave traders from trading in their village keeping that village safe. Many villages would fight against traders to keep tradingRead MoreAfrican Spirituality The Pivotal Force Of Slave Resistance1922 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"African Spirituality the Pivotal Force of Slave Resistance† Melvin Herskovits’ 1941 publication The Myth of the Negro Past argues the survival of the African culture and its substantial influence in the lives and history of Africans in the Americas. Furthermore, Sterling Stuckey argues that not only did the African religion and culture survive the Middle Passage, it became a pivotal part of the African identity in the America’s.1With that in mind the role of African spirituality was important toRead MoreSlavery - Slave Resistance1196 Words   |  5 Pagescomplete myth. Most slaves were dissatisfied with their stations in life, and longed to have the right of freedom. Their owners were acutely conscious of this fact and went to great lengths to prevent slave uprisings from occurring. An example of a drastic measure would be the prohibition of slaves receiving letters. They were also not allowed to converge outside church after services, in hopes of stopping conspiracy. Yet the slaves still managed to fight back. In 1800, the fi rst major slave rebellion wasRead MoreSlave Culture And Resistance Of Slavery Essay705 Words   |  3 PagesSlave Culture and Resistance to Slavery In chapter eleven, The Peculiar Institution: Slave Culture and Resistance to Slavery written by Eric Foner the author of Give me liberty! An American History published in 2012 briefly describes the slave culture and how it was. Included will be a piece on Incidents in the life of a slave girl, written by herself in 1861. Courtesy of University of Michigan Library, Making of America. In the Resistance to Slavery Foner will demonstrate how individuals bothRead MoreResistance Of A Slave Master s Successful Dominion : Abscondment And Suicide970 Words   |  4 Pagessupremacy in the southern United States, slaves often sought to break the chains that enabled their inhumane bondage. Most slaves were dissatisfied with the demeaning societal position forced upon them and longed to have unbounded freedom and a voice of their own. Whether a slave silently sabotaged their master by breaking their tools or pretended to be sick, violently poisoned and plotted the murder of their master, or at tempted to initiate a massive slave revolt, they ultimately aimed to diminishRead MoreThe Use Of Nonviolent Resistance By Martin Luther King Jr.1562 Words   |  7 Pages benefits, and the circumstances in which they may or may not be justified. The first technique people can use is nonviolent resistance. There are various of reasons why some people may argue nonviolent resistance is indeed very effective and stronger and more powerful than violent resistance. To begin with, it calls out attention. When one does a nonviolent resistance, it has a very powerful meaning because the people can peacefully challenge their opponent by addressing the social problem theyRead MoreThe Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s1110 Words   |  4 PagesThe leaders of the civil rights movement choose strategies of nonviolence as a tool to dismantle traditional racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality. Most followed Martin Luther King Jr. Guiding principles of nonviolence and passive resistance (cite). The leaders of the civil rights movement understood that segregation would go to any lengths to maintain the control and power over the blacks. Therefore they knew they had to show the rest of the people outside of the southern states of

Relation Between The Attitude And Behavior †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Relation Between The Attitude And Behavior. Answer: Introduction In this topic, the relation between the attitude and behavior is established to show how much an employee is committed to the success of the organization. It is the attitude out of the job satisfaction which frames out an employees attitude towards the organization. The importance of the attitude is highlighted in this topic and how it is an important to bring shape to an employees job satisfaction. The topic further discusses about the factors determining the job satisfaction of the employee and also the leadership of the manager to supervise how the staffs under him are committed to the success of the organization The Theories of Attitude and Behavior of the organizational theory is being described here in this topic. Attitude and behavior Attitude and behavior interact with each other which is supported by the attitude in question. A persons attitude with his co workers would influence the persons behavior. The situation is a yardstick which would determine the attitude and behavior of the person. A person generally with a positive attitude would leave a positive effect on the behavior of the person (Pratkanis et al 2014). However if the situation changes, the management might act accordingly with the change in situation. It is advisable that despite the changes of the attitude, his attitude would remain positive which would not change the form of behavior towards the coworkers. Daniel Katz has used for classifications of