Breakfast of Biodiversity

 I liked the different angles and insight offered behind the sociopolitical problems that spur the destruction of the rainforests in Costa Rica. Land insecurity with the poor, lack of political competency and democracy, and the unsustainable agricultural practices that revolve around slash and burn for cash crops and alike intensive forms- together are responsible for the problems and degradation of the rainforest. However, when facing these problems to form a solution, it is found that not much can really be done, for economy depends on the agriculture, and the agriculture depends on the dirt, and dirt cannot provide the nutrients necessary for the desirable yields given its high acidity and the natural communities and landscapes of the rainforest have evolved to these conditions to the extent, such that it is a grim and almost hopeless endeavor to resolve in any agricultural basis that is beyond the extent of what agroforestry and micro-agroenvironments have to offer.

One comes to the conclusion that their agriculture is failing in part, because they’re selling away their soil in form of export, most notably the banana. Thus, “the connection between the knife that slices the banana into our cereal bowl and the chainsaw that slices tree trunks onto the forest floor”. So, when it comes down to it, the only real way to stop problems of rainforest destruction and social inequality in similar  tropical dilemnas, is up to us consumers and our abilities to thwart, deny, and boycott the trades of bananas and timber and destructive products alike that our perpetuated by the economic anxiety that is fumed by international banks.

Ethiopia drifting away from African continent?

Article.

In 2005 a 35-mile long rift opened up in the Ethiopian desert. At the time, most people thought this process had taken a long time and was due to local seismic activity. Professor Ayele of the Addis Ababa University proved that the rift had opened up in a matter of days. This led many researchers to speculate whether what had happened in Ethiopia was analogous to how rifts form in the deeps of the ocean. The location of the rift allows many possibilities in research, as ocean floor rifts are inaccessible due to physical limitations.

Breakfast of Biodiversity

(Vandermeer and Perfecto)

In reading this book, I was struck by the question ‘Who are the people that read this if not for a class?’  It seemed overly scientific for the general public, and overly political as well.

Although a lot of science was described, it is generally basic biology that is taught in most introductory classes.  I suport the authors’ endeavor to educate potential rainforest activists about how rainforest ecosystems really work and why they are so fragile and stable at the same time.  I spent a week in the Amazon Basin in Ecuador through an OWU Island Biology class two years ago, and much of the descriptions reminded me of my stay.  Although the area we visited was used more for ecotourism than plantations, it faced similar issues; we stayed in a rural lodge with thatched roofs, mosquito nets, and cold water.  The lights went off at 8:00 to save energy and there were tarantulas in the shower.  However, on the two-hour motorized canoe ride to the lodge, we passed some very upscale hotels that I’m sure hosted tourists who thought they were doing good things for the environment, but needed air conditioning, internet, and cable.

I enjoyed how the authors tried to tie all aspects of rainforest destruction together; no environmental problem has just one cause or can be solved with just one solution.  It is important to understand local culture, local and international politics, ecology, and corporations to face issues like this.

The description of rainforest production is especially helpful; it seems like a great place to grow things, but most nutrients are used so efficiently that anything dead does not go unused for long.  Bacteria and insects will take care of crumbs in minutes; there is such a fight for all the species to survive that foreign crops, unadapted to life in the rainforest and especially as planted in a monoculture, require extensive work to survive.

Slash and burn agriculture is the most traditional form and was practiced extensively by the Mayan culture. However, as the authors describe, growing populations require growing amounts of productive land and so little land is left fallow.  In ‘Dirt, ‘ Montgomery argues that soil can only support a growing population for so long; major civilizations generally show a decline within about a thousand years because they face famine and drought.  So as we try to portect as much of the forest as possible, we know this system is inefficient.  Farmers must learn to use already farmed land in the most productive way, including planting several crops together, allowing fields to lie fallow, and using legumes to return nitrogen to soil rather than synthetic fertilizer.

The authors argue that corporations making goods in places other than where they will be sold have no interest in paying workers well because they will not be potential consumers.  This is true; Ford gave his factory workers a new car every year so that they could advertise and become a part of the new America they were helping to build.  Workers that have no investment in their product are less efficient and more costly overall.

On page 85-86, the authors are critical of recent programs to ‘rebuild the rainforest.’  How does one go about doing this?  I have been led to believe that many such organizations are simply buying up pieces of the forest that have yet to be turned to agriculture and keeping them safe, but it would be interesting to know how fast the forest ‘reclaims’ land that has been damaged.

 

Crispy Cones: Colbert Mocks Portable Food in a Cone

Last week, while discussing Wendell Berry’s Unsettling of America, we had a conversation about how much of the food found in supermarkets today is processed and altered to the point that it is debatable whether it can actually be considered food. In 1938, Congress passed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which put strict rules, requiring companies to place the word “imitation” on any food products trying to mimic the actual food item (e.g. an example today would be mass-produced maple syrup, which is in reality just corn syrup). In 1973, the food industry successfully lobbied to get this rule tossed out, which was a little-noticed ruling that allowed companies to alter food even more, without fear of consumer push-back. In this way, consumers were left in the dark, with little information about the food choices they should make. Michael Pollan talks about this more in In Defense of Food.

