African Greenhouse _ The good effect

For the next couple of weeks I’ll be focusing on yet another third-grade science project that I’ve never taken the time to look at so closely. I actually appreciate all those long days in elementary-school science class where each teacher drilled day after day about the importance of science. Well, now I’m listening, and now I can do something about it. I’m maintaining a terrarium; a small-scale, clear dome for the sustaining of plant-life. It’s rather amazing really, it needs about a half a cup of water, sunlight, and then just left alone. It’s the advertiser’s version of a garden, in this case at least.
My plant has yet to develop, as I just began the process, but all of these projects show terms of real results on a large scale. In other words, how can an extremely large outdoor terrarium, or green house, effect the crop development in most or all of sub-Saharan Africa? Well, the problems that are currently happening are obvious. The soil is terrible, the water is rare to be found, and there is an abundance of sunlight drying up what little soil and water the African farming community has, (Khamsi). The truth is that this part of the nation is very forward about thinking in terms of their current predicament. Parts of the continent have taken to harnessing the powerful solar energy to provide electricity and detract from using harmful substances like coal or other chemical products. Basically, the way to identify a positive step for energy use is a group of people that attempt to use anything, or create power without the production of chemicals. Food development and growth should be the exact same thing.
Ideally, there are many things that this underdeveloped continent is in desperate need of, but handling one element at a time is probably wiser. Many countries have the solar power in place to provide electrical needs. I think it’s time that money being raised actually saw it’s way to the area. Building greenhouses on designated land, and then providing the necessary materials for able farmers to produce within the greenhouses would begin farming that reacts to favorable technology. With technology being one of the supposed backslides of the nation, there’s no need to reintroduce industrial processes that failed countries like the U.S. I see more progress in only introducing processes that sustain everything from resources to money. Money is generally the main reason to do anything half as well, and deliberately introduce harmful processes for the sake of efficiency. It’s time to work harder to create solutions for the present and the future. It’s also time to answer an immediate call for help.




Bibliography

Khamsi, Roxanne. Soil Health Crisis Threatens Africa’s Food Supply. . March 31, 2006.
NewScientist. Sept. 30, 2008. <>

Blood Diamond_ Soundtracks that Provide (African Music))

Music has always been most powerful to me when presented in context of something aggressively visual. Even the film that was seen last week in class grasped my senses in a way that they generally never are. This makes whatever message that stands behind this music about a million times more interesting. But does this music have the ability to solve problems. Maybe not on it’s own, but if music, in the form of a soundtrack or otherwise holds the tone of a production that brings millions of dollars in revenue to a continent or country that desperately needs the boost in economy; I say that this music may have even saved lives.
The movie Blood Diamond was filmed almost entirely in Africa, Mozambique to be more specific. “The reasons are somewhat intangible. Africa is a place of great contrasts. Everywhere you go is breath-taking beauty and heart-breaking squalor,” (Edward Zwick, Levy). The point being of course that a film strictly about the suffering, sound, and most importantly the environment can only be really seen from the location itself.
So what does it take to mimic the emotion of this harsh environment? It takes time, effort, and the contribution from and back into the environment. This can mean millions, of dollars that is. Does this sound krass when discussing an element so beautiful as sound? Not to me. To me it makes the sound of another school being built, or a couple more kids eating. IT makes the sound of an economy picking itself up through the power of very artistic communication. This penetrates the minds and helping hand of richer economies by appealing to their artistic nature, and their emotional side. IT certainly doesn’t sound cynical if in fact the money earned from the film and the resale of it’s millions of soundtrack sales filters back into the African economy.
The best part about all this power is the teaching tools that are put in place from the success of the production. The website, another major selling point for the music,a nd the feeling also holds political information maps that grasps you first in terms of the story, then in terms of real life, (Official Blood Diamond).
So how does music really come in? Many would say that the music has very little to do with the overall hype of the film and it’s story that made this economy-saving money possible. The truth is that nothing in the production world happens without the quality of sound to drag the viewer in. It creates the experience that makes it feel real. I’ll be analyzing the strength of the soundtrack.

Although I was unable to get my hands on the instruments that power the emotions of the nation, I did manage to find an archive of sound clips that bring the culture to life.  I accredit Hugh Tracey in the sample part of the post. because many of the clips from the Ilam site were recorded by him in 1943.  They are from a variety of cultures, and many from the troubled parts of the continent that were featured in Blood Diamond, (Tracey, Ilam).

