Hey, I like this class very much. These people are bringing really great information to the class, and we all get to know more about these important topics. Tonight's class was fascinating.
Jerry, the coffee expert, brought some good iced coffee to share with everyone. More importantly, he had the lowdown on those little numbers that appear in a triangle, on the bottom of various plastic items. This is an important little number to watch. I'm hoping he'll send me the link to his very useful guide, but for now the word is:
DON'T USE NUMBER 7 PLASTIC FOR FOOD OR DRINK.
It can release BPA, a harmful chemical that replaces human hormones and causes birth defects and prostate trouble in men. Unfortunately, it's been released into the ocean by tons and tons of plastic garbage, especially in the Great Plastic Garbage Patch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M
(The patch is actually smaller than the movie says, but it's twice the size of France, which is pretty big.) Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
(Click for Chinese version on the left, if the English is too hard.)
Barrett told us that a Canadian company has some kind of plan to harvest all the plastic in the Great Patch and use it to make shelters for the homeless. If it works, that's great! (If they run out of plastic and want more, they can come here.)
Then Kiki showed us a very powerful short film, Chicken a la carte, about hunger in the world. It won first prize at the Berlin Film Festival, and the filmmaker wrote and pefrormed the song. See it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1bOteXhwrw
Kiki went on to point out that food aid is sometimes a political tool, which harms a country while pretending to help it. Hunger and poverty are political problems, and they reinforce each other. A hungry person has a hard time getting a job, working hard, and rising out of poverty. A poor person has a hard time eating. So it's a vicious cycle.
May shared some organic mulberry jam, and told us that her way of helping make a better world was to support organic farmers. She buys lots of fruits or vegetables from them, then gives these away to her friends. What a great gift! She says she'll have bags of organic sweet potatoes at 100 NT each, in the future. I want at least one bag.
Jonas had quite a few statistics about poverty. He says nearly half a billion kids do not have access to clean water, one in seven people in the world do not get enough nutrition, and 30% of the world's women have their first child before age 18. Wow. He also told a story about the "green city" being built in the Arabian desert, in Abu Dhabi. It's called Masdar City, and you can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V7UpFOm8w0
Notice how few trees are in the Green City. Jonas tells us it will also cost 22 billion USD to build, and only about 100,000 people will live there. My, with 7 billion people, we'll have to build quite a few of these! "Solutions" like this give people confidence in the future for NO GOOD REASON.
Just at the end of class, Ammar told us about Operation Green Hunt, in which the government of India has declared war on Maoists, and killed 16,000 of them since 2004. The Maoists have apparently killed 6000 in return. Seems it is extreme poverty that motivates the people to throw in with the Maoists, in the hopes that they can share the wealth of their country, which is now dominated by a fairly small group of people. Six out of 24 Indian states are affected by this conflict. Ammar will give us more on that next week.
This is a very good class. I am learning so much. We all are.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Food and Hunger
I won't always do this, but here's a summary of what people had to say last Thursday, on the subject of food. The idea is to let people see what we do in the class. If you feel I have misrepresented your presentation, you can click on comments , at the bottom of this post.
Jonas spoke about food waste. He read that the UK wastes 8.3 million tons of food per year. People order too much, cook too much, don't use food in time (before it goes bad) and do not know how to use leftovers intelligently. In addition, he pointed out that legal issues cause food producers to throw out - rather than give away - huge quantities of food. All this wasted food has an impact on fertilizer supply, energy use and the availability of food to poor people. So don't waste food.
Kiki had done some research on Fair Trade, a system by which consumers are informed that the price of a product includes a fair wage to the workers and a fair profit to the local producers. Kiki mentioned the FLO mark (Fair Trade Labeling Organization, International), which apparently is a pretty good guarantee of producer-friendly goods. She also passed around a pamphlet from Okogreen Café in Taipei, which serves Fair Trade coffee at Hangzhou S. Rd. Sec. 1 Lane 14 # 16 (1F). Call 02-2322-2225. This is a topic on which we should all get more information.
Jerry continued the discussion about coffee, noting that not all "Fair Trade" is the same. Oxfam, who began organizing Fair Trade coffee many years ago, truly worked to insure that a good part of the retail cost of coffee went to the workers and producers. Starbucks, on the other hand, developed their own "Fair Trade" system, which was hard for outsiders to monitor (so we don't really know how fair it is). He went on to give a very detailed talk about his favorite beverage. He informed us that 50% of the coffee in the world is controlled by 4 huge companies: Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Sarah Lee and Kraft. (These are huge companies, which care little about the environment, the livelihood of coffee producers, nor for the health of their consumers.) Jerry apparently has more connoisseur connections for his beans, which he roasts himself. There are two types of coffee plants: Arabica (sweeter, less caffeine) and Robusta (bigger seed, high caffeine). Here in Taiwan, we can grow Robusta, which likes lowlands and hot weather. The Arabica beans like cool, mountain climates.
