title: Marouane Fellaini

text: At Everton, he was the club's Young Player of the Season for 2008–09, when the club were losing finalists in the FA Cup. After five years at Everton, he transferred to Manchester United in a deal worth £27.5 million in September 2013. After five years with Manchester United that included four trophies and more than a decade in England in total, Fellaini joined Shandong Taishan in February 2019.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: A full international for the Belgium national team from 2007 until his retirement in March 2019, Fellaini amassed 87 caps and 18 goals for "The Red Devils". He represented the team at the 2008 Olympics, the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, and the 2018 World Cup, helping Belgium to third place in the latter tournament.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini was born to Moroccan parents from Tangier and brought up in Brussels. His father, Abdellatif, was a former goalkeeper for Raja Casablanca and Hassania Agadir who signed for Racing Mechelen but was unable to play as his former Moroccan club refused to release his paperwork. Instead of returning home, he opted to become a bus driver for STIB. Fellaini is Muslim.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Born in Etterbeek, Brussels Capital-Region, Fellaini began playing football at the age of 8 for Anderlecht. He also competed in athletics, with the 10,000 metres being his preferred event. However, Fellaini's father Abdellatif, who was a professional footballer himself, guided his son towards football.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: In his first season at Anderlecht's Academy, he scored 26 goals and in his second he scored 37. He was at Anderlecht's academy until the age of 10 when he joined Mons, due to his father getting a new job in the city. Three years later, he joined R. Francs Borains before leaving the club when he signed for Sporting Charleroi. At the age of 17, he signed his first permanent contract with Standard Liège. Between 2006 and 2008, he made 84 appearances for the club, scoring 11 times. He is known for his heading ability and stamina, which made him one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the Belgian First Division and resulted in him winning the Ebony Shoe in 2008, an award given to the best player of the season of African descent.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: After rejecting the advances of Manchester United and following reported interest from Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, Fellaini signed for Everton in September 2008 on a five-year deal from Standard Liège for an initial transfer fee of £15 million (at the time a record for a Belgian player and club record for Everton). He made his Everton debut in a 3–2 away victory at Stoke City on 14 September 2008, and scored his first goal for the team against Newcastle United in a 2–2 home draw on 5 October 2008. Fellaini went on to score 9 goals in his first season.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: During his debut season he was booked 10 times in his first 17 games and avoided a lengthy suspension by attending a personal hearing with England's chief referee, Keith Hackett, where he vowed to improve his behaviour. He picked up three further bookings in 16 games following the meeting, his total the highest of all Premier League players that season.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: In England he has become well known for his large afro hairstyle, becoming a fan favourite with Everton fans regularly sporting Afro wigs as a homage to Fellaini. Fellaini was deployed as a second striker during the 2008–09 season, when Everton had all of their forwards out injured, usually playing behind another midfielder being used as an attacker, Tim Cahill. Later Fellaini reverted to play in his least favourite defensive midfield area. His performances in late 2009 and early 2010 became so impressive that David Moyes labelled him "as good as anyone in the league", and he re-iterated this after Fellaini won Man of the Match against Manchester City on 16 January. Fellaini was stretchered off in the 34th minute of the Merseyside derby on 6 February after a two-footed tackle by Sotirios Kyrgiakos, ruling him out for the rest of the 2009–10 season. Kyrgiakos was sent off as a result of Fellaini's injury.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini suffered an ankle injury in an FA Cup replay victory against Chelsea in February 2011 and although he was able to play in a 2–0 win against Sunderland a week later, the injury caused him to miss the remainder of the 2010–11 season. He did not play a competitive match until August 2011, when he appeared as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Queens Park Rangers at Goodison Park and played the full match in the very next fixture, as Everton beat Sheffield United 3–1 in the League Cup. In November 2011, he signed a new five-year contract with the club. He finished the season having won the most tackles, aerial duels and made more passes than anyone else at the club. He won the second highest number of tackles in the league and won possession of the ball 190 times, the most out of any player.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: In the opening game of the 2012–13 Premier League season against Manchester United, Fellaini received plaudits for his outstanding performance, as he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory. He continued the season in great form with goals against Arsenal, Manchester City, Sunderland and Fulham amongst others. Fellaini was subsequently awarded Premier League Player of the Month for November 2012.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini was banned for three matches by the Football Association on 17 December 2012 after headbutting Ryan Shawcross during a game against Stoke City, an incident missed by the match officials at the time. The same month he was ranked as number 60 in "The 100 Best Footballers in the World" by "The Guardian".


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: On 2 September 2013, Fellaini signed a four-year contract, with the option of extension of another season, reuniting with former manager David Moyes at Manchester United in a £27.5 million, deadline day deal, despite the fact that he had a lower buyout clause earlier in the transfer window. He made his debut for the club on 14 September, in a 2–0 home win against Crystal Palace, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Anderson. He made his full debut on 17 September, starting in a 4–2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League. On 5 November, Fellaini received his first red card for Manchester United in a match against Real Sociedad in the group stage of the Champions League.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: In April 2014, Fellaini was named as one of the "10 Worst Buys of the Premier League season" by "The Daily Telegraph". He made only fifteen league starts throughout the season, in contrast to thirty one starts he made in the previous season while at Everton.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: In his first pre-season game of 2014–15, Fellaini came off the substitutes bench to score his first Manchester United goal in injury time, giving the club a 2–1 win over Valencia in Louis van Gaal's first game at Old Trafford as manager.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: On 20 October 2014, he scored his first competitive goal for Manchester United in a 2–2 draw in the Premier League against West Bromwich Albion two minutes after coming on as a half time substitute. He was given his first start of the season by Van Gaal in the following match against Chelsea, and helped United earn a point against the league leaders. Fellaini covered 12.17 kilometres in the match, the most by any United player, and made 70 high-intensity runs, more than anyone else on the pitch. During second half stoppage time, he contributed to United's goal when his header was saved by Thibaut Courtois and ultimately rebounded in by Robin van Persie. On 2 December, Fellaini scored his first competitive home goal for Manchester United in a 2–1 defeat of Stoke City.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini's third goal of the season came in a 2–0 away win at Queens Park Rangers on 17 January 2015. On 15 March 2015, he scored his fourth goal of the season and assisted the second goal for Michael Carrick in a home game against Tottenham in which United won 3–0 and he was voted Man of the Match. On 12 April, he scored the second goal for Manchester United in a 4–2 win in the Manchester derby. On 9 May, he scored the winner, his seventh of the season, for Manchester United in a 2–1 win over Crystal Palace. On 24 May, Fellaini was sent off in Manchester United's final Premier League fixture of the season, a 0–0 draw with Hull City at the KC Stadium, 18 minutes after appearing as a substitute.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: On 18 August, his first match for the club in the 2015–16 season, Fellaini scored the third goal in a 3–1 home victory over Club Brugge in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. On 25 August 2015, Louis van Gaal stated that Fellaini would feature more as a striker.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini scored the first goal in a 2–1 win against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium on 23 April 2016. On 5 May, Fellaini was handed a 3-match suspension by the FA for throwing an elbow at Leicester's Robert Huth. Huth was handed the same punishment for tugging at Fellaini's hair during the altercation. He played the full 120 minutes as Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2–1 in extra time in the 2016 FA Cup Final. He also assisted Juan Mata's equaliser in the final.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: On 7 August 2016, Fellaini played the full 90 minutes in United's 2–1 Community Shield victory over Leicester City. On 4 December, he made his 100th appearance for United against his former club Everton and conceded a penalty just a few minutes after coming on as an 85th-minute substitute. Leighton Baines successfully converted the spot kick in the 89th minute to secure a late equaliser for the "Toffees" in a match that finished 1–1. Due to José Mourinho's preference for Ander Herrera alongside Paul Pogba in central midfield, Fellaini's appearances for Manchester United had become limited to coming off the bench; however, on 11 January – the day after he scored the second goal in Manchester United's 2–0 win over Hull City in the first leg of their 2016–17 EFL Cup semi-final – Manchester United activated a one-year extension clause in Fellaini's contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2017–18 season. The Belgian featured for the entirety of United's 2017 UEFA Europa League Final victory against Dutch club Ajax.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini's first goal of the 2017–18 season came against Leicester City, in a 2–0 win on 26 August 2017. He then scored a header against Basel, helping United win the Champions League group stage game 3–0 on 12 September. On 30 September, Fellaini scored a brace in a 4–0 win against Crystal Palace, upping his goal tally to four goals in eight games. After the win, José Mourinho praised his performances, saying “He had to be a strong character. He is a fighter, a guy with lots of pride and I am really pleased I helped him reach this level and change the perception the fans have now. I’m really happy for him”. He signed a new two-year contract at the end of the campaign.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini made 19 appearances for Manchester United in the first half of the 2018–19 season, scoring 90th-minute goals against both Derby County in the EFL Cup and Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League. However, after the dismissal of head coach José Mourinho, Fellaini found opportunities limited and he played in just two of nine possible matches under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær, both as a substitute.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: At the end of January 2019, Fellaini agreed a contract with Chinese club Shandong Luneng and was officially transferred on 1 February 2019, concluding his five-and-a-half year spell with Manchester United.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini was eligible to play for either Belgium or Morocco. He chose to represent Belgium, from youth level upwards. He represented the under-23 team at the 2008 Olympics, when they finished in fourth place, losing to Brazil in the bronze medal match. His senior team debut was made in February 2007, and his first goal for the senior team came in a 2–1 defeat against Portugal a UEFA Euro 2008 qualification match.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: Fellaini made seven appearances in Belgium's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, scoring once, as Belgium reached the finals for the first time since 2002. On 4 June 2014, Fellaini was selected as part of Belgium's 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup. On 17 June, in Belgium's opening match against Algeria, Fellaini came on as a second-half substitute and scored the Red Devils' equalising goal in a 2–1 win. He was then named in the starting line-up for the second match against Russia on 22 June and went on to play every minute of "les Diables Rouges"' run to the quarter-finals, where they were defeated 1–0 by Argentina in Brasília.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: During qualification for UEFA Euro 2016, Fellaini scored two goals in Belgium's 5–0 defeat of Cyprus and the winner in a 1–0 away victory in Israel. Following these goals, on 7 June 2015, he reached five in his last three internationals by scoring the opening two goals in a 4–3 friendly win over France at the Stade de France. On 3 September 2015, he scored his sixth goal in four international appearances against Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Marouane Fellaini

