A home business can be the ideal solution for those who want the flexibility of making your own hours or being your own boss. However, a home business is not easy. It does take work and time. If you have the discipline and drive to start a home business, this may be a great solution.
There are many home business opportunities available. Do you have an idea for the perfect home business? Start researching your idea to figure out start up costs and the amount of time and effort needed to run the home business. If you simply want to start a home business but are open to the type, there are several home business opportunities available. Check the Internet for legitimate home business options. Make sure to research what is needed to start and the potential for generating income from your home business.
Because of the popularity of home business, there are also scams that are abundant on the Internet. Stay away from home business scams as they will not generate income and will, in fact, cost you money. Stuffing envelopes and handling insurance claims are two popular home business scams. They require you to invest a fee for equipment and training and then you do not make any money after the investment. To avoid such scams, do some thorough research on your home business options. Get references and realistic opinions on what your investment will need to be and the return expected.
For a home business to work, you must be willing to put in time and effort. There is no such thing as money for nothing. Although a home business will allow you to be flexible with your hours and provide you more time with family, you will earn only as much money as the effort you put into it. A home business is a great choice for stay at home parents who want something to do while their kids are in school. A home business is also the perfect side job for anyone who works but is looking to earn a little extra money. You can work as little or as much in your home business as you’d like. However, remember that your earning potential with your home business increases with more effort put into it.
There is bound to be a home business opportunity that appeals to you. Search the Internet for ideas on a home business and do thorough research on the company. Once you decide on the home business that will work best for you, make sure you have the discipline to work. A home business requires you to be a self starter and have the work ethic to work without supervision. A home business is not for everyone but it can be the idea solution for extra money for those who are willing to put time and effort into it.
Is a Home Business Right for You
Why You Should Outsource Your Business Writing Projects
Just because you are not a writer, it doesn’t mean that your business has to suffer. Instead of pulling out hairs over that business manual or press release you could outsource your project to a writing professional.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing or contracting is when you obtain a company or individual (outside of your organization) to complete a task or series of tasks.
Why should you outsource your writing projects?
1. You want great results – Writing great copy is a skill that everyone does not possess. Why give your business a mediocre image when you can have a high quality one? When you outsource your writing projects, you are handing your project to someone who is skilled.
2. You don’t have time to learn how to write great copy- You have to check your email, go to meetings, plan the budget, meet with clients, shop for supplies; do you really have time to write content? When you outsource your writing project, you simply make a phone call (or send an email) and you no longer have to worry about completing the task.
3. You don’t have the resources to hire an employee- Hiring employees can get expensive. Not only do you have to have office space, a computer, and other supplies; but you also have to pay for taxes, medical expenses, vacation time, workers comp and other operating costs. When you outsource you save money by eliminating the expenses that come with employees.
4. You don’t like to write- If you wanted to be a writer, you’d be in a different profession. Why suffer through writing documents when your time could be used tending to an aspect of business you enjoy. When you outsource you are enabling someone who loves writing to complete the task. And who would you rather trust? An employee who would rather be doing something else or a professional who loves what they are doing?
What kind of writing projects can be outsourced?
Just about any writing that you need done can be outsourced. This includes press releases, web copy, web content, brochures, manuals, presentations, handbooks, flyers, sales letters, ezines and more.
Suggestions for outsourcing:
A true professional will invest in their own website and domain name as opposed to using free hosting. This shows that they are dedicated to their craft and it’s not just a hobby.
A true professional has a portfolio (either online or off) and they will be more than willing to show you examples of their previous work.
A true professional will ask you questions. Frequently companies who are new to outsourcing don’t quite understand that they have to be somewhat involved in the process. Someone who delivers high quality work understands that they cannot guess what you want.
A true professional values their worth and can prove why they are worth the price. It will be quite easy for you to find a contractor who charges less than minimum wage. However, you must keep in mind that you get what you pay for. If you are expecting high quality work, you are going to have to pay for it.
Servers - Do You Need One For Your Business?
When you start an online business, one of the most important decisions you can make is which server to use. A web server is what makes an internet site run. It takes a web page request, finds the URL’s file, and loads the file onto the requester’s browser. The base of any online business is the server, and the key to choosing the right server is knowing the needs of your business and understanding which server will provide the most benefits.
If you own a small business, Virtual Hosting is a popular choice. You can open an account for somewhere between 20 and 50 dollars a month. You’re only allowed one site per account, so if you decide to create a second website, just open a second account. Because it’s a single server with numerous users, it is controlled by an administrator. If you want to change your settings, you must contact the administrator and leave it to him/her to decide what to do. The good side of this is that you don’t have to worry about knowing how to work the program; the bad side is that you don’t have as much control. However, if you own a small business with just one or two websites, it’s a smart decision.
If you own a larger business with more websites, a Virtual Private Server may be a better option. It is a single server that branches out, which means you share expenses with other users while maintaining your freedom. It’s best if you have some knowledge of the program, as you are your own administrator, controlling the settings with the help of a manual. However, even if you don’t know the program, you’ll do well as long as you feel comfortable with the manual. Because a Virtual Private Server lets you have up to 50 websites at just over 100 dollars a month, this is the wisest choice if you own a big, complex business.
You must also know which web server software to choose. Sometimes you’re not given a choice, but in case you are, know the pros and cons of each option.
Two popular types of web server software are Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) and Apache. You can only use IIS on NT-based server systems - basically, Microsoft with Microsoft. However, it is easy to use, heavily backed, and has crash protection. Apache, on the other hand, doesn’t have any support, but it’s free and is therefore the most popular web server software in the world. It is updated all the time for your convenience.
There are many other servers and software to choose from, but these are some of the basics that will help you make your choices. Online businesses are hard to manage, so you don’t want to choose the wrong server and spend all your time worrying about it instead of profits. Taking into account costs, safety, and preferences, you can choose your server wisely and make your business a success, starting from the base and working up.
Mistakes Made by New Businesses: The Top Ten
Most small businesses fail within the first five years, often from a lack of planning at the outset. There are a number of financial pitfalls that new businesses must avoid in order to survive. You can improve your new business' chance of succeeding by learning about, and taking steps to avoid, the top ten mistakes new business owners make.
1) Starting Your Business With a Large Loan
Many small business owners make the mistake of borrowing large amounts -- either from banks, credit card companies, home equity loans, or friends and family -- to start their businesses. Because these business owners start off owing so much money, they feel pressured to make a profit immediately -- and they may have to make high monthly payments on the loans. A wiser approach is to save a good amount of money and to rely mostly on those savings when you begin your business.
2) Planning on Making a Profit Right Away
Most small businesses are not profitable within their first year or two. You should have a reliable source of income from something other than your new business to sustain yourself during your start-up period.
3) Spending Too Much Money at the Beginning
Many small businesses spend too much money "setting up shop," buying equipment and furniture, and investing in business cards and brochures. Plan to start on a shoestring. And remember, if you spend a lot of money, that's more money you can lose if the business fails. (For information on what to do if your business falls into debt, read Nolo's article When You Can't Pay Your Business Debts: Personal Liability and Bankruptcy Options.)
4) Hiring Employees You Don't Need
Hiring employees subjects you to registration and record keeping requirements and can be very expensive. You'll have to pay unemployment taxes, withhold state and federal income taxes (as well as Medicare and Social Security taxes), pay for workers' compensation insurance, and comply with safety regulations to avoid injury to your workers. (To learn more about your obligations as an employer, read Nolo's article Hiring Your First Employee: 13 Things You Must Do.)
You may face severe penalties -- and may even be found to be personally liable -- if you don't comply with all of these requirements. If you need help with your business, consider hiring an independent contractor or a worker from a temp agency rather than a permanent employee.
5)Renting Space You Don't Need
Renting space is usually not necessary when you're just starting out. Often times, you can work from home. Running your business from home can save you tax dollars too. (To learn more about tax savings for home businesses, read Nolo's article The Home Office Tax Deduction.)
Renting commercial space is expensive, and if you need to make modifications to the space, can be even more so. If your business doesn't work out or you can't afford to rent and have to move, you'll probably owe the landlord rent until your lease runs out. You will most likely be personally liable for these payments because most landlords require small business owners to sign personal guarantees, even if the business is officially an LLC or a corporation. (To learn more, see Nolo's Business Space & Commercial Lease area.)
6) Not Developing a Business Plan
Even if you're not soliciting money from investors, business plans are useful. Come up with a financial forecast to see if your business can make money and will have money year-round. Among other things, consider:
what your initial financing needs are
what challenges your business will face (in terms of competition and marketing), and
how your business will survive and grow past the initial start-up period.
1) Starting Your Business With a Large Loan
Many small business owners make the mistake of borrowing large amounts -- either from banks, credit card companies, home equity loans, or friends and family -- to start their businesses. Because these business owners start off owing so much money, they feel pressured to make a profit immediately -- and they may have to make high monthly payments on the loans. A wiser approach is to save a good amount of money and to rely mostly on those savings when you begin your business.
2) Planning on Making a Profit Right Away
Most small businesses are not profitable within their first year or two. You should have a reliable source of income from something other than your new business to sustain yourself during your start-up period.
3) Spending Too Much Money at the Beginning
Many small businesses spend too much money "setting up shop," buying equipment and furniture, and investing in business cards and brochures. Plan to start on a shoestring. And remember, if you spend a lot of money, that's more money you can lose if the business fails. (For information on what to do if your business falls into debt, read Nolo's article When You Can't Pay Your Business Debts: Personal Liability and Bankruptcy Options.)
4) Hiring Employees You Don't Need
Hiring employees subjects you to registration and record keeping requirements and can be very expensive. You'll have to pay unemployment taxes, withhold state and federal income taxes (as well as Medicare and Social Security taxes), pay for workers' compensation insurance, and comply with safety regulations to avoid injury to your workers. (To learn more about your obligations as an employer, read Nolo's article Hiring Your First Employee: 13 Things You Must Do.)
