Category Archives: Population

A Response to “‘Essential Workers’: Heroes or a Sacrifice to Capitalism”

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Coming across “‘Essential Workers’: Heroes or a Sacrifice to Capitalism” reinforced many of my frustrations regarding the valoric framing of laborers during the coronavirus pandemic. As more awareness campaigns, often celebrity-fueled, clap from screen to screen in viral transmission, people embedded within the linkages of our global food chain work to ensure the survival of themselves and those who depend on this vast network, not out of charity, but because that’s the way things are. These are real people with a real capacity for exhaustion, illness, and death- not some Marvel character that can recalibrate their cellular composition when compromised. The use of superhero imagery during this time of crisis to encourage productivity and decrease strike sentiment among food workers whose rights are consistently trampled is not surprising, as it has often been used to normalize and increase citizen engagement in the military industrial complex.


In reading the authored recounting of the Mexican Farm Labor Program Act, I am reminded that the systematic legacy of slavery in America has not yet dissapated, but rather, manifested into more obscured, diverse forms (Yes! Magazine). The cultural enclaves we find doting the outskirts of a pricey Seattle, and the pages of our history books likewise, are not out of choice, but a historical attempt by many immigration quotas to ‘cultivate’ a certain workforce with eugenic-like intent, preying on those whose lives have been destabilized in the industrial rat race to the bottom. We live at an ironic intersection, where the wealthiest of individuals are able to buy back the pastoral fantasy that the likes of Earl Butz’ so eagerly destroyed, while those burdened with the task of feeding an ever-growing urban population work to ensure the economic mobility of their children (GRAIN). Rightfully, this post questions the performative support offered by individual actors with real political and economic influence, much like many of us have questioned the performativity of our own green consumer choices within this class; it’s the easiest way to cope in an infrastructure which abhorrently lags behind the needs of the populace. If history taught us anything, it’s that, every once and awhile, a little civil disobedience is necessary, and that efficient industry and equitable economic distribution puts food on the table (not instagram montages).

Was Thomas Malthus Right?

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In response to “Is this Hunger?” by Regular Joe

 

While reading his response to the “Hunger” contemplative practice, I noticed a pattern. “Regular Joe” thought about his own hunger, relayed it to the rest of the framework of world hunger, and tried to find solutions to the problem. This is a logical process for most (Identify problem with yourself –> expand to larger view –> look for a mend or solution).

To put it lightly, this process works for a lot of things, but world hunger is a different beast. It consumes the lives of tens of millions each year, most of which we don’t see because of our privilege. America is blessed with wealth, while other countries aren’t so lucky, so it is hard for us to think of hunger in a larger context.

A frame from Interstellar, a movie hypothesizing the future of agriculture.

To fight hunger in the present and in the future, I think we have to look to the past. In his claims, Thomas Malthus believed that human population/demand for food would far surpass supply of food in the coming decades or centuries. And while this could be a danger in the future, right now, Malthus was vastly mistaken overall. He saw around him a way of food production that was sloppy and downright slow by today’s standards, so no wonder he made this claim. But humanity, harnessing innovation, created numerous processes to optimize food growth, such as high-scale irrigation, crop rotation, genetically modified organisms, etc. These are some of the processes Regular Joe references in his response to “Hunger”, but I want to look at the future landscape of agriculture.

 

“Humanity is condemned by the tendency of population to grow geometrically while food production would increase only arithmetically”

-Thomas Malthus

 

To me, I look at the future of food production similarly to what I watched in the movie Interstellar, by Christopher Nolan. In this movie (taken place hundreds of years from now), the world has transitioned most of their citizens to agriculture-based careers, rather than accountants, athletes, movie-stars, etc. Because of the growing population, more food had to be produced, in areas that were optimal for food growth. I see the optimal growing zones on earth shifting more towards the poles (because of global warming) but I see humanity making the most out of it, squeezing all they can (agriculture-wise) out of their new situation.

