Crazy stuff going on in Haiti this week. This might not normally be on my radar, but at the moment my office mate Mitzi is trying to confirm dates to do an AIDS training in Haiti, that was supposed to happen in April, which now doesn't look likely. I am enjoying sharing an office with Mitzi - she is a focused worker, so she motivates me to do the same, but at the same time she might turn around and say something random or silly, which gives me the freedom to do likewise. We're a good combo. And she's helping me to fill my social calendar.
So back to the problems with food shortages and inflated food prices in Haiti...and Bolivia...and Mexico...and many other countries around the world at the moment. Problems that have been steadily brewing for at least the past year. What is going on? What was the decision in the global economy that finally pushed things over the edge? And why the heck is the US growing biofuel (corn becoming ethanol) on good farmland, a crop that requires so much water that in 10 years the water table will be so low that wells will dry up in Kansas?! My theory is it's all interrelated. Our decisions in the US affect our brothers and sisters around the world in more ways than we can ever fathom.
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Oh the NAFTA...it caused insane damage. We pay farmers NOT to use their good crops so we can inflate prices.we waste our resources and land, and expect other's to do the same so we may purchase them at a lower price elsewhere. We grant China immunity from Human Rights abuses and special trade relationships, hm could this be bc China own most of US debt?
Its a mess!!! How are we going to tackle the food crisis Julie- help! Hinsight they say is 20/20 but somehow even in this case it hasn't made the governments smarter....I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7349896.stm
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