Biological Issue: Feeding Seven Billion

The following issue is taken from the National Geographic article "Agriculture Becomes Our Top Environmental Issue" by Tasha Eichenseher. (Read the article here)

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Agricultural products

The Earth's population reaches 7 billion this year. This has been the primary issue of concern among scientists from different fields, including environmentalists, agriculturalists, sociologists and economists. This issue is of extreme concern because of several reasons. The most important of these reasons is the question about the future of mankind and this world. The Earth, even though abundant in its resources, can accommodate a certain capacity of life. Its resources provide us energy, food and shelter. The most fundamental of concerns among scientists is the availability of food.

A once fertile land, now barren.

The selected issue primarily focuses on agricultural practices. It talks about how, in the past decades, the production of food has increased, but the consequences it had over environment have largely been ignored. The extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides have polluted water, and cultivation practices have reduced soil's nutrients. The image on the right illustrates the effects of poor cultivation practices on a fertile land which has now turned barren. In the second half of twentieth century, the cultivation practices in most developed countries aimed towards high levels of production. Now, in the twenty-first century, these practices have led the world into an ecological disaster.

A solution to this global concern is to adopt new and improved methods of farming. These new methods require to be enforced all across the world--farms in both developing and developed countries. The following are two strategies that, I believe, will help mankind in the future:

1. Sustainable cultivation approach that maintain a high quantitative and qualitative standard. A policy change that uses contractual agreement with farmers to adopt improved methods designed by agricultural scientists. A similar method is currently being practiced in France. In this method, farmers sign a "Territorial Farming Contract" which covers socioeconomic and environmental aspects. This approach is ideal to be implemented on a large scale as under this practice, farmers get a good exposure to sustainable agriculture and its importance. When these improved practices are adopted, the quantity and quality of food is improved along with a conservation of soil's nutrients. (Agricultural Systems, 2006, Vol.90(1-3), p.226-242 [Peer Reviewed Journal])
2. In developing countries, where economies are primarily reliant on agricultural products, the government and other organizations should finance technology that helps farmers on their farm. The emphasis should be on machinery that sustains biological and ecological processes (such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, soil regeneration and biodiversity). A proposal based upon Sub-Saharan agriculture highlights similar ideas of investing in technology that improves in food quantity and quality. Another important aspect in this proposal is concerns regarding health of farmers and consumers. These are important steps that, if implemented efficiently, will yield immense benefits for all of humanity. (Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2010, Vol.25(2), p.118-128 [Peer Reviewed Journal])

In conclusion, mankind's progress over the last century has made transformational changes on Earth's physical characteristics, the extent of which is still not entirely understood. Earth's population is a primary concern  as its consequences can be very detrimental towards the future. Therefore, it is necessary that we take steps towards improvement now, so that the generations to come do not have to face enormous hardships.

Manifesto

I wrote this for my semester-end class assignment, but I believe its significance is more than just a lousy grade. Hence, it deserves being a part of my blog. :)

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Growing up, I had always had the perception of English as that other language that I had to learn. As I made my way though middle school and then high school, it became more and more obvious that English was going to form an integral part of my academic and professional world. After coming to college in US, the degree with which I use English makes me feel as if it is my first language. Granted, I don’t possess the superior writing or reading skills most native speakers do, but there is nothing stopping me from working towards that skill set.

Management Communication 320 was that stepping stone in my life that made me recognize that potential leads to accomplishment; and potential, there is abundance. I had always considered myself a numbers’ person–you give me a complex equation, I’ll swing my magic wand and produce something fancy–and this feeling wasn’t so similar with words, unfortunately. So, I came to this class half hearted, reminding myself that this isn’t my domain–no home-court advantage.

Soon, I began recognizing the importance of everything we were being taught. I could see myself using all the tools of interviewing, memo-writing, and presenting in all stages of my professional career. This realization was the perfect motivation. For instance, PAR stories, worth 10 points to my class grade, yet worth so much more to my career development. This made me wish that if only all my classes could feel like this, I would be so much more dedicated.