attitude according to the situation Knowledge: By using logic and rational mindset, are the ways also which help the people to form attitudes. When an organization use its logical power to explain the employers why the assignment is regarded important. This in further would produce positivity towards the assigned task and help the employees to frame out strategy to complete the task (Mcleod 2014). This classification determines the attitude of individual which is derived from the interest of the community. With the raise of income, employers would grow a positive attitude which might affect their behavior at different situations (Mcleod 2014). Defense by ego: People carry the tendency to utilize attitudes in order to protect their own ego which gives birth to the negativity. If the circumstances arise where the manager criticized the work of an employer without giving proper suggestions to the employer for the improvement, the latter would grow a negative attitude in him and would dismiss the manager on the ground of behaving foolishly just in order to protect their work (Mcleod 2014). Expressing value: Managers need to identify the circumstances which require the significance to the employers from the perspectives of the values (Shin, Taylor and Seo 2012). Having the awareness of the circumstances, the managers need the management in order to coincide with the vision of the organizations with the values of individuals, which as a result producing passion in the environment of the workforce. As mentioned before, attitude is a contagious disease which seems to influence the behavior of the people (Shin, Taylor and Seo 2012). Therefore, organizations must acknowledge influencing the attitude of the person and also the behavior of the person. The circumstances of a work environment, system of rewarding the employers, job satisfaction are the main components which encourages positive behaviors of the employers and the workforce of the organization as a whole (Mcleod 2014). Attitude Attitude is regarded as one of the significant factors which guides a person through the highs and lows of life. Attitude influences the person which in turn also leaves effects in the performances (Shin, Taylor and Seo 2012). Attitude in an organization leaves an impact over the people surrounding them. People having positive attitude encourages the co workers while the people having negative attitude discourages the co workers around them (Petty et al. 2014) Attitude tends to affect both the work performances of the employees and the co workers. Some attitudes tend to represent the harmful elements in the workplaces which can affect the employees performances. Attitudes can be either negative or the positive perceptions of the person, place event or a thing which are often regarded as the object of attitude. Attitudes are regarded as the judgments and they are developed on the model of ABC which stands for Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive (Greenwald et al. 2013). The response based on affective is considered as a response based on emotions which represent the preference of an individual for a particular organization. The behavioral attitude is based on the verbal form of indication or represents the typical tendency of behavior of an individual. Cognitive response represents the belief of an individual about the object. Attitudes are depended on Job Satisfaction: It is a assembly of positive or negative feelings that a person has towards the work does. Involvement in job: Actively taking part in the job and regarding the importance of the performance to the self. Commitment made to the organization: A person must carry a positive attitude in order to identify the goals of the particular organization and also a wish must be there in a person whether to maintain the membership in the organization or not (Albarracin, Johnson and Zanna 2014). Attitudes generally support people to get adjusted with their working environment. The well treatment must be given to the employees in order to make them develop the positive attitude towards the organization, management and posts that they are holding. On the other hand, however, the person who is not treated well by the organization develops gradually a negative attitude (Albarracin, Johnson and Zanna 2014). This means that the attitude give support to the employees to get adjusted to their environment in order to form basis for the behavior. Factors determining Job satisfaction Job satisfaction determines the environment of the work is the important factor of the employees job. The attitude of the employee is also determined by the job satisfaction provided to them. The job satisfaction also arises out backup provided by the HR manager to attain high performance levels (Yucel 2012). Factors which determine the job satisfaction are Organizational Factors and The personal factors The organizational factors contain Occupational level Job happiness Payment opportunities Work conditions Establishing relationship with supervisors (Yucel 2012; Eslami and Gharakhani 2012). Occupational level: If the level of the job is higher, satisfaction would be greater for the individual. The reason behind this is that a job of higher level contains good prestige and as a result the individual becomes