The above link will bring you to National Geographic's article on how a new female mammoth carcass discovery could potentially lead to a modern-day cloning of the extinct species. Cloning extinct species is an absolutely fascinating concept to me; I am amazed and perplexed at the idea that it is even possible to resurrect animals which otherwise may never have been seen again. While I am completely in favor of saving species from extinction, the idea of 'de-extinction' really worries me.
According to the article, 'various scientific groups are aiming to recreate species such as the woolly mammoth, passenger pigeon, and mouth-brooding frog'. Aside from the mystical Frankenstein-esque connotation these attempts at recreation bring to mind, what frightens me is that I see cloning as a potential excuse to skip prevention of extinction in the first place. While I understand that cloning is often considered a scientific backup plan just in case a species is obliterated from the environment, it's a cushion that could lead to complacency in terms of protecting species abuse and habitat loss. Also, the article mentions that complications often result in the cloning process, as 'birth defects... cause clones to have relatively short lives after
birth. A recently cloned Pyrenean ibex—a horned, hoofed mammal that went
extinct in 2000—died only a few minutes after it was born'.
The ethics of the cloning process are quite questionable. So-called 'species revival' may not be much of a revival at all; even if we did clone a woolly mammoth, there is no guarantee that it would display the same characteristic actions or habits, 'given the
complicated influences of development and environment' that determine what an organism is.
In short, I agree with Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecology postdoctorate at Brown University, when she says, 'It's irresponsible to put limited conservation dollars into bringing an
Ice Age species into a warming world where dozens of elephants have
been slaughtered just this year for their ivory'.
How important is corn in our diet? Surprisingly, corn is apparent everywhere has a huge prevalence in our lives. Nearly every processed food contains some form of corn, from the obvious corn chips to the more discreet chicken nugget composed of corn meal, corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and nine other corn derivatives. In section I of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan explores the incredible idea that America's basic grocery list revolves around a single crop. About 75% of all supermarket items are composed of corn, from the plant itself to corn syrup, beer, cereals, chips, meat from animals fed with corn, corn starch, and even in plastics such as the plastic coating on magazine covers. There are 10 billion bushels of corn harvested from the American Corn Belt per day, thanks (or no thanks) to the Haber-Bosch process developed in the 20th century to create ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen, a chemical compound that all life forms need to prosper, one which corn farmers spread as fertilizer. The results from a food science lab's test for corn percentages found in a McDonald's meal are astonishing:
Not only was it surprising to me that 100% of any soda was basically derived from corn in the form of corn syrup, but the immense energy losses due to the creation of processed foods/drink. Only one tenth of the corn calories used to produce a soda is left over in your cup - the other nine-tenths are wasted in the process of creation. This means that valuable calories are lost just in creating a Pepsi.
Agribusiness has a much larger handle on our life and economy than I had ever realized, and with Monsanto controlling GMO's, this is a scary concept to consider.
We are happiest when we have fewer choices to make. So far in life, I've found this sentiment to be true rather than limiting. I'd much rather choose between chocolate or vanilla ice cream (definitely vanilla) than have to choose just ONE ice cream out of a variety of cones of various shapes and sizes. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores modern-day perspective on food during an age where food is more complicated than ever before, abundant and convenient with so many choices available. Are we less happy or healthy because of the broad options at our fingertips?
Thinking about it long enough, the concept of food can get ridiculously overwhelming. I agree with Pollan in that America is battling a national eating disorder, a culture based on variety and torn apart by options.
Humans seem to have developed an almost unhealthy obsession with food these days, a craze exacerbated by new technology like computers and cameras. As a culture that values instantaneous results, it is no wonder our sustenance is so prevalent on the high-speed devices we live off of: our smartphones.
Food-art is all the rage; hi-def model shots of mouth-watering dishes from every imaginable culture appear as #foodporn on instagram, Food Gawker, blogs like Pics of Asians Taking Pics of Food, Food Network, and more. We've also become much more trendy in the way we eat testing magic-formula diets like Atkin's, veganism, vegetarianism or the newest diet craze. We count calories and monitor our food more than ever before, mostly because of food's abundance in America. It's pretty funny that even McDonald's has expanded their menu of diner fare to suit "health nuts", boasting healthy choices of apple slices, milk and even oatmeal. There's no doubt that the competition is on in terms of food quality and
gourmet cuisine; just take a look at the TV show Cupcake Wars... never have I seen people take fluffy snacks so seriously.
