By Tove K. Danovich

While discussing industrial animal agriculture in his book Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer wrote, "Cruelty depends on an understanding of cruelty, and the ability to choose against it. Or to choose to ignore it." For many people who read Safran Foer's book, deciding against cruelty has meant going around it, becoming vegetarian or even vegan. Yet there were many others who simply wanted to do things better.

For this latter group, the non-profit Farm Forward (where Safran Foer is a board member) is developing an application called BuyingPoultry.com. Currently in the process of raising funds through Kickstarter, this app is the answer for people who are willing to spend a little bit more for humanely raised products but are confused by the labels.

By inputting the company or farmer's name on an egg carton or cellophane-wrapped drumsticks, customers will be able to use the app to pull up welfare standards of the farm in question. Both a quick rating and more detailed information will be shown for customers to get as much or little information as they want.

Executive Director Ben Goldsmith got the idea for BuyingPoultry.com after being regularly approached by friends and family who wanted to know if they should buy cage free, free range, organic, or if any of it really made a difference. "People want to make the best choices they can. You'd have to read a book or really do some research to get a general sense of what's going on," he said.

Farm Forward recognized that while many people were willing to spend more, not everyone wanted to put in the time to read a library on animal agriculture in the United States. While Farm Forward advocates for change in industrialized farming conditions of all animals, they focused exclusively on poultry for this app. Not only are nine billion chickens raised for food each year, they're afforded no protection under the law.

The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the only federal legislation protecting farm animals from slaughter, excludes chickens and turkeys entirely. This same lack of federal oversight applies to free range, organic, or pasture-raised birds. But, as Goldsmith said, "The truth is, more than 99 percent of poultry is coming from this system of what people call factory farms."

As the biggest wars are fought while making choices at the grocery store, this app -- similar to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program --  was designed to accompany customers as they push their carts through the aisles.

Though Farm Forward often does seem to lean toward a vegetarian ideal, they're willing to decrease consumption of factory farmed poultry by any methods necessary. "Farmers produce what consumers want," Goldsmith said, "if consumers are out there in large numbers saying that they'll spend a bit more for a product that is meaningfully more humane, farmers will do it. It's not that they can't; there just isn't a significant market."

For people who don't have access to animal products that are Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, or raised by a local farmer, the app also will give customers the option to send a message -- right from their phones -- to the grocery store asking them to provide more options. BuyingPoultry.com will also allow customers to tell large producers to step up their standards or thank farmers for doing something right.

Goldsmith projects that the first version of the application should be ready within the next 12 months, subject to hiccups along the way. They've gotten support from consumers, advocates, retailers and producers. For many reasons and from many backgrounds, people are rallying to give consumers the information they need to choose the products they want.

"That's why we've moved forward and come this far," Goldsmith said. "No matter how good of a job we do producing BuyingPoultry.com, no matter how complete the listings, or how much money we can raise on Kickstarter, the success of this project will be determined by consumers. If the consumers want to change the way turkeys and chickens are treated and make a difference, they can use this app and we can accomplish a lot."

Originally published on Food Politic.

India has achieved remarkable economic success over the last 30 years. Once wed to closed-market, "small is beautiful" policies that severely curtailed growth, by the 1990s India had embraced the core tenets of economic liberalization and open trade. As a result, its once-meandering economy began to grow rapidly, showing liberalization's unrivaled power as a growth catalyst for the world's second most populous nation.

Unfortunately, India has taken a wrong turn in recent years, the effects of which are quickly reaching critical mass. In a range of industries from information and communications technology (ICT) to life sciences, clean energy, and biopharmaceuticals India has vigorously embraced a range of "innovation mercantilist" policies such as forced intellectual property transfer and mandated local production as a condition of market access.

For example, India's Supreme Court Court garnered headlines last month when it denied a patent to Novartis for the cancer drug Glivec. The decision will allow Indian pharmaceutical companies to expropriate Novartis' intellectual property and produce a drug that has been patented in nearly 40 countries. In addition, India's new Preferential Market Access (PMA) rules for electronics procurement seek to ensure that by 2020 80 percent of the computers and electronics sold in India are manufactured domestically. One glaring example of this is India's exclusion of foreign ICT companies from participating in the country's $4 billion national fiber optic network project, even if the companies produce the equipment in India. Collectively these policies constitute a concerted mercantilist policy that seeks to block foreign competition and boost domestic-owned manufacturing. As such, India's actions violate global trade rules, damage the international economy, and cut the nation off from much-needed foreign direct investment.