What was super cool about Jerry's talk was that he brought a branch of his friend's tree, with both immature and mature coffee beans. Donald and I both got some seeds (beans) to plant in our gardens! One mature tree will produce a pound of coffee cherry per harvest, which works out to a quarter pound of dried coffee beans, and maybe 1 / 5 pound of roasted coffee. So we had better plant a lot.
Barrett talked about how to lose fat. Although nobody in the room was fat, he noted that we might have friends or family, or later be in the position to need this information ourselves. I hope not. He gave the calorie intake recommendations for various types of people, and stated that a 50 year old woman should take in 1620 calories per day, on average. However, he noted that nobody measures their calories very carefully, and "super-size" portions are common. This combines with a cultural norm to "eat everything on your plate". In addition, fast food (so common today) tends to be very high in calories. He gave a table of "correct portions "which indicated how much of each food it is appropriate to consume at one time. Butter was recommended at" the size of a postage stamp ", which is probably right for the overweight - but I might use two postage stamps if I'm mailing a large piece bread.
Susana was next, with a talk on Food Security, which is different than Food Safety. The latter term involves whether or not harmful ingredients are showing up in food, as in the melamine scare last year. Food Security is about knowing that you will have nutritious food for your family - today, tomorrow and next week. Apparently 230 million people wake up not knowing if they will get any food at all that day. Some of the reasons for food insecurity are: rising fuel and fertilizer costs, the use of food crops and farmland to make biofuel, and problems associated with climate change (such as drought). The price of nutritious food sometimes puts it out of reach for the poorest people. Other problems include production interruptions and problems with distribution. Susana also responded to Barrett's topic by saying that very good guidelines for the diet of Taiwanese people (possibly different than those for Americans or Nigerians) have been posted on the Department of Health website.
Ammar told us that, in Nepal, modern farming methods and better seeds could boost crop production. His family's land does not produce as much as does the land in Taiwan. Someone suggested that he contact President Ma. Apparently rice is grown in Nepal, and also corn.
Patrick then told us that the poor should eat worms and bugs, to supplement their protein. He noted that when other sources of protein are not available, there might be a lot of bugs around. The poor could even have worm farms so that they could eat these creatures regularly - possibly with some tasty sauce. I asked him if he had ever eaten worms, and he hadn't. Nor does he intend to. This is just for the poor.
Donald told of his experience hoarding food during World War II. He was both a farmer's son and a Japanese soldier, yet had very little to eat. Apparently farmers had to give most of their produce to the Japanese, who kept it in storage, thinking that the war would go on for a long time. In order to eat well, the farmers would kill pigs in the middle of the night, changing their tags with those of younger pigs. The men ate rice, but the women usually only ate sweet potatoes. Some people supplemented their nutirion by buying food on the black market. Since the Japanese had to observe harvest, and take all but what they allowed the farmer's family, some farmers would harvest early, and then burn the field. It's good to hear an honest tale about what people have to do to get by in hard times. Could this happen again?
Rebecca spoke briefly about the importance of food value, meaning that we should get good nutrition from our food. Fast foods and convenience foods often do not provide adequate nutrition. She mentioned the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grain bread and brown rice. This way we have healthier bodies. Unfortunately, we ran out of time shortly into her talk. I hope she will give us more next week.
Not everybody spoke. We'll talk about food again on Thursday, April 8. Those who were not able to present their views can begin, this time, and we'll have time for several more presentations.
Now I'd like to bring to your attention some grim facts about hunger in the world, not to scare you but to highlight the importance of our topic.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2009 assessment of world hunger can be accessed here:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i0876e/i0876e00.HTM
But its key points are summarized on this page:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e00.pdf
I'll try to summarize the key points. First, hunger was increasing - slowly, but steadily - before the recent economic crises. Now the problem has gotten much worse quite quickly. There are over a billion people not getting enough nutrition, and stunting of children (smaller size, mental deficiency, birth defects) is quite common, especially in Africa. When prices of food rise, or consumer incomes fall, people spend more of their budget on food, and less on medical care and education. This leads to long-term conditions that point to future poverty. (If you are sick and uneducated, it's hard to go out and make a good living.)
The FAO recommends that agricultural development be prioritized, even in times of financial crisis, because it is vital to protect against future malnutrition. Another recommendation is that safety nets (government help for people in distress) should be made broad and strong, though governments are trying to cut back on expenses these days. Allowing the poor to become weak and sick at this point will cause much trouble later.
