The Digital Divide is; information rich people who have easy access to computers and all the benefits that it provides while others are cut off from computers because of poverty, living in underdeveloped countries or rural areas without Internet access. In “Intermediaries: Bridges Across the Digital Divide”, written by Maung K. Sein and Bjorn Furuholt, both authors attempt to meet the digital divide by introducing Intermediaries. An Intermediary is an instructor who teaches underprivileged people how to read, write, and use computer technology. Sein and Furuholt list three vignettes of Intermediaries; Sengerema Telecentre (STC) in Mwanza region, Tanzania, Sea Boys Internet Café in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Kantor Pelayanan Terpadu (KPT, One-Stop Services) an e-government in the District of Sragen in Indonesia.
Education
Food and Agriculture
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Unlike free range livestock, food is brought to these animals while they wait in manure and urine. Photo Credit: Save Our Rain
Increase in Food production and its Impact on the Environment and Food Safety:
In the United States, we are fortunate to have an abundant supply of food. However, this abundance is largely due to the advances in agricultural technology, which have in turn created numerous concerns surrounding our food sources. The first example of an increase of food production within the United States is the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) also known as Animal Feeding Operations (AFO) (EPA, 2015) where animals such as swine, chickens, and cows, are confined in small quarters for a short amount of time before being slaughtered for consumption. While the time it takes for the animal to grow to capacity has decreased due to hormone injections and the genetically modified organisms that are fed to them, the impact of CAFO’s across the U.S. on our environment is substantial.
Biomes and Biodiversity
“Despite our many advances, our environment is still threatened by a range of problems including; global climate change, energy dependence on unsustainable fossil fuels, and loss of biodiversity.” – Dan Lipinski
Should humans be concerned with the extinction rate?
If humans are not concerned with terrestrial or aquatic extinction they should be, especially when it comes to the trophic cascade of the African Forest Elephant which is a keystone species in Kenya. Trophic cascade is defined as the “cascading effect that a change in the size of one population at the top of the food web has on the population below it.” (Turk & Bensel, 2014) Because of the rapid decline of the African Forest Elephant due to human-wildlife conflict other r-selected and k-selected species that rely on elephant activity for their survival will also be affected.
African Forest Elephants are a lot like humans whereas they are family orientated, social, self-aware, mourn the loss of family members, and the calf’s are dependent upon their mother’s milk the first few years of their life. Without their mother or families to protect them it would only be a matter of time before the calf would succumb to the elements or from a broken heart. (Bradshaw, 2004) Because African Forest Elephants gestation period is roughly two years, when herds of elephants are killed by poachers for their ivory the chances of extinction increases as maturity levels for reproduction do not occur until around 15 years of age. Continue reading
Precious Gems
Raw, uncut Tanzanite stones found only in Mererani, Tanzania..
There is a child labour documentary I recommend called “Gem Slaves“, filmed in Mererani, Tanzania, that depicts young boys ages 8 to 14 who mine for Tanzanite in hopes of earning money so they may provide for their families who are living in the grips of poverty. Bearing witness to this, I could not help but connect the dots that I have witnessed throughout Africa between blood ivory, blood diamonds, and blood gems. Because of the high demand for these natural resources, there will always be a constant supply of child labourers. Continue reading
Moral and Environmental Values
The African Forest Elephant is predicted to become extinct by 2025 due to the illegal ivory trade.
The Elephant Neighbors Center in Nairobi, Kenya is an NGO that specializes in the education, conservation, and preservation, of African Forest Elephants, Black Rhinos, and Lions. The social control mechanisms applied are Moral and Environmental Values within Socialization. An example of Moral Values would be; a plethora of extremists and activists believe that Kenyan Wildlife officials should have authority to kill poachers and leave their remains behind in the bush. From a moral stand point, killing anything is never the right answer. Instead of killing poachers, we must educate them and their communities about what is really happening to these species together with establishing ground based education and conservation programs. By not poaching these endangered animals, communities can sustain safari like eco-parks that attract eco-tourism and further bring funds into a region that was once on the brink of famine. Continue reading
Ivory Free Ohio-IFOH 