You may face severe penalties -- and may even be found to be personally liable -- if you don't comply with all of these requirements. If you need help with your business, consider hiring an independent contractor or a worker from a temp agency rather than a permanent employee.
5)Renting Space You Don't Need
Renting space is usually not necessary when you're just starting out. Often times, you can work from home. Running your business from home can save you tax dollars too. (To learn more about tax savings for home businesses, read Nolo's article The Home Office Tax Deduction.)
Renting commercial space is expensive, and if you need to make modifications to the space, can be even more so. If your business doesn't work out or you can't afford to rent and have to move, you'll probably owe the landlord rent until your lease runs out. You will most likely be personally liable for these payments because most landlords require small business owners to sign personal guarantees, even if the business is officially an LLC or a corporation. (To learn more, see Nolo's Business Space & Commercial Lease area.)
6) Not Developing a Business Plan
Even if you're not soliciting money from investors, business plans are useful. Come up with a financial forecast to see if your business can make money and will have money year-round. Among other things, consider:
what your initial financing needs are
what challenges your business will face (in terms of competition and marketing), and
how your business will survive and grow past the initial start-up period.
Google Earth starting at the horizon
I am angry at the Google crowd for totally screwing up a fabulous tool by having a truly confusing user interface! I wrote the post below four years ago, which is an eternity in the internet world and still they haven't fixed the problems. What is worse is that most of the time there isn't even a descent go-back function. For example when you zoom into a closeup view it will suddenly and without warning go into a ground view function which totally changes everything and you can't get out or back up to where you were a second ago. Great praise for the programers and curses to the interface designers!]
Google Earth is the greatest program ever — until yesterday [April 20,2008] — when, after loading the current version 4.3.7191.6508 (beta), it became nearly impossible to control the zoom and tilt functions. They changed the way the controls worked because quite frankly the previous controls were improperly designed and did not work as intuitively as they should have worked. But, after a fit of trial and error, you can learn to use the old ones or these new ones and get very satisfying and controllable images. Particularly satisfying are the movie like fly through images you can do in the 3D map view. Try flying through the Grand Canyon by copying and pasting into Google Earth the coordinates. 36.0969 -112.1988 This will require a little practice but it is worth it. Unfortunately in an effort to correct the previous versions flight controls which didn’t work very well they replaced them with others which are just as confusing. Well, they sort of work but require some — what should be unnecessary — learning. Here is a screen grab view of these new controls:
The N at the top when grabbed and pulled around the edge of the circle rotates the map around the center of the window. Also it has a second function and reorientates the map to North at the top when simply clicked once.
The ^ inside of the top circle, when pointed at develops a strange glow, and when held down or clicked repeatedly tilts the map toward the horizon and creates a very satisfying 3D effect. The glow gives you a vague idea where your pointer is oriented between the variable control marks on the circle. Here is a screen grab view of Mt. Everest seen from the south showing the 3D effect.
I like to put the horizon, in the picture, just below the top of the window. The ∨ in the top circle when held down or clicked tilts the view back toward the vertical. If you very carefully move the pointing-finger to near the eye symbol in the center of the circle you can slow the speed of the tilting.
The < and > in the top circle rotate the view horizontally by just holding them down but be very careful when doing this to keep the pointing finger directly on the 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock arrow or the view will slowly rise or lower as it rotates, depending on how far the vague pointer is above or below the 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock position. If you keep the finger pressed inside of the eye symbol the view moves about in a smoother and controllable way but if you are outside of the eye it will move rather quickly and you can easily get disoriented. If you want to go to some point in space and just do a quick look all the way around the horizon just put the finger directly on the 3 o’clock > and hold it down. For example: for a nice 360° of the Himalaya mountains just copy and paste this number 27.440 86.825 into the coordinate box located in the top left of Google Earth screen, click it, wait a bit for the picture to stabilize, then hold down the ^ under the N for about 10 seconds until the horizon appears with mountains and then point to the 3 o’clock position in the eye to rotate the visible picture around the horizon.
The < and > and ^ and ∨ in the bottom circle move the map horizontally in the direction of the arrow. This bottom circle looks almost exactly like the top circle and therefore creates unnecessary confusion. If it were a different color or perhaps a diamond shape this confusion would be instantly eliminated. This control’s function is based on the map lying flat on the ground. When you have the 3D map tilted and rotated relative to North it still functions left, right, up, down relative to the image on your screen and not relative to the true North. That is just fine so long as you remember where you are but when you get lost it is best to zoom up high and get an overview to find your location.
The bottom control is a slider on a vertical pole. There is a counter intuitive plus + at the top which one would think takes you up but which in fact brings you closer to ground and a minus — at the bottom which you would think takes you down but which instead takes you farther away and a gripper bar in the middle which lets you slide between the two counter-intuitive positions. These controls have an additional weird counterintuitive function in that when you zoom in and zoom out the window resets itself toward a straight down view on the map both ways. Thus when you zoom out and immediately zoom in you get verticalized both ways and you don’t return to where you started. Thus when you zoom out and zoom back in and are in a different visual location and in order to get back to where you were you need to use the tilting arrows in the top circle. Well that sounds okay but you soon discover that it is nearly impossible to touch those arrows without getting a little skew in and so it becomes impossible to return to an exact position which you just departed from just a few seconds ago. I hope there is an easy fix for this problem.
If you have a scrolling-wheel mouse it functions the same as the gripper on the pole. Another mouse function is that If you point to some point on the picture, hold the clicker down and you can then drag the picture about. If you do this mouse drag quickly while holding the mouse button down and release the button instantly during the drag the screen will continue to scroll. It is best to do this quick drag and release operation below the center of the screen or it will scroll too fast.
After you use Google Earth for a while go in and turn on the various alternate special functions. I particularly like the photos that people have posted that show up as little click-able icons on the screen. After writing up this blog I feel a lot better about the new Google Earth release except for the inability to return to an exact location on the pole bar zooms. Also, they need to make the lower circle appear different from the upper one, a different color or perhaps a diamond shape would do nicely. With all of my quibbles I still believe this is the funnest program on my computer. Well rather than just complain about their failings it seemed more productive to redesign the controls.
- – - – - – - – -
Below is what the Google Earth controls should look like — drawn larger for easy viewing.
The Top polar-coordinate-reticule controls the tilt from sky to ground and is color coded. You press up on the sky to get to the sky and press down onto the ground to get more view of the ground. You press to the sides to rotate sideways and on the diagonal to go in those directions. The reticule gives you more precise control over the directions of movement.
The Middle polar-coordinate-reticule controls the orientation on the ground with the color coding representing the whole earth with snow covered white poles at the top and bottom and a green equator in the middle. The N is for dragging the map around the center point and for resetting the maps orientation to North when the N has been rotated away from the top position.
The Bottom altitude-ladder controls the height of the observers eye from ground level. It is symbolized by using a brick at the bottom and moving up through vegetation at the mid level and on up to the sky and then on to outer space, to the level of the star. There are tic marks for a few preset altitudes.
This display seems a lot more intuitive to me because it makes symbolic sense. The existing Google Earth controls make no sense and because they look so very similar they are very easily confused. Because Google Earth does so many complex things — and does them very well — it is important to have clear easy to understand and easy to use controls which are as precise as the program itself.
One additional thing. The pointing finger on the reference hand should have a blinking white to black finger nail which indicates precisely the pixel where the finger is pointing. The program is accurate to the pixel so the programs controls should be accurate to the pixel.
Update 2009/03/10 go to Google Earth HELP where these problems are now fixed beautifully. CTRL-right arrow rotates the screen and Point at a spot, right click and drag toward you and you zoom in – etc.
Update 2009/03/12 One of my ongoing problems is the location, latitude/longitude input window, entry box, in the upper left corner. It should accept any legitimate form of input and when you make some silly mistake, offer you options for correcting that mistake. There are lots of ways to make mistakes and the main Google Search engine does an excellent job of guessing what it is you thought you were inputting. It then gives you what it thinks you wanted and offers you a “Did you mean?” option. But no such luck with Google Earth and when you type in 1233° which you might have meant either 123.3 or you double struck the 3 and really meant 123 it could easily say “Did you mean? 123.3″. But, instead you get a worthless “Your search returned no results”. If you type in a misspelled Mississipi in the standard Google Search you get a standard list as if you had typed in a correctly spelled Mississippi. But in Google Earth you get no response not even the near worthless “Your search returned no results”.
Where this becomes a real problem is when your settings are on Toolbar>Tools>Google Earth Options>Show Lat/Long>Decimal Degrees and a location is mentioned at some page you are reading in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds which you Cut and Paste into the entry box expecting to go to that location. What you get is a blank. Apparently you have to go in and make your settings fit manually every time someone else changes their refrence system. Decimal Degrees OR Degrees, Minutes, Seconds OR Degrees, Decimal Minutes OR Universal Transvers Mercator—every time your source material changes. This seems like an easy fix with a drop down window offering those various choices whenever you type in something which is ambigious. In fact maybe it should offer these options every time because it can never know the source of your input.
Google Earth is the greatest program ever — until yesterday [April 20,2008] — when, after loading the current version 4.3.7191.6508 (beta), it became nearly impossible to control the zoom and tilt functions. They changed the way the controls worked because quite frankly the previous controls were improperly designed and did not work as intuitively as they should have worked. But, after a fit of trial and error, you can learn to use the old ones or these new ones and get very satisfying and controllable images. Particularly satisfying are the movie like fly through images you can do in the 3D map view. Try flying through the Grand Canyon by copying and pasting into Google Earth the coordinates. 36.0969 -112.1988 This will require a little practice but it is worth it. Unfortunately in an effort to correct the previous versions flight controls which didn’t work very well they replaced them with others which are just as confusing. Well, they sort of work but require some — what should be unnecessary — learning. Here is a screen grab view of these new controls:
The N at the top when grabbed and pulled around the edge of the circle rotates the map around the center of the window. Also it has a second function and reorientates the map to North at the top when simply clicked once.
