Green Revolution

The term Green Revolution refers to the renovation of agricultural practices beginning in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the amount of calories produced per acre of agriculture.

History and Development of the Green Revolution

The beginnings of the Green Revolution are often attributed to Norman Borlaug, an American scientist interested in agriculture. In the 1940s, he began conducting research in Mexico and developed new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat. By combining Borlaug's wheat varieties with new mechanized agricultural technologies, Mexico was able to produce more wheat than was needed by its own citizens, leading to its becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s. Prior to the use of these varieties, the country was importing almost half of its wheat supply.

Due to the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico, its technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. The United States for instance, imported about half of its wheat in the 1940s but after using Green Revolution technologies, it became self-sufficient in the 1950s and became an exporter by the 1960s.

In order to continue using Green Revolution technologies to produce more food for agrowing population worldwide, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as many government agencies around the world funded increased research. In 1963 with the help of this funding, Mexico formed an international research institution called The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

Countries all over the world in turn benefited from the Green Revolution work conducted by Borlaug and this research institution. India for example was on the brink of 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 fertilizers. Today, India is one of the world's leading rice producers and IR8 rice usage spread throughout Asia in the decades following the rice's development in India.

Plant Technologies of the Green Revolution

The crops developed during the Green Revolution were high yield varieties - meaning they were domesticated plants bred specifically to respond to fertilizers and produce an increased amount of grain per acre planted.

The terms often used with these plants that make them successful are harvest index, photosynthate allocation, and insensitivity to day length. The harvest index refers to the above ground weight of the plant. During the Green Revolution, plants that had the largest seeds were selected to create the most production possible. After selectively breeding these plants, they evolved to all have the characteristic of larger seeds. These larger seeds then created more grain yield and a heavier above ground weight.

This larger above ground weight then led to an increased photosynthate allocation. By maximizing the seed or food portion of the plant, it was able to use photosynthesis more efficiently because the energy produced during this process went directly to the food portion of the plant.

Finally, by selectively breeding plants that were not sensitive to day length, researchers like Borlaug were able to double a crop’s production because the plants were not limited to certain areas of the globe based solely on the amount of light available to them.

Impacts of the Green Revolution

Since fertilizers are largely what made the Green Revolution possible, they forever changed agricultural practices because the high yield varieties developed during this time cannot grow successfully without the help of fertilizers.

Irrigation also played a large role in the Green Revolution and this forever changed the areas where various crops can be grown. For instance before the Green Revolution, agriculture was severely limited to areas with a significant amount of rainfall, but by using irrigation, water can be stored and sent to drier areas, putting more land into agricultural production - thus increasing nationwide crop yields.

In addition, the development of high yield varieties meant that only a few species of say, rice started being grown. In India for example there were about 30,000 rice varieties prior to the Green Revolution, today there are around ten - all the most productive types. By having this increased crop homogeneity though the types were more prone to disease and pests because there were not enough varieties to fight them off. In order to protect these few varieties then, pesticide use grew as well.

Finally, the use of Green Revolution technologies exponentially increased the amount of food production worldwide. Places like India and China that once feared famine have not experienced it since implementing the use of IR8 rice and other food varieties.

Criticism of the Green Revolution

Along with the benefits gained from the Green Revolution, there have been several criticisms. The first is that the increased amount of food production has led to overpopulation worldwide.

The second major criticism is that places like Africa have not significantly benefited from the Green Revolution. The major problems surrounding the use of these technologies here though are a lack of infrastructure, governmental corruption, and insecurity in nations.

Despite these criticisms though, the Green Revolution has forever changed the way agriculture is conducted worldwide, benefiting the people of many nations in need of increased food production.

Read More

How to Speed up Internet Explorer

Nobody likes a slow internet browser, and when it comes to slow Internet Explorer has a bad reputation of being slow, clunky and an overall pain. Browsers such as Google Chrome or Fire Fox offer a much better user experience (well at least in my opinion), but if you insist on using Internet Explorer here are a couple ways to speed it up.


The first thing you can do is remove all the extra add-ons explorer likes to jam into its browser. The more of these add-ons you have the slower that browser becomes. To remove any unwanted add ons click on tools. If you're using Internet Explorer 9 it will look like a small gear in the top right corner of the page.


From their click it and scroll down to where it says manage add-ons, click that and a list of all the add-ons currently installed on your browser will be displayed. From here simply scroll down the list and click on every add on you want to disable.


