Discussion Questions to Answer with source shown below.
• What are the key indicators of global climate change, according to NASA? And what evidence should be pointed out to climate skeptics?
• How does global climate change reflect “negative externalities” and “Karl Polanyi’s Paradox” (as defined in GPCC)?
• How do food exports from wealthy countries to poor countries hurt medium and small farmers in poor countries? What problems in general does corporate agribusiness cause? What are the present-day causes of suicide among family farmers?
• How does climate change contribute to “extremist insurgency” in Africa as well as (review) Guatemalan/Central American migration?
• What problems does “farming and biodiversity” address? What are its recommendations? How are these related to the “clean farming revolution” (sustainable farming/agroecology, as discussed last week)?
• GPCC: Describe “the story of beef.”
Sources to use for the above questions.
Part One
• “NASA: Global climate change”
https://climate.nasa.gov/
• “What should you say to a climate change skeptic?”
https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-arguments-20170818-htmlstory.html
• “Meet the evangelical Christian persuading believers that climate change is real”
https://www.newstatesman.com/2017/06/meet-evangelical-christian-persuading-believers-climate-change-real
Part Two
• “Rash of suicides in India—Cotton farmers without hope” (video, 6:10 minutes)
https://www.dw.com/en/rash-of-suicides-in-india-cotton-farmers-without-hope/av-17200458
• “Australia: Suicides among farmers” (video, 6:45 minutes)
https://www.dw.com/en/australia-suicide-among-farmers/av-47117757
• “Trading down: How unfair trade hurts farmers [in poor countries]”
https://fairworldproject.org/trading-down-how-unfair-trade-hurts-farmers/
• “Agribusiness is devastating to family farmers, rural communities, and the environment”
https://www.actionaidusa.org/work/agribusiness-family-farmers/
Part Three
• “How climate change inflames extremist insurgency in Africa”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/climate-change-extremism-boko-haram/
Part Four
• “Biodiversity: Food ‘key driver’ of accelerating death of wildlife”
https://www.dw.com/en/farming-food-biodiversity-extinction-food-waste-health-meat-plant-based/a-56416006
Part Five
• “The sugar that permeates the American diet has a barbaric history as the ‘white gold’ that fueled slavery”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html
• GPCC, chapter 7, “Environment and consumption”
