Health care policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health care policy - Essay Example The Health Care policy is addressed to articulate the origins and benefits of the scheme that has noticed various setbacks in the implemented environments. Health care policy is the strategies developed to regulate the need to complete measures that are needed to offer affordable health attention. The U.S. provides variable entities to the provision that is initiated in different sectors. The health care facilities are privately owned with organizations and the government offering the needed packages for attention. The policy is mostly offered by the government to initiate the Medicare and Medicaid policies. The higher spending in the Health Care system has reduced the mortality rate in America significantly promising healthy living to the people. However, the elevated costs incurred, and inflation threatens the sustainability of the system (Shannon, 2004). There are provided unnecessary spending that present to limit the American economy. The growth of the system is challenged in the organization and provision that have been established as constraining to the policy. The recent trend has witnessed the health care premium to inflate and rise to tremendous depths as compared to the economy. The health care organization in the U.S. has been elevated to be compared to double the price of those in developed nations (Kronenfeld, 2002). The government initiates the policy from the contribution in the taxes presented by the citizens. The policy is affected by the government and the private institutions that commit to presenting the program to their employees. Institutions offer the Health Care policies to their employees based on the agreement of the package presented. These ensure a healthy working environment that provides security to the employed in times of emergencies (Shannon, 2004). However, the government system may also present desirable measures to be attained in a healthy provision. The Obamacare has

Philosophy of Nursing: Reflection

Philosophy of Nursing: Reflection A philosophy is a statement of belief about something. Humans, their health, and the environment in which they live and function are phenomena of particular interest to nursing. Learning to reflect critically on ones practice requires considerable effort. It is also essential to being an excellent practitioner. Being able to think about and to explain your beliefs about the basic concepts of your practice provides the framework for your practice. Do remember that what you write today is not written in stone. As you learn new information and expand your professional practice your thoughts and beliefs about these phenomena may very well change. View this assignment as an opportunity to articulate your thoughts about these four concepts. My Belief is Good pain control and community health services help rebuild a person after surgery You need to include the following items: 1. An introduction to the paper that includes a brief overview of the paradigm. 2. A statement and explanation of your beliefs in relation to each of the four concepts included in the paradigm of nursing (humans, health, nursing, environment). While there is no minimum requirement for the length of each `statement and explanation,` many fall into the range of three (3) to five (5) paragraphs for each component of the paradigm. Some questions you may want to ask and answer for yourself are: What is the essence of human? What is health? Illness? Wellness? How are they related? What is the reason for nursings existence? How do I facilitate a clients movement toward health? These are just suggestions. You are NOT required to respond to the questions listed in this paragraph. As you consider your explanation of how you have reached this belief, i.e. `This I believe about . . . because. . .`, you may want to review some of the information from previous NRSE 300 modules. The Paradigm Online Writing Assistant has guidelines about writing a Thesis/Support Essay. This can help you in the construction of the paper. You need to document your explanation with material from the textbook, from the videos, from your practice, and from at least two sources that are not listed in your class materials. 3. Choose one of the nurse theorists you viewed. Compare your beliefs to those expressed or implied by the Jean Watson. How similar are your beliefs? What differences exist? 4. The final section of the paper is to be a statement of your philosophy of nursing. It may help to go to the Ohio School of Nursing website and read the Philosophy of the School of Nursing. It will give you a sense of one style of writing a philosophy. The philosophy is a distillation of the thinking you did to write your beliefs and explanations. It usually takes the form of one to three sentences about each of the components with linking comments about how they relate to each other to form your personal philosophy of nursing. 5. Paper will be typed. Double-space the body of the paper. Use APA format for headings and references. Make sure that your name is on each page of the paper. Use the running head style as explained in the APA Manual. Proofread the paper. Do NOT rely solely on spell check. It will not tell you when you wrote `of` when you intended to write `or.