AIESEC Mauritius

I'm in a happy mode today.  I had applied to be a member of AIESEC Mauritius and got a reply that I have been selected for the 2nd part of the selection for AIESEC in University of Mauritius.  That's really good news because I really want to be part of AIESEC for various reasons.  The 2nd part of the selection will be based on a group discussion that will be held at the Helvettia Youth Centre, which is 10 minutes from UoM.  I just hope that everything goes on well there and I get selected for the next round.  Keeping my fingers crossed till then! :) 

Here's the link for AIESEC Mauritius:
http://www.aiesec.org/mauritius

Sustainable Agriculture (Part 1 & 2) - African film about farming for the environment

These two videos are very good examples of sustainable agriculture, which according to me can be adopted in Mauritius also.

Bryan Adams - Heaven - Acoustic Live - One of my favourites! :))

I've always loved Bryan Adams songs, and these days I'm addicted to this one! :))


Here are the lyrics:


Oh - thinkin' about all our younger years 
There was only you and me 
We were young and wild and free 

Now nothin' can take you away from me 
We bin down that road before 
But that's over now 
You keep me comin' back for more 

Baby you're all that I want 
When you're lyin' here in my arms 
I'm findin' it hard to believe 
We're in heaven 
And love is all that I need 
And I found it there in your heart 
It isn't too hard to see 
We're in heaven 

Oh - once in your life you find someone 
Who will turn your world around 
Bring you up when you're feelin' down 

Ya - nothin' could change what you mean to me 
Oh there's lots that I could say 
But just hold me now 
Cause our love will light the way 

N' baby you're all that I want 
When you're lyin' here in my arms 
I'm findin' it hard to believe 
We're in heaven 
And love is all that I need 
And I found it there in your heart 
It isn't too hard to see 
We're in heaven 

I've bin waitin' for so long 
For something to arrive 
For love to come along 

Now our dreams are comin' true 
Through the good times and the bad 
Ya - I'll be standin' there by you 

Time Management

Until today, I did not realise how serious things were becoming around me.  It's been only 2 weeks since university has resumed and we already have 2 oral presentations, assignments in all modules and 1 video presentation for a very short deadline.  Also, I have started to work on my dissertation.  When I think about it, it's kind of the normal stuffs we've been doing since year 1 and 2, only the Dissertation part is the new thing. But then, this is the most important and major component that will determine the level of my degree and will take up most of my time.  

Now let's come to the real thing... Agricultural Society is the best thing that happened to me and is also a very important part of me.  It's through AS that I have learnt to discover myself, know that I can be a team leader, work in teams, make decisions, adapt to different situations and much more. For the past year I've given myself completely to the society (go late in class, even absent during lectures and stay at uni till 6 p.m just to work).  Even now, it's still like that.  But today, I realised that if continue to make AS my priority, my studies will suffer.  And I cannot let that happen... I'm actually in Second class - 1st Division and have to maintain this level or else I would never forgive myself.

So, I guess the solution to this problem is PROPER TIME MANAGEMENT! Being the secretary, I have done so much for AS (and certainly enjoyed it) that I can't even think of resigning now.  I'll make a plan so that I can do all my assignments, dissertation, revision etc. and remain an active member of AS because I like to do social work and organise events for the students. Maybe I won't be as involved as I was before, but that's also a good thing because I'll give the others the opportunity to prove themselves and live a unique experience! :)

And yes, I won't be blogging everyday because of this timing problem, but will do so occasionally. I'm writing right now because as usual, my mind does not really "work" at this time. It's more active at night when everybody is sleeping and I'll keep it that way because that's simply me! :p

Seminar on Climate Change by Nobel Prize Laureate Dr Woodrow Clark II, USA

On Friday, I went to a seminar on  climate change by Dr Woodrow Clark II, Nobel Prize winner in 2007.

Dr Woodrow Clark II

The seminar was to start at 10:30 and as I had nothing great to do at the Faculty (no lectures on Fridays and dissertation not yet started!), I reached at the Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium at 10:00 with the forestry students since nobody in my class was willing to come.  We were the first one to be in the auditorium and by 10:30, it was almost full to capacity with students(mainly faculty of science and engineering, only forestry class from FoA), lecturers, NGOs.  

The VIPs came right on time, that is 10:30.  At first glance, Dr Clark appeared more like a hunter than a Doctor with his hat and informal looks. That really surprised me! :)  Then the PRO of the university introduced the guests who were Dr Clark, another person accompanying him (whom I forgot the name), The pro-chancellor and vice-chancellor of the university.  The VC, Proffessor Morgan welcomed Dr Clark and after him the person accompanying Dr Clark gave a brief biography of the Nobel Prize winner.  From what I've understood, he has 3 Masters degree (because he did not know what he wanted to do) and a Ph.D.

Finally, time for listening to Dr Clark himself! The first thing I noticed is that he likes to joke.  He explained why he has done his Masters Degree thrice and he has studied various subjects including economics.   He is currently the founder of Clark Strategic Partners (CSP), an environmental and renewable energy consulting firm to guide, advice and implement public and private clients worldwide - specifically on sustainable development projects for communities.

