Okay, this is perhaps too geeky of a spin from the classic green eggs and ham, but I thought it might get some nerdy biologists’ attention.
My intention is not to talk about Dr. Seuss in this entry but on genetically modified food. I read an interesting article the other day on New York Times about genetically modified food and its influence on the developing countries.
The article included several perspectives from well-known scholars of various fields. As young professionals with extensive and rigorous scientific training, we should be able to chime into the discussion as well.
The statistics on world hunger is quite grim (yet not hopeless!) According to UN estimate, the number of hungry people in the world will rise to over 1 billion this year. That is 1 in 6 people. Think about it. (If the lab in which I work is the world, that will mean about 3.5 people in my lab will go to bed hungry this year. I’m imagining how the conversation will go down. “Hi, Nate. you are not going to get enough to eat for the next six months. Deal with it;” or “Hi, Anusuya, your stomach is growling again.” Okay, my point is not to starve Nate or Anusuya but to stress the point that when we talk about the number of hungry people, we are talking about real people – as real as you and me and Nate and Anusuya.)
So back to my point, as rational thinkers, we need to confront the challenge to drastically increase food production in the next decade to feed the world whose population is still increasing. How do we do it?
Ms. Shiva, the founder of Navdanya, is an opponent of genetically modified foods. According to her, “The claim by the genetic engineering industry that without genetically modified food we cannot respond to climate change is simply false….The green revolution that we are building through Navdanya is based on conserving biodiversity and conserving water while increasing food production per acre. What we need is biodiversity intensification, not chemical intensification. What we need is to work with nature’s nutrient cycles and hydrological cycle, not against them. It is time to put small farmers, especially women, at the heart of this process.” Many argue against big industrious farming practices.
While shopping at farmer’s markets is indeed a pleasant experience, I personally believe that’s a rich world luxury. I don’t believe there is any chance to feed the entire world in such fashion. Besides, if we only rely on local/regional produce, instead of enjoying biodiversity, we actually will be very limited in our food choices. However, I’m again digressing. I’m not attempting to discuss operations and transportation of food. I’m talking about the need for science and technology to create high-yield food and climate-change adaptive crops. I don’t claim to be an expert in this field at all, but I’m actually really puzzled by why people are so terrified of genetically-modified foods. We have been eating fortified cereals without any problems and taking synthesized small molecules medications with an ease of mind. So why all the fuss about genetically modified foods?
Is genetically-modified food ideal? No. Just like taking supplemental vitamins in pill forms isn’t perfect either. Perhaps food scientists need to de-mystify genetically-modified food and tell people what it actually is. Secondly, I believe we have the responsibility to think pragmatically. The rate required to increase food production is way higher than natural evolution. When millions and millions of children go blind from vitamin A deficiency, is it not a good idea to enhance the natural production of vitamin A in common foods that people eat in developing countries?
I can’t help but wonder if the resistance comes from ignorance or naivety. The huge increase in hunger is real. Incremental changes in farming habits are not enough to combat the rapid increase of child malnutrition. Instead of an irrational debate based on fictitious claims, science, technology, facts and, above all, open and logical minds should enable us to truly solve the problem with world hunger. Science alone will not solve the problem, but without it we will only be paralyzed in a world of meaningless arguments. And 1 in 6 people will go to bed hungry tonight.
I’m going to break out of my normal ranting state and talk about something actually important here. Below is the text of a press release we’re spreading around about our recent jaunt to Capitol Hill, as well as pictures of us with Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI, owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and former president of Kohl’s Department Stores) as well as Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
On October 1st and 2nd, 2009, three members of the MIT Graduate Student Council (GSC) traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with U.S. senators’ and representatives’ offices about specific graduate student issues. Before their visit, Alex Hamilton Chan, Alex Evans, and Kevin McComber prepared extensively on the topics of open access to federally-funded published research, raising the cap on H1-B visas for advanced-degree holders, and tax exemption of graduate student stipends. The trip was part of the Legislative Action Days of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS), of which the MIT GSC is a member. NAGPS is a nationwide organization of graduate and professional student governments that aims to connect the governments and lobby for their concerns.
