Organic food
The term “organic” refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. While the regulations vary from country to country, in the U.S., organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, and sewage sludge-based fertilizers. Organic livestock raised for meat, eggs, and dairy products must have access to the outdoors and be given organic feed. They may not be given antibiotics, growth hormones, or any animal by-products. The benefits of organic food How your food is grown or raised can have a major impact on your mental and emotional health as well as the environment. Organic foods often have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their conventionally-grown counterparts and people with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods. Organic produce contains fewer pesticides. Chemicals such as fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides are widely used in conventional agriculture and residues remain on (and in) the food we eat. Organic food is often fresher because it doesn’t contain preservatives that make it last longer. Organic produce is often (but not always, so watch where it is from) produced on smaller farms near where it is sold. Organic farming is better for the environment. Organic farming practices reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy. Farming without pesticides is also better for nearby birds and animals as well as people who live close to farms. Organically raised animals are NOT given antibiotics, growth hormones, or fed animal byproducts. Feeding livestock animal byproducts increases the risk of mad cow disease (BSE) and the use of antibiotics can create antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Organically-raised animals are given more space to move around and access to the outdoors, which help to keep them healthy. Organic meat and milk are richer in certain nutrients. Results of a 2016 European study show that levels of certain nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, were up to 50 percent higher in organic meat and milk than in conventionally raised versions. Organic food is GMO-free. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or genetically engineered (GE) foods are plants whose DNA has been altered in ways that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding, most commonly in order to be resistant to pesticides or produce an insecticide. Organic food vs. locally-grown food Unlike organic standards, there is no specific definition for “local food”. It could be grown in your local community, your state, your region, or your country. During large portions of the year it is usually possible to find food grown close to home at places such as a farmer’s market. The benefitis of locally grown food Financial: Money stays within the local economy. More money goes directly to the farmer, instead of to things like marketing and distribution. Transportation: In the U.S., for example, the average distance a meal travels from the farm to the dinner plate is over 1,500 miles. Produce must be picked while still unripe and then gassed to "ripen" it after transport. Or the food is highly processed in factories using preservatives, irradiation, and other means to keep it stable for transport. Freshness: Local food is harvested when ripe and thus fresher and full of flavor. Small local farmers often use organic methods but sometimes cannot afford to become certified organic. Visit a farmer’s market and talk with the farmers to find out what methods they use. Understanding GMOs The ongoing debate about the effects of GMOs on health and the environment is a controversial one. In most cases, GMOs are engineered to make food crops resistant to herbicides and/or to produce an insecticide. For example, much of the sweet corn consumed in the U.S. is genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup and to produce its own insecticide, Bt Toxin. GMOs are also commonly found in U.S. crops such as soybeans, alfalfa, squash, zucchini, papaya, and canola, and are present in many breakfast cereals and much of the processed food that we eat. If the ingredients on a package include corn syrup or soy lecithin, chances are it contains GMOs. Does organic mean pesticide-free? As mentioned above, one of the primary benefits of eating organic is lower levels of pesticides. However, despite popular belief, organic farms do use pesticides. The difference is that they only use naturally-derived pesticides, rather than the synthetic pesticides used on conventional commercial farms. Natural pesticides are believed to be less toxic, however, some have been found to have health risks. That said, your exposure to harmful pesticides will be lower when eating organic. What are the possible risks of pesticides? Most of us have an accumulated build-up of pesticide exposure in our bodies due to numerous years of exposure. This chemical "body burden" as it is medically known could lead to health issues such as headaches, birth defects, and added strain on weakened immune systems. Some studies have indicated that the use of pesticides even at low doses can increase the risk of certain cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Children and fetuses are most vulnerable to pesticide exposure because their immune systems, bodies, and brains are still developing. Exposure at an early age may cause developmental delays, behavioral disorders, autism, immune system harm, and motor dysfunction. Pregnant women are more vulnerable due to the added stress pesticides put on their already taxed organs. Plus, pesticides can be passed from mother to child in the womb, as well as through breast milk. The widespread use of pesticides has also led to the emergence of “super weeds” and “super bugs,” which can only be killed with extremely toxic poisons like 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a major ingredient in Agent Orange). Does washing and peeling produce get rid of pesticides? Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. Peeling sometimes helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin. The best approach: eat a varied diet, wash and scrub all produce thoroughly, and buy organic when possible. Know your produce pesticide levels Some types of conventionally-grown produce are much higher in pesticides than others, and should be avoided. Others are low enough that buying non-organic is relatively safe. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S., offers a annually-updated list that can help guide your choices. Fruits and vegetables where the organic label matters most According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S., the following fruits and vegetables have the highest pesticide levels so are best to buy organic:
Fruits and vegetables you don't need to buy organic Known as the “Clean 15”, these conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables are generally low in pesticides.
