Vegan option. Meat alternative. Fake meat. From labels to a wide array of dishes conceivable, a slew of faux-meat products are not new to the market. Yet the innovators at Beyond Meat have created a faux-chicken alternative that is described to look, feel and more importantly, taste like chicken.
Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown and his team have high ambitions for their product—hoping to market the faux-chicken in the meat aisle section of the grocery stores as opposed to being placed alongside tofu and other vegan options.
Whole Foods, a distributor of Beyond Meat, currently sells the meat alternative product although not necessarily in the meat aisle section. Currently, Beyond Meat’s beef alternative is in the process of wide release.
Located in Columbia, Missouri, Beyond Meat has in its employ, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, University of Missouri professors who have spent a decade developing their pea protein and soybean based product into imitating a chicken-y likeness.
A study found the likeness of a food is just as important as the actual ingredients within regarding drawing consumers to meat options.
The process requires cooking the protein mixture in varying degrees of temperatures, which is then lengthened into strip to be grilled at the end of the process. In total, the method requires 90 minutes of cooking time in comparison to the energy and time it takes to produce factory farm chicken.
As a result, the chicken-like muscle fibers have drawn the attention of individuals such as Twitter Founder and long time vegan Biz Stone, former president Bill Clinton and even former professional boxer Mike Tyson.
A United Nations Environment Programme study reports that agricultural livestock is the source of 25 percent of green house gasses (GHG.) With the rising increase of meat consumption towering over production, satisfying meat consumers proves to largely be unsustainable. Meat consumption from 2009 to the next 40 years is predicted to increase by 65 percent, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Furthermore, about 50 percent of the water used in the United States alone goes towards raising livestock. A pound of chicken can use up to 468 gallons of water.
At $5.29 per package, Beyond Meat’s faux-chicken product hopes to draw a wide appeal given the chemicals infused in the market variety meat products as well as the environmental impact of our meat-eating tendencies.
Beyond the environment, Oxfam America’s GROW Campaign aims to diminish global hunger by reducing meat consumption. The land usage and water consumption that essentially drives meat production which results in a competition for the world’s resources. For this reason, individuals living in dire poverty levels face the brunt of meat consumption. Reducing a meal to meatless staves off pressure to the Earth’s resources and saves what would otherwise have been an equivalent of 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Pretty soon, the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, will prove irrelevant. Beyond Meat hopes to revolutionize our diet beyond meeting our carnivorous choices.
– Miles Abadilla
Sources: Al-Jazeera, Care2, Farm Progress, Huffington Post Taste, Huffington Post, Slate, CNN, Oxfam America
Photo: Joe-Yonan
European Countries Open Doors for Syrian Refugees
The Syrian civil war has been the cause of daily consternation for those affected by the war and the humanitarian groups looking to administer to victims’ needs. This past week saw the opening of peace talks in Switzerland as representatives from both sides of the war and nations with interests in the region looked to find some way to bring the conflict to a close.
With chances of a settlement looking grim, a number of European nations including the United Kingdom and Sweden have announced plans to bring in some of the refugees of the war. The refugee crisis resulting from the civil war has stretched the beleaguered nation’s neighbors to their limits.
The United Nations Higher Council for Refugees recently announced that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had exceeded 890,000, with over two million Syrians now living abroad in total. With these staggering figures have come questions over how best to administer to the refugees’ needs, and how well the host nations could sustain this influx.
With these concerns in mind, Sweden has opened its doors to the refugees, more so than any other Western nation according to the CBC. Since 2012, the Nordic nation has taken in 14,000 refugees, far exceeding Germany, which has taken in the second-most refugees of any EU nation.
The path from Syria to Sweden is rather perilous, as refugees flee their homes with little luggage and must rely on smugglers to take them into Western Europe. In a nation they presumably know fairly little about, Syrians have gotten a warm welcome in Sweden.
One Syrian interviewed by the CBC said, “They are providing almost everything,” when questioned about their living conditions.
