We started class on a lighter note with our professor showing us the video "Humans! - A Green Natural Funny Cartoon". Although it is just an animation, there are important messages to be taken away from this short clip. The wicked humour behind it highlights the tremendous damage that Man has done to harm the Earth, destroying Nature's ecosystem and stripping our planet of its resources. In our greed for better and for more, we have turned into what our professor terms "sinners", serving as parasites on Earth with the risk of expanding our destructive actions to other planets beyond Earth as predicted in the video. The urgency for a change in the actions of mankind is blatant in this cartoon, but there is a problem. Considering the speed and magnitude of the harm we have inflicted on the environment, new considerations have to be factored in. Even if we place ourselves on the threshold of change and seek alternative trajectories to move forward, will this change be sufficient? Can we salvage what we have ruined with our own hands in time? Although advancements in technology have created a string of breakthroughs like solar power, wind power and energy-efficient buildings to help save the planet, these efforts are still inadequate especially as human activity continuously destroy the environment. Nevertheless, it is admittedly a step forward in the right direction and we should aim to sustain these green efforts while working towards removing our reliance on practices that severely pollute the environment.
Since this session touches on the topic of biotechnology, it is helpful to define biotechnology. With the understanding that technology is the application of knowledge to solve problems, biotechnology is thus the utilisation of bioprocesses and life systems to make a difference. There are different colours in biotechnology, with red being the biomedical field (applied to humans), green relating to plants and animals, blue denoting the marine applications of biotechnology and lastly, white involves industrial applications. According to our professor, "When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on our way to sustainability".This is especially apt in a technologically advanced world like the one we live in where efforts to create sustainable living through developments such as agribiology, environmental life sciences and industrial biotechnology are increasingly rampant, much to the benefit of humankind. It is interesting to find out from our professor that in fact, the vast majority of life forms possess the same architecture to build new developments because we are from the same building block. Nature uses the same building block to create organisms such that we are all fairly similar (For example, rat and humans actually hold 70% similarity and a papaya tree and humans carry 48% similarity). In order to help mankind find the solutions to our problems, new developments, new innovations and new technologies are constantly being discovered and generated as we progress such that those that find themselves unable to adapt to the evolving world order will lag behind and eventually lose their competitive advantage (i.e. Falling Stars). It is this need to search for answers to the conundrums plaguing the world today that provides the basis for the occurrence of a biobusiness revolution as man combines biology with new technology to help address the problem of a growing demand for more food production as we face an increasing population.
Agriculture accounts for 2.6 trillion of the global biobusiness market, a huge amount relative to the other biobusiness sectors. As society became more advanced, people started to migrate and move to urban areas. This shift included some 58% of the population, with the turning point being the year 2000, the beginning of the current millennium. Notably, America had the highest rate of urbanisation with a dramatic rise from 42% to 76%. Urbanisation brought with it a bout of changes that included an increase in affluence as income levels rose. Consumption patterns experienced a change as people started to become used to the idea of having a proper sewage system, garbage system and other services associated with increased wealth and comfort. However, this shift away from a rural lifestyle of farming that people were used to leading in the past also brought about problems such as overcrowding and an increased tendency for the spread of infectious diseases. Another problem that affluence from urbanisation brought about is our greed for higher quantity and quality of the food we consume. This brings me to a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that "There's enough on this planet for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed". More than ever before, there has to be an increase in productivity to satisfy the ever-growing appetite of man.
The pursuit of higher quality food is increasingly evident in the modern society as people start to become very concerned with what is added to their food. Organic products form a growing market as people are realising the harm of the huge amounts of pesticides and chemicals in their food products and are thus, seeking a change in their consumption patterns. The number of people who are prepared to pay premium for organic products are steadily climbing up and a poll in class conducted by our professor accurately reflects this change. Although few people are willing to pay 15-20% more for organic products (e.g. tomatoes), the vast majority of class are willing to pay 5% more. Organic products are now a trend caused by a myriad of factors like higher levels of affluence in many households, dissemination of information of the harmful chemicals in regular food products that has allowed people to realise a need for alternatives as well as the advancement in technology that has made these alternatives available to many at an increasingly affordable price.
It is also essential to develop products that are sustainable and hence biobusiness capitalises on both biological knowledge as well as expertise in technology to create sustainable food sources. Farmed fish is an example of a sustainable food source where the cultivation of our own fish rather than capturing fish from wildlife has reduced the damage done to the ecosystem. Now, over 50% of what we eat are farmed fish and wild fish takes up only a small proportion of our diet. Forestry is a process that allows forests to regrow and sustain itself. This is a key development especially for US and Brazil, where the loss of forests is becoming a major issue for them. The Amazon rainforest that serves as lungs for them is now increasingly converted to roads and settlements as a result of deforestation caused by human activity that is steadily converting forested areas to non-forested areas. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415'000 to 587'000 square kilometres, with the mean annual deforestation rate experiencing an 18% increase between 2000 to 2005 (22,392 square kilometres) as compared to the previous 5 years (19,018 square kilometres) as trees were cut down to make way for the construction of highways like the Trans-Amazonian highway.
