Category Archives: Topics

On the Behalf of All Americans, I Am Sorry

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I have known for a long time that Americans are part of the problem when it comes to global climate change. I can remember a time when my own family burned plastic, trash, tires, and gasoline. Until now, I was unaware that Americans put out nearly four times as much carbon dioxide as we would be budgeted, per the IPCC’s carbon dioxide reduction plans. We Americans are polluting our planet with our habits, and we seemingly don’t care to change, and for that I am ashamed to be an American.

When we backed out of the Paris Accord, under the Trump Administration, I was again, ashamed to be an American.

When I think of all of the damage we do to the world, I never think about who we’re really hurting. The damage feels local, the spring comes sooner every year, and hotter than the last, driving up to big cities, we can see where the smog settles in a thick brownish-gray haze. But even though we’re seeing these changes due to human activity around our own homes, we’re devastating lives for people in third world countries, who face what we refer to as the triple inequality. For that, I apologize.

Perhaps with COVID-19, and the stay at home order, more people will realize what human activity does to our environment. We’ve seen dolphins return to Italy due to the earth being able to heal in the absence of humans polluting it. We’ve seen better air quality and the lack of that haze when we drive into the city. Perhaps this turbulent time can be the final push we need to change our ways, as the link to new diseases emerging and climate change seems to be as clear as ever. Perhaps we can be hopeful that Americans will see the change we can bring, if we just modify our lives a little, and our future generations will see that the earth is worth saving through seeing the small changes that have already began happening in our absence.

See the source image

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/

Climate Change Triple Inequalities: A Worldwide Crisis

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Cameron McElmurry’s blog post describes the locust swarms currently ravaging farms in the Horn of Africa. While reading, I recognized the injustice that many face as they experience crises caused by climate change and are forgotten while the world focuses on COVID-19. Worldwide, millions will face food insecurity and depleted agricultural incomes because of disasters such as this.

Cameron’s post reminded me of the “triple inequality” topic discussed in class. In terms of the current climate crises that are affecting the world, developing countries most often take the brunt of the short term effects. The triple inequality concept includes asymmetric impacts (follow the link for examples), responsibility (those who are most affected by climate change often have the least to do with it), and less capacity to adapt (less infrastructure and ability to rebuild or respond to disasters). 

Climate change is known to increase inequality, so, as developing countries experience more agricultural failure (droughts, pests, etc.) due to new climate disasters, they will have even less money and resources to make further changes, continuing the cycle of this triple inequality. 

Another topic we have discussed in class is the racial disparities present in the food system. A recent article describes the increased inequality of minority Americans during the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses how industrial regions of the country have high populations of minority workers and are disproportionately hit by hurricanes, fossil fuel pollution, cancer and other diseases as result of chemical and pollutant exposure, and now, coronavirus cases. This reveals the reality of triple inequality in America, where particular people groups are systematically affected by the means of production and climate changes that occur as a result of the environmental degradation supported by big business.

It is evident that at home and abroad, we must advocate for those affected by climate change and forgotten during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Finding our purpose and place

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In response to ‘Sustaining Myself’ by @aliyahw : 

In my last blog post, I noted how insignificant and overwhelmed I feel when studying the complexities of the global food system and the many injustices that support it. How are we ever to tackle the weak links in our food systems that are soon to collapse? When reading through my classmates’ blog posts, I realized we share a similar feeling of smallness and are seeking answers to often the same questions. I was particularly struck by Aliyah’s post, “Sustaining Myself’ in which she contemplated the living systems within and outside of her body. She expressed how it is easy to feel disconnected from our bodies, and lose attention to what we nourish them with. The contemplative practices gave Aliyah the opportunity to grasp the many complex systems that we as consumers are so reliant on.

Deploying this type of holistic systems thinking that Aliyah described can help us tackle the fragile pillars that uphold our food systems and realize our purpose within them. I propose to Aliyah, as well as my other classmates, what leverage points will you choose to make change towards a sustainable food system, and what sector is important to you?