Sweden and Germany had taken in 64% of the Syrian refugees entering Europe from the beginning of 2012 until May 2013, according to the European Asylum Support Office. None of the other European countries in the study come close to their totals, but it looks some nations are willing to share the burden of hosting these downtrodden people.
Despite this seeming lack of interest by European nations in housing the Syrian migrants, some governments are debating opening their doors to more Syrians. William Hague, the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, has said that his government is planning on “helping people who are particularly vulnerable,” particularly these refugees.
This represents a significant change from a government that had not committed to any refugee plan, and had up till now declined to sign for a United Nations refugee sanctuary program.
The peace talks in Switzerland and the plans that the United Kingdom has announced are being worked on represent promises being made to the Syrian people. Yet these people have been dealing with the results of the conflict for three years now, with their homes and lives being torn apart.
The lack of support for refugees beyond that done by a select few nations represents a failure on the part of the Western world. The burgeoning crisis that is engaging Syria’s neighbors is a dangerous scenario, and show the need for foreign aid that developing nations still need.
– Eric Gustafsson
Sources: CBC News, DNA India, The Guardian
Photo: NPR
Beyond Meat: Faux-Meat Alternatives
Vegan option. Meat alternative. Fake meat. From labels to a wide array of dishes conceivable, a slew of faux-meat products are not new to the market. Yet the innovators at Beyond Meat have created a faux-chicken alternative that is described to look, feel and more importantly, taste like chicken.
Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown and his team have high ambitions for their product—hoping to market the faux-chicken in the meat aisle section of the grocery stores as opposed to being placed alongside tofu and other vegan options.
Whole Foods, a distributor of Beyond Meat, currently sells the meat alternative product although not necessarily in the meat aisle section. Currently, Beyond Meat’s beef alternative is in the process of wide release.
Located in Columbia, Missouri, Beyond Meat has in its employ, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, University of Missouri professors who have spent a decade developing their pea protein and soybean based product into imitating a chicken-y likeness.
A study found the likeness of a food is just as important as the actual ingredients within regarding drawing consumers to meat options.
The process requires cooking the protein mixture in varying degrees of temperatures, which is then lengthened into strip to be grilled at the end of the process. In total, the method requires 90 minutes of cooking time in comparison to the energy and time it takes to produce factory farm chicken.
As a result, the chicken-like muscle fibers have drawn the attention of individuals such as Twitter Founder and long time vegan Biz Stone, former president Bill Clinton and even former professional boxer Mike Tyson.
A United Nations Environment Programme study reports that agricultural livestock is the source of 25 percent of green house gasses (GHG.) With the rising increase of meat consumption towering over production, satisfying meat consumers proves to largely be unsustainable. Meat consumption from 2009 to the next 40 years is predicted to increase by 65 percent, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Furthermore, about 50 percent of the water used in the United States alone goes towards raising livestock. A pound of chicken can use up to 468 gallons of water.
At $5.29 per package, Beyond Meat’s faux-chicken product hopes to draw a wide appeal given the chemicals infused in the market variety meat products as well as the environmental impact of our meat-eating tendencies.
Pretty soon, the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, will prove irrelevant. Beyond Meat hopes to revolutionize our diet beyond meeting our carnivorous choices.
– Miles Abadilla
Sources: Al-Jazeera, Care2, Farm Progress, Huffington Post Taste, Huffington Post, Slate, CNN, Oxfam America
Photo: Joe-Yonan
Poverty in the Dominican Republic
More than a third of the Dominican Republic lives on less than $1.25 a day and over 20 percent of the country lives in extreme poverty. Most of the poverty in the Dominican Republic is concentrated in the rural areas. The rural poverty rate is about three times as high as the urban poverty rate.
Causes of Poverty in the Dominican Republic
Though the economy has been growing since 1996, economic inequality remains a major problem. Since the government does not provide more than 4 percent of GDP spending on education, only 30 percent of children finish primary school. In a system where education is the road to the middle class, creating economic barriers to education perpetuates a system of institutional inequality.