Since the problem of poverty and malnutrition was not improving before the current crises, new strategies have to be devised . The old system of food aid is not working properly. These are the suggestions of the FAO:
"To lift themselves out of hunger, the food-insecure need
control over resources,
access to opportunities,
and improved governance at the international,
national and local levels. "
I'll be talking more about hunger at our next class, if we have time.
Jonas spoke about food waste. He read that the UK wastes 8.3 million tons of food per year. People order too much, cook too much, don't use food in time (before it goes bad) and do not know how to use leftovers intelligently. In addition, he pointed out that legal issues cause food producers to throw out - rather than give away - huge quantities of food. All this wasted food has an impact on fertilizer supply, energy use and the availability of food to poor people. So don't waste food.
Kiki had done some research on Fair Trade, a system by which consumers are informed that the price of a product includes a fair wage to the workers and a fair profit to the local producers. Kiki mentioned the FLO mark (Fair Trade Labeling Organization, International), which apparently is a pretty good guarantee of producer-friendly goods. She also passed around a pamphlet from Okogreen Café in Taipei, which serves Fair Trade coffee at Hangzhou S. Rd. Sec. 1 Lane 14 # 16 (1F). Call 02-2322-2225. This is a topic on which we should all get more information.
Jerry continued the discussion about coffee, noting that not all "Fair Trade" is the same. Oxfam, who began organizing Fair Trade coffee many years ago, truly worked to insure that a good part of the retail cost of coffee went to the workers and producers. Starbucks, on the other hand, developed their own "Fair Trade" system, which was hard for outsiders to monitor (so we don't really know how fair it is). He went on to give a very detailed talk about his favorite beverage. He informed us that 50% of the coffee in the world is controlled by 4 huge companies: Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Sarah Lee and Kraft. (These are huge companies, which care little about the environment, the livelihood of coffee producers, nor for the health of their consumers.) Jerry apparently has more connoisseur connections for his beans, which he roasts himself. There are two types of coffee plants: Arabica (sweeter, less caffeine) and Robusta (bigger seed, high caffeine). Here in Taiwan, we can grow Robusta, which likes lowlands and hot weather. The Arabica beans like cool, mountain climates.
What was super cool about Jerry's talk was that he brought a branch of his friend's tree, with both immature and mature coffee beans. Donald and I both got some seeds (beans) to plant in our gardens! One mature tree will produce a pound of coffee cherry per harvest, which works out to a quarter pound of dried coffee beans, and maybe 1 / 5 pound of roasted coffee. So we had better plant a lot.
Barrett talked about how to lose fat. Although nobody in the room was fat, he noted that we might have friends or family, or later be in the position to need this information ourselves. I hope not. He gave the calorie intake recommendations for various types of people, and stated that a 50 year old woman should take in 1620 calories per day, on average. However, he noted that nobody measures their calories very carefully, and "super-size" portions are common. This combines with a cultural norm to "eat everything on your plate". In addition, fast food (so common today) tends to be very high in calories. He gave a table of "correct portions "which indicated how much of each food it is appropriate to consume at one time. Butter was recommended at" the size of a postage stamp ", which is probably right for the overweight - but I might use two postage stamps if I'm mailing a large piece bread.
Susana was next, with a talk on Food Security, which is different than Food Safety. The latter term involves whether or not harmful ingredients are showing up in food, as in the melamine scare last year. Food Security is about knowing that you will have nutritious food for your family - today, tomorrow and next week. Apparently 230 million people wake up not knowing if they will get any food at all that day. Some of the reasons for food insecurity are: rising fuel and fertilizer costs, the use of food crops and farmland to make biofuel, and problems associated with climate change (such as drought). The price of nutritious food sometimes puts it out of reach for the poorest people. Other problems include production interruptions and problems with distribution. Susana also responded to Barrett's topic by saying that very good guidelines for the diet of Taiwanese people (possibly different than those for Americans or Nigerians) have been posted on the Department of Health website.
Ammar told us that, in Nepal, modern farming methods and better seeds could boost crop production. His family's land does not produce as much as does the land in Taiwan. Someone suggested that he contact President Ma. Apparently rice is grown in Nepal, and also corn.
Patrick then told us that the poor should eat worms and bugs, to supplement their protein. He noted that when other sources of protein are not available, there might be a lot of bugs around. The poor could even have worm farms so that they could eat these creatures regularly - possibly with some tasty sauce. I asked him if he had ever eaten worms, and he hadn't. Nor does he intend to. This is just for the poor.
Donald told of his experience hoarding food during World War II. He was both a farmer's son and a Japanese soldier, yet had very little to eat. Apparently farmers had to give most of their produce to the Japanese, who kept it in storage, thinking that the war would go on for a long time. In order to eat well, the farmers would kill pigs in the middle of the night, changing their tags with those of younger pigs. The men ate rice, but the women usually only ate sweet potatoes. Some people supplemented their nutirion by buying food on the black market. Since the Japanese had to observe harvest, and take all but what they allowed the farmer's family, some farmers would harvest early, and then burn the field. It's good to hear an honest tale about what people have to do to get by in hard times. Could this happen again?
