WINTER 2013
REALITIES OF FOOD
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE 3 WINTER 2013 REALITIES OF FOOD
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EDITORS IN CHIEF: C. Agustin Vergara Stanton Plummer-Cambridge LAYOUT EDITOR Mark F. Pizzi WRITERS: Derek Kang Mark F. Pizzi Phoebe Joaquin Christopher Wedeman Dylan P. Hammer Samuel Sabasteanski Cover Image by Patrik Jones Back Cover Image by Mark F. Pizzi
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THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
Introduction
FOREWARD: Our world is changing. The cycles on which we have built our lives as a species over the past ten thousand years are evolving faster than at any other time in human history. While the weather has been our first sign of the change, access to food for the ten billion of us expected to be on the earth by 2050 will be the fundamental issue that will cause the most suffering. Food is the foundation. But, like so many basic things in our modern, distracted lives we have learned to take for granted the calories that allow us to work, play, and imagine. How curious that so many of us fortunate ones have come to think of meals like wi-fi; always available and delivered without much thought. We can all understand that ten thousand years ago the development of agriculture allowed us to spend some of our waking hours doing something other than hunting down our next meal. How many hours a day do we even consider what we are eating, much less how we would go about gathering it from the “wild?” What a gift we have been given to spend our days thinking, considering things larger than that next meal. Food gives us a large degree of certainty in our lives and when the certainty we rely on for food itself starts to slip, so does everything else. How much longer do we have before our privileged time changes? As a farmer I see evidence of the human disruption of our ecological cycles every year. Smaller maple sugar runs, insects arriving earlier than the birds that eat them and bee populations struggling to survive are just a few. Add to this violent, stronger, and more frequent storms that ravage crops and wash away soil and the implications for our future are clear. That said, as we all start to observe the effects of our species’ excesses we can also watch for places to make changes for the better. Every effort we make as individuals gains momentum for the whole. Buying local, eating less meat, using self-powered transport, or growing your own food make gains for the square footage we stand on but there needs to be more. Until we can all work together and demand a larger wave of change, resulting in social and political evolution, the choice to make these changes will be made for us. Seth Kroeck Crystal Spring Farm 277 Pleasant HIll Road Brunswick, Maine, 04011 www.crystalspringcsa.com
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NORTH KOREA:
FEEDING A DECADENT REGIME by Derek Kang Image by Joseph A. Ferris III, Creative Commons
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
ON
September 3rd 2012, Typhoon Bolaven surged through the western coast of North Korea, displacing thousands of civilians and destroying over 50,000 acres of arable farmland. Already weakened by a series of debilitating floods since early July, North Korea found itself unable to adequately address the rampant starvation afflicting 16 million of its citizens. In response to the escalating food crisis to its north, South Korea offered to provide aid in the form of food and medical supplies, the first gesture of its kind in over two years. On September 10th, the North Korean government accepted the offer, further raising hopes of renewed diplomatic relations between the despotic regime and the international community. However, only two days later, such hopes were dashed as North Korean officials abruptly rejected the offer, simply stating, “That type of support is not needed.” North Korea’s notorious reputation for reneging on international accords coupled with its brutal human rights record makes it unsurprising to see the regime once
ISSUE 3 the North Korean people to starvation. Leaving millions homeless and starving, unprecedented levels of flooding placed enormous pressure on the authoritarian government to provide aid, provisions, and shelter to its citizens. Unfortunately, the already-inefficient national food distribution system was entirely dependent on a network of underground food stockpiles, the majority of which were destroyed during the floods. Through Kim Jong-Il’s establishment of songun or the “military-first” policy in 1995, what little remained was immediately diverted to sustain political elites and the military, leaving the rest of the Image courtesy of European Commission DG ECHO country to fend for themselves. Those again placing its sense of pride before who turned to the black market or the general welfare of its citizens. Due attempted to flee the country were to years of poor agricultural develop- ruthlessly punished through torture and execution, forcing the vast majoriment and a hostile attitude towards ty of citizens to starve to death. the international community, North For a country on the brink of Korea is now forced to confront societal collapse an issue that has and encumbered been building for However, only two by a stagnating the past 15 years, days later, such hopes economy, the only national starvation. feasible solution were dashed as North Drawing parallels seemed to lie in to the 1994 North Korean officials the international Korean famine, abruptly rejected the community. Unmany fear that offer, simply stating, fortunately, under current weather conditions will “That type of support the 46-year reign of Kim Il-Sung, once again serve as is not needed.” North Korea had the catalyst in probeen indoctrinatpelling the fragile state into another humanitarian crisis. ed under the philosophy of juche or “spirit of self-reliance,” a belief that Known as “the Arduous March,” the 1994 North Korean fam- demonized international influence as a weapon that would undermine ine took over 2 million lives within a North Korea’s development. Chamspan of four years and is considered pioning ideals of military power and to be one of the worst famines of economic and political independence, the 20th century. Although a variety Kim Il-Sung used this political theory of economic and political factors to establish a quasi-religious cult of precipitated this national crisis, it personality around himself and steep was a series of intense flooding and the country in what Professor Brian torrential rains that ultimately drove
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WINTER 2013 Myers of Dongseo University calls “a very, very crude and simple racebased nationalism.” He goes on to say that, “It is an enormously appealing doctrine. It is just as well suited to good economic times as to bad ones, because when things go well you can say it’s because your race is so great, and when things go badly you can blame them on foreigners.” Following his father’s death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il continued North Korea down its path towards isolated despotism in the hope of realizing his father’s dream of a powerful North Korean military. As of 2011, the North Korean People’s Army had over 1.2 million active-duty service members, making it the 4th largest military in the world after China, the United States, and India. As a result of the drastic militarization of North Korea in 1995, Kim Jong-Il has heightened regional tensions while further entrenching the country in a highly aggressive and obstinate stance towards the international community. Upon receiving South Korea’s first shipment of aid in 1995, North Korean soldiers “insisted that the South Korean [aid] ship hoist the North Korean flag and arrested a crew member as a spy for taking photographs of the harbor.” Similar acts of hostilities occur to this day as seen in the 2010 sinking of the ROKS Cheonan, in which a North Korean torpedo attack killed 46 South Korean sailors. Conflicted between a sense of moral and ethnic obligation and a desire to maintain national security, South Korea has debated for the past 17 years on whether or not it should continue to send aid shipments to its northern neighbor. After the 2008 election of current South Korean president, Lee Myung-Bak, South Korea has adopted a stricter and more demanding position with
