Tea

In 1962, The great Britain left Jamaica signifying the end of an era. With British Imperialism closing and public awareness of inhumane treatment of former Britain's colonies rising, tea workers' fortunes seemed to have changed for better. Britain's former colonies got their nations back but British have left the colonies too fast and too soon leaving her former colonies with nothing but poverty and mountains of problems. Tea workers since the 1600s were not directly hired by the westerners. The general public's concern were white westerners oppressing their colonists but in reality, cruelties that the workers faced came directly from the tea harvesters who had the same color of skin as the workers. When the British left her colonies, overseers of the tea harvest farms became the masters which were only reserved for the white westerners before. For the overseers of the tea harvest farms, end of British imperial rule was good but for the workers, Nothing has changed since the first shipment of tea were shipped to the West in 1610. Inhumane conditions continued while the image of tea trade tricked consumers into thinking that tea workers are happy for their new found independence.

The Extinction of Bananas

The Panama disease is leading to the extinction of bananas. The Big Mike or also known as the Gros Michael banana were very popular to consumers, but was soon hit by the Panama epidemic after World War II. Americans loved the creamy texture, scrumptious flavor, and thick skin of the Gros Michael bananas. However, “a disease began to ravage banana crops not long after the first banana trees were planted in Central America” (Koeppel xiv-xv). The disease spread like wildfire that it began to kill every plantation, one after the next. The Gros Michael bananas soon became extinct, and led to a new banana in Malyasia. However, the new banana died as well, and scientists discovered that there was a tragic discovery of the infectious disease. “An unknown pathogen was working its way into the roots of the plant, discoloring leaves, and choking off water supplies” (Koeppel xvii), which shocked scientists because the new banana was supposed to be “untouchable.” Scientists wanted to find a way for to preserve the banana and to save it from becoming extinct. “For the past five years, banana scientists have been trying-in a race against time-to modify the fruit to make it resistant to Panama disease” (Koeppel xviii). Consumers do not know that America’s favorite fruit would soon become extinct if scientists do not find a way to help these bananas become resistant to the deadly disease.

opium smoking

Although the drug was creating addicts, the numbers were still limited. It was not until smoking through tobacco pipes was introduced to China, that the true problem with the cultivation of this plant began. Early 17th century brought about a new form of recreation, smoking tobacco mixed with opium through pipes. Smoking opium gives the body a high within one minute of inhaling and was seen as a much more appealing way of using the drug. The opium pipe drew more people to use the drug than ever before. Common people and even women were smoking opium, which was a drastic change from the rich and elite who originally used it. This new form of using opium caught on quickly and spread so fast the Chinese government couldn’t keep it under control. The high demand for the drug made many countries reliant on importing to opium China and created much competition between them. The amount of opium imported to China grew from two hundred chests in 1729 to ten thousand in 1830, and even forty thousand in 1838 (Britannica). The record-breaking amounts of imported opium began causing other nations, such as Afghanistan, to take notice of the desired cash crop.

The Rise of Opium

The current problem with opium is that it is distributed majorly by Afghanistan. The only reason that Afghanistan is able to make such a great profit on opium is because it has developed into a highly addictive drug that has accumulated a phenomenal amount of users over the course of its history.
Opium use in China began as a recreational event for the upper class, but it was eaten for the most part, which was a less harmful use of the drug. Eventually sailors brought tobacco into China, and introduced the activity of smoking tobacco to the Chinese. Smoking became such a big hit in China that the Emperor decided to ban it to prevent it from damaging the population. With the ban on tobacco smoking, the Chinese decided to begin smoking opium in its place. They did not know that smoking opium was a much more effective way to intake the drug. This led to a higher rate of addiction, and essentially created the path to the world's use of opium derived drugs. The opium trade spread around the world, and many people became hooked, mostly to the derivative of it known as heroin. Eventually, two of the main players in the trade triangle that had the most control had fall outs within their government, and the trade was disrupted. This led to the shift of the trade to Afghanistan, and the rise to their power in opium trade.

