Tag Archives: economy

Women’s Land Rights and the Pandemic

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For our action project, we worked with Landesa. We focused our efforts on connecting the current pandemic to the role of women’s land rights and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. We concentrated on this region, as it has faced the epidemics of HIV/AIDS and Ebola, and has had to overcome these crises while dealing with the ongoing natural problems that are endemic to the climate and region (drought and political instability). Additionally, the region has long-suffered from exploitation and pressures of global imbalances of power. What has become evident, is that developed countries are able to leverage local resources, which are developed and cultivated by African nations to advance their own stability and serve as a source of resilience. Against this backdrop, the region will continue to evolve as “an arena of geopolitical and resource competition…” and this can be problematic, as Africa may be disenfranchised from ‘solutions’ that are developed within the region. This is where the role of women’s land rights becomes a driver of law and policy reform and economic self-reliance and community leadership. Allowing women to have direct and impactful roles in the food system will foster a resistive and durable base that the communities of Africa can count on for stability and lean on in times of crises.

An infographic created for our Landesa Project (Graphic by Ashley Wright)

What I have recognized in Landesa is that many of the defining attributes and workings of systems theory are functioning through this organization and the work it is doing to make an impact on society. We were able to connect seemingly individual and distinct topics into an aggregate context relevant to human systems and, by extension, the ecosystem. (from lecture) What is common across developed, developing, emerging, and underdeveloped economies is growth. This trend towards an improved standard of living does not emerge in isolation. In this case, women’s land rights connect to all of us, even if we benefit indirectly. Through a woman’s ability to own and control land in Africa, the role of my country (or another developed country) will shift as it benefits from concurrent growth. And this shift can impact my community whether it is through the flow of money or access to food as a whole. We all benefit from socio-political stability, as instability can result in a misallocation of resources. Currently the IMF projects negative growth for the region through this year, but forecasts a return to positive growth through 2021.

Turning Individual Action into Systemic Change

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During this course I had the opportunity to work with Citizens’ Climate Lobby on HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend act. CCL is a national, bipartisan, grassroots lobbying organization that supports volunteers through online trainings and connects them to groups in their area. We started social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter and learned how to lobby.

HR 763 would put a price on carbon that would reduce US emissions by 40% in the first 12 years. Economists agree that this is the most effective and cost-efficient way to reduce emissions which is why it has drawn support from Republicans and Democrats. Additionally, the Act is revenue-neutral which means that the government doesn’t keep the tax collected. Instead, it gets sent back to low- and middle-income American taxpayers who will be most affected by the higher prices of a green economy.

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Effective, good for people, good for the economy, revenue neutral.

In working with CCL, I found that the politics of food and the politics of climate change are similar in many ways. People tend to be very opinionated on both sides, both issues are complex and affect everyone differently, and both require a combination of personal choices and systemic government change to be solved.

It is key that the Act is bipartisan because the only way that we can fight climate change is together. A resolution such as this is only the first of many legislation actions we will need to take, so it is important that everyone is behind it.

Systems theory shows us that everything is connected, and climate change is no different. A lifecycle analysis of any product shows the ecological impacts along the entire commodity chain. Ecological impacts are usually higher during the production/processing stages, so the externalities are often placed on low income communities. This is just one example of the Triple Inequality of climate change.

Scene of the Oncler's factory from the Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

Stories like the Lorax teach us that it’s okay to replace traditional citizenship duties with purposeful individual consumption, and it shifts the blame from producers to human nature (Maniates). When people are made aware of a dangerous product, they can make the individual choice not to buy it (Szasz). This protects them from the product but does nothing to address the problem for others. We need more than individual choices to combat climate change. HR 763 is one way of collective change, but people still have to make the individual choice to be politically active.

This is a picture from Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia, WA in 2019 that I went to with WashPIRG.

There is always more you can do.