Kang North Korea, willing to provide aid will soon arrive at the same crossonly after North Korea had agreed to roads his father did and will have to certain concessions. Since 2010, all choose between the pragmatism that aid has ceased, following the North will save his country from collapse Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the deeply ingrained doctrine and its vigorous pursuit of an effecthat has crippled his country for the tive nuclear weapons program. Only last 64 years. Perhaps Kim Jong-Un’s recently did the South Korean government even acknowledge the magnitude of starvation in North Korea, choosing instead to mitigate the situation and label North Korean requests as ploys to gain more assistance for their military. As weather conditions similar to those in the mid-90s worsen in North Korea, the possibility of another famine is becoming a distinct reality. Already, North Korea is undergoing its worst food shortage Not exactly the finest example of North Korean realism. in 10 years and the Image Courtesy of Joseph A Ferris III, Creative Commons regime has shown little desire to institute policies to truly promise of “developing the economy ameliorate the situation. The newly and improving livelihoods, so that appointed head of state, Kim Jongthe Korean people lead happy and Un, has continued many of the same civilized lives” will inspire reforms in policies his father had implemented his reclusive regime, but only time for 17 years such as massive detainwill tell. What we can be sure of is ment centers, public executions, and that such pervasive starvation will countless other forms of human rights undoubtedly force the government to abuses. However, with the looming implement major policy changes in threat of nationwide starvation, he the coming years.
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THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
ISSUE 3
Image by “Andrew _ B” of www.flickr.com, Creative Commons
COULD SUGAR BE TOXIC? by Mark F. Pizzi
IT IS
highly unusual, given that the average length of a YouTube video is four minutes and twelve seconds, for a 90 minute video to “go viral” and gain over 3 million views. Yet this is exactly what happened to the video of Dr. Robert H. Lustig’s lecture at the University of California San Francisco entitled “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”. The success of this video could be attributed to a number of factors, including the recent rise of food consciousness among the general public or the demonization of high-fructose corn syrup, but is most likely due to the persuasiveness with which Dr. Lustig argues his point, which, if correct, should greatly alter the way we think about nutrition. What Lustig argues is that sugar, more so than dietary fat, is the primary cause of the obesity and diabetes epidemics today, causes metabolic syndrome, and should be considered a toxic substance due to the way it is metabolized within the human body. While a number of public health officials have started putting sugar intake-limiting policy into action, most notably New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who instituted a controversial ban on super-sized soft drinks, Lustig argues that govern-
ment officials do not understand the seriousness of the substance’s effect on humans. He explains, “They’re talking about sugar like it’s empty calories. I’m here to tell you that it goes way beyond empty calories. The reason why this is a problem is because fructose is a poison.” Most Americans have known that sugar causes type II diabetes, though not because of any sort of toxic characteristics of the substance. Rather, it has been seen as a disease of overindulgence and unbalanced diet. In fact, sugar is often seen as an essential energy source by many who are less medically informed than Dr. Lustig. How then, the question arises, could he propose that such a substance is actually toxic? The answer can be found in a basic chemical explanation of sugar. Lustig explains that when he uses the term “sugar,” he is referring to fructose, which is a component of sucrose, or white table sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), its much-maligned chemical sibling. Most Americans recognize the term high-fructose corn syrup from the wave of bad publicity it has received in the last decade, which led to it becoming, as Lustig puts it, “the most demonized substance known to man.” And though, if Lustig’s research
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is to be believed, American public opinion was on the right track for the first part of this wave, popular ideas about the inherent healthiness and safety of natural food conflated with research condemning HFCS to produce widespread misconceptions that HFCS was dangerous because it was yet another poorly-designed, man-made chemical, while sugar was a natural, and therefore safe ingredient. In an attempt to combat the bad publicity, corn and soft drink producers devoted large funds to ad campaigns working to convince the public that HFCS and sucrose are one and the same, and the Corn Refiners Association released a statement in December of 2006 stating that research showed that “HFCS metabolizes and impacts satiety,” or hunger satisfaction, “similar to sugar.” As if his argument was not controversial enough, Lustig states emphatically in his lecture that he agrees completely. The research funded by the American beverage Institute and Corn Refiners Association is, according to Lustig, completely in line with the chemical fact. It is fairly simple to explain the relation between the two substances, as well. Sucrose is one glucose molecule bonded to one fructose, in a ratio of 50% fructose to 50% glucose. High-fructose corn syrup, meanwhile, comes in two varieties that are used most widely, HFCS 42 and HFCS 55. In HFCS 42, the variety used most frequently in beverages, processed foods, cereals and baked goods, the ratio is 42% fructose to 58% glucose. In HFCS 55, the variety used most often in soft drinks, the ratio is 55% fructose to 45% glucose. The bottom line, according to Lustig, is that there is virtually no difference to the human body. Although, it should be noted, he puts this and
WINTER 2013 many other declarations about the dangers of sugar in more emphatic terms: “They’re both dangerous. They’re both poison. Okay? I said it: poison.” Lustig’s emphatic tone, for the highly skeptical observer, may at times diminish his argument, but his scientific reasoning lends it legitimacy. He describes the chemistry of sugar’s metabolism within the liver reaction-by-reaction, comparing it to glucose and also ethanol (alcohol), long-considered a liver toxin by scientists. Essentially, glucose is fine for human consumption. This is not controversial: every cell in the body can derive energy from it without producing damaging by-products, and even though the liver stores the byproducts of a number of reactions involving glucose, there is no amount after which further consumption of glucose damages the liver. This is not true of fructose, however. Fructose does not suppress the hunger hormone ghrelin, a mechanism which tells the brain when the body is full. This is problematic for a number of reasons, chief among which is the fact that unlike glucose, the liver can not sustain unlimited fructose consumption. Ethanol and fructose are metabolized by the liver in very similar ways, and thus, the toxic by-products of ethanol metabolization in the liver also occur as a result of fructose metabolization. The excessive consumption of both substances can lead to the condition known as fatty liver. This is all the more likely to happen today because of how high the concentrations of fructose are in modern foodstuffs. The only wisdom to the natural foods movement has to do with rates of consumption of fructose. When a person eats an apple, they are taking in a relatively small amount of fructose