Rice production history in Asia

Rice grew to be a necessity in Asian cuisine since it was able to adapt the diverse temperatures and regions throughout Asia, beginning in 10,000 B.C. After thousands of years of the same system of production, agriculture was introduced which brought about an abundance of rice in Asia. The first real community of rice breeders generated between 5000 and 4000 B.C. in the southern coastal area at Homutu, China. This brought about a change in the cities to organize their land to properly administer appropriate amounts of land and water necessary to irrigate the land and feed a growing population. Providing large quantities of water in irrigated fields was the key factor to producing a successful field of rice. Over 2-5,000 liter of water are necessary to grow one kilogram of rice. Irrigations systems continued to be built during the Warring period, which began in 770 B.C. and concluded in 21 B.C. With continued construction of irrigations systems, such as the Tu-Cheng-Yen-Dam constructed in the Sichuan Province in 250 B.C., ponds and dams were constructed to reservoir water and impound fresh water. As rice production continued and years passed, rice diversity increased, creating over 140,000 varieties, almost 80,000 of them residing in Los Banos, Phillippines. These varieties have allowed past breeders to meet their demands for rice production and thus are not concerned with the irrigations techniques they have used to produce rice. Preserving water is important in rice production since millions of hectares are used for rice production; over 136 million hectares of land were used to produce rice in Asia in the year 2000.

Coffee's Rise in Popularity

One main event in the history of the rise in popularity of coffee in the United States was the advent of instant coffee.  In 1938, a scientist by the name of Max Mortgethaler of the Nestle Company formulated a technique of freeze-dried instant coffee in order to expand consumption of coffee throughout the world.  At this time, Brazil, the major exporter of coffee, experienced the dilemma of a coffee surplus.  Instant coffee needed to be invented in order to help aid the Brazilian government with this surplus problem by making coffee more accessible.  This would allow the exportation of a greater quantity of coffee beans distributed throughout the world, following with an increase in consumption within various countries.  Specifically in the United States, this invention significantly effected the consumption and popularity of coffee among the citizens.  In 1940, the U.S military used instant coffee as a staple beverage during World War II because it was simple to make.  During this time, the producers of the coffee plant in the United States reserved the one million cases per year of coffee for military purposes.  After the war, Nestle decided to introduce their product of instant coffee to the general United States consumer population.  Instant coffee's presence in the military of the United States caused a greater exposure of this new way of making coffee to more American citizens and therefore caused consumption of this beverage to rise.  Individuals learned that this technique made coffee soluble in hot water while still retaining flavor, two aspects that appealed to the coffee consumer.  Not only did the advent of instant coffee make coffee easier to make and more accessible, but its presence in the United States military also invoked a sense of nationalism, further increasing its popularity and consumption.  Instant coffee directly caused a rise in the intake of coffee by the citizens of the United States and therefore factors into the present social problem surrounding coffee.  Large amounts of coffee consumption prove to cause harmful health effects.  Due to an increase in popularity of coffee throughout its history in the United States, coffee consumption rates increased, leading to the current social matter of a heightened number of individuals in American society at risk to major health problems.  

One of the Problems With Cattle

The Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 was an important movement in the cattle industry. The act required farmers to treat their cattle more humanely at the time of their death. This included animals being “stunned into unconsciousness prior to their slaughter to ensure a quick, relatively painless death” (Humane 3). People were concerned with what was happening to the animals they were eating, prior to be being on their plate. The cattle industry took notice of this change and began moving towards different advertising strategies. In 1978 the Humane Slaughter Act was reformed, and the movement towards different advertising for cattle continued. The reformation called for even stricter humane requirements of cattle.
Consumers that helped the act become reformed wanted the healthiest meat possible, while still protecting the animals. Advertising and marketing for cattle pushed the labels of “organic” and “free-range” farms on these caring consumers. The advertisements lead consumers to believe that the products with these labels mean the meat is healthier, because it is hormone free. Also, consumers believe it is better for the animals since they are raised on a “free-range” farm. Neither of these beliefs are actually true. However, the cattle companies are doing nothing to correct the image of “healthier” or “safer” meat, because they are making a large profit.

