E-commerce Internet Shopping

E-commerce Internet Shopping Is e-commerce boundary-less? Effects of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance on internet shopping. Abstract: Regardless of the unusual growth of internet during the last few years, the enormous business potentials of the internet remain largely untapped. There is a general observation that with the internet, national and international boundaries should become irrelevant when engaging in business exchanges. There exist two national cultural dimensions, individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance and their interaction that influences internet shopping rates across a wide spectrum of countries. For countries lower in uncertainty avoidance, individualistic cultures show higher internet shopping rates than do collectivist cultures. Implications for national and internet firm-level web design strategies are discussed. Problem Statement: Is e-commerce boundary-less? Effects of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance on internet shopping. Although the adoption rate of internet shopping is relatively high in the west, it is still generally unpopular in the east. In spite the promises of the greater global customer reach and potential profits; internet shopping adoption is still systematically affected by cultural differences. National wealth also contributes towards the adoption of internet shopping, because money is needed for necessary internet access infrastructure, subscription of internet services, and online purchases. Although national wealth alone cannot account for the vastly different internet shopping rates among high gross GDP countries. The adoption of internet shopping is jointly effected by a set of contextual factors i.e. national income and educational level as well as two major cultural factors, namely, individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. Research Objectives: The objective of this research is to find the effects of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance on internet shopping keeping under consideration the Internet shopping adoption rate, individualism index, uncertainty avoidance index, per capita GDP, educational level, unemployment rate, and crime rate. Hypothesis 1: Internet shopping adoption rates are higher for countries with relatively lower uncertainty avoidance levels. Hypothesis 2: Internet shopping adoption rates are higher for individualist than for collectivist countries. Hypothesis 3a: For countries with high relatively high uncertainty avoidance levels, individualism-collectivism shows little impact on internet shopping rates. Hypothesis 3b: for countries with relatively low uncertainty avoidance levels, the individualist countries show higher Internet shopping adoption rates than the collectivist countries. Importance / benefit of study: The importance of this study is that it addresses the issues and problems related to internet shopping and will also help in working around these issues and problems. It will also help in the regulation of e-commerce activities in a proper and efficient manner. Research Design: Exploration: Quantitative. The data was mainly collected from Global e-Commerce Report, Hofstede, World Fact book and United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, Institute for statistics online base. Data Analysis: The dependent variable under observation is Internet shopping adoption rate by country. Internet shopping adoption rate is the percentage of internet users, who have bought goods or services during the past month. Data on internet shopping adoption rate were obtained from the Global e-Commerce Report of Taylor Nelson Sofres (2001). This report consists of data from 36 countries derived from interviewing a total of 42,742 people. The two independent variables are individualism index and uncertainty avoidance index. The data for both these variables was obtained from Hofstede, which includes 50 countries. The control variables are per capita GDP, educational level, unemployment rate, and crime rate. The data for GDP and unemployment rate was collected from World Fact book, The International Monetary Fund (2001). Data for educational level was obtained from United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, Institute for statistics online base. Data for internet crime rate was derived from the total sum of the number of offences contained in national crime statistics and major categories of reported crime in each of the Interpol member countries. Nature and Form of Results Schedule: The results which can be concluded from the whole study are: Higher the income levels of a country, the higher the internet penetration rate. It can also be concluded from the case that taking income into consideration, educational