self determined (Thomson and Phua 2012). Job happiness: If the variation of the job happiness is greater having less repetitiveness on the basis of which the task must be done, the satisfaction of the individual would be more. Opportunities for payment: Job satisfaction comes when the individual is satisfied with the good amount of payments and promotions. If the payment is done on time with the required amount, this in turn brings satisfaction to the individuals (Thomson and Phua 2012). Work conditions: the environment where the individual works is regarded as an encouraging environment if it proves to be conducive having a beautiful workplaces or the better environment. Effective managers must know about the facts that their employees want recognition in terms of the efforts they have given. The employees always look forward to allow wage discussion with the supervisors regarding the problems they are facing in the office works (Thomson and Phua 2012). As far as the personal factors are concerned, the individuals are satisfied with the jobs that suit their interest. If they are satisfied with the job, the individual achieves greater satisfaction in their working sphere (Thomson and Phua 2012). Managers responsibility It is the responsibility of the managers to look into the fact that how important to supervise how the staffs are committed. The job satisfaction of the employers enhances the employees satisfaction of job and their performances. The job satisfaction is the support of the management, job security and most importantly the effective leadership of the managers towards their staffs. The behavior of the managers is to influence give motivation and make the employees enable to contribute in their success of the organization (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The behavior of the leadership of the managers is to utilize their quality of leadership and encourage the employers to contribute in the organizations success. According to a some surveys, it has been stated that the repost which has put forwarded by the Employees stated that showing of loyalty to employees by the managers, job security and good pay for the employees are considered to important motivators for the employees in the organization. The managers are generally happy that the job satisfaction out of the organizational commitment is the sufficient salaries, job security and recognition (Nielson 2013). However, if the Manager recognizes the good performance it increases the satisfaction of the employees. In many organizations, the employers want the managers to communicate them the necessary things to the employees instead of participating as a leader. The good managers always look forward to meet the business goals and also ensure whether the employee is also depending on the same strategic vision. The good manager always tends to pinpoint the required objectives to a team who is leading a project and make sure that the employees are equally committed to the works of the project (Mowday et al. 2013). Conclusion On a concluding note it could be stated that, the importance of behavior and attitude are equally important in terms of mending the character of a person. In an organization, an attitude always works on the behavior of the person. The job satisfaction, organizational commitment and also the importance of attitude are being the important criterion for managing the behavior in the working place. The organizational factors are the determinant factors which influence the employees job satisfaction. Lastly, the managers role as a leadership is important to look into the fact that to what extent the employees are ebing commited to the success of the organization. References Albarracin, D., Johnson, B.T. and Zanna, M.P. eds., 2014.The handbook of attitudes. Psychology Press. Eslami, J. and Gharakhani, D., 2012. Organizational commitment and job satisfaction.ARPN Journal of Science and Technology,2(2), pp.85-91. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Greenwald, A.G., Brock, T.C. and Ostrom, T.M. eds., 2013.Psychological foundations of attitudes. Academic Press. McLeod, S., 2014. Attitudes and behavior.Retrieved on March,10, p.2015. Mowday, R.T., Porter, L.W. and Steers, R.M., 2013.Employeeorganization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press. Nielsen, K., 2013. How can we make organizational interventions work? Employees and line managers as actively crafting interventions.Human Relations,66(8), pp.1029-1050. Petty, R.E. and Krosnick, J.A., 2014.Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences. Psychology Press. Pratkanis, A.R., Breckler, S.J. and Greenwald, A.G., 2014.Attitude structure and function. Psychology Press. Shin, J., Taylor, M.S. and Seo, M.G., 2012. Resources for change: The relationships of organizational inducements and psychological resilience to employees' attitudes and behaviors toward organizational change.Academy of Management Journal,55(3), pp.727-748. Thompson, E.R. and Phua, F.T., 2012. A brief index of affective job satisfaction.Group Organization Management,37(3), pp.275-307. Ycel, ?., 2012. Examining the relationships among job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: An empirical study.International Journal of Business and Management,7(20), p.44.