Buy organic meat, eggs, and dairy if you can afford to While prominent organizations such as the American Heart Association maintain that eating saturated fat from any source increases the risk of heart disease, other nutrition experts maintain that eating organic grass-fed meat and organic dairy products doesn’t carry the same risks. It’s not the saturated fat that’s the problem, they say, but the unnatural diet of an industrially-raised animal that includes corn, hormones, and medication. Other ways to keep the cost of organic food within your budget Shop at farmers' markets. Many cities, as well as small towns, host a weekly farmers' market, where local farmers sell their produce at an open-air street market, often at a discount to grocery stores. Join a food co-op. A natural foods co-op, or cooperative grocery store typically offers lower prices to members, who pay an annual fee to belong Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, in which individuals and families join up to purchase "shares" of produce in bulk, directly from a local farm. Local and organic! Organic food buying tips Buy in season – Fruits and vegetables are cheapest and freshest when they are in season. Find out when produce is delivered to your market so you're buying the freshest food possible. Shop around – Compare the price of organic items at the grocery store, the farmers’ market and other venues (even the freezer aisle). Remember that organic doesn’t always equal healthy –Making junk food sound healthy is a common marketing ploy in the food industry but organic baked goods, desserts, and snacks are usually still very high in sugar, salt, fat, or calories. It pays to read food labels carefully. Why is organic food often more expensive? Organic food is more labor intensive since the farmers do not use pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or drugs. Organic certification is expensive and organic feed for animals can cost twice as much. Organic farms tend to be smaller than conventional farms, which means fixed costs and overhead must be distributed across smaller produce volumes without government subsidies.
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The temperature of cities continues to increase because of the heat island phenomenon and the undeniable climatic change. The observed high ambient temperatures intensify the energy problem of cities, deteriorates comfort conditions, put in danger the vulnerable population and amplify the pollution problems. To counterbalance the phenomenon, important mitigation technologies have been developed and proposed. Among them, technologies aiming to increase the albedo of cities and the use of vegetative – green roofs appear to be very promising, presenting a relatively high heat island mitigation potential. This paper aims to present the state of the art on both the above technologies, when applied in the city scale. Tenths of published studies have been analysed. Most of the available data are based on simulation studies using mesoscale modeling techniques while important data are available from the existing experimental studies. When a global increase of the city’s albedo is considered, the expected mean decrease of the average ambient temperature is close to 0.3 K per 0.1 rise of the albedo, while the corresponding average decrease of the peak ambient temperature is close to 0.9 K. When only cool roofs are considered, the analysis of the existing data shows that the expected depression rate of the average urban ambient temperature varies between 0.1 and 0.33 K per 0.1 increase of the roofs albedo with a mean value close to 0.2 K. As it concerns green roofs, existing simulation studies show that when applied on a city scale, they may reduce the average ambient temperature between 0.3 and 3 K. Detailed analysis of many studies reporting a comparison of the mitigation potential of both technologies has permitted the definition of the limits, the boundaries and the conditions under which the considered technologies reach their better performance, in a synthetic way.
