Essay My career mission is to develop the best policy solutions for ensuring the healthy environment and improving the quality of human life throughout the world. To become a strong leader and achieve my professional and life goals, I decided to apply to a graduate program in Global Affairs at New York University and was fortunate to earn a place in this program. The accomplishment of the first two semesters confirmed my belief that this comprehensive and galvanizing program is the best learning environment for me and that the M.S. in Global Affairs is the very vehicle to pursue my goals. The rich and flexible curriculum of the program allowed me to build my own learning pathway. In the first semester, I chose to take all the core courses …show more content…
After learning about the resource mismanagement and related environmental problems in the Energy, Environment, and Resource Security course with Professor Kissane, I decided to conduct research on food security and industrial agriculture. In my paper “Achieving Food Security through Regenerative Agriculture,” I concluded that the transition to regenerative organic agriculture is an integral part of the food-security policy. I found a strong scientific evidence that by applying sustainable approaches to farming, the agricultural sector will not only supply the society with healthy and nutritious food today but also will preserve the environment for future …show more content…
As an engagement project that seeks to promote sustainable development goals through our own actions, I launched the Coalition on Regenerative Agriculture (CORA), a student community that brings together students, scholars, and professionals in the NYU community interested in food security and sustainable agriculture. The CORA goal is to promote regenerative organic agriculture as a way to reverse climate change, improve people’s health, diminish environmental pollution, support small farms and businesses, ensure food security. The first CORA initiatives were implemented in December 2016. My colleagues and I organized a roundtable discussion with Martin Rowe, Senior Fellow at Brighter Green, a Brooklyn-based public policy action tank that works to encourage policy related to the environment and sustainability. The event took place at the Center for Global Affairs (CGA) and served as a platform for reporting the results of MSGA students’ research on food security and sustainable agriculture. In particular, I presented the key points of my paper “Food Insecurity: GMOs.” In addition, since CORA was created to build a community that is informed about sustainable development and understands how individual consumption impacts the world, we conducted a survey to understand the food habits of the CGA population. We have learned that the majority of
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
By exploring the past and its threats to human populations, the global modern mythology of sustainable agriculture can begin to be narrowed down as to the how and why rural communities may or may not have benefited from agricultural sustainability. By describing the dynamic analysis in the livelihoods of developing countries, the historical changes that had occurred in rural communities, can be understood. Halberg and Müller stated that globally “The world’s population was about 7 billion in 2010 and is expected to grow much more. The expected growth is highest in parts of the world that are vulnerable to hunger and adverse climate condit...
Genetically modified food is a significant issue that America is currently dealing with; it has affected millions around the world. Genetically modified food is crops, plants, and animals whose DNA has been altered for agricultural and nutritional reasons. In the Alltime Conspiracies video, “How Dangerous Are GMO Food” he argues that GMOs can have budding effect on humans, and the more we consume the more damage that is being done to our DNA cells. The author Alltime Conspiracy begins building his credibility with personal facts plus highly regarded sources, citing credible facts and statistics,
Our attitudes toward GMO foods range from hostility to indifference. GMO foods, like pesticide-resistant Roundup Ready soybeans and fast-growing salmon, seem to exist primarily to pad corporate pockets. Most people are not aware that they are eating GMO foods. The greater percentage of the population is just looking at the price tag instead of what is in the food product. This technology has the potential to provide sustainable nutrient rich food sources throughout the ages if the science is not abused for the food industry’s
How many of you hear the words “genetically modified food” and immediately think “BAD”? How many of you scorn the idea that genetically modified foods are useful? How many of you have been manipulated by the media to think that all biotechnology is evil? Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have been genetically spliced to achieve a certain trait. As the demand for a larger food supply is increasing due to population growth, the benefits that GMO foods provide are being hailed as the only solution to the food crisis. However, many people are making inadequately informed decisions, and are pushing them to the back shelf. I will inform you on why genetically modified organisms may be the only way to a stable, safe future for the less fortunate.
Genetically modified food’s, or GMOs, goal is to feed the world's malnourished and undernourished population. Exploring the positive side to GMOs paints a wondrous picture for our planet’s future, although careful steps must be taken to ensure that destruction of our ecosystems do not occur. When GMOs were first introduced into the consumer market they claimed that they would help eliminate the world’s food crisis by providing plants that produced more and were resistant to elemental impacts like droughts and bacterial contaminants, however, production isn’t the only cause for the world’s food crisis. Which is a cause for concern because the population on the earth is growing and our land and ways of agriculture will not be enough to feed everyone sufficiently. No simple solutions can be found or applied when there are so many lives involved. Those who are hungry and those who are over fed, alike, have to consider the consequences of Genetically Modified Organisms. Food should not be treated like a commodity it is a human necessity on the most basic of levels. When egos, hidden agendas, and personal gains are folded into people's food sources no one wins. As in many things of life, there is no true right way or wrong way to handle either of the arguments and so many factors are involved that a ‘simple’ solution is simply not an option.