The ^ inside of the top circle, when pointed at develops a strange glow, and when held down or clicked repeatedly tilts the map toward the horizon and creates a very satisfying 3D effect. The glow gives you a vague idea where your pointer is oriented between the variable control marks on the circle. Here is a screen grab view of Mt. Everest seen from the south showing the 3D effect.
I like to put the horizon, in the picture, just below the top of the window. The ∨ in the top circle when held down or clicked tilts the view back toward the vertical. If you very carefully move the pointing-finger to near the eye symbol in the center of the circle you can slow the speed of the tilting.
The < and > in the top circle rotate the view horizontally by just holding them down but be very careful when doing this to keep the pointing finger directly on the 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock arrow or the view will slowly rise or lower as it rotates, depending on how far the vague pointer is above or below the 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock position. If you keep the finger pressed inside of the eye symbol the view moves about in a smoother and controllable way but if you are outside of the eye it will move rather quickly and you can easily get disoriented. If you want to go to some point in space and just do a quick look all the way around the horizon just put the finger directly on the 3 o’clock > and hold it down. For example: for a nice 360° of the Himalaya mountains just copy and paste this number 27.440 86.825 into the coordinate box located in the top left of Google Earth screen, click it, wait a bit for the picture to stabilize, then hold down the ^ under the N for about 10 seconds until the horizon appears with mountains and then point to the 3 o’clock position in the eye to rotate the visible picture around the horizon.
The < and > and ^ and ∨ in the bottom circle move the map horizontally in the direction of the arrow. This bottom circle looks almost exactly like the top circle and therefore creates unnecessary confusion. If it were a different color or perhaps a diamond shape this confusion would be instantly eliminated. This control’s function is based on the map lying flat on the ground. When you have the 3D map tilted and rotated relative to North it still functions left, right, up, down relative to the image on your screen and not relative to the true North. That is just fine so long as you remember where you are but when you get lost it is best to zoom up high and get an overview to find your location.
The bottom control is a slider on a vertical pole. There is a counter intuitive plus + at the top which one would think takes you up but which in fact brings you closer to ground and a minus — at the bottom which you would think takes you down but which instead takes you farther away and a gripper bar in the middle which lets you slide between the two counter-intuitive positions. These controls have an additional weird counterintuitive function in that when you zoom in and zoom out the window resets itself toward a straight down view on the map both ways. Thus when you zoom out and immediately zoom in you get verticalized both ways and you don’t return to where you started. Thus when you zoom out and zoom back in and are in a different visual location and in order to get back to where you were you need to use the tilting arrows in the top circle. Well that sounds okay but you soon discover that it is nearly impossible to touch those arrows without getting a little skew in and so it becomes impossible to return to an exact position which you just departed from just a few seconds ago. I hope there is an easy fix for this problem.
If you have a scrolling-wheel mouse it functions the same as the gripper on the pole. Another mouse function is that If you point to some point on the picture, hold the clicker down and you can then drag the picture about. If you do this mouse drag quickly while holding the mouse button down and release the button instantly during the drag the screen will continue to scroll. It is best to do this quick drag and release operation below the center of the screen or it will scroll too fast.
After you use Google Earth for a while go in and turn on the various alternate special functions. I particularly like the photos that people have posted that show up as little click-able icons on the screen. After writing up this blog I feel a lot better about the new Google Earth release except for the inability to return to an exact location on the pole bar zooms. Also, they need to make the lower circle appear different from the upper one, a different color or perhaps a diamond shape would do nicely. With all of my quibbles I still believe this is the funnest program on my computer. Well rather than just complain about their failings it seemed more productive to redesign the controls.
- – - – - – - – -
Below is what the Google Earth controls should look like — drawn larger for easy viewing.
The Top polar-coordinate-reticule controls the tilt from sky to ground and is color coded. You press up on the sky to get to the sky and press down onto the ground to get more view of the ground. You press to the sides to rotate sideways and on the diagonal to go in those directions. The reticule gives you more precise control over the directions of movement.
The Middle polar-coordinate-reticule controls the orientation on the ground with the color coding representing the whole earth with snow covered white poles at the top and bottom and a green equator in the middle. The N is for dragging the map around the center point and for resetting the maps orientation to North when the N has been rotated away from the top position.
The Bottom altitude-ladder controls the height of the observers eye from ground level. It is symbolized by using a brick at the bottom and moving up through vegetation at the mid level and on up to the sky and then on to outer space, to the level of the star. There are tic marks for a few preset altitudes.
This display seems a lot more intuitive to me because it makes symbolic sense. The existing Google Earth controls make no sense and because they look so very similar they are very easily confused. Because Google Earth does so many complex things — and does them very well — it is important to have clear easy to understand and easy to use controls which are as precise as the program itself.
One additional thing. The pointing finger on the reference hand should have a blinking white to black finger nail which indicates precisely the pixel where the finger is pointing. The program is accurate to the pixel so the programs controls should be accurate to the pixel.
Update 2009/03/10 go to Google Earth HELP where these problems are now fixed beautifully. CTRL-right arrow rotates the screen and Point at a spot, right click and drag toward you and you zoom in – etc.
Update 2009/03/12 One of my ongoing problems is the location, latitude/longitude input window, entry box, in the upper left corner. It should accept any legitimate form of input and when you make some silly mistake, offer you options for correcting that mistake. There are lots of ways to make mistakes and the main Google Search engine does an excellent job of guessing what it is you thought you were inputting. It then gives you what it thinks you wanted and offers you a “Did you mean?” option. But no such luck with Google Earth and when you type in 1233° which you might have meant either 123.3 or you double struck the 3 and really meant 123 it could easily say “Did you mean? 123.3″. But, instead you get a worthless “Your search returned no results”. If you type in a misspelled Mississipi in the standard Google Search you get a standard list as if you had typed in a correctly spelled Mississippi. But in Google Earth you get no response not even the near worthless “Your search returned no results”.
Where this becomes a real problem is when your settings are on Toolbar>Tools>Google Earth Options>Show Lat/Long>Decimal Degrees and a location is mentioned at some page you are reading in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds which you Cut and Paste into the entry box expecting to go to that location. What you get is a blank. Apparently you have to go in and make your settings fit manually every time someone else changes their refrence system. Decimal Degrees OR Degrees, Minutes, Seconds OR Degrees, Decimal Minutes OR Universal Transvers Mercator—every time your source material changes. This seems like an easy fix with a drop down window offering those various choices whenever you type in something which is ambigious. In fact maybe it should offer these options every time because it can never know the source of your input.
Using Snoreless Pillow Reviews To Gain Perspective
Using Snoreless Pillow Reviews To Gain Perspective
This world keeps changing… To wit: people have taken advantage of the internet to advertise their products, sell them, and even receive feedback from the market concerning the product. Every company that owns a website has some sort of feedback engine. The most effective tends to be the review section. People who have purchased goods come to this section to communicate their views concerning their satisfaction levels. Companies then use this feedback to improve their delivery of goods and services.
However, these reviews can also have their own disadvantages. There is a group of people who write reviews to spoil or degrade the image of some companies. For instance, a person who has a wrong perception of pillows could end up writing a Snoreless pillow review that is negative. When new buyers read such a review, they completely lose confidence in the product, despite the good reviews. The reviews written by uninformed people can also end up offering the wrong perception to potential buyers. Wrong information could also be passed across through such reviews. Remember, information which is displayed on the internet can be accessed by any kind of person. This information is spread far and wide. It is therefore important for companies to be careful about the kind of reviews written about them.
About The Snoreless Pillow’s Reputation
The Snoreless pillow is one that has specially been designed to help you solve snoring problems. Snoreless pillows have been all over the market for a long time now. More people are opting for this kind of pillow since they are affordable and a consistent use of it can completely heal this condition. According to the many Snoreless pillow reviews, people who use these pillows realize a change in less than one month. Most of them say that these pillows have helped them to sleep in the right position and cut snoring markedly.
Snoreless pillows are also known for their high quality level. They are also very effective in attracting more and more customers over the years. One must also note that this pillow has received various consumer awards for being very comfortable and effective. However, before you buy one, you must ensure to get a prescription from your physician.
The pillows have not only been used for snoring, but also for sleep apnea problems. Most people who have used them have not only registered better relationships, but also more rest. They have registered a significant improvement weeks after their use, which is certainly pretty fantastic.
This world keeps changing… To wit: people have taken advantage of the internet to advertise their products, sell them, and even receive feedback from the market concerning the product. Every company that owns a website has some sort of feedback engine. The most effective tends to be the review section. People who have purchased goods come to this section to communicate their views concerning their satisfaction levels. Companies then use this feedback to improve their delivery of goods and services.
However, these reviews can also have their own disadvantages. There is a group of people who write reviews to spoil or degrade the image of some companies. For instance, a person who has a wrong perception of pillows could end up writing a Snoreless pillow review that is negative. When new buyers read such a review, they completely lose confidence in the product, despite the good reviews. The reviews written by uninformed people can also end up offering the wrong perception to potential buyers. Wrong information could also be passed across through such reviews. Remember, information which is displayed on the internet can be accessed by any kind of person. This information is spread far and wide. It is therefore important for companies to be careful about the kind of reviews written about them.
About The Snoreless Pillow’s Reputation
The Snoreless pillow is one that has specially been designed to help you solve snoring problems. Snoreless pillows have been all over the market for a long time now. More people are opting for this kind of pillow since they are affordable and a consistent use of it can completely heal this condition. According to the many Snoreless pillow reviews, people who use these pillows realize a change in less than one month. Most of them say that these pillows have helped them to sleep in the right position and cut snoring markedly.
Snoreless pillows are also known for their high quality level. They are also very effective in attracting more and more customers over the years. One must also note that this pillow has received various consumer awards for being very comfortable and effective. However, before you buy one, you must ensure to get a prescription from your physician.