References

Photo: https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2471590/how-interstellar-turned-christopher-nolan-into-an-actual-corn-farmer

Quote: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-malthus-predicted-1798-food-shortages/

In response to: Feeling Hunger: an Exercise in Mindfulness

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As I was scrolling through the contemplative practice posts from last week, I found  Dakota’s thoughts about Feeling Hunger: an Exercise in Mindfulness showcasing the complexity of hunger, very compelling. The post sheds light to individuals who lack privilege and access to food which are negatively impacted by inequalities embedded in the world’s food system. 

In comparison to Dakota’s ideas, this contemplative practice made me think about food waste. America produces enough food to support and feed its population. However, billions of pounds of food are discarded and millions of Americans struggle with hunger. Contemplating about the interdependence of one system to another and its non-linearity, I witness the relativity between food waste and hunger where the changes implied to one system affect the other. Wasting food means wasting all of the energy and the natural resources (such as water) it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. Once food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane – a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide. 

Source: stopfoodwasteday.com

Source: stopfoodwasteday.com

Going back to Dakota’s point of view, I see the connection between the inequitable distribution of food, food waste, and hunger. Individuals along with manufacturers, distributors, retailers, etc, who have the privilege to effortlessly access food often waste food, not considering the fact that millions of people are dying of hunger. Dakota quoted, “I think that food-secure people may not (or, at least, I did not) conceptualize hunger in the same way that the underprivileged do.” I am one of those food-secure people who take access to food for granted and unquestionably discard food, which makes me a contributor to this problem. The interdependence of these topics are apparent and indisputably woven together which assists my understanding of the way systems thinking work and how each factor affects one another.

What do we do to resolve America’s problem with hunger and food waste? Many grassroots organizations such as Feeding America are utilizing their connections (manufacturers, distributors, retailers, food service companies and farmers) and collecting surplus food, and provide it to those who are hungry and do not have proper access to food. Another course of action to combat hunger through food waste is to promote Freeganism. An ideology that was introduced to me by Tristram Stuart, in which is an exhibition of the injustice of food waste by utilizing minimal consumption of resources. They target disposed food that are often gathered from grocery stores and restaurants dumpster.

The longevity of these provisional solutions may be uncertain, but what’s important is that we’re dedicating these surplus food for mouths, rather than landfills. It starts with us. One small contribution could lead to huge impacts that could lead to a major and positive shifts in the system. Let us work together to combat food system problems one step at a time.

For more information about Feeding America, click this link. 

 

Globalization to Sustainable Development

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When I read EO’s post about Chocolate, I started to think about the many exotic foods I eat on a daily basis. In America, it has become so normalized to see foods that are grown around the world in all different seasons at the grocery store every day. Some of my favorite foods: mangoes, coffee, avocados, and chocolate are things that only a few centuries ago, people living in the Pacific Northwest wouldn’t have even known to exist.

While preparing for the contemplative practice on chocolate, I was amazed that the cacao farmers in the video had never tasted chocolate and didn’t even know what their crop was being used to make.

Once, when I was in Mexico, I visited an avocado farm where they were being grown to export to the United States. Earlier in the day, I had been to a market where they were selling apples from Washington. Then, I went to a coffee shop where the beans had been grown in Guatemala. It amazes me how globalized the food system is and how normal it seems to most people.

A farmer in Mexico holds up his avocados to the viewer.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/avocado-growers-in-michoacan-take-up-arms-to-fight-for-their-crops/

Many experts are calling for a switch to a localized agricultural system. Whenever possible, I try to shop at my local farmer’s market and support small organic farms, but I wonder what would happen to the many farmers in the developing world that have adopted cash crops to export to industrialized countries.

Farmers in Central America are already facing challenges due to climate change, and I fear that a reduction in demand for exotic foods would exacerbate their problems.

Certainly, localized agriculture would reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, food miles, and water grabs, but I think that sustainable development and eradicating poverty will do more for climate change than anything.

Sustainable Development Goals: End poverty, end hunger, Healthy lives and wellbeing for all, sustainable use of water, education, gender equality, work for all, sustainable and modern energy, reliable infrastructure, reduce inequality, sustainable production and consumption, safe and inclusive cities, conserve oceans, protect ecosystems, halt biodiversity loss, and combat climate change.