Pizzi over a reasonable amount of time. They are also taking in fiber, which studies have suggested (and Lustig agrees) seem to counteract some of the effects of rapid fructose consumption. In drinking a soda, however, a person takes in a very large amount of fructose in a very short amount of time, and receives no fiber to alleviate the effects. What this does is overwhelm the liver, rapidly depleting its limited resources for toxin processing and resulting in a much higher concentraPoison comes in all the colors of the rainbow. tion of toxins in the Image by Don Kittle, Creative Commons liver. Thus, one could think of are wrong in attributing the primadrinking a soda as the fructose ry cause of LDL concentrations in equivalent of binge drinking, and the body to dietary fat. They should unfortunately, given the rising previnstead place that blame on fructose. alence of added fructose to food and This is one of Lustig’s most controdrink, binging on fructose is becomversial points, because it contradicts ing harder to avoid. more than three decades of accepted Perhaps the most interestnutritional science. ing of Lustig’s points is that sugar is Since the 1970s, thanks to processed similar to fat in the human initiatives by public health officials, body. Unlike glucose, energy can not fat as a percentage of Americans’ diets be directly derived from fructose has been declining. In 1971, 36.9% by cells in the body. Instead, a series of the average man’s and 36.1% of the of reactions takes place to convert average woman’s diet was composed fructose to substances the cell can of fat. In 2000, those numbers both use, a process which creates fats and higher-density LDL, or Low-Density declined to 32.8%. To replace this, the percentage of men’s diets that Lipoprotein, which in itself has been were carbohydrates increased from blamed by nutritionists as the pri42.4% in 1971 to 49% in 2000, and mary cause of the obesity epidemic. for women, 45.4% in 1971 to 51.6% Nutritionists are right, according to in 2000. Meanwhile, contrary to Lustig, that LDL leads to increased what nutritionists expected, obesity risk of heart disease and obesity, but
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THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST rates for men and women respectively increased from 12.1% and 16.6% in 1971 to 27.7% and 34% in 2000. Expanding on this data, over the course of the last century fructose consumption in America has almost quintupled, from 15 grams per day at the turn of the century, to 54.7 grams per day in 1994. Among adolescents, this amount is even higher, at 72.8 grams per day, which is equivalent to 12.1% of their total caloric intake. This tremendous increase in consumption, according to Lustig, is primarily due to a large increase in added sugars used as sweeteners in beverages, processed foods, and ironically, in low and reduced fat products marketed as health foods. What is most clear about the health accusations Lustig makes against fructose is that more research needs to be done. Beyond the whiteboard chemistry that Dr. Lustig bases much of his argument on, he takes most of his scientific support from clinical data regarding the diets of patients being treated for obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, toxic liver, cirrhosis, and a variety of other metabolic illnesses. This is a good starting point, but more comprehensive studies establishing causation remain largely absent from the discussion. There are obvious challenges to getting such studies funded, as the very interest groups that fought so hard to clear High Fructose Corn Syrup’s public image would certainly fight to block funding for studies that might condemn fructose itself. This points to a larger problem in American food and health politics in general which facilitated the rise in fructose consumption to the grossly excessive levels we see today.
ISSUE 3
THE GUTKA BAN:
Image by James Gordon, Creative Commons
Redeeming, Idealistic, Ignorant, or Anti-indian? by Phoebe Joaquin
WHAT
do apples and tobacco have in common? In India, both are classified as food. This bizarre classification of certain tobacco products is a result of the Indian State Public Health Ministry’s interpretation of the Food Safety and Regulation Act of 2011, which includes a provision to ban any food product containing harmful adulterants. In a major, controversial health policy shift that could save millions of Indian lives, 14 of 28 Indian states have banned gutka, a popular form of chewing tobacco made of crushed betel nut, nicotine and laced with thousands of chemicals. However, perhaps an abrupt ban on this ubiquitous, albeit harmful, cultural habit is not the most effective or efficient form of tobacco prevention. Tobacco has been chewed in India for centuries, dating back to the mid-16th century Mughal empire when nawabs, native governors throughout the empire, chewed
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paan—a betel leaf wrapped around a mixture of areca nut, pastes, spices and tobacco. Paan and gutka are cultural fixtures in Indian society. Before many states’ recent prohibition, gutka was rampant, available for purchase at almost any vendor. It ensnared people rapidly and forcefully—its inexpensive, colorful packets of various flavors equally enticing to tired child laborers, looking for a cheap, gratifying fix following hours of enduring their labor’s extreme physical toll, as they were to wealthy, educated members of the upper class, stopping at a street vendor to purchase the morning’s newspaper. These 65 million people of different ages and irreconcilable social contexts had one thing in common that was uniquely Indian: gutka. And with this gutka came its plethora of adverse health effects. Annually, Indians battle 80,000 new cases of oral cancer, the leading cause of which is gutka. Other
WINTER 2013 side effects of gutka include heart attack, infertility, hypertension, reproductive health dysfunction and tumor growth. Gutka contains high amounts of magnesium carbonate, which induces respiratory and cardiac depression, and high levels of calcium carbonate, which damages the mucosa, causing chronic mucosal injuries and ulcers in the mouth. These negative health effects are further exacerbated by their economic repercussions. According to the most recent data available from research funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, treatment of tobacco-related diseases cost more than five billion dollars in 2002-2003—3.5 million dollars more than the government earned in excise revenue from tobacco. Tobacco’s detriment to India’s population and economy incentivize and legitimize governmental action. But of all the tobacco products prevalent in India, why gutka? While aiming to reduce negative health consequences of tobacco as a whole, the gutka ban seems to target domestic interests. Unlike other areas of tobacco manufacture, gutka manufacture and consumption are uniquely Indian. The large, multinational dominators of the international tobacco industry remain unhindered by the abrupt ban while small Indian manufacturers and distributers will be greatly impeded. Small-scale, Indian gutka manufacturers have criticized the ban’s preservation of the foreign, wealthy side of tobacco. Doctor Rachel Sturman, Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College, hypothesized that this predicament is an unfortunate consequence of the fact that gutka is simply one of the major components of the Indian tobacco culture that the government has the power to control.