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I chose to respond to Aaron Baker’s post “Is your Hunger Natural or Affluent?” (link: https://sites.uw.edu/pols385/2020/05/04/is-your-hunger-natural-or-affluent/). The question posed in his title is something I have been grappling with since I shifted to a plant-based diet due to unethical practices in the meat and dairy industry. I thought his response was very insightful, and I especially appreciated his statement “Just as hunger may be ubiquitous in the state of nature, it is equally possible for it to be absent entirely in a relatively affluent state in which the parameters of self-preservation have been redefined.” His thoughts made me consider how I drastically redefined my diet by only considering plant-based options as permissible for my self-preservation, despite there being ample other food options surrounding me. Thus, it seems as if I have redefined my “self” that I wish to preserve. My goal is not to simply keep myself alive, rather it is to maintain optimal nutrition, ethical consumption, and great taste.

Veganism News and Political Cartoons

From this, I drew a connection to “The Color of Food” (https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1372505/files/63044076/download?wrap=1) article we read in class, which described the “good food movement” amongst privileged middle-class individuals who prefer to consume organic food. The article goes on to describe those economically excluded from this movement, who rely on food supplied through the enormous food production chain that exploits people of color and “often forces workers to live in conditions that are close to poverty.” So, when I search for vegan meals, my hunger isn’t natural, it is affluent. Recognizing how much of the world struggles with food sovereignty allows me to stave off complacency as in my fight for change in the food system. I recognize a vegan diet isn’t enough, and that holistic change that provides everyone equal access to good food as I do today is my ultimate goal.

Food Sovereignty - SourceWatch

Food Security, COVID-19, and the Future of Land Ownership in Yemen

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In response to: “Womxn, Food, and Security Amid COVID-19 in Yemen” by Amber Torell

Amber’s post addressed the impact of COVID-19 on a group of under-represented and vulnerable people in one of the least developed countries in the world. Sadly, Yemen was a country in crisis before COVID-19. To gain a deeper understanding of the food-aid dimension of the global response to the Yemeni crisis, I visited the USAID website. USAID contributes to the UN WFP and supports NGOs in Yemen. Citing the same geo-political concerns as the WFP, USAID announced their reduction in aid to Yemen, specifically in Houthi dominated regions. Food aid represents an immediate desperate need and signifies a systemic failure in the region. Productive assets, including labor and land, are simply not being used to produce food. To be sure, “Land so pervasively underpins human activity that it usually plays some role during war and civil violence.” (Land and Conflict)

Yemen’s civil war is a factional conflict that has evolved into a humanitarian crisis. For civilians, a sustained state of conflict will put the focus on survival and meeting basic human needs, including food and shelter. Disenfranchised groups may be further marginalized and will need to achieve significant gains politically in order to establish power. Specifically, the role of women in poverty-ridden communities connects to my NGO – Landesa. My group is exploring the impact of COVID-19 on women’s land rights, as it is creating additional economic uncertainty. An imbalance we observe is that women farmers comprise a large majority of those who work directly in agricultural, yet only a fraction of those women are actual landowners. While in the short-run, advocating for women’s involvement in the Yemeni government could result in political unrest, having more women as stakeholders could help stabilize the country and its response to the crisis and lay the groundwork for future changes in rural land rights.

From FAO of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/gender/resources/infographics/the-female-face-of-farming/en/

 

 

Food Supply Chain “Strong” But Questions Remain

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Washington State Governor Jay Inslee declared a statewide shutdown of restaurants and other public spaces back on March 15th, assuring Washingtonians that the supply chain was strong, hoping to alleviate fears and hoarding by consumers. And while grocery stores have remained open, albeit with sparsely stocked hand soap and toilet paper shelves, an NPR article released a few days later raised questions about the trying times about to strike those in a different—yet equally vital—part of the supply chain: agricultural workers.

Workers in Wapato, WA. Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson/AP

The good news is that most seasonal workers coming from Mexico will still qualify for their H-2A visas. The bad news is that these people will be traveling far and wide, often living in close proximity to one another once they reach their employer’s fields, meaning exposure to COVID-19 is a strong possibility. While distributors and farmers deal with the logistical and financial strain of re-routing products from shuttered restaurants, the last thing they need is a labor shortage.