level, unemployment rate, crime rate, and economic growth rate do not significantly affect internet penetration. Internet shopping adoption rate is negatively correlated with uncertainty avoidance, but positively correlated with individualism-collectivism. The relationship of uncertainty avoidance with internet shopping adoption is not as strong as expected, and is not significant. All the results support our hypotheses. National income plays a very important rate in both internet penetration rate and adoption rate of internet shopping. It can also be said that whether it is online or offline shopping, the higher the income level, the higher the purchasing power. Cultural factors also play an important role in affecting internet shopping behavior, over and above the effect due to national income and educational levels. Internet shopping is still at its infancy for some countries. The result also support that dimensions of national culture affect internet shopping rate. The national government level, macro level policies that are designed to suit the local culture can be implemented to stimulate the adoption of internet shopping. Facilities and Resources: The resources of this case study are Global e-Commerce Report, Hofstede, World Fact book and United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, Institute for statistics online base. Bibliography: References: Anderson, J.C. Naurus, A. (1990) ‘A model of distributor firm and manufacturer firm working partnerships, Journal of marketing 54(1): 42-58 Hirschey, M. and Pappas, J.L (1993) Managerial Economics, 7th edn, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers: Orlando, FL. Hofstede, C.H. (2001) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind, McGraw -Hill: London. Leung, K. and Bond, M.H (2004) ‘Social exioms: a model for social beliefs in multicultural perspective, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 36: 119-197. Lynn, R. and Martin, T. (1995) ‘National differences for 37 nations in extroversion, neuroticism psychoticism and economic, demographic and other correlates, Personality and Individual Differences 19: 403-406. Morris, M.W., Williams, K.Y., Leung, K., Larrick, R., Mendoza, (1998) ‘Conflict management style: accounting for cross national differences, Journal for International Business studies 29(4): 729-747. The International Police Organization (Interpol) (2003) Online data, http://www.interpol.com The International Monetary Fund (2001) ‘World economic outlook data.

Media’s Sexualization of Children :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

  Ã‚  Ã‚   One very disturbing trend in fashion, advertising, and particularly recently in the music industry is the sexualization of children, especially girls. They are constantly portrayed as sexual caricatures of adults. In some cases, young children are portrayed scanty-clad. In yet others, they are wearing such outfits and mimicking sexual poses. In other cases, a teenager or young adult is dressed in a way to make her appear younger. She may be wearing a cheerleader uniform, a school-girl uniform, she may be posing clutching a stuffed animal, or with dolls, etc. and she is often posed in a sexual fashion. Britney Spears is the most notable example of this. The then seventeen-year-old donned a little school girl uniform complete with pigtails for her "Baby One More Time" video. However, that uniform blouse was tied up to reveal her mid-drift and her skirt was cut short. There are a wide variety of pictures of Britney Spears available, particularly on the web. It's quite disturbing to flip through these pictures and see one of Miss Spears standing next to a school bus smiling sweetly, then one of her in a tiny cheerleader outfit lying provocatively in the bed of a truck, and then one of her tearing her clothes off. Her early photographs painted her as "the girl next door" type. Even the cover to her first album was a picture of her completely clothed and smiling sweetly. Her photographs and videos then captured her as a school girl "sex kitten", making her appear younger, yet sexualizing her image with tiny tops and skirts.    Our popular culture and our modern society seem to be speeding up the sexualization of young girls. We have a problem in our culture and her name is Britney Spears. When I say "Britney Spears" I mean, of course, all her clones as well, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, etc. All of these girls are either under or hover very close to the age of consent... These girls are marketed specifically to preteen girls and they are not singing about sugar and spice; they are singing about sex. "Give it to me / I'm so addicted to the loving that you're feeding me / Ohhh / Can't do without it, this feeling's got me weak in the knees/ Oh, baby / Body's in withdrawal every time you take it away/ Ohhh/." (Kleinheider)