Joaquin Should the government ignore the bribes or increased prices of the item adverse health effects of a product on the black market. Furthermore, the just because its industry is Indian? prohibition contains no educational According to the clear position of the component or rehabilitation plan. In Indian government, this would be a the United States, warnings, anti-todisservice to their citizens. bacco campaigns and increased tobacco education are prevalent and have The ban has been additionproven effective. In India, no such ally criticized for its methods. Many actions exist. believe that According to gutka should the Global not and Adult Tocannot be bacco Survey classified as a India, the food. “Food” estimated indicates that number of togutka is eaten bacco users in for nourishIndia is 274.9 ment. Gutka, million. however, is Rehabilitaconsumed tion practices for euphoria Image by Shaun Slifer, Creative Commons and relaxation and many contend that like nicotine patches are not feasible in a country as poor and populated it should be regulated as any other as India. Because the ban includes no tobacco product. Just because it is educational element and does nothing eaten orally, critiques argue, does not mean that it is a food. However, for as to disrupt the use of other widespread tobacco products, like paan or cigamany critics as the ban has spawned, rettes, Indians can easily replace gutka it has generated a much larger base with these other harmful products, of support. The ban has surprisingly rendering the gutka ban practically widespread endorsement, even from null in advancing the health of India. distributors who suffer immediate If the government does not at least negative finanical impacts as a result raise the taxes on these other tobacof the ban. It is evident that Indians co products, this ban could result recognize the widespread problems in a shift in the market rather than associated with tobacco use but this the eradication of tobacco’s negative does not necessarily mean that a ban health outcomes. on gutka is the best way to eradicate If a market switch rather than tobacco’s negative health effects. It is unclear how effective a tobacco prevention program is the this ban will be. Sturman explains result, the ban will simply destroy an that in India, there is a big difference industry that is inherently Indian. between law and life; practice does However, perhaps this ban is simply not always reflect the rules in place. a first step in tobacco deterrence, a Sturman asserts that this ban will defi- first instance of governmental tobacco nitely have an impact, but questions bans, health betterment and educawhat kind of impact it will be. These tional advancement. In that case, the states of India have a long way to go to government impediments could create further gutka casualties like police institute real reform.
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PALESTINIAN MASS HUNGER STRIKES by Christopher Wedeman
Image by Hossam el-Hamalawy, Creative Commons
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
FIRST
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia fled to Saudi Arabia, now Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is languishing in a (five star) Egyptian prison. After international involvement, Libyan revolutionaries captured and quickly killed Moammar Qadhafi. And without international involvement Syria’s Bashar al Assad is holding off any of those outcomes with an increasingly horrific and bloody civil war. And what of the supposed cradle of Middle Eastern conflict? For the past two turbulent years many inquisitive eyes looked towards the smoldering Israel-Palestine conflict, and waited for it to erupt in flames. Ironically, until Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza strip in November 2012, that small corner of the Levant, normally the definition of a bitter conflict, may have been the least turbulent area of the region. Expectations of a Third Intifada were unsubstantiated by a Palestinian population resisting in a manner largely unacknowledged by the rest of the world. In addition to peaceful protests against nearly half a century of military occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and (effectively) the Gaza Strip, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails staged a series of high-profile hunger strikes. The strikes were intended to highlight Israel’s practice of administrative detention (whereby Palestinians can be detained for extended periods of time without charges), as well as the intolerable conditions in Israeli jails.
The Rule of Law
The Israeli legal system does not apply to Palestinians in most of the territories it occupied following the June 1967 war. Rather, Israeli military courts dictate the law in
ISSUE 3 those areas. Israeli settlers in the same territory are considered Israeli citizens and thus are subject to a different generally much more lenient legal system. Settlers, unlike Palestinians, are allowed to carry weapons. Incidents such as the burning of Palestinian olive trees by Israeli settlers during harvest season, and settlers physically threatening or harming Palestinians often takes place in full view of Israeli soldiers, who rarely intervene. Collective punishment of Palestinian towns and villages is often the rule of law within the legal limbo that is the occupation. Families of Palestinians alleged to have been involved in attacks on Israelis often have their houses bulldozed in retaliation. Extensive Palestinian farmland and century-old olive groves are uprooted to make way for continued settlement expansion. Although the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the deportation of ‘protected persons’ from occupied territory, since the First Intifada, most Palestinian prisoners are deported to prisons and detention facilities on Israeli territory. Thousands have been detained under the regime of administrative detention, one that Israeli occupation authorities have employed since 1967. In the West Bank and Gaza, any local military commander of the Israeli military can issue an order for administrative detention. Administrative detention is inherently ethically dubious, as it does not intend to punish an individual for a committed crime, but rather to prevent one from being committed. Prisoners are often never informed of any charges, and since they never know the evidence against them, they can never refute it. Following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006
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by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups, conditions in Israeli jails deteriorated. Descriptions include a widespread use of lengthy solitary confinement, frequent strip-searches for both prisoners and visitors and severe restrictions on family visits. After Shalit was released in October 2011 in exchange for 1,207 Palestinian prisoners, jail conditions did not improve for the thousands left in prison.
