politics

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August 6, 2008

top ten films to change the way you see the world

Posted by Jeremy under consumerism, family, film, media, politics, sustainability
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10 films we love at Make Wealth History

Earth
Earth is simply a documentary about the planet we live on. The film spans a year on Earth covering animal and environmental diversity from pole to pole. Nature is so excellently narrated and beautifully filmed that almost every scene holds you mesmerised at the intricacies of our world, while simultaneously creating a sense of regret as the film roll portrays animals on the edge of extinction as climate change destroys their habitats. Note: It does contain a proportion of footage from the “Planet Earth” series.

Black Gold
This enterprising documentary follows a representative of an Ethiopian coffee growers co-op as he talks to farmers, grades beans, and fights for a decent price for his constituents. As well as talking to farmers and their families, the film travels to Seattle for the world barista championships, and to the WTO meetings in Doha. The contrast between the source and the final destination of coffee is striking, making for a powerful message about unfair trade.

Our Daily Bread
A startling film that displays the simple reality of industrial agriculture. Containing no music and no scripted dialogue, the film shows the methods behind large scale food production in various European countries. Lacking that key component of your average film (scripted sound) the viewer is given the opportunity to form their own ideas, opinions and views with regards to the methods used in modern farming.

An Inconvenient Truth
I expect you’ve seen this one by now. Vanishing briefly from the political scene, Al Gore returned as a champion of the climate change cause. His movie is the first and probably the last time you could go to the cinema to watch a man giving a powerpoint presentation. It’s a compelling and surprisingly personal film, and has made a huge impact in bringing climate change to mainstream attention.


Fast Food Nation
Originally a work of investigative journalism, director Richard Linklater took the book of the title and turned it into a series of inter-twining stories around the meat industry. We follow immigrants crossing the border from Mexico, a quality standards supervisor investigating contamination, and teenagers working in a fast food joint. The inhumanity of our meat production is gradually exposed, in a film that is thought-provoking, moving, and at times harrowing. (also see SuperSize Me)

http://www.friendsofqueensmarket.org.uk/users/www.friendsofqueensmarket.org.uk/upload/DVD71.jpgWalmart: the high cost of a low price
Although it picks on the world’s largest retailer, the business practices explored here are true of many other supermarkets and corporations. The film deals with the killing of the American high street, the breaking up of workers unions, and the difficulties in trying to hold a corporation accountable. Most effective of all, I thought, was a section filmed in China, where sweatshop toy factory workers are asked if there’s anything they’d like to say to shoppers in the US.

//www.malefirst.co.uk/images/who-killed-electric-car.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. Who killed the electric car?
This film shows the ways and means by which the electric car disappeared. It analyses and questions the stories behind both the production and destruction of electric cars, batteries and other materials. It shows how car makers flatly refused to produce electric cars, making up endless excuses for trivial or uninformed reasons. The film questions the motives behind halting the research and national use of the electric car in the United States and is worth a watch if only to understand further how oil dominates our transport.

Wall-E
A recent addition, and very different from the films listed above, Wall-E tells the story of a robot left behind to clean up an abandoned earth while the people who polluted it enjoy an never-ending space cruise. It’s cute, it’s charming, and according to one critic it’s “environmentalist, anticapitalist, and antitechnological propaganda,” which is a quote they really should have put on the poster. Hard to believe Disney could ever make anything truly anticapitalist, but there you go. The scenes of our trashed planet are beautifully sad, and perfect for explaining sustainability to kids.

Manufactured Landscapes
If Wall-E’s trashed earth is an imagined one, here’s the reality. Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has specialized in shooting man-made landscapes, of the intended or unintended kind - dams, quarries, pollution, landfill sites. This documentary follows him in China, and the cinematography matches the epic tone of his work. Worth seeing just for the opening scene - a single tracking shot through a factory that just runs and runs, past people going about their repetitive tasks, work station after work station, for an uninterrupted, silent eight minutes.

http://www.consuminglouisville.com/images/What_would_jesus_buy_ver2-thumb-300x445.jpgWhat would Jesus buy?
Something more seasonal - this travelogue follows the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping as they campaign against the consumerism of Christmas. It’s hilarious, it’s daring, it’s ‘the movie Santa doesn’t want you to see’. Ultimately though, the footage of people rushing the sales and the way the newscasters talk about them speaks for itself - it’s time to flee the coming shopocalypse. (Also see The Yes Men)

 

July 28, 2008

Free book: Stuffed and Starved, by Raj Patel

Posted by Jeremy under books, food, politics | Tags: , , |
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http://www.whsmith.co.uk/Images/Products%5C846%5C270%5C9781846270116_m_f.jpgAnd just like that, I’m back again. Where do two weeks go? Wedding and honeymoon were great, thanks.