text: At the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Fellaini scored the equalising goal after Japan had gone 2–0 up in a round of 16 match that saw Belgium win 3–2. On 7 March 2019, Fellaini announced his retirement from international football. He earned a total of 87 caps and scored 18 goals for Belgium between 2007 and 2018.


title: Chemical formula

text: -\overset{\displaystyle H \atop |}{\underset{\underset{\underset{\underset{\underset{\underset{| \atop \displaystyle H}{C}}-H</chem>


title: Chemical formula

text: Molecular formulae indicate the simple numbers of each type of atom in a molecule of a molecular substance. They are the same as empirical formulae for molecules that only have one atom of a particular type, but otherwise may have larger numbers. An example of the difference is the empirical formula for glucose, which is ("ratio" 1:2:1), while its molecular formula is ("number of atoms" 6:12:6). For water, both formulae are . A molecular formula provides more information about a molecule than its empirical formula, but is more difficult to establish.


title: Chemical formula

text: A molecular formula shows the number of elements in a molecule, and determines whether it is a binary compound, ternary compound, quaternary compound, or has even more elements.


title: Chemical formula

text: In addition to quantitative description of a molecule, a structural formula captures how the atoms are organized, and shows (or implies) the chemical bonds between the atoms. There are multiple types of structural formulas focused on different aspects of the molecular structure.


title: Chemical formula

text: The two diagrams show two molecules which are structural isomers of each other, since they both have the same molecular formula , but they have different structural formulas as shown.


title: Chemical formula

text: The connectivity of a molecule often has a strong influence on its physical and chemical properties and behavior. Two molecules composed of the same numbers of the same types of atoms (i.e. a pair of isomers) might have completely different chemical and/or physical properties if the atoms are connected differently or in different positions. In such cases, a structural formula is useful, as it illustrates which atoms are bonded to which other ones. From the connectivity, it is often possible to deduce the approximate shape of the molecule.


title: Chemical formula

text: A condensed (or semi-structural) formula may represent the types and spatial arrangement of bonds in a simple chemical substance, though it does not necessarily specify isomers or complex structures. For example, ethane consists of two carbon atoms single-bonded to each other, with each carbon atom having three hydrogen atoms bonded to it. Its chemical formula can be rendered as . In ethylene there is a double bond between the carbon atoms (and thus each carbon only has two hydrogens), therefore the chemical formula may be written: , and the fact that there is a double bond between the carbons is implicit because carbon has a valence of four. However, a more explicit method is to write or less commonly . The two lines (or two pairs of dots) indicate that a double bond connects the atoms on either side of them.


title: Chemical formula

text: A triple bond may be expressed with three lines () or three pairs of dots (), and if there may be ambiguity, a single line or pair of dots may be used to indicate a single bond.


title: Chemical formula

text: Molecules with multiple functional groups that are the same may be expressed by enclosing the repeated group in round brackets. For example, isobutane may be written . This condensed structural formula implies a different connectivity from other molecules that can be formed using the same atoms in the same proportions (isomers). The formula implies a central carbon atom connected to one hydrogen atom and three methyl groups (). The same number of atoms of each element (10 hydrogens and 4 carbons, or ) may be used to make a straight chain molecule, "n"-butane: .


title: Chemical formula

text: In any given chemical compound, the elements always combine in the same proportion with each other. This is the law of constant composition.


title: Chemical formula

text: The law of constant composition says that, in any particular chemical compound, all samples of that compound will be made up of the same elements in the same proportion or ratio. For example, any water molecule is always made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in a 2:1 ratio. If we look at the relative masses of oxygen and hydrogen in a water molecule, we see that 94% of the mass of a water molecule is accounted for by oxygen and the remaining 6% is the mass of hydrogen. This mass proportion will be the same for any water molecule.


title: Chemical formula

text: The alkene called but-2-ene has two isomers, which the chemical formula does not identify. The relative position of the two methyl groups must be indicated by additional notation denoting whether the methyl groups are on the same side of the double bond ("cis" or "Z") or on the opposite sides from each other ("trans" or "E").


title: Chemical formula

text: As noted above, in order to represent the full structural formulae of many complex organic and inorganic compounds, chemical nomenclature may be needed which goes well beyond the available resources used above in simple condensed formulae. See IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry and IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry 2005 for examples. In addition, linear naming systems such as International Chemical Identifier (InChI) allow a computer to construct a structural formula, and simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES) allows a more human-readable ASCII input. However, all these nomenclature systems go beyond the standards of chemical formulae, and technically are chemical naming systems, not formula systems.


title: Chemical formula

text: For polymers in condensed chemical formulae, parentheses are placed around the repeating unit. For example, a hydrocarbon molecule that is described as , is a molecule with fifty repeating units. If the number of repeating units is unknown or variable, the letter "n" may be used to indicate this formula: .


title: Chemical formula

text: For ions, the charge on a particular atom may be denoted with a right-hand superscript. For example, , or . The total charge on a charged molecule or a polyatomic ion may also be shown in this way, such as for hydronium, , or sulfate, . Note that + and - are used in place of +1 and -1, respectively.


title: Chemical formula

text: For more complex ions, brackets [ ] are often used to enclose the ionic formula, as in , which is found in compounds such as caesium dodecaborate, . Parentheses ( ) can be nested inside brackets to indicate a repeating unit, as in Hexamminecobalt(III) chloride, . Here, indicates that the ion contains six ammine groups () bonded to cobalt, and [ ] encloses the entire formula of the ion with charge +3.


title: Chemical formula

text: This is strictly optional; a chemical formula is valid with or without ionization information, and Hexamminecobalt(III) chloride may be written as or . Brackets, like parentheses, behave in chemistry as they do in mathematics, grouping terms together they are not specifically employed only for ionization states. In the latter case here, the parentheses indicate 6 groups all of the same shape, bonded to another group of size 1 (the cobalt atom), and then the entire bundle, as a group, is bonded to 3 chlorine atoms. In the former case, it is clearer that the bond connecting the chlorines is ionic, rather than covalent.


title: Chemical formula

text: Although isotopes are more relevant to nuclear chemistry or stable isotope chemistry than to conventional chemistry, different isotopes may be indicated with a prefixed superscript in a chemical formula. For example, the phosphate ion containing radioactive phosphorus-32 is . Also a study involving stable isotope ratios might include the molecule .


title: Chemical formula

text: A left-hand subscript is sometimes used redundantly to indicate the atomic number. For example, for dioxygen, and for the most abundant isotopic species of dioxygen. This is convenient when writing equations for nuclear reactions, in order to show the balance of charge more clearly.


title: Chemical formula

text: The @ symbol (at sign) indicates an atom or molecule trapped inside a cage but not chemically bound to it. For example, a buckminsterfullerene () with an atom (M) would simply be represented as regardless of whether M was inside the fullerene without chemical bonding or outside, bound to one of the carbon atoms. Using the @ symbol, this would be denoted if M was inside the carbon network. A non-fullerene example is , an ion in which one arsenic (As) atom is trapped in a cage formed by the other 32 atoms.


title: Chemical formula

text: This notation was proposed in 1991 with the discovery of fullerene cages (endohedral fullerenes), which can trap atoms such as La to form, for example, or . The choice of the symbol has been explained by the authors as being concise, readily printed and transmitted electronically (the at sign is included in ASCII, which most modern character encoding schemes are based on), and the visual aspects suggesting the structure of an endohedral fullerene.