Khader Adnan
In a nighttime raid on the 17th of December 2011, members of the Israeli army arrested Khader Adnan from his house in the Palestinian town of Arraba. The following day, in order to protest the conditions of his arrest, and the conditions faced by Palestinians in Israeli jails, Adnan vowed to not to eat until he was either released or charged. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, at the time of Adnan’s arrest, 309 Palestinians were held without criminal charges. More than half of whom had been held for much longer than six months. Two prisoners had been in administrative detention for more than four and a half years without charge. Upon arrest, Khader Adnan was interrogated for 18 days during which he claims Israeli soldiers made sexual innuendos regarding his wife, mocked his faith, beat him, tied him to a chair in painful positions, ripped hair from his beard and wiped dirt on his face. Israeli officials refused to comment on his allegations. During the Second Intifada Adnan acted as a spokesman for Islamic Jihad. A YouTube video depicts him encouraging armed resistance towards Israel. By the time of his last arrest in 2011, Khader was no longer
WINTER 2013 an active spokesman for the group. He was working as a baker in a town close to his home while studying for a master’s degree in economics at Birzeit University. His wife Randa, who was pregnant with their third child at the time, told ynetnews.com (the website of the mass circulation Israeli daily Yediot Akhranot), “It’s true that he was the Islamic Jihad’s spokesman during the intifada, but over the past four years he had nothing to do with it ... He hadn’t talked to anyone from the Islamic Jihad. He left that activity altogether.” Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails joined Khader Adnan in the hunger strike. International attention slowly developed as Adnan’s health steadily declined. Fifty-seven days after Adnan began his hunger strike, an Israeli military court rejected his appeal against arbitrary detention. By then Adnan was in grave condition. His lawyers appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, stating that Adnan was in “immediate danger of death.” On Adnan’s 66th day without food, just before the hearing was convened, it was declared that a deal between Adnan’s lawyers and the Israeli prosecution had been agreed upon and that he would be released. The last minute deal effectively prevented any legal discussion as to the lawfulness of administrative detention. Khader Adnan described later to David Rose of the Daily Mail, “Apart from sheer hunger, my symptoms started on day four, with a constant, blinding headache. After a while, the headaches began to subside but then from day 38 to 57, I was vomiting every day. I found it very hard to keep down even water. On the 57th day I developed an excruciating abdominal pain – far worse than the
Wedeman pain a woman feels when giving birth. That night I vomited seven times. But after that, until I ended my fast on the 66th day, I was stable.” For up to three days without
food, the human body can subsist on energy processed from glucose. Ketosis then follows, whereby the liver begins to process body fat. After around three weeks, the body enters ‘starvation mode’. Desperate for energy, the body mines organs and breaks down muscle in search of essential nutrients to maintain vital systems such as the nervous system and the beating of the heart. Eventually the stomach atrophies and the perception of hunger and thirst fade away only to be replaced by fatigue, nausea and vomiting. Every movement can become painful because of dry cracked skin, and the slow decline of the immune system. An open-ended hunger strike is a desperate act not to be undertaken lightly. As Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights, articulated, “Let there be no mistake about the moral and spiritual background of
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the challenge being mounted by these Palestinians. Undertaking an open ended hunger strike is an inherently brave act that is fraught with risks and uncertainties, and is only undertaken
Image by Montecruz Foto, Creative Commons
in situations of extreme frustration or severe abuse.” In a letter given to his lawyers, Adnan explained, “The Israeli occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners. I have been humiliated, beaten, and harassed by interrogators for no reason, and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey.”
Mass Strikes
In the next month, more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners began to refuse food in protest of administrative detention. The hunger strikers made up more than one quarter of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. After weeks without food many prisoners were in dire condition. Protests in the West Bank and Gaza, usually reflecting the fractured state of Palestinian
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
ISSUE 3
“very serious” information. politics, were decidedly unified in Since the agreement several of the solidarity with the hunger strikers. hunger strikers who were freed, The prisoners garnered international including Tha’er Halahlah, have been attention with Irish Republic hunger re-arrested. Randa Wahbe, a represtrikers from 1981 sending videos of sentative for Addameer, a Jerusatheir support. The international media was lem-based non-governmental prisoner generally silent. Had an open ended support and human rights association, hunger strike on such a large scale oc- stated, “Israel has basically reneged curred in a country other than Israel, on the entire agreement made with perhaps the prisoners: one with the use of interests isolation still conflicting continues, with the there are still United night raids, States’, the there is still story would no access to be sensaeducation and tional. Inprison condistead news tions have not headlines improved. The of the time only change were abwe have seen sorbed with thus far is that the case visits for famof Cheng ilies of Gazan Guangcprisoners heng, the have resumed, blind Chibut it is still nese human unclear if this rights will continue.” lawyer who It wasn’t until escaped the 65th day Image by Francois Bouchet, Creative Commons from house of Halahlah arrest and sought refuge in the US and Diab’s hunger strike that the political system. New York Times first reported on the Two of the prisoners on hun- story. In contrast, the 20th centuger strike, Tha’er Halahlah and Bilal ry’s most prominent hunger striker, Diab, had been without food for 77 Mahatma Gandhi, never fasted for days before a deal was made in which longer than 21 days. UN Rapporteur the prisoners agreed not to engage in Richard Falk was quick to point out any militant activity in exchange for that to this “massive expression of a an Israeli pledge to limit the terms Palestinian commitment to nonviof administrative detention to six olent resistance”, the large number months and to cease new administra- of liberal proponents for the state of tive detention orders or renewals unIsrael offered only silence. less the prisoner’s “secret files” contain
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The Lesson of Occupation Israel is not the only entity forced to face its prison conditions by the “war of the empty stomachs”, as it has been called. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), was supposedly active in securing the release of the hunger strikers in Israeli prisons. However, the PA itself employs policies comparable to administrative detention. Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, traces his militancy to when his mother and brother were both killed in a Israeli raid on Jenin that left hundreds of homes in Jenin’s refugee camp destroyed. In 2007 Zubeidi renounced his role in Fatah’s armed wing and dedicated his time to cultural resistance through the Freedom Theater in Jenin. In May 2012 Zubeidi was arrested without charges as part of a crackdown by the PA following the assasination of the governor of Jenin. After facing continued abuse and harassment in prison, Zubeidi announced that he would embark on a hunger strike in order to protest the conditions of his arrest. This was not the first time a Palestinian went without food or water in a Palestinian jail. Khader Adnan’s first hunger strike lasted 10 days and was in protest of his detention in a Palestinian prison. When an appeal for release was postponed, a frail and weak Zubeidi stood before the court and announced, “I have been a freedom fighter since I was born, and it’s unjust for me to die here.” For a man who spent much of his life fighting against the Israeli occupation, “the irony that he may now die after having been tortured and held unjustly by the PA
WINTER 2013 bites hard,” commented Jen Marlowe, a human rights activist and associate of Zubeidi. As worries about his health grew serious, Zubeidi was eventually released on bail. Jonatan Stanczak, the managing director of the Jenin’s Freedom Theater commented, “The PA has learned their lesson from the Israelis very well, to the extent that they have become themselves part of the occupation.”