Internet :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Recording Industry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We all listen to music wether we want to or not. Its in our homes, watching TV, driving in our car, going to the store, its unavoidable. Then why is the recording Industry trying to make people feel guilty about burning â€Å"illegal† CDs, when we can go to the mall and hear as much music for free as we want . I for one will never feel guilty because I always support the artist I download, by buying his/her cd’s or going to their concerts. The industry has always been about money instead of music. They are just mad because consumers have finally figured them out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first record created was in eighteen-seventy-seven. The song was Mary Had a Little Lamb. The artist/Inventor was Thomas Edison. Edison had created the worlds first phonograph, capable of playing back up to two to three minutes worth of recordings. His invention started a cultural revolution that went hand in hand with its cousin, the industrial revolution. The idea that sound could be recorded and played back at our pleasure was astonishing. I’ am sure no one had in mind the endless profits one could make. Profit was a word that would be associated with music about thirteen years later, because in eighteen-ninety the jukebox was first introduced at a bar in San Francisco. In it’s first six months of operation the coin operated machine grossed over one- thousand dollars. It did not take a genius to realize that the United State’s was home to thousand’s of bar’s each capable of making equal or greater value. Thus music and mone y became synonymous. Singer’s and songwriter’s were no longer artists, but commodities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Along with money comes greed and in nineteen-hundred when Thomas Lambert invented a way of mass-duplicating his patent of â€Å"indestructible† phonograph cylinder’s, and although the patent was upheld in court, costly lawsuit’s filed by Edison put him out of business just seven years after his invention.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Record’s became an instant hit with the American public. People were flocking to bar’s to listen to recorded sound. The library of congress began recording and saving â€Å"Sounds of America† to preserve popular and influential music of the time, everything from bluegrass to classical. It was no surprise that the general public soon yearned for their own way of playing record’s from the comfort and privacy of their home’s. In 1906 a company called victor introduced a enclosed phonograph player that had been designed to look like a piece of furniture.

Racism & Freedom Writers

When I was reading the section of Racism in Multicultural Class, the facilitator’s way of handling the subject â€Å"Racism† reminds me ‘’Freedom Writers† the movie, which is based on a book of Erin Gruwell -a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach. She chose the school because of its integration program, but she did not expect a class consist of students who have racist problem. Students splitted into different racial groups, who are ready for fighting, hate each other, but also they hate Erin more than anybody else.On the other hand, senior teachers of the school just ignored the students and they did not make an effort to pave for solving racist problems. Somehow teachers believed that students come to school because of their parents’ insistency and they are not eager to study. Actually, teachers did not want to budge from their privileged positions. When Erin attempted to take a step for the good of students, she is told to do just her job –train them discipline and to obey the rules.Instead being a commanding teacher, Erin wanted to provide a safe space for students to express their feeling, so she asked them to write their own diaries as an assignment, which is not graded. Despite all the resistance, students started to develop trust to her and wrote everything about what it feels to be ‘other’. After they share their narratives and started to communicate with each other.They develop more sensitiveness and interest to other ethnicities by engaging class activities such as visiting the Museum Of Tolerance, and reading the stories from history The Diary of Anne Frank. Erin was happy to see the transformation of them. Before, the students did not have any motivation to success and refuse to interact with other groups because of they do not have hope, but after they develop awareness about tolerance and importance of each life. Erin gave these children what they are not offered befor e. Respect is the key of the racism problems.