Anyway, I’ve got a spare copy of Stuffed and Starved, a fine book I read a while back. (Reviewed here)

… a broad and ambitious review of the state of the world’s food system, and the economic drivers behind it. Patel draws the dots and makes all kinds of connections - the nearer to the US border a Mexican family lives, the more overweight they are likely to be. Unilever owns both the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream brand, and Slimfast. After the initial attack on Iraq, Burger King had opened an outlet before the aid agencies had crossed the border. Such facts speak volumes about the warped priorities, contradictions and injustices of food in a gloabalized world.

Normal rules apply - readers get first dibs before it goes on Bookmooch. Just leave me a comment and I’ll post it your way.

 

July 13, 2008

Food gets political as government examines the food chain

Posted by Jeremy under food, politics
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My article here.

 

July 9, 2008

groundbreaking global semantics

Posted by Jeremy under climate change, current affairs, global warming, politics, uncategorized | Tags: , , |
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Having promised strong leadership and urgent action on curbing emissions at last year’s G8, yesterday’s statement gives us an unusual opportunity to measure the pace of international change. The G8 decisions are an annual precis of the worst climate culprits’ progress in facing up to the task.

2007:
In setting a global goal for emissions reductions in the process we have agreed today involving all major emitters, we will consider seriously the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050. - full statement (pdf)

2008:
“We seek to share with all parties to the UNFCCC the vision of, and together with them to consider and adopt in the UNFCCC negotiations, the goal of achieving at least 50% reduction of global emissions by 2050, recognising that this global challenge can only be met by a global response, in particular, by the contributions from all major economies, consistent with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.” - full statement

So after a year of ’seriously considering’, the men in suits who rule the world have moved to ’sharing the vision’, with a bit more time to ‘consider’, and more crucially, ‘adopt’ the goal of halving emissions by 2050.

There’s no denying that’s progress, particularly now the US are on board (godspeed November and the back of Bush), but I’d hesitate to declare it strong, decisive or urgent. Even if that goes through, adopting a goal is a far cry from actually legislating cuts in emissions. Still, it’s better than climate change falling off the agenda altogether. Let’s just hope world temperatures move at an even slower pace than our political processes.

 

June 29, 2008

Conservation and development in Madagascar

Posted by Jeremy under conservation, development, environment, politics | Tags: , |
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Governments of developing countries face something of a quandary when it comes to conservation. They are urged to preserve wildlife, invest more in protected areas, and halt deforestation and biodiversity loss, but they have to balance this with development and poverty alleviation. How do you choose between people and the environment?

Madagascar is a country that illustrates this problem perfectly. It is the world’s most important biodiversity hotspot, but a large percentage of the population live in poverty. It has more to lose from getting this balance wrong than anywhere else on the planet. Fortunately it’s getting it right, and proving that conservation and development don’t need to be competing priorities…. continue reading on Celsias.

 

June 23, 2008

What do GM crops and the NASA space pen have in common?

Posted by Jeremy under business, current affairs, environment, food, politics, science, simplicity, technology | Tags: , , |
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http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_03/gmsoyaDM0305_468x346.jpg They’re at it again. The government is seeking a re-opening of the case for GM crops to be planted in the UK. It’s not a surprise. They’ve obviously long regretted the decision not to press ahead with genetically modified crops made in the 90s, and with good reason in some ways. It was a decision made in the middle of a nation-wide scare about them, with tabloid talk of ‘frankenstein foods’, so to have allowed them would have been political suicide.

Years later, nobody talks about ‘frankenstein foods’ any more, and it would be much easier to sneak through relaxed legislation that would allow the planting of GM crops. What bothers me about GM is not the science however, but the economics and the politics, and the way they are justified by claiming they are to benefit the developing world. Here’s environment minister Phil Woolas, speaking last week:

“There is a growing question of whether GM crops can help the developing world out of the current food-price crisis. It is a question that we as a nation need to ask ourselves”

Granted, it is a question we need to ask ourselves, and the answer is yes, they might, but there are 101 things that would help solve the current food crisis faster, more fairly, and more safely, than GM crops. The first thing we should look at is subsidies, and the fact that our over-production in the EU and the US harms agriculture elsewhere by destroying local markets with cheaper produce.

Beyond that, we can look at irrigation, using water more fairly and more efficiently. The GM industry talks about special seed that needs less water, so that dry areas can be pressed into use that wouldn’t have been productive before. Sounds great, but you could achieve the same thing by spreading methods like Mediterranean-style underground water silos, or the drip-feed irrigation techniques widely adopted in India, using hosepipes with strategically placed pinholes.

