Challenges and most effective measures Essay

Population has been growing drastically for several years. It is shown that the world population has increased from 2 billions in 1930 to 6.8 billion in 2010 (Black, 2010). Feeding such a rapidly growing population has always had many challenges, however, with the population expectancy of 9 billions by 2050 only adds to the already very omnipresent pressure and concerns. In a world where already one billion people are currently suffering from chronic hunger , it is time to have a plan with solutions that will allow to feed a quickly expanding population growth. This essay will explore those the different measures that can be taken such as; using resources more efficiently shifting diets away from meat and reducing food waste while overcoming the endless challenges that are constantly faced. Three interlinked challenges are to be surmounted, the world’s food system must guarantee that all seven billion people alive today are adequately fed; it must double food production in the next 40 years; and it must achieve both goals while becoming truly environmentally sustainable. One of the measures to do so is by using resources much more efficiently leading to a much higher crop output per unit of water, fertilizer and energy. To do so there are three different actions that agriculture can adopt throughout the world. The first one is knows as drip irrigation which is the technique of applying water directly onto the plant instead of wasting water by usually spraying into the air. The second technique is mulching which is the action of coating the soil with organic matter in order for the moisture to be retained by the soil which will also reduce the water lost from irrigation systems as it will reduce the amount of evaporation let out from reservoirs and canals. Another dilemma comes from the use of fertilizers. While some lands lack many nutrients and therefore have poor crop production, other have too many nutrients which results in creating pollution. Many countries are believed to be able to reduce using fertilizers whit little or no impact on food production, examples are China, Northern India, Central U.S. and Western Europe. Another measure that can be taken to fulfill the feeding of the world’s population is shifting our diet to an all plant diet. Shifting away from meat product as simple at it seems would have a huge impact on the food  available for humans by using more of our crops to feed people directly and less to fatten livestock. ‘Globally, humans could net up to three quadrillion additional calories every year – a 50 percent increase from our current supply – by switching to all-plant diets.’ (Foley, 2011) Moreover, switching to an all-plant diet has more benefits as a balanced diet made of grains and different types of vegetables is considered healthier than a diet composed of red meats along diary products. This measure is seen as the hardest and is in need of better understanding. ‘Naturally our preferences are unlikely to change completely. Still, even small shifts in diet, say from grain-fed beef to poultry, pork or pasture-fed beef, can pay off.â €™ (Foley, 2011) The most important measure that should highly be taken is reducing food waste in production and distribution. Although it may come off as an obvious measure, it is rarely followed. ‘Roughly 30 to 40% of food in both the developed and developing worlds is lost to waste’ (Godfray et al, 2010) In the more developed countries, food waste tends to happen from the consumer’s side. Changing our consumption ways could have a significant effect on the losses we generate. Avoiding throwing food in the trash, avoiding overly big portions and avoiding restaurants and takeouts on a daily basis are all examples of how to reduce food waste. In poorer countries however, food waste happens from the producer’s side. An under-developed base and markets leading to food not being delivered, crops wrecked by pests are all ways by which food is wasted in under-developed countries. There are several ways in which food wastage could be prevented, although no food wastage at all is nonsensical, a smaller amount of it is still achievable. ‘Improved storage, refrigeration and distribution systems can cut waste appreciably.’ (Foley, 2011) As said by Godfray et al, (2011) there is no simple solution to sustainably feeding 9 billion people. However different measures can be taken to maximize the output while using the resources at a rate that does not exceed the capacity of the earth to replace them. Achieving a reduction in the consumption, allowing introduction to cold storage and public investment in transport infrastructure would all lead to a more efficient  food production system. The biggest challenge that will be confronted by society is coming up with ways to feed 9 billion people while being sustainable. It will require inventiveness, awareness, purposefulness and most importantly an extensive amount of labor. It will require people from all over the world to come together and work along one another. There is no time to lose. References Black, R 2010, Global population study launched by Royal Society. BBC News, viewed December 8th, 2013 Godfray, H. C. J., Benddington, J. R., Crute, I. R., Haddad, L, Lawrence ,D, Muir J F, et al. (2010). The challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science. p. 812-818 Nellmann, C, MacDevette, M, Manders, T, Eickhout, B, Svihus, B, Prins A, Kaltenborn B.P., (2009) The environmental food crisis. UN Environment Program Foley, J, (2011) Can we feed the world ?, Scientific American, viewed December 8th, 2013