title: Chemical formula

text: Chemical formulae most often use integers for each element. However, there is a class of compounds, called non-stoichiometric compounds, that cannot be represented by small integers. Such a formula might be written using decimal fractions, as in , or it might include a variable part represented by a letter, as in , where "x" is normally much less than 1.


title: Chemical formula

text: A chemical formula used for a series of compounds that differ from each other by a constant unit is called a "general formula". It generates a homologous series of chemical formulae. For example, alcohols may be represented by the formula ("n" ≥ 1), giving the homologs methanol, ethanol, propanol for 1 ≤ "n" ≤ 3.


title: Chemical formula

text: The Hill system (or Hill notation) is a system of writing empirical chemical formulae, molecular chemical formulae and components of a condensed formula such that the number of carbon atoms in a molecule is indicated first, the number of hydrogen atoms next, and then the number of all other chemical elements subsequently, in alphabetical order of the chemical symbols. When the formula contains no carbon, all the elements, including hydrogen, are listed alphabetically.


title: Chemical formula

text: By sorting formulae according to the number of atoms of each element present in the formula according to these rules, with differences in earlier elements or numbers being treated as more significant than differences in any later element or number—like sorting text strings into lexicographical order—it is possible to collate chemical formulae into what is known as Hill system order.


title: Chemical formula

text: The Hill system was first published by Edwin A. Hill of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1900. It is the most commonly used system in chemical databases and printed indexes to sort lists of compounds.


title: Chemical formula

text: A list of formulae in Hill system order is arranged alphabetically, as above, with single-letter elements coming before two-letter symbols when the symbols begin with the same letter (so "B" comes before "Be", which comes before "Br").


title: Welfare state

text: A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for citizens unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life.


title: Welfare state

text: There is substantial variability in the form and trajectory of the welfare state across countries and regions. All welfare states entail some degree of private-public partnerships wherein the administration and delivery of at least some welfare programmes occurs through private entities. Welfare state services are also provided at varying territorial levels of government.


title: Welfare state

text: Early features of the welfare state, such as public pensions and social insurance, developed from the 1880s onwards in industrializing Western countries. World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II have been characterized as important events that ushered in expansions of the welfare state, including the use of state interventionism to combat lost output, high unemployment, and other problems. The fullest forms of the welfare state were developed after World War II.


title: Welfare state

text: The German term "sozialstaat" ("social state") has been used since 1870 to describe state support programs devised by German "sozialpolitiker" ("social politicians") and implemented as part of Otto von Bismarck's conservative reforms.


title: Welfare state

text: The literal English equivalent "social state" did not catch on in Anglophone countries. However, during the Second World War, Anglican Archbishop William Temple, author of the book "Christianity and the Social Order" (1942), popularized the concept using the phrase "welfare state". Bishop Temple's use of "welfare state" has been connected to Benjamin Disraeli's 1845 novel "Sybil: or the Two Nations" (in other words, the rich and the poor), where he writes "power has only one duty – to secure the social welfare of the PEOPLE". At the time he wrote "Sybil", Disraeli (later a prime minister) belonged to Young England, a conservative group of youthful Tories who disagreed with how the Whigs dealt with the conditions of the industrial poor. Members of Young England attempted to garner support among the privileged classes to assist the less fortunate and to recognize the dignity of labor that they imagined had characterized England during the Feudal Middle Ages.


title: Welfare state

text: Emperor Ashoka of India put forward his idea of a welfare state in the 3rd century BCE. He envisioned his "dharma" (religion or path) as not just a collection of high-sounding phrases. He consciously tried to adopt it as a matter of state policy; he declared that "all men are my children" and "whatever exertion I make, I strive only to discharge debt that I owe to all living creatures." It was a totally new ideal of kingship. Ashoka renounced war and conquest by violence and forbade the killing of many animals. Since he wanted to conquer the world through love and faith, he sent many missions to propagate Dharma. Such missions were sent to places like Egypt, Greece, and Sri Lanka. The propagation of Dharma included many measures of people's welfare. Centers of the treatment of men and beasts founded inside and outside of the empire. Shady groves, wells, orchards and rest houses were laid out. Ashoka also prohibited useless sacrifices and certain forms of gatherings which led to waste, indiscipline and superstition. To implement these policies he recruited a new cadre of officers called Dharmamahamattas. Part of this group's duties was to see that people of various sects were treated fairly. They were especially asked to look after the welfare of prisoners.


title: Welfare state

text: However, the historical record of Ashoka's character is conflicted. Ashoka's own inscriptions state that he converted to Buddhism after waging a destructive war. However, the Sri Lankan tradition claims that he had already converted to Buddhism in the 4th year of his reign, prior to the conquest of Kalinga. During this war, according to Ashoka's Major Rock Edict 13, his forces killed 100,000 men and animals and enslaved another 150,000. Some sources (particularly Buddhist oral legends) suggest that his conversion was dramatic and that he dedicated the rest of his life to the pursuit of peace and the common good. However, these sources frequently contradict each other, and sources soundly dated nearer to the Edicts (like "Ashokavadana", circa 200 BCE at the earliest) describe Ashoka engaging in sectarian mass murder throughout his reign, and make no mention of the philanthropic efforts claimed by later legends. The interpretation of Ashoka's dharma after conversion is controversial, but in particular, the texts which describe him personally ordering the massacre of Buddhist heretics and Jains have been disputed by some fringe Buddhist scholars. They allege that these claims are propaganda, albeit without historical, archaeological, or linguistic evidence. It is unclear if they believe the entire "Ashokavadana" to be an ancient fabrication, or just the sections related to Ashoka's post-conversion violence.


title: Welfare state

text: The Emperor Wen (203 – 157 BCE) of Han Dynasty instituted a variety of measures with resemblances to modern welfare policies. These included pensions, in the form of food and wine, to all over 80 years of age, as well as monetary support, in the form of loans or tax breaks, to widows, orphans, and elderly without children to support them. Emperor Wen was also known for a concern over wasteful spending of tax-payer money. Unlike other Han emperors, he wore simple silk garments. In order to make the state serve the common people better, cruel criminal punishments were lessened and the state bureaucracy was made more meritocratic. This led to officials being selected by examinations for the first time in Chinese history.


title: Welfare state

text: The Roman Republic intervened sporadically to distribute free or subsidized grain to its population, through the program known as "Cura Annonae." The city of Rome grew rapidly during the Roman Republic and Empire, reaching a population approaching one million in the second century AD. The population of the city grew beyond the capacity of the nearby rural areas to meet the food needs of the city.


title: Welfare state

text: Regular grain distribution began in 123 BC with a grain law proposed by Gaius Gracchus and approved by the Roman Plebeian Council (popular assembly). The numbers of those receiving free or subsidized grain expanded to a high of an estimated 320,000 people at one point. In the 3rd century AD, the dole of grain was replaced by bread, probably during the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211 AD). Severus also began providing olive oil to residents of Rome, and later the emperor Aurelian (270–275) ordered the distribution of wine and pork. The doles of bread, olive oil, wine, and pork apparently continued until near the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The dole in the early Roman Empire is estimated to account for 15 to 33 percent of the total grain imported and consumed in Rome.


title: Welfare state

text: In addition to food, the Roman Republic also supplied free entertainment, through "ludi" (public games). Public money was allocated for the staging of "ludi," but the presiding official increasingly came to augment the splendor of his games from personal funds as a form of public relations. The sponsor was able to cultivate the favor of the people of Rome.


title: Welfare state

text: The concept of states taxing for the welfare budget was introduced in early 7th century Islamic law. "Zakat" is one of the five pillars of Islam and is a mandatory form of 2.5% income tax to be paid by all individuals earning above a basic threshold to provide for the needy. Umar (584–644), leader of the Rashidun Caliphate (empire), established a welfare state through the Bayt al-mal (treasury), which for instance was used to stockpile food in every region of the Islamic Empire for disasters and emergencies.


title: Welfare state

text: Otto von Bismarck established the first welfare state in a modern industrial society, with social-welfare legislation, in 1880s Imperial Germany. Bismarck extended the privileges of the Junker social class to ordinary Germans. His 17 November 1881 Imperial Message to the Reichstag used the term "practical Christianity" to describe his program. German laws from this era also insured workers against industrial risks inherent in the workplace.


title: Welfare state

text: In Switzerland, the Swiss Factory Act of 1877 limited working hours for everyone, and gave maternity benefits. The Swiss welfare state also arose in the late 19th century; its existence and depth varied individually by canton. Some of the programs first adopted were emergency relief, elementary schools, and homes for the elderly and children.