The pillows have not only been used for snoring, but also for sleep apnea problems. Most people who have used them have not only registered better relationships, but also more rest. They have registered a significant improvement weeks after their use, which is certainly pretty fantastic.
The Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI)
The Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI) is nationally recognized for mobilizing the unique assets of a university to help solve the problem of unnaturally severe wildfire and degraded forest health throughout the American West. The ERI works to help land management agencies and communities by providing comprehensive focused studies, monitoring and evaluation research, and technical support.The ERI is funded by a combination of programmatic state and federal funding, such as the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes (SWERI), and through competitive grants programs. The goals of ERI go beyond scientific discovery to the meaningful application of scientific knowledge that makes a difference for western forests.
The mission of ERI is to serve as an objective leader in research, scholarship, and education, and in collaborative efforts to plan and implement restoration treatments for frequent-fire forest and woodland landscapes of the West.
The mission of ERI is to serve as an objective leader in research, scholarship, and education, and in collaborative efforts to plan and implement restoration treatments for frequent-fire forest and woodland landscapes of the West.
Restoration Ecology
Can we repair some of the damage humans have done to ecosystems and biodiversity? Ecological restoration seeks to do just that, and restoration ecology is the science that underpins it.
Aa Aa Aa
Ecological restoration aims to recreate, initiate, or accelerate the recovery of an ecosystem that has been disturbed. Disturbances are environmental changes that alter ecosystem structure and function. Common disturbances include logging, damming rivers, intense grazing, hurricanes, floods, and fires. Restoration activities may be designed to replicate a pre-disturbance ecosystem or to create a new ecosystem where it had not previously occurred. Restoration ecology is the scientific study of repairing disturbed ecosystems through human intervention.
Goals
Restoration projects differ in their objectives and their methods of achieving those goals. Many restoration projects aim to establish ecosystems composed of a native species; other projects attempt to restore, improve, or create particular ecosystem functions, such as pollination or erosion control. Some examples of different kinds of restoration include the following:
Revegetation- the establishment of vegetation on sites where it has been previously lost, often with erosion control as the primary goal. For example, vegetated buffers are strips of vegetation that protect water quality in riparian ecosystems from urban or agricultural runoff.
Habitat enhancement- the process of increasing the suitability of a site as habitat for some desired species.
Remediation: improving an existing ecosystem or creating a new one with the aim of replacing another that has deteriorated or been destroyed.
Mitigation: legally mandated remediation for loss of protected species or ecosystems.
At a given restoration site, it may be possible to establish a number of different communities. When choosing a target state for a restoration project however, restorationists generally select only one (or a small range) of possible community types. Often some sort of "natural" pre-disturbance condition, or reference state, is selected, along with its presumed properties (e.g., previous flooding or fire patterns). This is often represented by a nearby undisturbed reference site. Even with good working knowledge of an historical ecosystem’s species composition and functions, practitioners must still decide how far in the past is defined as "natural." For some ecosystems the reference state may be before any human disturbance, but more commonly the reference state is before agricultural or industrial intensification (such as pre-European contact in the US). However, sometimes an historical target may no longer be appropriate under current or projected climatic or biotic conditions. For example, future climates may not support certain species, and some species may have already gone extinct in an area. Under these circumstances practitioners may decide to create an ecosystem that did not exist historically at the project site, but which corresponds to current or projected future conditions. Sometimes, restoration efforts are designed to maintain a desirable human-derived state, such as montane meadows or Scottish moors.
History
The idea of restoring the land dates back centuries, but modern restoration ecology and its practice began in the early 1900s when people such as renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold began promoting the movement. It has since grown to include a wide variety of ecological restoration activities that range from large-scale projects (e.g., of the Everglades, Louisiana wetlands, or the Mau Forest in Kenya) to small-scale projects (e.g., tree planting). It is a defining characteristic of ecological restoration that many projects are locally initiated and implemented by community volunteers. Because restoration projects generally involve complex collaborations and negotiations among a diverse group of interested parties, social science is an integral part of restoration at all scales.
Ecological research on restoration has largely focused on community ecology and ecosystem ecology, with particular attention to plants. However, animal reintroduction, a common element of conservation biology, is also essentially restoration. Gaining momentum in the latter half of the twentieth century, restoration ecology is now established as a science and studied in many research institutions. International societies and journals, such as the Society for Ecological Restoration (est. 1988) and its journals Ecological Restoration (est. 1981) and Restoration Ecology (est. 1993), are dedicated to furthering knowledge of restoration science and practice. Starting in the 1990s, the number of books and journal articles on ecological restoration has risen exponentially. There has been a strong push to formalize the science and practice of restoration, linking it explicitly with ecological theories. In fact, ecological restoration can be used as a practical test of our ecological understanding. Conversely, failures in ecological restoration can reveal gaps in our understanding of ecology.
Concepts Underpinning Restoration
Disturbance
Disturbance events can occur at many scales and different levels of severity, and some are natural parts of every ecosystem. Disturbance events can alter species composition, nutrient cycling, and soil properties. Natural disturbances include severe weather damage, fire, flooding, treefalls and even volcanic eruptions. Anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbances can alter or destroy natural habitat (like clearing land for agriculture) and/or ecological functions (like damming rivers for flood control). Humans can also change natural disturbance events and cycles (like suppression of wildfires and prevention of periodic flooding). The goal of a restoration project may be to initiate or speed the recovery of an ecosystem after disturbance. Restoration activities may also be designed to reestablish natural disturbance regimes.
Genetics
Restoration projects also typically include genetic considerations. Plants (or animals) from local sources are more likely to be well adapted to the target ecosystem. Therefore, using animals or plant materials (like seeds or cuttings) collected from local sources may increase the chance of successful establishment. Including a large number of individual plants or animals can help ensure genetic diversity in the restored populations. Genetic diversity is thought to be critical to maintaining the ability of populations to evolve and recover from disturbances.
Succession
Ecological succession is the process by which biological community composition- the number and proportion of different species in an ecosystem- recover over time following a disturbance event. Passive restoration means simply allowing natural succession to occur in an ecosystem after removing a source of disturbance. The recovery of the deciduous forests in the eastern United States after the abandonment of agriculture is a classic example of passive restoration. Active restoration involves accelerating the process or attempting to change the trajectory of succession. For example, mine tailings would take so long to recover passively that active restoration is usually appropriate.
Community Assembly Theory
Community assembly theory suggests that similar sites can develop different biological communities depending on order of arrival of different species. In the context of restoration, sites may not always recover toward a desired or anticipated group of species or ecosystem functions. Composition of seed mixes, planting order and year of planting may be important considerations for restoration practitioners, particularly when goals include the establishment of certain ecological communities or the prevention of invasion by weeds or pests.
Landscape Ecology
Restoration draws on several concepts from landscape ecology. Restored areas are often relatively small and isolated, which makes them especially sensitive to problems associated with habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation occurs when continuous areas of habitat become disconnected by natural or human causes (for example, building roads through a forest). Fragmentation generally leads to small, isolated patches of hospitable habitat. Smaller habitats support fewer species and smaller populations, which are at greater risk of inbreeding and local extinction. The theory of island biogeography predicts that populations are more likely to persist in habitat patches that are large and/or well connected with populations in other hospitable habitats. This theory assumes that the matrix—the region between habitat patches—is uniform and inhospitable. The most common examples of this concept are oceanic islands, dots of terrestrial species’ habitat surrounded by uninhabitable water. More recently, the classic dichotomy of hospitable versus inhospitable habitat has been modified to include the existence a multiple types of habitat patches which are juxtaposed to form a patch mosaic. These different patches within the mosaic may be more or less hospitable for the species, communities and ecosystem functions targeted by restoration activities.
Fragmentation may also intensify negative edge effects — impacts of one habitat on an adjacent habitat — by increasing the amount of edge habitat and reducing the distances among edges. For instance, invasive weeds are more abundant along forest edges, so small forest fragments (which have more edge habitat) are more likely to be invaded. Restoration activities often seek to improve connectivity among habitat patches in fragmented landscapes by creating or restoring linkages. Examples of linkages commonly used to improve connectivity are corridors and stepping stones. Corridors are relatively narrow, linear strips of habitat between otherwise isolated habitat patches. Stepping stones are small unconnected patches of habitat that are close enough together to allow movement across the landscape.
Application
Applied restoration is a multi-step process, which may include some or all of these stages:
Assessing the site: A thorough appraisal of the current conditions at the restoration site is essential for determining what kind of actions will be necessary. In this step, the causes of ecosystem disturbance and methods for stopping or reversing them are identified.
Formulating project goals: To determine targets for the restored community, practitioners may visit reference sites (similar, nearby environments in natural condition) and/or consult historical sources that detail the pre-disturbance community. Goals may also include considerations of what species will be best suited to present or future climate conditions.
Removing sources of disturbance: Before restoration can be successful, forces of disturbance may need to be removed. Examples include cessation of mining or farming or causes of erosion, restricting livestock from riparian areas, removing toxic materials from soil or sediments, and eradicating invasive exotic species.
Restoring processes/disturbance cycles: Sometimes restoring important ecological processes such as natural flood or fire regimes is enough to restore ecosystem integrity. In these cases, native plants and animals that have evolved to tolerate or require natural disturbance regimes may come back on their own without direct action by practitioners.
Rehabilitating substrates: This can include any activity aimed at repairing altered soil texture or chemistry, or restoring hydrological regimes or water quality.
Restoring vegetation: In many cases, restoration activities involve direct revegetation of a site. Usually, native species suited to local environmental conditions are chosen for planting. Seeds or cuttings are generally collected from a variety of sources within a local region in order to ensure genetic diversity. Vegetation can be planted as seeds, or seedlings.
Monitoring and maintenance: Monitoring the restoration site over time is critical to determining whether goals are being met, and can inform future management decisions. Observations made at the site may indicate that further action, such as periodic weed removal, is necessary in ensuring the long-term success of the project. Ideally restoration projects would eventually achieve a self-sustaining ecosystem without the need for future human intervention.
