Planet Earth Fate of The EArth essays

Planet Earth Fate of The EArth essays Planet Earth: Fate of The Earth was a powerful, informative, and inspirational documentary. The narrator, Richard Kiley, progressed through many points about our precious earth including her beginnings, her slow deterioration by man as well as other factors, and theories as to her what could be her end. The beginning images of earth, approximately four million years ago, can be described a barren yet fertile land with the prospect for life to flourish. Prehistoric volcanoes exploded with gases and lava, that created the crust of our land. Eventually the gases cooled and it began to rain, eventually forming the oceans that is the birthplace of life. Biologist Prof. Deemer believes that seashores are the cradles of life that led to the evolution of organisms on to the land. In his experiment, he placed lipid molecules in a pool of water. He observed that when lipids come into contact with water their outside walls harden and form mobile structures. Found in Australia were rocks about a billion years older than previously believed, 3.5 billion years. In the rocks were found micron-sized films and tiny bacteria whose ancestors are alive today. In coastal waters are mushroom shaped structures that were created by photosynthetic blue-green algae communities, that also converted carbon dioxide molecules to oxygen. Oxygen being the Atmospheric chemist Jim Lovelock proposes the Gaya theory which states that earth herself is maintained by life. Supporting evidence for this is that when daisies are in bloom the earths temperature cools, preventing the earth from heating up and becoming a barren land like it once used to be. The rain forests in South America are of great importance. They hold 40% of all living organisms. But at the killing rate of 3,000 acres per hour, they will soon vanish. The land is stripped of its gems and used to graze cattle and other animals ...

Hunter Gatherers - People Who Live on the Land

Hunter Gatherers - People Who Live on the Land Hunter gatherers, with or without a dash, is the term used by anthropologists and archaeologists to describe a specific kind of lifestyle: simply, hunter-gatherers hunt game and collect plant foods (called foraging) rather than grow or tend crops. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle was what all human beings followed from the Upper Paleolithic of some 20,000 years ago, until the invention of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Not every group of us on the planet embraced agriculture and pastoralism, and there are still small, relatively isolated groups today who practice hunting and gathering to one extent or another. Shared Characteristics Hunter-gatherer societies vary in many respects: how much they relied (or rely) on hunting for game versus foraging for plants; how often they moved; how egalitarian their society was. Hunter-gatherer societies of the past and present do have some shared characteristics. In a paper for the  Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University, which has collected ethnographic studies from all types of human societies for decades and ought to know, Carol Ember  defines hunter-gatherers as fully or semi-nomadic people who live in small communities with low population densities, do not have specialized political officers, have little defines hunter-gatherers as fully or semi-nomadic people who live in small communities with low population densities, do not have specialized political officers, have little status differentiation, and divide up required tasks by gender and age. Remember, though, that agriculture and pastoralism werent handed to humans by some extraterrestrial force: the people who began the process of domesticating plants and animals were hunter-gatherers. Full-time hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs, and also maize, broomcorn millet and wheat. They also invented pottery, shrines, and religion, and living in communities. The question is probably best expressed as which came first, domesticated crop or domesticated farmer? Living Hunter-Gatherer Groups Up until about a hundred years ago, hunter-gatherer societies were unknown and unbothered by the rest of us. But in the early 20th century, Western anthropologists became aware of and interested in the groups. Today, there are very few (if any) groups who are unconnected to modern society, taking advantage of modern tools, clothing, and foods, being followed by research scientists and becoming susceptible to modern diseases. Despite that contact, there are still groups who get at least a major portion of their subsistence by hunting wild game and gathering wild plants. Some living hunter-gatherer groups include: Ache (Paraguay), Aka (Central African Republic and Republic of the Congo), Baka (Gabon and Cameroon), Batek (Malaysia), Efe (Democratic Republic of the Congo), G/Wi San (Botswana), Lengua (Paraguay), Mbuti (eastern Congo), Nukak (Colombia), !Kung (Namibia), Toba/Qom (Argentina), Palanan Agta (Phillippines), Ju/hoansi or Dobe (Namibia). Hadza Hunter-Gatherers Arguably, the Hadza of eastern Africa are the most studied living hunter-gatherer groups today. Currently, there are about 1,000 people who call themselves Hadza, although only about 250 are still full-time hunter-gatherers. They live in a savanna-woodland habitat of about 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles) around Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzaniawhere some of our most ancient hominid ancestors also lived. They live in mobile camps of about 30 individuals per camp. The Hadza move their campsites about once every 6 weeks and camp membership changes as people move in and out. The Hadza diet is made up of honey, meat, berries, baobab fruit, tubers and in one region, marula nuts. The men search for animals, honey and sometimes fruit; Hadza women and children specialize in tubers. The men typically go hunting every day, spending between two and six hours hunting alone or in small groups. They hunt birds and small mammals using ​bow and arrow; hunting large game is assisted with poisoned arrows. The men always carry a bow and arrow with them, even if theyre out to get honey, just in case something turns up.​​​ Recent Studies Based on a quick peek into Google Scholar, there are thousands of studies published each year about hunter-gatherers. How do those scholars keep up? Some recent studies I looked at (listed below) have discussed systematic sharing, or the lack of it, among hunter-gatherer groups; responses to the ebola crisis; handedness (hunter-gatherers are predominantly right-handed); color naming (Hadza hunter gatherers have fewer consistent color names but a larger set of idiosyncratic or less common color categories; gut metabolism; tobacco use; anger research; and pottery use by Jomon hunter-gatherers. As researchers have learned more about hunter-gatherer groups, theyve come to recognize that there are groups who have some characteristics of agricultural communities: they live in settled communities, or have gardens when they tend crops, and some of them have social hierarchies, with chiefs and commoners. Those types of groups are referred to as Complex Hunter-Gatherers. Sources The Human Relations Area Files is an excellent place for conducting research on ethnographic studies on hunter-gatherers (or really any human society, past or present). See Carol R. Embers paper linked below. Berbesque JC, Wood BM, Crittenden AN, Mabulla A, and Marlowe FW. 2016. Eat first, share later: Hadza hunter–gatherer men consume more while foraging than in central places. Evolution and Human Behavior 37(4):281-286.Cavanagh T, Berbesque JC, Wood B, and Marlowe F. 2016. Hadza handedness: Lateralized behaviors in a contemporary hunter–gatherer population. Evolution and Human Behavior 37(3):202-209.de la Iglesia HO, Fernndez-Duque E, Golombek DA, Lanza N, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA, and Valeggia CR. 2015. Access to electric light is associated with shorter sleep duration in a traditionally hunter-gatherer community. Journal of Biological Rhythms 30(4):342-350.Dyble M, Salali GD, Chaudhary N, Page A, Smith D, Thompson J, Vinicius L, Mace R, and Migliano AB. 2015. Sex equality can explain the unique social structure of hunter-gatherer bands. Science 348(6236):796-798.Eerkens JW, Carlson T, Malhi RS, Blake J, Bartelink EJ, Barfod GH, Estes A, Garibay R, Glessner J, Greenwald AM e t al. 2016. Isotopic and genetic analyses of a mass grave in central California: Implications for precontact hunter-gatherer warfare. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 159(1):116-125. Ember CR. 2014. Hunter-Gatherers (Foragers). Human Relations Area Files. Accessed 19 June 2016.Hewlett BS. 2016. Evolutionary Cultural Anthropology: Containing Ebola outbreaks and explaining hunter-gatherer childhoods. Current Anthropology 57(13):S000-S000.Lindsey Delwin  T, Brown Angela  M, Brainard David  H, and Apicella Coren  L. 2015. Hunter-gatherer color naming provides new insight into the evolution of color terms. Current Biology 25(18):2441-2446.Lucquin A, Gibbs K, Uchiyama J, Saul H, Ajimoto M, Eley Y, Radini A, Heron CP, Shoda S, Nishida Y et al. 2016. Ancient lipids document continuity in the use of early hunter–gatherer pottery through 9,000 years of Japanese prehistory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(15):3991-3996.Rampelli S, Schnorr Stephanie  L, Consolandi C, Turroni S, Severgnini M, Peano C, Brigidi P, Crittenden Alyssa  N, Henry Amanda  G, and Candela M. 2015. Metagenome sequencing of the Hadza hunter-gatherer gut microbiota . Current Biology 25(13):1682-1693. Roulette CJ, Hagen E, and Hewlett BS. 2016. A biocultural investigation of gender differences in tobacco use in an egalitarian hunter-gatherer population. Human Nature 27(2):105-129.

