The second part of bio-businesses focused on the Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology. In particular, much was discussed about our supply of food, and how we may be pushing ethical boundaries just to meet that demand.
Brief Overview of Week 7 class
Humans!
The class started off with a provocative video on whether we are indeed the culprits of destroying Mother Earth. Perhaps we should stop and start to think about whether we are using our natural resources at a rate much faster than what we should be.
“There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed” – Mahatma Gandhi
How very true it is! I admit sometimes I tend to buy things on impulse, but I think what’s more worrying is the widening disparity between nations. This kinda takes me back to Week 1 of our TWC lesson, where Yali from New Guinea asked a white man the exact same question…
We then moved on to Agribiology with an introduction to this video…
Ahhh of course, Monsato, the “infamous” organization that has been supporting GM technologies for food production all these while. The benefits are definitely obvious with more food supply, but the question of its risks are still up in the air. Worst, GM food might be so often used now that we aren’t even sure if they are GM food due to lack of labeling information.
Lastly, we talked about biomaterials, where many materials like plastic are being developed from renewable resources so as to tackle to problem of diminishing fossil fuel supply.
The first presentation touched on the hugely debated topic on GM food, which will never have a conclusion due to its controversy. Despite possible risks, there are yet to be any cases to show serious health risks. Yet, no one can deny that such technology has brought about huge benefits of increased food supply to help deal with the growing demands. The discussion was raised in class on whether we would choose traditional food over GM food, with all these concerns in mind.
The second presenter introduced in the detail the concept of aquaculture to us, which involved cultivating fresh and salt water fishes under controlled conditions. It was interesting to note that such way of cultivation can be very sustainable, if we are able to keep in check the environmental damages it will cost. The question was raised on whether such cultivations will affect traditional fishermen. I don’t think it will, as I believe traditional fishermen will cater to high-end consumers who are willing to pay that extra dollar for the freshness of the wilderness. It’s the same concept on how people might prefer eating at restaurants than kopitiams when you could probably get the same thing!
The third presentation had an interesting article on coke being the leader in plastic productions, setting the trend in producing petroleum free bottles. It was even more mind provoking when the discussion was raised on whether consumers would check on the validity of such promises in their marketing campaigns. It was pretty impressive that the presenter would check on all products before consumption, a true dedicated and responsible consumer!
The fourth presentation highlighted the usage of nanotechnology in agriculture. This was a method that focused on the precision in agriculture to further maximize output and minimizing input through monitoring the environmental variables. The nanotech will help delivery the chemicals to accurate locations on the plants. The discussion question was targeted to whether we have mastered all of nature. Though I found the term “nature” to be somewhat to general, I guess we have indeed, somehow master the form of agriculture through such means of technology, where we are able to manipulate so many variables for plant growth.
The last presentation was on animal husbandry, where the farming of animals seems to be going out of hand both ethically and environmentally. We were introduced to some pretty disturbing scenes of current practices by farmers to gain better yield, and I think many were revolted by the images. From this point forward, we discussed about the possible environmental problems that will occur, and gave opinions on the possible future of animal husbandry.
Interesting Observations
I found it very interesting that bio-buisnesses could have such a wide scope in agriculture and industrial sense, many of which I was unexposed to.
However, it was disheartening to see that we humans seem to be neglecting the fact that we are introducing so much negative externalities to our environment, which may very well outweigh the excellent benefits we’re reaping on adopting technology in such areas.
Key Takeaways
I feel that it is important to hold a balance between producing ENOUGH to cater to a justifiable amount of demands for our WANTS, and keeping our environment healthy and clean.
This brings back to the root problem of human greed, where we will never be able to define what is a justifiable amount of WANTS. The innate selfishness within humans nowadays tend make everyone never satisfied with what they have, until it’s currently gone.
I would think, it is more important to change that mindset, and to treasure what we have now and hold them dearly, before it’s all gone.
Further discussion
I thought the point raised about lab-grown meat was really interesting and I couldn’t understand how it was made, so I had to call up my best friend Wikipedia again for explanation:
In-vitro meat! It seems like it is sort of a GM food as well since it can be injected with healthy stuff like Omega 3 and other vitamins. Good or bad? I’m not sure if I will be able to eat something that’s not au naturale.
Also, I thought more could have been discussed on the issue of food disparity as brought up by Yali, now that we all have a better understanding of TWC. With GM food in place, supply goes up, and costs go down with economies of scale. So what is still causing the developing countries to still be denied of basic food rights sometimes? Is it really still the issue of geographical location?
Conclusion
This session was particularly insightful, as it made me reflect a lot upon my actions as habits of my life. Perhaps I should start being a more responsible citizen of Mother Earth, and use only the things I need to use, and to never waste resources. Never take for granted that technology can help solve supply shortages.
Rating: 9/10
0 comments:
Post a Comment