title: Welfare state

text: In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a version was set up by Count Eduard von Taaffe a few years after Bismarck in Germany. Legislation to help the working class in Austria emerged from Catholic conservatives. Von Taffe used Swiss and German models of social reform, including the Swiss Factory Act of 1877 German laws that insured workers against industrial risks inherent in the workplace to create the 1885 Trade Code Amendment.


title: Welfare state

text: Changed attitudes in reaction to the worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s, which brought unemployment and misery to millions, were instrumental in the move to the welfare state in many countries. During the Great Depression, the welfare state was seen as a "middle way" between the extremes of communism on the left and unregulated "laissez-faire" capitalism on the right. In the period following World War II, some countries in Western Europe moved from partial or selective provision of social services to relatively comprehensive "cradle-to-grave" coverage of the population. Other Western European states did not, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and France. Political scientist Eileen McDonagh has argued that a major determinant of where welfare states arose is whether or not a country had a historical monarchy with familial foundations (a trait that Max Weber called patrimonialism); in places where the monarchic state was viewed as a parental steward of the populace, it was easier to shift into a mindset where the industrial state could also serve as a parental steward of the populace.


title: Welfare state

text: The activities of present-day welfare states extend to the provision of both cash welfare benefits (such as old-age pensions or unemployment benefits) and in-kind welfare services (such as health or childcare services). Through these provisions, welfare states can affect the distribution of wellbeing and personal autonomy among their citizens, as well as influencing how their citizens consume and how they spend their time.


title: Welfare state

text: Historian of the 20th Century fascist movement, Robert Paxton, observes that the provisions of the welfare state were enacted in the 19th century by religious conservatives to counteract appeals from trade unions and socialism. Later, Paxton writes "All the modern twentieth-century European dictatorships of the right, both fascist and authoritarian, were welfare states… They all provided medical care, pensions, affordable housing, and mass transport as a matter of course, in order to maintain productivity, national unity, and social peace." In Germany, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party maintained the welfare state established by previous German governments, but restructured it so as to help only Aryan individuals considered worthy of assistance, excluding "alcoholics, tramps, homosexuals, prostitutes, the 'work-shy' or the 'asocial', habitual criminals, the hereditarily ill (a widely defined category) and members of races other than the Aryan." Nevertheless, even with these limitations, over 17 million German citizens were receiving assistance under the auspices of the National Socialist People's Welfare by 1939.


title: Welfare state

text: When social democratic parties abandoned Marxism after World War II, they increasingly accepted the welfare state as a political goal, either as a temporary goal within capitalism or an ultimate goal in itself.


title: Welfare state

text: A theoretical addition from 2005 is that of Kahl in their article 'The religious roots of modern policy: Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed Protestant traditions compared'. They argue that the welfare state policies of several European countries can be traced back to their religious origins. This process has its origin in the 'poor relief' systems, and social norms present in Christian nations. The example countries are categorized as follows: Catholic – Spain, Italy and France; Lutheran – Denmark, Sweden and Germany; Reformed Protestant – Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The Catholic countries late adoption of welfare benefits and social assistance, the latter being splintered and meagre, is due to several religious and social factors. Alms giving was an important part of catholic society as the wealthy could resolve their sins through participation in the act. As such, begging was allowed and was subject to a greater degree of acceptance. Poverty was seen as being close to grace and there was no onus for change placed onto the poor. These factors coupled with the power of the church meant that state provided benefits did not arise until late in the 20th century. Additionally, social assistance was not done at a comprehensive level, each group in need had their assistance added incrementally. This accounts for the fragmented nature of social assistance in these countries.


title: Welfare state

text: Lutheran states were early to provide welfare and late to provide social assistance but this was done uniformly. Poverty was seen as more of an individual affliction of laziness and immorality. Work was viewed as a calling. As such these societies banned begging and created workhouses to force the able-bodied to work. These uniform state actions paved the way for comprehensive welfare benefits, as those who worked deserved assistance when in need. When social assistance was delivered for those who had never worked, it was in the context of the uniform welfare provision. The concept of Predestination is key for understanding welfare assistance in Reformed Protestant states. Poor people were seen as being punished, therefore begging and state assistance was non existent. As such churches and charities filled the void resulting in early social assistance and late welfare benefits. The USA still has minimal welfare benefits today, because of their religious roots, according to Kahl.


title: Welfare state

text: Also from 2005, Jacob Hacker stated that there was "broad agreement" in research on welfare that there had not been welfare state retrenchment. Instead, "social policy frameworks remain secure."


title: Welfare state

text: Broadly speaking, welfare states are either universal, with provisions that cover everybody; or selective, with provisions covering only those deemed most needy. In his 1990 book, "The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism", Danish sociologist Gøsta Esping-Andersen further identified three subtypes of welfare state models.


title: Welfare state

text: Since the building of the decommodification index is limited and the typology is debatable, these 18 countries could be ranked from most purely social-democratic (Sweden) to the most liberal (the United States). Ireland represents a near-hybrid model whereby two streams of unemployment benefit exist: contributory and means-tested. However, payments can begin immediately and are theoretically available to all Irish citizens even if they have never worked, provided they are habitually resident.


title: Welfare state

text: Social stigma varies across the three conceptual welfare states. Particularly, it is highest in liberal states, and lowest in social democratic states. Esping-Andersen proposes that the universalist nature of social democratic states eliminate the duality between beneficiaries and non-recipients, whereas in means-tested liberal states there is resentment towards redistribution efforts. That is to say, the lower the percent of GDP spent on welfare, the higher the stigma of the welfare state. Esping-Andersen also argues that welfare states set the stage for post-industrial employment evolution in terms of employment growth, structure, and stratification. He uses Germany, Sweden, and the United States to provide examples of the differing results of each of the three welfare states.


title: Welfare state

text: According to Evelyne Huber and John Stephens, different types of welfare states emerged as a result of prolonged government by different parties. They distinguish between social democratic welfare states, Christian democratic welfare states, and "wage earner" states.


title: Welfare state

text: According to the Swedish political scientist Bo Rothstein, in non-universal welfare states, the state is primarily concerned with directing resources to "the people most in need". This requires tight bureaucratic control in order to determine who is eligible for assistance and who is not. Under universal models such as Sweden, on the other hand, the state distributes welfare to all people who fulfill easily established criteria (e.g. having children, receiving medical treatment, etc.) with as little bureaucratic interference as possible. This, however, requires higher taxation due to the scale of services provided. This model was constructed by the Scandinavian ministers Karl Kristian Steincke and Gustav Möller in the 1930s and is dominant in Scandinavia.


title: Welfare state

text: Sociologist Lane Kenworthy argues that the Nordic experience demonstrates that the modern social democratic model can "promote economic security, expand opportunity, and ensure rising living standards for all ... while facilitating freedom, flexibility and market dynamism."


title: Welfare state

text: American political scientist Benjamin Radcliff has also argued that the universality and generosity of the welfare state (i.e. the extent of decommodification) is the single most important societal-level structural factor affecting the quality of human life, based on the analysis of time serial data across both the industrial democracies and the American States. He maintains that the welfare state improves life for everyone, regardless of social class (as do similar institutions, such as pro-worker labor market regulations and strong labor unions).


title: Welfare state

text: Prior to 1900 in Australia, charitable assistance from benevolent societies, sometimes with financial contributions from the authorities, was the primary means of relief for people not able to support themselves. The 1890s economic depression and the rise of the trade unions and the Labor parties during this period led to a movement for welfare reform.


title: Welfare state

text: In 1900, the states of New South Wales and Victoria enacted legislation introducing non-contributory pensions for those aged 65 and over. Queensland legislated a similar system in 1907 before the federal labor government led by Andrew Fisher introduced a national aged pension under the Invalid and Old-Aged Pensions Act 1908. A national invalid disability pension was started in 1910, and a national maternity allowance was introduced in 1912.


title: Welfare state

text: During the Second World War, Australia under a labor government created a welfare state by enacting national schemes for: child endowment in 1941; a widows' pension in 1942; a wife's allowance in 1943; additional allowances for the children of pensioners in 1943; and unemployment, sickness, and special benefits in 1945.


title: Welfare state

text: Canada's welfare programs are funded and administered at all levels of government (with 13 different provincial/territorial systems), and include health and medical care, public education (through graduate school), social housing and social services. Social support is given through programs including Social Assistance, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Child Tax Benefit, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance, Workers' Compensation, and the Canada/Quebec Pension Plans.


title: Welfare state

text: After 1830, French liberalism and economic modernization were key goals. While liberalism was individualistic and laissez-faire in Britain and the United States, in France liberalism was based instead on a solidaristic conception of society, following the theme of the French Revolution, "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" ("liberty, equality, fraternity"). In the Third Republic, especially between 1895 and 1914 "Solidarité" ["solidarism"] was the guiding concept of a liberal social policy, whose chief champions were the prime ministers Leon Bourgeois (1895–96) and Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (1899-1902). The French welfare state expanded when it tried to follow some of Bismarck's policies. Poor relief was the starting point. More attention was paid to industrial labour in the 1930s during a short period of socialist political ascendency, with the Matignon Accords and the reforms of the Popular Front. Paxton points out these reforms were paralleled and even exceeded by measures taken by the Vichy regime in the 1940s.