I can surely say that the importance I used to give to writing has increased dramatically since I’ve taken this class. I have learnt to channel my writing skills towards producing better results; e.g., recognizing the purpose of writing, understanding the audience, using appropriate tone in writing etc. In the future, I’m certain that I will be required to write, even more than I anticipate now; probably not to the point of writing a novel (or maybe, who knows?), but definitely quite a lot. I’m certain that writing, or in the larger sense, communicating will form an essential part of my life. I hope that it is a learning process along the way, and that I keep improving my skills the more I do it.

A Kind Gesture

For this week's blog assignment, we were assigned to do something nice for a person who is managing a tougher workload than ourselves. As soon as I heard about the assignment, I knew who that person meant for me -- my very own roommate, Sameer Ahmad. As a Marriott School senior finance-major, Sameer's currently taking 20 credit hours, 15 of which are classes, 3 are an investments' internship and the remaining 2 for a case competition. As a sports fanatic, we follows and plays football very often. You would mostly see him on the phone connecting with his family, for whom he is very passionate about, or friends from all over the world. Alongside all this, he regularly takes out time for lunches, dinners and various other hang-outs with friends (including me. Yes, I know I'm very fortunate).

This week, I took him and another close friend of mine for a dinner to Bombay House. Knowing the importance of Indian cuisine to our taste buds, I felt that there could be nothing better than delicious chicken makhani and naan at this stressful point of the semester. Although this dinner had been due for a couple of weeks but I'm glad it happened this late, as this is the time of the semester when the weather, the school, this whole monotony seems to be getting the best of you.

Apart from this, another thing that added a lot more value to this weekend was the football session just this evening. Our ending play--the long pass--turned things around. He was the quarterback, one of the things he loves to do, and I was the wide-receiver. With our practiced coordination, Sameer's epic judgement and my up-to-par WR skills, we made a 72-yard play feel like magic. It was just something that you experience very rare in your life but you often look back to and can't help but say "wow, that was me, a part of something that incredible."

The importance of that catch was not in the play but how that split second completion became a game-changer for both of us. This accomplishment just opened the doors to a whole new world of possibilities. The next question just popped up like that; what else could we accomplish now?

I guess the symbolic significance of that completed play helped me recognize something, that actions do speak louder than words. With this, we continue on, recognizing and appreciating those things in life that broaden our horizons and make us conquer more.

Getting Done with Five Credits and Thank Goodness for Thanksgiving!

As fall semester rushes to an end, course-load begins to pile up. Juggling social life, studies and work becomes harder and harder. In this time, thanksgiving break comes at the ideal time; right when I thought all this was gonna blow the can off of my patience.

From the beginning of last week, I had started planning out the way I will most leisurely utilize this break. Two of my classes, accounting and lifeguarding, gave me the option to take the final before finals week. This meant that if I paced myself enough I could get done with 5, out of my 15, credits before thanksgiving break this semester. (Could there be a better opportunity than this?)

Soon enough, I began preparing in the way I could most cautiously maneuver both the classes. The plan was to present for my management communication class on Monday and take the tests for both the classes on Tuesday, and ultimately, just have the whole thanksgiving break to myself. Just like that, I put my head down and dedicated myself towards accomplishing the task. Sure, it required cutting up on some sleep, but is that really something new for college students?

The weekend was spent frantically working to perfect the presentation. Since I was responsible for putting together the powerpoint, it required me to coordinate with my group members a lot, getting their perspectives and adjusting the presentation powerpoint accordingly (Hopefully, I did a good job and my group members aren't holding a grudge against me for that).

On Monday, I sent out the final powerpoint to my team members and we coordinated a time with our professor in the afternoon to present. The whole thing worked out perfectly, except for my presentation of course which had its fair share of glitches here and there. After spending the rest of the day studying for the two tests Tuesday, I felt ready to go out there and give it my best.

Tuesday, first, I had the lifeguarding test which I barely passed on the margin (not so impressed by my performance there, at all). Took a little break which I believed I had deserved by then. All fair, till I dozed off  on the couch after working out just one accounting problem (what a surprise!). I woke up to the emergency frenzy text messages of BYU campus security that Provo was going to be hit by the biggest blizzard of the history of Provo or blizzards. It meant one thing, take this to the accounting lab. So, there I was making my way to the library while still receiving recorded messages from campus emergency service of the warning for the catastrophic natural disaster about to encounter Provo. In library, they made the announcement over the PA system that campus was scheduled to close by 3 which meant I had only 80 mins to take the accounting final. Well, time to swallow the pill.

