Hospitality in the global village

The world has trim down in the direction of a global village. It is no more now distinct by countries as well as continents. Community is connected transversely the globe through the Internet and World Wide Web. This has bridge the digital divide among rich and poor people who can access the internet resources.

On the Internet, physical distance is even less of a encumbrance where as the real-time communicative activities of people has a little amount of distance. Therefore the social bubbles are greatly developed by the directness of the web. Also has provided the facility to search for online communities, people and interact with others who share the same interests and feelings.

This technology further promotes the idea of a multinational and unified global community. The concept of “e-village” in Sri Lanka Program demonstrates the effective contribution of an IT infrastructure in the speed up socio-economic development. Provide increased opportunities for growth and a better quality of life for citizens in rural communities, particularly the youth, by using ICT as a tool and enabler for development.

Village with limited access to resources and few opportunities for its youth benefited greatly when ICT was introduced. Through dedicated populace the village youth were empowered with the knowledge and skills needed to access the means for a better quality life. ICTA reproduced this successful model in several villages across the country. 

Opportunity through Enterprise

Enterprise is all about creativity of mind, positive attitude, sincerity and energy. This needs to cultivate national political and economic leadership as well. The combination in enterprise of creativity and a build spirit creates opportunities to improve lives and livelihoods. This encourages human beings to celebrate talent and innovation that can be supported and put to the best usage.

The chief objective of Commonwealth is to build on the shared values, principles and goals while converting those into practical achievements which can be achieved. Also help to speed up full advantage of opportunities created by enterprising Commonwealth citizens, organizations and governments. Moreover let young people to find and maximize their innovative opportunities.

Commonwealth Day is traditionally celebrated around the world in Commonwealth countries. The great opportunity of this year is to promote understanding on self-governing values, the self-respect of citizens and opportunities for youth across the Commonwealth. In my point of view from this school children, university students as well as young crowd can get beneficial through the imagination, creativity to grasp the opportunities of valuable time spend at home or school or university.

Think ∙ Eat ∙ Save -My effort to reduce Foodprint (World Environment Day)

The theme for the world Environmental Day was “Think ∙ Eat ∙ Save -My effort to reduce Foodprint”.  The chief objective is to minimize the wastage of the food in all stages of the food chain.  This is to raise awareness about the environmental effects of our food choices and discover ways to reduce environmental foodprint.

Food production has reflective impact on environmental resources. According to the findings, Agriculture is responsible for 70% of fresh water consumption, 80% of deforestation and 30% of greenhouse gas emission etc. The main roots for food production can be high usage of land, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, water and air pollutions etc.

Although producing enough food for everyone still there are around 90 core people who are staying hungry world over. Therefore on this environmental day we all take a guarantee to make a significance difference individually and collectively to reduce wastage of food and ensure that everyone has enough food to eat and no one is skin-and-bone or in hungry. 

This mission cannot be achieved when we lose the food produced globally. In my view point developed countries waste food more than the less developed countries at different stages. Although tones of food are produced if there is no adequate storage infrastructure the food wastage in every year is higher. This also in the other side shows that loss of energy happens in the same way.

So that this is the opportunity to raise large-scale awareness among the producers, transporters, manufacturers & retailers, regulators, hospitality industry and rich consumers on the negative aspects of wastage of food and how attentive actions can help minimize food loss.

I would like to say that there cannot be sustainable development exclusive of environment as it has significance. You may wonder what this significance is. That is natural resources cannot be replaced. Response to the theme of environmental day, the vital requirement is to become aware of environmental impact on the food choices. If food is wasted, it means all resources and inputs that used in the production are also lost. 

A Vision for the Decade (2014-2024) of Sustainable Energy for All

All achievements of human beings depend on energy. For instance, energy lights our cities, energy powers our vehicles, trains, planes and rockets, energy warms our homes, cooks our food, plays our music, gives us pictures on television, energy powers machinery in factories and tractors on a farm. When we eat, our bodies transform the energy stored in the food into energy to do work.