title: Welfare state

text: Some policies enacted to enhance social welfare in Germany were Health Insurance 1883, Accident Insurance 1884, Old Age Pensions 1889 and National Unemployment Insurance 1927. Otto von Bismarck, the powerful Chancellor of Germany (in office 1871–90), developed the first modern welfare state by building on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that had begun as early as in the 1840s. The measures that Bismarck introduced – old-age pensions, accident insurance, and employee health insurance – formed the basis of the modern European welfare state. His paternalistic programs aimed to forestall social unrest and to undercut the appeal of the new Social Democratic Party, and to secure the support of the working classes for the German Empire, as well as to reduce emigration to the United States, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist. Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers through his high-tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade.


title: Welfare state

text: During the 12 years of rule by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party, the welfare state established by previous German governments was maintained, but it was restructured so as to help only Aryan individuals considered worthy of assistance, excluding "alcoholics, tramps, homosexuals, prostitutes, the 'work-shy' or the 'asocial', habitual criminals, the hereditarily ill (a widely defined category) and members of races other than the Aryan." Nevertheless, even with these limitations, over 17 million German citizens received assistance under the auspices of the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (NSV) by 1939. The agency projected a powerful image of caring and support for those who were seen as full members of the German racial community, but it also inspired fear through its intrusive questioning and the threat of opening investigations on those who did not fulfill the criteria for support.


title: Welfare state

text: The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides food grains to people at a very subsidised rate. There are public health insurance schemes, social aid to families and new mothers, free school meals, pension schemes and unemployment benefit schemes run both at the federal and the state level.


title: Welfare state

text: As of 2020, the government's expenditure on social security and welfare (direct cash transfers, financial inclusion, health insurance, subsidies, rural employment guarantee), was approximately , which was 7.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).


title: Welfare state

text: Welfare states in Latin America have been considered as "welfare states in transition", or "emerging welfare states". Welfare states in Latin America have been described as "truncated": generous benefits for formal-sector workers, regressive subsidies and informal barriers for the poor to obtain benefits. Mesa-Lago has classified the countries taking into account the historical experience of their welfare systems. The pioneers were Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, as they started to develop the first welfare programs in the 1920s following a bismarckian model. Other countries such as Costa Rica developed a more universal welfare system (1960s–1970s) with social security programs based on the Beveridge model. Researchers such as Martinez-Franzoni and Barba-Solano have examined and identified several welfare regime models based on the typology of Esping-Andersen. Other scholars such as Riesco and Cruz-Martinez have examined the welfare state development in the region.


title: Welfare state

text: Latin American countries can be unequivocally divided into two groups depending on their 'welfare effort' levels. The first group, which for convenience we may call welfare states, includes Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Brazil. Within this group, average social spending per capita in the 1973–2000 period was around $532, while as a percentage of GDP and as a share of the budget, social spending reached 51.6 and 12.6 percent, respectively. In addition, between approximately 50 and 75 percent of the population is covered by the public health and pension social security system. In contrast, the second group of countries, which we call non-welfare states, has welfare-effort indices that range from 37 to 88. Within this second group, social spending per capita averaged $96.6, while social spending as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of the budget averaged 5.2 and 34.7 percent, respectively. In terms of the percentage of the population actually covered, the percentage of the active population covered under some social security scheme does not even reach 10 percent.


title: Welfare state

text: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates are examples of welfare states in the Middle East.


title: Welfare state

text: The Nordic welfare model refers to the welfare policies of the Nordic countries, which also tie into their labor market policies. The Nordic model of welfare is distinguished from other types of welfare states by its emphasis on maximizing labor force participation, promoting gender equality, egalitarian and extensive benefit levels, the large magnitude of income redistribution and liberal use of the expansionary fiscal policy.


title: Welfare state

text: While there are differences among the Nordic countries, they all share a broad commitment to social cohesion, a universal nature of welfare provision in order to safeguard individualism by providing protection for vulnerable individuals and groups in society and maximizing public participation in social decision-making. It is characterized by flexibility and openness to innovation in the provision of welfare. The Nordic welfare systems are mainly funded through taxation.


title: Welfare state

text: China traditionally relied on the extended family to provide welfare services. The one-child policy introduced in 1978 has made that unrealistic, and new models have emerged since the 1980s as China has rapidly become richer and more urban. Much discussion is underway regarding China's proposed path toward a welfare state. Chinese policies have been incremental and fragmented in terms of social insurance, privatization, and targeting. In the cities, where the rapid economic development has centered, lines of cleavage have developed between state-sector and non-state-sector employees, and between labor-market insiders and outsiders.


title: Welfare state

text: In 1995, the government started the Samurdhi (Prosperity) program aimed at reducing poverty, having replaced the Jana Saviya poverty alleviation programme that was in place at the time.


title: Welfare state

text: In Singapore, the government provides financial and social support through a variety of social assistance schemes for lower and middle-income Singaporeans. The Ministry of Social and Family Development runs ComCare, a program which provides income support for low-income citizen households through various schemes for short-to-medium term assistance, long-term assistance, child support, and urgent financial needs. The Community Development Councils also run various local assistance schemes within their districts. The Ministry of Manpower runs a Silver Support Scheme which provides additional financial support for low-income elderly with no family support. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health also runs MediFund to assist anyone on their behalf to pay off the rest of their medical bills after initial government subsidies, other health financing schemes as well as funds from the Central Provident Fund has been used.


title: Welfare state

text: In 2012, the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) was introduced. It is a medical card that provides extended subsidies exclusively for Singaporean citizens usually from lower-to-middle income households, as well as the older generations, where they could receive treatment for common illnesses, chronic health problems and specific dental issues at private clinics for free. The intentions behind the scheme was to encourage Singaporeans to use such a card and tap into the private healthcare sector for common or minor chronic illnesses, as well as dental care, to reduce the strain at public community hospitals. Originally, only a blue and orange card existed, depending on their household income. The CHAS scheme was further expanded in 2019 to include a new green card that provides for all Singaporeans no matter their household income. As a result, all Singaporeans became covered for chronic and common illnesses as well as dentistry at privately owned clinics. Subsidies for complex chronic conditions was also increased.


title: Welfare state

text: In addition, the National Council of Social Service coordinates a range of 450 non-government voluntary welfare organisations to provide social services, while raising funds through The Community Chest of Singapore. Taking the World Bank's International Poverty Line (IPL)'s poverty threshold into account, the population of Singaporeans living below the poverty line is virtually non-existent. Singapore also has one of the highest housing ownership rates in the world – over 90 percent – owing to the government's policy of constructing extensive and quality public housing throughout the country and providing extensive subsidies for its citizens to obtain them.


title: Welfare state

text: The modern welfare state in the United Kingdom began operations with the Liberal welfare reforms of 1906–1914 under Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. These included the passing of the Old-Age Pensions Act 1908, the introduction of free school meals in 1909, the Labour Exchanges Act 1909, the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909, which heralded greater government intervention in economic development, and the National Insurance Act 1911 setting up a national insurance contribution for unemployment and health benefits from work.


title: Welfare state

text: The People's Budget was introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, in 1909 to fund the welfare reforms. After much opposition, it was passed by the House of Lords on 29 April 1910.


title: Welfare state

text: The minimum wage was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1909 for certain low-wage industries and expanded to numerous industries, including farm labour, by 1920. However, by the 1920s, a new perspective was offered by reformers to emphasize the usefulness of family allowance targeted at low-income families was the alternative to relieving poverty without distorting the labour market. The trade unions and the Labour Party adopted this view. In 1945, family allowances were introduced; minimum wages faded from view. Talk resumed in the 1970s, but in the 1980s the Thatcher administration made it clear it would not accept a national minimum wage. Finally, with the return of Labour, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 set a minimum of £3.60 per hour, with lower rates for younger workers. It largely affected workers in high turnover service industries such as fast food restaurants, and members of ethnic minorities.


title: Welfare state

text: December 1942 saw the publication of the "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services", commonly known as the Beveridge Report after its chairman, Sir William Beveridge. The Beveridge Report proposed a series of measures to aid those who were in need of help, or in poverty and recommended that the government find ways of tackling what the report called "the five giants": Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. It urged the government to take steps to provide citizens with adequate income, adequate health care, adequate education, adequate housing, and adequate employment, proposing that "[a]ll people of working age should pay a weekly National Insurance contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired, or widowed." The Beveridge Report assumed that the National Health Service would provide free health care to all citizens and that a Universal Child Benefit would give benefits to parents, encouraging people to have children by enabling them to feed and support a family. The report stressed the lower costs and efficiency of universal benefits. Beveridge cited miners' pension schemes as examples of some of the most efficient available and argued that a universal state scheme would be cheaper than a myriad of individual friendly societies and private insurance schemes and also less expensive to administer than a means-tested government-run welfare system for the poor.


