TEEB Analytics regarding SRI within the Indian Rice Production System (week 5)

TEEB Analytics regarding SRI within the Indian Rice Production System

Introduction

When designing an analysis (typology) to evaluate the hidden or overlooked aspects of a farming system one must look at the various impacts on the Health & Skills, Society, Economy, and Environmental spheres. These four realms are interconnected and many of the items to be discussed will need to be viewed under each subset to see the true benefit or cost of the externalities mentioned. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methodology to be discussed in this paper will be viewed from the lens of two distinct stakeholders: that of the Government/Research Institutes and that of the Community/Farmers in Indian rice production. SRI has promising results in terms of environmental benefits and is actively being introduced in India, which is why this papers aim is to investigate the hidden costs and benefits further within the Indian context.

The Fall of the Holy: Collapse of the Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia in the 15th century A.D.

Class: Sustainability and Resilience in History
Grade: 9.5/10
Year: 2017

Introduction

It’s 1431 in South-East Asia; in an area we now call Cambodia. At the time it was the Khmer Empire, one of the largest and most technologically advanced civilizations around. We’re standing in Angkor, the religious capital, and a sprawling “urban landscape…cover[ing] an area of about 1000 square kilometers” (Stone, 2013, pg. 2). Miles of waterworks stretch out from the temple at the center of what is known as the West Baray. Angkor Wat, “the largest religious building ever constructed on the planet” (Mithen, 2012, pg. 195), raises several stories into the sky, the red sandstone glittering in the evening sun in hues of gold, orange, and yellow. Standing here now, the vast waterworks seem sluggish, clogged with years of silt and sand, their walls broken down and in some areas blocked off. There is blood on the ground, smoke in the air, and great swatches of deforested hills all standing eerily silent. What happened here to bring about the destruction of a civilization over 600 years old? What happened to the great city that Jayavarman II founded in 802 C.E. (Stone, 2013, pg. 1) and why couldn’t such an advanced society stop it in time to save them from collapse? To discover this, we must return to the mid-1300s when things started to go wrong. Yet even before there were subtle issues arising. At the center of the Khmer’s demise was the mistaken the belief that humans could act as Gods and alter the landscape to whatever point he wished. In the case of the Khmer, the combination of climatic change (specifically drought conditions) and the hostile activities of neighbors was the tipping point that led to collapse.

Comments on Organic 3.0 paper

Commentary on the Organic 3.0 IFOAM Paper:

Okay, first off, I have a problem with the idea that Organic 1.0 is when we started realizing what we ate and how we grew it effected things like our health. I mean, really? We really had to state that in a paper and we put the date at 100 years ago (1917? I've got agricultural books dating back into the 1600s, come on)? Hunter/Gatherers realized that when they died after eating something near contaminated water. Pasturalists realized it when their animals ate something bad for them and died. See a trend? So, let's get back to the paper.