Having more or needing less?
 Ecological worldview:
All the energy and much of the matter that passes through the economy is
permanently released into the "environment" never to be used again
The earth is one but the world is not. We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining
our lives. Yet each community, each country, strives for survival and prosperity with
little regard for its impacts on others. Some consume the earth’s resources at a rate
that would leave little for future generations. Others, many more in number, consume far
too little and live with the prospects of hunger, squalor, disease, and early death.
– Our Common Future,
Brundtland Commission Report, 1987.
Gobblers, great
and greater:
 You are looking at the ecological footprints of
people in different parts of the world. When we say, for example, that a Canadian’s ecological
foot  is 4.3
hectares per person, what we mean is this: the amount of energy and materials consumed by
a single Canadian is the same amount an area of 4.3 hectares can produce. What we are also
saying is that s/he occupies more than her/his share of the entire earth. S/he is a
gobbler.
Small gobblers?:
Compared to the rest of the world, Indians seem to be small gobblers. But if you turn this
little foot around, you’ll see that India is full of great gobblers, too. All you
have to do is look at Indian cities...
Now that you know something about GMOs imagine yourself to be a crazy genetic engineer
with a huge lab and plenty of equipment and gadgets. Your task
Create your own GMO
 Think of any living creature. It can be a fruit/vegetable/flower
animal or even a microbe What properties will you provide it with, why will you
manufacture it, what will it look like, what will you call it, etc.
So send us your fantastic, super, amazing GMOs, drawn and explained.
One first prize: a years subscription to Down To Earth and Gobar Times.
Two special prizes: Storybooks on the environment for children.
Also write in your views about GMOs. Should we humans play God?
Is Genetic Engineering a boon or a bane?
Write to: The Editor, Gobar Times, CSE 41 Tughlakabad
Institutional Area New Delhi- 110062 |
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