Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity: IDB 2018

Contributed by: Naureen Fatima,the Deputy Content Coordinator, Positive Pakistan e-magazine

The Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has invited all the parties of the Convention to join in the 25th Anniversary of the CBD including different activities i.e., organizing and hosting celebrations at the local level on 22nd May 2018, “the International Day for Biological Diversity”(IDB). This year, the theme announced by the Secretariat for the IBDS will be:” Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity”. The theme was selected in order to mark the 25th anniversary for the enforcement of the CBD and to review the actions taken and the achievements of the Aichi Targets at domestic and global levels.

All member Parties of the Convention and conservation organizations are encouraged by UN Secretariat to organize different activities and the celebration events for the International Day for the Biological Diversity (IDB). They need to involve in different capacity building workshops in order to create awareness about the causes of biodiversity losses and different strategies that can help in order to conserve the threatened species of flora and fauna of any area.The different environmental organizations also need to showcase their work for the nature conservation and the success stories in the tenure of the last 25 years after of the CBD Convention. These stories and advocacy sessions will help not only in creating awareness in the society among local people but also guide them in taking actions in order to achieve the Aichi Targets till 2020.

Ramadan and our Diet

contributed by: Sehrish Imtiaz

Ramadan, ninth month of Islamic calendar. The meaning of word Ramadan is scorching heat. It is the month to practice how to keep yourself away from sinful behavior as it will negate the reward of fasting. Ramadan is the time of spiritual reflection. The pre-dawn meal before the fast is called Suhur, while the meal at sunset that breaks the fast is Iftar. Muslim increase charity and prayers during Ramadan.
                      Along with prayers and following teachings of Islam it is also important to take proper diet because ramadan is not for cooking and eating delicious food  but to prioritize ibadah, taking excess of anything, especially fried food effects the metabolic processes in body as it contains excess oil. It directly affects brain and muscle power. Taking such foods on daily basis leads to weight gain, heart diseases and declines in cognitive function.
                      We should take proper diet; here proper diet means we need to take healthy food because fasting whole day drains energy if the food taken in Suhur or Iftar will not proper. The idea that greasy foods give us energy is totally incorrect. Infact, heavy oily meals make you feel more fatigued when standing for longer prayers. The right food will always be earth grown so stock up your fridge with fruits for ramadan rather than fatty, junk and fried food.

Here’s the timeless hadith of our Prophet (SAWW) regarding healthy eating habits:

“A human being fills no worse vessel than his stomach. It is sufficient for a human being to eat few mouthfuls to keep his spine straight. But if he must (fill it), then one third of food, one third for drink and one third for air.” [Ibn e Majah]

Teachings of our Holy Prophet (SAWW) given 1400 years ago are still a suggestion for proper diet control, if we will truly follow this golden advice we will stay away from number of diseases. Eating mindlessly after a long break will ultimately affect the stomach. And now due to summer people drink more water at once that causes stomach ache and they will not be able to eat anything. As we all know excess of anything is bad, so, we should take everything in adequate amount. 

                        Fasting is a natural detox, it gives rest to our digestive system and energize metabolism to burn calories more efficiently. If you take excess and junk food it affects metabolism and ability to burn fat. Fasting also help to clean up the toxins and regulate the functioning of other organs of body including liver and kidney.

In this ramadan, change your eating habit and make yourself fit in the whole month to pray properly and get the true spirit. We have to keep this thing in our minds that it’s not the month of eating but of worshipping Allah in proper way to keep practicing it after ramadan as well.