Marketing Make Up

There are several marketing approaches that can be used to launch a new product in the market. However, there are also some advantages and disadvantages which can be incurred while putting a definite advertising strategy into action. One type of marketing is called the USP or the Unique Selling Proposition. This aims to present the uniqueness of the product which other commodities do not have. The main advantage of such process can be attributed by setting apart the make up brand’s features and effects to one’s visual appeal. An additional or breakthrough substance can be realized for marketing attraction. However, the main disadvantage is that the product’s effect can vary from person to person. It is possible that there will be a group of consumers who will not be able to acquire the brand’s promise and may end up tarnishing the credibility of the brand. Another type of advertising technique is called Comparative Advertising. The process involves the acquisition of another brand name with the same product line up and comparing its quality and features side by side with the brand being advertised. This can be a very good approach in catching the attention of the consumers since the ready made features of the products can be observed in a form of testing. However, there can also be issues wherein consumers may realize that if they are getting the same characteristics of the product, then most likely brand will not be a factor but consequently the market price. Fear appeal is commonly used in relaying the consequential pattern of events if no reliable product is available. Because of such effect, the consumers will be forced to purchase a marketed item because of their anxiety experiences as pictured in the advertisement. The major attribute here is to arouse the consciousness of the viewers to change their attitude in buying and divert their attention to the brand being advertised (Associated Content, 2007). On the negative aspect, the advertiser will not have any clue whether the consumers will alternatively change their buying habits in favor of the brand. Since different perception and individual opinions will be involved, it can be very difficult to identify whether the people who will see the advertisement will get the intended message. Using a celebrity endorsement can also be one of the most effective ways to advertise a make up brand. Apparently, celebrities can easily attract buyers because of their reputation status in the entertainment industry. The more popular the actress is, the higher the probability that the masses will believe her position in using the make up brand. One grave consequence of this however can be on the part of investment cost. Since these individuals will require an enormous talent fee, a huge decision making process should be implemented by the advertiser. A slice of life ad is a technique in which situations with problems are presented to be solved using the product. Usually, these ads are too dramatic that audiences will be able to impart and relate their personal experiences (Answers, 2007). This can help the brand name to completely interact on the personal feelings of the consumers. One possible negative effect can be realized due to the limitation of the scope. Of course, not all people will be able to consider the situations presented in the advertisement to be factually true. The form of advertising in the essence of sex appeal is also used for many cosmetic and personal care brands. Since the make up industry primarily targets the female populace, different strategies of projecting the highest levels of sex appeal are instrumented. One good approach is to present and ad which focuses on the physical characteristic of the model. This will become the standard of the viewing consumers which will help in making them buy the item. However, giving them (consumers) the idea of involving sex appeal considerations can easily lure them to purchase other product lines which may use more appealing models. Lastly, the humor approach in advertising can be used. In some cases, humorous advertising can make it very light for the viewers to accept the main advantages of using the product being advertised. However, it can also project a certain form of apathy since the advertisers or the brand itself may project non-professionalism which may affect their credibility. References Answers Corporation. 2007. Slice of Life. Answers.com. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from http://www.answers.com/topic/slice-of-life-advertisement?cat=biz-fin. Associated Content. 2007. Fear Appeal Messages and their Effectiveness in Advertising-Severin and Tankard. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/27813/fear_appeal_messages_and_their

Middle School Essay

As we start this new school year, I wish to welcome all of you to Roberto Clemente Middle School. In the previous year, we have introduced and developed new ways to teach students and maximize their capabilities in learning different subjects and disciplines. Even if there are problems encountered along the way, your efforts and inputs have been vital to create new methods and alternatives to address these issues. As we enter to school year 2009-2010, I encourage each one to continue supporting our projects and endeavors to further develop student growth and achievement. Through the years, Roberto Clemente Middle School has sought to improve our education and facilities by constantly training teachers and introducing new practices wherein they can learn and develop. At the same time, to meet the challenges of 21st century education, our faculty and administrators have aligned new systems of instruction and presented new ways to appreciate information with the use of new technological alternatives. To continue pursuing our vision for excellence, Roberto Clemente Middle School shall continue its pursuit of effective instruction as well as dwelling into new ideas that can improve practice. We believe that for your children to grow and develop holistically, it is crucial to raise appreciation and motivation. Due to this, our programs are focused on setting the balance between what students need and your expectations. We deem that this process can create new avenues for our students to become adaptive to the changing trends of the current time. This year, we seek to improve our state scores by addressing on subject areas that are lagging behind standards. For example, we have hired some new and experienced Math teachers. Their inclusion into the faculty can help encourage our teachers to learn and develop in the process. At the same time, our educators in English and Math have undergone seminar and training to introduce and develop new teaching strategies available today. This can help them address further your children’s needs and develop a better learning environment in the classroom. These together with the results shall be communicated to you accordingly in the meetings we shall be setting up for you. To ensure your active participation and involvement this year, Roberto Clemente Middle School has come up with different programs and schemes that enable everyone to take part in helping reach our vision and goals. One approach we seek to do is encouraging parents and guardians to take part in meetings. The time frame for this would be the second week of July which would run from 9am – 3:00pm. In here, I and teachers shall be available for consultation and open forum of significant and relevant issues that may be of interest for everyone. At the same time, part of the responsibility of teachers is to enhance communication is by formally writing letters showing the progress of your children in school. This can actively give you insights and ideas of his/her standing compared to other students. Likewise, it can encourage sharing of opinions and thoughts on issues significant for your child’s growth. With your inputs and opinions, we can derive new approaches and schemes that are suitable on both parties. These approaches can help you in monitoring the progress of your child and finding ways to participate in guiding and exploring opportunities for improvement. It is through these aims and goals that I seek to promote the necessary plans for this school year. Your participation and cooperation in these initiatives can help us recognize these visions and remain to be dynamic and accountable for every action we pursue. Again, welcome to Roberto Clemente Middle School and thank you for your trust in what our school can offer for your children.