Bibliography

Levy, Emanuel. Blood Diamond, Shooting in Africa. EmanuelLevy.com 2004-2009.
Roger Ebert. Sept. 23, 2008. http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=3832

Blood Diamond. Blood Diamond. Official Blood Diamond Website. 2008.
Warner Brothers.Sept.23, 2008. http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/

Tracey, Hugh. International Library of African Music. Ilam. Recorded: 1943

Music of Africa Series. Sept. 24, 2008.

A Good Idea turned Chrome (Africa_week2)

Last week I explored Africa, Sub-Saharan, and its ineffectiveness in feeding a large portion of its people. The suggestion was this: take fundamental “games for good” websites like, freerice.com, and turn them into an online game for good that brings aide to the problems of a specific area like Africa. This is still an answer, but what brings further interest to this area is that despite constant bloody battles for money, power, and resources in a large part of the nation; this country remains in an early state of development.
I’m taking a moment to highlight recent events in national developments of China to create my position. Recently China signed a contract with Iraq, one of the world’s leading oil producing countries, that secured China to be paid in oil in exchange for labor to produce and run a new, productive, Iraqi oil well, (Goode, NY Times). The incentive for China is this: to create a level of living up to par with countries like the US or other European countries they feel that they must reflect their histories of industrial growth. Nations that have already gone down this road highly disagree. Countries like the United States and others are urging underdeveloped and impoverished countries like China to refrain from the same eco-destructive path; one in which these more developed countries are trying to undo. China as a country remains too poor to assume the alternative route. This route takes more effective methods that keep toxins out of the natural environment and actually create processes that reverse the damage already caused to the natural world and its resources, (Goode, NY Times). Obviously, though the reason we as a world population don’t just go changing over willy-nilly is because they are very expensive, and currently, even the most advanced countries are still trying to find ways to efficiently and cost-effectively take on this way of life. So how can a much more devastated and poor country or continent like China or perhaps Africa take-on a sustainable conditions that also improve quality-of-life? Well the answer is simple; never begin the path that destroys the resources and environment in the first place.
The idea in fact is to integrate technology and advancement by immediately connecting with the most cost-effective, sustainable inventions that are being produced specifically for the conditions of these countries. There’s absolutely no reason to go down the same road as countries that have depleted the continent over time. We have the knowledge, and we have the fellow-country support to make this work, (Design for the other 90%). The entire purpose of this proposal is based on the idea of cradle to cradle, rather than cradle to grave, (Braungart, McDonough). Africa, as a continent and a variety of cultures, remains in a place that allows this possibility to flourish. My start is the advancement of consumer- accessible online games that allow for easy day-day interaction with the cause, and choice of when, where, and how.
My research on the larger issue at hand, the need for more advanced farming to feed the outrageous population of malnourished people in mostly sub-saharan Africa, is promoting the idea that sustainable, learnable intervention on behalf of farming and seed supply is a powerful and effective solution. So how can the basic idea to take an online game that is supported by contributions from corporations be focused on the needs of sustainable teaching and seed supply? The new focus hones in on the brand new search engine, Google Chrome. This is Google’s brand new search engine that appeals to the need of speed and uploading power desired by both businesses and consumers alike, (PR Newswire). By associating this game with the full version of Google Chrome, and then utilizing the consumer powered application tools that accompany it, the game will be powerful and could easily used by everyone based on an individual’s schedule. This will not only create the most powerful brand association for online power and efficiency, but it will create a powerful buzz for large company dollar donations due to the association with an engine designed for business needs. Not to mention that Google Chrome empowers one of the most widely used search engines in the world, Firefox, (PR Newswire). It’s time to take this innovative game idea, and turn it from gold to chrome.

Bibliography

Braungart, Michael; McDonough, William. Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point Press, 2002.

Goode, Erica. “Iraq signs oil deal with China worth up to $3 billion.” New York Times August 28, 2008: Middle East Pages. September 7, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=china's%20oil%20deal&st=cse&oref=slogin

Design for the other 90%. Walker Art Center. Minneapolis, MN.

