Squalid posted:

I'm still not sure that this is even a bad thing.

i gotcha buddy

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110890,00.html

Growers relish in the moment and the attendant prosperity. "My quinoa sells like hotcakes," says Fidencia Huayllas, grinning. She's spent her boom cash on expanding her mud-and-brick home. Seventy percent of the region's high school graduates can now afford to attend university, Huarachi says, "thanks to quinoa." He leans forward, face brightening: "In 1983, 100 lb. of quinoa sold for 25 bolivianos — the price a T-shirt. Now that sack goes for $100 . That's a lot of T-shirts."

But the windfall could become a double-edged sword. In February, violence over prime quinoa-growing territory left dozens injured, and land conflict is spreading. "Sure, the price of quinoa is increasing," says Carlos Nina, a local leader in Bolivia's quinoa heartland, "but so are our problems." Apart from increasing feuds over property rights, these include the collapse of the traditional relationship between llama herding and soil fertilization, with potentially disastrous consequences of quinoa's "organic" status, and the ironic twist that the children of newly prosperous farmers no longer like eating quinoa, contributing to dietary problems.

...

But despite good intentions, a dangerous cycle may be under way. "When you transform a food into a commodity, there's inevitable breakdown in social relations and high environmental cost," says Tanya Kerssen, a food-policy analyst for the U.S.-based food and development institute Food First. February's conflict is a harbinger, notes Kerssen. Global warming has led to fewer frosts, resulting in more prime land available for quinoa cultivation. That has led to a near free-for-all. For three days in February, hundreds of farmers fought over what was once abandoned land. Four people were temporarily kidnapped, dozens were injured and, according to local leader Nina, a dynamite blast left one man armless. "I've never seen anything like this in my life," says Nina, 70, adding that since the government is ignoring pleas for military monitoring of the upcoming harvest, the situation will likely worsen.

What's more, territorial bickering is spreading. "Every week, I visit two or three communities with land disputes related to quinoa," says Nina, who, as mallku (traditional indigenous authority) must resolve these quarrels personally. Many families don't have land titles, he explains — they weren't needed when the ample arid soil was communal herding ground. Also, quinoa's high sale price is prompting a reverse migration of those who had long ago abandoned the Altiplano, triggering property disagreements.

Environmental problems are emerging too. Traditionally, quinoa fields covered 10% of this fragile ecosystem, llamas grazed on the rest. Now, llamas are being sold to make room for crops, provoking a soil crisis since the cameloid's guano is the undisputed best fertilizer for maintaining and restoring quinoa fields. (Other options like sheep poop appear to encourage pests.) Increased production also means erosion and strains on limited water sources. "It's frightening to think that a region that has sustained Andean civilizations for millennia could become sterile," says Kerssen.

Equally troubling is the fact that growers themselves are eating less of their gift from the gods. Last year, the Bolivian government acknowledged that national quinoa consumption over the previous five years had decreased 34%. Now there's worry of malnutrition in the quinoa heartland as growers admit that it's tempting to sell their entire harvest while prices are high.

Edited by LaserJew (Jan. 19, 2013 14:18:44)

Goethestein posted:

*stuffs tortured flesh into ravenous craw 900 times a year* let me tell you how much i care about the suffering of others

thirdplace posted:

lol i was going to link to that video of the screaming african womancake from last year but youtube took the video down because "hate speech"

Good.

Ironicwarcriminal posted:

the kamikaze pilots are aesthetically lame because it's their machines exploding and not them, like "wow a moving metal thing exploding in war, what a statement"

but kamikaze planes were surplus aircraft and mostly made of wood because aside from naval applications and the Zero Japan had the worst hardware out of all the major powers. yes, including Italy

LaserJew posted:

Squalid posted:

I'm still not sure that this is even a bad thing.

i gotcha buddy

That violence seems really unimportant as long as children eat, the community will probably resolve the dispute eventually and things'll settle down. At least landlords aren't doing the violence like usual. The environmental degradation is worrying, hopefully we can find a solution that still permits increased quinoa harvests. Still don't see any evidence the decrease in quinoa consumption has had negative health consequences.

LaserJew posted:

are negative health consequences the only measure of "a bad thing?"

how about, i can no longer afford to eat the native crops I grow in my backyard, the backbone of my civilization's diet for thousands of years, because some rich new york asshole is worried about the high glycemic index of white rice?

QQ i have the ability to sell my crops for five times what they were worth a few years ago, Q and also Q

LaserJew posted:

are negative health consequences the only measure of "a bad thing?"

how about, i can no longer afford to eat the native crops I grow in my backyard, the backbone of my civilization's diet for thousands of years, because some rich new york asshole is worried about the high glycemic index of white rice?

Sounds like your problem is more with the economic hegemony of the West and the Bolivian government which allows such a massive export of cash crops, rather than for instance, the principles of veganism.

So that leads me to then ask you in turn: will the noobery ever cease? Sadly posts like yours are what I've come to expect from posters who aren't me. Sad

AmericanNazbro posted:

what was the most meat you've ever eaten in one sitting, donald? ever taken the 72oz steak challenge? i've completed the challenge on many occasion, though it was inadvertent.

Anyone have any meat stories they'd like to share? Cheers, and merry meating.

i used to eat 20 chicken mcnuggets in a sitting. which isn't a lot for like an obese person... but it's a lot.