Botany of a City Essay

The story of each community can be determined by its plant life. Plant life can determine what will inhabit the area and what the economy will thrive on. Atlanta, Georgia is no exception. When the first European explorers reached the upper Piedmont of Georgia, it was already inhabited by Creek Indians, also known as the Muskogee. The Creek Indians believed that there were supernatural powers attributed to all natural things. They used many plants in healing the sick and also believed that there were plants that would provide them with greater hunting powers. The majority of Creek territory was located in the hilly Piedmont. The vegetation was an oak-pine forest, composed of a mixed growth of oak, pine, sassafras, chestnut, and hickory trees. In Indian Territory, Creek lands were a mosaic of oak woodland, tall-grass prairie, and bottomland hardwood forest changing to a mixed long and short-grass prairie on the western periphery of their region. The bulk of the area encompassed a forested belt known as the Cross Timbers. â€Å"Creek Indians chose to settle in stream bottomlands, and tried to avoid the heavily timbered and tall-grass prairie areas. They favored areas that provided reliable wood qand water sources. Limited agriculture, widespread livestock husbandry, and increasingly dispersed tribal towns continued to characterize the Creek landscape. † (Swanton, 2000) This inhabitation of the Creek Indians extended into the early 1800s. The Decatur area was treatied over from the Creeks in 1820. Many people assume that Native Americans left the forests virtually untouched; however, this is not true. Native Americans cleared, farmed, and burned the landscape of Georgia, in some areas greatly impacting and changing the natural landscape. In the Atlanta area, indigenous populations apparently never attained sizable numbers. Therefore, their influence on the present Atlanta landscape probably was minimal. (Swanton, 2000) Many plants native to the Atlanta area were used by both the Indians and others for their medicinal value. The cornus florida (Dogwood tree) is a flowering tree that will reach a height of 25 feet at maturity with a 25 foot spread. A variety of Dogwood trees can be found throughout the country, but the red Dogwood is more common to the southern regions of the country. The red Dogwood grows in acidic, loamy, moist, rich, sandy, well drained, clay soils. The red Dogwood has red blooms that appear in the spring. This tree has glossy, red fruit eaten by birds when ripened in the fall. Flowering dogwood was used medicinally by a number of native North American Indian tribes who valued it especially for its astringent and antiperiodic properties. The dried root-bark is antiperiodic, astringent, diaphoretic, mildly stimulant and tonic. The flowers are said to have similar properties. A tea or tincture of the astringent root bark has been used as a quinine substitute to treat malaria and also in the treatment of chronic diarrhea. The bark has also been used as a to treat external ulcers and wounds. The inner bark was boiled and the tea drunk to reduce fevers and to restore a lost voice. A compound infusion of the bark and the root has been used in the treatment of various childhood diseases such as measles and worms. It was often used in the form of a bath. The fruits are used as a bitter digestive tonic. The 1830s to the 1930s was the time of great expansion of agriculture in the Georgia Piedmont. Cotton was a primary crop and land that was flat enough to plow became agricultural land. Even areas of forests were cleared for the production of cotton. This left the ground unprotected from erosion and the loss of topsoil. Cotton as a crop drains the soil of nutrients and in the 1930s the soils became poor. Many farms went bankrupt and farmers abandoned their fields. It wasn’t long before the pines quickly reclaimed most fields, and forestry became the agriculture of the Piedmont. Pines could survive in the poor soils, and the Piedmont gradually reforested, although it has not returned to its original state. From 1930 to 1960, Atlanta slowly grew from a primarily suburban and rural city to a large urban city. Further growth took place from 1965 to present. This period of time saw tremendous residential, industrial, and transportation growth. Atlanta became the great