Reflecting on Aliyah’s question, “who am I?” I think of how being a farmer, I feel a deep connection to my body and food, and also a responsibility to practice what I speak. I am determined to run my own farm one day, but am daunted by the environmental degradation that has ensued as a result of unsustainable agricultural practices. Dwindling topsoil, diminished soil microbe diversity, domination of agribusinesses, and decreasing seed stocks are just a few of the challenges that small-scale farmers are facing (Little, 2009). One solution to our collapsing food system is nourishing and rebuilding soil composition. The complex system of microbes that make up soil is the foundation of food production, and holds many solutions to sequestering carbon, reducing pesticide use, and attaining food sovereignty. It is small solutions like soil that we need to focus on to solve the larger issues of the global food system. Realizing our personal connections to the food systems we are the beneficiaries of can make the daunting problems our generation will face seem more approachable. So, who are you in our interconnected world of complex systems?  

Soil at Plum Forest Farm, Vashon. Photo by me.

Squash seedlings breaking through the soil. The beginning of the food system! Photo by me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Reily S. 

Sources:

Edelman, Marc. “Critical Perspectives on Food Sovereignty.” Journal of Peasant Studies, Feb. 2017, doi:10.4324/9781315689562.

Johnson, Nathanael. “The Secret to Richer, Carbon-Capturing Soil? Treat Your Microbes Well.” Grist, Grist, 1 July 2014, grist.org/food/the-secret-to-richer-carbon-capturing-soil-treat-your-microbes-well/.

Johnson, Sandhya. “Thinking in Systems (Donella Meadows) Chapters 1 to 3.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 30 Dec. 2012, www.slideshare.net/sandhyajohnson/thinking-in-systems-donella-meadows-chapters-1-to-3.

Little, Amanda. “Cooking Oil.” Power Trip, Harper Academic, 2009.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03066150.2014.963568?needAccess=true

I hold my breath and count to ten

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Like I am on a roller coaster going around the loop, I hold my breath and count to ten. In a flash, the ten seconds are over, and I open my eyes to see myself intact. Fresh air floods my lungs, my body regains the energy lost as I sink into the chair. Guilt, anger, and sadness. These were the feelings I had while participating in the fifth contemplative practice: tracing breakfast. Except unlike the gasp of air that so quickly returned to my body, hunger does not afford its hosts with this luxury.

I admit, I was skeptical at first that these practices aided my ability to learn but as my breath became deeper, my stomach started rumbling, and my heart racing, I am brought to a not so distant land of hunger. I lay in bed with closed eyes and my world becomes filled with a dark void which allows my mind to run free. I think about all of the children who starve, all of the families living off rations, and the men and women who work tirelessly to supply food for their families. A ball begins to form in the pit of my stomach as I think about my own food waste, my privilege. I ask myself, am I to blame? Or is it out of my reach? Does blame need to be projected on someone?

Questions I may not know the answers to quite yet, I do know however that a single breath will not ease my mind this time. Thinking about world issues like hunger in an unorthodox way such as a contemplative practice allows me to become grounded in my situation and aware of others. We are interconnected and dependent beings, hunger is just one of many we share.

 

References:

Photo #1: https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9430128/tallest-double-inversion-rollercoaster-six-flags/

Photo #2: https://nypost.com/2018/12/06/one-in-six-children-throughout-america-live-in-fear-of-hunger/

2018 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/11-09-2018-global-hunger-continues-to-rise—new-un-report-says

Africa hunger crisis: Facts, FAQs, how to help

The Time to get to Know What’s in My Cup

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There are many types of meditation, while riding the calm wave of one’s breath. A contemplative practice is but one form of meditation. It serves as a moment for critical thinking, noticing, wondering, etc. Questions of how and why, and whatever else comes up along the way. This intentional moment to explore can be applied to anything in the imagination.

 

Dark beans…

 

I don’t usually think “exotic” when I think of coffee. Strange, because it’s possible that the coffee I drink comes from the same place my bananas do. In writing this blog, I also noodled around google images and found that raw coffee cherries have a color as vibrant and varied as a bag of Skittles. So why a disconnect between the two? Coffee is experienced through aromas, the sounds of grinding and brewing; dark beans, or dark powder. Now with coffee pods, you don’t even see the coffee.

 

In considering coffee and bananas, and tropical foods in general, during our class’s contemplative practice, it became very clear how     interdependent I am on world food systems for both sustenance and pleasure. Technically I don’t need coffee, but a life without my cup of Joe is not one I’m interested in. This process made me more appreciative of what I have in respects to coffee. In that sense I think that a contemplative practice is great, though I don’t necessarily know what to do with that recognition.