Rebecca spoke briefly about the importance of food value, meaning that we should get good nutrition from our food. Fast foods and convenience foods often do not provide adequate nutrition. She mentioned the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grain bread and brown rice. This way we have healthier bodies. Unfortunately, we ran out of time shortly into her talk. I hope she will give us more next week.
Not everybody spoke. We'll talk about food again on Thursday, April 8. Those who were not able to present their views can begin, this time, and we'll have time for several more presentations.
Now I'd like to bring to your attention some grim facts about hunger in the world, not to scare you but to highlight the importance of our topic.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2009 assessment of world hunger can be accessed here:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i0876e/i0876e00.HTM
But its key points are summarized on this page:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e00.pdf
I'll try to summarize the key points. First, hunger was increasing - slowly, but steadily - before the recent economic crises. Now the problem has gotten much worse quite quickly. There are over a billion people not getting enough nutrition, and stunting of children (smaller size, mental deficiency, birth defects) is quite common, especially in Africa. When prices of food rise, or consumer incomes fall, people spend more of their budget on food, and less on medical care and education. This leads to long-term conditions that point to future poverty. (If you are sick and uneducated, it's hard to go out and make a good living.)
The FAO recommends that agricultural development be prioritized, even in times of financial crisis, because it is vital to protect against future malnutrition. Another recommendation is that safety nets (government help for people in distress) should be made broad and strong, though governments are trying to cut back on expenses these days. Allowing the poor to become weak and sick at this point will cause much trouble later.
Since the problem of poverty and malnutrition was not improving before the current crises, new strategies have to be devised . The old system of food aid is not working properly. These are the suggestions of the FAO:
"To lift themselves out of hunger, the food-insecure need
control over resources,
access to opportunities,
and improved governance at the international,
national and local levels. "
I'll be talking more about hunger at our next class, if we have time.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Visions of the Future
This week's topic is The Future. Who knows? But we wonder and we try to prepare for what might happen. The best way to decide what is likely in the future is to look closely at the trends we're in.
Look at the huge empires of the world: America, the old British Empire, Russia, and the return of the Chinese empire. Are they likely to be more or less capable of guaranteeing prosperity and justice within their borders? Are their huge economies likely to bind huge territories together as energy becomes scarce and the demands of local groups grow louder? One expected outcome of the current difficulties experienced by these empires is REGIONALIZATION.
China has pulled together and fallen apart many times. And it may be the last empire to fall apart in the 21st century. Or not. Remember Lee Teng-hui's 1999 book in which he suggested seven autonomous regions of the Chinese world: Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Northeastern China, Northern China and Southern China.
For Taiwan to keep sovereignty (and not be owned by China, America, Japan or International Capital) is a very hard task these days. It would mean having an economy run by Taiwanese people, for Taiwanese people (an end to globalization). It would mean defending the island not only against national armies (such as that of the PRC) but against thousands -- maybe hundreds of thousands -- of Asian refugees when times get tough and hungry people take to boats. It would also mean uniting the various ethnic groups in a common purpose: the prosperity, freedom and happiness of all the people who live here.
In America, the national government is failing in many ways. A huge yearly budget deficit increases our immense national debt each year, and it's a debt that will never be paid off. Taxpayer dollars are given to New York bankers, and the money that comes back to the local regions often fails to help out, because it's spent on wasteful projects. The bloated American military no longer defends America from anything real; instead it sucks money from the taxpayers and gives it to the arms manufacturers and other big contractors, while blowing up the homes of people around the world. At least these are some of the complaints made by Secessionists (people who want to secede -- break away from the larger country and form a smaller country).
To illustrate the depth of this movement, I here offer a list of links to existing secessionist groups in North America. Some of the ideas, such as New Hampshire independence, have only a handful of supporters. Others, such as the movments in Quebec, Puerto Rico and Hawaii (all of which identify with non-English languages), are very powerful voices in their regions.
Where I come from, usually called Oregon, many people consider themselves NOT primarily Oregonians or Americans, but Cascadians. The future Republic of Cascadia is said to be based on a common climate and lifestlye, a liberal outlook, respect for nature and a common relationship to a long, shared stretch of the Pacific coastline. Economic independence would be easy to handle, due to the abundance of natural resources, including good farmland.