                        

With these facts I can say that mankind took billions of years to reach the peak where we stand now due to the conversion of energy from more useful to less useful forms. As all of us know most of the earth energy comes from the sun. People make use of energy in day and night to spend the luxury lives because energy releases as heat, sound, light etc. Energy makes people’s lives richer, more productive, safer and healthier to sustain while performing important activities and pass that via unusable energy forms. Energy is a fundamental key ingredient in the modern economy.

The studies of history reveal that the great civilization tried to survive by using fossil fuel sources. Fossil fuel for energy is one of the main debated issues at present because fossil fuels are not renewable, they can't be made again. Once they are gone, they're gone. As young generation, we must replenish the energy to run machines to make lives easier. With the industrial revolution human-being started consuming fuels faster than the planet can fill them. But now there is a serious talk on reaching the peak production of these energy foundations.

Energy ties into economic growth. We know that energy demand will increase significantly in the future. These are some of the considerable finding to sustain energy for all. In developed economies, energy demand will remain essentially smooth while in developing countries, energy demand will grow. Growing electricity demand will remain as the peak by 2024. Natural gas will be the fastest-growing major fuel. Gains in efficiency across economies worldwide through energy-saving practices and technologies will significantly reduce demand growth and curb emissions. In 2024, global energy demand will be about 40% higher compared to current year as economic output more than doubles and prosperity expands across a world whose population will grow to nearly ten billion people.

As oil wells reach peak oil no longer freely discharges out of the ground. It becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to pull to the surface. Therefore the energy is a pressure, since the population growth in each year rapidly and considerably.  Energy demand for the human is growing because they desire to sustain and improve the well-being of themselves, their families etc.

Through the decade 2014-2024, population and economic growth will drive demand higher, but the world will use energy more efficiently and shift toward lower-carbon fuels. Therefore the necessity of fossil fuels is increasing to perform work. The earth’s resources are in the unsustainable qualities (physical limits) to perform the activities at any given time. Current trend statistics show that population will hit peak production within present generation's lifetime.

Based on the unquestionable statement fossil fuels needed to sustain current standards of living, it needs to exceed the ability of the earth to stimulate its stores of energy. I like to conclude that energy is the most relevant issue of today. Meeting the growing demand for energy in a safe and environmentally friendly manner is a key challenge. So that we should think how we can help in this matter. Energy provides us supply and demand while powering industries such as transport etc.

The sunlight falling on one country in one day contains more than twice the energy that we consume in an entire year. The importance of sustainable energy provides many benefits for environment, for future generations, for job creation and energy security. Clean energy sources can be connected to produce electricity and process heat, fuel and valuable chemicals with less effect on the environment.

In contrast, emissions from cars powered by fuel and factories that burn oil will affect the atmosphere. Foul air results in so-called greenhouse gases which are known as co2 emissions from energy-related sources. Sustainable energy technologies do not emit any greenhouse gases in order to make the world a cleaner and safer place while avoiding and reducing air emissions as well as water consumption, waste, noise and adverse land-use impacts.

All energy sources have an impact on the environment. Concerns about the greenhouse effect, global warming, air pollution, and energy security have started developing renewable energy sources. But we need to continue to use fossil fuels and nuclear energy until new technologies can replace them. To bright our future we need energy.

But there are also drawbacks to renewable energy development. Even if we wanted to switch to solar energy right away, we still have a big problem. And the cost of producing that much of electricity would be about four times more expensive than a regular natural gas-fired power plant. Even though the renewable power plant doesn't release air pollution or use expensive fossil fuels, it still has an impact on the environment.

Renewable energy will avoid reduction of fossil fuel reserves and will empower future generations to deal with the environmental impact of over-dependence on fossil fuels. Also as we all know renewable energy projects can bring economical benefits to remote communities for the reason that most of the plants are situated away from large cities. The development and installation of sustainable energy systems creates jobs, regional development and long term economic growth. Also minimize our dependence on fossil and imported fuels.

Renewable energy resource will result in new jobs and less oil has to buy from foreign countries. If we make use of renewable energy, we can achieve more afford today till future 2014-2024 decade than 25 years ago. Today's standards of living are unsustainable and many of the countries attempt to follow the path of industrialized countries to do major changes. Energy growth is directly linked to well-being and prosperity across the globe.