 

The world coffee trade is something I feel I have little control over, aside from buying organic and hoping that a rainforest wasn’t cut down for the sake of my morning ritual. But, in order to take care of something, it has to be valued. Perhaps with recognition and a willingness to pay a little more for coffee, that can make some difference.

 

The Blissful Oblivion to the Bitter Journey of Chocolate

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Striking my spoon against the delicate layer, reveals a precious crevice oozing with a rich velvety chocolate sauce. Despite the popular choice of pizza off the Domino’s menu, my item of choice is the chocolate lava cake. Indulging in the decadent, sweet sensations, I have become blissfully oblivious to the bitter journey this chocolate has undergone. 

The children working in the cocao farms along the Ivory Coast

The children working in the cacao farms along the Ivory Coast. Photo belongs to: https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/child-labour-cocoa-production

For such a sweet pleasure, chocolate possesses a complex, commodity chain. This journey begins at its oppressive roots within the African cacao farms employment of over 800,000 children along the Ivory Coast. This mass scale child labor workforce has prompted me to question who should be held accountable for this injustice. Is it the chocolate mega corporations who have plenty of resources to rectify the immorality of their success? Or does this responsibility fall onto me and other consumers, contributing consumers that provide dollar incentive to continue the unjust practices of the chocolate industry?  

It would be a lie to say that I will stop eating chocolate now that I know of the inequalities occurring. This new found knowledge has given me the drive to do my own research on ethical chocolate companies that stand against child labor business practices. To combat the guilt I feel, I want to target my consumer dollars on principled businesses. Through these contemplative practices, I have gained insights into my own 

Labels on chocolate bars indicating their ethical company values. Photo belongs to: https://blog.equalexchange.coop/child-labor-in-the-cocoa-industry/

personal autonomy. I have the power to support organizations, movements, and companies that I am morally aligned with. These contemplative practices evoke questions, bring cognizance to disparities present in the food system and how my actions make an impact. I would like to end this post by reiterating a lesson from my favorite childhood movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: don’t let tempting, gluttonous vices cloud your vision of acting virtuously. 

 

My Guilty Pleasure

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Out of all the contemplative practices, my attention was captured particularly by chocolate. I have always appreciated and indulged every single chocolate I have laid my hands on – up until recently. It is both haunting and disturbing; the inhumane activities such as exploitation of workers and child labor associated with something that brings most people pleasure. This contemplative practice made me feel  empathetic to those children who are impoverished and stripped away from their childhood – which prevents them from attending school and living a normal life, spending most of their time working in cacao farms. 

source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/

After witnessing the video of Ivory Coast cacao growers tasting chocolate for the first time and child labor in cacao production, I instantly felt guilt – being a consumer supporting products that are sourced from people that are exploited and had been taken advantage of. Eating chocolate suddenly becomes difficult, thinking about farmers’ lack of privilege to taste chocolate – when their product is its number one ingredient.

Cacao is a multi-billion dollar industry, and yet growers in Ivory Coast are employing children (free labor) but still struggle to make enough profit to provide for their families. Considering the amount of money and power the chocolate industry possess, they most certainly have the upper hand to prevent child labor and exploitation of farm workers by providing a fair and just wage in exchange for their product.

This situation in the chocolate industry is something that I was not aware of prior to the contemplative practice addressing it. This shows that these practices may be difficult to understand for most people like myself, but it is a very useful tool to contemplate the big picture behind things. This specific contemplative practice about chocolate encouraged me to see through a bar of chocolate and think about the unjust practices associated with it as well as the actions that should be implemented to resolve it.

 

A Culture of Chocolate

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The chocolate I drink is still grown, processed, and sold from the province my grandparents are from. Ancient Mexican tradition regarding chocolate involves no sugar, but plenty of cayenne and cinnamon bark mixed for a bitter warm beverage with unprocessed cacao. My Dad instead enjoys cloyingly sweet Chocolate de mesa as a snack instead of melted to make hot chocolate or Mole. Ibarra is superior to any imitation of hot chocolate, as the large granules of sugar and cocoa melt perfectly into warm milk and the cinnamon smells warm and comforting. Jalisco, the agricultural heart of Mexico, was home to the first cacao beans over 3000 years ago where they are still grown today, albeit far more industrialised and worldwide now than even when my grandparents immigrated to the US. Ethical labour standards and sustainability for the community and peoples producing chocolate are tenants of the chocolate production in this cult-followed product, but unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the chocolate I eat.

I ate a piece of old easter candy for this contemplative practice, a dark chocolate caramel-filled bunny. This is my mom’s favourite chocolate; she is white. Ghiradelli, as part of the Lindt & Sprüngli Group, sources 100% of its beans from Ghana where it is making albeit small strides but strides nonetheless in creating safe and sustainable working conditions and practices for their workers. Providing mosquito nets, investing in community education centres, and training and capacity building for sustainable farming practices. The information available is spotty, and workers are not guaranteed competitive wages or benefits or protection from exploitation that middlemen between the farmers and chocolate producers. The palm oil used for the caramel filling is World Wildlife Foundation certified sustainable, but these certifications are never followed up upon and are often falsely handed out. I feel guilty about eating this piece of chocolate.

Chocolate is part of my culture, my ancestors having drunk it thousands of years before being exploited by the people who made the chocolate we now eat. How many people were hurt in the long history of Chocolate to feed me right now, and how many were people I share blood and history with? As a mixed-race person, I feel guilty that one half of my family is descended from pillagers while the other half were pillaged, but at least it came to a somewhat happy end with me…? The diminution of bad actions and effects ignored in favour of the good outcome is a disservice to those hurt along the way. I am a bit like chocolate in that way.

Me and My dad 🙂

 

 

 

The New Normal

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In response to Cat Kelly’s “How are You?”

I scrolled through nearly all, and read many, of the blogs thus far posted in search of something to respond to. Many topics, paragraphs and links earned my attention and over an hour later I felt overwhelmed with choice. But then I read Cat Kelly’s reflection on our very first contemplative practice. This meditation was the simplest, Professor Litfin simply asked us to explore our feelings in the present moment. 

Cat’s reflection was piercing to read. I too have felt the need to slow down and (even before this pandemic) the need to “enjoy my life the way I like to enjoy it, not how America trains us to enjoy it”. Cat hit every nerve with me, writing about the desire to not over-achieve or over burden herself with work. She wondered if she could just live for herself right now and peel away all the expectation. 

I want to yell to Cat and to everyone “Do it! Slow down! This is a hard moment! And this is a big moment!!”. You see Cat, I believe that this pandemic has given you the pause and opportunity to let go of some of those socially imposed expectations that you normally hold on to. This is wonderful. But also, I do not believe that the overwork, over-achievement, overproduction and over-consumption you are normally pressured into participating in is a good normal, nor should we be desperate to return to it. 

A friend recently sent me an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure”. Distilling the message of this piece into a sentence would go something like this: slow down and take a breath because all of your panicked productivity is an expression of your desire that the world get back to normal, but the truth of the matter is we are living through a world-changing-crisis and what we all need to be doing is processing the fact that our world will not go back to what is was before… ever. While this message is tough to swallow and difficult to process, there is also enormous potential in this reality. As the author Aisha Ahmad writes,

Be slow… Let it change how you think and how you see the world. Because the world is our work. And so, may this tragedy tear down all our faulty assumptions and give us the courage of bold new ideas.

What could these bold new ideas hold? 

To turn to our food system, as we all slow down perhaps we will see the world with fresh and adjusted eyes now brave enough to face what is crumbling. Hopefully some of the most unjust, dangerous and corrosive aspects of our food system will reveal themselves to be no-longer ignorable in the fabric of a new world shaped by greater understanding of the potential for catastrophe. As Paolo Di Croce, the secretary general of Slow Food International, said in a recent video “this fight to change the food system is more important now than ever”. 

An Image from a World Economic Forum web page entitled “COVID-19 is exacerbating food shortages in Africa” — Many systemic food problems may come to a head during this crisis, revealing our broken system

Perhaps if we all slow down, as Cat suggested, adjust to the harshness of this crumbling world and emerge on the other side of our individual emotional struggles with renewed bravery, we will then have the courage to take up good fights to change this new world for the better. 

In some ways, this could be a fresh start. But first we must slow down and accept that it is happening.

-Aisling Doyle Wade

Sources:

Ahmad, Aisha. 2020. “Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2020. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-You-Should-Ignore-All-That/248366.