The three students met with the offices of eleven senators and congressmen who hold spots on committees relevant to the issues of interest. With their data-backed knowledge of the issues and the support of both the MIT GSC and NAGPS, the three students found their arguments to be well-received. To their pleasant surprise, a few offices expressed interest in pursuing possible legislation on the issue of graduate student stipend tax exemption.
Chan, Evans, and McComber are now working with MIT’s Washington, D.C. office to draft wording for a possible bill on graduate student stipend tax exemption, and they are continuing to spread awareness of the issues at MIT and to other schools in the Boston area.
I think, generally speaking, I’m relieved and glad to see the release of the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. The picture of Euna Lee hugging her little girl after several months of sleepless nights and intense fear is priceless. The idea that I live in a country where the government took on extra effort to save a couple of people’s lives makes me proud to be an American. BUT somehow I am miffed to see that in some sense, Kim, Jong-il won. Now he has vindicated his power since a former US president has to come to him to ask for favors. The way we look at it in the US, it’s a purely humanitarian effort, and it ought to stay that way. However, he probably sees this as an encouragement of his belligerent and oppressive behaviors. Why is it always the good people that back away?
okay, you are probably thinking this girl is crazy. At the end of the day, we won. We, the people with compassion and empathy, want to see families unite and individiuals freed. I agreed and that’s exactly why I am perplexed and ambivalent.
This got me thinking about thick-skinness. In order to get what we really want, do we have to be thick-skinned? Ultimately, Americans want the journalists freed. To do so, Bill Clinton and many other people involved just had to endure what the North Korean government requests and says. Had sargent Crowley been more thick-skinned, maybe he would’ve walked away from the heated words that were exchanged and saved a lot of diverted energy from health care reform. I guess, sometimes, one just have to bargain with the unbargainables, with a long term vision and some thick skin.
In an episode of the awesomely funny Flight of the Conchoids, the two man band writes a song to raise awareness for canine epilepsy… Their boss points out that such a song might alienate pro-epilepsy listeners. They proceed ridiculously (as usual) to discuss being pro or anti disease.
Seeing this just before my week in DC recently, this inanity seemed a little more a propos than just pure humor:
Our representatives in DC really do seem to care about our thoughts on issues. No matter how diverse the topic or the stance. Also, DC seems forced by need for simplicity to phrase things in such black and white — you are either pro- or anti- SuchandSuch Bill, issue, etc.
And believe me, in under a week, I met with both senators and a representative’s Legislative Director (LD) from my home state, Legislative Assistants (LA) for both MA senators, many other Congressional LA’s, the chair and two other commissioners from the NRC, Labor Union, lobbyists, DOE, and DOD. I was one of a group of 12 student delegates nationwide as part of the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation who meet annually to talk to policy makers about the importance of nuclear science engineering and technology, and the need to support education and research. The group, in total, met with about 80 Senators offices (filibuster proof!) along with many Representative offices.
And we learned something through all those meetings that you should know too. By virtue of the fact you are on an MIT site, maybe as a prospective student, a current student, or someone just extreeeemely bored, you are likely someone very well educated, and whether you realize it or not, probably someone that others look up to. Maybe you’ve heard that before as I had—for instance, people telling you that you are like the Top Gun of American students.
But here’s something our group learned and you need to realize: not only are you [insert all flattering abilities here], you actually have a duty to act as the leader that people already look to you as. You must not downplay your achievements, you have to be confident in them to share your knowledge and expertise with our society, which desperately wants and needs solutions found in your discipline.
Not only this, but you and I must attack this duty immediately, not as some nice goal for a non-distinct time in the future. Whether it’s the energy initiative that MIT has taken as a goal, or economic issues, or education issues, you get the picture, our country is in need of leaders to step up right now. And instead of your youth being a hindrance, it is an immense asset—we very quickly found that we could get into meetings that lobbyists and other institutions might not, because these offices are deeply interested in hearing what students across our country are excited about, our educated and passionate opinions on the future. Our delegation actually began 15 years ago to save funding for research reactors, and our congresspeople listened and have been allies to keep this funding going even when DOE would take it out. What could you do with a few like-minded students?