Climate change is already harming around 700 species of mammals and birds. That means that warming is not just a theoretical future threat, and conservation work must focus on the “here and now”, says a new study. It reviewed 136 studies published between 1990 and 2015, as well as modelling the risks to animals on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It concluded that almost half of terrestrial mammal species and nearly a quarter of all bird species could already be negatively affected, without us even realising. “We have the knowledge to take action,” says Lee Hannah, a conservation ecologist and senior researcher at Conservation International, a non-profit based in Arlington, Virginia. “Truly massive climate-triggered insect outbreaks have killed millions of trees in North America. Heat flashes in the oceans have killed corals and changed coral reefs in every ocean.” A third of all species may be at rosk of extinction says Hannah, and the study shows the changes are happening already. Lead author Michela Pacifici at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, says their results also show the most affected species are in highly developed areas or areas expecting a human population boom in coming decades. So conservation needs to focus more on monitoring in these locations and on “control of human demand for natural resources”, she says. The team assessed the risk to animals by looking at traits including body mass, population numbers, geographic range, reproductive rate and survival rate. If at least one of these shows a decline affecting half the animal population or more, they reasoned, it shows climate change is already taking its toll. Applying their model, they estimated that 47 per cent of 873 species of threatened terrestrial mammals and 23.4 per cent of 1272 threatened bird species are showing signs of harm. Elephants, primates and marsupials are the most affected. The reasons why species are affected vary. Some mammals are struggling to adapt as temperatures are changing too fast or because their diets are specialised. For some birds, living at high altitude means fewer opportunities to move to cooler areas, while seabirds and others that live close to water face fragmented habitats or algal blooms. Some 92 per cent of existing data on species vulnerabilities that the study reviewed came from Europe and North America. Hannah says we can expect the tropics to be even more climate-sensitive, with massive changes already under way. Anita Makri If someone is still not success in life, it might high possibility due to the environment you are in. Have you ever take it seriously when analysis your environment? Who do you stick with? What's your working environment? What's your learning environment? What you learn from the environment? And what you apply, follow the environment?
Let's check out some simple example: Singapore is one of the world's fastest walkers. Why not only half of it walking fast and the other half walk slowly? It's because of environment. Notice it or not, your environments will change your living habits. For another example, why some country crown as most commit suicide rate country? So you think its coincidence? It's because of the environment too. *I'm not telling you to blame the environment, as you can choose to change or stick and grow with it. Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them. | W. Clement Stone How positive environment can help you in achieving great success in your life? When you stick with lots of people with great knowledge, you'll "automatic" gain lots of knowledge when you're with them, and even better, they'll change your habits to go out and seek for more knowledge. Let's compare 2 working environment, in which here I'm taking sales as example: Environment A is a team of salesman with positive attitude, hard working, consistence, high experience in sales, always seek and learn more, and with monthly achieve of 1 million sales and above! Environment B is a team of salesman with lazy, blame this and that attitude, "waiting for salary" habit, with monthly sales achieve of below 5K. Which do you think will help you grow faster and achieve more? Definitely that Environment A will change you to become more positive, in terms of work hard, positive attitude, mindset and also your achievement. That's why successful people will likely and prefer to stick with other successful people, because they know how important is the environment and people they stick to. What you know is not important, but who is know, yes. *Of course, it won't judge the 100% of you, but somehow you'll get affected by the environment no matter its positive or negative environment. Some of the real life example that I've always seen is that, children from very poor life, it's either they'll be the same poor as their parents do, or they'll have a strong desire to giving his/her family a great life, thus they'll work much harder than others on everything, because they know they need to and they must, in order to survive. In an opposite example, those who comes from a very rich family, they'll either with a great environment, or "great environment" that determine who he/she will be in the future. A great environment would be how his/her parents teach them and grow them; while some of the rich people, their children will only be enjoying life to the fullest without knowing what's their life target. Usually those from "great environment", they'll end up losing the ability to survive in the society, and become dependent towards the family. Again, the environment changes a person's life. Even the school you're studying is changing and inputting new thinking in your mind. When teachers whip on you due to your poor result, bad habits, they are actually inputting mindset that: when soft ways won't work, brutal can. Stay in a good environment, and you're taking a leap to success. Wong Jia Jun Everyone knows of the importance of pollinators. And, of course everyone is familiar with the honey bee as a pollinator. But, there are other animals in our environment which are not only contributing pollinators, but are also providing a number of additional benefits to the environment and society in general. So, which other pollinators are there in the environment? How do they benefit our society and our environment? What benefits are there to protecting these pollinators, in addition to pollinating the plants and transferring pollen in an effort to help plants grow and seeds grow (fruits, trees, etc)? These are some of the main pollinators, aside from the honey bee.
