Kurt Archer

Is your world grown in a lab?

More and more everyday the food we eat is tampered through Genetic Modifications (a man made version of Darwin’s concept of survival of the fittest) – where the strongest yield of plant or vegetable is maintained and replicated while weaker ones are simply destroyed. Sounds like a good idea until you hear stories about Terminator Seeds, and the Banana Crisis (see here for the issue related to the banana’s exploitative industry).

As more and more of our food is being cloned, and the risks of contamination high and research on health effects low: Will you accept a future grown in lab?

Know the issues.

Ranthambore was beautiful, and I got to hear amazing stories about the tigers, the old Mughal and Raj wars for the fort, and how a community mobilized to help save the tigers who were fast going extinct due to rich Poachers from Delhi and China who collected Tiger skins. It has now become a major tourist spot for locals and foreigners looking to spend time at the beautiful park.

After returning back to Delhi, I heard news of the 5 bomb blasts in Delhi, in places that I had personally walked by only 2 days before. That was a bit of a shocker, and my heart goes out to those affected. Bomb blasts have become a matter of everyday life for people in Pakistan and India, with extremist groups trying to rouse attention, and Media going crazy selling so many papers and making the radicals famous, no matter the tragedy, somebody profits. That’s how people are these days, they want to know everything in an instant.

From Jaipur, I left for Ajmer and again stayed in an AIESECers home, I enjoyed myself as I got to talk to the family (who were Sufi) about Sufism, Reiki and the like. I even got a chance to visited Pushkar while I was there, and got tricked into performing Pooja, for a price you see. Pushkar was beautiful, and well worth the visit, would have spent more time there, but had to return and prepare a presentation about DAMU to a class of 70 boys from Mayo, one of the top secondary schools in India. The presentation was great, and the depth of their question was incredible. I’m looking forward to doing more presentations at schools.

From there, this takes my journey to Baroda, in an overnight train in rainy weather. Needless to say, I woke up feeling a bit sick for the first time on my trip. Baroda is nice though, got to see the movie: Rock On! A Hindi version of a Hollywood film about 4 musicians who meet up after years of breaking up. I also met a cool American guy at the trainee flat I am staying in, yes, I mean it, he’s cool! Jokes aside, we had some great discussion about politics, war, terror, religion, music, hip/hop dance and travels. Was great to share experiences and meet someone well cultured and relaxed as him.

That’s all for now folks, stayed tuned in later as my journey goes into the heart of Mumbai and beyond to southern India.

Since McLeod Ganj, I now find myself amidst the Gujarati riots in the city formally known as Baroda ( I have a hard time pronouncing Varodera, as it seems many people living here do as well). Much has happened on my journey, from visiting holy people in mazars, to saving tigers, dodging bomb blasts, catching up with old friends and seeing some amazing environmental initiatives that are happening in India. I’ll recount some stories now.

We left McLeod Ganj without having seen the Dalai Llama, we did however enjoy the Tibetan food and even took a couple classes in Yoga, damn that gets the energy flowing, never felt so great, I hope to continue classes throughout Asia, or at least on my own in the mornings. The bus to Delhi wasn’t too exciting, we broke down for an hour, but hey, this is India, no worries

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DO you have a solution that is Made in Asia?

Are you working for the planet in Asia? I want to hear from you so I can showcase the best case practises across Asia.

Delhi is traditionally among the last places you would think about stepping out into the fresh air, but that is exactly what the Government is aiming for with its new control on tobacco consumption.

As of October 2nd 2008, all public establishment shall be smoke free zones, thus ending the majority of the threat caused by second hand smoke. In their campaign they targeted schools colleges and restaurants with signs that not only read no-smoking, but also “It is an offence here” just to drill home the point that there will be no tolerance.

Delhi is the first city to adapt such laws in India and the subcontinent, and can only hope that others will follow suit. This action was put forward by Dr Ramadoss from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a series of city wide pollution clean up efforts leading up to the commonwealth games in 2010.

Along with this campaign, Delhi University has seen a massive transition as the students union (DUSU) who speaks on behalf of the 40,000 plus students has also enacted a non-smoking rule in and around the campus. They have made it illegal for cigarette vendors to sell cigarettes within 100 meters of any college establishment, and for staff students and visitors that don’t comply, there is a fine up to Rs. 500.

This example just goes to show that tobacco companies don’t have the developing countries fooled any longer, that awareness is building, and there is only hope that other institutions will follow close behind. Recently, I had a chance to visit LUMS campus, one of the top universities in Pakistan, and it appalled me the sheer amount of smokers, both male and female, smoking all over campus. Whether it’s an act of poor enforcement or lack of policy, the students of LUMS should be encouraged to take action to make their campus a smoke free environment, with the hope that other institutions will also follow suit.