PR Newswire. “Netsuite On-Demand Business Applications First With Native Support for Google Chrome”. The Wall Street Journal Digital Posting. September 5, 2008. Market Watch. September 7, 2008. < guid="%7BBDE8A7B2-B269-4134-9157-FA12548FBC19%7D&dist=">

Feed Africa, then Sustain it. (week 1)

My first thoughts about Africa as a sustainability subject were this, “There’s so much going on here that I have no idea what to report on first!” Well that in turn made me hungry, because stress on this reporter causes eating like a pit without end. That though is where to start. How can a country begin to sustain itself when it cannot even feed itself? Well, they can’t. I’ve decided to start this conversation with the simple suggestions of a scientist, Professor Calestous Juma of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard (Wachai, GMO Africa Blog).
Prof. Juma promotes the use of biotechnology on the growth of food and farm enrichment in Africa. This is generally an idea argued by many ‘green organizations’ because the idea of promoting bio-engineered food, farming, and community is seen as for profit purposes and with the addition of potentially harmful chemicals. That is partially true. I’d personally rather see a nation getting on its feet by way of slightly diminished food, rather than half the nation starving, eliminating that part of the population, and then giving the more expensive enriched crop to the remaining few. That sounds terrible, but hear me out! I feel that Africa needs to sustain basic needs first. It is not ideal. I ask while learning about the agricultural processes in Africa, “Is it better to begin with more toxic food to sustain the general well-being of the population, and then reform growing processes into organic practices?” I’m not sure to be perfectly honest. The result could be catastrophic. 25 percent of the world population that struggles to feed itself resides in sub-Saharan Africa (Wachai, GMO Africa Blog). The majority of small-scale farming is performed by hand. The problem with the argument about organic food vs. bio-engineered food is probably not the necessary topic of discussion in terms of learning how to sustain one of the poorest parts of Africa.
“I’m not saying that it’s going to be a magic bullet, but I think it’s one of the solutions that we should use.”
-Ruth Oniang’o (GMO Africa Blog)
Ruth Oniang’o is a member of the Kenyan Parliament, and Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Wachai, GMO Africa Blog). Her interview, which can be seen on the GMO Africa Blog, suggests that the information needs to first be given to the citizens of the poor regions throughout the continent. How can a nation decide which method of food production is best if they haven’t been exposed to all the possibilities? The truth is they can’t. Oniang’o believes that the entire area is uninformed, and without the necessary technology that allows any nation to develop. Science and the mechanics of modern farming are absent in this part of the continent. Still the overall opinion of Oniang’o and professionals like herself is that the argument of how to grow food responsibly is never on the table, it’s how do we get food period?
I’m repeating right now an idea that was touched on in Jerry Allen’s Aesthetics of Sustainability Course on Wed. August 27, 2008. “A good example of design unused is a windmill designed and erected by an Italian designer in a small region of Africa. It was designed, constructed, and then broke after the inventor left. There was no one to fix it, and more importantly, no one to teach anyone to fix it.” –Allen, MCAD.
The tools are here. There are examples where great inventors have seen solutions to critical problems such as this, but they weren’t implemented correctly. That should be the goal, the key to first sustaining life in Africa. Teach the nation how, not in general terms. Obviously this nation has come along living the way they’ve seen fit in the past. It’s about teaching a nation how to deal with modern devastation that has crept up at an unnatural rate. Disease, population explosion, and many other unnatural states have disrupted life’s place for natural, healthy, and organic ways of farming as a solution. It therefore seems that unfortunately it will take another engineered lifestyle change to begin the path to ‘greener pastures’.
So the question is then, “How can we as outside analysts, bring our skills and resources to the table as a way of providing, and teaching the habits and supplies that will turn around a nation too large to carry it’s weight in problems?” This advertiser has experienced some starting points that may be excellent ways for people of all nations to effortlessly, or with little effort, supply food to one of the world’s largest struggling nations, freerice.com.
Freerice.com is a sister website to poverty.com. Both of these sites work with large companies, that’s right corporations have their place in ‘good’ these days! Each large company donates so much money per participation in the creative marketing plans of organizations like The UN World Food Program. Freerice.com is the marketing plan of the UN World Food Program in this case. It is a game and promotional site that has been developed to encourage people to expand their vocabularies, learn about world hunger, and when they have finished participating in the site’s game, each big company donates 20 grains of rice for each correct answer. It literally informs, and takes away the depressing angle of food devastation, which encourages people to keep on participating. I myself played for an hour before realizing that I could learn some great facts, and feed part of a nation. I also learned some great, big, beautiful words that day! It’s a little silly, and to some people angering and sad. I think the people that get angry about something this silly finally being a solution to feeding others may need to realize that humans have a difficult time going on encouraged, when focused on despair 24-fricken-7. Regardless, I propose ‘fun for farming’. Who’s to say that the same technique couldn’t be used in a way that taught people sustainable skills rather than just language. What if this game also donated time to teaching Africa how to sustain life in their environment. Finally what if a game donated all this, and then also donated seeds instead of rice to give a head start.
The entire point of expanding beyond freerice.com is that it didn’t diversify the generosity of the game to have as much impact as it could have. Now that we know the power, we can make the necessary changes to make a permanent difference.