So what can be done? Greater government involvement in clean and safe housing for workers? Incentives for workers exposing themselves in travelling long distances across borders and state lines, like short-term medical benefits, or insurance, for seasonal workers, to protect them if they fall ill? And what of farms that will be closing from decline in business?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. COVID-19 has put our healthcare system in crisis. No matter your politics, it is clear our systems simply aren’t geared for dealing with a calamity. In the age of the Anthropocene it hardly seems this current health crisis will be the end of hard-times. If we don’t prepare now, addressing weaknesses in our systems, the next crisis we face could mean not just soap and paper products disappear from store shelves.

Spare the Till – Carbon Farming’s Impact on the Climate

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The article “Is Carbon Farming a Climate Boon, or Boondoggle?” by Gabriel Popkin, investigates the growing controversy around carbon farming and the impact it has on curtailing carbon dioxide emissions. The story represents the intersection of agricultural food production, climate change, and economics. Carbon farming is the use of soil to sequester CO2, which itself is created during the farming process, thus preventing this greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. Carbon farming helps combat climate change and provides an ancillary financial benefit to farmers across the U.S. by allowing them to store their reduced emissions as credits – physical amounts of CO2 retained in their soil. These soil carbon credits are then available for purchase, via a broker in the market-place, to help “offset” other types of economic activity which directly or indirectly creates CO2 emissions.

Source: Carbon Farmers of Australia https://carbonfarmersofaustralia.com.au/the-art-of-carbon-farming-for-regenerative-agriculture/

What is not addressed in depth are the sociopolitical implications. Carbon farming, as an approach to climate change, is gaining broad support – from governments to corporations to celebrities. And often the excitement of a revolutionary idea (and the potential for profit) can get ahead of the actual science. Because of this momentum, there is the potential for these groups to continue to back a science that may not be entirely sound. If for no other reason than this may be for maintaining one’s constituency, public posture, or reputation.

When we read about this type of approach to mitigating environmental damage and we encounter similar schemes that also claim to help stop climate change, this is a tacit acknowledgement that there is not always a genuine willingness or ability to prevent the creation of CO2 in the first place. In fact, in this instance, CO2 creation is occurring twice – once at the farming level and the other during the process for which the offsets are purchased.

Original Article: https://thefern.org/2020/03/is-carbon-farming-a-climate-boon-or-boondoggle/

Additional Interesting Article: https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/20994118/carbon-offset-climate-change-net-zero-neutral-emissions

Small Restaurants in the Age of Covid-19

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The Hood River Valley is an old logging community that now relies on the orchards and recreational tourism industries to stay afloat.

I live in a small tourist town that relies heavily on the popular summer months. As a stereotypical outdoorsy PNW town, the main attractions are hiking/biking trails, microbreweries, and wineries. With the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these things have been closed indefinitely and our community is left to wonder what is going to happen.

An op-ed in the New York Times written by New York City Restaurant owners questions the future of restaurants as we know them. “Independent restaurants employ more than 10 million people. And our fear is that these jobs may well disappear for good.” Restaurants have always been a risky business with large upfront investments, lots of employees to pay, slow returns, and seasonality. This is especially true in my hometown where the population doubles in the summer and most restaurants barely scrape by the winter months.

The popular farm to table movement is better for the environment, encouraging small scale organic farms and local supply chains. But in the age of Coronavirus, these operations are being hit the hardest. American food culture correspondent for the Times, Kim Severson, comments on this in her latest article. The $12 billion dollar industry is facing heavy losses as “these small farmers, like many others across the country who spent decades building a local, sustainable agricultural system, are staring at their fields and wondering what to do now that the table has been kicked out from under the modern farm-to-table movement.”

Farmers and restaurants alike have been looking to do what they can to minimize loses by sending food to farmer’s markets, or encouraging customers to do take-out or sign up for food delivery boxes. Everyone is scrambling to change their business model, but the question that remains is how long this will last, and will anyone be left to return to normal?