First Look

Global Challenges Seminar (201)

Day one of Global Challenges was September 8th, and at that point in time I had absolutely no clue what to expect from the course, let alone the seminar.

After the wild introduction to the topic, with lots of crazy ideas and great collaboration the first look at the problem was established.

 

Below are my notes from my First Look into our Global Challenge:

 

Assignment- Feed 9 Billion people by the year 2050

 

  • 7.2 Billion people now
  • Many poorly nourished
  • Less Land
  • Climate Change
  • Conflict in the world

 

    • War over water
    • “Sell Water”

 

  • Imagine a world where we can feed 9 billion people

 

 

  • Alternative food sources, local, global
  • Education

  • “We’re all interconnected”
  • Use history to move forward
  • Responsible for the past, present and future
  • Responsible for the next 7 generations
  • (Sir Ken Robinson ) “We cannot meet the challenges of the 21st century with the educational ideologies of the 19th. We need a new Renaissance that values different modes of intelligence and that cultivates creative relations between disciplines and between education, commerce and the wider community. Transforming education is not easy but the price of failure is more than we can afford, while the benefits of success are more than we can imagine.”

Define elements of the challenge and relationships

  • Ideologies
    • Politics
    • Commitment
    • Education
    • Law
  • Economy
    • Supply in Demand
    • Money
    • Multinational Corps (TNC’s)
  • Time/Background
    • Accessability
    • Perspective
    • Poverty
    • Selflessness
    • Needs vs. Wants
    • Dietary Restrictions
    • Religion
  • Synergy
    • Work load
    • Commitment
    • Labour
    • Sexism
    • Racism
    • Ethnocentrism
  • Impact on Environment
    • Livestock
    • Land
    • Geography
    • Climate Change
    • Resource depletion
    • Food supplies
    • Impact
    • Food waste
    • Sustainability
    • Malnutrition
    • Obesity
    • Poverty

Specific tactics

  • Acknowledge background
  • Invest in time wisely
  • Grow with ideologies
  • Positively impact on Environment
  • Ethics
  • Not halt or hinder economy
  • Include synergy
  • Monitor where money goes
  • Choice
  • Break the cycle
  • Stop consumerism
  • Culture and values
  • Population density and distribution
  • Shape new perspectives and views
  • Maximize and utilize farmland
  • “Teach a man to fish”
  • Culture engages people

 

Reduce food waste

  • Food waste policy
  • Food waste tax
  • Awareness

Affordable food

  • Basic income
  • Food distribution (re-distribution)
  • Better nutrition

Produce more food

  • Land use policy

 

  • 30-50% of food is wasted from the farm, grocery stores, restaurants, home.
  • 805 million people go to bed hungry each night
  • 2 billion “Hidden Hunger” (micronutrient deficiency)
  • 80% of arable land is already in use
  • Urbanization: 70% of population lives in  urban areas
  • Charge in lifestyle and eating patterns
  • Inequities in income growth

 

Why

How

When

What if

Under what circumstance

 

What’s the world’s carrying capacity?

 

  • Population control
  • Natural selection
  • Action and consequence
  • Survival of the fittest
  • Communism
  • Culture

 

Is access to food a human right?