title: Welfare state

text: The Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and then the Labour Party all adopted the Beveridge Report's recommendations. Following the Labour election victory in the 1945 general election many of Beveridge's reforms were implemented through a series of Acts of Parliament. On 5 July 1948, the National Insurance Act, National Assistance Act and National Health Service Act came into force, forming the key planks of the modern UK welfare state. In 1949, the Legal Aid and Advice Act was passed, providing the "fourth pillar" of the modern welfare state, access to advice for legal redress for all.


title: Welfare state

text: Before 1939, most health care had to be paid for through non-government organisations – through a vast network of friendly societies, trade unions, and other insurance companies, which counted the vast majority of the UK working population as members. These organizations provided insurance for sickness, unemployment, and disability, providing an income to people when they were unable to work. As part of the reforms, the Church of England also closed down its voluntary relief networks and passed the ownership of thousands of church schools, hospitals and other bodies to the state.


title: Welfare state

text: Welfare systems continued to develop over the following decades. By the end of the 20th-century parts of the welfare system had been restructured, with some provision channelled through non-governmental organizations which became important providers of social services.


title: Welfare state

text: The United States developed a limited welfare state in the 1930s. The earliest and most comprehensive philosophical justification for the welfare state was produced by an American, the sociologist Lester Frank Ward (1841–1913), whom the historian Henry Steele Commager called "the father of the modern welfare state".


title: Welfare state

text: Ward saw social phenomena as amenable to human control. "It is only through the artificial control of natural phenomena that science is made to minister to human needs" he wrote, "and if social laws are really analogous to physical laws, there is no reason why social science should not receive practical application such as have been given to physical science." Ward wrote:


title: Welfare state

text: The charge of paternalism is chiefly made by the class that enjoys the largest share of government protection. Those who denounce it are those who most frequently and successfully invoke it. Nothing is more obvious today than the single inability of capital and private enterprise to take care of themselves unaided by the state; and while they are incessantly denouncing "paternalism," by which they mean the claim of the defenseless laborer and artisan to a share in this lavish state protection, they are all the while besieging legislatures for relief from their own incompetency, and "pleading the baby act" through a trained body of lawyers and lobbyists. The dispensing of national pap to this class should rather be called "maternalism," to which a square, open, and dignified paternalism would be infinitely preferable.


title: Welfare state

text: Ward's theories centred around his belief that a universal and comprehensive system of education was necessary if a democratic government was to function successfully. His writings profoundly influenced younger generations of progressive thinkers such as Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey, and Frances Perkins (1880–1965), among others.


title: Welfare state

text: The United States was the only industrialized country that went into the Great Depression of the 1930s with no social insurance policies in place. In 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal instituted significant social insurance policies. In 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, limiting the work week to 40 hours and banning child labor for children under 16, over stiff congressional opposition from the low-wage South.


title: Welfare state

text: The Social Security law was very unpopular among many groups – especially farmers, who resented the additional taxes and feared they would never be made good. They lobbied hard for exclusion. Furthermore, the Treasury realized how difficult it would be to set up payroll deduction plans for farmers, for housekeepers who employed maids, and for non-profit groups; therefore they were excluded. State employees were excluded for constitutional reasons (the federal government in the United States cannot tax state governments). Federal employees were also excluded.


title: Welfare state

text: By 2013, the U.S. remained the only major industrial state without a uniform national sickness program. American spending on health care (as a percent of GDP) is the highest in the world, but it is a complex mix of federal, state, philanthropic, employer and individual funding. The US spent 16% of its GDP on health care in 2008, compared to 11% in France in second place.


title: Welfare state

text: Some scholars, such as Gerard Friedman, argue that labor-union weakness in the Southern United States undermined unionization and social reform throughout the United States as a whole, and is largely responsible for the anemic U.S. welfare state. Sociologists Loïc Wacquant and John L. Campbell contend that since the rise of neoliberal ideology in the late 1970s and early 1980s, an expanding carceral state, or government system of mass incarceration, has largely supplanted the increasingly retrenched social welfare state, which has been justified by its proponents with the argument that the citizenry must take on personal responsibility. Scholars assert that this transformation of the welfare state to a post-welfare punitive state, along with neoliberal structural adjustment policies and the globalization of the U.S. economy, have created more extreme forms of "destitute poverty" in the U.S. which must be contained and controlled by expanding the criminal justice system into every aspect of the lives of the poor.


title: Welfare state

text: Other scholars such as Esping-Andersen argue that the welfare state in the United States has been characterized by private provision because such a state would better reflect the racial and sexual biases within the private sector. The disproportionate number of racial and sexual minorities in private sector jobs with weaker benefits, he argues, is evidence that the American welfare state is not necessarily intended to improve the economic situation of such groups.


title: Welfare state

text: Empirical evidence suggests that taxes and transfers considerably reduce poverty in most Western countries whose welfare states constitute at least a fifth of GDP.


title: Welfare state

text: Researchers have found very little correlation between economic performance and social expenditure. They also see little evidence that social expenditures contribute to losses in productivity; economist Peter Lindert of the University of California, Davis attributes this to policy innovations such as the implementation of "pro-growth" tax policies in real-world welfare states, nor have social expenses contributed significantly to public debt. Martin Eiermann wrote:


title: Welfare state

text: According to the OECD, social expenditures in its 34 member countries rose steadily between 1980 and 2007, but the increase in costs was almost completely offset by GDP growth. More money was spent on welfare because more money circulated in the economy and because government revenues increased. In 1980, the OECD averaged social expenditures equal to 16 percent of GDP. In 2007, just before the financial crisis kicked into full gear, they had risen to 19 percent – a manageable increase.


title: Welfare state

text: A Norwegian study covering the period 1980 to 2003 found welfare state spending correlated negatively with student achievement. However, many of the top-ranking OECD countries on the 2009 PISA tests are considered welfare states.


title: Welfare state

text: Early conservatives, under the influence of Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), opposed every form of social insurance "root and branch". Malthus believed that the poor needed to learn the hard way to practice frugality, self-control and chastity. Traditional conservatives also protested that the effect of social insurance would be to weaken private charity and loosen traditional social bonds of family, friends, religious and non-governmental welfare organisations.


title: Welfare state

text: On the other hand, Karl Marx opposed piecemeal reforms advanced by middle-class reformers out of a sense of duty. In his "Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League", written after the failed revolution of 1848, he warned that measures designed to increase wages, improve working conditions and provide social insurance were merely bribes that would temporarily make the situation of working classes tolerable to weaken the revolutionary consciousness that was needed to achieve a socialist economy. Nevertheless, Marx also proclaimed that the Communists had to support the bourgeoisie wherever it acted as a revolutionary progressive class because "bourgeois liberties had first to be conquered and then criticised".


title: Welfare state

text: In the 20th century, opponents of the welfare state have expressed apprehension about the creation of a large, possibly self-interested, bureaucracy required to administer it and the tax burden on the wealthier citizens that this entailed.


title: Welfare state

text: In 2012, political historian Alan Ryan pointed out that the modern welfare state stops short of being an "advance in the direction of socialism. [...] [I]ts egalitarian elements are more minimal than either its defenders or its critics think". It does not entail advocacy for social ownership of industry. Ryan further wrote:


title: Welfare state

text: The modern welfare state, does not set out to make the poor richer and the rich poorer, which is a central element in socialism, but to help people to provide for themselves in sickness while they enjoy good health, to put money aside to cover unemployment while they are in work, and to have adults provide for the education of their own and other people's children, expecting those children's future taxes to pay in due course for the pensions of their parents' generation. These are devices for shifting income across different stages in life, not for shifting income across classes. Another distinct difference is that social insurance does not aim to transform work and working relations; employers and employees pay taxes at a level they would not have done in the nineteenth century, but owners are not expropriated, profits are not illegitimate, cooperativism does not replace hierarchical management.


title: Welfare state

text: In 2017, historian Walter Scheidel argued that the establishment of welfare states in the West in the early 20th century could be partly a reaction by elites to the Bolshevik Revolution and its violence against the bourgeoisie, which feared violent revolution in its own backyard. They were diminished decades later as the perceived threat receded. Scheidel spoke to "Vice"'s Matt Taylor in an interview:


title: Welfare state

text: It's a little tricky because the US never really had any strong leftist movement. But if you look at Europe, after 1917 people were really scared about communism in all the Western European countries. "You have all these poor people, they might rise up and kill us and take our stuff." That wasn't just a fantasy because it was happening next door. And that, we can show, did trigger steps in the direction of having more welfare programs and a rudimentary safety net in response to fear of communism. Not that they [the communists] would invade, but that there would be homegrown movements of this sort. American populism is a little different because it's more detached from that. But it happens roughly at the same time, and people in America are worried about communism, toonot necessarily very reasonably. But that was always in the background. And people have only begun to study systematically to what extent the threat, real or imagined, of this type of radical regime really influenced policy changes in Western democracies. You don't necessarily even have to go out and kill rich peopleif there was some plausible alternative out there, it would arguably have an impact on policy making at home. That's certainly there in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. And there's a debate, right, because it becomes clear that the Soviet Union is really not in very good shape, and people don't really like to be there, and all these movements lost their appeal. That's a contributing factor, arguably, that the end of the Cold War coincides roughly with the time when inequality really starts going up again, because elites are much more relaxed about the possibility of credible alternatives or threats being out there.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina Arellano Félix de Toledo (born April 12, 1961) is a Mexican drug lord who, alongside her brothers, founded the Tijuana Cartel and played a role as a logistical accountant for the criminal organization.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Throughout most of the 1990s, the Tijuana Cartel was headed by her six brothers, while Enedina advised and helped them in money laundering and financial administration. But after the fall of a financial mastermind in the cartel in the year 2000, Enedina took up the position. She first started working behind the scenes as a money launderer for the Tijuana Cartel but then ended up leading the cartel after the arrest of her brother Eduardo Arellano Félix in 2008.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Since most of her brothers are either incarcerated or deceased, Enedina has managed the financial aspect of the organization, overseen alliances, and taken the lead of the Tijuana Cartel alongside Luis Fernando (before his capture in 2014). Her historical contacts with drug suppliers in Colombia managed to keep the organization afloat.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina Arellano Félix was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on April 12, 1961, in a family of drug traffickers. In 1977, when she was sixteen, Enedina reportedly harbored a dream of becoming the Mazatlán Carnival Queen but abandoned it after her two brothers, Ramón and Benjamín, were wanted by the United States and the Mexican government. During that time, her older brothers were working for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who would eventually give them the drug corridor in Tijuana, Baja California.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina enrolled at a private university in Guadalajara, Jalisco, graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting. By the mid 1980s, Enedina was working with the family business, but was never considered by the authorities as a visible head in the Tijuana Cartel. Nonetheless, after the fall of the former cartel's financial brain, Jesús Labra Avilés, alias "El Chuy", in the year 2000, Enedina began to directly manage the money laundering activities of the criminal organization.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina is the sister of former cartel leaders Benjamín, Carlos, Eduardo, Francisco Javier, Francisco Rafael and Ramón. Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano captured in 2014, the son of Alicia, Enedina's husband, Luis Raúl Toledo Carrejo, was accused by the United States Department of Treasury in the year 2005 for having links with the Tijuana Cartel. Alicia Arellano Félix, the sister of Enedina, is currently a leader in the Tijuana Cartel.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Since the apprehension of Benjamín in 2002, the Mexican government was able to severely undermine the Tijuana Cartel but failed to destroy it. Enedina has been a leader in the organization since 2003. After the arrest of Eduardo in 2008, Enedina finally became the leader of the Tijuana clan along with her nephew.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina has helped contribute a more "business-like vision" instead of the old and violent practices of her brothers, who previously led the Tijuana Cartel before they were arrested or killed. She forged alliances with other criminal organizations, as opposed to her brothers, who often resorted to violence. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Mexican media identify Enedina as the first and one of the few women to lead a criminal organization in the world other than Sandra Avila Beltran in Mexico, activities historically reserved for men.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: Enedina has several aliases, including: "La Jefa", "La Madrina", and "La Narcomami". The authorities in the United States and Mexico consider Enedina the "financial brains" of the Tijuana Cartel.


title: Enedina Arellano Félix

text: In June 2000, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Enedina under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.


title: Nude beach

text: A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to use the facilities without membership in any movement or subscription to any personal belief. The use of the beach facilities is normally anonymous. Unlike a naturist resort or facility, there is normally no membership or vetting requirement for the use of a nude beach. The use of nude beach facilities is usually casual, not requiring pre-booking. Nude beaches may be official (legally sanctioned), unofficial (tolerated by residents and law enforcement), or illegal.


title: Nude beach

text: In some countries, nude beaches are relatively few and are usually at some distance from cities, and access is at times more difficult than at a regular beach and the facilities at these beaches tend to be very basic with a few notable exceptions. In other countries, like Denmark, most beaches are clothing-optional. Nude swimming is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. A nude beach should not be confused with a topless beach (or top-free beach), where upper body clothing is not required for women or men, although a swimming costume covering the genital area is required for both men and women. A nude beach should be considered as a clothes-free beach.


title: Nude beach

text: Nude beaches tend to be separate or isolated physically from non-nude bathing areas. In other instances people maintain a comfortable space between beach users. Signage is often used to warn unfamiliar beach users about the specially designated areas on the beach. This accommodates people who are not comfortable with nudity, as well as nude beach users who do not like to be watched by clothed individuals, particularly those engaged in voyeurism.


title: Nude beach

text: Most beaches around the world, including nude beaches, are on public lands. That means that although private resorts and hotels that adjoin a beach may enclose their property behind fences with controlled access, most countries do not allow private ownership of the actual beach area. Thus, while a resort can control access and set clothing standards on its property, these standards would not necessarily apply to the beach itself, which remains subject to local laws or customs, and public access to the beach itself usually remains unrestricted. This applies, for example, to the islands in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Florida. On the Seven Mile Beach in Negril, Jamaica, for example, though the beach is lined with private resorts with fences down to the sand/waterline, the beach itself is open to the public. Though actual clothing standards vary from resort to resort, the beach area is officially designated as "topfree", and public access is unrestricted.


title: Nude beach

text: There are eight officially regulated naturist beaches in Brazil, but they are not "clothing optional". Nudity is required, and single men are not allowed unless they have a membership card from a recognized naturist organization. Otherwise, they are similar to other self-regulated naturist beaches, asserting that nudity is natural, and need not be sexual.


title: Nude beach

text: The International Naturist Federation has developed a code of conduct, or etiquette, for use by member organizations. The INF nude beach etiquette requires the avoidance of all forms of sexual harassment and sexual activity, such as masturbation or sexual intercourse. Predatory behavior is not permitted, nor is unauthorized photography. In general, the standards call for the respecting of the privacy of other visitors. Staring is frowned upon by rule and social pressure.


title: Nude beach

text: However, unlike naturist resorts and hotels, which can enforce standards of conduct on their properties promptly and effectively, most nude beaches are on public lands, making the enforcement of standards of nude beach etiquette a more personal matter, subject to the deterrence of local laws. The standards of conduct take different forms in different countries. Other than the fact that people using a nude beach expect to find naked people on the beach, most other local laws and customs continue to apply.


title: Nude beach

text: During a 1936 Adriatic cruise, King Edward VIII and his mistress Wallis Simpson stopped at a beach on the island of Rab where the King obtained a special permission from the local government to swim naked, thereby designating it the world's first official nude beach. Nude beaches became popular in the 1950s along the French coast and have since spread around the world, though they are still few and far between. Some nude beaches are part of a larger nude area, such as the Cap d'Agde area. Most beaches in Denmark and some beaches in Norway are clothing-optional. In Germany there are clothes optional sunbathing areas in public parks, e.g., Munich and Berlin. Beaches in some holiday destinations, such as Crete, are also clothing-optional, except some central urban beaches. There are two centrally located clothes-optional beaches in Barcelona.


title: Nude beach

text: The 1960s and 70s saw some tolerance for nude beaches in the United States. An example was Jacob Riis Park, where nudity was limited to "Bay One" the northernmost section informally demarcated by jetties. Originally frequented by gay men, popularity expanded to traditional naturists, including families. When the park became part of the Gateway National Recreation Area in 1972, Federal law superseded local indecent exposure laws. In 1974 a city law was passed specifically prohibiting nudity in the park, but the U.S. Park Police continued their policy of leniency unless other laws were being violated. Nudity was made illegal by a state law in 1983.