Half of the country does not have access to clean water, and over half of the country does not have sanitary toilets. Healthcare is expensive and hard to find in rural areas.
Since the main industry of the Dominican Republic is tourism, rural areas are often overlooked when it comes to government investment. Though rural communities depend on the farming industry, the government has not done much to address the low agricultural productivity. Farmers often do not own enough land to manage subsistence farming, making income-generating agriculture impossible. Although there is technology available to increase crop production, rural farmers simply do not have access to these resources due to financial circumstances.
Natural disasters, including hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and mudslides, constantly threaten rural areas. Much of the rural infrastructure has collapsed due to natural disasters
Though President Danilo Medina has promised to spend more on education, he has said little about his plans to increase agricultural production, increase access to healthcare, and provide aid to rural communities. With a strong focus on tourism, the majority of the nine million people who call the Dominican Republic home are stuck in poverty.
– Stephanie Lamm
Photo: Sleeping My Way To Bliss
Sources: Huffington Post, World Bank, OPHI, Rural Poverty Portal, World Bank
Dinant Corporation, World Bank Agribusiness Controversy
Palm oil, a key ingredient in biofuels and a product present in vast amounts of food, is at the center of a violent conflict between local farmers and agribusiness in Honduras.
The source of the conflict goes back 20 years when the World Bank instituted a land modernization program in Honduras. Farmers point to this program as the mechanism by which thousands of hectares of land were confiscated by large companies specializing in growing African palms.
President Zelaya started an investigation into the land grabs at one point, but he was deposed in a coup in 2009. The Guardian reports the coup had financial backing from the police, business, military, and political bodies of Honduras.
The most recent revelation implicates the World Bank in giving millions of dollars in loans to Dinant Corporation, the company at the center of the conflict.
The World Bank recently conducted an internal review of actions taken by the staff of Dinant Corporation. The report concluded that the violence and forced relocations were not adequately assessed before the International Finance Corporation (IFC) granted Dinant Corporation a massive loan. The loan given to Dinant Corporation by the IFC amounts to a grand total of $30 million.
Human Rights Watch asserts that many IFC staff members knew of the conflict between Dinant and local farmers before giving the loan.
One of the major conclusions reached by the World Bank’s internal investigation, was that the culture within the IFC contributed to the decision to continue conducting business with Dinant. For example, results measured at the IFC are in purely financial terms. This has led some investigators to conclude that various staff members turned a blind eye to Dinant’s violence.
The report also states that much of the IFC staff involved with the loan misinterpreted the rules set out before them with regard to these massive loans. The IFC responded with a vague, five page statement contesting the conclusions reached by the World Bank’s investigation.
Most of the conflict is within the Bajo Aguán region of Honduras, where multiple killings have taken place at the hands of both private and public forces. It is believed that some of these forces operate at the behest of Dinant.
There seems to be a mix of private and public interests at work to oust local farmers from the Bajo Aguan region. The 15th battalion and private security forces have been implicated in the violence. Over the past four years, 100 people have been killed in this conflict.
Unfortunately, the conflict between small farmers and Honduran agribusiness does not seem to have an end in sight. What makes these farmers predicament truly tragic is the fact that the crimes perpetrated against them had financial backing from an international institution usually associated with helping the world’s poor.
– Zack Lindberg
Sources: The Guardian, New York Times, Human Rights Watch
Photo: CGIAR
The Myth of Countries Being Doomed to Poverty
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released its 2014 annual letter, which, rather than focusing on the foundation’s accomplishments over the past year or discussing its plans for the future, addressed three widely held beliefs regarding poverty.
The Foundation focused on eliminating these three myths: “Poor Countries are Doomed to Stay Poor,” “Foreign Aid is a Big Waste,” and “Saving Lives Leads to Overpopulation.” The letter deconstructs these myths, showing they are not only incorrect, but also highly detrimental to the progression of the fight against global poverty.
The idea that poor countries are trapped in a cycle of poverty is one held by people worldwide, especially those in the United States and other Western countries. While this belief that poor countries can never improve is deeply ingrained, it can be disproved through simple statistics.