` There is no specified length for this paper. They usually run between 3 and 6 pages of double-space Introduction Nursing refers to a contact or a bond that exists between two or more persons in which one of the two persons provide professional care to the other in addition to providing advice with an aim of improving the health of the other individual an preventing illness. Philosophy of nursing may refer to beliefs that different individuals have towards nursing. Humans refer to the primates in the family of hominids. They have a brain which is highly expanded enabling them to solve problems through reasoning, control of emotions, use of language and introspection. Humans are always craving to understand the world around them and influence the natural occurrences. Health refers to a state of well being where there is no sickness and reflects the social, physical, spiritual and mental fitness of an individual. Good health may be brought about by a balanced diet, exercise and rest. Nursing refers to a science in which the person involved aims at ensuring a good health for individuals, families and communities. In general, the science of nursing aims at upholding the quality of life. Environment is defined as the extensive information on issues, programs and policies affecting our surrounding. It refers to anything internal or external that may create some impact in the life of an individual including all the living and non living organisms that exist on the earth. Humans A good pain control after surgery when accompanied by appropriate community health services enables an individual to rebuild him or herself. It is however the responsibility of every person to ensure that the nurse or the doctor knows about him or herself before the pain control is administered on him or her. This the patient could do by enabling the doctor to know about his or her drug addiction either the past or present. Surgery of the stomach is a very painful one and the drug history of a person may affect the persons tolerance to the pain or response to the pain relievers. The pain control in patients also depends on the age of the patient as well the conditions of health of the individual before the surgery. Controlling pain after surgery is a very essential step in the life of a patient as it helps the individual to gain the best results on functionality. This is appropriate because the pain after surgery increases the functionality of the patient. Patients who before the surgery were on pain medication do require an administration of extended pain medication. Otherwise the patient may require shorter acting pain medications for the control of pain. Nursing The belief that good pain control and community health services help rebuild a person after surgery relates to nursing in the sense that nurses have been found to be mediums through which terminal care at home can be improved. Pain control is one of the components of quality terminal care in the community. Patients who have undergone surgery should be given enough advice by the nurses on where to get help if necessary. In addition to this they should be given appropriate analgesics to carry home which should be accompanied by sufficient instructions on their usage. Nevertheless, patients should be given both verbal and written information about pain so that and how pain can be reduced. The nursing staff should always be there for patients to advice them and to discuss with them their choice of a pain relieving techniques. The pain that is experienced by patients after surgery is usually very great that it should not be underestimated. This is because the pain does different implications on both the patients and the community health services. A proper pain control after surgery therefore requires the intervention of the nurse which will give way for community health services thus helping the patient to gain his or her health back. Nurses facilitates the process of pain control and ensures that it well managed to speed the process of recovering of a patient. Health The health of a person enables that person to function mentally, spiritually, physically and socially in full ability. The belief that a good pain control and community health service helps an individual to rebuild after a surgery relates to health in the sense that an individual will only have a good health when he or she is not in pain. A person is considered to fully healthy if he or she is not feeling any pain. Surgery involves a lot of pain therefore after a surgery an individual requires pain relief which is achieved through proper pain control by the nurses to enable him or her to function properly both physically, mentally, spiritually and socially. When a person is in pain, he or she will not perform any physical activity in addition the person will not be able to socialize freely with other people. The person will also not think properly thus lacking both mental and spiritual thinking. This is because pain makes a person uncomfortable creating a feeling that something is wrong in the body. The pain in the body i.e. physical pain sends a signal to the brain through the spinal cords that something is wrong thus stopping the mind from working properly. It is therefore essential that after surgery a patient should