Tuesday, August 8, 2023 ❧ Food waste, COVID, the Return of the Tennessee 3, Hank the Tank...
Plus a referendum in Ohio, Food Not Bombs, cancer-causing chemicals, and more...
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STORIES THAT SHOULD BE BIGGER
HUMANS WASTE ONE-THIRD OF ALL FOOD WE PRODUCE
Reuters just released a new report about strategies to curb human food waste. It points to a staggering statistic:
“We devote half the earth’s habitable land to food production, while ultimately tossing one-third of that food.”
They go on to mention that human food waste contributes more than 1.6 percent of all methane emissions (which is 25 times more harmful than CO₂ as a trapper of heat in the atmosphere), and that “simply using the food we grow and buy keeps planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere, leading to climate benefits we could feel in our lifetime.” The report then provides a colorful, animated infographic to walk us through the EPA’s “Food Recovery Hierarchy” — a government framework for how to prioritize your leftover food. It suggests the most important thing is to simply use less and give what’s still edible to people in need. And when food becomes rotten, it can then be used for animals, turned into renewable energy. Only if none of those uses can be satisfied should it end up in a landfill:
All of these are useful steps to help individuals reduce their own personal food waste, but the focus on individual solutions (much like the instruction to reduce one’s personal “carbon footprint”) creates a false impression about the origin of food waste. Actually, a huge percentage of food waste comes from commercial sources. According to Feeding America, around 120 billion pounds of food are wasted every year, but commercial food waste—from supermarkets, restaurants, and manufacturing—makes up 61 percent of that total. Much of that food is perfectly edible but tends to be thrown away because of appearance or because it is past the totally misunderstood “sell by” or “best by” date (food is actually safe in many cases for weeks past those dates, and they typically refer to optimal taste rather than safety). Farmers leave around 33 percent of the food they grow to rot in fields because that food has declined in profitability over the course of the growing season. Meanwhile, 34 million people in America face food insecurity, but according to the magazine FoodPrint, “reducing food waste by just 15 percent could provide enough sustenance to feed more than 25 million people, annually.”
Some states and municipalities have laws requiring businesses to donate edible products to food banks rather than throw them away, but the vast majority do not. Meanwhile, countless employees have been fired from retail jobs for eating or donating food instead of throwing it away. This waste may seem completely twisted, but it is an outgrowth of a food system that is primarily oriented around profit-seeking rather than ensuring that the vast sums of food we create end up feeding people.
As Benjamin Shepherd, a food security researcher at the University of Sydney wrote back in 2011 in The Conversation,
Corporations whose primary objective is the generation of profit prefer to sell (relatively) expensive and profitable foods to wealthy consumers than (comparatively) cheap, low-profit produce to poorer ones. Few businesses want to sell products to consumers with no money. Fewer still want to work in environments — such as the Horn of Africa — which are dangerous and corrupt. Yet we have no alternative to the commercial distribution of food except for a strained and straining food aid system.
More than 800 million people are hungry worldwide (a number that is growing), but the problem is not one of production—enough food is produced globally to feed everyone on Earth and have enough room for nearly 2 billion more people. The real problem is that the imperative of profit leads the owners of the food production process to impose artificial scarcity. As Andrew Smolski wrote in Jacobin back in 2017,
A commodity is just a matter of social relationships. Food can be for exchange or for use. This means, of course, food can be something other than a commodity; it can have a goal other than producing profit. If our goal was to feed people as opposed to profit, what would that entail? At bottom, it would mean changing food from a commodity into a right.
COVID IS COMING BACK, BUT YOU MAY SOON HAVE TO PAY FOR A BOOSTER
It’s difficult to say when—or if, exactly—America gave up trying to fight the spread of coronavirus. But we argued in 2021 that the country never really acted like it was trying to end the pandemic. Despite a brief collective pandemic response—remember “flatten the curve” and “thank essential workers”?—essential workers were severely impacted by the virus as some businesses concealed infections and OSHA regulations for workplaces were weakened by….you guessed it, businesses! Sure, we got Operation Warp Speed for vaccine development, but once vaccines became widely available, public health officials started talking about a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” pitting segments of the population against each other and undermining solidarity. It was around this time, in fall of 2021, that the Biden administration shifted to a personal responsibility approach to Covid. The administration’s mantra “We have the tools” referred primarily to vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, as explained by social epidemiologist Justin Feldman in a 2022 talk entitled “How to Hide a Plague: How Elite Capture and Individualism Made Covid Normal.” Feldman has argued that “we have the tools” was actually a way of normalizing Covid and turning it into another chronic social and health problem that political elites do not actually want to solve. The point was to individualize the response and back away from collective responses.