Water Pollution Through Urban and Rural Land Use and Freshwater Allocation in New Zealand free essay sample

Water pollution through urban and rural land use and freshwater allocation in New Zealand New Zealand has 425,000  kilometres of rivers and streams, almost 4,000  lakes larger than 1  hectare in size, and about 200  groundwater aquifers (Ministry for the Environment, 2010). By international standards, freshwater in New Zealand is both clean and in good supply. However, some aspects of water quality are getting worse in areas dominated by intensive land use. Demand for water is increasing, particularly in areas that are already water-stressed. Water pollution is becoming an ongoing problem for New Zealand. Both Urban and Rural land uses are creating pollution in our water and degrading the quality of our water. Growing demand for water resources in many parts of New Zealand during the last two decades has increased competition and conflicts between different stakeholders for access to scarce surface water and groundwater resources. To try to enable more sustainability in the use of our freshwater, we need to learn to balance and control how much water we use and where it is most needed. We will write a custom essay sample on Water Pollution Through Urban and Rural Land Use and Freshwater Allocation in New Zealand or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Poor or declining water quality has already created direct costs, such as the nearly $450  million allocated over the next 10 to 20 years to the clean-up of Lake Taupo, Rotorua Lakes and the Waikato River, and can constrain economic opportunities (Ministry for the Environment 2010). In New Zealand, it is increasingly recognised, including by government, that water resource allocation and water quality are issues of national importance. Agriculture is frequently portrayed by New Zealand media as a major user of water and a major contributor to worsening water quality. (R. Cullen, 2006). Ministry for the Environment (1997, p. 88) said that: â€Å" Water quality is generally high around the coast, in deep lakes, and in the headwaters of most rivers, and in many cases this is maintained into lowland areas. However, water quality deteriorates in streams, rivers and lakes which drain agricultural catchments, with agricultural run-off causing elevated nutrient and sediment loads. † Water Quality Water quality is a term that is based upon the characteristics of water in relation to values of what is suitable for human consumption and for all usual domestic purposes, including personal hygiene. Components of water quality include microbial, biological, chemical, and physical aspects. Microbial aspects means that drinking water should not contain bacteria that would indicate excremental pollution, the primary indicator of which are coli form bacteria that are present in the faeces of warm-blooded organisms. Biological aspects show that parasitic protozoa are also indicators of water quality. Drinking water sources that are not likely to be contaminated by fecal matter should be used where possible due to the lack of good indicators for the presence or absence of pathogenic protozoa. Chemical mean that chronic health effects are more common than acute effects because the levels of chemicals in drinking water are seldom high enough to cause acute health effects. Since there is limited evidence relating chronic human health conditions to specific drinking-water contaminants, laboratory animal studies and human data from clinical reports are used to predict adverse effects. Physical aspects of the water quality means the color, taste, and odour of water can be monitored. Inorganic compounds such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, copper, iron, and zinc are generally detected by the taste of water, and contamination with the oxygenated fuel additive MTBE has affected the taste of some water. Freshwater Allocation Growing demand for water resources in many parts of New Zealand during the last two decades has increased competition and conflicts between different stakeholders for access to scarce surface water and groundwater resources. However, while the RMA planning framework is innovative in a number of important respects, regional councils have evidently found it difficult to satisfactorily address water conflicts within the framework of the RMA. The RMA provides for regional councils to formulate policy statements and plans to allocate water resources and to allocate water to different uses under the resource consent process. The Act ties the granting of water permits for consumptive purposes to specific activities on or at particular sites. (Skelton, 2007). New Zealand needs to reduce our water usage if we want to keep the resource sustainable. According to studies completed by the Ministry for The Environment (2010), there were more than 20,500 resource consents for taking water. Around two-thirds of consents permit taking water from groundwater sources, however, the volume of water allocated from surface water sources (rivers and streams) is