receive a good pain control and community health service to enable him or her to rebuild his health. Effective pain management is therefore considered by nurses as part of recovery because it when it is well controlled it speeds up the process of healing and reduce complications that a person may experience as a result of surgery. Environment The surroundings in which individuals live do affect the activities performed in that particular environment. Nurses do require an enabling environment to enable them to perform their duties properly. After surgery it will for the well being of the patient to have a conducive environment in which physical, mental, spiritual and social healing is possible. The nature of the environment in which pain control is conducted is very essential and should be set to fit the requirements of different patients. Pain control will enable an individual to feel comfortable as he or she heals, get well faster and avoid some problems associated with surgery. The nurse theorist viewed was Margaret Newman who also came up with a nursing theory of health as an expanding consciousness which requires every person to find the meaning of life and find connections with other people in the rest of the world. According to Margaret, health means increasing awareness. She put forward that the role of a nurse is to identify the lifestyle of an individual so that the nurse can work within that lifestyle to help the individual achieve the goals of his or her life. Newmans theory includes the health of every individual irrespective of the condition of illness i.e. whether sick or well. Jean on the other hand developed a caring theory which involves the caring actions taken by nurses in their interaction with the patients. The caring theory involves the deep respect offered to patients by the nurses for the mysteries of life and the ability of the patients to change their lifestyles. Watsons caring theory also requires a nurse to help the patients to acquire self control, knowledge and healing not regarding their health conditions. The difference that exists between my beliefs on Newmans theory and Watsons caring theory is that Newmans theory was focused on helping every person whether in the absence or presence of sickness to understand his or her status. It focused on the adjustments that a nurse should put to ensure that a person meets his or her requirements. Watson on the other hand focused on caring for the patients, respecting them and helping them to understand themselves by acquiring self control, knowledge and healing. The similarity between the two theories is that both the two believe that it is the role of a nurse to ensure appropriate lifestyles for different persons whether sick or not. They both believe that a nurse should be able to identify or recognize and accurately detect the health status of a person and be able to help that person accordingly. They believe that a nurse must come together and engage in an interaction so that the nurse can understand the unique lifestyle of the person and provide care in a manner that fits that lifestyle. Finally both the beliefs involve human and nursing in the science of nursing in order to provide desired care to persons. The statement of my philosophy of nursing is the belief that Good pain control and community health services help rebuild a person after surgery. Conclusion Surgery is a very painful exercise which usually requires an immediate pain control to stop the patient from suffering. Pain management especially after surgery is therefore very essential for the well being of the patient and nurses should ensure that it is provided to enable the patient to rebuild his or her health. Reference Newman, M. A. (1972). Nursings theoretical evolution. Nursing Outlook, 20(5), 449-453. Newman, M.A. (1979). Theory development in nursing. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis. Newman, M. A. (1982). Time as an index of expanding consciousness with age. Nursing Research, 31(5), 290-293. Newman, M.A. (1983). Newmans health theory. In I. Clements F. Roberts (Eds.), Family health: A theoretical approach to nursing care (pp. 161-175). New York: John Wiley. Engle, V. F. (1984). Newmans conceptual framework and the measurement of older adults health. Advances in Nursing Science, 7(1), 24-36. Newman, M. A. (1984). Nursing diagnosis: Looking at the whole. American Journal of Nursing, 84(12), 1496-1499. Newman, M.A. (1986). Health as Expanding Consciousness. St. Louis: Mosby. Newman, M. A. (1987). Aging as increasing complexity. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 13(9), 16-18. Newman, M.A. (1990). Newmans theory of health as praxis. Nursing Science Quarterly, 3(1), 37-41 Gustafson, W. (1990). Application of Newmans theory of health: Pattern recognition as nursing practice. In M. E. Parker (Ed.), Nursing theories in practice (pp. 141-161). New York: National League for Nursing. Kalb, K. A. (1990). The gift: Applying Newmans theory of health in nursing practice. In M. Parker (Ed.), Nursing theories in practice (pp. 163-186). New York: National League for Nursing. Newman, M. A. (1990). Shifting to higher consciousness. In M. E. Parker (Ed.), Nursing theories in practice (pp. 129-139). New York: National League for Nursing. Newman, M. A. (1990). Toward an integrative model of professional practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 6(3), 167-173. Newman, M. A., Lamb, G. S., Michaels, C. (1991). Nurse case management: The coming together of theory and practice. Nursing Health Care, 12(8), 404-408. Newman, M. A., Sime, A. M., Corcoran-Perry, S. A. (1991). The focus of the discipline of nursing. Advances in Nursing Science, 14(1), 1-6. Newman, M. A. (1992). Prevailing paradigms in nursing. Nursing Outlook, 40(1), 10-14. Marchione, J. (1993). Margaret Newman: Health as expanding consciousness. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Newman, M. A. (1994). Health expanding consciousness (2nd ed.). New York: National League for Nursing. Newman, M.A. (1994). Theory for nursing practice. Nursing Science Quarterly, 7(4), 153-157. Newman, M. A. (1995). A developing discipline: Selected works of Margaret Newman. New York: National League for Nursing. Marchione, J. (1995). Margaret Newman: Health as expanding consciousness. In C. M. McQuiston A. A. Webb ( Eds.), Foundations of nursing theory: Contributions of 12 key theorists (pp. 261-316). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Engle, V. F. (1996). Newmans theory of health. In J. J. Fitzpatrick A. L. Whall (Eds.), Conceptual models of nursing: Analysis and application (3rd ed., pp. 275-288). Stamford, CT: Appleton Lange. Newman, M.A. (1996). Theory of the nurse-client partnership. In E. Cohen (Ed.), Nurse case management in the 21st Century (pp. 119-123). St. Louis: Mosby Year-book. Newman, M. A. (1997). Experiencing the whole. Advances in Nursing Science, 20(1), 34-39. Newman, M. A. (1997). Evolution of the theory of health as expanding consciousness. Nursing Science Quarterly, 10(1), 22-25. Yamashita, M., Jensen, E., Tall, F. (1998). Therapeutic touch: Applying Newmans theoretic approach. Nursing Science Quarterly, 11(2) 49-50. Desai, S., Keffer, M. J., Hensley, D. Kilgore-Keever, K. A., Langfitt, J. V. Peterson, L. (1998). Margaret A. Newman: Model of Health. In A. M. Tomey M. R. Alligood (Eds.), Nursing theorists and their work (4th ed., pp. 496-515). St. Louis: Mosby. Newman, M. A. (1999). The rhythm of relating in a paradigm of wholeness. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 31(3), 227-230. Pharris, M. D. (2001). Margaret A. Newman: Health as expanding consciousness. In Parker, M. (Ed.), Nursing theories and nursing practice (pp. 263-274). Philadelphia: Davis. Newman, M. A. (2002). Caring in the human health experience. International Journal for Human Caring. 6(2), 8-12. Newman, M. A. (2002). The pattern that connects. Advances in Nursing Science, 24(3), 1-7. Witucki, J. M. (2002). Newmans theory of health as expanding consciousness in nursing practice. In M. R. Alligood A. M. Tomey (Eds.), Nursing theory utilization application (2nd ed., pp. 429-449). St. Louis: Mosby. Newman, M. A. (2003). A world of no boundaries. Advances in Nursing Science, 26(4), 240-245. Endo, E. (2004). Nursing praxis with Margaret Newmans theory of health expanding consciousness. Nursing Science Quarterly, 17(2), 110-115. Health as Expanding Consciousness A website by Margaret Newman. ASSUMPTIONS deal with human life, nursing science, and the process of nursing. Watsons conception of human life is tied to notions that ones soul possesses a body that is not confined by objective space and time. The lived world of the experiencing person is not distinguished by external and internal notions of time and space, but shapes its own time and space, which is unconstrained by linearity. Nursing is a human science of persons and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, esthetic, and ethical human care transactions. The process of nursing is human care. THE THEORY OF HUMAN CARING The main concept of the theory is TRANSPERSONAL HUMAN CARING, which is best understood within the concepts of three ancillary concepts: LIFE, ILLNESS, and HEALTH. HUMAN LIFE is defined as spiritual-mental-physical being-in-the-world, which is continuous in time and space. ILLNESS is not necessarily disease. Illness is subjective turmoil or disharmony with a persons inner self or soul at some level or disharmony within the spheres of the person, either consciously or unconsciously. HEALTH refers to unity and harmony within the mind, body, and soul. TRANSPERSONAL HUMAN CARING and caring transactions are those scientific, professional, ethical, yet esthetic, creative and personalized giving-receiving behaviors and responses between nurse and patient that allow for contact between the subjective world of the experiencing persons through physical, mental, or spiritual routes or some combination thereof. THE GOAL OF NURSING is to help persons gain a higher degree of harmony within the mind, body, and soul which generates self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-healing, and self-care processes while increasing diversity. Nursing interventions or CARATIVE FACTORS are: Humanistic-altruistic system of values Faith-hope Sensitivity to self and others Helping-trusting, human care relationship Expressing positive and negative feelings Creative problem-solving caring process Transpersonal teaching-learning Supportive, protective, and/or corrective mental, physical, societal, and spiritual environment Human needs assistance Existential-phenomenological-spiritual forces Return to Top This page was last modified on 6/1/02