title: Nude beach

text: Though free beaches developed separately from national naturist bodies, some of these bodies have taken an interest and helped to protect them legally, and through the publication of guidelines of acceptable behaviour. In North America, the Free Beach Movement was the name of a group that was opposed to the direction of the official nudist organisation, the American Association for Nude Recreation, and set up the rival body The Naturist Society. Clothes free organizations and free beach associations, such as the Naturist Action Committee, lobby for the removal of laws which prohibit nude swimming and sunbathing or the increase in the number of nude beaches and sometimes to improve the amenities at nude beaches.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss, have been proposed as representing catastrophic risks to the survival of the human species.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The term "anthropogenic" designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian geologist Alexey Pavlov, and it was first used in English by British ecologist Arthur Tansley in reference to human influences on climax plant communities. The atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen introduced the term "Anthropocene" in the mid-1970s. The term is sometimes used in the context of pollution produced from human activity since the start of the Agricultural Revolution but also applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment. Many of the actions taken by humans that contribute to a heated environment stem from the burning of fossil fuel from a variety of sources, such as: electricity, cars, planes, space heating, manufacturing, or the destruction of forests.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Overconsumption is a situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem. It can be measured by the ecological footprint, a resource accounting approach which compares human demand on ecosystems with the amount of planet matter ecosystems can renew. Estimates indicate that humanity's current demand is 70% higher than the regeneration rate of all of the planet's ecosystems combined. A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to environmental degradation and the eventual loss of resource bases.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Humanity's overall impact on the planet is affected by many factors, not just the raw number of people. Their lifestyle (including overall affluence and resource use) and the pollution they generate (including carbon footprint) are equally important. In 2008, "The New York Times" stated that the inhabitants of the developed nations of the world consume resources like oil and metals at a rate almost 32 times greater than those of the developing world, who make up the majority of the human population.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Human civilization has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants. The world's chickens are triple the weight of all the wild birds, while domesticated cattle and pigs outweigh all wild mammals by 14 to 1. Global meat consumption is projected to more than double by 2050, perhaps as much as 76%, as the global population rises to more than 9 billion, which will be a significant driver of further biodiversity loss and increased Greenhouse gas emissions.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Some scholars, environmentalists and advocates have linked human population growth or population size as a driver of environmental issues, including some suggesting this indicates an overpopulation scenario. In 2017, over 15,000 scientists around the world issued a second warning to humanity which asserted that rapid human population growth is the "primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats." According to the "Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services", released by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in 2019, human population growth is a significant factor in contemporary biodiversity loss. A 2021 report in "Frontiers in Conservation Science" proposed that population size and growth are significant factors in biodiversity loss, soil degradation and pollution.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Some scientists and environmentalists, including Pentti Linkola, Jared Diamond and E. O. Wilson, posit that human population growth is devastating to biodiversity. Wilson for example, has expressed concern when "Homo sapiens" reached a population of six billion their biomass exceeded that of any other large land dwelling animal species that had ever existed by over 100 times.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: However, attributing overpopulation as a cause of environmental issues is controversial. Demographic projections indicate that population growth is slowing and world population will peak in the 21st century, and many experts believe that global resources can meet this increased demand, suggesting a global overpopulation scenario is unlikely. Other projections have the population continuing to grow into the next century. While some studies, including the British government's 2021 "Economics of Biodiversity" review, posit that population growth and overconsumption are interdependent, critics suggest blaming overpopulation for environmental issues can unduly blame poor populations in the Global South or oversimplify more complex drivers, leading some to treat overconsumption as a separate issue.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Advocates for further reducing fertility rates, among them Rodolfo Dirzo and Paul R. Ehrlich, argue that this reduction should primarily affect the "overconsuming wealthy and middle classes," with the ultimate goal being to shrink "the scale of the human enterprise" and reverse the "growthmania" which they say threatens biodiversity and the "life-support systems of humanity."


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The environmental impact of agriculture varies based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Ultimately, the environmental impact depends on the production practices of the system used by farmers. The connection between emissions into the environment and the farming system is indirect, as it also depends on other climate variables such as rainfall and temperature.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: There are two types of indicators of environmental impact: "means-based", which is based on the farmer's production methods, and "effect-based", which is the impact that farming methods have on the farming system or on emissions to the environment. An example of a means-based indicator would be the quality of groundwater that is affected by the amount of nitrogen applied to the soil. An indicator reflecting the loss of nitrate to groundwater would be effect-based.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The environmental impact of agriculture involves a variety of factors from the soil, to water, the air, animal and soil diversity, plants, and the food itself. Some of the environmental issues that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The environmental impact of fishing can be divided into issues that involve the availability of fish to be caught, such as overfishing, sustainable fisheries, and fisheries management; and issues that involve the impact of fishing on other elements of the environment, such as by-catch and destruction of habitat such as coral reefs. According to the 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report, overfishing is the main driver of mass species extinction in the oceans.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: These conservation issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. There is a growing gap between how many fish are available to be caught and humanity's desire to catch them, a problem that gets worse as the world population grows.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Similar to other environmental issues, there can be conflict between the fishermen who depend on fishing for their livelihoods and fishery scientists who realize that if future fish populations are to be sustainable then some fisheries must reduce or even close.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The journal "Science" published a four-year study in November 2006, which predicted that, at prevailing trends, the world would run out of wild-caught seafood in 2048. The scientists stated that the decline was a result of overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors that were reducing the population of fisheries at the same time as their ecosystems were being degraded. Yet again the analysis has met criticism as being fundamentally flawed, and many fishery management officials, industry representatives and scientists challenge the findings, although the debate continues. Many countries, such as Tonga, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and international management bodies have taken steps to appropriately manage marine resources.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released their biennial State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture in 2018 noting that capture fishery production has remained constant for the last two decades but unsustainable overfishing has increased to 33% of the world's fisheries. They also noted that aquaculture, the production of farmed fish, has increased from 120 million tonnes per year in 1990 to over 170 million tonnes in 2018.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Populations of oceanic sharks and rays have been reduced by 71% since 1970, largely due to overfishing. More than three-quarters of the species comprising this group are now threatened with extinction.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The environmental impact of irrigation includes the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the ensuing effects on natural and social conditions at the tail-end and downstream of the irrigation scheme.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: The impacts stem from the changed hydrological conditions owing to the installation and operation of the scheme.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: An irrigation scheme often draws water from the river and distributes it over the irrigated area. As a hydrological result it is found that:


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Effects on soil and water quality are indirect and complex, and subsequent impacts on natural, ecological and socio-economic conditions are intricate. In some, but not all instances, water logging and soil salinization can result. However, irrigation can also be used, together with soil drainage, to overcome soil salinization by leaching excess salts from the vicinity of the root zone.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Irrigation can also be done extracting groundwater by (tube)wells. As a hydrological result it is found that the level of the water descends. The effects may be water mining, land/soil subsidence, and, along the coast, saltwater intrusion.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Agricultural irrigation technologies such as high powered water pumps, dams, and pipelines are responsible for the large-scale depletion of fresh water resources such as aquifers, lakes, and rivers. As a result of this massive diversion of freshwater, lakes, rivers, and creeks are running dry, severely altering or stressing surrounding ecosystems, and contributing to the extinction of many aquatic species.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Lal and Stewart estimated global loss of agricultural land by degradation and abandonment at 12 million hectares per year. In contrast, according to Scherr, GLASOD (Global Assessment of Human-Induced Soil Degradation, under the UN Environment Programme) estimated that 6 million hectares of agricultural land per year had been lost to soil degradation since the mid-1940s, and she noted that this magnitude is similar to earlier estimates by Dudal and by Rozanov et al. Such losses are attributable not only to soil erosion, but also to salinization, loss of nutrients and organic matter, acidification, compaction, water logging and subsidence. Human-induced land degradation tends to be particularly serious in dry regions. Focusing on soil properties, Oldeman estimated that about 19 million square kilometers of global land area had been degraded; Dregne and Chou, who included degradation of vegetation cover as well as soil, estimated about 36 million square kilometers degraded in the world's dry regions. Despite estimated losses of agricultural land, the amount of arable land used in crop production globally increased by about 9% from 1961 to 2012, and is estimated to have been 1.396 billion hectares in 2012.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Global average soil erosion rates are thought to be high, and erosion rates on conventional cropland generally exceed estimates of soil production rates, usually by more than an order of magnitude. In the US, sampling for erosion estimates by the US NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is statistically based, and estimation uses the Universal Soil Loss Equation and Wind Erosion Equation. For 2010, annual average soil loss by sheet, rill and wind erosion on non-federal US land was estimated to be 10.7 t/ha on cropland and 1.9 t/ha on pasture land; the average soil erosion rate on US cropland had been reduced by about 34% since 1982. No-till and low-till practices have become increasingly common on North American cropland used for production of grains such as wheat and barley. On uncultivated cropland, the recent average total soil loss has been 2.2 t/ha per year. In comparison with agriculture using conventional cultivation, it has been suggested that, because no-till agriculture produces erosion rates much closer to soil production rates, it could provide a foundation for sustainable agriculture.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires. This is considered to be an important topic of the 21st century due to the implications land degradation has upon agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effects on food security. It is estimated that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.


title: Human impact on the environment

text: Environmental impacts associated with meat production include use of fossil energy, water and land resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and in some instances, rainforest clearing, water pollution and species endangerment, among other adverse effects. Steinfeld et al. of the FAO estimated that 18% of global anthropogenic GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions (estimated as 100-year carbon dioxide equivalents) are associated in some way with livestock production. FAO data indicate that meat accounted for 26% of global livestock product tonnage in 2011.