opium problem

The main problem today with opium is that it is fueling terrorists. Specifically, the fact that our anti-terrorist actions as a country are working counter-productively to fuel the hatred of the US and to fund the people who hate us. This problem really began after September 11 when president Bush declared a war on terror, which meant a war in Iraq, which meant occupying forces everywhere in the middle east, including Afghanistan. The occupying troops in Afghanistan and the occupation in general of the middle easy caused chaos and led to many taliban members to flee afghanistan to go into hiding. Before this happened, the Taliban controlled the production of opium very much like gangs control the distribution of drugs in America. With many Taliban members gone, more and more farmers could take up growing and selling Opium, the most lucrative thing to grow as a farmer. In addition, these farmers and others in Afghanistan began to change their ideological way of thinking. Farmers who were once very non-political or moderate have now gotten very angry that their homeland is being taken over by foreign forces, and now that they are making decent money selling opium, are more inclined to contribute some of their income to the Taliban and their Anti-American efforts.

Need for Pesticides

The popularization of a single breed of banana is directly linked to the current problem of workers rights in the banana industry. Currently, workers are not being properly informed of the dangers of working with pesticides, and are not being provided proper protection by their supervisors when they are in contact with pesticides.
The breed of banana popularized in the United States is derived from a line of bananas first pioneered by a Jamaican man named Jean Pouyat in 1837. This breed line has the Gros Michel rhizome in it, which is a genetically inherited component. Due to the genetic need for bananas to be related in order to inherit this component, the line of bananas has very little gene variation. The lack of gene variation in a plant does not allow it to evolve along with its predators, thus making it more susceptible to diseases and pests. Since this same gene pool for bananas has been in circulation for over a hundred years, these plants are susceptible to a variety of diseases that have perfected the art of attacking them, the main two of which are Panama disease and Sigatoka disease. This low gene variation is significant because it causes them to need extra human care. In order for the bananas to survive these diseases, they must be sprayed with pesticides by workers. These pesticides can cause harm to the workers if they are not properly equipped with protection. If it were not for the popularization of a particular banana breed, then there would be no need for workers to be put in harm’s way to spray the plants, because the bananas would be allowed to naturally co-evolve with their pests.

Week 5: Pulling Teeth

I know we're in Week 7 now, but I'm a little backed up--in blogs especially. So I'll be slowly turning old things in in the next few weeks.
Having taken this course multiple times, I could write a good deal about what I like and do not like about it. But I will restrict myself to just a few.
Firstly, I am very, very glad that they have allowed the option of taking this course online. From the first time I took this course, I thought it should be available online rather than in class as so much outside time is necessary to complete the course. I took a writing course at my community college online and it was the greatest thing ever because we only met once at the start, during the middle, and at the end of the semester. In saying that I am I glad this course is online, I do not agree that we should have a mandatory meeting every week. I think that still slightly defeats the purpose of having the course online. I think that if students want help figuring things out, they should just be able to contact the instructor individually and keep open communication with their fellow students. I also believe that instructors’ office hours can add to that help; students can visit their instructor if they need to.
Secondly, we’ve been told as students that a letter grade is what it is regardless of the symbols that follow it (e.g. an A is technically still an A whether it has a + or – or nothing after it). Therefore, I think it is superfluous that the prerequisite grade for this course in 39B or any equivalent course is a B or better, not B- or better. I received B- in 39B, and was not concerning by grades in my coursework, but my attendance. As with this course, I felt in 39B my time was better used outside the classroom doing my work on my time and not having to be involved with redundant discussions about a website that we did not have to use every function for, and could explore and ask questions about on our own. Also, I did not (and still do not) feel it necessary to take every class to review every bit of the syllabus and everything to do with the entire course when that time could be used to work on our assignments.
Also, on a more personal level, I unfortunately have not been interested in any of the reading that I have been given. It took me a few times to read the initial book I was required (Nickel and Dimed) before I retained any information from it. I eventually bought the book-on-CD to help me. And I was really ready at this point to take the course for one last time, and then I was given another book that I again was uninterested in. I could go on for a lot longer, but the bottom line is this course has been like pulling teeth without being sedated--for me anyway.