A piece of GOOD Meat’s cell-cultivated chicken cooks on a grill at the company’s California office in July 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

There is a common thread amongst surveyors of technology that manages to unite them all despite differences in ideology and identity – we have very little object, or in this case, ‘news’ permanence. We forget developments in technology just as quickly as we read the articles. This has been the case with solar-powered generators (something that most people seemingly forgot about only to be reminded of once more once it had reached mainstream media a few months back), developments in drone technology that makes them accurate and stable enough to serve in armies across the world, and of course, in what’s relevant to the topic at hand, lab-grown meat. I’m sure many of you may have picked up on the phenomenon of lab-grown meat a few years before from the miscellaneous articles lining the shelves of convenience stores and supermarkets alike, ruminated for five minutes on the massive implications, and forgot completely about it until seeing the title above. I don’t altogether blame you for it, surprisingly.

Lab-grown meat years ago was incredibly out of reach for commoners. Its price was nothing short of obnoxious (around $300k for a single patty produced by a Dutch scientist back in 2013. This “achievement” was and was thus seen as nothing more than a vain display of technical gene-spicing (however inaccurate that may be) expertise that provides little to nothing to the grand scheme of actually solving the unfortunately very real climate bushwacking and moral depressions caused by the meat industry at large (The meat industry alone is responsible for around 17% of all of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions, coming from a horrific mixture of animal gases and massive machines that wouldn’t look out of place out of a 90s horror flick) – and that was the impression left to many upon reading of the news all those years ago.

Fortunately for the bored and inattentive, there hasn’t been a single instance of technological progress wherein it has proven itself completely resistant to the waves of change – and change it did. From the sky-high prices effectively barring all but the elite from ever having a taste to the much more affordable (though arguably still overpriced) burgers costing upwards of 15 dollars from restaurants in Singapore, developments in the lab-grown industry had effectively reduced costs thousands of times per burger, a trend that came to be once the original tech became more widespread, and results became more consistent across labs. It’s fascinating to watch as it all becomes an actual option for those unwilling to take part in the traditional meat industry.

Unfortunately for those in parts of America looking forward to a meat-industry-free future, such innovations have proven too competitive, potentially harming the large and influential traditional meat industries there. This confirms two things: That lab-grown meat is mature enough to be both sold somewhat commercially and at a cheap enough price threaten the longevity of the meat industry, and that, despite the good that this could potentially do, it is being challenged on account of that alone. Southern states like Tennessee have legislated major fines to those selling cell-cultured meat upwards of one million dollars in an act of defiance against the rising technology. Tennessee wasn’t the only state acting up. According to a report in Vox, “Florida state Rep. Tyler Sirois, another Republican who introduced a similar bill late last year, stated a different — and perhaps more honest — motivation for banning cell-cultivated meat: to protect the state’s farmers from competition. ‘Farming and cattle are incredibly important industries to Florida,’ Sirois said in an interview with Politico in November.”

Some have even claimed the very practice of producing meat from cells to be an affront to nature—despite humanity’s current state being so much more of a mutation of “nature’s interests” than a new piece of technology that builds from predetermined principles of cellular reproduction could ever hope to be.

Strangely, however, this isn’t the first time politics revolving around meat have managed to cause real damage to nascent technologies. Meat and protein substitutes had always been under fire from politicians unwilling to fully shift from one to another in fear of damaging large industries. It is then somewhat fortunate that only a few states in America have passed this bill, and they will stand as constant reminders of how ever-prevalent ties with politics and economics technologies that, to most of us, are only positive additions to our lives and the ecosystems of the planet on which we reside can be.

Recommended Reading:

Inside the effort to cut the cost of cultivated meat (acs.org).

Why the media ignores meat’s role in climate change – Vox.

What is cell-cultivated meat, and why do Republicans want to ban it? The political crusade against lab-grown meat, explained. – Vox.

Photograph taken as flood levels were rising in Brisbane, March 2022 (Photo: Jaana Dielenberg
via Twitter @Jaana_Dielen).

Seventeen people dead. Houses, buildings, schools, and parks have been indiscriminately destroyed by terrible floods in eastern Australia. As an Australian, I am pained knowing my country is suffering due to the terrible floods.  

Recently in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, there have been vigorous floods that are supposed to occur “once in 100 years.” Houses, buildings, schools, and parks have been destroyed by these terrible floods. These are the second “100-year floods” in the past 5 years.  

Residents of flood-prone regions in Australia are asking, “Is this the new normal?” I think it will become the “new normal”. Climate change is getting worse and worse every day, and we aren’t doing enough about it. Statistics prove these extreme weather events have been happening more frequently in recent decades. If it gets worse, it will become the new normal. 

Is climate change the issue? I feel as if it is. The Brisbane flooding is one of many natural disasters that have occurred recently. I spoke to Northwood’s Environmental Science teacher, Ms. Kelly Carter to ask if she thinks this will be the new normal and if this is a climate change-related disaster. 

“Yes, in ways this is the new normal, although what Australia is experiencing regarding extreme rainfall is due to a natural, cyclical, phenomena called La Nina that’s part of El Nino Southern Oscillation pattern,” carter said.  

Carter noted that most scientists now agree climate change is being caused by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels which add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, resulting in rising temperatures, melting glaciers and ice caps, sea level rise and overall changing weather patterns.  

Climate change “could be intensifying El Nino events and making these events happen more frequently,” Carter said. “Currently the globe is experiencing the effects of La Nina.”  

El Nino and La Nina are patterns of shifting winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean between South America, Australia and SE Asia. “This pattern oscillates between El Nino and La Nina conditions every 3-7 years, bringing different weather patterns around the world, which is likely a major reason why Australia is experiencing record flooding,” Carter observed.  