Quality of Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Quality of Health Care - Essay Example The paper outlines the obstacles to quality health care and ways of overcoming the obstacles. Quality health care refers to the services that ensure that healthy people continue to remain healthy, curing entirely acute diseases, and those suffering from chronic diseases live a long fruitful life. Quality care has to ensure that the three kinds of people receive adequate and prompt care. This process faces challenges that prevent it from achieving its maximum potential. One of the challenges is poor access to these services (McLaughlin, 2006). Access to quality care refers to the ability of individuals to access medical services when they need it. It entails two different but related components, that is, availability of facilities that provide health care around where people live and the aptitude of people paying up for the services. Inability to pay is a financial barrier to healthcare. Medical care is expensive to many individuals in the country. It is for this reason that the government came up with medical insurance to subsidizes this fee. It works in a manner that ensures that most of those under employment are insured. This insurance extends to their family members, as well. However, fractions of people in the country are under employment (Elizabeth & Maulik, 2008). The unemployed and self-employed do not have access to insurance. They pay the entire bill themselves, which is rather expensive. In addition to this, these people do not qualify to be under public programs including Medicaid and Medicare since they are unemployed. Medicaid and Medicare help in subsidizing the cost of health care services to be incurred by its members. An alternative is to purchase the individual private coverage, which goes for a rather high premium. The number of people without health insurance continues to rise steadily due to many factors. A major factor is the rise

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Research Paper Example T. S. Eliot once wrote about the nature of writing and that in the act of writing, the past and the present merge. Gaiman creates worlds in which the past and the present come together in order to examine modern life in relationship to those belief systems that have come before and have influences on the present. Without the use of past texts in order to create his fantastical works, Gaiman’s work would not connect on the level that it currently does and not have the essence of human existence that is reflected in his work. Influence One of the things a good reader will notice about well written fiction is that it is founded on influences that are highly recognizable and filled with wonder that extends the work rather than burdening it with the words of others. Sometimes popular fiction will suddenly make a reference that has little meaning but adds a bit of pop culture flavor to the writing. This does not always enhance the writing, but will sometimes burden the reader as the y try to decide what the author means and why it was necessary to increase the value of the writing. In the case of a really good writer, however, references from all time periods will flow into the work, creating depth and meaning that expands upon the writing rather than weighting it down. This is the skill with which Neil Gaiman delights his readers. Gaiman uses mythologies in order to expand the universes in which he places his stories. By referencing the worlds of ancient texts, he is enriching his work while giving it a very modern sense of the mythical world. The questions that are asked by using these worlds are answered