international city that it is today. This expansion eliminated many of our trees, changed drainage patterns, increased impermeable surfaces, and fragmented and isolated habitat patches. (Livingston & Shreve, 1921) Cotton was a primary contributing factor to the growth of Atlanta’s agricultural industry. Cotton grows in a warm climate, with rich soil. Cotton requires a 160-day frost free growing period. Cotton is unique in that the entire plant can be utilized in different ways. The fiber or lint is used in making cotton cloth. Linters provide cellulose for making plastics, explosives, high quality paper products and processed into batting for padding mattresses, furniture and automobile cushions. The cotton seed is crushed and separated, with the oil being used for cooking, and the hulls being used as meal for livestock, or fertilizer. Cotton is a labor intensive crop and expanded the role of slavery in the south. Without the use of slave labor, it is unlikely that farmers would have been able to produce enough cotton to survive. Prior to the Civil War, the cotton industry was challenged as slaves and land became more expensive and harder to find. Farmers tried to plant cotton anywhere they could find, using even poor soil. Cotton growing was proving to be profitable and anyone who could take part in the industry did. With the use of slave labor and the boom of the cotton industry, there became a division of class and race in Atlanta’s society. (www. georgianencyclopedia. com) As a mainstay of the Atlanta agriculture, cotton expositions became a way for Atlanta to attract visitors and expand their economy. Atlanta held its first cotton exposition, the International Cotton Exposition in 1881. The purpose of the exposition was to expand trade, and boost the economy. The International Cotton Exposition was host to more than 200,000 people and lasted for two and a half months. Those who promoted and hosted the exposition were doing so to expand the economy and create an industrial center in Atlanta. The fierce competition in the cotton industry would also lead to the demise of the Atlanta countryside, as farmers leveled forests in order to create more land for the farming of cotton. (Parkins, 1938) The yellow pines played a major role in the development of the railroad in Atlanta and the railroad provided for the growth and expansion of Atlanta and its economy. It was the growth and expansion of the agriculture surrounding Atlanta that created the need for expansion in the transportation industry, namely the railroad. Effective and efficient transportation was needed. Atlanta was growing at rate faster than any other southern city. Competition between communities in the south propelled the expansion of the railroad to Atlanta. Local politicians were aware that transportation would provide for economic prosperity. Atlanta was given railroad connections with the seacoast in 1845. Atlanta’s growth was in part due to its geographic location. The creation of the southern terminus of the first railroad in northern Georgia, the Western and Atlantic, fixed its location and it became a crossroads of railroads in the early 1850’s when a line was built northwestward from Augusta and another from Atlanta to Montgomery. The railroad also brought with it challenges during the Civil War. As a central hub, it was the seat of large manufactures for the Confederate army and a depot for supplies, and sustained major damage during the war. The railroad provided Atlanta with an ability to maintain its trade with the world. (Parkins, 1938) Atlanta was rich in resources to assist in building the railroad. The yellow pines were used as railroad ties and provided timber for construction. The Longleaf Pine is an evergreen that grows mainly along the southern border and the western edge of the United States. In its mature state it will 60 to 80 feet in height, with a 30 to 40 foot spread. The Longleaf Pine grows in alkaline, loamy, rich, wide range, clay soils. The Longleaf Pine thrives in full sun to partial shade. The Longleaf Pine trunk has scaly, coarse, light, orange-brown bark with upright branches forming an oval, open crown. The flexible, dark green needles are up to 18†³ long, and the large, spiny cones are up to 10†³ long and may persist on the tree for two years. For the first five to seven years, the pine stays in a