Lesson 7 - Sustainability for the Future

This lesson focused on the theme:

1) BioBusiness revolution: Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology (Past, Present, Future)

Farmers to Farmists

One idea that was touched upon in this lesson is the concept of us moving from being farmers to reaching a point where we can call ourselves farmists. In this it was emphasized that, unlike farmers, farmists would have huge opportunities in work and would be invaluable.

It is important to recognize the difference between the two before dissecting and analyzing the concept. A farmer is simply someone who plants and breed food for human consumption. In contrast, a farmist would be someone who does the same thing as a farmer but in a sustainable and environmentally way. This means the a farmists would work in a cyclical model where everything can be recycle whilst a farmer would work in the preexisting linear model where everything goes in one direction.

I think that farmists could one day prove to be invaluable to our society. However, I find it interesting how many years back farmers were considered a high profession and that people were able to gain a lot from farming. This, I feel, means that farmists will be considered high in profession for quite some time but, eventually, the work they do will become so essential to human life (like farmers now) that it will no longer be considered the high profession it was.

Inspirational

In class, we talked about a quote bye Gandhi:

"There's enough on this planet for everyone's need but not everyone's greed"

The quote holds a lot of truth as it is illustrated all around us in the world. When we look around our world we see people with two or three phones and huge houses where they're the only ones staying in them. In contrast, the other side of the coin where the poor don't even have enough to eat let alone the luxury of having a phone or the necessity of having a roof above there heads.

Our world is in need of a means to "bridge the gap" as there is a huge difference between the rich upper class and the poor lower class. It shows that there are many differences between people but we should attempt to do something about it. The question is "what is this something?". What can we do to improve the quality of life of the poor and decrease the gap between the two groups of people concerned? They are all provoking questions that I feel many governments and presidents have attempted to answer and deal with but it cannot be said that any have been fully successful in there endeavor. This means that there is no clear solution for this on going problem.

Lab Grown Meat

In class the idea of a sustainable environment was emphasized where people could reduce there carbon footprint and live in a more cyclical model. I thought the presentation on lab grown meet brought to light some interesting solutions. Lab grown meat is basically meat that has been grown in a lab. This means that this meat does not require the breeding of animals. This is beneficial to our world and to us as it greatly reduces or emission to the planet. It could one day lead to animals no longer being slaughtered as well as more land space as it wouldn't be used for grazing anymore.

However, there are also problems with this lab grown meat. We don't know the potential risks with this and, so, can't be certain of its safety. Also it is a rather gray area for vegetarians as it is not directly from an animal but for all intents and purposes it is meant to be the meat from the animal. I feel like these negative aspects are all rather mundane and that the potential for lab grown meat is huge.

Vertical Farming

Another presentation focused on the idea of vertical farming which is farming upwards instead of farming horizontally. This, again, emphasizes the possibility of sustainability for the future. The creation of vertical farms would decrease land space required for farming and, thus, allow for a greater scope for the future. It's like the building of HDB's in Singapore where less land space is consumed and more people have places to stay. Similarly, vertical farming will consume less land space and more food/commodities will be produced. I think it is a possibility for our future but the effectiveness of vertical farming must be factored in. This means will the production rate be as high as the produce from horizontal farming? And will the quality be high?

Conclusion

I found this class interesting as we discussed an issue that our world is currently focusing but we also touched upon possible solutions. Also, I really enjoyed the presentations this class as I felt that they all illustrated the lesson clearly. I would have like to go through more possibilities for solutions as I really though this part of class was beneficial and I found it intriguing.

Rating: 10/10