Learning organization and human motivation Essay - 2

Learning organization and human motivation - Essay Example of Excellence, Tom Peters speaks of eight themes which the successful companies adopts and two of them focus on the optimisation of human capital – Autonomy & entrepreneurship through fostering innovation and nurturing champions and secondly productivity through people (Peters & Waterman 1982). Achieving innovation and continuous development through workforce involvement and commitment has become a challenge, which organizations seeking to excel, has to address as a top priority. Employee commitment is the most potent competitive driver an organisation can develop for pursuing its objectives and harnessing employee commitment involves creating an environment, which allows for autonomy and achievement. Flexibility among the workforce is critical for developing lean and effective organisational structures which is critical for organisational excellence (Peters & Waterman 1982) High performance work teams are the norm of today’s successful companies where the team members perform multitasks on highly flexible work agendas. Employee creativity is developed and nurtured by those organisations that recognise the potential for breakthrough products and process innovations. Such companies as 3M which is placed at the forefront of innovation, capitalises on its employee creativity and promotes it through policies as the â€Å"15% rule† allowing time for pursuing personal projects. The manager who wants commitment, flexibility and creativity from employe es is therefore advised to provide them with lots of learning opportunities. As per the management guru, Peter Senge, â€Å"If a seedling has no room to grow, it will never become a tree.† (Senge 1990) Providing a workplace environment, that promotes learning opportunities through innovation, creativity, participation and autonomy addresses the motivational needs of the employees. Motivational theories as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs as well as Alderfer’s ERG Theory both identify people’s desire for growth and self

Speech Class Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Corporate Governance in Argentina Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate Governance in Argentina - Term Paper Example As has been realized, having active majority shareholders might be positive and present good governance since they could give active oversight when it comes to management and also give a ready source of capital support. However, these majority shareholders could also work against the interests of smaller shareholders. Most of these big companies in Argentina do work as groups of companies that are diversified and having a common ownership and control. To them, it is very normal for the profits reaped from these group companies to be used as cash cows in the financing of growth for the capital hungry firms in the group. The development of such groups was partly as a means of effectively financing the capital intensive enterprises. Major changes have occurred in the corporate governance sector in Argentina during the past decade (ACCA 8). 2.0 Rights of Shareholders and Key Ownership Functions As far as Rights of Shareholders and Key Ownership Functions in Argentina’s corporate g overnance are concerned, they seem to concur with OECD principles. In the Argentina’s corporate governance, shareholders have various rights that are provided for them. These rights seem to have a full correspondence with the requirements of OECD after they were reformed following the roundtable discussions and changes in legislation after the crisis where major companies found themselves in economic scandals. These rights include the right to get informed on the operations of their business where they have to be periodically informed on any issues arising and the trend their business is taking. An annual report on the current trend and board’s opinion on the upcoming business plans and the corporate financial statements are also given to shareholders by the board of directors. This information could be obtained from the supervisory board by a request for those shareholders with not less than 2% of capital ownership and through investigations of those denouncements giv en by shareholders who represent not lower than 2% of capital contribution. The shareholders also have a voting right dependent on the extent of shares owned and this right needs to be exercised within the formal dispositions of legislation and by-laws. The shareholders have thus the right to be given the opportunity to participate and vote effectively in the general shareholder meetings. They should therefore; be informed on the rules, voting procedures and any other relevant information that governs general shareholder meetings. The shareholders also have the right to being given a secure method of registering for ownership. They should be able to convey or transfer their shares besides being able to elect and remove the board members when need arises (OECD 18-20; Waring, et al. 205-207). The shareholders also have the inherent right of participation in the decision making processes that are related to certain fundamental corporate changes and should be sufficiently informed regar ding these decisions when they do arise. Such changes include the amendments done to the documents that govern the company such as decisions on the by-laws; authorizations of any additional shares which