Initially, I had forgotten my ID, (oh worst timing!) so I had to run back to my apartment and grab that so I could take the test. Within 10 mins, I was in the testing center with the Accounting final in my hand. I had 75 mins to work out the 54 problems. I gave it my best, especially given the time constraint. I was glad when I walked out and found out my score. The job was done. Self!

I now had nothing but the awesome, long-awaited break ahead. The best I can describe the rest of the week is that I turned my lazy-mode on and stopped caring about school or work. Basically, nothing happened throughout the break. It was just the lazy me, on the couch, killing time. Except for Wednesday and Thursday for which I made actual plans with friends. Wednesday, I invited a friend over and we watched a scary movie at my apartment. It had been so long since I had seen a horror flick. Gotta admit, felt pretty good. Thursday, I had the best thanksgiving dinner eveerrr! (Frankly, this deserves a whole blog post on its own.)

Well, that was my break. Surely, I didn't conquer Mt. Timpanogos but I accomplished what I had in mind, and I believe that for now, that's what matters. I hope you had a fun week yourself. All the best!

My Birthday!

November 14th ... a child was born!

I wanted to start my blog post with a Jay Z lyric. Guess its just that random!

Today, I turned 20. I'm not sure if things were to change over night or not, but I guess an entire year has passed by. My second year at BYU has definitely made me realize so much I never thought about earlier. The teen years are behind me and life's gonna take its turn to seriousness... or will it?

There are definitely big things coming ahead, but the little things roll on, I believe (Maybe I should refrain from using such vague statements... haha). Career, marriage and whatnot--life brings so much from this moment on.

Bottom line: This was a good birthday! :)

Festival of Lights

This Saturday turned out to be one of the most nostalgic evenings I've had at BYU. Dewali - "The Festival of Lights" was organized by the Indian Students Association in the Wilk. Although I am not Indian. but since Pakistan has so much cultural heritage in common with India that that night felt like being in Pakistan.

The event included various performances on Bollywood tracks. I was amazed at the talent these performers had. I mean, the dances that they performed were no different from the choreographed steps in the most renowned Indian movies. It kept rushing my mind back to the days in Pakistan when every wedding would play similar songs and people would dance in the similar fashion.

The performances were followed by "Bombay House"-catered dinner. Having naan after three months; man, it was so nice. I had been craving for that taste in food for so long that I went all out on that food, to the point that I was so full that I needed to sit down for a while.

Another attractive feat at the event was the Henna booth; a true representative of the sub-continental culture. In short, henna is the application of mehendi as a temporary form of skin decoration. The artistic designs reminded of all the festivities we used to have back at home.

In conclusion, this Saturday night ... well-spent!

Grocery Bag?

So, I procrastinated on groceries for quite sometime. You're thinking two or three days, not too big a deal, eh? Well, it was for two whole weeks, no joke. I basically had nothing in the apartment besides milk the whole time. In fact, now that i think about it, it sounds more stupid than astonishing. Why I did this .. well, lets see.

The day I felt as though I should go and do some groceries, it snowed. My desire to step a foot outside my apartment plummeted. My thought started drifting more towards "why the heck am I in Utah, of all places, ugggh!" and similar unpleasant thoughts.

Well, the snow cleared within a couple of days, I then got stuck with the busiest week I've had at college yet. I was spending over 16 hours on campus daily; less than 6 hours of sleep every night. (I know that for some of you insomniacs out there, this sounds like a bad joke but the fact of the matter is, I'm not like you! I'm that lazy a-.. who always sleeps-in.)

So, another week passed by, I kind of liked the fact that I didn't have groceries that entire week. Probably would have been another tempting reason to come home sooner and waste time.

Surely, all the eating on campus didn't turn out to be the best thing for my budget, especially last night when I totally went all out at Smith's. I don't know, I never thought how not doing groceries once can make you double your groceries for the next time. You know what I mean? Um, maybe I'm just confusing myself.

Anyway, that was my interesting story from this week. Hope ya'll have a fun week ahead!