Well, anyway, here's the list:
http://www.texasnationalist.com/ (Republic of Texas)
and
http://www.texasnationalist.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=98
http://www.vermontrepublic.org/ Second Vermont Republic
http://www.republicofnh.org/ Republic of New Hampshire
http://novacadia.org/ Republic of Novacadia
(Nova Scotia - Prince Edward Island - New Brunswick - Maine - New Hampshire)
http://www.akip.org/ Alaska Independence Party
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/ Hawaii – Independent and Strong
http://zapatopi.net/cascadia.html
Republic of Cascadia (Oregon - Washington - British Columbia)
http://www.jeffersonstate.com/
State of Jefferson (Southern Oregon - Northern Calfornia)
http://www.bear-flag-party.8k.com/
Bear Flag Party (California Independence)
http://www.secessionist.us/Lakota/declarationofcontinuingindependence.pdf
Lakota Nation (Sioux Indians in North and South Dakota)
http://www.southernnationalcongress.org/manifesto.shtml#1
(The South is a nation.)
http://www.pq.org/
Party Quebecois (Quebec Sovereignty – French only)
http://www.separationalberta.com/ Separation Party of Alberta
http://www.independencia.net/ingles/welcome.html
(Partido Independentista Puertorriqueno -- Puerto Rico Independence)
MAPS
http://gacc.nifc.gov/eacc/logistics/all_risk/Homeland_Security_Regions_Map.png
FEMA Regions
http://www.cec.org/pubs_info_resources/publications/enviro_conserv/images/english/carte_ang.gif
Climate Regions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America
Nine Nations of North America
http://api.ning.com/files/VCwONzx2-jG0KBrAfrOppiD9ejB*LEin8fnDjm*T9U-odK4mGfEd3fYNWOIydD1rbaUYMxMTZf6dm9LpP6M1Qy90r-YpiENV/19NationsofNorthAmericamap.JPG
Nineteen Nations of North America
Look at the huge empires of the world: America, the old British Empire, Russia, and the return of the Chinese empire. Are they likely to be more or less capable of guaranteeing prosperity and justice within their borders? Are their huge economies likely to bind huge territories together as energy becomes scarce and the demands of local groups grow louder? One expected outcome of the current difficulties experienced by these empires is REGIONALIZATION.
China has pulled together and fallen apart many times. And it may be the last empire to fall apart in the 21st century. Or not. Remember Lee Teng-hui's 1999 book in which he suggested seven autonomous regions of the Chinese world: Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Northeastern China, Northern China and Southern China.
For Taiwan to keep sovereignty (and not be owned by China, America, Japan or International Capital) is a very hard task these days. It would mean having an economy run by Taiwanese people, for Taiwanese people (an end to globalization). It would mean defending the island not only against national armies (such as that of the PRC) but against thousands -- maybe hundreds of thousands -- of Asian refugees when times get tough and hungry people take to boats. It would also mean uniting the various ethnic groups in a common purpose: the prosperity, freedom and happiness of all the people who live here.
In America, the national government is failing in many ways. A huge yearly budget deficit increases our immense national debt each year, and it's a debt that will never be paid off. Taxpayer dollars are given to New York bankers, and the money that comes back to the local regions often fails to help out, because it's spent on wasteful projects. The bloated American military no longer defends America from anything real; instead it sucks money from the taxpayers and gives it to the arms manufacturers and other big contractors, while blowing up the homes of people around the world. At least these are some of the complaints made by Secessionists (people who want to secede -- break away from the larger country and form a smaller country).
To illustrate the depth of this movement, I here offer a list of links to existing secessionist groups in North America. Some of the ideas, such as New Hampshire independence, have only a handful of supporters. Others, such as the movments in Quebec, Puerto Rico and Hawaii (all of which identify with non-English languages), are very powerful voices in their regions.
Where I come from, usually called Oregon, many people consider themselves NOT primarily Oregonians or Americans, but Cascadians. The future Republic of Cascadia is said to be based on a common climate and lifestlye, a liberal outlook, respect for nature and a common relationship to a long, shared stretch of the Pacific coastline. Economic independence would be easy to handle, due to the abundance of natural resources, including good farmland.
Well, anyway, here's the list:
http://www.texasnationalist.com/ (Republic of Texas)
and
http://www.texasnationalist.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=98
http://www.vermontrepublic.org/ Second Vermont Republic
http://www.republicofnh.org/ Republic of New Hampshire
http://novacadia.org/ Republic of Novacadia
(Nova Scotia - Prince Edward Island - New Brunswick - Maine - New Hampshire)
http://www.akip.org/ Alaska Independence Party
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/ Hawaii – Independent and Strong
http://zapatopi.net/cascadia.html
Republic of Cascadia (Oregon - Washington - British Columbia)
http://www.jeffersonstate.com/
State of Jefferson (Southern Oregon - Northern Calfornia)
http://www.bear-flag-party.8k.com/
Bear Flag Party (California Independence)
http://www.secessionist.us/Lakota/declarationofcontinuingindependence.pdf
Lakota Nation (Sioux Indians in North and South Dakota)
http://www.southernnationalcongress.org/manifesto.shtml#1
(The South is a nation.)