Butterflies - Yes, like the honey bee, butterflies are also known as one of the leading pollinators in our natural environment. But, how? Although they do not produce pollen, they do transfer it. Similar in the fashion to the way in which bees transfer the pollen, butterflies are pollinators in the sense that they step on to leaves, petals, and areas where the pollen has developed and infiltrated the plant/seed. And, like the honey bee, the butterfly's feet and wings stick to the petals, leaves, and they pick up the pollen in these flowers/plants. From there, they fly to another flower or plant; this is the manner in which they are going to transfer pollen. Bats - Another animal which is a leading pollinator is the bat. Again, as with the above animals, the bats visit flowers, wind transfers pollen to their wings/feet/etc, and this is a simple manner in which the pollen is transferred. The animal's unintended transfer by coming into contact with plants and seeds, allows them to transfer pollen, which is in turn going to help plants grow, seeds thrive, and new flowers and fruits to grow where the pollinator transfers the pollen to and from. Birds and insects are also among the leading pollinators which are found in our natural environment. What benefits do they produce in the environment? Well, the insect is a source of food for other animals, it helps maintain the natural balance in the ecosystem environment, and it is a pollinator which helps in the transfer of pollen from different plants and seeds. Of course birds are also important to society and the environment which they thrive in. Birds not only produce food, eggs. Plants depend on birds to transfer eggs/pollen, they consume a large quantity of insects, and they help to naturally recycle nutrients back into the environment which they are found in. Although the honey bee is the leading pollinator, and is the most well known pollinator in our society due to the fact that they produce honey, there are other insects, animals, wind, and of course natural transfer of wind/rain, and the elements, which do help to transfer pollen from plants, trees, shrubs, and fruit or seeds. With this in mind, knowing how to protect these animals, and to help them thrive, is essential to continual transfer, and allowing pollen to naturally lead to production and growth of fruit, new plants, and trees in our ecosystem. We believe that the primary focus of the students should be to excel in their studies. This is their first contribution to the development of the nation. The education system should instill in the minds of students capacities of inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership. The syllabus should be structured in such a manner that it should meet changing societal needs, fulfill the needs of the occupation and inculcate high moral values among students in addition to learning skills.
Ultimately, education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth. It is an endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment. Such a journey opens up new vistas of development of humanism where there is no scope, or room for pettiness, disharmony, jealousy, hatred or enmity Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect. The aim of the education system should also be to build character, human values, enhance learning capacity through technology and build confidence among children to face the future. We feel it is essential that we enlighten and create widespread awareness of education among all sections of society particularly in rural areas and among the urban poor. It radiates greatness by the teaching capacity of the teachers and students walk with teachers .it creates and generate students with confidence that “I can do it” that in-turn will generate the team spirit that “We will do it” and “The nation will do it”. True education is the acquisition of enlightened feelings and enlightened powers to understand daily events and to understand the permanent truth by linking citizen, to his environment, human and planetary. The Student should be confident that “he can do it”, the student should have the self esteem and the capability to become an employment generator rather being an employment seeker. This transformation can only be brought about by a teacher who has a vision to transform, who has the ability to take risk against all challenges, who is a good listener, who is a good innovator, who maintains a cordial inter-personal or intrapersonal relationship and who has the ability to carry the parents, community, media and the teachers for accomplishing the vision of generating an enlightened citizen for the nation. " Thinking is progress. Non-thinking is stagnation of the individual, organization and the country. Thinking leads to action. Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant. Knowledge with action, converts adversity into prosperity. " |
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