Rescue Global: https://www.rescueglobal.org/

Rescue Global: https://www.rescueglobal.org/

Contemplating Complicity in Global Food Injustice

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Figure 1: Granlund, 2011

With ever constant demands for my time, energy, and thoughts, I usually don’t stop and think deeply about where and how the food I consume is produced. A reoccurring theme of my feelings after contemplative practices were complicated emotions around my own complicity in global food injustices.

Never was this clearer to me than during the contemplative practice on chocolate. Watching the cocoa farmers experience eating chocolate for the first time, I knew it was just one of the many global food injustices propagated by a global trade system which values consumers in developed countries, over producers in developing countries. From countries experiencing famine contractually forced to export their food (Carolan, 2018), to rice originally smuggled and planted by West African slaves, returned to these countries in the form of contingent and domestically damaging “food aid”(Lecture 4/30), the systemic inequalities that I implicitly benefit from are all around me.

Initially, these contemplative practices filled me with a feeling of guilt and ineptitude considering the miniscule impact my individual actions could make on these globally propagated problems. Yet, as they progressed, I eventually came to a feeling of resolve.

Figure 2: Campesina 2020

While I can’t help cacao farmers in West Africa and may not be able to change global trade agreements on my own, I can still do something. I can acknowledge the privilege that I have and help bring these issues to the attention of my fellow citizens, who collectively can more effectively demand for more equitable international food politics and purchasing agreements such as getting more involved in the Food Sovereignty and Beyond Fair Trade movements.

Overall, these practices have shown me that I can and need to slow down and appreciate all the people whose lives went into supporting my own and do my part to make their lives a little bit better.

Sources:

Campesina, La Via. “Till, Sow and Harvest Transformative Ideas for the Future! Now Is the Moment to Demand Food Sovereignty – #17April.” Focus on the Global South, 16 Apr. 2020, focusweb.org/till-sow-and-harvest-transformative-ideas-for-the-future-now-is-the-moment-to-demand-food-sovereignty-17april/.

Carolan, Michael. “Cheap Food and Conflict.” The Real Cost of Cheap Food, Routledge, 2018, p. 78.

Granlund, Dave. “Dave Granlund – Editorial Cartoons and Illustrations>.” Dave Granlund Editorial Cartoons and Illustrations RSS, www.davegranlund.com/cartoons/2011/07/27/obesity-and-famine/.

The Dangers of Biodiversity Loss in Africa

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Before the emergence of COVID19, there was a common misconception that the “era of infectious diseases” was history due to technological advances and the widespread use of antibiotics and vaccines. However, recent studies have pointed to the growing emergence of zoonotic pathogens, specifically in Africa. 

Key causes of new viral infections stem from areas with high population densities and frequent human interaction with wild animals. The food and agriculture system is increasingly impeding into wildlife, putting global health at risk. Rising populations in Africa are accelerating the expansion of agricultural lands and human settlements into wildlife, while simultaneously fueling the growing bushmeat market. Wet markets for these bushmeats are commonly found in Africa with limited regulations and/or resources leading to overexploitation, hunting and poaching.

Transmission of Wildlife Zoonotic Pathogens

Livestock farmers face severe pressure to meet the market demands and are highly vulnerable to potential infectious diseases. The most common emergence of pathogens from primates are known to come from bats. But, we are seeing more frequently that amplifier hosts, such as pigs and other livestock, are increasing the transmission rates to humans. With overall meat production being at an all time high, this is highly problematic.

Bushmeat has been hunted for centuries by communities who relied on it for subsistence. Bushmeat remains a vital source of food for many impoverished areas in Africa, so it is unrealistic to ban the consumption of these animals altogether. However, bushmeat is often used today to feed Africa’s wealthy urban population, shifting its original purpose of subsistence to a highly profitable commodity. 

To address the growing concern of zoonotic pathogens, there must be effective enforcement of hunting quotas. Cultural preference for the “exotic” bushmeat must also be shifted. Implementing educational programs linking bushmeat practices to zoonotic pathogens could be a start to reducing the number of wildlife animals hunted.

Website: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/africas-growing-risk-diseases-spread-animals-people