India has taken this turn in part as a response to China's robust embrace of similar tactics. They see the rapid growth in manufacturing in China and want it for India, and rather than take the hard steps through reducing corruption, building a viable infrastructure, and ensuring a trained workforce, it's easier for them to take the mercantilist short-cut to growth.

But these practices fundamentally will not lead to sustainable and broad-based growth for India. They will however shut out U.S. companies from one of the world's largest consumer markets and hurt American innovation and jobs. As such, the United States, a long-time strategic ally of India in a volatile geopolitical region, needs to wake up to the reality that these Indian policies are now threatening our economic well-being here at home.

While we should continue negotiations, our long history with China shows that negotiation can only get us so far. Mercantilists respond to action, not talk. To that end, Congress should begin the process of withdrawing India from receiving benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the development assistance program that eliminates import duties on thousands of products from developing countries. India was the largest recipient of GSP benefits in 2012, at $4.5 billion, nearly a quarter of the entire program. If it continues to close its doors to U.S. firms or steal U.S. intellectual property with impunity, there is no rationale for extending India this kind of preferential treatment.

To be clear, a strong, growing, and collaborative trade relationship between the United States and India is in both parties' best interests. But India's recent trade policies are placing that relationship in jeopardy. The United States should not sit idly by as the Indian government enacts regulations that harm American industry and jobs. Strong leadership will be needed to achieve these goals and establish a fair, constructive and robust trade relationship between the two countries.

Today, plenty of employers need tech-savvy employees with the social know-how to navigate and solve complex, real-world workplace issues.

The best way to recruit these top candidates? Gamification.

Gamification means applying game-like mechanics -- think reward, recognition, and participation -- to non-game contexts like recruitment and workplace training. Gamifying the recruitment process makes hiring more interactive for referred candidates and current employees, who are rewarded for their participation and progress. Current employees can be certain the candidate screening process is interactive and rewarding for those they refer, incentivizing them to continue to make quality referrals.

If your company is looking to ramp up employee referrals and improve the recruitment process overall, it can help to take a look at some existing games to glean insight on what will work best for your business's hiring and employee referrals. Here are three recruitment games your business needs to know about:

Plague. Over at Risk Management Solutions (RMS), vice president of talent acquisition Amelia Merrill employed game mechanics to help her company compete with the likes of Google, Facebook, and other hot Silicon Valley start-ups. RMS is in the business of risk modelling for man-made disasters, so the company partnered with Plague Inc., one of the most popular games for iPhone and iPad.

Plague simulates pandemic situations much like the ones RMS tackles, so the company integrated their brand as an expert character, offering a scientific authority within the game to guide players. Merrill predicted 700 million brand impressions in 12 months -- a huge boost for employee branding and recruitment efforts. The game is a great tool for current employees to act as brand ambassadors and promote the company on a wider scale, boosting employee referrals overall.

My Marriott Hotel. Marriott International Inc. was one of the first to adopt game mechanics for the referral and recruitment process. As the company spread into international markets, it needed a way to attract tech-savvy Millennials and interest them in the hospitality industry.

The company created a hotel-themed Facebook app, My Marriott Hotel. The game required users to navigate the complex daily tasks of running a hotel kitchen. Available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Mandarin, the game has been successful in attracting a wide range of job candidates while giving them an opportunity to solve real-world problems.

Cityville. Cityville allows players to build virtual cities, similar to the way Farmville allows users to build farms. With Cityville, users can try their hand developing business management skills. Players oversee virtual development by adding businesses, producing their own goods, performing jobs in neighboring cities to earn reputation points, and more.

Cityville has already partnered with major franchises like Best Buy, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's, much like RMS's relationship with Plague. The companies have used the game to strategically improve brand recognition and engagement of potential job candidates. With Cityville, passive job candidates get a chance to build their skills and be rewarded for it -- and companies get key recognition to improve their hiring process.

Any business looking to boost employee referrals and improve recruitment efforts can turn to gamification as a key strategy. Simply ensure you're offering rewards, recognition, and participation. Your workers will be more likely to engage in referring candidates, and passive job seekers will be drawn to your business.