through modernized prose in which vernacular language and modernized events are connected to aspects of the myths that he is using to enrich his work. Much of what is reflected in his work comes from Greek myths. The sense of multiple gods and complex mythologies, combined with emotions that are translated into the actions of those representing god-like mani festations provides an interesting backdrop to the work he creates. T. S. Elliot worked as an unassuming bank clerk by day, but by night was forging literary greatness as he created works that have inspired generations. Bloom writes that â€Å"Elliot’s aim was to compose an extended collection of poems that would denounce modern civilization and capture the disillusionment of his postwar generation† (Bloom 4). In discussing literature, the following quote can be attributed to him: Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. It involves, in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond his twenty-fifth year; and the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, bu t with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order (Eliot and Kermode 38). In a way, Eliot was commenting on the nature of time in that it is not so much a linear concept, but a loop in which all things of the past are present in how life is conducted. What was written in the past influences how what is written today manifests. Without mythologies of the past, the present has no real depth. A

Robert E. Lees Life :: biographies bio biography

A LONG TIME AGO ON THE DAY OF JANUARY 19,1807 TO BE EXACT IN STARATFORD,VIRGINIA THEIR WAS A MIRACLE THAT WAS BORN.THE MIRACLE BABY THAT WAS BORN WAS NAMED ROBERT E. LEE. THE MIRACLE BABY WAS GIVEN BIRTH BY HIS MOTHER ANN HILL CARTER AND HIS FATHER NAMED HERNY LEE AND MOST PEOPLE KNOW HIM AS â€Å"LIGHT-HORSE HARRY†. HIS MOTHER ANN HAD BEEN RAISED FROM A FAMILY THAT HAD BEEN REPECTFUL AND THAT THEY HAD WORKED FOR THE VIRGINIA’S GOVERNMENT SOCIETY THAT HELD PROMINENT POTIONS. STILL LEE’S FAMILY HAD EXTENED IN THE UPPER CLASSES. DURING SOME OF THE SIGINIFICANT EVENTS THAT HAPPENED WAS THE LOTS OF SLAVERY THAT HAD WENT ON THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD. IN 1818 ROBERT’S FATHER HERNY HAD PAST AWAY. WHEN THE FIRST GROWING ISSUE OVER SLAVERY IN THE UNTIED STATES HAD SOON INVOLVED ROBERT. ROBERT E. LEE WAS A GREAT GENERAL WHO COMMANDED THE CONFEDERTE ARMY IN THE AMERICAN CIVILWAR. IN 1831 ROBERT HAD MARRIED A WOMEN BY THE NAME OF MARY CUSTIS, WHO WAS THE DAUGHTER OF WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS. WHILE MARY AND ROBERT WHERE TOGETHER THEY HAD SEVEN CHILDERN AND THEIR NAMES WERE G.WCUSTIS,MARY,W.H.FITZHUGH,ANNIE,AGNES,ROBE-RT AND MILDERD. HE HAD MASTERFULLY FOUGHT MR.CLELLANTO A STAND STILL AT ANTIETAM AND TWO DAYS LATER HE HAD RECROSSED THE POTOMAC. FOLLOWING A STINTIN THE BALTIMORE HABOR HE BECAME SUPERINTENDENT OF THE MILTARY ACADAMY IN 1852. IN THE CHARGE OF VIRGINIA’S FLEDGLING MILTARY MIGHT, HE WAS MAINLY INVOLVED IN ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS. IN THE FIRST SUMMER OF THE WAR HE WAS GIVEN HIS FIRST FIELD COMMAND IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. GENERAL LEE WAS A SUCCESS OF THE ENTIRE ITALIN CAMPAINGN TURNED UPON THE SUCCESSFUL PASSAGE OF THE BRIDGE OF LODI.THEY STRAGGERD UNDER THE WITHERING FIRE AND RETREATED BUT THE FAILURE WAS RUIN AND THE PAST MUST BE WON. BEFORE THE MEXICAN WAR ROBERT HAD SERVED ON ENGINEERING SOME PROJECTS IN GEORGIA, VIRGINIA, AND NEW YORK. ROBERT HAD GRADULLY BECAME â€Å"UNCLE ROBERT† AND â€Å"MARSE ROBERT†. ON APRIL 18 , 1861 RO BERT WAS OFFERED FIELD COMMAND OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY.