Inventions in genetic engineering has made genetically-modified food available to us. It was fascinating to find out that more and more of the food products that we consume daily are genetically modified. Did you know that the tomato ketchup you love is made of genetically modified tomatoes or that Doritos, our favourite snack brand contains genetically modified corn? Seeing that the line between genetically and non-genetically modified food is now blurred, people are demanding for a labelling of products in order for them to receive information of what they are eating and thus, make better choices in their consumption patterns. While European countries and Japan practice this, US is however against the idea of labelling. The impetus for doing so is to encourage people to treat GM food like non-GM food to prevent discrimination against the consumption of GM food especially when GM food contains extra nutrients that might be more beneficial or tastier for consumers. While doing so is justified by increasing people's acceptance towards GM food, it can be seen as deceit because producers are not giving consumers sufficient information to help them make better choices. There are possible side effects resulting from the consumption of GM food and thus, labelling not only prevents the restriction of freedom wielded by consumers in deciding the type of food they want to eat but also helps ease the process of tracing the source of food in the case of side effects to aid in the understanding of the contribution of the artificially-added ingredients in causing these complications.
Apart from GM food, the process of selective breeding to produce desirable traits is also applied to other areas of biobusiness such as animal husbandry. Animal husbandry is the practice of selectively breeding and raising livestock to promote desirable traits in animals that are considered advantageous to man. It can also be seen as the exploitation of a species in agriculture in a way that benefits all species. This method has helped increase the number of livestock available, which is useful in increasing food production to meet the rising global demand especially as animals play an important role in creating a sustainable future by providing multiple functions to the agricultural system. Techniques such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer are frequently used today, not only as methods to guarantee that females breed regularly but also to help improve herd genetics. This may be done by transplanting embryos from high-quality females into lower-quality surrogate mothers - freeing up the higher-quality mother to be reimpregnated. This practice vastly increases the number of offspring which may be produced by a small selection of the best quality parent animals. On the one hand, this improves the ability of the animals to convert feed to meat, milk, or fiber more efficiently, and improve the quality of the final product. On the other, it decreases genetic diversity, increasing the severity of disease outbreaks among other risks.
While biotechnology only makes up a small portion of the global biobusiness market (40 US$ billion), it can definitely seen as a summit opportunity in the biobusiness landscape because of its great potential in many areas. Biotechnology has diverse applications, be it marine biotechnology (GM salmon), food biotechnology (stem cells, production of burgers in labs), industrial biotechnology (biocatalysts such as enzymes that are used in washing machines) or environmental biotechnology (bioremediation that introduces nutrients to stimulate activity of existing bacteria or to create new bacteria that consumes waste materials so as to aid in waste management). Agribiotechnology is the application of science while agribiology is the study of knowledge regarding farming. Previously, as majority of the population stayed in rural areas, farming was the main source of income for many, a predominant occupation in the period before industrialisation brought about vast technological advancements. Now, farmers have progressed to farmists. Instead of traditional farmers planting seeds and waiting up to long periods for the growth of their crops, technology and increased knowledge has changed things. Farmers are now well-educated (many farmers now are university graduates), well-trained and specialised such that they are well-learned on how to get higher yield from the crops harvested. This has helped increase food productivity. While the available people working in farms have decreased with the phenomenon of urbanisation hitting the world, taking its place is a rise in the number of big industrial farms that utilise machine, equipments and technology to increase output and productivity. The use of specialised and well-trained farmers in farms that possess the necessary equipments and technology is essential especially in the world of biobusiness. Strong, flexible spider silk is one of the most valuable materials in nature as it could be used to make an array of products, from artificial ligaments to parachute cords. However, we can not produce it on a commercial scale until the introduction of biotechnology that has created a goat able to produce spiders' web protein in its milk. This is achieved through genetic engineering, where a spider's dragline silk gene is inserted into the goat's DNA such that the goat would produce the silk protein only in their milk. This "silk milk" could then be used to manufacture a web-like material called biosteel, which is reportedly 7-10 times as strong as steel and can stretch up to 20 times without losing its strength properties. Biosteel also has very high resistance to extreme temperatures, not losing any of its properties within -20 to 330 degrees celsius. In creating such an advanced product like this, specialised and trained farmers in a controlled environment are required to prevent such technology from leaking out to the ecosystem and food chain.