Virtually all the worlds' ecosystem types have been the subject of restoration efforts, but particular attention has been paid to ecosystems most impacted by human activities, such as wetlands, grasslands/rangelands, riparian areas, and tropical forests.
Broader Considerations
In a world with a rapidly changing climate, restorationists plan for an uncertain future. One new and controversial approach to dealing with climate change is assisted migration: the idea of establishing a species in a place where it does not presently occur and has not occurred in the recent past, but where the climate is predicted to be suitable for that species in the future. If the climate is currently changing faster than many plants and animals can move (through dispersal or migration), and many hospitable habitat patches are now isolated, then it may be necessary to actively move species to new habitats.
Strategies to avert future biodiversity loss are likely to include many of the techniques of ecological restoration, but its practice is not without controversy. One contentious issue is the process of mitigation, in which destruction of protected populations or habitats is allowed if there are offsetting mitigation plantings. Even mitigations that fulfill legal requirements often fail to fully compensate for the lost populations or communities. Some fear that restoration provides an excuse for activities that are destructive of biodiversity. Restoration activities should instead be viewed as complementary to, not a substitute for, efforts for the conservation of biodiversity.
There is also some apprehension with the idea that we know enough to create functioning ecosystems. This unease stems from the fact that restoration is inherently uncertain at every step, from the planning (what really existed there before or how do we balance multiple objectives with conflicting requirements?), to the implementation (what is the best way to control weeds or how do we really restore flooding?), to the continued management (when can we judge a project to be truly successful?). Despite this uncertainty, ecological restoration is a rapidly growing field that represents a foundational change in our relationship to the natural world.
Aa Aa Aa
Ecological restoration aims to recreate, initiate, or accelerate the recovery of an ecosystem that has been disturbed. Disturbances are environmental changes that alter ecosystem structure and function. Common disturbances include logging, damming rivers, intense grazing, hurricanes, floods, and fires. Restoration activities may be designed to replicate a pre-disturbance ecosystem or to create a new ecosystem where it had not previously occurred. Restoration ecology is the scientific study of repairing disturbed ecosystems through human intervention.
Goals
Restoration projects differ in their objectives and their methods of achieving those goals. Many restoration projects aim to establish ecosystems composed of a native species; other projects attempt to restore, improve, or create particular ecosystem functions, such as pollination or erosion control. Some examples of different kinds of restoration include the following:
Revegetation- the establishment of vegetation on sites where it has been previously lost, often with erosion control as the primary goal. For example, vegetated buffers are strips of vegetation that protect water quality in riparian ecosystems from urban or agricultural runoff.
Habitat enhancement- the process of increasing the suitability of a site as habitat for some desired species.
Remediation: improving an existing ecosystem or creating a new one with the aim of replacing another that has deteriorated or been destroyed.
Mitigation: legally mandated remediation for loss of protected species or ecosystems.
At a given restoration site, it may be possible to establish a number of different communities. When choosing a target state for a restoration project however, restorationists generally select only one (or a small range) of possible community types. Often some sort of "natural" pre-disturbance condition, or reference state, is selected, along with its presumed properties (e.g., previous flooding or fire patterns). This is often represented by a nearby undisturbed reference site. Even with good working knowledge of an historical ecosystem’s species composition and functions, practitioners must still decide how far in the past is defined as "natural." For some ecosystems the reference state may be before any human disturbance, but more commonly the reference state is before agricultural or industrial intensification (such as pre-European contact in the US). However, sometimes an historical target may no longer be appropriate under current or projected climatic or biotic conditions. For example, future climates may not support certain species, and some species may have already gone extinct in an area. Under these circumstances practitioners may decide to create an ecosystem that did not exist historically at the project site, but which corresponds to current or projected future conditions. Sometimes, restoration efforts are designed to maintain a desirable human-derived state, such as montane meadows or Scottish moors.
History
The idea of restoring the land dates back centuries, but modern restoration ecology and its practice began in the early 1900s when people such as renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold began promoting the movement. It has since grown to include a wide variety of ecological restoration activities that range from large-scale projects (e.g., of the Everglades, Louisiana wetlands, or the Mau Forest in Kenya) to small-scale projects (e.g., tree planting). It is a defining characteristic of ecological restoration that many projects are locally initiated and implemented by community volunteers. Because restoration projects generally involve complex collaborations and negotiations among a diverse group of interested parties, social science is an integral part of restoration at all scales.
Ecological research on restoration has largely focused on community ecology and ecosystem ecology, with particular attention to plants. However, animal reintroduction, a common element of conservation biology, is also essentially restoration. Gaining momentum in the latter half of the twentieth century, restoration ecology is now established as a science and studied in many research institutions. International societies and journals, such as the Society for Ecological Restoration (est. 1988) and its journals Ecological Restoration (est. 1981) and Restoration Ecology (est. 1993), are dedicated to furthering knowledge of restoration science and practice. Starting in the 1990s, the number of books and journal articles on ecological restoration has risen exponentially. There has been a strong push to formalize the science and practice of restoration, linking it explicitly with ecological theories. In fact, ecological restoration can be used as a practical test of our ecological understanding. Conversely, failures in ecological restoration can reveal gaps in our understanding of ecology.
Concepts Underpinning Restoration
Disturbance
Disturbance events can occur at many scales and different levels of severity, and some are natural parts of every ecosystem. Disturbance events can alter species composition, nutrient cycling, and soil properties. Natural disturbances include severe weather damage, fire, flooding, treefalls and even volcanic eruptions. Anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbances can alter or destroy natural habitat (like clearing land for agriculture) and/or ecological functions (like damming rivers for flood control). Humans can also change natural disturbance events and cycles (like suppression of wildfires and prevention of periodic flooding). The goal of a restoration project may be to initiate or speed the recovery of an ecosystem after disturbance. Restoration activities may also be designed to reestablish natural disturbance regimes.
Genetics
Restoration projects also typically include genetic considerations. Plants (or animals) from local sources are more likely to be well adapted to the target ecosystem. Therefore, using animals or plant materials (like seeds or cuttings) collected from local sources may increase the chance of successful establishment. Including a large number of individual plants or animals can help ensure genetic diversity in the restored populations. Genetic diversity is thought to be critical to maintaining the ability of populations to evolve and recover from disturbances.
Succession
Ecological succession is the process by which biological community composition- the number and proportion of different species in an ecosystem- recover over time following a disturbance event. Passive restoration means simply allowing natural succession to occur in an ecosystem after removing a source of disturbance. The recovery of the deciduous forests in the eastern United States after the abandonment of agriculture is a classic example of passive restoration. Active restoration involves accelerating the process or attempting to change the trajectory of succession. For example, mine tailings would take so long to recover passively that active restoration is usually appropriate.
Community Assembly Theory
Community assembly theory suggests that similar sites can develop different biological communities depending on order of arrival of different species. In the context of restoration, sites may not always recover toward a desired or anticipated group of species or ecosystem functions. Composition of seed mixes, planting order and year of planting may be important considerations for restoration practitioners, particularly when goals include the establishment of certain ecological communities or the prevention of invasion by weeds or pests.
Landscape Ecology
Restoration draws on several concepts from landscape ecology. Restored areas are often relatively small and isolated, which makes them especially sensitive to problems associated with habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation occurs when continuous areas of habitat become disconnected by natural or human causes (for example, building roads through a forest). Fragmentation generally leads to small, isolated patches of hospitable habitat. Smaller habitats support fewer species and smaller populations, which are at greater risk of inbreeding and local extinction. The theory of island biogeography predicts that populations are more likely to persist in habitat patches that are large and/or well connected with populations in other hospitable habitats. This theory assumes that the matrix—the region between habitat patches—is uniform and inhospitable. The most common examples of this concept are oceanic islands, dots of terrestrial species’ habitat surrounded by uninhabitable water. More recently, the classic dichotomy of hospitable versus inhospitable habitat has been modified to include the existence a multiple types of habitat patches which are juxtaposed to form a patch mosaic. These different patches within the mosaic may be more or less hospitable for the species, communities and ecosystem functions targeted by restoration activities.
Fragmentation may also intensify negative edge effects — impacts of one habitat on an adjacent habitat — by increasing the amount of edge habitat and reducing the distances among edges. For instance, invasive weeds are more abundant along forest edges, so small forest fragments (which have more edge habitat) are more likely to be invaded. Restoration activities often seek to improve connectivity among habitat patches in fragmented landscapes by creating or restoring linkages. Examples of linkages commonly used to improve connectivity are corridors and stepping stones. Corridors are relatively narrow, linear strips of habitat between otherwise isolated habitat patches. Stepping stones are small unconnected patches of habitat that are close enough together to allow movement across the landscape.
Application
Applied restoration is a multi-step process, which may include some or all of these stages:
Assessing the site: A thorough appraisal of the current conditions at the restoration site is essential for determining what kind of actions will be necessary. In this step, the causes of ecosystem disturbance and methods for stopping or reversing them are identified.
Formulating project goals: To determine targets for the restored community, practitioners may visit reference sites (similar, nearby environments in natural condition) and/or consult historical sources that detail the pre-disturbance community. Goals may also include considerations of what species will be best suited to present or future climate conditions.
Removing sources of disturbance: Before restoration can be successful, forces of disturbance may need to be removed. Examples include cessation of mining or farming or causes of erosion, restricting livestock from riparian areas, removing toxic materials from soil or sediments, and eradicating invasive exotic species.
Restoring processes/disturbance cycles: Sometimes restoring important ecological processes such as natural flood or fire regimes is enough to restore ecosystem integrity. In these cases, native plants and animals that have evolved to tolerate or require natural disturbance regimes may come back on their own without direct action by practitioners.
Rehabilitating substrates: This can include any activity aimed at repairing altered soil texture or chemistry, or restoring hydrological regimes or water quality.