Health Care Essay

Under indemnity insurance, the insurers guarantee payment to any licensed health care provider for all covered services. In recent years, fee-for-service indemnity plans also have grown more similar to man- aged care plans. Traditionally, fee-for-service indemnity plans gave individuals an unrestricted choice of licensed health care professionals. Care providers were free to determine which services were appropriate based on their professional judgment and were reimbursed for all the care they delivered. Today, nearly all fee-for-service plans have adopted some form of the utilization- management strategies formerly associated with managed care, such as preauthorization for hospitalization or referral to specialists. In my opinion the indemnity design will not be around in the next thirty years it is losing favor with employers. HMOs are the most tightly closed of all managed care systems. HMOs typically provide no coverage for out-of-plan services and require health care providers to share the financial risk for the amount of services provided. Data have shown that, at an aggregate level, premiums are lower n communities with a higher penetration of HMO plans and more intense competition among health plans (Stein, 1997). Restricted provider networks and a strong reliance on primary care physicians have been major forces allowing HMOs to keep health care premiums below those of other plans. However, the tradeoff between low cost and limited provider choice has been unacceptable to ma ny consumers, as evidenced by the recent trend toward looser and more expensive forms of managed care, such as PPOs and POS plans (Sisk, Gorman, Reisinger, 1996, Stroul, 1996). This trend is likely to raise premium levels and individual copayments and deductibles in the future. Because of the rising of premiums I predict that within the next thirty years HMOs will slowly fade away. In the mid-80s, legislation allowing insurers to contract selectively with different providers at different reimbursement rates provided a starting ground for the development of preferred provider organizations (PPOs) (Gabel &Ermann 1985). Generally, the term PPO refers to a third-party payer system that contracts certain providers for patient services on a discounted fee-for-service basis. Patients are encouraged to select these â€Å"preferred providers† with economic incentives including broader coverage, and in-network providers gain a larger patient base in return for their discounted services (Gabel & Ermann 1985). Unlike health maintenance organization (HMO) coverage, PPO patients retain the ability to go out-of-network for care. Although patients are responsible for most of the costs in such situations, there is usually a yearly limit on out-of-pocket payments that allows patients who experience severe chronic conditions to access long-term out-of-network specialty care without prohibitive costs. PPOs have made a huge leap in the past two decades as a model for health insurance (Sengupta & Kreie 2011): In 1988, PPOs represented 11 percent of employer-provided health care; by 2005, 85 percent of large employers offered at least one PPO option (Hirth, Grazier, Chernew, & Okeke, 2007). PPO will be around for the next thirty years because it allows PPO patients to retain the ability to go out-of-network for care. Very long paragraph here 2. Debate whether or not private health insurance violates the standard principles of insurance. Don’t start at bottom of page. Start at top of next page PHI began with coverage principally for hospital and physicians’ services. As political debates in the United States continue regarding health insurance, there has been considerable argument and criticism about the overhead generated by the PHI mechanism (Woolhandler & Himmelstein, 1991). From1960 to 2000, the total overhead costs of PHI averaged about 12 percent of premiums, ranging from about 9 to 16 percent. This total includes administrative costs, taxes, profits and other nonbenefit expenses (Lemieux, 2005). The full cost of PHI administration to Americans including insurer’s administrative cost, net additions to reserves, rate credits and policyholder dividends, premium taxes, and carrier’s profits or losses is estimated to be about 15 percent of total national health expenditures. None of this including the formidable â€Å"hidden† costs to providers for filing claims, collecting data on quality of care, and submitting various financial reports to insurers. Private health insurance is made up of the three principal entities, which is commercial carriers, the Blues, and HMOs plus self- funded plans. The important of PHI as a source of financing for personal health care expenditures has increased slowly, but steadily (Williams & Torrens, 2010). Although there is no denying that some government health insurance programs such as Medicare deliver benefits at far less administrative cost per dollar of reimbursement than the PHI industry, health insurance by itself is not always a profitable business for insurers. This is particularly true at the high end of the market, where self-funded administrative-services-only customers generate relatively narrow profit margins for most group insurers. Indeed, the health insurance industry suffered a net underwriting loss in many years since 1976. Health insurance is beneficial for many insurers because it servers as a vehicle for selling other, more profitable products (such as insurance) and because health insurance premiums generate revenues via investment income (Whitted, 2001). A number of health insurance entities (including commercial carriers and the blue) offer insurance coverage for individuals and their families (pPauly & Percy, 2000). Some f the nation’s largest commercial accident and health insurers sell few or no individuals policies. Ordinary individual policies for basic medical (hospital and the physician coverage are extraordinarily expensive. This is because of adverse