http://www.pq.org/
Party Quebecois (Quebec Sovereignty – French only)
http://www.separationalberta.com/ Separation Party of Alberta
http://www.independencia.net/ingles/welcome.html
(Partido Independentista Puertorriqueno --
MAPS
http://gacc.nifc.gov/eacc/logistics/all_risk/Homeland_Security_Regions_Map.png
FEMA Regions
http://www.cec.org/pubs_info_resources/publications/enviro_conserv/images/english/carte_ang.gif
Climate Regions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America
Nine Nations of North America
http://api.ning.com/files/VCwONzx2-jG0KBrAfrOppiD9ejB*LEin8fnDjm*T9U-odK4mGfEd3fYNWOIydD1rbaUYMxMTZf6dm9LpP6M1Qy90r-YpiENV/19NationsofNorthAmericamap.JPG
Nineteen Nations of North America
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Population and Food
NOTE: WE WILL NOT HAVE CLASS TOMORROW, 11/12/09.
NEXT CLASS WILL BE ON 11/19.
WE WILL DISCUSS POPULATION AND FOOD.
Grain production has not been keeping up with the increase in population, and since the 1980s there has been a gradual decline in the grain per person, worldwide. Worldwide, there are over a billion people close to starvation today, and the population keeps increasing. How will we feed everyone?
Now, biofuel is using a large fraction of the grain harvest, reducing food availability and driving up the cost of grain and meat. Actually, most corn is used to feed cattle, to make beef. It takes 16 kilos of vegetable protein (mostly grain) to make one kilo of meat protein. Meat eating by rich countries means less grain for the people of poor countries. So one obvious way to increase the food supply is to decrease worldwide meat consumption. This is something individual people can do to help ease world hunger, and it saves them money, too, because meat is one of the most expensive items on any food budget.
We could talk about the impact of rising oil prices on the production (and cost) of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, on the cost of food distribution (you probably buy fruit flown from Chile, juice from South Africa and cookies from America), and on the cost of running farm machinery. As resources -- such as metals, wood (and thus paper) and oil (and therefore plastics, medicines, electricity and many other necessary things) -- become scarce and more expensive, poor people have less to spend on food, and their diets suffer as a result. The availability of fresh water for farm irrigation is shrinking rapidly, as glaciers melt, rainfall becomes irregular and pollution makes much of the world's water unusable.
These are not just problems for the poor of distant countries. Food scarcity was known by the grandparents of today's Taiwan workers, and it could come again. In fact, unemployment is already having an impact on the food budgets of many Taiwanese. And even if you eat well, how does it feel to know that you are competing for grain with the "bottom billion", who may starve if they cannot afford to buy food? These our our problems, too.
When we meet on 11/19, I hope everyone will have a short report on some topic related to population and food. Here are some links to help you with your research:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/09/10/2003453153
US, UK waste enough to feed the world’s poor
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/09/05/2003452799
Millions face starvation in East African drought
http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Grain/2006_data.htm#fig2
Two graphs on this page show increase in total grain production (to 2006) AND grain per person. Note that grain per person has declined since the 1980s. If you and your friends (like me and my friends) have continued to eat the same amount of grain as we did in the 1980s – or even more, that means the “bottom billion” are eating much less.
http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=834
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that Europe would need to convert more than 70 per cent of its total arable land to raise the proportion of biofuel currently used in road transport to a mere 10 per cent.
…As we consider whether to fill our bellies or our motorways it’s worth considering this: the grain needed to fill a typical SUV’s 25-gallon tank with bioethanol would feed one person for a year.
http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/271
Adding to China's water concerns, scientists are now reporting that the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in western China are melting at an alarming rate. Analyzing four decades of data from nearly 700 weather stations, experts estimate the glaciers are shrinking seven percent each year due to global warming.
...The loss of China's glaciers will exacerbate already severe water shortages throughout the country. The Yangtze, Yellow, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Salween Rivers all originate from these glaciers, and then go on to feed nearly half a billion people downstream. The Yangtze River Basin alone accounts for 40 percent of China's freshwater resources and over half of all rice, grain and fisheries production.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,639224,00.html
Foreign Investors Snap Up African Farmland
By Horand Knaup and Juliane von Mittelstaedt July 30, 2009
http://www.holmgren.com.au/html/Writings/essence.html
Permaculture, a new way of growing more food
NEXT CLASS WILL BE ON 11/19.
WE WILL DISCUSS POPULATION AND FOOD.
Grain production has not been keeping up with the increase in population, and since the 1980s there has been a gradual decline in the grain per person, worldwide. Worldwide, there are over a billion people close to starvation today, and the population keeps increasing. How will we feed everyone?
