Winston Burks

“What Would Be Your First Step in Making the World a Better Place?” Answering the question of how to make the world a better place is a challenging one because of the scale and the multitude of possible answers. However, the part of Jacqueline Novogratz quote that stood out to me the most is “we have only one world for all of us on earth, and the future really is ours to create, in a world we dare to imagine together.” This really got me thinking about what issues truly affect all of us and our collective future. One major issue that fits this criteria and is closely tied to so many other global challenges is climate change and environmental conservation. If we are to think as global citizens, I believe a good place to start when thinking about how to make the world a better place is to look at the place we all share: the planet.  First Steps  Due to the fact that protecting our environment is an collective issue, it can be very difficult to try and solve at an individual leve...

Thoughts on The Wire What is The Wire ? HBO's The Wire aired from 2002 to 2008 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest television shows of all time. Set in Baltimore, the series primarily follows the city's drug scene from the perspectives of both the dealers and the police. However, each season also explores a different aspect of Baltimore's social and institutional structures, such as local government and politics, the shipping industry, the media, and the school system. My Experience with the Show The Wire is known for its slow burn pacing. Rather than relying on fast paced episodes and instant gratification, the show takes its time to immerse you into its world. The issue with this is that the beginning of the series moves pretty slowly compared to other shows. When I first started watching The Wire about 2 years ago I had a hard time getting into it because of its slower pace and I stopped watching. But as time went on, the characters and plot points sti...

  I chose to read The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davis. Among the list of choices, this book intrigued me the most based on the description. I previously took an Intro to Anthropology course and found learning about ancient cultures to be super interesting. We studied the cultures of the Yanomamo, the Dobe Ju/'hoansi, and the Ancient Egyptians. However, since then, I have not really explored other cultures like these, and reading this book gives me a great opportunity to do so. What stood out to me early on in the book was the discussion around the death of ancient languages. Davis drops the astonishing fact that ancient languages are dying at an alarming rate of roughly every two weeks and will not be passed down to the next generation. This means that in a generation or two, there will be a loss of “nearly half of the social, cultural, and intellectual legacy,” according to Davis. The part of the book I found most interesting was about the ...

  ADMP INVESTMENT PROPOSAL (BEYOND MEAT) TO: Clark Hansen, CEO FROM: Winston Burks, Research and Development  DATE: March 5, 2024 SUBJECT: Beyond Meat Investment Proposal After conducting research on the plant-based food company Beyond Meat, I recommend that AMDP does not invest. Beyond Meat came onto the scene to disrupt the agriculture industry, which produces one-third of the world’s greenhouse gasses linked to human activity (Creswell, 2021). The company possessed a ton of potential and was backed by high profile investors such as Bill Gates. However, there are conflicting opinions on how sustainable Beyond Meat really is. This combined with some shaky financial numbers as of late make an investment into the company a risky one.  This memo contains: ·       An explanation of AMDP’s sustainability and ethics standards ·       Overview of Beyond Meat’s background, financial metrics, and claims ·       Two exper...

  ADMP INVESTMENT PROPOSAL (BEYOND MEAT) TO: Clark Hansen, CEO FROM: Winston Burks, Research and Development  DATE: March 5, 2024 SUBJECT: Beyond Meat Investment Proposal After conducting research on the plant based food company Beyond Meat, I recommend that AMDP does not invest. Beyond Meat came onto the scene to disrupt the agriculture industry, which produces one-third of the world’s greenhouse gasses linked to human activity (Creswell). The company possessed a ton of potential and was backed by high profile investors such as Bill Gates. However, there are conflicting opinions on how sustainable Beyond Meat really is. This combined with some shaky financial numbers as of late make an investment into the company a risky one.  This memo contains: ·       An explanation of AMDP’s sustainability and ethics standards ·       Overview of Beyond Meat’s background, financial data, and claims ·       Two expert opinion...