Douglas Monroys Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture

Douglas Monroy's "Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California" When Spaniards colonized California, they invaded the native Indians with foreign worldviews, weapons, and diseases. The distinct regional culture that resulted from this union in turn found itself invaded by Anglo-Americans with their peculiar social, legal, and economic ideals. Claiming that differences among these cultures could not be reconciled, Douglas Monroy traces the historical interaction among them in Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California. Beginning with the missions and ending in the late 1800s, he employs relations of production and labor demands as a framework to explain the domination of some groups and the decay of others and concludes with the notion that ?California would have been, and would be today, a different place indeed if people had done more of their own work.?(276) While this supposition may be true, its economic determinism undermines other important factors on which he eloquently elaborates, such as religion an d law. Ironically, in his description of native Californian culture, Monroy becomes victim of the same creation of the ?other? for which he chastises Spanish and Anglo cultures. His unconvincing arguments about Indian life and his reductive adherence to labor analysis ultimately detract from his work; however, he successfully provokes the reader to explore the complexities and contradictions of a particular historical era. In the first section, Monroy describes the Indian and the Iberian cultures and illustrates the role each played during missionization, as the Indians adapted ?to the demands of Iberian imperialism.?(5) He stresses the differen... ...ough his words refer to historical sources, they also apply to Douglas Monroy himself. Unveiling the intricacies of cultural interactions is a difficult task, and Monroy successfully reveals many of the complexities and contradictions of historical writing. However, he does not escape the tendency to create homogenous ?others.? Portions of his book, such as the treatment of Indians at the mission, are questionable. Although he maintains that his underlying theme is labor relations, the depth with which he writes about law and society seem to dictate a more holistic analysis. Labor relations among conflicting cultures may create history, but believing that history does not create labor relations seems unconvincingly economically determinist. Works Cited: Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990. Douglas Monroy's Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture Douglas Monroy's "Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California" When Spaniards colonized California, they invaded the native Indians with foreign worldviews, weapons, and diseases. The distinct regional culture that resulted from this union in turn found itself invaded by Anglo-Americans with their peculiar social, legal, and economic ideals. Claiming that differences among these cultures could not be reconciled, Douglas Monroy traces the historical interaction among them in Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California. Beginning with the missions and ending in the late 1800s, he employs relations of production and labor demands as a framework to explain the domination of some groups and the decay of others and concludes with the notion that ?California would have been, and would be today, a different place indeed if people had done more of their own work.?(276) While this supposition may be true, its economic determinism undermines other important factors on which he eloquently elaborates, such as religion an d law. Ironically, in his description of native Californian culture, Monroy becomes victim of the same creation of the ?other? for which he chastises Spanish and Anglo cultures. His unconvincing arguments about Indian life and his reductive adherence to labor analysis ultimately detract from his work; however, he successfully provokes the reader to explore the complexities and contradictions of a particular historical era. In the first section, Monroy describes the Indian and the Iberian cultures and illustrates the role each played during missionization, as the Indians adapted ?to the demands of Iberian imperialism.?(5) He stresses the differen... ...ough his words refer to historical sources, they also apply to Douglas Monroy himself. Unveiling the intricacies of cultural interactions is a difficult task, and Monroy successfully reveals many of the complexities and contradictions of historical writing. However, he does not escape the tendency to create homogenous ?others.? Portions of his book, such as the treatment of Indians at the mission, are questionable. Although he maintains that his underlying theme is labor relations, the depth with which he writes about law and society seem to dictate a more holistic analysis. Labor relations among conflicting cultures may create history, but believing that history does not create labor relations seems unconvincingly economically determinist. Works Cited: Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.