Another option that's available is something called Google Chrome Frame. It's a free download like everything Google makes. Its purpose is to speed up explorer, especially older versions 7 and 8. It also allows its users to be able to use HTML5 and other technologies that Internet Explorer doesn't support. Simply download it and it should start working automatically.


You can also change the setting so that it doesn't check for new versions of cached sites. To do this click on internet options (click the gear looking button again also known as tools) go to browsing history and click on settings. From here either choose under temporary internet files one of the following


a. Every time I start Internet Explorer, which might slow down the browser the first time you run it. It should run faster after though.


b. Never, this won't sync any cached pages.


And finally you can also speed up Internet Explorer by sorting through your favourites list and deleting any links you don't use anymore. A large number of favourites can have an impact on its speed and slow it down, so it's always a good idea to spend a little time and clean out you're favorites list.


Hopefully these tips will help if your currently using any version of explorer and drastically improve that browsers speed and load time. Which will keep you from ripping you're hair out in frustration.

Read More

Origin of Earth

Earth, along with the other planets, is believed to have been born 4.5 billion years ago as a solidified cloud of dust and gases left over from the creation of the Sun. For perhaps 500 million years, the interior of Earth stayed solid and relatively cool, perhaps 2,000°F. The main ingredients, according to the best available evidence, were iron and silicates, with small amounts of other elements, some of them radioactive. As millions of years passed, energy released by radioactive decay—mostly of uranium, thorium, and potassium—gradually heated Earth, melting some of its constituents. The iron melted before the silicates, and, being heavier, sank toward the center. This forced up the silicates that it found there. After many years, the iron reached the center, almost 4,000 mi deep, and began to accumulate. No eyes were around at that time to view the turmoil that must have taken place on the face of Earth—gigantic heaves and bubblings on the surface, exploding volcanoes, and flowing lava covering everything in sight. Finally, the iron in the center accumulated as the core. Around it, a thin but fairly stable crust of solid rock formed as Earth cooled. Depressions in the crust were natural basins in which water, rising from the interior of the planet through volcanoes and fissures, collected to form the oceans. Slowly, Earth acquired its present appearance.

Read More

With all the "telecom talk" out today, it's easy for those new to the telecommunications industry to get caught up or confused with certain terms. This article will distinguish the differences between Web Conferences, Webinars and Webcasting.

A web conference is a virtual online meeting room that can be entered via software or simply a web browser. In a web conference you can conduct PowerPoint presentations, share files and documents, even share your desktop with participants. Each web conferencing provider offers its own individual set of features depending upon the service you select, however the majority include collaboration tools such as whiteboards, and sub-conferences where you can speak with select participants privately throughout the duration of the conference. Often during web conferences the host can pass control over to another participant. One of the biggest benefits of web conferencing is the fact that you can view your host and participants via webcam. This allows you and your audience to communicate face-to-face with one another, and gives you the advantage of being able to read both the presenter's and the participant's body language and alter your meeting to keep interest and engagement strong - something you cannot do on an audio conference call. While web conferences work for both large and small groups, they are generally not ideal for vast numbers of participants, simply because it would be very difficult to collaborate with and view everyone effectively.

A webinar is essentially a seminar delivered in real-time via the Internet that is often used to conduct presentations, trainings, and regular meetings. Most webinars require specific software to be downloaded prior to use, and provide features similar to web conferences, such as file sharing, polling, Q&A sessions, and chat capabilities; however unlike a web conference you cannot see the host or participants. A webinar is more suited toward a lecture setting with larger groups and content coming from only one presenter. Additional tools frequently used in webinars include email reminders to enhance attendance, registration pages to be filled out prior to the meeting to collect participant information, and source tracking URLs to monitor how attendees are accessing your webinar, and departure surveys for capturing your audience's feedback quickly at the end of your webinar.

Webcasts include real-time or on-demand presentations that are streamed over the web and frequently include coordinated PowerPoint slides. Ideal for bigger audiences that can include thousands of participants, webcasting is considered a 'one-to-many' type of transmission with a single speaker or panel of speakers that present to an audience. One of the biggest benefits of a webcast is that it does not require participants to download software because it is browser-based, and the audience can listen via headphones or speakers. Generally speaking, webcasts are professionally produced and includes a great number of interactive features, such as social media sharing, polling, and question and answer tools.

Read More