Personal responsibility eventually became personal choice: “you do you.” Indeed, there has been a sustained effort these last few years by pundits, scientific and medical disinformation spreaders, and government officials to get the American public on board with the idea that Covid is “over” or that, say, masks don’t work (for the gazillionth time, they do) or that disproved treatments like ivermectin do work. The federal emergency declaration ended in May of this year. But think about it: when was the last time you heard someone discuss Covid as an active threat (the virus that is still going around and can cause serious long-term health problems) rather than that crazy life-altering thing we all went through a couple of years ago? It’s not surprising, then, that at some point, most of us felt compelled by the public apathy towards the pandemic to stop checking the case rates in our area, stop wearing masks, and stop learning the goofy names of all the new variants.
But the virus is still actively spreading, and it has surged in the last few weeks—according to the CDC it is killing 300 to 400 people every week (though that number is hard to parse because the CDC stopped requiring labs around the country to report numbers in May…ignorance is bliss!). Much of our knowledge of the pandemic’s current severity now comes from reports by private labs that estimate case amounts by detecting it in wastewater samples. And what they have found is cause for some alarm. Data from Biobot Analytics shows that the number of Sars-COV-2 particles in wastewater has more than doubled over the last six weeks—a surge that is going on nationwide. Weekly Covid hospitalizations have increased by more than 10 percent as well. Infectious disease modeler Dr. J.P. Weiland extrapolates this data to estimate that roughly 419,000 Americans are infected with Covid each day.
This does not mean that we need to revert to panic mode and start sterilizing our groceries again. But it is worth pointing out that vaccination does significantly reduce one’s risk of having severe illness or death. But the federal government is beginning the process of quietly phasing out mass access to Covid boosters. Though they will remain free until the public stockpile runs out, by the fall, people without insurance may need to pay the full cost for them out of pocket. The Biden administration has pointed to federal programs that could fill in the gaps, but they are mostly temporary stopgap measures. Pfizer and Moderna have also discussed “patient assistance programs,” but have not yet pledged to give the drugs for free to pharmacies.
Not long ago, the Biden administration treated vaccination as a moral imperative. And indeed the campaign to vaccinate Americans was widely successful (a study by the Commonwealth Fund suggests it may have prevented 18.5 million additional hospitalizations and 3.2 million additional deaths.) But since the end of the national emergency, the Biden administration has virtually treated Covid as nonexistent. And while it certainly isn’t wreaking havoc in the way it did back in 2020 and 2021, it is still critical that all of us can equally access the most effective available prophylactics against it.
JUSTICE FOR HANK THE TANK
One of the most dangerous fugitives in America was finally brought to justice this week in California. Early in 2022, as part of a search for “exceptionally large animals,” authorities in Lake Tahoe identified an extraordinarily rotund, black bear who was believed to be the culprit in 28 home break-ins and “152 reports of conflict behavior.” State officials nicknamed this spherical marauder “Hank the Tank.” This weekend, after more than a year of ripping off screen doors, rummaging through garbage bins, raiding refrigerators, and at one point housing a two-gallon tub of ice cream, Hank’s reign of terror has finally been brought to an end after being tranquilized by wildlife rangers.
More than half the crimes once pinned on Hank were actually committed by three other bears who remain at large according to DNA evidence (Wait, DNA evidence? Seriously? How much government effort has been spent on this case anyway?) The imprisoned ursine—previously believed to have been male—was also confirmed to actually be a mother who brought her cubs along as accomplices. From a consistent diet of human food, Hank was able to grow to more than 500 pounds—more than twice the size of the average female black bear. She ate so much that she was even able to skip hibernation in winter (bear life hack!).
It’s common for so-called “conflict bears” to be euthanized after being captured by California wildlife rangers. But the public has rallied around Hank. Even though she’s been gobbling up our ice cream, they point out that humans have been gobbling up *her* native environment and leaving around a bunch of tasty food in unsecured trash cans. In response to the public outcry, we have seen a small victory of rehabilitative justice: Hank will not sit on death row, but will instead be extradited to Colorado under the offer of Governor Jared Polis, who offered to allow her to reside in one of the state’s many wildlife refuges. Meanwhile, her three cubs will be relocated and hopefully be allowed to return to the wild.
