Wednesday, May 29, 1985/The Battalion/Page 3
ater and food
Researcher: Scientists must learn from poor to help poor
By JERRY OSLIN
Stuff Writer
If scientists and technicians are
(■solve the problems of the
vorld’s poor, they must learn
tom and work with the poor
)eople of the world, a British re-
icardter said Monday.
TIo alleviate world hunger, we
need to adopt a new professional
ism and put poor people first,”
said Dr. Robert Chambers, a pro
fessor with the Institute of Devel-
opfnent Studies at the University
pf Sussex, England.
■Chambers’ speech was part of
I’exas A&M’s food and water
conference.
Bdhamhers told a group of
about 400 people at Rudder Au
ditorium that scientists and re
searchers are not solving world
hunger because they don’t see the
real solution to the problem.
“ ‘If we produce more food,
we can vanquish hunger,’ ” I
have heard this again and again
at international conferences and
from the empirical evidence, this
is simply not true,” Chambers
said. “World food supplies have
been rising faster than popula
tion.”
The problem is not with pro
duction of food, Chambers said,
but with the power of poor peo
ple to obtain it.
Scientists have been wrong in
other hunger-solving ap-
proaches, Chambers said.
“The growth trickle down ap
proach iias been very strongly
discredited; it is a kind of naive
wish f ulfillment on the part of de
veloping countries,” he said.
“There are too many countries
where there are a relative few
who benef it f rom the growth.”
The lack of f ood is not the only
problem facing the world’s poor,
Chambers said.
“There is a lack of basic goods
among people such as matches,
batteries, soap, salt and even
clothes,” he said.
Scientists and other problem
solvers have been wrong in their
approach to solutions because of
their inability to learn from poor
people.
Chambers called scientists’ in
ability to learn from poor people
“normal professionalism.”
“As professionals we tend to
value the sophisticated, complex
and the high tech rather than
things which poor people value,”
he said. “We also are trapped in
cores of knowledge which we can
transfer to the poor people who
are ignorant of this knowledge. If
we are going to alleviate poor
people’s problems, then the flow
must be the other way around.”
If scientists really want to alle
viate the problems of the world’s
poor, they need to start seeing
problems and priorities from
poor people’s point of view.
“We shouldn’t see things from
our point of view; We should see
things from their (poor people)
point of view,” he said. “The key
to changing policy is to establish
what the priorities are and the
way to do that is to ask them.
“We professionals are part of
the problem and we have to look
at ourselves,” Chambers said.
Groundwater conservation issue discussed at conference
ByJERRY OSLIN
Stuff Writer
If countries don’t stop using
groundwater to irrigate crops in
(Irv areas, the remaining ground-
water will become salty and unu-
seable, two scientists told about
3()i) people Tuesday at Texas
A&M’s food and water confer
ence.
■Dr. William Brown, Chairman
of the Board on Agriculture of
the National Research Council,
and Dr. Marvin Jensen, president
of the International Commission
on Irrigation and Drainage, both
said new technology needs to he
used to help save the remaining
groundwater in dry areas.
Brown, a member of the Na
tional Academy of Sciences, said
underground aquifers in every
state of the United States, includ
ing the Ogallala Aquifer in
Texas, are becoming more salty
because of the increased depen
dence on them for irrigation wa
ter. He also said groundwater is
becoming more polluted by pesti
cides and fertilizers.
Brown said new drought-resis
tant and salt-resistant hybrids
need to be developed to stop the
overuse of groundwater to irri
gate agriculture.
The use of salt water for irriga
tion retards the growth of crops,
Brown said.
Researchers have spent too
much time developing high-yield
hybrids instead of anti-drought
and anti-salt hybrids, Brown said.
“There has been little research
done on drought resistant hy
brids,” he said. “There has been
some progress in developing new
hybrids, but those have been
high-yield hybrids and not envi
ronment-resistant ones.”
Jensen said groundwater
should be considered a supple
ment to irrigating crops and not
as the main source.
More ef ficient methods of irri
gation need to be used to con
serve groundwater, Jensen said.
More efficient methods of irri
gation are available but farmers
don’t use them because water
costs so little.
“Free and low-cost water leads
to waste arid other problems such
as increased salinity,” he said.
New water-efficient methods
should be developed but proven
methods should be used, he said.
c and technological break
throughs can have a major impact
but the major breakthroughs
have evolved slowly over the past
100 vears,” he said.
A&M won’t fight
final GSS ruling
By KAREN BLOCH
Stuf f Writer
Texas A&M’s nine-year battle to
deny University recognition of the
Gay Student Services group appar
ently ended in defeat for the Univer
sity last week.
On May 20, the U.S. Supreme
Court denied A&M’s motion for a
rehearing of the case and University
of ficials say they will not attempt to
fight the ruling.
Dr. John Koldus, A&M’s vice
president for student services, said
Tuesday the University will not op
pose the ruling.
“The Supreme Court made a de
cision and the University will abide
by it,” Koldus said.
Don Albrecht, associate director
for student activities said his office
hasn’t recognized the GSS because
they haven’t filed registration papers
yet.
“There’s nothing left for us (the
History today
University) to fiirht.” Albrecht said.
“They (the GSS) just need to register
with us.”
Albrecht said he hasn’t heard any
thing from GSS since the Office of
Student Services verified the Su
preme Court’s decision.
“We expected to hear something
from them,” he said, “but so far,
we’ve heard nothing.
“They don’t have to go through
the recognition process, but they
need to register the group. All orga
nizations have to register with us ev
ery year. All the GSS has to do is fill
out the registration papers.”
As a recognized student organiza
tion, the GSS will be allowed to use
campus facilities, advertise on cam
pus, use office space in the Student
Programs Office, hold meetings on
campus, use banking facilities and
mailboxes in the Student Finance
Office arid use funds supplied by the
MSC Bookstore for the use of stu
dent groups.
Associated Press
On May 29, 1953, Mount Everest
was conquered as Edmund Hillary
of New Zealand and Tensing Nor-
kay of Nepal became the first to
reach the summit of the 29,000-foot
Himalayan mountain.
In 1765, Patrick Henry de
nounced the Stamp Act before Vir
ginia’s House of Burgesses. Respon
ding to a cry of “Treason!” Henry
replied: “If this be treason, make the
most of it!”
In 1790, Rhode Island became the
13th and final original colony to rat
ify the United States Constitution.
In 1917, the 35th president of the
United States, John F. Kennedy, was
born in Brookline, Mass.
One year ago: The United States
announced it had sold 400 Stinger
anti-aircraft missiles to Saudi Arabia
in the face of escalating conflict in
the Persian Gulf.
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