Restoring vegetation: In many cases, restoration activities involve direct revegetation of a site. Usually, native species suited to local environmental conditions are chosen for planting. Seeds or cuttings are generally collected from a variety of sources within a local region in order to ensure genetic diversity. Vegetation can be planted as seeds, or seedlings.
Monitoring and maintenance: Monitoring the restoration site over time is critical to determining whether goals are being met, and can inform future management decisions. Observations made at the site may indicate that further action, such as periodic weed removal, is necessary in ensuring the long-term success of the project. Ideally restoration projects would eventually achieve a self-sustaining ecosystem without the need for future human intervention.
Virtually all the worlds' ecosystem types have been the subject of restoration efforts, but particular attention has been paid to ecosystems most impacted by human activities, such as wetlands, grasslands/rangelands, riparian areas, and tropical forests.
Broader Considerations
In a world with a rapidly changing climate, restorationists plan for an uncertain future. One new and controversial approach to dealing with climate change is assisted migration: the idea of establishing a species in a place where it does not presently occur and has not occurred in the recent past, but where the climate is predicted to be suitable for that species in the future. If the climate is currently changing faster than many plants and animals can move (through dispersal or migration), and many hospitable habitat patches are now isolated, then it may be necessary to actively move species to new habitats.
Strategies to avert future biodiversity loss are likely to include many of the techniques of ecological restoration, but its practice is not without controversy. One contentious issue is the process of mitigation, in which destruction of protected populations or habitats is allowed if there are offsetting mitigation plantings. Even mitigations that fulfill legal requirements often fail to fully compensate for the lost populations or communities. Some fear that restoration provides an excuse for activities that are destructive of biodiversity. Restoration activities should instead be viewed as complementary to, not a substitute for, efforts for the conservation of biodiversity.
There is also some apprehension with the idea that we know enough to create functioning ecosystems. This unease stems from the fact that restoration is inherently uncertain at every step, from the planning (what really existed there before or how do we balance multiple objectives with conflicting requirements?), to the implementation (what is the best way to control weeds or how do we really restore flooding?), to the continued management (when can we judge a project to be truly successful?). Despite this uncertainty, ecological restoration is a rapidly growing field that represents a foundational change in our relationship to the natural world.
Restoration ecology
Restoration ecology emerged as a separate field in ecology in the 1980s. It is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action. The term "restoration ecology" is therefore commonly used for the academic study of the process, whereas the term "ecological restoration" is commonly used for the actual project or process by restoration practitioners.
The Society for Ecological Restoration defines "ecological restoration" as an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability". The practice of ecological restoration includes wide scope of projects such as erosion control, reforestation, usage of genetically local native species, removal of non-native species and weeds, revegetation of disturbed areas, daylighting streams, reintroduction of native species, as well as habitat and range improvement for targeted species.
E. O. Wilson, a biologist states that: "Here is the means to end the great extinction spasm. The next century will, I believe, be the era of restoration in ecology"
Land managers, laypeople, and stewards have been practicing ecological restoration or ecological management for many hundreds, if not thousands of years, yet the scientific field of "restoration ecology" was not first formally identified and coined until the late 1980s, by John Aber and William Jordan when they were at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They held the first international meetings on this topic in Madison during which attendees visited the University of Wisconsin's Arboretum—the oldest restoration ecology project made famous by Professor, Aldo Leopold. The study of restoration ecology has only become a robust and independent scientific discipline over the last two decades,and the commercial applications of ecological restoration have tremendously increased in recent years.
Restoration needs
There is consensus in the scientific community that the current environmental degradation and destruction of many of the Earth's biota is considerable and is taking place on a "catastrophically short timescale".In fact, estimates of the current extinction rate is 1000 to 10,000 times more than the normal rate. For many people biological diversity, (biodiversity) has an intrinsic value that humans have a responsibility towards other living things, and an obligation to future generations.
On a more anthropocentric level, natural ecosystems provide human society with food, fuel and timber. Fundamentally, ecosystem services involve the purification of air and water, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, regulation of climate, regeneration of soil fertility and pollination of crops. Such processes have been estimated to be worth trillions of dollars annually.
Habitat loss is the leading cause of both species extinctions and ecosystem service decline. The two ways to reverse this trend of habitat loss are conservation of currently viable habitat and restoration of degraded habitats.
Conservation biology and restoration ecology
With regard to biodiversity preservation, it should be noted that restoration activities are not a substitute,but are complementary for conservation efforts. Many conservation programmes, however, are predicated on historical bio-physical conditions — i.e. they are incapable of responding to global climate change, and the assemblages "locked in" become increasingly fragile and liable to catastrophic collapses. In this sense, restoration is essential to provide a new space for migration of habitats and their associated flora and fauna.[9] Additionally, conservation biology often has organisms, but not entire ecosystems and their functions, as it's focus is towards a narrowed approach with limited aims.
Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline is theoretically rooted in conservation biology. Although, restoration ecology may be viewed as a sub-discipline of conservation biology, foundational differences do exist between the disciplines' approaches, focuses and modes of inquiry.
The fundamental difference between conservation biology and restoration ecology lies in their philosophical approaches to the same problem. Conservation biology attempts to preserve and maintain existing habitat and[( biodiversity)]. In contrast, restoration ecology assumes that environmental degradation and population declines are to some extinct, reversible processes. Therefore, targeted human intervention is used to promote habitat, biodiversity recovery and associated gains. This does not provide, however, an excuse for converting extremely valuable "pristine" habitat into other uses.
Focuses
Firstly, both conservation biology and restoration ecology have an unfortunate temperate terrestrial bioregion bias. This issue is probably the result of these fields developing in the geopolitical north, and both the fields should attempt to reconcile this bias.
Secondly, may be because plants tend to dominate most (terrestrial) ecosystems, restoration ecology has developed a strong botanical bias, whereas conservation biology is more strongly zoological.
Similarly, the principal systemic levels of interest differ between the disciplines. Conservation biology has historically focused on target individuals (i.e. endangered species), and has thus concentrated on genetic and population level dynamics. Since restoration ecology is aimed at rebuilding a functioning ecosystem, a broader (i.e. community or ecosystem) perspective is necessary.
Finally, since soils define the foundation of any functional terrestrial system, restoration ecology's ecosystem-level bias has placed more emphasis on the role of soil's physical and microbial processes.
Modes of inquiry
Conservation biology's focus on rare or endangered species limit the number of manipulative studies that can be performed. As a consequence, conservation studies tend to be descriptive, comparative and unreplicated. However, the highly manipulative nature of restoration ecology allows the researcher to test the hypotheses vigorously. Restorative activity often reflects an experimental test of what limits populations.
Theoretical foundations
Restoration ecology draws on a wide range of ecological concepts.
Disturbance
Disturbance is a change of environmental conditions, which interferes with the functioning of a biological system. Disturbance, at a variety of spatial and temporal scales is a natural, and even essential, component of many communities.
Humans have had limited "natural" impacts on ecosystems for as long as humans have existed, however, the severity and scope of our modern influences has accelerated in the last few centuries. Understanding and minimizing the differences between modern anthropogenic and "natural" disturbances is crucial to restoration ecology. For example, new forestry techniques that better imitate historical disturbances are now being implemented.
In addition, restoring a fully sustainable ecosystem often involves studying and attempting to restore a natural disturbance regime (e.g., fire ecology).
Succession
Ecological succession is the process by which the component species of a community changes over time. Following a disturbance, an ecosystem generally progresses from a simple level of organization (i.e. few dominant species) to a more complex community (i.e. many interdependent species) over few generations. Depending on the severity of the disturbance, restoration often consists of initiating, assisting or accelerating ecological successional processes.
In many ecosystems, communities tend to recover following mild to moderate natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Restoration in these systems involves hastening natural successional trajectories. However, a system that has experienced a more severe disturbance (i.e. physical or chemical alteration of the environment) may require intensive restorative efforts to recreate environmental conditions that favor natural successional processes.
Fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation is the emergence of spatial discontinuities in a biological system. Through land use changes (e.g. agriculture) and "natural" disturbance, ecosystems are broken up into smaller parts. Small fragments of habitat can support only small populations and small populations are more vulnerable to extinction. Furthermore, fragmenting ecosystems decreases interior habitat. Habitat along the edge of a fragment has a different range of environmental conditions and therefore supports different species than the interior. Fragmentation, effectively reduces interior habitat and may lead to the extinction of those species which require interior habitat. Restorative projects can increase the effective size of a habitat by simply adding area or by planting habitat corridors that link and fill in the gap between two isolated fragments. Reversing the effects of fragmentation and increasing habitat connectivity are the central goals of restoration ecology.
Ecosystem function
Ecosystem function describes the foundational processes of natural systems, including nutrient cycles and energy fluxes. These processes are the most basic and essential components of ecosystems. An understanding of the full complexity and intricacies of these cycles is necessary to address any ecological processes that may be degraded. A functional ecosystem, that is completely self-perpetuating (no management required), is the ultimate goal of restorative efforts. Since, these ecosystem functions are emergent properties of the system as a whole, monitoring and management are crucial for the long-term stability of an ecosystem.
Evolving concepts
Restoration ecology, because of its highly physical nature, is an ideal testing ground for an emerging community's ecological principles (Bradshaw 1987). Likewise, there are emerging concepts of inventing new and successful restoration technologies, performance standards, time frames, local genetics, and society's relationship to restoration ecology, and new ethical and religious possibilities, as future topics of discussion and debate.
Assembly
Community assembly "is a framework that can unify virtually all of (community) ecology under a single conceptual umbrella".
Community assembly theory attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species. It assumes that species have similar niche requirements, so that community formation is a product of random fluctuations from a common species pool.
Essentially, if all species are fairly ecologically equivalent then random variation in colonization, migration and extinction rates between species, drive differences in species composition between sites with comparable environmental conditions.