Construction contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Area studies 3rd draft Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Area studies 3rd draft - Research Paper Example There is no definite response the question of the reasons due to which this civilization came to an end. But there are various studies associated with this question and these theories may simply be myths or true facts. Various historians have tried to identify the reasons that caused the seizure of the Indus Valley civilization and they have provided various speculative stories in relation to the incident. The end of the civilization started taking place around the period of 1800 BC and the society completely eroded away by the period of 1700 BC (Kenoyer 160). The two main reasons that are said to have caused the decline include natural reasons such as climatic changes and manmade reasons such as the wars that might have taken place at that time. According to historians three separate instances of natural disasters including intense funds is one of the reasons of the end of the Indus Valley civilization. Evidence provided by the historians is the huge deposits of silty clay along with huge piles of buildings that had been destroyed (Wheeler 11). The materials from these destroyed buildings contained clay which depicts that the city of Mohenjodaro had experienced floods. Other historians even belie ve that floods were not only the reason for destruction; they believe that the region of Mohenjodaro may have even experienced tectonic uplift. The historians are of the idea that earthquakes might have occurred and due to this the floods in the lower region of the river of Indus might have been raised (Wheeler 11). The increase in the floods caused due to earthquakes is credited to the long existence of the city of Mohenjodaro. The historians even argue that the regions such as the Makran region housed a sea port for the civilization and due to the floods in those regions resulted in the end of the commercial trade of the civilization. The last theory

Enviromental Science Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enviromental Science - Speech or Presentation Example The 'decline and fall' of Easter Island and its alleged self-destruction has become the poster child of a new environmentalist historiography, a school of thought that goes hand-in-hand with predictions of environmental disaster. The researchers dispute that the claim that Easter Island's human inhabitants were responsible for their own demise. Jared Diamond shares an exceptional view point in Easter Island case. In his book1 he says that the people of Easter Island destroyed their forest, degraded the island's topsoil, wiped out their plants and drove their animals to extinction. Helping its readers conclude, that the collapse of the Easter Islands was a man-made end. However, comparing the similar situation to today's scenario, something similar is at our end. We may not know that we are suffering the heat due to the endurance in man, but when it gets killing, by then it would be too late. The self-inflicted environmental devastation in the Easter Island, caused its complex society collapsed, also descending into civil wars, cannibalism and self-destruction. Something much similar to today's 'commercial' wars with nothing but a global existence of man eating man.Diamond's theory of ecocide was an actual genocide terminated Rapa Nui's indigenous populace and its culture that became almost paradigmatic in environmental circles, a dark and gory secret hangs over the premise of Easter Island's self-destruction. Lipo thinks the story of Easter Island's civilization being responsible for its own demise might better reflect the psychological baggage of our own society than the archeological evidence. Now, let's look up at another example which is the on-going deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. Between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil lost more than 132,000 square kilometers of forest-an area larger than Greece-and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed.2 NASA satellite data are giving scientists insight into how large-scale deforestation in the Amazon Basin in South America is affecting regional climate. Researchers found during the Amazon dry season last August, there was a distinct pattern of higher rainfall and warmer temperatures over deforested regions. Some 14,754 sq km (9,170 square miles) of jungle was lost in 2003, according to the Brazilian government.3 The dramatic impact on the Amazon is reflected through the fires and the climate change. The Amazon is losing its green and the drought there is making it become dangerously and highly inflammable. Researchers and Scientist believe that if fires continue in the Amazon, 50 per cent of the Amazon could simply dissipate into smoke. It was also recorded that the humidity levels in the Amazon were recorded highest in 2005. We all want to develop. Develop from complexity to luxury. But it is not that all development needs to be non-eco friendly. In such immediate crisis where the world is crashing down to multi million pieces, it is sustainable development which comes most handy. Solar panels for household electricity, solar cookers to avoid over usage of LPG, filters for industrial chimneys and household, saving electricity, saving water, planting trees as much as possible, creating household dumps in your backyards to recycle organic waste, lesser usage of plastics etc are some ways to develop more constructively. No doubt it takes a lot of time and