The key is to realize we don’t have to go to Washington to do this. There is so much on our campus, in Cambridge/Boston, and Massachusetts that we can do—each of these congresspeople has a home office near to us that we can visit, and MA has very senior senators in Kennedy and Kerry that are even on committees relevant to MIT’s energy focus, as well as health and science. A few of the nuclear engineering students are looking to make some grassroots groups, if you are interested, please send me an email!
When I’m not laboring away turning stem cells into cardiomyocytes or drinking my research frustration away at CBC, I volunteer with a project called PATS - Pediatric AIDS Treatment Support. We hire community health workers, in central China, who visit HIV/AIDS children at least once a month and establish linkages between the doctors and the patients. When I first got involved, I was taking several global health/international development classes. I considered myself pretty wired to the success Partners In Health had with community health workers in Haiti and Rwanda. I have to shamefully admit that I thought this project which “only” took care of 40 children was insignificant and would be up and running in no time.
Wasn’t I wrong! I realized that what classes didn’t tell me was that the key to a successful project isn’t only the great idea or model, but also the nuisance details. The course curriculum taught me that I should be careful with cultural sensitivity, but never would I thought I should budget in the fact that Chinese people like to eat hot lunches and there are no restaurants in the villages, so the workers would only like to go to the villages for half day.
I can’t help but be surprised by the “texture” of fieldwork. It’s something no powerpoint presentation or business model can truly grasp. It takes a lot of patience, some punching in the pillows, occasional international calls to friends and family to vent off disappointments. However, at the end of the day, seeing a steady increase of a child’s CD4 count makes all the tears and sweat worthwhile.
At MIT, we are trained to be leaders, to think holistically. When we think about international development or social entrepreneurship, we think about Nobel Laureate, Mohammad Yunus, or large macroeconomics debate on aid, the Sachs vs. Easterly conumdrum. These discussions are absolutely necessary and critical. However, I would like to propose a new model of thinking – sometimes saving a life involves running around in a village looking for a photocopier or chewing over words so no one’s feelings are hurt or borrowing laser cutter from your friend’s lab to make fundraiser items (Thanks, Priam!) Sometimes it’s the smallest detail that determines whether a child will sleep under a bednet or not. Yes, Ted talks are awesome but true changes don’t happen in an air-conditioned conference room. It’s never that grand, put-together or glamorous.
With all that said, I’m not trying to sound like you should ditch all the great courses MIT has to offer. I’m by no means an expert and have really been doing it as a side hobby. I encourage you to take these classes offered by the poverty action lab, D-lab, G-lab, HST.939….the list goes on and on. Just remember, chances are you are not going to change the world in a semester, but the world will never change if you don’t do something.
In mentally constructing this entry, I want to blog about women – powerful women. So for the past week, I paid a little extra attention to articles I read and podcasts I listened to . And here is what I learned – an incredibly successful Latina judge and a group of determined Liberian women. As a disclaimer, I really don’t consider myself a feminist and I’m going to leave Sarah Palin out of the discussion since she is really an outlier.
This week’s supreme court hearing has definitely got me thinking about what it means to be a successful minority woman. Amongst all the news coverage on the belligerant, unreasonable and ignorant statements was an op-ed of reason and compassion by David Brooks. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/opinion/14brooks.html) He wrote not about Sotomayor’s accomplishments or legal opinions, but about the sacrifices she has to make to be a successful judge. Her marriage broke apart after a short 2 years, partly because of her crazy work schedule, and partly because she was too busy tending to her career to recognize warning signs in her marriage. She doesn’t have children of her own and it’s impossible to arrange play dates with her. I can’t help but wonder if this is what it takes to be a successful woman. Why do I still get the sense that it’s much more difficult for women to obtain a successful work-life balance than men? No, you can’t have men give birth or breast feed. But is that really the only difference or if there is a completely distinct set of societal measures all together? Are we still, subconsciously as a society, expecting men to have great careers and bring home the bacon while women stay at home and bake perfect blueberry muffins? Are professional women stuck in a limbo forced to make a decision on one or the other? This is making me a bit discerned because I never have the answers to my own questions. I better stop now.