In 1960, the majority of the global economy was focused in the West, with many of the countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America counting as among the most impoverished in the world.
Today, many of the countries formerly considered irrevocably poor, such as Mexico, Turkey and Chile have rapidly growing and thriving economies and according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “the percentage of very poor people has dropped by more than half since 1990.”
Many countries that were once viewed as “developing” such as China and India have come so far that it is difficult to continue viewing them as such, even for those who subscribe to the belief that poor countries are doomed to remain impoverished.
While people may find it easy to accept growth in countries in Asia as well as North and South America, they have a harder time believing that life in Africa will improve in the future.
The fallacy that the quality of life in African countries remains stagnant or decreases persists despite the fact that “7 of the 10 fastest-growing economies of the past half-decade are in Africa.”
In addition to growing economies, health care quality and availability both increasing throughout Africa. Since 1960, in spite of the AIDS epidemic, the life span of women in sub-Saharan Africa has increased by 39 percent from 41 years old to 57 years old. Education is improving as well, with over 75 percent of sub-Saharan children in school since 1970.
While not every impoverished country is experiencing drastic improvement, it is irrational to view all poor countries as the same. So long as there are not inherent geographical difficulties, such as those the landlocked countries in Africa face, or a government that impedes their growth, as is seen in North Korea, impoverished countries have the ability to improve exponentially.
Poverty will inevitably continue across the globe, but it will decrease significantly in scope and severity as it has done over the past several decades.
In addition to dissolving the misguided belief that poor countries will never improve, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation examines why this myth must be reevaluated. This misinformation harms the fight against global poverty because no one will support a cause they believe to be pointless.
– Cameron Barney
Sources: Gates Foundation, Forbes
Tracking System on Saudi Women Suspended
In what seems to be a controversial change for women in Saudi Arabia, a tracking system has been suspended that formerly had husbands notified of their wives’ whereabouts. It was put in place by the Passports Department with the purpose of tracking women, specifically when they left or came into the country. The procedure involved sending a text message to notify the husband without any authorization from his wife.
Controversial not in regards to whether or not the suspension of this infantilizing system is something beneficial for women in Saudi Arabia, but controversial in the news as to whether this is a monumental step for women or simply not enough of a change.
The tracking system is one of the many limitations placed on Saudi women. In fact, women in Saudi Arabia need to have a ‘guardian’ who makes key decisions for them about their lives. This ‘guardian’ is often a male relative and can go as far to decide whether the woman should go to college. It is also illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, strengthening the power this monitoring system has had over women in the past.
The tracking system has been argued by the spokesperson of the Passports Department, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad al-Laheedan, to be beneficial in helping individuals know where family members are. In rebuttal to this, some Saudi women have protested saying that men should have to be tracked as well if the purpose is just to provide useful information rather than just control the actions of women.
Al-Laheedan also released a statement saying “The system has been suspended due to some observations and will undergo amendment… In the past, the system included all the names that were registered. However, in the next phase, it will be optional. The amendments seek to make it better and fulfill all its objectives.”
Since this is only a suspension, this does leave the door open for the tracking system to be put back in place. If not, it seems that the system will be ‘optional’, yet the question remains who will be able to decide who opts in or out?
The publication Foreign Policy has taken the stance that this is hardly monumental, to say the least, as other restrictions and regulations placed on women will dictate a Saudi woman’s ability to travel more so than the monitoring system did. Even though it is suspended, a woman’s ‘guardian’ can stop her from traveling anyway.
On the other hand, Reuters has posted an article indicating that they are of the belief that this is the start of major changes for women in Saudi Arabia and women are celebrating.
Whether or not this is a major step should be left to personal opinion. Either way, there are protests happening against other limitations which are worth commemorating. Certain Saudi women have been defying the driving ban by uploading YouTube videos that portray them behind the wheel driving without a male in sight.