Anyways, this brings me to Crispy Cones, a company that has placed “food” in a deep fried cone for your portable enjoyment. What, exactly, you are eating is certainly a mystery. I thought this was an interesting tie into the concept of both producer and consumer being separated from the actual food source. Here’s a link with Colbert mocking the Crispy Cone.

Breakfast of Biodiversity (Vandermeer and Perfecto)

I enjoyed Vandermeer and Perfecto’s incredibly detailed and informative work. Two years ago, with one of OWU’s spring break service trips, I had the chance to visit Nicaragua and to work with a group called Sustainable Harvest International. It was really interesting to read about some of the things we saw first hand, particularly with regards to Nicaragua’s R.A.A.S. region and the area surrounding Bluefields. The pictures posted here were taken during this trip. While it was really informative to read about the challenges facing nations in Central America, particularly Costa Rica, I would have liked to learn more about rain forests in other regions of the world, such as West Africa and Southeast Asia. While there are many universal themes that can be drawn from this book and applied elsewhere, it would have been interesting to read about the specific challenges other areas face. I particularly found valuable the ways in which this book looked at the issue of rain forest destruction within the context of social justice. Indeed, the preservation of rain forests does not exist in a vacuum and should not be treated as an issue separate from the challenges humans face. Below are some of the author’s main points, things I found interesting, and pictures from Nicaragua with commentary and observations.

Sea Slime

This article by National Geographic covers the recent phenomenon of countless birds that have been washing up on beaches coated in a sort of foamy slime. The slime is due to strange algal blooms related to climate change, and deters the Pacific birds’ waterproofing ability in addition to maneuverability, washing them up ashore and effectively stranding them without the ability to shun off the cold, and without rescue, are left to die.

Rent-a-goat

Treehugger.com is a fun website to check out just for some fun and informative articles about the environment and living more sustainably.

This article is one of the more ridiculous ones but hey its true. Rent-a-Ruminant is an actual company from which you can rent goats to cut grass or clear brush.

Here is the article.

And here is a site to see if there are goats available for landscape near you.

 

Shoe world

I saw this on a blog post and it is a map of the world created using shoes that are ‘appropriate’ for each country or continent.  What I thought was interesting and cool about it was how stereotypes and climate had equally important influences in picking which shoe went with each country or continent.

This came from a blog of strange maps that is worth checking out!

Eco-Bunnies

Who better then little bunnies to teach us about global warming? In these videos friendly bunnies tell us that we can help our carbon food print by two ways:

1- planting a tree

2- give money to environmental organizations who will do the tree planting for you.

Thanks bunnies, but I think that it is a little more complicated then that!

Breakfast of Biodiversity

Who would have thought that bananas could have such a large impact on not only the environment, but also entire nations?

This book written by John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto revealed just how dangerous humans can be to an entire ecosystem.  There were a number of various qoutes that really stuck out in my mind and displayed the severity of this issue of deforestation, the ruining of nations economic systems etc. 

“Central American rain forests were bring cut down at an alarming rate to make way for the production of low quality beef to supply the fast food industry in the first world.” pg.3-is it really that necessary for people to eat McDonalds everyday? apparently it must be more important than preserving a forests that contain thousands of various species.

“Costa Rica is as debt-laden as the rest of Latin America and needs all the money it can get just to service its debt” pg.5

“This and other past records indicate that historically the banana companies have not accepted responsibility for the health and safety of their workers” pg.6  So if the large companies aren’t concerned with their employees health….they clearly aren’t very concerned with the condition of the bananas……just as long as the work is done and the money is in their bank account.

“It was not until the mid-1950’s that a variety of banana that was genetically resistant to the disease was developed, thus enabling the Standard Fruit Company to reestablish its plantations in the area in the late 1950’s” pg.7  This really makes me wonder what types of chemicals were used to change the genetic make up of the bananas.mmmmm

“the United States of America, to create infrastructural conditions that favor the banana companies” pg. 8….large corporations again are dominating small producers…at the hands of the US.

“High biodiverstiy, pollination, herbivory, seed dispersal, light gap dynamics, and soils” pg.19   with these six factors shaping tropical rainforests…how can they continue with deforestation occuring? Each part is so important and so interconnected that the destruction of just one can have an effect on all of them.

“use of perrinial crops and trees, and restriction of agriculture activities to the patches of relatively good soils” pg. 47 variety is so important to the soil and health of all plants…regrowth of the same crop in the same area depleats the soil until it contains almost no nutrients.

“The tendancy then will be in the direction of overproduction. There will be a surplus of food, indicating that so much land in production us unnecesary and the next year the amount of land cultivated will be reduced” pg. 52.  If this continues food will become very scarce and growth will become almost impossible.

“By the early 1950’s it was the largest landowner in Guatemala, and one of the largest in both Honduras and Costa Rica” pg. 55   It just doesn’t seem right that one single company can own the majority of land in multiple countries.  Where are the original land owners?

“technological innovation has created a massive need for modern inputs into the agricultural system, which the farmer is forced to buy” pg.67  the continous regulations and machines that are “needed” are resulting in the loss of locally and organically grown produce around the world.