Springtime Atrophies
At times of intense desperation the human body becomes more powerful through death. Khader Adnan wrote in his letter to his lawyers, “The only thing I can do is offer my soul to God, as I believe righteousness and justice will eventually triumph over tyranny and oppression. I hereby assert that I am confronting the occu-
Image by Tijen Erol, Creative Commons
Wedeman piers not for my own sake as an individual, but for the sake of thousands of prisoners who are being deprived of their simplest human rights while the world and international community look on. It is time the international community and the UN support prisoners and force the State of Israel to respect international human rights and stop treating prisoners as if they were not humans.” Israeli elections are scheduled for early 2013, however concerns regarding Palestinians are likely to go unnoticed as Israeli politics steadily gravitate further and further to the right. Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party recently announced a merger with the far right party Yisrael Beiteinu. Palestinian rights aren’t at the bottom of the Israeli political agenda. They simply don’t exist. But ignoring the rights of
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Palestinians, prisoners and others is a huge mistake. Richard Falk concluded an editorial for Al-Jazeera’s website by stating, “For a hunger strike to be done on this current scale of collective action underscores the horrible ordeal of the Palestinians that has been all but erased from the political consciousness of the West in the hot aftermath of the Arab Spring.” Indeed the West, and the United States in particular, have been distracted recently, by the upheavals elsewhere in the Middle East, where traditional American support of unpopular dictators has proven to be costly and embarrassing. Continued unquestioning American support for an increasingly hardline Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and the human rights abuses that occupation entails, could prove awkward, and possibly even costlier.
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
Wedeman
OVERFISHING IN JAPAN By Dylan P. Hammer
FISH
are disappearing. This is not a natural phenomenon. The rapacious overfishing of the oceans is depleting the number of fish worldwide at a staggering pace. By some estimates, continuing at this rate will lead to the total collapse of global fish stocks by 2048. According to the World Wildlife Federation, northern blue fin tuna numbers have declined a staggering 90 percent over the last 50 years. Atlantic cod populations have dropped 74 percent over that same period. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 80 percent of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited, or recovering. These are numbers to fear. For no country does this issue have greater significance than Japan,
the largest consumer of fish in the world. More than 80 percent of all bluefin tuna caught make their way to Japanese markets. Likewise, around 70 percent of the global eel catch is consumed by the Japanese alone. Fish is as much a large part of the national culture as it is a staple of its diet. Farm animals have rarely been a source of food in Japanese history, the people instead turning to the bountiful seas for sustenance. Fish were traditionally used to fertilize rice fields and continue to symbolize hope of an abundant harvest. Films such as Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the critically acclaimed documentary spotlighting Jiro Ono, the man widely considered the world’s premier sushi chef, speak to the deep relationship with fish that many Japanese feel.
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Japan is one of the largest fishing economies in the world. Despite decline in recent years, as both depleted fisheries and restrictions on fishing to prevent overfishing have throttled activity, the fishing industry remains a $14 billion sector. The depletion of fish stocks in domestic waters has forced Japan to grow increasingly reliant on imports, which comprise about 44 percent of all fish consumed. Mirroring the dwindling of global fish populations, Yellowtail catches off the Toyama Prefecture in the winter of 2009-2010 were as low as a tenth of the average amount. Cod has all but disappeared from many locations, and salmon, saury, cuttlefish and crab grow increasingly scarce. As a lobby group, the massive fishing conglomerates wield enor-
mous political clout with the Japanese Fisheries Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They have generally been successful in persuading the government to resist international attempts to slow overfishing. But now as fish populations dwindle, some even on the brink of collapse, immediate and strident effort must be taken by the Japanese, as well as by the global community, to decrease fish consumption
Source: The New York Times
Hammer
Image by Sten Govaerts, Creative Commons
in order to protect the planet from the ravages of overfishing. Illegal activity certainly accounts for a good part of overfishing. Japan has exceeded its legal quota of bluefin tuna for the past 20 years, yielding an estimated 178,000 tons of plundered fish, valued between 7 and 8 billion dollars. Australian authorities, which have frequently
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clashed with the Japanese over fishing rights in the past, claim the figure is higher – 250,000 tons and worth an excess of 10 billion dollars. As a result, in 2010 the Japanese government agreed to have its bluefin quota cut in half over the next 5 years. It has also accepted reductions in its quota of atlantic bluefin tuna, whose population numbers have also been steadily decreasing. While stronger government oversight is necessary to halt poaching and implement more stringent restrictions on fishing hauls, real change for Japan must come from the people. Aggressive overfishing is only a byproduct of the voracious demand coming from the Japanese populace. Japan must see a marked push towards sustainability from the ground up, by families decreasing their fish consumption and more intelligently buying fish from ecologically responsible companies. As prices for tuna in Japan rise in response to its shortage, many industry members have turned to fish farming to procure demanded levels of tuna. While this method may be the best for meeting the current shortages, this does little to discourage consumers to from their unsustainable eating habits. Eating alternative kinds of fish can replace the demand for endangered species and allow them to recover. Instead of further depleting freshwater eel populations, eating ‘fauxnagi’ made with sablefish is just one alternative to traditional fish diets. Organizations like the Marine Stewardship Council, Marine Eco-Label japan, and Greenpeace are making inroads in Japan towards raising consumer awareness, but there is still a long way to go towards the full implementation of sustainable practices.