Normally the trade winds blow from east to west, they reverse during an El Nino event and return to their normal direction during La Nina but with greater intensity. The stronger trade winds during La Nina events move warmer surface waters toward the coast of Australia giving them warmer and rainier conditions than the Americas.  

Carter sees climate change as a major cause of the extreme weather in Australia. “Overall, the average sea surface temperatures have risen 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1901 due to climate change, and warmer oceans will most certainly influence weather patterns and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation,” she said. 

I agree with Ms. Carter: climate change has been affecting the world severely. The world needs to wake up. If these new natural disasters become the “new normal,” humanity could become extinct. People need to have faith in science, there is scientific proof the floods in Australia are related to climate change. It is quite worrying knowing my country has been affected this badly, my attitude towards climate change has changed. This is a serious matter. 

Image: BBC

March 8th marks the day of International Women’s Day to celebrate all that women, both cis and trans, have accomplished. But not only does the 8th of March claim this glorious day, March itself is also titled Women’s History Month.  

With a growing society full of equality and acceptance, you would think that we have moved passed the barrier of women being seen as inferior to men. However, statistics show that Google searches for “International Men’s Day” spike on March 8th; The scary part is that it spikes every year on March 8th. In my own personal experience yesterday on March 8th, I’ve seen a lot of sexist comments (more than I’ve seen any other year). I’ve seen ads for companies pop up that have a misogynistic approach, and men of all ages making unnecessary remarks about their counterpart’s sex.  

It’s scary to think that people act like this. It’s the gender equivalent to a spike of racist comments in Black History Month or asking why there isn’t a White History Month. Another take is an increase of homophobic comments in Pride Month and wanting to create a Straight Pride Month.  

The reason there isn’t a men’s month or white or straight is because those have always been considered the “societal norm.” Women, POC, and LGBTQ people have had to fight for their right to even be remotely seen as equal. They fought and continue to fight for their rights. The Salem Witch Trials were not an attack on witches; it was an attack on women. Women who were financially independent, having more than one female friend, not having children, showing stubbornness, having a birthmark, being an elder, being left-handed, doing math and even for having a cat you were seen as a witch. There are many other ridiculous reasons a woman would be dubbed a witch. But the Salem Witch Trial wasn’t an attack on witches, it was an attack on women who could do what a man could do. A man wouldn’t be hung or burned for having a birthmark, would he? No, just a woman. Women to this day are discriminated against because of their gender for such small reasons. Examples are if you see a slow or remotely bad driver, crazy how people will say “it must be a woman”? Or how almost every insult that you can call someone is feminine or is a derogatory term for part of a woman’s body?  

The bias and discrimination against women aren’t limited to the United States. In India, a husband can rape his wife without consequences. In Russia, domestic violence is not seen as a crime. In Sudan, a girl as young as 10 can get married. In Iran, wives need permission from their husband to travel. In Jordan, women can be killed in the name of “honor” and the murderer will have little to no consequences. In Belarus, women cannot be truck drivers. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive. Still think we have it good? What about the tradition where if a woman doesn’t bleed on the honeymoon, it means she is not a virgin, and is then mocked and frowned upon or even divorced? Even though not all women bleed when lose their virginity.  

The reason for an international women’s day is to celebrate how far we have come and generate the motivation to keep fighting. So, it’s absolutely disgusting that some men behave the way they do on this day, and throughout the month in the year 2021. Men have not had to fight for their own equality because they have always been seen as superior; therefore, they do not have a month dedicated to them. Whites have not ever been oppressed based on their skin color and did not have to fight their way to get rights, therefore they don’t have a month dedicated to them. Heterosexuals have never been frowned upon or sent to therapy for their sexuality, they have never been judged for what sex they were attracted to, so therefore there’s not a month dedicated to them. Sexism, homophobia, and racism are still somehow a part of society in 2021 and it is embarrassing.  

So, on that note, happy Women’s History Month to all, and to all a good night. 

Some remarkable moments in women’s history: 

• July 18th, 1848: the first women’s rights convention.
• January 23rd, 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to graduate from medical school.
• December 10th, 1869: Wyoming passes the first Women’s suffrage law which allows women to vote and hold office.May 15th, 1869: Susan B. Anthony founds the first Women’s Suffrage Association
• October 16th, 1916: Margret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic.
• April 2nd, 1917: Jeanette Rankin is the first woman to be elected in congress.
• May 20th, 1962: Amelia Earhart is the first woman, and the second person ever to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
• December 1st, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man, which sparks the Civil Rights Movement.
• June 10th, 1963: President John F. Kennedy signs the first Equal Pay Act, which prohibits the sex-based wage gap when a man and a woman are working the same job in the same workplace.
• June 30th, 1966: Betty Friedan found the National Organization for Women.
• June 23rd, 1972: President Richard Nixon signs Title IX law, which allows anyone of any sex able to participate in activities without being denied or excluded from based on gender.
• July 7th, 1981: Sandra Day O’Conner is the first woman to be sworn into the supreme court.
• July 18th, 1983: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman on a space shuttle to outer space.
• March 12th, 1993: Janet Reno is sworn in as the first female attorney general.
• September 3rd, 1994: Violence Against Women act is signed by President Bill Clinton.
• January 23rd, 1997: Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the first female secretary of state.
• January 4th, 2007: Nancy Pelosi is the first female speaker of the house.
• January 24th, 2013: US Military lifts the ban on women being able to fight in the military.
• July 26th, 2016: Hilary Clinton becomes the first woman to be nominated as a presidential candidate. 
• January 20th, 2021: Kamela Harris is the first woman and Person of Color to become vice president.