Stable states
Alternative stable states are discrete species compositional possibilities that may exist within a community. According to assembly theory, differences in species colonization, interspecific interactions and community establishment may result in distinct community species equilibria. A community has numerous possible compositional equilibria that are dependent on the initial assembly. That is, random fluctuations lead to a particular initial community assembly, which affects successional trajectories and the eventual species composition equilibrium.
Multiple stable states is a specific theoretical concept, where all species have equal access to a community (i.e., equal dispersal potential) and differences between communities arise simply because of the timing of each species' colonization.
These concepts are central to restoration ecology; restoring a community not only involves manipulating the timing and structure of the initial species composition, but also working towards a single desired stable state. In fact, a degraded ecosystem may be viewed as an alternative stable state under the altered environmental conditions.
Ontogeny
The ecology of ontogeny is the study of how ecological relationships change over the lifetime of an individual. Organisms require different environmental conditions during different stages of their life-cycle. For immobile organisms (e.g. plants), the conditions necessary for germination and establishment may be different from those of the adult stage. As an ecosystem is altered by anthropogenic processes the range of environmental variables may also be altered. A degraded ecosystem may not include the environmental conditions necessary for a particular stage of an organism's development. If a self-sustaining, functional ecosystem must contain environmental conditions for the perpetual reproduction of its species, restorative efforts must address the needs of organisms throughout their development.
Application of theory
Restoration is defined as the application of ecological theory to ecological restoration. However, for many reasons, this can be a challenging prospect. Here are a few examples of theory informing practice.
Soil heterogeneity effects on community heterogeneity
Spatial heterogeneity of resources can influence plant community composition, diversity and assembly trajectory. Baer et al. (2005) manipulated soil resource heterogeneity in a tallgrass prairie restoration project. They found increasing resource heterogeneity, which on its own was insufficient to insure species diversity in situations where one species may dominate across the range of resource levels. Their findings were consistent with the theory regarding the role of ecological filters on community assembly. The establishment of a single species, best adapted to the physical and biological conditions can play an inordinately important role in determining the community structure.
Invasion, competitive dominance and resource use
"The dynamics of invasive species may depend on their abilities to compete for resources and exploit disturbances relative to the abilities of native species". Seabloom et al. (2003) tested this concept and its implications in a California grassland restoration context. They found that the native grass species were able to successfully compete with invasive exotics, therefore, the possibility exists of restoring an original native grassland ecosystem.
Successional trajectories
Progress along a desired successional pathway may be difficult if multiple stable states exist. Looking over 40 years of wetland restoration data Klotzi and Gootjans (2001) argue that unexpected and undesired vegetation assemblies "may indicate that environmental conditions are not suitable for target communities". Succession may move in unpredicted directions, but constricting environmental conditions within a narrow range may rein in the possible successional trajectories and increase the likelihood of a desired outcome.
The Society for Ecological Restoration defines "ecological restoration" as an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability". The practice of ecological restoration includes wide scope of projects such as erosion control, reforestation, usage of genetically local native species, removal of non-native species and weeds, revegetation of disturbed areas, daylighting streams, reintroduction of native species, as well as habitat and range improvement for targeted species.
E. O. Wilson, a biologist states that: "Here is the means to end the great extinction spasm. The next century will, I believe, be the era of restoration in ecology"
Land managers, laypeople, and stewards have been practicing ecological restoration or ecological management for many hundreds, if not thousands of years, yet the scientific field of "restoration ecology" was not first formally identified and coined until the late 1980s, by John Aber and William Jordan when they were at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They held the first international meetings on this topic in Madison during which attendees visited the University of Wisconsin's Arboretum—the oldest restoration ecology project made famous by Professor, Aldo Leopold. The study of restoration ecology has only become a robust and independent scientific discipline over the last two decades,and the commercial applications of ecological restoration have tremendously increased in recent years.
Restoration needs
There is consensus in the scientific community that the current environmental degradation and destruction of many of the Earth's biota is considerable and is taking place on a "catastrophically short timescale".In fact, estimates of the current extinction rate is 1000 to 10,000 times more than the normal rate. For many people biological diversity, (biodiversity) has an intrinsic value that humans have a responsibility towards other living things, and an obligation to future generations.
On a more anthropocentric level, natural ecosystems provide human society with food, fuel and timber. Fundamentally, ecosystem services involve the purification of air and water, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, regulation of climate, regeneration of soil fertility and pollination of crops. Such processes have been estimated to be worth trillions of dollars annually.
Habitat loss is the leading cause of both species extinctions and ecosystem service decline. The two ways to reverse this trend of habitat loss are conservation of currently viable habitat and restoration of degraded habitats.
Conservation biology and restoration ecology
With regard to biodiversity preservation, it should be noted that restoration activities are not a substitute,but are complementary for conservation efforts. Many conservation programmes, however, are predicated on historical bio-physical conditions — i.e. they are incapable of responding to global climate change, and the assemblages "locked in" become increasingly fragile and liable to catastrophic collapses. In this sense, restoration is essential to provide a new space for migration of habitats and their associated flora and fauna.[9] Additionally, conservation biology often has organisms, but not entire ecosystems and their functions, as it's focus is towards a narrowed approach with limited aims.
Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline is theoretically rooted in conservation biology. Although, restoration ecology may be viewed as a sub-discipline of conservation biology, foundational differences do exist between the disciplines' approaches, focuses and modes of inquiry.
The fundamental difference between conservation biology and restoration ecology lies in their philosophical approaches to the same problem. Conservation biology attempts to preserve and maintain existing habitat and[( biodiversity)]. In contrast, restoration ecology assumes that environmental degradation and population declines are to some extinct, reversible processes. Therefore, targeted human intervention is used to promote habitat, biodiversity recovery and associated gains. This does not provide, however, an excuse for converting extremely valuable "pristine" habitat into other uses.
Focuses
Firstly, both conservation biology and restoration ecology have an unfortunate temperate terrestrial bioregion bias. This issue is probably the result of these fields developing in the geopolitical north, and both the fields should attempt to reconcile this bias.
Secondly, may be because plants tend to dominate most (terrestrial) ecosystems, restoration ecology has developed a strong botanical bias, whereas conservation biology is more strongly zoological.
Similarly, the principal systemic levels of interest differ between the disciplines. Conservation biology has historically focused on target individuals (i.e. endangered species), and has thus concentrated on genetic and population level dynamics. Since restoration ecology is aimed at rebuilding a functioning ecosystem, a broader (i.e. community or ecosystem) perspective is necessary.
Finally, since soils define the foundation of any functional terrestrial system, restoration ecology's ecosystem-level bias has placed more emphasis on the role of soil's physical and microbial processes.
Modes of inquiry
Conservation biology's focus on rare or endangered species limit the number of manipulative studies that can be performed. As a consequence, conservation studies tend to be descriptive, comparative and unreplicated. However, the highly manipulative nature of restoration ecology allows the researcher to test the hypotheses vigorously. Restorative activity often reflects an experimental test of what limits populations.
Theoretical foundations
Restoration ecology draws on a wide range of ecological concepts.
Disturbance
Disturbance is a change of environmental conditions, which interferes with the functioning of a biological system. Disturbance, at a variety of spatial and temporal scales is a natural, and even essential, component of many communities.
Humans have had limited "natural" impacts on ecosystems for as long as humans have existed, however, the severity and scope of our modern influences has accelerated in the last few centuries. Understanding and minimizing the differences between modern anthropogenic and "natural" disturbances is crucial to restoration ecology. For example, new forestry techniques that better imitate historical disturbances are now being implemented.
In addition, restoring a fully sustainable ecosystem often involves studying and attempting to restore a natural disturbance regime (e.g., fire ecology).
Succession
Ecological succession is the process by which the component species of a community changes over time. Following a disturbance, an ecosystem generally progresses from a simple level of organization (i.e. few dominant species) to a more complex community (i.e. many interdependent species) over few generations. Depending on the severity of the disturbance, restoration often consists of initiating, assisting or accelerating ecological successional processes.
In many ecosystems, communities tend to recover following mild to moderate natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Restoration in these systems involves hastening natural successional trajectories. However, a system that has experienced a more severe disturbance (i.e. physical or chemical alteration of the environment) may require intensive restorative efforts to recreate environmental conditions that favor natural successional processes.
Fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation is the emergence of spatial discontinuities in a biological system. Through land use changes (e.g. agriculture) and "natural" disturbance, ecosystems are broken up into smaller parts. Small fragments of habitat can support only small populations and small populations are more vulnerable to extinction. Furthermore, fragmenting ecosystems decreases interior habitat. Habitat along the edge of a fragment has a different range of environmental conditions and therefore supports different species than the interior. Fragmentation, effectively reduces interior habitat and may lead to the extinction of those species which require interior habitat. Restorative projects can increase the effective size of a habitat by simply adding area or by planting habitat corridors that link and fill in the gap between two isolated fragments. Reversing the effects of fragmentation and increasing habitat connectivity are the central goals of restoration ecology.
Ecosystem function
Ecosystem function describes the foundational processes of natural systems, including nutrient cycles and energy fluxes. These processes are the most basic and essential components of ecosystems. An understanding of the full complexity and intricacies of these cycles is necessary to address any ecological processes that may be degraded. A functional ecosystem, that is completely self-perpetuating (no management required), is the ultimate goal of restorative efforts. Since, these ecosystem functions are emergent properties of the system as a whole, monitoring and management are crucial for the long-term stability of an ecosystem.
Evolving concepts
Restoration ecology, because of its highly physical nature, is an ideal testing ground for an emerging community's ecological principles (Bradshaw 1987). Likewise, there are emerging concepts of inventing new and successful restoration technologies, performance standards, time frames, local genetics, and society's relationship to restoration ecology, and new ethical and religious possibilities, as future topics of discussion and debate.
Assembly
Community assembly "is a framework that can unify virtually all of (community) ecology under a single conceptual umbrella".
Community assembly theory attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species. It assumes that species have similar niche requirements, so that community formation is a product of random fluctuations from a common species pool.