selection: insurers assume that the individual knows something that the insurance plan doesn’t future health needs. Therefore, the insurer adds on premium can easily reach $5,000 per year, even for HMO plans with extensive cost-sharing provisions. In addition, underwriting guidelines for individuals policies have become increasingly stringent; so many people who might wish to purchase coverage are not able to do so (Saver & Doescher, 2000). . Analyze the evolution of the promotion of health and disease prevention in the U. S. and identify the point at which a clear shift in the thinking in the dominant culture occurred residing in the greatest impact on the health care insurance system in the United States. Organized public health activities in the United States began in local seaport communities and only gradually expanded to state and federal government agencies. The Constitution of the United States reserves to the state all functions such as health not specifically earmarked to the federal government. For most of our country’s history, public health was an activity that was primarily carried out by a local or state governmental agency, and it was only after World War II that it was received as necessary or appropriate to have a federal cabinet-level Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This development would suggest that our country views public health activities and perhaps health activities in general as a local and state matter; federal government involvement developed mostly after World War I, and mostly because of the abundance of federal tax revenues to be redistributed to states and local governments. The continuing efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government and to return basic functions and funds to local and state government in recent years may be seen as a continuation of this general idea (Williams & Torrens, 2010). According to (Williams &Torrens, 2010), organized public health activities in the United States began with the quarantine and isolation of potential disease carriers, moved on to the improvement of sanitation in the environment, then went on to focus on immunization of children and control of individuals with contagious infectious disease. Almost all the activities focused on acute infectious diseases, regardless of their origins. This has given rise to an unofficial and generally unspoken agreement that the primary mission of organized public health efforts in the United States should be toward the prevention and control of acute illness rather than chronic disease. Organized public health efforts in the United States have focused on out breaks of illness such as diphtheria and polio because of the suddenness and the severity of any outbreaks of this illness. The much more serious and public health problems of the United States are no longer-term degenerative conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Because of the unfortunate political controversies of the 1930’s around a possible national health insurance program, it would have to be admitted that there has been a relatively guarded relationship between the private medical sector and organized public health agencies throughout the country. As long as the organized public health agencies kept to the more traditional public health role of sanitation, immunizations, and infectious diseases control, their activities were generally supported by the private sector. However, whenever the public health sector became more active in the provision of general health services or in the governance or planning facilities and personnel in the private sector, considerable opposition arose. As a result of this opposition, organized public health agencies have been rather cautious about expanding their efforts beyond the boundaries of what were perceived as â€Å"tradition† public health activities (Williams & Torrens, 2010). It is assumed that public health must protect the interest of the public in obtaining access to appropriate health services of high quality, but that has not been an accept role for organized public health in the United States until now. References Gabel J, & Ermann D. (1985). Preferred provider organizations: performance, problems, and promise. Health Aff (Millwood). 1985; 4(1): 24-40. Hirth RA, Grazier KL, Chernew ME, Okeke EN. Insurers’ competitive strategy and enrollment in newly offered preferred provider organizations (PPOs). Inquiry. 2007; 44(4): 400-411. Lemieux, jJ. (2005). Perspective: Administrative cost of private health insurance plans. Washington, DC: America’s Health Plans. Pauly, M. V. , & Percy, A M. (2000). Cost and performance: A comparison of the individual and the group health insurance markets. Journal of the health politics policy and law, 25,9-26 Saver, B. G. , & Doescher, M. P. (2000). To buy, or not to buy: Factors associated with the purchase of non- group private health insurance. Medical Care, 38, 141-151. Sengupta B, & Kreier RE. (2011) A dynamic model of health plan choice from a real options perspective. Atlantic Econ J. 2011; 39(4): 401-419. Sisk, J. E. , Gorman, S. A. , & Reisinger, A. L. , List all authors here etal(1996). EvaluationofMedicaidmanagedcare: Satisfaction, accessanduse. ?Journal of the American Medical Association (1996) 276:50–55. Stein, R. E. K. , ed. Health care for children: What’s right, what’s wrong, what’s next. New York: United Hospital Fund, 1997. Stroll, B. , ed. (Year) Children’s mental health: Creating systems of care in a changing society. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company, 1996. Whitted, G. (2001). In S. J. Williams & P. J. Torrens (Eds. ), Introduction to health services (6th ed. ). Albany, NY, Delmar. Williams, S. J. , Torrens, P. R. , (2010). Introduction t health services (7th ed. ). Albany, NY, Delmar. Woodhandler, S. , & Himmelstein, D. (1991). The deteriorating administrative efficiency of the U. S. health care system. New England Journal of Medicine, 324(18), 1253-1258.