He explained about how we are all concerned by climate change ( greenhouse effect, global warming and all these stuffs).  What he wanted us to understand is that wherever we are living in this world, we have one thing in common and that is climate change.  We have to stop polluting our environment, not tomorrow, not today, but now itself!  

The first question he asked to the audience is what should we do with the increasing number of cars in the country leading to traffic jam everyday? The answer in USA is to build another highway. But Dr Clark says he has proposed to use a kind of rail working with solar energy above our roads and we will not even have to travel by car or pollute the environment. Honestly, I liked the idea because I have never thought about that before.  His point was that we have to find simple solutions with the options that we have without causing harm to the environment.  

The next PowerPoint slide showed us that due to the our actions, the sea level is rising and this trend is expected to continue. Then something more alarming: our fuel reserve...

Oil - 40.3 years

Coal - 216 years

Gas - 61 years

Uranium - 61 years

As these figures indicate, we do not have much resources left.  Dr Clark said that we should not invest in nuclear power since uranium will be available only for 61 years.  So, it's not wise to invest in nuclear power plants when we know that we will not have uranium forever.

After that, Dr Clark explained about the 1st, 2nd  and 3rd Industrial revolution (now we are going towards the 3rd industrial revolution, that is using efficient renewable energy central plants and do sustainable development and planning).  What I was surprised to know is that the first Hybrid Car was invented in 1903. But why did it disappear?? The reason is simple! If we had started to use hybrid cars from that time, there would be no company selling oil! So, just to make profit, these people have decided to bury the idea of going forward with the hybrid car...

Hybrid car in early 1900's

Sustainable communities exist in different countries where they are going towards the 3rd industrial revolution. Examples of sustainable communities are found in countries like:

1. Germany - leads the world in the successful use of solar panels

Solar panels on houses in Germany

2. Santa Monica - Solar covered parking lot 

Santa Monica Civic Centre

3. Piemonte Regione, Italy

Solar photovoltaic farms to be built in Italy

4. Japan: Pal Town Josai-no-mori

Homes with solar panels in Japan

5. Google Recharging car (1.6 MW) solar campus - Goal: carbon neutral by end of 07

In 2007, Google added a 1.6-megawatt solar array to the roofs of its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.

To conclude Dr Clark said that sustainability is affordable.  Vision of sustainable infrastructures are wind generated electricity, hydro power electricity, solar energy, hydrogen and fuel cells. However, the was no mention of biomass as alternative source of energy.

At the end of the seminar, there was one question for which according to me nobody had an answer.. Can Mauritius go towards the 3rd industrial revolution? From what I have understood, Dr Clark implies that even though it is expensive, we can adopt it if we buy these solar panel in huge quantities and get it at a cheaper price.  Despite that, I can say that nobody in the audience would agree on that! 

Vision of sustainable infrastructures

A bit of everything

Finally, the weekend is here, the time I like the most. I was wondering what I should write about and got many ideas, so I decided to write about a bit of everything going on around me these days. Let's start with the month of August...

August 2010

The month started with me having that damn flu (fortunately it was not the AH1N1 thing! :p). All I was doing was sleeping, watching tv, and browsing the net. The most horrible thing about it was that headache which was always bothering me. I guess I was like that for about a week, then things went back to normal.

Then came the students' meeting for orientation of freshers at the faculty. We were given some responsibilities by Navish and I was to be the mentor of the Biotechnology year 1 student. I was not expecting that because biotechnology is not my specialisation or my type of thing!

Orientation day: 9th August 2010

I arrived at the faculty around 9:30 and the students were already in the RBLT. Peeking inside, i noticed that there were less students than usual,but then i guess its normal since only 3 courses were on offer this year.

In the afternoon, it was time to take the biotechnology students from the RBLT to the lecture rooms to give them an overview of the faculty (a bit of everything on FOA). After that, we made them visit the campus and it was really nice! Although I was tired, I liked having new friends and share my experience with them! :)

Back to uni - Year 3

The first thing that I found cool is my timetable! We are free on Fridays for dissertation work! :)

Then the modules are also cool. They are more interactive than before and I enjoy things like group work, debates and presentation. In short, am liking all the classes, learning new things, having new friends around, helping the year 1 students, etc.

World Food Day 2010

I'm currently working on this event (together with the other members of AS on the wiki we have created), to be organised by the Agricultural Society and the Faculty of Agriculture. The project proposal has already been done, looking forward to meet the Dean on Monday. Hope everything goes well!

My new swimming pool!

Another great thing about this month is that I got a new swimming pool at Pereybere. But unfortunately, we are in the month of Ramadan, so I don't think we'l be using it before Eid.

Essay Competition

Its the first time I've participated in an essay competition and this one was for the CTA Ardyis project - Agriculture Rural Development Youth ICT. I got a mail from them saying that they got the essay, so now I just have to wait and see what happens..

Well, so much have happened these days that I don't remember all of them. The general thing is that I'm getting more and more interested in my subject, and am loving it! :))

Am off to Pereybere now, so I better stop here and continue later! Have a nice weekend peeps! :p

Back to blogging

It's been more than a year i've stopped blogging, but it's time to get back! :)

New posts coming up soon! :p