Essentially, if all species are fairly ecologically equivalent then random variation in colonization, migration and extinction rates between species, drive differences in species composition between sites with comparable environmental conditions.
Stable states
Alternative stable states are discrete species compositional possibilities that may exist within a community. According to assembly theory, differences in species colonization, interspecific interactions and community establishment may result in distinct community species equilibria. A community has numerous possible compositional equilibria that are dependent on the initial assembly. That is, random fluctuations lead to a particular initial community assembly, which affects successional trajectories and the eventual species composition equilibrium.
Multiple stable states is a specific theoretical concept, where all species have equal access to a community (i.e., equal dispersal potential) and differences between communities arise simply because of the timing of each species' colonization.
These concepts are central to restoration ecology; restoring a community not only involves manipulating the timing and structure of the initial species composition, but also working towards a single desired stable state. In fact, a degraded ecosystem may be viewed as an alternative stable state under the altered environmental conditions.
Ontogeny
The ecology of ontogeny is the study of how ecological relationships change over the lifetime of an individual. Organisms require different environmental conditions during different stages of their life-cycle. For immobile organisms (e.g. plants), the conditions necessary for germination and establishment may be different from those of the adult stage. As an ecosystem is altered by anthropogenic processes the range of environmental variables may also be altered. A degraded ecosystem may not include the environmental conditions necessary for a particular stage of an organism's development. If a self-sustaining, functional ecosystem must contain environmental conditions for the perpetual reproduction of its species, restorative efforts must address the needs of organisms throughout their development.
Application of theory
Restoration is defined as the application of ecological theory to ecological restoration. However, for many reasons, this can be a challenging prospect. Here are a few examples of theory informing practice.
Soil heterogeneity effects on community heterogeneity
Spatial heterogeneity of resources can influence plant community composition, diversity and assembly trajectory. Baer et al. (2005) manipulated soil resource heterogeneity in a tallgrass prairie restoration project. They found increasing resource heterogeneity, which on its own was insufficient to insure species diversity in situations where one species may dominate across the range of resource levels. Their findings were consistent with the theory regarding the role of ecological filters on community assembly. The establishment of a single species, best adapted to the physical and biological conditions can play an inordinately important role in determining the community structure.
Invasion, competitive dominance and resource use
"The dynamics of invasive species may depend on their abilities to compete for resources and exploit disturbances relative to the abilities of native species". Seabloom et al. (2003) tested this concept and its implications in a California grassland restoration context. They found that the native grass species were able to successfully compete with invasive exotics, therefore, the possibility exists of restoring an original native grassland ecosystem.
Successional trajectories
Progress along a desired successional pathway may be difficult if multiple stable states exist. Looking over 40 years of wetland restoration data Klotzi and Gootjans (2001) argue that unexpected and undesired vegetation assemblies "may indicate that environmental conditions are not suitable for target communities". Succession may move in unpredicted directions, but constricting environmental conditions within a narrow range may rein in the possible successional trajectories and increase the likelihood of a desired outcome.
Choosing a Health Insurance Plan
Affordable Care Act
The 2010 Affordable Care Act puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over several years. Most changes will take effect by 2014; a timeline of the provisions is available. The law is intended to lower health care costs, provide more health care choices, and enhance the quality of health care for all Americans. Major provisions affecting consumers include:
Coverage for seniors who hit the Medicare Prescription Drug "Donut Hole," including a rebate for those who reach the gap in drug coverage;
Expanded coverage for young adults, allowing them to stay on their parents' plan until they turn 26 years old;
Small-business tax credits to help these companies provide insurance coverage to their workers; and
Providing access to insurance for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions.
For more information about the new law, go to healthcare.gov.
Group Policies
Many consumers have health care coverage from their employer. Others have medical care paid through a government program such as Medicare, Medicaid, or the Veterans Administration.
If you have lost your group coverage from an employer as the result of unemployment, death, divorce, or loss of "dependent child" status, you may be able to continue your coverage temporarily under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). You, not the employer, pay for this coverage. When one of these events occurs, you must be given at least 60 days to decide whether you wish to purchase the coverage.
Some states offer an insurance pool to residents who are unable to obtain coverage because of a health condition. To find out if a pool is available in your state, check with your state department of insurance.
Medicare and Medicaid
There are also health insurance programs for people who are seniors, disabled, or have low incomes.
Medicaid provides health insurance for people with low incomes, children, and pregnant women. Eligibility is determined by your state.
Medicare provides health insurance for people who are 65 years or older, some younger people with disabilities, and those with kidney failure.
Most states also offer free or low-cost coverage for children who do not have health insurance. Visit insurekidsnow.gov or call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (543-7669) for more information.
Healthcare Plans
When purchasing health insurance, your choices will typically fall into one of three categories:
Traditional fee-for-service health insurance plans are usually the most expensive choice. But they offer you the most flexibility when choosing healthcare providers.
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) offer lower co-payments and cover the costs of more preventative care, but your choice of healthcare providers is limited. The National Committee for Quality Assurance evaluates and accredits HMOs. You can find out whether one is accredited in your state by calling 1-888-275-7585. You can also get this information as well as report cards on HMOs.
Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) offer lower co-payments like HMOs but give you more flexibility when selecting a provider. A PPO gives you a list of providers you can choose from.
WARNING: If you go outside the HMO or PPO network of providers, you may have to pay a portion or all of the costs.
When choosing among different health care plans, you'll need to read the fine print and ask lots of questions, such as:
Do I have the right to go to any doctor, hospital, clinic or pharmacy I choose?
Are specialists such as eye doctors and dentists covered?
Does the plan cover special conditions or treatments such as pregnancy, psychiatric care and physical therapy?
Does the plan cover home care or nursing home care?
Will the plan cover all medications my physician might prescribe?
What are the deductibles? Are there any co-payments?
What is the most I will have to pay out of my own pocket to cover expenses?
If there is a dispute about a bill or service, how is it handled? In some plans, you may be required to have a third-party decide how to settle the problem.
Appealing Health Insurance Claims
If your health insurer has denied coverage for medical care you received you have a right to appeal the claim and ask that the company reverse that decision. You can be your own health care advocate. Here's what you can do:
Step 1: Review your policy and explanation of benefits.
Step 2: Contact your insurer and keep detailed records of your contacts (copies of letters, time and date of conversations).
Step 3: Request documentation from your doctor or employer to support your case.
Step 4: Write a formal complaint letter explaining what care was denied and why you are appealing through use of the company's internal review process.
Step 5: If the internal appeal is not granted through step 4, file a claim with your state's insurance department.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over several years. Most changes will take effect by 2014; a timeline of the provisions is available. The law is intended to lower health care costs, provide more health care choices, and enhance the quality of health care for all Americans. Major provisions affecting consumers include:
Coverage for seniors who hit the Medicare Prescription Drug "Donut Hole," including a rebate for those who reach the gap in drug coverage;
Expanded coverage for young adults, allowing them to stay on their parents' plan until they turn 26 years old;
Small-business tax credits to help these companies provide insurance coverage to their workers; and
Providing access to insurance for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions.
For more information about the new law, go to healthcare.gov.
Group Policies
Many consumers have health care coverage from their employer. Others have medical care paid through a government program such as Medicare, Medicaid, or the Veterans Administration.
If you have lost your group coverage from an employer as the result of unemployment, death, divorce, or loss of "dependent child" status, you may be able to continue your coverage temporarily under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). You, not the employer, pay for this coverage. When one of these events occurs, you must be given at least 60 days to decide whether you wish to purchase the coverage.
Some states offer an insurance pool to residents who are unable to obtain coverage because of a health condition. To find out if a pool is available in your state, check with your state department of insurance.
Medicare and Medicaid
There are also health insurance programs for people who are seniors, disabled, or have low incomes.
Medicaid provides health insurance for people with low incomes, children, and pregnant women. Eligibility is determined by your state.
Medicare provides health insurance for people who are 65 years or older, some younger people with disabilities, and those with kidney failure.
Most states also offer free or low-cost coverage for children who do not have health insurance. Visit insurekidsnow.gov or call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (543-7669) for more information.
Healthcare Plans
When purchasing health insurance, your choices will typically fall into one of three categories:
Traditional fee-for-service health insurance plans are usually the most expensive choice. But they offer you the most flexibility when choosing healthcare providers.
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) offer lower co-payments and cover the costs of more preventative care, but your choice of healthcare providers is limited. The National Committee for Quality Assurance evaluates and accredits HMOs. You can find out whether one is accredited in your state by calling 1-888-275-7585. You can also get this information as well as report cards on HMOs.
Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) offer lower co-payments like HMOs but give you more flexibility when selecting a provider. A PPO gives you a list of providers you can choose from.
WARNING: If you go outside the HMO or PPO network of providers, you may have to pay a portion or all of the costs.
When choosing among different health care plans, you'll need to read the fine print and ask lots of questions, such as:
Do I have the right to go to any doctor, hospital, clinic or pharmacy I choose?
Are specialists such as eye doctors and dentists covered?
Does the plan cover special conditions or treatments such as pregnancy, psychiatric care and physical therapy?
Does the plan cover home care or nursing home care?
Will the plan cover all medications my physician might prescribe?
What are the deductibles? Are there any co-payments?
What is the most I will have to pay out of my own pocket to cover expenses?
If there is a dispute about a bill or service, how is it handled? In some plans, you may be required to have a third-party decide how to settle the problem.
Appealing Health Insurance Claims
If your health insurer has denied coverage for medical care you received you have a right to appeal the claim and ask that the company reverse that decision. You can be your own health care advocate. Here's what you can do:
Step 1: Review your policy and explanation of benefits.
Step 2: Contact your insurer and keep detailed records of your contacts (copies of letters, time and date of conversations).
Step 3: Request documentation from your doctor or employer to support your case.
Step 4: Write a formal complaint letter explaining what care was denied and why you are appealing through use of the company's internal review process.
Step 5: If the internal appeal is not granted through step 4, file a claim with your state's insurance department.
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