Sea Turtle Facts

Sea turtles are water-inhabiting reptiles, six species of which belong to the Cheloniidae  family and one to the Dermochelyidae  family. These glorious seaborne relatives of land turtles glide through the coastal and deepwater regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Long-lived creatures, it can take 30 years for a sea turtle to mature sexually. Fast Facts: Sea Turtles Scientific Name: Dermochelys coriacea, Chelonia mydas, Caretta caretta, Eretmochelys imbricate, Lepidochelys kempii, Lepidochelys olivacea, and Natator depressusCommon Names: Leatherback, green, loggerhead, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley, flatbackBasic Animal Group: ReptileSize: 2–6 feet long  Weight: 100–2,000 poundsLifespan: 70–80 yearsDiet:  Carnivore, Herbivore, OmnivoreHabitat: Temperate, tropical, subtropical waters of the worlds oceansConservation Status: Critically Endangered (hawksbill, Kemps ridley); Endangered (green); Vulnerable (loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback); Data Deficient (flatback) Description Sea turtles are animals in the Class Reptilia, meaning they are reptiles. Reptiles are ectothermic (commonly referred to as cold-blooded), lay eggs, have scales (or did have them, at some point in their evolutionary history), breathe through lungs, and have a three or four-chambered heart. Sea turtles have a carapace  or upper shell that is streamlined to help in swimming and a lower shell, called a plastron. In all but one species, the carapace is covered in hard scutes. Unlike land turtles, sea turtles cannot retreat into their shell. They also have paddle-like flippers. While their flippers are great for propelling them through the water, they are poorly-suited for walking on land. They also breathe air, so a sea turtle must come to the water surface when it needs to do so, which can leave them vulnerable to boats.   Westend61 - Gerald Nowak/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images Species There are seven species of sea turtles. Six of them (the hawksbill, green, flatback, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, and olive ridley turtles) have shells made up of hard scutes, while the aptly-named leatherback turtle is in the Family Dermochelyidae and has a leathery carapace made up of connective tissue. Sea turtles range in size from about two to six feet long, depending on the species, and weigh between 100 and 2,000 pounds. The Kemps ridley turtle is the smallest, and the leatherback is the largest. The green and olive ridley sea turtles reside in tropical and subtropical waters around the globe. Leatherbacks nest on tropical beaches but migrate northward to Canada; loggerhead and hawksbill turtles live in temperate and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Kemps ridley turtles hang out along the coasts of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, and flatbacks are found only near the Australian coast. Diet Most of the turtles are carnivorous, but each has adapted to specific prey. Loggerheads prefer fish, jellyfish, and hard-shelled lobsters and crustaceans. Leatherbacks feed on jellyfish, salps, crustaceans, squid, and urchins; hawksbills use their bird-like beak to feed on soft corals, anemones and sea sponges. Flatbacks dine on squid, sea cucumbers, soft corals, and mollusks. Green turtles are carnivorous when young but are herbivores as adults, eating seaweeds and seagrass. Kemps ridley turtles prefer crabs, and olive ridleys are omnivorous, preferring a diet of jellyfish, snails, crabs, and shrimp but also snacking on algae and seaweed. Behavior Sea turtles may migrate long distances between feeding and nesting grounds and also stay in warmer waters when the seasons change. One leatherback turtle was tracked for over 12,000 miles as it traveled from Indonesia to Oregon, and loggerheads may migrate between Japan and Baja, California. Young turtles may also spend considerable amounts of time traveling between the time they are hatched and the time they return to their nesting/mating grounds, according to ​long-term research. It takes most sea turtle species a long time to mature and consequently, these animals live a long time. Estimates for the lifespan of sea turtles is 70–80 years. Reproduction and Offspring All sea turtles (and all turtles) lay eggs, so they are oviparous. Sea turtles hatch from eggs on shore​ and then spend several years out at sea. It may take 5 to 35 years for them to become sexually mature, depending on the species. At this point, males and females migrate to breeding grounds, which are often near nesting areas. Males and females mate offshore, and females travel to nesting areas