BIG DATA COMPANIES

Contributed by: Amna Gardezi and Fahad Ali

What actually BIG DATA is? It is so voluminous and complex form of data that traditional data processing software is inadequate to deal with the challenges posed through it.
Now, we have got some idea about BIG DATA; but we don’t know as yet which form of data is actually big data. Curiosity?
You would be surprised to know that BIG DATA actually is our social media applications…
PLAY Store and Apple Store, these are the two culprits from which we download all applications Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and you name it. It all actually works with BIG DATA, the cluster of data gathering companies working together..
Now, a question must arise in your mind what big data has to do with these apps or what these app have to do with BIG DATA. The answer to this is that, these applications steal our data, our searches, our file transfers, visualization querying our PRIVACY through cameras and microphones in our devices.
There is no doubt that these apps can be used for good and be harnessed for the betterment of society but the sad reality is that they are being ABUSED, not only by users but by the founders as well.
These applications are now=a-days used for spotting business trends, preventing diseases, combating crimes and so on. But due to the UGLY side of these applications many people including scientists, business executives, practitioners of medicine, advertising agencies and the government are regularly meeting with difficulties and challenges.
The reason behind this is that these apps have become a hunting ground for identity theft.
According to a report of CNN 85% crimes alone take place due to unlawful use of these applications. There are Fraudsters sitting everywhere who not even rob the money but they also harm them through their data sharing and hacking and misusing the accounts or profiles. People encounter such issues every now and then.
In past, personal and professional life was different but now due to unnecessary data sharing people are finding difficulties in getting jobs, because an employer can easily access the personal data of the applicants, which otherwise they would have kept private is easily accessible.
What’s next? Now when we demand from social media owners to create stronger privacy protection they take it as if we want them to cut in their profit.
Social media basically is a modern Enslavement. Every single user is captured by it. The research shows that the effect of social media on human brain is similar to the effect of addictive drugs. Humanity is being enslaved through social media. We have become addicted to them, we waste our hours  doing nothing, which if utilized properly can be of much benefit to us.
They have chained us but the chains aren’t something which can not be broken. We can break these Chains of Slavery and use social media for our welfare and we should make a routine and restrict our time on screens, which is known as SOCIAL MEDIA-DETOX.
In conclusion, it can be said that no one or nothing can harm us unless we allow them to do so. And we actually do and have allowed all the applications to use our phone's camera, microphone and to get a hand on our storage, know how? We never read the “terms and conditions” of the applications we download and straight away click on the “Accept” button. No one reads such long terms and conditions. That’s how they simply get all your private information.
Use Applications/social media but in limits, don’t cross your religious boundaries, don’t be fooled to follow anyone blindly. Be wise, have some insight, choose to share only that what’s necessary. Otherwise guard your data and yourself!

Celebrating Labor day: (Heroes of Everyday)

Contributed by: Saadia Khalid

Labor Day is an annual day off to celebrate the achievements of laborer worldwide. The community of laborers are the most respectable and dignified community of the world and they strongly believed that economic and social sector cannot progress without them.

Unfortunately, the struggles, problems and issues of Laborers in Pakistan receive little attention. This issue is not glamorous enough for the mass media to be highlighted and nor does it drive up ratings. All the political parties are having their own agenda and busy in degrading each other rather than coming up with policies to ease the burden of laborers community. In all fairness, a country in the middle of a battle against violent religious extremism and facing issues like low quality of education and health sector has other priorities. The fact that this Labor Day will be observed like every other public holiday is a sad reflection of our society where everyone is busy in making their lives luxurious and joyous.  

Still with little hope for humanity in our country, some organizations are working for spreading happiness and smiles among deprived ones without any gain.  With this enthusiasm and aim for true happiness, Positive Pakistan Welfare Wing of Lahore Chapter has celebrated the labor day with laborers working at Orange Train Line and pay tribute to their endless struggle and hard work to face the challenges of this harsh world.

When the burning sun is on peak of its revenge in month of May, Lahore team has reached the orange train line construction site in afternoon time to distribute packs of chilled juices, water and biscuits among laborers.  Our team believed that a small positive deed has power to change the world and no matter how small effort is, it can change someone day or life drastically. Similarly, while distributing juices and food, laborers feel pleased that people do care and they come to spend their precious time with them. This small contribution from our side for laborers has definitely give them motivation to work for positivity and source of inspiration for others and their smiles and polite gestures are evidence of this.

Being Muslims, we need to understand that Labor has got lot of importance in Islam. In a Hadith, Holy Prophet (SAW) said “The Labor is the friend of God” it shows that how much importance Islam is giving to the Labor. Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) worked with his own hands. He loved to work with his own hands for himself and for others as well. Islam is against the exploitation of workers. It is in favor of giving wages according to Labor done. Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said “Give wages to Laborer before his sweat is dried”. Islam also emphasis for lawful earning. And the lawful earning in the eyes of Islam is that which is earned by the hard work, the person who earns his livelihood with Labor of his own is righteous person and rightness person is honorable before Allah almighty. So, it is high time to realize that we should not consider laborers as low class or should not hate them as Labor struggle and rights are critical elements in a society that aspires to move forward, and on this Labor Day, it is pivotal that we remember their sacrifices.