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Over the last decade (and especially during the last four years) wealthy nations have increasingly brokered deals for huge swathes of agricultural land at bargain prices in developing countries, installed industrial-scale farms, and exported the resulting bounty for profit. According to the anti-hunger group Oxfam International, more than 60 percent of these “land grabs” occur in regions with serious hunger problems. Two-thirds of the investors plan to ship all the commodities they produce out of the country to the global market. And droughts, spikes in food and oil prices, and a growing global population have only made the quest for arable land more urgent, and the investments that much more alluring.
In what a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) characterizes as a “new form of colonialism,” investors from the US, UK, and China are gobbling up foreign farmland at “alarming rates” and often with little consultation and compensation of poor small-scale farmers and local populations.
It’s not necessarily all doom and gloom. These industrial farms should be much more productive than the ones they’re pushing out, it should lower global food prices and may provide new revenue for the local governments. Who knows? Those governments might even spend it on improving infrastructure if they don’t just pocket it. But then the question is do these people even have access to global markets so they can benefit from lower food prices? And if they don’t now will that change in the future if the governments do begin to develop? And of course there’s all the disadvantages of industrial farming (environmental degradation and the growth of stronger viruses and bacteria).
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The mortality rates from unintentional drug overdose (not including alcohol) have risen steadily since the early 1970s, and over the past ten years they have reached historic highs. Rates are currently 4 to 5 times higher than the rates during the “black tar” heroin epidemic in the mid-1970s and more than twice what they were during the peak years of crack cocaine in the early 1990s.
The rate shown for 2005 translates into 22,400 unintentional and intentional drug overdose deaths. To put this in context, just over 17,000 homicides occurred in 2005. The number of drug overdose deaths does not yet exceed the number of motor vehicle crash deaths overall, but for the first time more people in the 45-54 age group now die of drug overdoses than from traffic crashes.
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how to sell
Just thought I’d add that many who OD on Opioids are old people on pain meds who take too many on accident. Here’s some more info on drug overdoses if you’re curious.
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redditor captainpixystick explains the Affordable Care Act to you like you're five.
- Bob: Hi, insurance company. I'd like to buy some health insurance.
- Insurance company: No. You had cancer when you were 3 years old, and the cancer could come back. We're not selling you health insurance.
- Bob: It's not my fault I got cancer when I was three! Besides, that was years ago!
- Insurance company: If we sell insurance to you, we'll probably lose money, and we're not doing it.
- Bob: But I need insurance more than anyone! My cancer might come back!
- Insurance company: We don't care. We're not selling you insurance.
- Obama: Hey, that's totally not fair. Bob is right, he does need insurance! Sell Bob some insurance.
- Insurance company: If we have to, I guess.
- Mary: This is cool. Obama said the insurance company has to sell insurance to anyone who needs it.
- Sam: Hey, I have an idea. I'm going to stop paying for health insurance. If I get sick, I can always go buy some insurance then. The insurance company won't be able to say no, because Obama's told them they have to sell it to anyone who needs it!
- Dave: that's a great idea! I'm not paying for health insurance either, at least not until I get sick.
- Insurance company: Hey! If everyone stops paying for insurance, we'll go bankrupt!
- Obama: Oh come on Sam and Dave, that's not fair either.
- Dave: I don't care. It saves me money.
- Obama: Oh for god's sake. Sam, Dave, you have to keep paying for health insurance, and not wait until you're sick. You too, Mary and Bob.
- Mary: But I'm broke! I can't buy insurance! I just don't have any money.
- Obama: Mary, show me your piggy bank. Oh, wow, you really are broke. Ok, tell you what. You still have to buy insurance, but I'll help you pay 95% of the cost.
- Mary: thank you.
- Obama: I need an aspirin.
- Insurance company: We're not paying for that aspirin.
3,915 notes (via truth-has-a-liberal-bias & wilwheaton)
