Category Archives: International Organizations

Farming Life

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  Food is life. Nonetheless, 25% of global food production is traded internationally like any other commodity. This huge movement of food comes with consequences. Trade liberalization can disrupt the economy of a developing country in many ways, but especially by disadvantaging domestic farming by importing cheap food from more developed nations where agriculture is more industrialized. Consider peasant farmers… Read more »

The Global Seed Vault – A Future Frozen in Time

With the effects of climate change becoming a reality, food security has become a growing global concern. And though each country will look for ways to combat the threat to their national security, one movement stands out from the rest. Buried deep in the permafrost mountains on the remote Norwegian island of Svalbard that rests halfway between Norway and the… Read more »

Alternatives to Structural Adjustment Programs

  Agriculture, value added (% of GDP). (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS?end=2016&locations=KE&start=1960&view=chart For me the greatest insight from my research is how developing countries can fight back against SAP’s. My research focused on Kenya where the agriculture had been successful for two decades after independence. However, since Kenya was one of the first countries to agree to SAP’s… Read more »

Banana Industry Giants: Why Reward Them?

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Bananas are found in every grocery store as cheap, affordable produce, but the fruit represents more than just something we eat and enjoy. It is symbolic of the many economic, social, environmental and political problems where the cheap price-per-pound label on the banana comes at the cost of the lives of workers in the banana industry in order to keep… Read more »

Holy Hemp!

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The political ecology of today’s world food system is continuously being shaped by countless influential factors. The world food system is in an utter state of imbalance in terms of waste and environmental degradation. The foundation from which these issues arise can be traced back to governmental and social dimensions and or decisions that took place in the recent past…. Read more »

Climate Complexity

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The Earth’s climate systems are complex almost beyond comprehension.  The old saying that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the Earth creates a tornado on the other is true in many ways.  Unfortunately many climate change deniers will use this complexity as a way to support their indefensible beliefs.  We see many politicians in America using cop-out… Read more »

No Solutions for the Unheard

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Throughout the research process of writing my paper, I was overwhelmed with the amount of problems and lack of solutions that the people of Ecuador have in terms of water contamination.  Ecuador has been involved in a resource curse, specifically around the mighty oil market.  Their natural resources have been exploited by national corporations such as Chevron/Texaco since the 1980’s… Read more »

A Global Experiment

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We are protected, but not by much.  Surrounding the earth’s atmosphere is a thin blue layer that protects use from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun and from the various threats from outer space.  The health of our ozone is dependent upon our decisions that we make down on the surface of our planet.  We have seen the responses from… Read more »

Prioritize reducing climate change and water consumption

In the West, where fresh water is taken for granted, we are beginning to see the possibility of our water reservoirs depleting. Some states in the USA are already noticing consequences of misusing freshwater, such as California, which hasn’t seen a regular rain for the last four consecutive years (Egan). Many California residents have taken measures to reduce their water… Read more »

Water. Conflict or Cooperation?

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Atkinson, Katherine. Dam. 2005 Photograph. Flickr. www.flickr.com 2017   It is nothing new that we are over depleting our aquafers on a global level. While not everywhere has hit peak water usage yet, many places have as we continue to use our fresh water supply quicker than it can be replenished. This is particularly important with regard to fossil aquifers… Read more »