to lay their eggs. Amazingly, females return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs, even though it may be 30 years later and the appearance of the beach may have greatly changed. The female crawls up on the beach, digs a pit for her body with her flippers (which can be more than a foot deep for some species), and then digs a nest for the eggs with her hind flippers. She then lays her eggs, covers her nest with the hind flippers and packs the sand down, then heads for the ocean. A turtle may lay several clutches of eggs during the nesting season. Sea turtle eggs need to incubate for 45 to 70 days before they hatch. The length of incubation time is affected by the temperature of the sand in which the eggs are laid. Eggs hatch more quickly if the temperature of the nest is warm. So if eggs are laid in a sunny spot and there is limited rain, they may hatch in 45 days, while eggs laid in a shady spot or in cooler weather will take longer to hatch. Temperature also determines the gender of the hatchling. Cooler temperatures favor the development of more males, and warmer temperatures favor the development of more females (think of the potential implications of global warming!). Interestingly, even the position of the egg in the nest could affect the gender of the hatchling. The center of the nest is warmer, therefore eggs in the center are more likely to hatch females, while eggs on the outside are more likely to hatch males. Carmen M/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 Evolutionary History Sea turtles have been around for a long time in evolutionary history. The first turtle-like animals are thought to have lived about 260 million years ago, and odontocetes, the first marine turtle, is thought to have lived about 220 million years ago. Unlike modern turtles, odontocetes had teeth. Sea turtles are related to land turtles (such as snapping turtles, pond turtles, and even tortoises). Both land and marine turtles are classified in the Order Testudines. All animals in the Order Testudines have a shell that is basically a modification of the ribs and vertebra, and also incorporates the girdles of the front and back limbs. Turtles and tortoises do not have teeth, but they have a horny covering on their jaws.​ Conservation Status and Threats Of the seven sea turtle species, six (all but the flatback) exist in the United States, and all are endangered. Threats to sea turtles include coastal development (which leads to loss of nesting habitat or making previous nesting areas unsuitable), harvesting turtles for eggs or meat, bycatch in fishing gear, entanglement in or ingestion of marine debris, boat traffic, and climate change. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), out of the seven species of sea turtles, two are classed as Critically Endangered (hawksbill, Kemps ridley); one as Endangered (green); three are vulnerable (loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback), and one  is Data Deficient, meaning they need additional study to determine the current status (flatback). You can help by: Supporting sea turtle research and conservation organizations and projects through volunteering or donating fundsSupporting measures to protect nesting habitatsChoosing seafood that is caught without impacting turtles (e.g., in areas where turtle excluder devices are used, or where bycatch is minimal)Not purchasing sea turtle products, including meat, eggs, oil, or tortoiseshellWatching out for sea turtles if you are out on a boat in sea turtle habitatReducing marine debris. This includes always disposing of your trash properly, using fewer disposable items and plastics, buying locally and purchasing items with less packagingReducing your carbon footprint by using less energy Placebo365/Getty Images   Sources Abreu-Grobois, A and P. Plotkin (IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group). Lepidochelys olivacea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T11534A3292503, 2008.  Casale, P. and A.D. Tucker. Caretta caretta (amended version of 2015 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T3897A119333622, 2017.Marine Turtle Specialist Group. Lepidochelys kempii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T11533A3292342, 1996.  Mortimer, J.A and M. Donnelly (IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group). Eretmochelys imbricata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T8005A12881238, 2008.  Olive Ridley Project: Fighting Ghost Nets and Saving Turtles.  Sea Turtle ConservancySpotila, James R. 2004. Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press.Unlocking the Secrets of Sea Turtle Migration. Science Daily, February 29, 2012.