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
ISSUE 3
Image courtesy of Crystal Springs Farm
THE EFFICACY OF ORGANIC FOOD By Samuel Sabasteanski
In 2007,
a spike in food prices caused unrest worldwide. Commodities speculators, increases in the price of oil (and with it, increases in the price of synthetic fertilizers), along with poor yields, caused a contraction in supply. Prices continued to rise to historic highs until the recession in 2008, although they eventually recovered and set a new record in 2011. These events have drawn the attention of major international organizations such as the G20, UN, and World Trade Organization (WTO) to the cause of world food security. The UN calculates that by 2050 the world’s population is expected to reach 9 billion, and world food production will need to double to feed new popu-
lations as well as satisfy consumer demand for meet in developing nations. Yet calculating where this increased food production will come from, and how it will be made available to the world’s rural poor, is a more intractable question. Food security comprises not only adequate food production, but also adequate food distribution, including ensuring that those who need food the most have access to it. In light of these events, food security activists have pointed to organic agriculture as a means of ensuring food security for poor populations, as well as avoiding the negative externalities associated with conventional, input-intensive agriculture. But can organic agriculture really solve the food crisis?
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The Idea Behind Organic In recent years increased demand for organic food in Western nations has spurred increased devotion of agricultural land to organic agriculture. As organic farming practices are replicated on larger scales across America, organic advocates have promoted organic agriculture as an alternative to conventional intensive agriculture without the negative side effects. Although there is no official philosophy for organic agriculture, in general, it tends to focus on three areas: Enhancing plant, human, animal, and soil health; basing agricultural production on natural ecosystems; and creating fairness with life opportunities and relations to the means of food production.
WINTER 2013 Enhancing plant, human, animal, and soil health, sometimes called the Principle of Health, is based on the perception of organic agriculture as environmentally-friendly due to its preference for non-genetically modified (GMO) crops and low input (namely pesticide and fertilizer) use. In modern conventional agriculture as practiced in the West, intensive use of inputs can contaminate groundwater sources as the ecosystem is unable to absorb the large amounts of concentrated nutrients found within synthetic fertilizer. Organic agriculture is also supposed to stop soil erosion through the use of complementary crops which will better retain water and hold soil in place, both key parts of developing agriculture in tropical areas. Basing agricultural production on natural ecosystems is the source of many of these benefits. Use of natural bacteria and plants for nitrogen fixation, promotion of inter-crop wild areas which can house natural predators to herbaceous insects, use of ruminants both as weed control and as a natural source of fertilizer, and utilizing natural biodiversity as the resource for local genetic diversity well-suited for surviving local climate variations are all intended to replicate the yield-increasing effects of modern intensive agriculture without need for industrial processes. In turn, because these are all local-based innovations which do not require costly inputs, organic farmers’ expenditures on inputs tends to be lower than that of conventional farmers, allowing them to save more money. Additionally, because organic agriculture is more labor-intensive than conventional agriculture, more jobs are created, providing a firm foundation for local economies. Final-
Sabasteanski ly, as organic foods fetch higher prices than conventional foods in many markets, and as organic yields are thought to be higher, farmers’ gross incomes are believed to rise. Yet closer examination of organic agriculture’s outputs in developed countries raises questions about long-term sustainability. According to USDA research into organic agriculture in the US, organic yields tend to be lower for most crops, in some cases drastically lower (10-36%) than conventional agriculture. Thus, a complete conversion to organic agriculture use in Europe and America would likely result in a drop from baseline food production when extended out to 2050. As total demand for food is expected to outstrip supply by 2050, conversion to organic agriculture could cause an unacceptable constraint in food supply coming from developed nations. Organic agriculture in Africa The situation is not as bleak as it seems. Most plans for feeding the world population in 2050, let alone food security, rely on increases in food production in developing nations. The reasons for this are fairly simple. Agriculture in developing nations is, simply put, a low-hanging fruit. Western agriculture already relies on intensive use of inputs, and the most drastic early gains in crop yield from bioengineered pest and disease resistance have decreasing returns as those same pests and diseases evolve to overcome genetic defenses. Agriculture in Africa in particular has not seen major gains from application of modern technology or production techniques. In fact, the UN reports that modern African food production per capita is 10% lower today than it was in 1960. Many areas of African
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agriculture were passed over during the Green Revolution (the explosion of agricultural productivity following the Second World War). Because Africa has had so little success in promoting growth of agricultural production, and because it houses so many of the world’s destitute, it is a prime target for achieving food security goals through implementation of organic agriculture. Work by Catherine Badgley at the University of Michigan shows that, on average, application of organic farming techniques improved yields in affected African nations by 116%. From country to country, the total increase ranged from a 54% increase in cash-crop intensive Uganda, to a 179% increase in Kenya. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular would benefit from organic agriculture due to its soil conditions. Most tropical regions have ferralitic soils, which are relatively infertile and are susceptible to losing water and nutrients in the form of runoff. Thus, even though tropical regions have respectable annual rainfalls, the soil only carries enough moisture for sustained crop growth in the rainy season, imposing significant constraints on crop production. In droughts, poor soil moisture retention can be catastrophic. Eswaran et al. (1997) claim that 83% of Sub-Saharan African land carries a high risk of crop failure due to poor soil. Because organic agriculture emphasizes polyculture (the planting of multiple species on a single plot in order to capitalize on complementary effects between plant growth cycles), total plant biomass on organic farms is greater, leading to better retention of moisture in the soil and ultimately extended growing seasons for crops. While nutrient cycling could offset
THE BOWDOIN GLOBALIST
ISSUE 3
the need for fertilizer somewhat, large studies of Sub-Saharan Agriculture have concluded that the nutrient extraction from the soil would exceed the replacement rates available through use of organic inputs. In particular, phosphorus, an essential component of plant DNA, would be in short supply in Sub-Saharan Africa. The problem of nutrient loss