Now, biofuel is using a large fraction of the grain harvest, reducing food availability and driving up the cost of grain and meat. Actually, most corn is used to feed cattle, to make beef. It takes 16 kilos of vegetable protein (mostly grain) to make one kilo of meat protein. Meat eating by rich countries means less grain for the people of poor countries. So one obvious way to increase the food supply is to decrease worldwide meat consumption. This is something individual people can do to help ease world hunger, and it saves them money, too, because meat is one of the most expensive items on any food budget.
We could talk about the impact of rising oil prices on the production (and cost) of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, on the cost of food distribution (you probably buy fruit flown from Chile, juice from South Africa and cookies from America), and on the cost of running farm machinery. As resources -- such as metals, wood (and thus paper) and oil (and therefore plastics, medicines, electricity and many other necessary things) -- become scarce and more expensive, poor people have less to spend on food, and their diets suffer as a result. The availability of fresh water for farm irrigation is shrinking rapidly, as glaciers melt, rainfall becomes irregular and pollution makes much of the world's water unusable.
These are not just problems for the poor of distant countries. Food scarcity was known by the grandparents of today's Taiwan workers, and it could come again. In fact, unemployment is already having an impact on the food budgets of many Taiwanese. And even if you eat well, how does it feel to know that you are competing for grain with the "bottom billion", who may starve if they cannot afford to buy food? These our our problems, too.
When we meet on 11/19, I hope everyone will have a short report on some topic related to population and food. Here are some links to help you with your research:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/09/10/2003453153
US, UK waste enough to feed the world’s poor
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/09/05/2003452799
Millions face starvation in East African drought
http://www.earth-policy.org/Indicators/Grain/2006_data.htm#fig2
Two graphs on this page show increase in total grain production (to 2006) AND grain per person. Note that grain per person has declined since the 1980s. If you and your friends (like me and my friends) have continued to eat the same amount of grain as we did in the 1980s – or even more, that means the “bottom billion” are eating much less.
http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=834
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that Europe would need to convert more than 70 per cent of its total arable land to raise the proportion of biofuel currently used in road transport to a mere 10 per cent.
…As we consider whether to fill our bellies or our motorways it’s worth considering this: the grain needed to fill a typical SUV’s 25-gallon tank with bioethanol would feed one person for a year.
http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/271
Adding to China's water concerns, scientists are now reporting that the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in western China are melting at an alarming rate. Analyzing four decades of data from nearly 700 weather stations, experts estimate the glaciers are shrinking seven percent each year due to global warming.
...The loss of China's glaciers will exacerbate already severe water shortages throughout the country. The Yangtze, Yellow, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Salween Rivers all originate from these glaciers, and then go on to feed nearly half a billion people downstream. The Yangtze River Basin alone accounts for 40 percent of China's freshwater resources and over half of all rice, grain and fisheries production.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,639224,00.html
Foreign Investors Snap Up African Farmland
By Horand Knaup and Juliane von Mittelstaedt July 30, 2009
http://www.holmgren.com.au/html/Writings/essence.html
Permaculture, a new way of growing more food
Saturday, October 24, 2009
This Thursday, 10/29, we will discuss the "people's economy". This is sometimes called the "Main Street Economy", to distinguish it from the "Wall Street Economy". The stock market may go up or down. Big business may raise prices, lower salaries and fire personnel, but somehow we all have to live. So we need to focus on economic activity that we can do to help ourselves, our families and friends, and our whole community THRIVE.
Some ideas include:
Give gifts. (Give with no "guanxi" expected, no profit taken -- just to help and love. If people get used to receiving they will start to give. When everyone is happy to give, everybody will have enough.)
Barter. (I'll give you 10 kilos of tommatoes for your old tape recorder.)
Grow food. (You can grow a lot of food, such as sprouts, tomatoes and beans on a small apartment balcony. But you can grow much more food by renting a community garden plot.)
Cook meals at home. (If you cannot cook, learn. If you can, save money by cooking more meals at home. You can also share meals with neighbors and friends.)
Save energy. (Change to LED lighting, ride a bicycle instead of motor vehicle, open a window instead of turning on the aircon, wear a jacket instead of turning on the heater...)
Learn to make stuff. (Start out simple, making things for yourself and friends -- like clothes, furniture, toys, greeting cards, bags -- and when you're really good, you can sell or trade them to improve your personal economy.)
Sell or trade what you don't need. (Flea markets and garage sales are common in America. There are also websites such as Craigslist and Freecycle. E-bay is another way to profit from stuff that is no longer important to you.)
Buy second-hand stuff. (From books to automobiles, you'll get more value for the money, buying good-quality used equipment. Flea markets and similar venues are a great way to pick up stuff you need very cheaply.)