This will bring destruction of modern civilization or a new age of sustainability. This depends on the ability of people to accept an entirely different lifestyle while saving the energy for the future. Sustainable energy is now the key to a brighter future. And there are finite or limited amounts of these non-renewable energy sources. So, people must all do our part in saving as much energy as we can. In your home/ work-place you can save energy by turning off appliances, TVs and radios that are not being used, watched or listened to. You can turn off lights when no one is in the room. By putting lagging in walls and lofts, we can reduce the amount of energy it takes to heat or cool our homes.

The energy demand will double by 2014-2024 decade despite the fact that energy is sustainable and diverse. Also the energy is usage should be done more efficiently. We need to promote alternative environmentally friendly energy sources for the future generation. Energy resources become rare and climate change becomes an increasingly by pressing reality. If present trends continue, increasing energy demand will result in greater reliance on imported energy. The significance is likely to be an unpredictable energy supply and probably higher energy prices. 

Many things have changed the shape of the world as all of us know. But underlying them all supplying rich and relatively cheap supply of energy is little bit tricky. To make sure we have plenty of energy in the future, it's up to all of us to use energy wisely. We must all save energy and use it efficiently. It's also up to those who will create the new energy technologies of the future.

Mobile Technology and Today's Student

With the development of the technology any person will be able to access the technology successfully for the different purposes. So we should not refuse this usage to the mobile users in the society context.

Especially nowadays students have right of entry using mobile technology at their studies same as the computer usage. Each and every time the knowledge is with student in the finger tip like mobile is always with them. Why does the education system look like idle when it comes to advance technology usage in the classroom?

The challenge in the education system is to influence technology among students to create attractive learning experiences in student’s daily life and the reality.

Mobile devices are found in the hands of most youth population today.  This show how the students take advantages from these devices in the classroom. Students need to have learning experiences both in and out of the classroom, that prepares them to be active, creative, knowledgeable and ethical participants in while involving in the social activities. Technology leads the workplaces of most professionals in today's world.

Students make use of mobile technology with notebook, iPad, iPod, smart phone and laptop. Students can use these great benefits for many reasons and can enjoy the mobile technology based on one’s budget. Mobile technology allows students to enhance their learning while promoting their skills for instance collaboration, communication, research, critical thinking, creativity and organization.

Students have the ability to communicate and collaborate with their peers and teachers. Student engagement in class activities is increasing than customary traditional approach, because technology has the ability to stay with student on task accomplishment with the interest in what they are learning. This will make it easier for the teacher to instruct.

With the integrated technology in the classroom students and teachers can enhance the computer skills. Students having their own computer in front of them which allow for easier differentiated instructions. Students need to be mindful and responsible when using the internet and their digital device. But they should not be addicted to the mobile technology devices. These are very important tips that they will need to pay attention every day inside and outside of the classroom.

Teachers are well trained to teach in a mobile classroom via webinars and workshops. This allows communicating easily with unambiguous communication method. Teachers are receiving the proper professional development to build confidence they need to teach with technology while utilizing the tools that they are available currently.

Although teachers have knowledge they need to adapt to the technology to convey the ideas to students. Having teachers connected to technology builds an atmosphere of collaboration with the remote environment in a classroom by them.

Mobile technology infrastructure is important which includes people, processes and learning resources such as broadband connectivity, servers, software, management systems and administration tools.  Today the main fear among the people is becoming too dependent on technology in the entire life. The students can use technology when travelling in vehicle.

One way to do that is to let students bring their technology to school with them and not have them power down their devices in the classroom. Technology helps students of high school, college to prepare the career. Student need to make use of productive digital tools. 

Mobile Technology

Mobile technology provides certain level of enhancement of human life to communicate with remote location people. Mobile technology is used for cellular communication all over the world. With the introduction of smart phones and tables there was a great change in the world. In other terms people started accessing and sharing information frequently.

Experts conducted a huge study on the impact mobile technology over the human life by looking at the different ways to increase efficiency and innovation. Therefore the mobile technology enabled people to gain access to digital content and personalized assessment which is imperative.

The uses of mobile phones allow teaching and learning most of the subject areas easily with the outside of the classroom. This is known as multimedia learning. For an instance, while searching for the plant, the students communicated with their peers and teachers by exchanging pictures and sending MMS in most of the foreign developed countries. A sensor for environmental education was developed using mobile phones by to improve the learner participation.

More over m-learning opportunity allowed students to spotlight on analysis than boring process of recording and plotting data on book. Also collecting and sharing of data lead student to conduct inquiries to share the ideas in both inside and outside the classroom. New forms of interactions between teachers and students are offered through the mobile phone.

Mobile phone with sound sensor software connected via Bluetooth to a GPS unit, allows the users of mobile technology to make the life easy with short time. School children mostly in developed countries use mobile phone at school for m-learning as well as for video and image capturing to produce snapshot. Also students can download the homework to college computer before they come to the classroom. This process is productive compared to customary version.

Mobile technology has rapidly developed in the past two decades and at present people cannot live without mobile as all the life related things are within it (stored in it). Mobile phone is a combination of the capabilities like camera, a personal organizer and a web browser.

 Image capture function of the mobile phone allows teacher and student to bring the outside world into the classroom. Also students can record the teacher’s speech at classroom via mobile technology and can listen again and again when they go home.

Nutrition

Inactive people become more obesity when they take oily, sweet food etc where as children, teenagers and active people need some kind of nutritious food to build the stronger body healthier. Nutritional elements indicate the importance to a human being’s optimal performance. Knowing the proper food to eat before, during, and after a physical activity can help an people in achieving their desired performance. 

Nutritious meal consists of:

·         Vegetables: raw leafy, cooked or chopped

·         Fruits: medium apple, banana, or orange  chopped, cooked or fruit juice 

·         Bread, cereal, rice and pasta: slice of bread, cooked cereal, rice, or pasta

 ·         Meat, fish, dry beans, eggs

·         Milk, yoghurt and cheese

Fruits and vegetables will deliver several minerals into the body. Bananas bring potassium into a human’s body. When you have a nutritious meal it let you to have a good health with achievable target.

Try to avoid:

·         Adding fat or rich sauces to vegetables such as carrots glazed with butter

·         Adding sugar to fruit such as stewed apple

We should be eating lots of starchy foods every day. Starches and minerals fit into the area of complex carbohydrates. Some of them are rice, pasta, bread, cereals and potatoes. Try to choose wholegrain varieties whenever you can. Starchy foods should make you healthier. Starchy foods are a good foundation of energy and the main resource of nutrients in our diet which contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins. The athlete's body is able to burn simple carbohydrates quickly. Examples of simple carbohydrates are sugars and electrolytes.

Oily fish is in omega 3 fatty acids and a good source of vitamins A and D while meat is a good source of iron, zinc, B vitamins (B12) and protein. Milk and dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt are great sources of protein and vitamins A, B12, D and calcium which help to keep our bones strong. The calcium in dairy food is easy for the body to absorb. Adults should have no more than 6g; average students should have about 9.5g of salt a day. This means we are eating nearly 60% more salt than we should.

Minerals are a group of compounds that allow for staying power in an athletic competition or to be active in life. Potassium is a common mineral associated with muscle cramping. A lack of potassium is the cause of muscle cramping during a sporting event or other action. To keep on healthy humans need to replace the liquid you lose by drinking pure water which is a natural gift. If the weather is hot or you are exercising, you will be losing even more water. In minimum humans need to drink approximately 2 or more liters of water every day to stop us gets dehydrated.  In hotter climates the body needs more than this. 

Minerals must be taken in at least six hours before the time of activity. Due to the complexity of minerals, they are not easily transported to the muscle cites most in need of replenishment. 

With these faces we can spend a healthier life with full of nutrition factors. During a sporting event, quick energy can be a vital factor in success. Prior to the hard actions, foods such as potatoes and pasta should be eaten. These are two of the highest sources of starch among all of the foods. Salt will lead to the preservation of excess water under the skin. Nutrition is the building blocks we must all start from to begin and make every effort to be the best that we can be. It is the fuel that runs our body system.

Dietary guidelines

·         Eat a variety of foods 

·         Balance the food you eat with the proper amount of physical activity

·         Maintain or improve your weight  according to the height

·         Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables, and fruits

·         Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol

·         Choose a diet moderate in sugar

·         Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium

·         Drink water as much as you can