Could radical changes for Saudi women be on the rise? There is a chance once the suspension is lifted that the new ‘optional’ system will still restrict women, but if done away with completely, maybe women can start to expand their horizons and ditch their guardians.
– Danielle Warren
Sources: Foreign Policy, RT News
Photo: Jeddah Beauty
Protesters Make Strides Against Ukrainian Government
After nearly two months of protest movements ranging across cities of Ukraine, protesters have made landmark achievements towards a government void of corruption.
The social turmoil began when President Viktor Yanukovych backed out of a trade deal with the European Union and went on to receive a $15 billion bailout from Russia. However, anti-protest legislation introduced two weeks ago are what caused the protests to magnify and eventually turn violent.
Since then, opposition movements have placed significant political pressure on Ukrainian leaders. As of January 18, controversial anti-protest laws have been repealed and the very unpopular Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned from office.
Azarov’s resignation followed President Yanukovych offering of the Prime Minister job and other senior positions to opposition leaders. The opposition ended up rejecting the deal, asserting that they do not plan on letting up. They continue to press for new and early elections and there are still many negotiations to be made between the Ukrainian government and opposition.
So far, the opposition movements are calling for, “an end to government corruption, freedom for political prisoners and for Ukraine to be aligned with the European Union and not Russia.”
The Ukrainian government also recently signed in a conditional amnesty law for captured activists in which protesters would be given at 15-day deadline to leave the government buildings that are occupied. This also comes after recently allegations of the Ukrainian government for abducting and torturing citizens, including the opposition activist, Dmytro Bulatov.
As the situation in Ukraine has already been established as a human rights nightmare, it is increasingly becoming one with more information on government allegations surfacing. The United Nations Human Rights office has also gotten involved by condemning the cases of torture and is now calling on the Ukraine government to further investigate the situation.
Although the opposition movements in Ukraine have gained significant ground with the resignation of Prime Minister Azarov, the repeal of anti-protest legislation and now with the law of amnesty for all of the political prisoners (as long as protesters vacate government buildings), they are still calling for new elections.
It is unclear at this point, how much further the tension between the Ukrainian government and opposition will last. However, on an international scale, people are weighing in to attempt to resolve the issue.
As a consistent critical of the Ukrainian government’s handling of the past two months, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that, “Ukrainian president’s offers needed to improve if the opposition were to take them seriously.”
– Jugal Patel
Sources: BBC, BBC-2, Al Jazeera, Global News
Photo: Voice of America
Film Synopsis: The Square
During a 2011 revolution in Egypt, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim set out to document the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Armed with cameras, the people of Egypt took to the streets in protest.
The documentary follows six protesters that meet Noujaim in the Tahrir Square tent city. The main characters are Khalid Abdalla, the British-Egyptian star of “The Kite Runner,” Magdy Ashour (a hesitant Muslim Brotherhood member,) Ahmed Hassan (the star activist,) Ramy Essam (the singer-songwriter of the revolution,) Aida El Kashef (a young filmmaker) and Ragia Omran (a human rights lawyer.)
The group sets out to capture the injustices of the regime and the following military dictatorship. The film is wrought with brutal scenes of torture and police brutality.
Magdy is tortured, Ahmed is shot and many of their friends are killed. Originally, the film ended with the overthrow of Mubarak’s regime and military rule, but as discontent with the election brought people back into the square, Noujaim returned to Egypt to continue shooting.
After the overthrow of the regime, Muslim Brothers, secularists, leftists and Coptic Christians, who once joined hands on the front lines, turned on each other.
Magdy is left conflicted, as he finds his organization firing upon his friends from the square. Discontent with President Mohamed Morsi’s policies, the people of Egypt took to the streets in the largest public demonstration on record—20 million people.
The film ends with Mori stepping down. People seem hopeful for the future of Egypt. They know the people of Egypt are a powerful force, capable of taking down dictators and unjust regimes. However, no clear leadership has emerged that unites the many sectors of Egypt’s population. It is unclear how the Egyptian Revolution will end.
