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
U.N. Geneva II Communique In, Bashar al- Assad Out
Syria has been in a horrific war for the past three years, but maybe just maybe it will all come to end through what is being called the Geneva II Communique.
The UN, U.S. and Russia, have been trying to convince parities of the Syrian conflict to attend The Geneva II Communique for months. Last week both sides to the Syrian conflict finally agreed to sit down and figure out a solution to end the bloodshed in Syria. The conflicting parties are meeting with United Nations officials and speaking only through a mediator.
“After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope.” These are the words of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, hoping resolution is in sight.
So far, agreement to release women and children from the war torn town of Homs has been reached. The UN is also requesting the release of the remainder of the citizens, including men. Humanitarian aid will also be sent in to the starving citizens once an agreement is made to do so. There are also talks about the release of the detainees and prisoners being held on each opposing side.
The UN is trying to implement the Geneva I communique aka as (transitional government) which was written in June of the 2013. According to BBC, the communique translates to the following:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry believes a government transition is the only thing left to do or else Syria “heads closer to an abyss.”
“Bashar al-Assad will not be part of that transition government,” states Kerry. There is no way, no way possible in the imagination, that the man, who has led the brutal response to his own people, could regain the legitimacy to govern.”
The Syrian war started three long years ago when rebel groups began protesting against the inhumane leadership of the Syrian government and shouted for Al -Assad to be overthrown. The protesting then turned to bloodshed between these groups and war broke out. Thus far, over 100,000 people have been killed and over 9 million people have fled their homes for shelter in neighboring countries.
Millions of people are still residing in the city; being held in turmoil. The citizens are literally starving to death with no access to food. Some have even gotten to the point of eating grass and weeds because no food is available. Medical supplies and medicine are also running out for the citizens. All people can do is wait to either die or be saved. By whom, no one knows.
An agreement between these opposing parties must come to an end quickly with imminent improvement of the lives of the Syrian people the first and only priority.<
– Amy Robinson
Sources: United Nations, United Nations, BBC, BBC, BBC, BBC
Photo: The Guardian
Research Ideas for the Humanitarian Student
Developing a research topic can prove quite daunting to a young adult. Once a student is able to narrow down at least a general topic, however, the options become both focused and limitless. School reports do not have to feel like a burden, and instead should be thought of as an opportunity to go beyond the surface and dig deeper into a topic of interest to learn more about its nuances and shades of grey.
The world we live in is rife with a plethora of issues that would make an interesting and thoughtful read. Below is a list of research ideas that will dazzle your teacher and prove a worthwhile and beneficial experience for you:
1. Compare/contrast poverty reduction strategies of U.S. government foreign-aid programs to those of other donor countries, focusing on the end goals of such programs. For example, do the programs aim to increase income? Or, instead, do they focus on improving quality of life? At the end of your school report, analyze the pros and cons of such strategies and develop your own strategy for how you think poverty should be addressed.
2. Explore the structure and strategies of U.S. based non-profit organizations working to reduce global poverty. What do their programs focus on? Who are their top donors? How do they raise funds? Where are their funds allocated? What are their milestones/achievements?
3. The UN General Assembly designation of February 20th as the “World Day of Social Justice.” First explore and analyze the concept of social justice. Then specifically delve into the World Day of Social Justice by answering the questions: What is the purpose of this day? How/why was it developed? What are its achievements?
4. With one more year left until the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date, discuss what the MDGs are, as well as the various efforts made so far by UN member nations and global development institutions toward achieving the MDGs.
5. Research poverty reduction measures taken by your local elected representatives. How often do they focus on poverty related issues? How much poverty related legislation have they drafted or co-sponsored? Discuss what their primary focus is and why. How can a constituent make poverty a priority for them?
Students should view school reports as a challenge and an opportunity to dig deeper into topics that interest them. The issue of global poverty spans many fields that are ripe with information for critical analysis. The topics listed above are just one of many poverty-related school report ideas to help give you a head start!
– Rifk Ebeid
Sources: UN News Centre, Take Apart, United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Photo: ksvoboda
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