The term “invasive species” is a ridiculously loaded one in ways we often don’t think about (Animal rights activist and Current Affairs contributor Marina Bolotnikova has an excellent article on this in Vox). In Hank’s case, she didn’t actually “invade” anything, but rather adapted to an environment that changed around her. Many other invasive species have changed their behavior to accommodate human-caused climate change. Though this does not appear to have been the cause of Hank’s antics, she is one of countless animals that get tarred as invasive, for simply showing what Bolotnikova calls a “will to survive in an interconnected world undone…”
AROUND THE STATES
In April, Tennessee Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers—Justin Jones and Justin Pearson—from the state House of Representatives for joining in a gun control protest from within the chamber in response to a shooting in Nashville. After spending months out of Congress continuing to tirelessly advocate gun control, those two lawmakers are coming back stronger than ever. Jones and Pearson responded this week by absolutely wrecking their opponents in special elections, receiving nearly 80 percent and more than 90 percent of the vote respectively. “You can’t expel a movement. You can’t expel hope,” said Jones. Another legislator who narrowly avoided being expelled after participating in the protest, Gloria Johnson, reportedly has plans to challenge Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn. As our editor-in-chief, Nathan J. Robinson, argued in Current Affairs back in April, the Tennessee Three demonstrated how being disruptive can actually be hugely effective:
There is a major misconception in politics that being loud, angry, and confrontational is the opposite of being “pragmatic,” and that people who “want to get things done” must be collegial and not make waves. In fact, this is entirely wrong. The successful social movements of ages past have always succeeded by breaking the rules of decorum—but not arbitrarily or thoughtlessly…Politicians who will not confront their colleagues over the clearest moral issues of our time are destined to be uninspiring as well as ineffective.
Voters in Ohio will head to the polls today to vote on “Issue 1” which, if passed, would make it harder to change the state’s constitution. Right now, Ohio’s constitution can be amended by just a simply majority public vote, but if Issue 1 passes, the threshold would be upped to 60 percent. This could make all the difference in November as the state prepares to hold another referendum to determine whether abortion rights will be enshrined in the state constitution (effectively overturning the state’s brutal six-week abortion ban). Historically, Ohio voters have used this simple majority ballot initiative process as a tool to push popular social advancements, as The Ohio Capital Journal points out,
Ohioans over the last century have used the state’s ballot initiative process to pass constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, integrated the National Guard and removed the phrase “white male” from the constitution’s list of voter eligibility requirements.
The EPA allowed Chevron to produce boat fuel expected to have an absurdly high risk of cancer, according to a document obtained by ProPublica. It contains a chemical that is so hazardous that “everyone exposed to the substance continually over a lifetime would be expected to develop cancer,” and the threat level “is a million times higher than what the agency usually considers acceptable for new chemicals and six times worse than the risk of lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking.” The agency had previously approved another chemical in jet fuel, which included a 1-in-4 cancer risk. Some new fuels also pose risks to infants and are expected to persist in nature long after their initial use. Somehow, they were approved despite requirements that the agency must find ways to reduce risk before allowing harmful chemicals to reach the market.
A Food Not Bombs chapter in Houston is facing $23,500 worth of fines for serving meals to the homeless. According to The New York Times, since 2012, they’ve received at least 47 tickets for violating a local ordinance that bans people from holding events at which food is given to five or more people in need without consent from the property owner (including on public property!). More than 70 cities make it illegal to feed the homeless—in fact, in Ft. Lauderdale, a 90-year-old World War II veteran was arrested and faced up to 60 days in jail back in 2014 for doing so. Even though a federal court has recognized giving food to the homeless as an act of protected speech, Food Not Bombs is still expected to pay fines for violating Houston’s ordinance, and the city’s attorney says he will “vigorously pursue” violations. FNB is challenging Houston’s ordinance as a free speech violation as well.
Do YOU prefer FOOD to BOMBS? Why not donate to Food Not Bombs?—They provide free vegetarian and vegan meals in more than 1,000 communities and 65 countries. You can donate here. You can also volunteer at one of their many locations around the U.S. or around the world:
Dollar General is moving into healthcare, along with many other local retailers trying to capitalize in low-income healthcare deserts. What could go wrong? It turns out quite a lot—as Luke Goldstein writes in The American Prospect,“Cheap and dodgy, DG’s health clinic on wheels is the perfect emblem for the company’s stripped-down business strategy in retail, applied to primary medical care.” Goldstein continues:
In practice, what that currently looks like is roving vans in select locations across Tennessee, a state ranking at the bottom both for public health and rates of insurance coverage among the population. Though vans may have been adequate for rapid tests or vaccines during the pandemic, it’s hardly a substitute for the urgent-care treatment the company promises to deliver.
Honestly, what could be more dystopian? A company that profits to the tune of nearly $38 billion in sales while engaging in wage theft and providing dangerous working conditions is now going to help address healthcare disparities? Congratulations, Dollar General. You’ve earned our Sicko of the Week designation.
AROUND THE WORLD
Forty countries attended a summit in Saudi Arabia over the weekend to discuss a possible framework for peace between Russia and Ukraine—many of the attendees are from countries that have been hit hard by Russia’s renewed blockade of Ukrainian grain exports last month. Though Russia itself was not invited, it is significant that its ally China was a party to the talks. This is the first time they have sent an envoy to a summit with Western powers since the conflict began. And while reports suggest agreement on some major policy items like nuclear security, food security, and refugee resettlement, China remains cagey about exactly what—if anything—it envisions for the end of the war. The most significant thing China guaranteed was that they are open to having more talks in the future—they kept things vague, saying it will continue to advocate its previous 12-point peace plan and “accumulate mutual trust” with the rest of the world. Shanghai-based international relations scholar Shen Dingli told Reuters Russia is eventually “bound to be defeated,” so China is therefore hedging its bets to allow for international cooperation while not hastening its ally’s collapse.
Relatively little happened in West Africa this weekend, which actually turns out to be extremely significant. As we discussed in our last briefing, The U.S.-backed ECOWAS bloc had previously threatened military action against Niger if it did not restore its democratically elected leader by August 7 after a military coup in late July. Well, today is August 8, and no such intervention has been launched—meaning the bloc appears to have blinked. Part of the reason for this may be due to rising opposition from Nigeria, which is the most powerful member of the bloc and would (as the state which has the largest border with Niger) be a base of sorts for the military response while supplying many of the troops. Nevertheless, Niger has closed its airspace in preparation for an attack.
Mods of the world, unite! Big tech companies like Facebook, TikTok, and ChatGPT often outsource their content moderation jobs to freelancers—often in sub-Saharan Africa—who spend the day ridding the sites of violent rhetoric and imagery for paltry wages. Now, a group of them in Kenya is forming a union, African Content Moderators, and hoping to pressure these tech giants to improve their salaries (many make just $2 or $3 an hour). They also want to end the extreme surveillance of their performance and unfair dismissals of employees. Many also deal with untreated psychological trauma from cleaning up genocidal rants, child porn, and ISIS beheading videos all day. As one of the union’s founders, Nathan Nkunzimana, said in an interview with El País,
There were days when I came home and had the feeling that I didn’t feel anything…You couldn’t take your eyes off the screen all day. It took two or three seconds from the moment you clicked on a publication until the machine placed another one for you to review. It didn’t give you a moment of calm… even taking a minute to go to the bathroom meant a problem with your supervisor…Our request is that our human, constitutional and labor rights be respected – we only ask for that.
LONG READ: The First part of Israel's judicial overhaul plan has passed, erasing the decades-old “reasonableness standard” in Israeli law. What does this mean? Elisheva Goldberg in Jewish Currents explains,
Since the 1980s, the standard has enabled courts to overturn arbitrary, or ‘unreasonable,’ administrative decisions made by government officials. By removing the standard, the new law opens the door to capricious—or corrupt—decisions by elected leaders…In addition to affecting lower stakes bureaucratic decisions, the reasonableness standard also allowed courts to keep a check on corrupt behavior. If a minister fired a civil servant who did not align with their political agenda, only to immediately hire someone else more amenable, the court could consider this unreasonable and reverse the decision. This standard even applied at the highest level of government, giving courts the power to prevent Netanyahu from—for instance—firing an attorney general and replacing her with someone more ‘loyal.’ But the removal of this democratic check, Roznai said, “basically allows the government and the ministers to get rid of independent gatekeepers and replace them with ‘yes men.’ Besides an effort to personally evade the courts’ supervision, the removal of the reasonableness standard is also Netanyahu’s bid to appeal to different members of his ruling coalition. By appointing cronies and removing gatekeepers, the settler flank can use the new law to advance its goals of annexing parts of the West Bank and encouraging Arab residents—on both sides of the Green Line—to go elsewhere.
APE FACT OF THE DAY
SIAMANG GIBBONS—native to Southeastern Asia—make otherworldly noises using a large balloon-like sac in their throats.
When they howl at one another, it sounds like this:
Writing and research by Stephen Prager. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Lily Sánchez. Fact-checking by Justin Ward. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here. Current Affairs is 100% reader supported and depends on your subscriptions and donations.