La Guagua Aerea

â€Å"La Guagua Aerea† Many things in life are learned the hard way. We learn to overcome these obstacles and adapt to rapid change. The movie we saw in class is a perfect example of these points. It takes place in the 1970’s when tickets from Puerto Rico to New York where lowered down to $20 in order to promote immigrants to come to the U. S. This was found to be a big scam done by the U. S. to trick the Puerto Rican community to selling their properties. This movie takes place mainly on the plane on the way to La Guardia Airport.There were many interesting points I noticed in this film. One of my observations was how all these immigrants were traveling with the same dream. The American dream is this hope that all immigrants who come to the United States have of becoming successful. They believe that by coming to this country they will make a lot of money. For many it’s false hope and when they come here they realize how hard it is to actually make a living over here. Jobs aren’t opened everywhere especially not jobs that are willing to pay good.A good example of this is the taxi driver who was in the movie. He had previous experience of what life was like in New York. He went there once before with hopes of getting a good job and instead he realized that things were hard. That is why he became so angry when the stuck up Puerto Rican man tried to act like he was going to be so rich in New York. My personal opinion towards this movie is it’s definitely an eye opening visual of what really happens when immigrants come to the U. S.Their false thoughts and how we never let go of our culture no matter how far we are from home. I thought the movie was very funny at points especially when the people on board began eating their rice and beans. It was really hilarious how they kept looking at the pickle that came in the sandwich like it was from outer space. I understand how these people feel especially since I am an immigrant from Pe ru. It was very hard to adapt to this new world. Especially being so far away from family and what I grew up knowing.

The Party’s Over by Richard Heinberg

Energy is the critical element of our daily performance. Energy is the matter of our survival on earth. Those who possess energy possess the world, and balancing our energy needs with the availability of renewable energy sources is essential to provide us with sufficient opportunities to survive tough environmental conditions. To a large extent, we ourselves are guilty of not being reasonable in energy consumption. Moreover, we are responsible for resolving the majority of the current energy issues. Since humans are expected to be reasonable, our attitudes toward energy should be reasonable too. How often we are willing to look deeper into the causes of the major energy crises will also predetermine our chances to balance technological advancement, industrialization, the growing energy needs with the limitedness of energy resources. The Party’s Over by Richard Heinberg Introduction Energy is the critical element of our daily performance. Energy is the matter of our survival on earth. Those who possess energy possess the world, and balancing our energy needs with the availability of renewable energy sources is essential to provide us with sufficient opportunities to survive tough environmental conditions. To a large extent, we ourselves are guilty of not being reasonable in energy consumption. Moreover, we are responsible for resolving the majority of the current energy issues. Since humans are expected to be reasonable, our attitudes toward energy should be reasonable too. How often we are willing to look deeper into the causes of the major energy crises will also predetermine our chances to balance technological advancement, industrialization, the growing energy needs with the limitedness of energy resources. As humans, we constantly seek to capture the most promising sources of energy. In this context, oil has been widely recognized as the most attractive and universal source of energy. However, this impression is at least deceptive, and our energy issues grow out of our unreasonable attitudes towards the most widely used sources of energy. Heinberg (2005) is correct: â€Å"it is because living things are open systems, with energy and matter continually flowing through them, that they can afford to create and sustain order. Take away their sources of usable energy or matter, and they soon die and begin to disintegrate† (p. 11). That is one of the reasons Heinberg (2005) provides – the reasons that should push us toward reconsidering the traditional patterns of energy consumption in society. In other words, where energy serves the basis of stability and social order in society, energy should also be reasonably consumed, and the need to preserve this social order is the basic reason why we should review the traditional ways of using and consuming energy from different sources. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that energy is not inexhaustible; even the basic laws of thermodynamics suggest that the transformation of energy from one form into another is accompanied by losing of the certain amount of this energy in the form of heat. These amounts of energy are readily used but are not easy to reproduce, and if we don’t address the current energy scarcity, we will soon follow the rabbits that in their desire to inhabit Australia (another Heinberg’s example) have sentenced themselves to death. It should be noted, that the example of rabbits is very demonstrative: in simple words Heinberg (2005) tries to explain WHY and HOW we should pay more attention to HOW MUCH energy we consume and how much energy we are able to reproduce. In simple words, Heinberg (2005) explains the consequences which insufficient energy is likely to cause, and apart from disrupting social order and social stability the lack of energy resources leads humans to inevitable death. Since the proliferating rabbits may eat available vegetation at a faster rate than it can naturally be regenerated, the rabbits may actually reduce their environment’s rabbit-carrying capacity; [†¦] the rabbit population will rapidly crash – that is, the rabbits will die off† (Heinberg 2005, p. 19). Even the threat of death cannot serve an argument convincing enough to change our attitudes toward energy. Heinberg (2005) shows that changing our approaches to energy consumption is the matter of life vs. e ath, but we tend to believe that the most serious energy troubles will leave us intact. Moreover, we are not always prepared to look further into the future and to evaluate the long-term impacts of the current energy crisis. As humans, we always seek to establish our rules of the game and to gain and preserve control over the most important natural resources. However, as â€Å"energy supplies are not always limited; there is no free ride; and in the long run, it is in every species’ interest to use energy frugally† (Heinberg 2005, p. 0), our unreasonable energy consumption will lead us to losing control over the resources, and as a result, our lives. As soon as energy comes to an end, we will no longer be able to prove our dominance in the natural hierarchy of species and will be doomed to surrender to the dominant forces of nature. This is one more reason which Heinberg (2005) tries to explain in his book, and if the need to save energy does not seem persuasive, applying for power, omnipotence and natural human dominance is expected to change human beliefs about energy. Does that mean that we are at the edge of the new energy crisis? Does that mean we cannot do anything to improve the situation? Moreover, does that mean that the energy party is over? It depends on how we tend to interpret the meaning of Heinberg’s (2005) â€Å"Party†. If â€Å"party† implies the age of unreasonable energy consumption, then humanity does not have other choice but to recognize that it has finally come to an end. If â€Å"party† is associated with energy in general and energy use in particular, we have not yet lost our chance to expand our survival opportunities. Personally, we can contribute into the development of more reasonable behaviors by being more attentive toward the amounts of energy we use and lose daily. The use of renewable sources of energy may also provide humanity with a chance to preserve its natural dominant position. For example, developing the means to capture usable energy from sunlight can satisfy prodigious energy appetites of industrial societies (Heinberg 2005, p. 156). The age of cheap oil and related sources of energy has gone forever, and even if the oil price falls, we will not be able to replenish what we have lost during the last century. Changing the structure of energy sources, however, will be meaningless without changing human mentality. As a result, whether we succeed to improve our wellbeing and our chances to survive, will depend on how well we work to restructure our personal attitudes toward energy, as far as all social changes begin at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Conclusion. Energy means life, and if we want to survive the current energy crisis, we must also realize that the age of cheap oil has come to an end. Developing reasonable attitudes toward energy consumption is necessary to satisfy the growing needs of industrial societies. Renewable sources of energy could help us maintain social stability, but promoting energy changes is impossible without changing human mentality. As a result, whether we are able to develop effective energy strategies will depend on how we change our individual attitudes toward the principles of consuming and saving energy.