In a feeble attempt to cure world hunger scientists developed GMOs, or 'genetically-modified organisms', which are genetically enhanced crop plants created for human consumption, and although GMOs were initially designed to benefit the world, it appears as though they are doing as much harm as they are good. Originally, GMOs were designed to c...
By implementing new farming techniques provided with the new technological advances in machines we can see abundant harvest in even the poorest third world countries. For example, the Green Revolution has already showed admirable progress in the northern part of India ever since it took start in 1950. By 1997, northern India increased its grain production by 37 percent. This has proven that traditional farming methods are being rendered obsolete. And because by the year 2000, there will be half the land per person in developing countries as there was in 1970, we need to apply ultra-efficient methods to sustain the growing need. Not only does the Green Revolution enhances food output, it also preserves the environment.
Food production has many challenges to address: CO2 emissions, which are projected to increase by two-thirds in the next 20 years, as the global food production increases so does the number of people going hungry, with the number of urban hungry soaring. The environmental issues are not the only ones to face; politics and economic globalization take also the big part in the food world. These days agriculture and food politics has been going through many changes but mostly under the influence of its consumers; back in the days people wanted as little as safety, variety and low costs of food. Now consumers demanding way more – greater freshness, nutritional value, less synthetic chemicals, smaller carbon footprint and less harm to animals. And that’s the time when urban agriculture emerged quite rapidly delivering locally grown and healthy food. Within the political arena, there are a few still in charge of defending the conventional food industries and commercial farms to retain the upper level. Against the hopes of nutrition activists, farm animal welfare defenders, and organic food promoters, the food and agriculture sector is moving towards greater consolidation and better sustainability. Although in social and local terms, food-growing activists know their role is under attack. Caught two words in the middle, is it possible to satisfy both?
Advocates claim that the world may benefit greatly from the production and consumption of GM foods, especially those countries with high rates of poverty and starvation. Experts insist that the GM products will put an end to world hunger. It is estimated that the world population will grow up to 9 billion people in 2050, and a good alternative to feed them is the GM products. Nowadays, in almost all African countries people are dying because of hunger and hunger-related diseases. The estimate of life expectation in these countries is fifty seven years old, and it will decrease to forty seven in 2020 (kwengwere 2-3). The governments of these countries are battling to put a stop to this unfair situation. Experts have said that the best alternative is the implementation of GM cultures in Africa; it will reduce the deaths, increase the life expectations and nourish the whole continent (Forsberg 1). The future of Africa is uncertain, but it is sure to depend on the hands of GM p...
As the global population continues to rise, the amount of food needed to feed the people will increase as well. Two types of agriculture systems have been the backbone for crop production for decades if not centuries: conventional and organic agriculture— both methods could not be any more different. Conventional agriculture, a method that uses synthetic chemical pesticides, technologies or additives, and practices that are unsustainable is the leading producer for our food. On the other side of spectrum, organic agriculture generally, performed in a much smaller scale, does not use synthetic chemicals and utilize methods that are environmentally sound. Most conventional
The program administers great flexibility, which allows the fortuity of pursuing my dream career while still getting the work experience I need. The options granted by this program are one of the many reasons why I became interested; allowing myself to take evening, weekend or online classes. Going into the Human Resource field, this is something to appreciate since it gives me – a part-time student and full-time employee – the time to complete the program at my own
Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. A variety of philosophies, policies and practices have contributed to these goals. People in many different capacities, from farmers to consumers, have shared this vision and contributed to it.
Two years ago, I was writing my letter of intent for my application to the Master of Public Administration (MPA) with a concentration in Healthcare Administration revealing my failures, and most significantly, that I lost my passion and didn’t know where to start. I also conceded that I was relatively unaware of the field of Public Administration (PA). Little did I know, examining PA theories would enable me to connect the final dots in the big picture of my life, where I came from, who I’d come to be, what choices I’d made, the relationships I nurtured, and my dreams and desires for the future. Although confidence came slowly and awkwardly, I discovered my desire to contribute to the advancement of public health policies. I am writing to express my interest in continuing to the Doctoral program in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). I am absolutely interested in the commitment to the advancement of knowledge, and confident my experience in higher education and academic research will contribute to my successful completion of the Ph.D. program, in the specialization area of public policy.
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will: