Alright this is the 7th week into TWC module, and this week talks more about this huge biobusiness revolution topic and focusing especially on agribiology, genetically modified food to be exact. Although next week is recess week, I'm totally not excited about it because my recess week is labelled projects week. Monday to Friday every single day, I have project meetings. Not to mention all the assignments to be due, individual research essay for this module! It's going to be a hell of a week for me! Ok enough of ranting, time for serious biobusiness here...
Prof Shahi kicked off the lesson with a thought provoking quote, "When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability". I fully agree with this statement that prof said. If the world continues to consume food,energy,materials,fuels and goods at the current alarming rate, it is only a matter of time the world will run out of resources to feed us humans. Prof showed us an interesting 'happy tree friends' video http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=GKEAXOnogZU&feature=player_embedded showing us humans as 'PEST' that leech on Earth's resources and ruin its environment and pollutes the air, destroying Earth as a result. After we are down with Earth, we will go on to other planets and do the same. The objective of many space NASA projects to other planets is to seek useful resources for our consumption and usage. So, in order for us not to leech on Earth resources, we need to find new ways to keep our consumption sustainable for the long run. Prof gave a very interesting idea, for example if every household has this machine which you can convert biowaste into energy, how cool and effective it'll be. It'll be one of the greatest invention ever in my opinion. I believe the idea and concept is already being extensively researched but we need to make it affordable and efficient enough to churn out a high conversion rate of energy that is sufficient for our usage.
This week focus is on agribiology, biobusiness in agriculture and food. Prof shared with us this unsung hero behind Green Revolution- . His video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcwnWxy-YzU&feature=related I have never heard of this man before just like the rest of the class but after Prof talked about him, I realised he is indeed a man worthy of respect and admiration. His contribution to the world in solving world hunger is tremendous. I saw a quote in reading 6 which is quite shocking, food production must increase by 70 percent to feed the world population in 2050. The consolution is that the report went on to state that the required increase in food production can be achieved if the neccessary investment is undertaken and policies conducive to agricultural production are put in place. Looks like all is not gone, we have hope now. The world is not going to die of hunger! But hold on! Increasing food production is not enough, food security is the main cause of concern especially in rural areas. Food security is a condition where all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food prefereneces for an active and healthy life. I believe that this main concern needs to be addressed alongside increasing food production. What's the point of producing lots of food volume but none of it reaches the right people which are the poor in rural areas.
This week presentations talks about the idea of GM food. In my opinion, I strongly agree with the acceptance of GM food as I believe it is a fantastic way to reduce world poverty and increase food production. Some skeptics may argue about the detrimental effects of such GM food but lets think about it. Would u rather have no food on ur table and starve to death right away or would u rather have food which COULD or COULD NOT be harmful but at least u wont starve to death. So far there's no prove of such harmful effects and it probably does not have any! Prof mentioned that there are many food we're eating now are GM food. Are we going to freak out right now and start finding out what are those GM food and avoid eating them? I believe that for those who are rich and can afford organic food, please go ahead and eat them but do not stop other people from eating GM food which are definitely much cheaper and affordable.
Rating is 7/10. I wish to see more discussion on the environmental and industrial aspect of biobusiness rather than just agribiology.
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