Pay off debts and avoid new debt. (Paying interest -- up to 20% on some credit card debt -- steals from your family's economy. If you need to borrow, get money from friends and relatives, at no interest, and pay it back right away. That way, everyone has enough money.)
Substitute inexpensive or free entertainments. (Going to the beach might cost only a few NT$, and be more fun than an expensive movie. Playing basketball is free. The library offers art books, novels, movies, music and much more -- for free! Enjoy parties at home and games with family members. Vacation near home: Hualien or Taitung may be as interesting and enjoyable as Thailand or Bali.)
I'm sure you can come up with other ideas. Please make a presentation of 5-10 minutes on one good way to improve personal economy, outside of the money economy. We all know that the money economy is controlled by rich people who get richer every day. By withdrawing (even a little) from the "Wall Street Economy", we can begin to build a "Main Street Economy" that helps everyone and allows us all to THRIVE.
Some ideas include:
Give gifts. (Give with no "guanxi" expected, no profit taken -- just to help and love. If people get used to receiving they will start to give. When everyone is happy to give, everybody will have enough.)
Barter. (I'll give you 10 kilos of tommatoes for your old tape recorder.)
Grow food. (You can grow a lot of food, such as sprouts, tomatoes and beans on a small apartment balcony. But you can grow much more food by renting a community garden plot.)
Cook meals at home. (If you cannot cook, learn. If you can, save money by cooking more meals at home. You can also share meals with neighbors and friends.)
Save energy. (Change to LED lighting, ride a bicycle instead of motor vehicle, open a window instead of turning on the aircon, wear a jacket instead of turning on the heater...)
Learn to make stuff. (Start out simple, making things for yourself and friends -- like clothes, furniture, toys, greeting cards, bags -- and when you're really good, you can sell or trade them to improve your personal economy.)
Sell or trade what you don't need. (Flea markets and garage sales are common in America. There are also websites such as Craigslist and Freecycle. E-bay is another way to profit from stuff that is no longer important to you.)
Buy second-hand stuff. (From books to automobiles, you'll get more value for the money, buying good-quality used equipment. Flea markets and similar venues are a great way to pick up stuff you need very cheaply.)
Pay off debts and avoid new debt. (Paying interest -- up to 20% on some credit card debt -- steals from your family's economy. If you need to borrow, get money from friends and relatives, at no interest, and pay it back right away. That way, everyone has enough money.)
Substitute inexpensive or free entertainments. (Going to the beach might cost only a few NT$, and be more fun than an expensive movie. Playing basketball is free. The library offers art books, novels, movies, music and much more -- for free! Enjoy parties at home and games with family members. Vacation near home: Hualien or Taitung may be as interesting and enjoyable as Thailand or Bali.)
I'm sure you can come up with other ideas. Please make a presentation of 5-10 minutes on one good way to improve personal economy, outside of the money economy. We all know that the money economy is controlled by rich people who get richer every day. By withdrawing (even a little) from the "Wall Street Economy", we can begin to build a "Main Street Economy" that helps everyone and allows us all to THRIVE.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Economic Crisis 2009
Students of Contemporary Issues have so far considered Global Warming, Peak Oil, Sports Issues, Health Issues and War. Come Thursday, October 22, our topic will be The Economic Crisis Today.
Some smaller issues within this topic include:
Alan Greenspan: Who is he? What did he do?
Derivatives: What are they? What effect have they had on the economic crisis?
Goldman Sachs: How is this company so successful, in spite of the crisis?
Is Taiwan recovering well from the crisis? What can we expect for 2010?
How did American mortgages affect the world economic crisis?
China in these troubled times: big winner?
What is the world reserve currency and how is it likely to change?
What stocks are doing well today? Which are doing poorly?
What is hyper-inflation? What is deflation? Which is more likely to occur in 2010?
What is happening in the automobile industry?
OR, choose your own subject. Please prepare a 5-10 minute report. Don't read an essay -- tell us in your own words about the ideas you have studied.
Some smaller issues within this topic include:
Alan Greenspan: Who is he? What did he do?
Derivatives: What are they? What effect have they had on the economic crisis?
Goldman Sachs: How is this company so successful, in spite of the crisis?
Is Taiwan recovering well from the crisis? What can we expect for 2010?
How did American mortgages affect the world economic crisis?
China in these troubled times: big winner?
What is the world reserve currency and how is it likely to change?
What stocks are doing well today? Which are doing poorly?
What is hyper-inflation? What is deflation? Which is more likely to occur in 2010?
What is happening in the automobile industry?
OR, choose your own subject. Please prepare a 5-10 minute report. Don't read an essay -- tell us in your own words about the ideas you have studied.
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