Noujaim’s film is a standout for best documentary of 2014. It is powerful, moving and gives a face to the headlines coming out of Egypt.
– Stephanie Lamm
Sources: The Square Film, IMDB
Photo: Ramesh Srinivasan
Health Inequality in Europe
A new report from the European Union illuminates the staggering cost of untreated illness among Europe’s most poor. The report estimates that trillions of dollars a year are lost due to what it calls “health inequalities.”
As reported by The Guardian, the study shows that many avoidable costs are incurred as a result of sick individuals leaving the workforce due to illness or death. The loss of productivity alone may cause trillion dollar losses throughout the E.U.
Granted that these costs and conditions (along with other economic factors) vary widely from nation to nation in the E.U., the report signals a need for shared responsibility in dealing with public health.
From west to east, Europe has an obvious incline in disease and mortality. Many eastern European states report annual mortality rate that are nearly double that of the lowest western states. The fault line between the two halves of Europe appears to be primarily economic—a divide between rich and poor.
The report points to poverty as the central association to these varied health outcomes. The report claims to have “found many examples of associations between risk factors for health, including tobacco use and obesity, and socio-economic circumstances.”
A lack of education, employment, and social safety nets also help to account for a fairly substantial disparity between member states. The report, therefore, calls for broad, systemic changes for many nations. The solution has to be delivered on several fronts if the less fortunate states are to see positive change. Additionally, they are not likely to be able to accomplish these goals in the short term without significant aid from wealthier member states.
In the end, the report looks to put this issue in the public interest by appealing to economic consequences of allowing such inequality to exist. Further, it argues that these inequalities are mostly avoidable. In other words, something can be done on the part of member states to ensure the well being of the most poor.
– Chase Colton
Sources: The Guardian, EU
Photo: Shared Justice
China Eases One-Child Policy
In late December 2013, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress formally introduced measures to ease its notorious one-child policy.
The major tweak of the one-child policy now allows parents to conceive a second child if just one of the parents is an only child.
Previously, parents were allowed a second child only if each parent was an only child. Rural couples on the other hand, were allowed a second child only if the first born was female.
The new measures will be implemented in a phased process at the local level. Furthermore, provincial leaders now have the authority to introduce the changes in accordance with local demographic needs.
While modest, the change will hopefully reduce the number of human rights abuses perpetrated against Chinese women since the policy’s inception in 1979. In the New York Times, OP-ED contributor Ma Jian details some of the horrific experiences Chinese women endure when authorities become aware of a second conception.
She describes the staggering amount of personal invasion local officials engage in to enforce the one-child policy. Family planning officers vigorously chart data regarding menstrual cycles and pelvic exams of every female of child bearing age within every village.
Many of these women are subjected to forced abortions and sterilizations if they are found within violation of the policy.
Probably one of the most egregious injustices of the policy is its disproportionate enforcement. The policy frequently targets poor citizens while bypassing wealthy individuals.
In fact, all violators can avoid the consequences of having a second child if they pay a fine that falls within the range of three times to 10 times the annual household income. It goes without saying that poor citizens, unable to pay the steep fine, either flee their home to avoid the authorities or become victims of forced abortions.
Many see the easing of the policy as a response to the looming demographic crisis that China now faces after 30 years of steadily implementing the one-child policy. Some say the change is too little, too late.
Nicholas Eberstadt reports in the Wall Street Journal, that even with the policy change, the Chinese government only expects one million extra births per year, resulting in only a six percent increase in the fertility rate.
He also discusses the lasting effect the one-child policy will have long after its easing. For instance, individuals born under the previous policy will be entering the workforce in 2030 and deciding to get married in 2035.
Demographers predict that at the end of the decade there will be over 24 million men incapable of finding a woman to marry. One can expect this number to increase by 2035.
The inability for many to reproduce will leave China with an aging population that will increasingly reduce the number of individuals who are able to work as well as government resources. By 2050, over one quarter of the Chinese population will be over the age of 65.
– Zachary Lindberg
Sources: BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker
Photo: Dailystormers