I saw a story recently about a school, named Ngee Ann, in Singapore where a math teacher gave problems to students and asked that the answers be "tweeted." These tweets were then projected on a screen at the front of the room, in real time! (1) Now this was not just some rogue, social media instructor who decided to try something new. Ngee Ann is what the Singapore government calls a "future school" and teaching using social media is encouraged.

Think of that, teaching using social media is encouraged. What about requiring the teaching of social media itself in schools across the world? In 10 years will it be as common as teaching computer skills in school has now become? Should it be? Those that disagree typically site privacy concerns, safety, inefficiency and economic costs in their case against it. I will address each of those concerns below.

Now I might be a little biased, okay A LOT biased, but I want to give you the 4 reasons why I think that teaching social media to our children in schools is not only necessary, but critical.

Reason #1 - It is now, and will continue to be a social world. The top 5 social media sites combined have nearly 2 BILLION users (2). Smartphone users, on average, check their Facebook status 14 times per day. 79% check their smartphone for social media updates within 15 minutes of waking up (3). Social media and smartphone growth are both expected to grow at strong double-digit rates for the next several years (4). 80% of college faculty members now use social media and a full 50% of college professors say they use it in their classrooms (5). Enough proof?

Bottom line, social media is here to stay.

While there are certainly lots of ways to waste time with social media, nobody is arguing that you cannot use social media to engage and learn in interesting new ways. So, the argument that teaching social media to our students is a waste of time because it is a fad and will soon be gone certainly does not hold water. I promise, even if Facebook disappears or if we no longer call it social media, the idea of using the Internet to connect the planet on digital networks will not go away anytime soon.

Reason #2 - The privacy concerns and safety of social media do not outweigh the benefits. I get this argument. I really do. Here is an interesting fact. Did you know that the US Library of Congress has archived every tweet from Twitter. That is 170 billion tweets and counting (6). Even scarier, they are making them available to researchers and other interested parties. What you say and write on social media does live forever. The fact of the matter is that the privacy and safety concerns are going to be there regardless of whether or not we teach social media in schools. At least if it is taught, we can also include instruction on maintaining privacy and being safe.

I have done a lot of work on stopping cyber bullying. That is where people, often children, use the Internet, often social media, to harass, threaten and intimidate other people. My number one tip to prevent cyber bullying is to be involved and educated about what it is and how to respond to it when it is happening to you or somebody you know - like your child! We can teach cyber bullying prevention as part of our social media curriculum and actually make the Internet a safer place. This is just one example.

Reason #3 - Social media is a not a waste of time. When computers first came out, people thought that they would be a waste of time. Few imagined all of the cool programs that would be written and novel ways they could be used to enhance our lives. When websites became popular most had visions of people "surfing" their lives away. Sure you can waste time on a computer and find more than your share of inappropriate websites unsuitable for viewing by school age children, but it is impossible to argue that computers are not a valuable teaching tool and most schools have computer training as part of their core curriculum.

Imagine the possibilities social media brings to the classroom. Assignments can be shared via links, entire classrooms can be part of the same closed Facebook group, and study groups are a Google+ Hangout away. The same way computers are not used to play video games in classrooms, using social media in classrooms will not be a waste of time if it is managed and administered constructively.

Reason #4 - Teaching social media IS preparing our children for the future. The world's largest professional network is LinkedIn, a social media site with over 200 million members. 90% of employers surveyed said they planned on using social media to recruit and hire new employees (6). Schools are supposed to be places where we teach our children the knowledge and the skills they will need to compete and succeed in their adult lives. Social media IS one of those skills.

Many others already recognize this fact and are acting. Singapore, an economic leader in South East Asia, has already integrated social media into the classroom. To compete in the workforce and in the global economy our children must learn how to correctly and safely use social media. I am simply suggesting that we make that part of our teaching curriculum.

Sources:

1. http://euronews.com/2013/05/17/the-lessons-of-tweeting-learning-from-social-media/
2. http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/
3. http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphone-usage-2013-3
4. http://phys.org/news/2013-03-smartphone-sales-million.html
5. http://www.geteducated.com/online-education-facts-and-statistics/latest-online-learning-news-and-research/351-college-faculty-use-online-social-media-integrating-in-classroom
6. http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/07/tech/social-media/library-congress-twitter
7. http://www.jobsite.com/guides/linkedin-hired/