four times higher than from groundwater sources. In 2010, the majority of consumptive weekly allocations were for irrigation (46 per cent) and hydro generation (41 per cent). The remainder is shared among public drinking water supply, industry and stock watering. All of the volume for the hydro generation is for the Manapouri hydro take in Southland, which discharges the allocated fresh water to sea. [ (MFE, 2010) ] Use of weekly allocated water in New  Zealand, 2010 Retrieved from http://www. mfe. govt. nz Agriculture and Freshwater Agricultural land use has a significant impact on water quality and the availability of fresh water, particularly in New Zealand’s lowland streams. The amount of pollution from diffuse sources, such as urban storm water, animal effluent and fertiliser run-off, has greatly increased in the past 20 years. To improve water quality farmers must learn that the effect of their management practices on water resources can have a negative effect on future generations. Managing stock levels, planting vegetation at the edge of rivers and streams (riparian planting) and other sustainable farming practices all help reduce the levels of farm effluent, excess nutrients and chemicals entering waterways. The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord was created. This is a voluntary agreement between Fonterra Co-operative Group (the largest dairy company in New Zealand), regional councils and the Ministers for the Environment and of Agriculture and Forestry. This was signed in May 2003, to try and achieve clean, healthy waterways in dairying regions (Ministry for the Environment, 2008). Urban land use and Freshwater Cities and towns exhibit some of the most intensive land use in New Zealand. It is not surprising that some of our most degraded streams are in these urban areas. Storm water runoff has the greatest effect on urban water quality and also on the flows of urban water. Action needs to be taken now to prevent further decline in water quality of urban waters, and to protect our pristine water bodies. The Government is developing national policies, such as the proposed National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management, to ensure that these objectives are met. Methods to improve discharges could include improved discharge treatment, riparian planting, wetland restoration and public education programmes, as well as improved approaches to town planning and development, such as low-impact urban design. (Ministry for the Environment, 2008) The Sustainable Water Programme of Action In 2003, the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry jointly launched the Sustainable Water Programme of Action (SWPoA) to identify priorities for government action to improve freshwater management in New Zealand. By 2007, government had approved the development of a national policy statement on freshwater, as well as two national environmental standards, including one that will ensure methods used to allocate water are geared to safeguard aquatic ecosystems. The New Zealand Government’s Sustainable Water Programme of Action was developed in response to growing concern among New Zealanders about the future sustainability of fresh water and the need for greater consistency in decision-making on freshwater management. The many Maori iwi found around the country want to protect the water of New Zealand as it is sacred to them and provides them with resources. Although the long-held connection that Maori have with freshwater resources and their role as kaitiaki in managing them has been formally recognised in New Zealand legislation and policy, there remains a gap between these initiatives and the realisation of Maori values in water-planning processes. It is essential Maori values are understood and accounted for when decisions are made regarding water allocations within these systems. In this context, then, increasing Maori involvement in freshwater management, including water allocation processes, has become a key component of the Government’s programme to improve water allocation decisions. (M Durette 2009) During my studies I have found that New Zealand has a huge problem with pollution and water use. If we want to keep the freshwater quality high and healthy, we need to seriously look into allocation of water to the different uses and balance it out in the amounts needed for each use. Personally, I think that the New Zealand government should start charging for the use of water. I think that this would be a good way to discourage people to use high amounts of unnecessary water. If we kept the water quality around where it is currently at, or even higher, it would save a lot of money that is being used to clean up the lakes in New Zealand. The pollution through rural and urban land use has to be more publicised as not many people know how much damage they are doing to the environment. If a campaign was set up to show the population what is happening to our freshwater resources, they would be more aware and informed of the situation and how they can do their part to save the resource.