AfriCAN Women CAN!

I had an amazing day at the Women’s Park in the Miami – Dade County today. It was everything I did not expect and I liked it. The rains did not allow our team to go out and enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunshine (which I have learnt to value now that I am here) but I had the most exciting time meeting the amazing girls partaking in the Girls Empowerment and Mentoring (GEM) programme while learning about a phenomenal woman Roxcy O’Neal Bolton, a woman of distinction. We went to the park as part of our community service component of our programme on the Washington Fellowship.

When I saw the advertisement for the Washington Fellowship in December, 2013 I knew I wanted to be a part of it, however I was unsure if I wanted to get my heartbroken again. I was recovering from not getting into a highly competitive PhD programme. Plus I reason that there would be thousands of applications (and there was; 50, 000 of them). Would I stand a chance?

In the end I decided that I should at least give myself the chance. So I did. In March, 2014 I received a call and then was interviewed a few days later for the fellowship. Then on the 8^th of April, 2014 I got mail. I was officially a Washington Fellowship finalist. The rest is history.

My professor at the University of Gloucestershire, Prof. Lindsey McEwen taught me to celebrate my successes, to relax, to reflect and to give myself the chance. When we met I was a twenty-three year old with a first class degree in Natural Resources Management looking to learn and gain practical experience. So as my instructor on my Masters programme she asked that I submit my curriculum vitae so that she would help me to gain the practical experience I wanted. The c.v. simply said the basics about me, so she asked what class I graduated with and I replied that I graduated as the top girl in my Fisheries and Watershed Management option class of 2008. I did not think it was important to place it on my curriculum vitae because for me it would come across as a show off. She simply said to me “...Afua Prempeh, no one is going to blow your horn for you...”.

Why work so hard and play it down? How was I going to get my foot in the door or expect someone to give me a fair chance when I was not giving myself a fair chance?

I think there is something fundamentally not right with the way society socializes women not only in Ghana but in Africa and around the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being competent and excellent at what you do. And there is no shame in being confident and acknowledging that you are good at something.

The Washington Fellowship has shown me that the African continent has an amazing resource that hitherto has not been mined and explored in the most effective manner - Intelligent and talented women; Women who are passionate about the future of our communities, nations, Africa and the world!

So I dedicate this piece to all the women participating in the Washington Fellowship 2014. Let us empower other women by sharing our stories, experiences and encouraging other women to work hard and be confident in whom they are. You are an inspiration and an example to all women that:

YES, YOU CAN!

Afua Serwah Akoto Prempeh, is a guest writer for this blog. Afua is an environmentalist who is passionate about natural resources management and sustainable development. She believes firmly that communities, no matter how deprived possess untapped capabilities and assets to protect their environment, utilize their resources sustainably and develop. She strives to foster a structured and close collaboration between state institutions and local communities to ensure national sustainable growth.

Afua joined the Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana in 2011 as a Program Officer and has worked in the Strategic Environmental Assessment Unit. She currently works with the education team of the Western Regional office of the Agency, which educates the general public on pertinent environment challenges and the need for members of communities to take an active part in environmental management. She works as a member of the technical review committee in the regional office to review and critically analyze developmental applications, preliminary and annual environmental reports. The committee makes recommendations aimed at minimizing the likely negative social and environmental impacts of undertakings.

She has effective communication, training, analytical and research skills and an understanding of environmental legislation. Afua Prempeh holds an MSc in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Gloucestershire, UK, and a BSc in Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana and a Certificate in Policies, Strategies and Support Systems for Rural Revitalization from the Weitz Centre for Development Studies in Israel.

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Heard of the FAKE PLASTIC TREES?

Klaus Lackner, director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University, has come up with a technique that he thinks could solve the problem. Lackner has designed an artificial tree that passively soaks up carbon dioxide from the air using “leaves” that are 1,000 times more efficient than true leaves that use photosynthesis.

"We don't need to expose the leaves to sunlight for photosynthesis like a real tree does," Lackner explains. "So our leaves can be much more closely spaced and overlapped – even configured in a honeycomb formation to make them more efficient."

The leaves look like sheets of papery plastic and are coated in a resin that contains sodium carbonate, which pulls carbon dioxide out of the air and stores it as a bicarbonate (baking soda) on the leaf. To remove the carbon dioxide, the leaves are rinsed in water vapour and can dry naturally in the wind, soaking up more carbon dioxide.

Lackner calculates that his tree can remove one tonne of carbon dioxide a day. Ten million of these trees could remove 3.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – equivalent to about 10% of our global annual carbon dioxide emissions. "Our total emissions could be removed with 100 million trees," he says, "whereas we would need 1,000 times that in real trees to have the same effect."

If the trees were mass produced they would each initially cost around $20,000 (then falling as production takes over), just below the price of the average family car in the United States, he says, pointing out that 70 million cars are produced each year. And each would fit on a truck to be positioned at sites around the world. "The great thing about the atmosphere is it's a good mixer, so carbon dioxide produced in an American city can be removed in Oman," he says.

Source: BBC's "Sucking CO2 from the skies with artificial trees"  http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121004-fake-trees-to-clean-the-skies 

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GMO Myths and Truths

GMO Myths and Truths 

- An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops.

by Michael Antoniou, Claire Robinson and John Fagan

Executive Summary:

Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted on the basis of a range of far-reaching claims from the GM crop industry and its supporters. They say that GM crops:

• Are an extension of natural breeding and do not pose different risks from naturally bred crops
• Are safe to eat and can be more nutritious than naturally bred crops
• Are strictly regulated for safety
• Increase crop yields
• Reduce pesticide use
• Benefit farmers and make their lives easier
• Bring economic benefits
• Benefit the environment
• Can help solve problems caused by climate change
• Reduce energy use
• Will help feed the world.

However, a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims are not true. On the contrary, evidence presented in this report indicates that GM crops:

• Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GM crops
• Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts
• Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety
• Do not increase yield potential
• Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it
• Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant “superweeds”, compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops
• Have mixed economic effects
• Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity
• Do not offer effective solutions to climate change
• Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops
• Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes – poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on.

Based on the evidence presented in this report, there is no need to take risks with GM crops when effective, readily available, and sustainable solutions to the problems that GM technology is claimed to address already exist. Conventional plant breeding, in some cases helped by safe modern technologies like gene mapping and marker assisted selection, continues to outperform GM in producing high-yield, drought-tolerant, and pest- and disease-resistant crops that can meet our present and future food needs.

Source: http://www.permaculturenews.org/files/GMO_Myths_and_Truths.pdf. Click Here to Download

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