Besides irrigation, there are higher yield normal seeds that are being well used to improve harvests all round the world. These urgently need to be made available in Africa. Then there is the most basic knowledge of things like crop rotation, leaving fields fallow to replenish nutrients, nitrogen fixing plants. Teach these before you bring in corporately controlled GM seed.

Then there are fertilizers and pesticides, which are heavily used in most places in the world, but aren’t yet affordable to farmers in the poorest parts of the world. These aren’t strictly necessary on small farms, provided people understand the nitrogen fixing and rotation mentioned above, and organic agriculture could feed the world. But again, we have much simpler solutions than GM.

The whole GM solution reminds me of the urban legend of NASA’s ’space pen’, a hugely sophisticated pen that could write in zero gravity, while the Russians used a pencil.

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/87/05/23210587.jpg Some Republicans like to claim that fighting climate change will damage the developing world, because measures to reduce emissions would harm emerging economies. It makes a handy excuse to dismiss climate change. Claiming that GM crops would solve the world food crisis is exactly the same. It uses the poor as a moral argument for expanding the reach of globalized agricultural corporations. That’s what GM crops are ultimately about. Despite the propaganda, they are not being developed with the poor in mind. They’re there to protect Monsanto patented seeds, to respond better to Monsanto pesticides (and only to Monsanto pesticides). They are to make more money for rich American companies. I don’t deny that there could be some interesting developments in GM technology in pharmaceuticals or in nutrition, their primary purpose at present is control. And the last thing the world should do in the face of a food crisis, is hand more control to big corporations. On the contrary, it’s time to encourage self-sufficiency, local solutions, seasonal produce.

Simpler solutions are available to us. We don’t need GM crops any more than we need a zero gravity pen.

 

June 3, 2008

Help get aviation emissions into the climate change bill

Posted by Jeremy under activism, climate change, politics | Tags: , , , |
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http://environmentdebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/plane.jpg?w=236&h=139 Parliament is currently debating the climate change bill, an important document that would make the UK the first country in the world to formally bring preventing climate change into law. Unfortunately there are several gaping holes in the current draft. The biggest hole is that the targets doesn’t count emissions from aviation. There is absolutely no good reason for this. It is simply ducking the issue to avoid upsetting the aviation lobby. We could end up with a bill that clamps down on emissions from all sources except the fastest growing source of them - aviation.

So, writing to your MP to set this straight is an easy and urgent little thing that we can all do to fix this oversight. Making it as easy as possible, Friends of the Earth have launched a neat little site called The Big Ask, where you can book a seat on a virtual flight to the Houses of Parliament. It’ll take you five minutes to log in and send an email to your MP, and it’s fun. I’m seat 452J. Get on board here.

 

May 21, 2008

Pump more oil, quick!

Posted by Jeremy under energy and fuels, oil, politics, technology, travel | Tags: , |
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Both the US and the UK governments appear to be settled on the most obvious solution to high oil prices - pump more oil. It’s a hasty political solution that may work in lowering prices, but it will only speed the inevitable end oil - more on celsias.

 

May 11, 2008

Jungle Capitalists - the story of United Fruit

Posted by Jeremy under books, business, development, fair trade, globalisation, politics, uncategorized | Tags: , , |
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A Story of Globalisation, Greed and Revolution ‘Jungle Capitalists - a Story of Globalisation, Greed and Revolution’ is the extraordinary story of the United Fruit company and their dealings in Central America.

The company began almost by accident in Costa Rica, with a railway constructor called Minor Keith growing bananas to sell to his workers. Once the railway line was in place and bananas could be shipped to the coast for export to the States, Keith realised he’d stumbled upon a remarkable business model. Over the next few years, railway lines were offered to many Central American governments in return for land, and exemption from taxes. The end result was huge plantations in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the ‘Great White Fleet’ delivering to New Orleans and Boston, and a highly profitable emerging market for the banana.

As time went on, and the fortunes being made by the banana magnates failed to trickle down to the countries growing the fruit, there was unrest, and this is where United Fruit developed an unusual speciality - regime change. If the usual bribery and blackmail wasn’t enough to keep the land grants and tax breaks, the company would pay local rebels, or hire in mercenaries. The governments of Honduras and Guatemala were overthrown. The attempt to overthrow Cuba in the Bay of Pigs invasion was a memorable failure.

The company gets its comeuppance, which is always satisfying for such a story. United Fruit overstretched itself and collapsed in scandal and the suicide of its CEO in the 1970s. It was sold off in pieces, and lives on in a much smaller size as Chiquita.