James Wachai, GMO Africa Blog. July 6, 2008. GMO Africa
Publisher of GMO Africa Blog August 31, 2008 http://www.gmoafrica.org/2008/07/harvard-researcher-roots-for-agricultural-biotechnology.html

James Wachai, GMO Africa Blog. July 3, 2007. GMO Africa
Publisher of GMO Africa Blog. August 31,2008
http://www.gmoafrica.org/2007/07/oniango-sees-urgent-need-for-food-biotechnology-in-africa.html

Farmer's enemy |Nation's Power Source (Africa Week 3)

I’ve been going on about the basic needs that Africa has been desperately trying to hold onto, food being the main concern. After which, it seems that a general education supporting sustainable elements is a very necessary tool in the process of bringing up the nation. However, with every good idea or observation links another issue to be addressed in order to increase quality of life. This issue effects the lives of citizens and specifically in this case teachers. This issue is one that connects most power problems in the nation, and it more importantly it addresses fundamental needs that can’t be afforded by many people throughout the nation. This issue is electricity, and the way to solve this without repeating industrial mistakes is solar power.
The people who run the power elements of the nation are very aware of solar power’s positive affect on life in Africa. Caroline Hombe is a 35-year-old teacher in Africa who’s life has greatly improved. She used to suffer from headaches, and stinging eyes because of the kerosene lamp she was forced to use while grading papers at night. She and anyone on the lower end of the income spectrum in the nation accept this as an affordable way to be productive after dark, (Madamobe). The problem is that only so many solar panels have been brought in because of the high cost of installation. While they are worth their value in both short term and long-term conditions, the price is generally just too high. So how can the installation of solar panels be supported? This is now a major question because its not the unhealthy discomforts of kerosene and other harmful chemicals, we’re talking about revisiting a national budget that had no room for flexibility or growth.
Solar panel prices range anywhere from $500-$1000 per installation, and this powers about 6-8 rooms plus a black and white T.V. (Madamobe). While this is far too expensive to be disbursed amongst the average African household, there is indeed hope. It’s already begun, and it’s likely that Africa has the potential to lead other more impoverished areas like South America and Brazil. These and Africa are estimated to reach their emission cap in 2012, Scientific Research and Essay Vol.3 (8), pp. 326-332, August 2008Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/SREISSN 1992-2248 © 2008 Academic JournalsGroenwalde, Yolandi. Environmental News Network. March 28, 2008. Panos London.Sept. 11, 2008. <>">(Groenwalde).
The Upington Project in the northern part of South Africa has installed a solar unit that will produce the power equivalency of 1.5 million barrels of oil, Scientific Research and Essay Vol.3 (8), pp. 326-332, August 2008Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/SREISSN 1992-2248 © 2008 Academic JournalsGroenwalde, Yolandi. Environmental News Network. March 28, 2008. Panos London.Sept. 11, 2008. <>">(Groenwalde). The region also remains holder of some of the world’s more prominent records of sunniest days, that’s a lot of solar power. While this is exciting and wonderful news for the power front, this means terrible hardships for the farmers of Africa, and leads us back to the devastating problems of starvation and irrigation inaccessibility.


Bibliography
Madamobe, Itai. Africa Renewal. Oct. 2006, page 10 of Africa Renewal. UN Africa. Sept. 11, 2008. <>

Scientific Research and Essay Vol.3 (8), pp. 326-332, August 2008
Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE
ISSN 1992-2248 © 2008 Academic Journals

Groenwalde, Yolandi. Environmental News Network. March 28, 2008. Panos London.
Sept. 11, 2008. <>