due to inherent difficulties in implementing organic agriculture. Not least among these difficulties, and particularly applicable to Sub-Saharan Africa, are the problems posed to a knowledge-intensive system of agriculture by short lifespans. One reason for Africa’s failure to increase food yields has been the scourge of AIDS. As parents die prematurely from
Image by Jamison Wieser, Creative Commons
diseases, they are unable to transmit their knowledge to their children and neighbors. Advanced farming practices are lost. Short lifespans thus threaten to undermine any advances made by organic agriculture, as organic agriculture relies on farmers having comprehensive knowledge of pest and predator ecosystems, crop rotation, crop complementarity, natural herbicides and pesticides, rotated cattle grazing, and other practices mean to fully harness natural synergies. Finally, food security, as has been mentioned, extends beyond adequate food production. Food security is also predicated upon social wealth equal-
without synthetic fertilizers would be compounded by the constant pressure on agricultural land, as the need to produce huge amounts of food to feed the world’s population would prevent farmers from allowing fields to recover by laying fallow. Even in a climatologically best-case scenario, organic agriculture still does not provide a sure-fire solution to food insecurity. For one, it is unclear if organic agriculture is truly universally applicable. A UN Environmental Program report in May 2007 found that only 67% of affected areas showed increased yields
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ity which will allow impoverished farmers to buy crops on the market when their own crops fail. Most of the hype around the financial benefits of going organic has two main points: one, that farmers will save money from reduced inputs, and two, that farmers will earn more money from selling organic goods. It is unclear how higher prices fetched for organic foods will provide sustainable income into the future. As organic production expands beyond its meager present share of agricultural production, the prices it fetches on the world market are likely to decrease until they are comparable to those of conventional agriculture. Furthermore, tailoring agricultural produce in developing nations to developed nation audiences by marketing it as highend organic food raises interesting questions about organic agriculture’s contribution to regional food security in a tightly linked international system of food trade. Why would a farmer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sell his organic crops to starving people a village over if he could ship them overseas and make himself a better profit? Towards An Integrated Approach Could conventional agriculture feed the world in 2050? Yes, but at a huge environmental and economic cost. Inevitably, the price of inputs
WINTER 2013 would rise, nature would evolve to counteract GMO defenses, and groundwater sources would be subject to contamination. Could organic agriculture feed the world in 2050? Maybe. If a truly optimal food security outcome is to be arrived at, though, policymakers and farmers will need to look beyond the conventional-organic dichotomy to find solutions. Specifically, it would be wise to heed the calls of a growing number of organic activists who envision a thirdway approach, utilizing the best parts of both organic and conventional agriculture. This union can largely be achieved by shifting rhetoric towards sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture emphasizes integration of biological processes into agriculture in order to improve yields and reduce pollution and substitution of human capital for external inputs (and thus borrows heavily from organic agriculture), but also focuses on collaborative approaches to problem-solving in order to achieve the best results through communal action and eclectic policy making. As Herrera-Estrella (2001) points out, “It is important to understand that solving the problem of food production for a growing population without harming the environment will require the concerted use of traditional breeding and organic farming, as well as GM (genetically modified) crop technology, each being used to solve specific problems and needs. Alleviation of hunger cannot depend on a single technology.” Other than unscientific fears of lethal compounds spontaneously arising in GMOs, there is no clear reason why rational use of GMOs is incompatible with organic agriculture. GMOs have been proven to have a drastic impact on the need for pesticide application in particular.
Sabasteanski Nor is intensive use of pesticides a necessity in GMO agriculture. Pesticide use is heaviest in areas practicing monoculture, which is the planting of only one crop, usually genetically identical versions of the same plant. Were GMOs integrated into a polyculturing field, natural pest control mechanisms (such as presence of pest predators and mechanical constraints on pests locating their food plants) would reduce the need for pesticides. Thus, GMOs are often incorrectly linked with the worst parts of industrial conventional agriculture, even though there is little reason for this categorization. Even input-intensive agriculture is not necessarily incompatible with organic approaches, assuming that the inputs rely on natural pesticides or herbicides that will not accumulate and cause localized pollution. Multi-predator pest control through increased biodiversity has similarly been found to be less effective than best predator pest control, suggesting that genetically modifying key pest control agents could provide an all-natural pest control approach even more effective than standard organic agriculture (Letourneau and Bothwell, 2008). Yields, pest control, and inputs aside, the greatest strides towards food security may come as a result of government policy. Wise and Murphy’s 2007 report “Resolving the Food Crisis” provides a detailed look at the policies enacted in response to the 2007-8 food crisis. They note that there are numerous negative externalities to providing a country-by-country approach to food production. For example, destruction of vital ecosystems to make way for industrialized agriculture is in many cases a direct response by policymakers to popular pressures for food independence.
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The UN has suggested that states should surrender their controls over agriculture export and import tariffs, thus preventing lawmakers from imposing tariffs which prevent food from flowing to nations in desperate need when there are fears of a food crisis. Other important policy areas meriting attention are restrictions on food commodities speculation (which has no proven public benefit but can cause huge jumps in food prices) and restrictions on the development of biofuel from foodstuffs, which is not only an environmentally unsound policy but also puts severe strain on world food production. Finally, many experts have opined that the greatest determinant of whether or not we can feed the world of tomorrow is what the world of tomorrow wants to eat. Meat production not only has severe environmental consequences, but also consumes huge amounts of food which could otherwise feed a vegetarian planet. Were all citizens of developing nations to replicate America’s meat consumption habits, there would be no way to feed the citizens of poor food-producing countries. Conclusion Organic agriculture has definite benefits to environmental protection, and in areas yet to experience the Green Revolution it can offer a capital-light, knowledge-intense path to drastically increasing yields. Yet ultimately, organic agriculture alone cannot solve all of the world’s problems. To feed the world in 2050, we will need an integrated approach which draws upon organic, non-input intensive agriculture, increased yields through GMOs, and policy and social changes to promote more efficient use of food in general.