However obsessive this burgeoning culture of food art seems, I'm sort of glad it's caught on. I think that we're rebounding from a depression in terms of finding meaning in what we consume, hastily trying to repair our broken ideas of eating from valuing quantity to valuing quality.
Personally, coming from an Asian-American family, food is an important part of celebrating our culture. Going to dim sum, or morning tea, with my grandparents in Chinatown is not simply a quick and cheap brunch but a tradition. Etiquette like using chopsticks correctly, rapping on the table three times out of respect while someone pours you tea, ordering chicken feet or tripe out of bamboo steamers and fighting to pay the bill at the end of the meal is part of the experience, as these traditions can only be taught through the act of eating at the tea house. Engaging ethnic experiences like these are the reason I view food as a vital component of my culture, something that should be made thoughtfully rather than just calories to be acquired and spent. You can understand a person's culture and values just by cooking and sharing a meal with them; sit at the table long enough and you're bound to hear great stories.
What's ironic is that the abundance of food in America has watered down the meaning of a meal. Fast food is chosen over sit-down restaurants; families only sit down at the dinner table to eat a meal that mom has prepared alone, and often spend less time eating as mom has done cooking. As options have become more complex and the great American melting pot has blurred our cultural boundaries, we've often lost sight of food's true meaning beyond its nutrient value. Packaged foods, ramen, quick bites on-the-go, and fast food hugely differ from dim sum in that they have no back story, there is nothing about their creation that a family can talk about, no reason to care about them other than how many calories they pack, if that's even considered. We are no longer held accountable for the full creation of our meals, therefore they are less meaningful to us. We've learned to obsess over how much fat is in a food rather than how and why it got to our plate. It's a national eating disorder in that the quick-and-easy American culture of meals and snacks often involves inadequate or excessive intakes of food, causing health detriments either way.
Pollan's novel explores the path of our food from earth to plate, addressing many industrial and cultural aspects of food that never really crossed my mind before, topics like food sourcing, GMO's, industrial farming, what all those labels claiming "organic", "farm-raised", or "free-range" status actually mean, and how this impacts our health and our environment.
"The Omnivore's Dilemma is about the three principal food
chains that sustain us today: the industrial, the organic, and the
hunter-gatherer. Different as they are, all three food chains are systes
for doing more or less the same thing: linking us, through what we eat,
to the fertility of the earth and the energy of the sun" (Pollan 7).
I am very excited to read what more he has to say. My goal is to read a few chapters a day and give commentary, so stay tuned! :D
The Uncultured Project by Shawn Ahmed is one that fascinates me. Through researching its origins and following its journey through blogs, vlogs, Twitter and Facebook, I am convinced that almost ANYONE can make huge, impactful social change so long as they continually nurture the two ingredients necessary for success: passion and dedication.
I've been catching up on some reading over winter break. After reading John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska (which I LOVED, and insist that everyone reads), I researched the author's Q&A. I soon discovered Green's Nerdfighter Project website (Nerdfighter: basically an enthusiast
of intelligent, mindful awareness of the world; gladiators with
knowledge for armor and words for weapons who seek to make positive
social change). On the page of notable global Nerdfighter contributions, The Uncultured Project was first with the description, "Imagine leaving behind your friends, family, possessions, and a full scholarship to a good university - all to go halfway around the world to a third world country just to help the poor. This is exactly what Shawn did. And he's using YouTube to tell his story."
My reaction: Wait, another "college drop-out" like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg that made a huge success by following their dreams?? This is more common than I thought?
I had to find out more.