There is an opportunity cost between growing food and growing energy resources. For example, when we grow corn to produce energy, we are reducing the amount of corn available for consumption. Our food supply is thus affected and this leads to an increase in commodity prices that makes food less affordable. Similarly, when we use land to develop biotechnology resources, available land for farming is reduced and food supply is once again affected. As a result, one area that is worth looking into in the future is managing this tradeoff between growing food and growing energy resources so that mankind can reap the benefits of both simultaneously without having to sacrifice one when possessing another.
The controversy on whether to GM or not to GM has been ongoing since genetic engineering was first introduced. Developments in genetic engineering of animals and food have evolved so much so that GM can even be applied on dogs to create the ideal dog for pet lovers through the selective breeding of traits. Similarly, GM is also applied on many of our food products and agricultural crops. This includes corn, where many of the rich corn cobs that we now see in the market is in fact the product of selective breeding. The Green Revolution is in fact entirely based on selective breeding. Through the renovation of agricultural practices, man has been able to harness technology to produce more food for a growing world population such that we are not only self-sufficient now but also able to sustain ourselves in the future. The beginnings of the Green Revolution were often attributed to Norman Borlaug, an American scientist interested in agriculture. In the 1940s, he began conducting research in Mexico and ultimately developed new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat. This resulted in Mexico being able to produce more wheat than what was needed by its own citizens, such that Mexico became an exporter of wheat by 1960s, a drastic change from before when the country was importing up to half of its wheat supply. Not limited to Mexico, countries all over the world have also benefitted from the developments made during the Green Revolution. India, for example, was on the brink of a mass famine in the early 1960s because of its rapidly growing population. Borlaug and the Ford Foundation then implemented research there and they developed a new variety of rice, IR8, that produced more grain per plant when grown with irrigation and fertilisers. Today, India is one of the world's leading rice producers and IR8 rice usage has spread throughout Asia. The use of Green Revolution technologies has exponentially increased the amount of food production worldwide. We have been practicing GM but on a macro level and the difference now is that we know genetic material better, which has allowed us to identify the high yield gene for example that has helped increase the ease and precision in choosing genes for selective breeding, allowing for higher productivity than ever before.
Other areas of the biobusiness revolution include industrial life sciences. This is where our biofuels come under. Biofuels come from food sources like corns and sugarcanes. In the example of sugarcanes, the sugar harnessed from it is converted to ethanol. The idea of using biofuels is to create a sustainable living where we can get everything available out of food rather than retrieving oil from the ground. In the case of the sugarcane, ethanol can be used to power cars while the residual cane waste is used to generate heat and power, such that we efficiently maximise our usage of the product while reducing the amount of waste. Biotechnology in mining is the use of living organisms or their products for industrial purposes. An example of an industrial application is the bioleaching of copper, a process that involves the use of bacteria to leach a metal of value such as copper from a sulphide material. By incorporating the bacteria into the environment, it is able to do the job of accumulating and extracting resources from underground for us, a practice that is more environmentally friendly since this method allows us to extract materials without affecting the environment.
Next, we watched a video on "What are biomaterials?" The key messages that I took away from the video is that bio-based materials are the product of our search for ways to use biotechnology to make the manufacturing of common products sustainable through the use of renewable resources. The growing demand for plastic, a petroleum-based product, can contribute to global and environmental degradation. Thus, biotechnology is then harnessed to provide a solution to this problem by introducing new green plastics that are made with sugars from corn or other plant materials and not petroleum-based materials to help pave the way towards reducing reliance on our diminishing supply of fossil fuels. In this way, bio-based materials help reduce the environmental impact of society's widespread use of plastics. Ultimately, plants are renewable resources and the various materials that biotechnology can create from plants can replace those made from fossil fuels, which are not renewable resources. Moreover, since these materials are made from plants, it brings about the possibilities of composting and recycling. Bio-based plastics use 30-50% less petroleum in its production, which results in lower carbon dioxide emissions by 50-70% and hence, reduce the problem of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Biomaterials represent a new trajectory for a sustainable future that uses renewable products in replacement of products that are made of non-renewable and depleting natural resources. As researchers pave the way forward, it is up to us to sustain these green efforts and project this change in our future to save the planet from further environmental damage caused by human activity.
We also discussed about food security, which refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. Everyone has the right to adequate food and bearing this in mind, we should aim to provide food to everyone on the planet such that the poor can be freed from problems like food shortages, malnutrition and starvation. While the Green Revolution has increased the amount of food production worldwide, there are criticisms against it. The major criticism is that places like Africa have not significantly benefitted from the Green Revolution because the country still struggles with problems like lack of infrastructure, governmental corruption and insecurity in nations. Thus, for food security to be established for all nations, there is more to be done such as addressing the sociopolitical, economic, physical and physiological aspects before our goal can be achieved.
I learnt alot from this lesson and would rate it a 9.5/10!
Cheers,
Glenda