What’s interesting about United Fruit is the way it pioneered a number of business practices in poorer countries that are followed by plenty of others today. Having read a lot on oil recently, I was struck at the similarities - government troops in Colombia intervened to violently quash a worker protest on a United Fruit plantation in 1929, and a massacre ensued. Today, local and US troops patrol Colombia’s pipelines, massacres have been carried out in the name of oil companies in Nigeria. In 2003 there was a failed coup in the tiny West African island of Sao Tome, an attempt to seize control of its extensive off-shore oil deposits. Were ExxonMobil involved, hoping a corrupt military government would be easier to work with than the democratically elected president? Perhaps we’ll know in a few years time, if the secrets of the oil companies are ever told.

Another aspect to the story is the United States’ casual disregard for the sovereignty of other countries when their business interests are a stake. The CIA feature regularly in the United Fruit story, and the company wielded considerable political clout, not least in the 1950. John Foster Dulles, a former lawyer for United Fruit, was Secretary of State. His Brother, Allen Dulles, was head of the CIA. It was during that era that the government of Guatemala was overthrown, ostensibly to prevent a communist uprising of course, but also because United Fruit had just lost some of their land concessions. Again, I can’t help thinking of oil, and the fact that Condoleeza Rice, a woman with a Chevron oil tanker named after her, has the power to overthrow countries and start wars in her role as National Security Advisor.

Finally, United Fruit are notable for pioneering PR. They were clients of Edward Bernays, Freud’s nephew and not coincidentally the godfather of public relations. Applying the principles of Freudian psychology to advertising, Bernays developed the ideas of product placement, celebrity endorsement, and selling things with sex. For United Fruit, he publicized their (occasional) philanthropic endeavours in Central America, made educational films and radio programmes, and set up a MiddleAmerica Information Bureau to inform journalists about the realities of life in the growing regions. He encouraged United Fruit to donate to the exploration of the archaeological ruins that had been uncovered in the course of their jungle-clearing. Around this time United Fruit also developed the cartoon pin-up of Senorita Chiquita Banana, the singing, dancing banana, pre-empting characters from Ronald McDonald to Coco the monkey. Of course, these are all tricks we’re very familiar with today. You can’t spend long in a Starbucks without finding some assertion of their good works in developing countries, despite the fact that you have to specifically ask for Fairtrade at the counter. And of course the educational film. I collect short films, and the one below is one of my favourite bits of corporate propaganda.

Anyway, I recommend Jungle Capitalists. Peter Chapman tells the tale like a spy thriller, and it’s an easy and engaging read. There are some asides about the crisis in banana genetics (see this earlier post), and the consumer discovery of the banana is particularly fascinating, with bananas on display in exhibitions, served as delicacies, and celebrated in song. The book could have done with a bit of an update on the state of the world fruit business today and the whole Fairtrade issue, but I guess you can’t cover everything.

 

April 30, 2008

cashing in on the food crisis - the US Farm Bill

Posted by Jeremy under activism, business, current affairs, economics, exploitation, fair trade, food, politics, uncategorized | Tags: , , |
1 Comment 

Just a quick note on a political matter in the States right now. Congress is currently putting the final touches to it’s latest Farm Bill, a vast and sprawling set of agricultural policies that comes around every five years. There are all sorts of unjust and environmentally unsound aspects to it, but among them is a particularly pernicious policy on food aid, which may have serious repercussions for the global food crisis.

Under the regulations, all food aid would have to be bought in the US. It’s a simple idea - billions of dollars are spent in aid every year to help out hungry countries who have suddenly found themselves with no food. If those billions are spent in the US, they’ll contribute to the US economy, and the food can then be shipped to the places it is needed. It’s been standard practice for some time.

At face value, that’s a waste of time and shipping. It usually takes four months longer for ‘emergency’ food aid to reach the hungry if its sourced in the US. But dig a little deeper - the food aid could be bought locally, from farmers within the country that are still producing, or from the nearest places with a surplus. This would support local farmers and suppliers, and help to build local agriculture for the future. Instead, the US puts its own economy first, and the result is a glut of foreign food aid that undercuts local farmers. When local agriculture is undermined in this way, farmers go bankrupt. The net result is that for the sake of US profits, even less food is grown in countries where people are already starving.

It had been proposed that at least a quarter of emergency food aid should be bought locally, but this has been removed in favour of an opportunity to shift US surpluses - essentially a form of subsidy at the expense of the starving. It’s a shameless and craven policy that makes the global food crisis far worse. It’s the worst kind of ‘aid’, that is only thinly disguised profiteering.

It’s not too late to stop this, or at least to re-introduce the one-quarter clause. The Farm Bill hasn’t passed yet, and Sojourners are campaigning on it at the moment. If you’re an American reader, please Click here for their current form letter, and petition your congressman.

 

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