I first watched Shawn's most recent video, "There is no "Them", Only Facets of Us" in which he uses that quote from John Green as his guiding light for the creation of a new school in the poorest area of Bangladesh. I found that this is a project started by Notre Dame student Shawn Ahmed who put grad school
on hold for a trip to Bangladesh that would inspire him to work against
poverty. Shawn uses Youtube as a means of sharing his experience while living in
Bangladesh. His many videos highlight the immense poverty, unpredictable
weather, culture, infertility of land, and the hardworking nature of
both children and adults, bringing attention to their openness to
foreigners (such as Americans).
"There is no 'Them'"
At first view of this vibrant and inspiring video, Shawn seemed to be like any ordinary advocator or humanitarian - he spoke well, was engaging with the camera, and honestly made it seem almost commercial, and almost easy. He is introduced as a Muslim, and his camera man as an Atheist, while the people of Bangladesh are Hindu and the school that they are raising is built with church donations and under Catholic instruction. "The reason why I, a Muslim, have worked to hard to build a Catholic school is because I believe that diversity enriches all of us," said Ahmed, with great conviction in his body language and speech. He was believable, credible, and natural.
The level of professionalism in this video is comparable to similar popular campaigns such as "Invisible Children" - it didn't seem like anything I hadn't seen before. I decided to watch some of the other 55 videos of The Uncultured Videoblog on Youtube.
So I watched the very first clip, video #55, hoping to gain some insight as to how this project even started. I suppose I expected the first video to look as vibrant and well-constructed as the last, assuming that I would be drawn to the campaign's charisma in the same way.
Video #55: "The End of Poverty - The 'Homework' of Our Generation"
Surprisingly, this clip didn't strike me as particularly well done, polished, or professional. He struggles with his words a bit, and his interviews seem rehearsed. In later videos in which he documents the lives of children who work to support their families, he mentions that he doesn't even know yet how to help the poverty situation. He dedicates the 30 blankets he hands out to children to his 30 subscribers. Overall, younger-Shawn seems like a stereotypical American kid - a bit sheltered, inexperienced, and rather unsure of how to go about his project. Suddenly, his vlog title made sense. This project was a journey from being "uncultured" to making a huge change.
What makes Shawn different from a stereotypical American is that he has both passion and dedication - he ends up staying in Bangladesh for longer than he expects when Cyclone Sidr hits the city, destroys homes and schools, and tears families apart. He documents the cyclone's outcome, posts it to Youtube, and asks for advice instead of money. In order to prepare for inevitable future events, he works to give "hand-ups, not hand-outs".
I suppose the reason why I really admire Shawn's efforts is because he didn't come into this project with a whole plan that spanned the beginning to the end. In my own personal endeavors, I often feel apprehensive about taking on huge projects or 'dreaming big' because creating major change is a daunting task that seems almost impossible to accomplish from step one. Just as I didn't realize that Shawn's initial video wasn't equivalent in artistry and accomplishment as the most recent video, I also didn't realize that the final product was realistically attainable as I admired it from below.
The fact that Shawn's project flourished from amateur ambitions, small acts of kindness, and a drive to fix what seemed unfixable ALL the way to a level of professionalism and actual impactful change in the lives of so many children's educations is proof to me that ANY human being can really make a difference, and that the fuel of passion, dedication is long lasting, and that even further motivation is created by being active.
One of the best ways to kickstart my new year: blog about sustainability! Recently, while looking into the water crisis and potential solutions on National Geographic, I came across KickStart, an organization whose mission to aid poor farmers in Africa through the sale of technology seemed to be the epitome of my favorite classic maxim, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." PLUS, this group combines sustainability, engineering, and social activism ALL IN ONE. What more could you ask for?!
I was impressed by KickStart because of its unique approach to eradicating poverty - instead of merely giving donations of food or money, they provide motivated individuals with proper tools to farm, stimulating both the economy AND a productive lifestyle.
A video of Martin Fisher from youtube, talking about KickStart and its goals
In many low-income African countries, irrigation and water transportation is a huge issue for poor farming entrepreneurs. About 80% of people are impoverished, unable to earn enough money to purchase food, clothing, shelter, or other goods. The problem is not necessarily the ability or desire to work; rather, it's a lack of efficient technology, the first building block of prolific agricultural production.
Founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon in 1991, KickStart is an organization on a mission to lift millions of agrarian Africans out of poverty "quickly, cost-effectively, and sustainably". This team of engineers and salesmen design, promote, and sell money-making, manual tools to poor farmers in Nairobi, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali and Burkina Faso. Some of these tools include powerful pressure pumps and hip pumps for water and irrigation, as well as a stabilized soil block press and cooking oil press. The initial purchase is expensive, but lead to great results, and are designed specifically for affordability, energy efficiency, portability, cultural acceptance, sustainability, safety and ergonomics, and profitability.
Although people of these countries have been given donations of expensive gifts in the past, these are often not replenishable; technology tends to break, or become obsolete. KickStart gives motivated individuals seeking to earn their way out of poverty a few simple tools, a chance to establish a productive farming lifestyle.
There have been many success stories, such as that of Mahmoud Guindo, a Mali man who uses the irrigation water pumps to improve his family garden and sell fruits and vegetables, a side-job that has doubled his annual income. People like Samuel Ndung'u Mburu have increased their vegetable sales from $50 twice a year to $250-$500 every three months, allowing him to send his son to technical college, inspiring his neighbors to buy an irrigation pump, and buy more land for further growth.
Overall, I thought that KickStart provided a refreshing approach to helping people earn money and provide for themselves. This is exactly the type of engineering I'd love to do in the future!
Last week, Hurricane Sandy stirred up a raucous, making quite a mess of the east coast. Back home in New York, trees fell on fences, sidewalks, and cars, tons of people lost power, and public schools were cancelled for days. Gas lines are still lining up down the street in NYC, and for a while, it was impossible to drive into the city unless there were three or more people in the car. Here at BU, Monday classes and Tuesday morning classes were cancelled; a total surprise for the university notorious for holding class no matter what.
Along with affecting houses, power sources, trees, and wildlife, Hurricane Sandy also had an impact on the health and welfare of the water sources. It's easy to forget about storm water runoff polluting groundwater, overflow of rivers, and displacement of sand on beaches.
This afternoon, BU Branch Out's Leadership Collective took a trip out to South Boston to do some service at Carson Beach! Eight of us BU undergrads worked with the DCR (Department of Conservation and Recreation) on a mission to replace the sand that had been swept from the beach to the sidewalks. Shovels and rakes in hand, we shoveled sand from the sidewalk back onto the beach, and also picked up fallen leaves. Everyone did a great job!
Carson Beach! Someone had a really cool boat-swing I was so tempted to try...
The wonderful BU Branch Out volunteers, frolicking in the water!
Apparently, thousands of people, dogs, strollers, bicycles, skateboards, wheelchairs, and/or scooters frequent Carson Beach daily. Cleaning up public areas is important to encourage people to explore nature and develop an appreciation for the outdoors in a safe way. Seeing mothers with strollers, kids playing catch with their dads, and people in general enjoying a scenic walk along the newly cleaned sidewalks was my favorite part of the service event.
Afterwards, we got to watch the sunset at Castle Island; a gorgeous view and wonderful walk with some spectacular people!!!
View from the boardwalk at Castle Island, South Boston
Saturday, November 3rd, the Environmental Community Service group called, "BU Branch-Out" took a little trip to Malibu Beach in Dorchester MA for a beach clean-up! It was a gorgeous day to get off campus, walk around the beach and collect trash along the coast.
There were about 33 BU undergrads on the trip, a walk-on commitment led by BU Branch-Out, The Marine Science Association, and Coast Sweep. Although each of these groups has a different mission statement, they are all passionate about keeping natural habitats clean to improve the quality of life for beach critters, as well as humans who fish on the beach!
We were able to collect about 12 bags of trash, composed of a ton of plastic wrapper scraps, straws, cigarette buds, plastic bags, bottles and cans, ribbon, toys, styrofoam and the occasional condom or tampon applicator (:P). We took inventory of what we picked up in order for the Marine Association to audit. It's ridiculous how quickly the little candy wrapper scraps and other trash add up to make a huge mess that's toxic to wildlife AND a complete eyesore.
It was excellent to meet new friends and have fun while doing some great service! Excellent work by those who came!
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