tufted, grass-like stage after germination, growing slowly while the root system develops. It is drought tolerant once the tree is established. Following the grass stage, it grows at a medium to fast rate. The inch long clusters of new growth are silver white during the winter. The roots are sensitive to disturbance during construction. This tree provides food and cover for wildlife, including the now endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Squirrels, quails, brown-headed nuthatches, and turkeys eat the seeds. (www. georgianencyclopedia. org) Today only 3 million acres across the South contain some longleaf forests, and of that only about 12,000 scattered acres retain an old-growth component with a biologically diverse understory. One study estimates that Georgia maintained more than 4 million acres of longleaf forest in 1936, while just 376,400 acres remained in 1997. The longleaf pine is considered to be the dominant tree species in this ecosystem and is essential to its existence. It is in its understory where the diversity of this system exists and has therefore been threatened. â€Å"In fact, the longleaf pine, grassland forest may well be the most diverse North American ecosystem north of the tropics, containing rare plants and animals not found anywhere else. The understory throughout the longleaf range contains from 150 to 300 species of groundcover plants per acre, more breeding bird than any other southeastern forest type, about 60 percent of the amphibian and reptile species found in the Southeast, and at least 122 endangered or threatened plant species. † (www. georgianencyclopedia. org) Atlanta is a city rich in history and diversity, much of which was created and sustained by its ecology and plant life. It was the plant life that sustained the Creek Indians until their expulsion. Plants, such as the cornus florida were used medicinally among many others. In a time period when modern medicine was not available, it is likely that these medicinal plants played a critical role in everyday life. The role of cotton in the development and subsequent effects to Atlanta cannot be overstated. As a primary crop, it afforded for the growth of the city but came with a cost to its environment and to its citizens. The cotton industry is largely responsible for the race relations and much of the civil unrest that occurred in Atlanta and the southern regions of the United States. Competition that took place for resources resulted in the destruction of forest lands and the establishment of a class society. Cotton also took its toil on the very soil in which it was grown, depleting it of nutrients needed to grow further crops. Although it was important to the economy of the Atlanta area, the result of forced growth and competition was not a successful venue for Atlanta. The Longleaf Pine was only one of a large variety of pine trees that grow in the Atlanta area. The Longleaf Pine provided high-quality lumber for building materials; raw materials for the naval stores industry, and forage for livestock. As with other resources in the Atlanta area, the overuse of forest lands, and the competition for resources depleted the forest and led to a decline in the population of the Longleaf pine. The creation of a large-scale timber industry furthered the decline of the forest area. Atlanta, rich in resources, is a good example of poor management of the land by it inhabitants. Resources that were once plentiful were depleted in order to build industry and create profits. Works Cited Livingston, Burton E. , and Forrest Shreve. The Distribution of Vegetation in the United States: As Related to Climatic Conditions. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1921. Questia. 26 Jan. 2007 . New Georgia Encyclopedia. The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem. www. georgianencyclopedia. com 26 Jan. 2007 < http://www. georgiaencyclopedia. org/nge/Article. jsp? id=h-2200&hl=y> Parkins, A. E. The South: Its Economic-Geographic Development. New York: Wiley, 1938. Questia. 26 Jan. 2007 . Swanton, John R. Creek Religion and Medicine. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Questia. 26 Jan. 2007 . Tang, Anthony M. Economic Development in the Southern Piedmont, 1860-1950: Its Impact on Agriculture. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1958. Questia. 26 Jan. 2007 .