Another group of incredible women I want to share is portrayed in this documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell. (http://www.praythedevilbacktohell.com/v3/) I have heard of this movie off and on several times and finally got the chance to really hear the story. It’s a story about thousands of courageous Liberian women, both Christian and Muslim, fighting for their country’s peace. Through their persistence, they brought the rebel group and Charles Taylor to the first peace talk. When that stalled, instead of giving up, this group of women strategically used their advantage in gathering international spotlight and forced the transition to democracy. Liberia has now the first female president in Africa. The thought that their peaceful yet tenacious pursuit brought a civil war to an end amazes me. That’s some true girl power!
Let’s give the more attractive (or less hairy) 50% of the population more respect, applause, and room to shine. No, we are not men, and no, we are not “better.” But women enjoy having a successful job and a happy family as much as men do. Women possess the same ingenuities as men do in tackling the world’s biggest problems. So to all the smart girls out there making a difference, my hat goes off to you.
(wow…first time blogging as a gsc-affiliate – what a privilege! But i honestly have no idea why you’ll want to read on about my ramble.)
Been reading about the unrest in Xinjiang province and it reminds me of the “extreme efficiency of modern China,” its distinct strength and irrefutable weakness. Why do I say that? On one hand, it’s not fair to say that the central government hasn’t made progress in the development of northwestern China, as well as the Tibetan region. It exerted great effort in encouraging business investments and migration of workers into the region. The government promptly improved infrastructure and health care and in turn increased access to the region and decreased infant mortality. One child policy didn’t apply to the minority groups, such as the Uighur, with the intention to increase minority population and representation. When I first heard about these policies, I thought they were positive steps towards integration.
However, while infant mortality and changes in average income are easy to measure, subdued repressions and infiltration of the Han Chinese overtaking indigenous culture were much more difficult to quantify. The seemingly benevolent governmental actions turned out to create unforeseen harm for the community. Many Uighur don’t speak Mandarin and are undereducated. The government provided job opportunities without also providing proper schooling. As a result, businesses are run by more educated Han Chinese who in turn only want to hire other Han Chinese whom he can communicate with. The government decreased infant mortality of the minorities without educating them about the importance of family planning. Overtime, the population of the Uighur tribe soared – a generation of youth whose job prospects were taken by the outside Hans. If you ask me, I would be mad too if I were them.
This got me thinking about the grander prospect of modern China. It’s superb at finding quick solutions and efficient methodologies. This explains the exponential economic growth and rapid reduction of poverty. However, it seems to be oblivious to the bigger picture. To get higher protein content in milk, some decided to add melamine. In order to prove vigilance, the government excessively quarantine passengers despite the scientific evidence suggesting H1N1 is actually a mild form of influenza. I can’t help but wonder if these quick solutions are transforming the modern China into a house made of cards, waiting to collapse on top of itself. When I first came to the States, I hated the inefficiencies, all the meetings about thinking holistically, and team decisions to consider everyone’s point of view. I still cringe at those meetings once in a while. However, perhaps the optimum is a balance of the thoroughness of the West and the efficiency of the East.
MIT has launched the pilot phase of the MIT Energy Conservation Investment Fund with $500,000 of seed capital provided by the MIT Treasurer to fund investments in energy efficiency across campus. The projects funded with this initial investment included monitoring and renewing steam traps, lighting upgrades, continuous commissioning and coil cleaning. The Treasurer committed to re-invest the savings achieved in the next round of projects that are underway.
An alumnus has recently added $500,000 to this fund. We have a gift from another donor for $1 million that will create an expendable fund for an agreed upon list of on-campus energy conservation and efficiency projects using proven technologies with rapid payback. The fund is intended to demonstrate that significant savings can be realized by effectively using proven technologies to save energy. The savings will be measured and validated using generally accepted engineering standards for the technologies implemented. MIT will use the savings from these projects to fund a second list of projects to further advance the Institute’s energy savings program
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