Canadian & World IssuesModified from C. Marlatt

Bananas, Coffee, Deserts

and Water

Bananas, Coffee, and Deserts

1. Transnational Corporations

2. Banana Farming

3. Coffee Producers

4. Fair Trade

5. Desertification

6. Water

Transnational Corporations

Banana Republics:A banana republic describes a country whose government is primarily concerned with

economics benefiting a colonial or corporate power, rather than values of democracy and social welfare. Specifically, "bananaland," or "banana republic" was coined to refer to Central and South American dictatorships set up for the purpose of foreign exploitation of natural resources such as agricultural crops by Transnational (Multinational) corporations.

Transnational Corporations

• United Fruit defined the modern multinational corporation• At home, it cultivated clubby ties with those in power and helped

pioneer the modern arts of public relations and marketing.• Abroad, it coddled dictators while using a mix of paternalism and

violence to control its workers.

Transnational Corporations

Transnational Corporations

What is a Multinational Corporation (Transnational)?

• Prior to WWI corporations were national in character

Why become a Multinational Corporation?• No tax paid on income earned outside the home country• Transfer pricing to cheaper taxed country by overvaluing exports and

undervaluing imports• Expanded market• Cheap labour• Less environmental regulations• Magnitude of MNC’s – chance to become large• Diversification – Vertical integration

Vertical Integration of MNC’s

Vertical Integration

Land Ownership

Transfer Pricing

Sweatshops

Debt Treadmill

Transnationals 2009 - World

Rank Company

Revenues

($ millions)

Profits

($ millions)

1 Wal-Mart Stores 408,214 14,335

2 Royal Dutch Shell 285,129 12,518

3 Exxon Mobil 284,650 19,280

4 BP 246,138 16,578

5 Toyota Motor 204,106 2,256

6 Japan Post Holdings 202,196 4,849

7 Sinopec 187,518 5,756

8 State Grid 184,496 -343

9 AXA 175,257 5,012

10 China National Petroleum 165,496 10,272

11 Chevron 163,527 10,483

12 ING Group 163,204 -1,300

13 General Electric 156,779 11,025

14 Total 155,887 11,741

15 Bank of America Corp. 150,450 6,276

16 Volkswagen 146,205 1,334

17 ConocoPhillips 139,515 4,858

18 BNP Paribas 130,708 8,106

19 Assicurazioni Generali 126,012 1,820

20 Allianz 125,999 5,973

21 AT&T 123,018 12,535

22 Carrefour 121,452 454

23 Ford Motor 118,308 2,717

24 ENI 117,235 6,070

25 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 115,632 11,728

Transnational - Canada

Country

Rank Company

Global

500

rank City

Revenues

($ millions)

1 Manulife Financial 208 Toronto 35,144

2 Royal Bank of Canada 228 Toronto 32,610

3 Power Corp. of Canada 271 Montreal 29,050

4 George Weston 285 Toronto 28,009

5 Sun Life Financial 347 Toronto 24,160

6 Suncor Energy 385 Calgary 22,327

7 Onex 400 Toronto 21,758

8 Toronto-Dominion Bank 401 Toronto 21,733

9 Bank of Nova Scotia 414 Toronto 21,428

10 Bombardier 448 Montreal 19,366

11 Magna International 488 Aurora 17,367

Transnational Corporations

The Corporation• The Corporation a real eye-opener as it delves into the mindset and character of corporate America.• Paints a somewhat unflattering picture of multinationals.• Some of the most damning evidence is the film's exploration of FOX News executives pressuring its

reporters to kill a story that exposed links to cancer in a synthetic Monsanto bovine milk hormone.• filmmakers examine the pathological self-interest of the modern corporation. • looks at the scope of commerce and the sophisticated, even covert, techniques marketers use to get

their brands into our homes.• examines how corporations cut deals with any style of government - from Nazi Germany to despotic

states today - that allow or even encourage sweatshops, as long as sales go up.

Banana Farming

• Nicaragua• Northern Australia• Costa Rica• Kenya• Windward Islands• Kenya• Tanzania• Honduras • Philippines• Thailand• India

Banana republic is a pejorative term for describing a country with a non-democratic or unstable government, especially where there is widespread political corruption and strong foreign influence.

It was originally applied to countries whose economies were largely dependent on bananas for much of the 20th century.

Banana Farming

• Growing bananas is hard work. It takes months to clear the land, dig holes and put in banana plants. After about six months, the banana fruit begins to appear.

At an early stage the growing bananas are wrapped in blue plastic. This stops the fruit from getting damaged. It also protects the fruit against pesticides that are sprayed on the plants.

Banana Farming

• After nine months, the bananas are harvested using a sharp knife. Bananas are still green when they are picked.

They grow in clusters, which are known as 'hands'. A hand consists of 10 to 20 bananas, also called fingers.

Banana Farming

• Bananas are washed and labelled before being put into boxes.

Bananas are boxed on the banana farms where they are produced. This prevents them getting bruised.

Banana Farming

• Bananas are taken from the farm to a warehouse in a truck. At the warehouse they are inspected and sorted.

Buyers of fruit in the UK want unbruised bananas and so very high standards are set. If the bananas do not meet these standards they are sold locally at a much lower price.

After the inspection the boxes are closed and weighed.

Banana Farming

• Bananas take six days to get from the Windward Islands, a small group of islands in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea, to the UK.

They are stored in the ship's hold which is refrigerated at 13.3°C. This cool temperature prevents them from ripening.

When the bananas reach the UK they are ripened in special centres and then sent to the shops.

Banana Farming

• On average each person in the UK eats 10kg bananas a year. A lot of bananas!

• If you buy bananas from the Windward Islands, you will help small farmers like Nioka Abbott. Buying fair trade bananas will also mean that the people who grow them get paid a fair price.

Coffee Producers

• Coffee is the second most valuable traded commodity globally - after oil, yet we producer countries are amongst the world's poorest. Is this fair trade?

• For coffee producers, this is so much more than being an issue of charity – it’s one of justice.

• World production of beans can be broken down:– 65% Central and South America– 25% Asia/Pacific– 10% Africa

Coffee Producers

• The Americas: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Equador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Jamaica

• Asia: Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, India

• Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Côte D'Ivoire

Coffee History

• origins in Africa and Arabia

• The world's first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opened in 1475 in Constantinople

• Turkish law made it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he failed to provide her with her daily quota of coffee

• Coffee arrived in Europe in the seventeenth century with Italian traders. Pope Clement VIII initially urged his advisers to consider the favourite drink of the Ottoman Empire to be part of the infidel threat. After one sip, however, he decided to baptize it instead, making it an acceptable Christian beverage.

• With the expansion of European trading empires coffee was taken back to the tropical regions of Africa and on to the Caribbean, Latin America and South Asia to be grown on estates

• The Boston Tea Party in 1773, where British tea was thrown into the sea, made drinking coffee rather than tea a patriotic duty

• Manufactured by multinational companies like General Foods, Nestlé or Allied Lyons, and backed by expensive advertising campaigns, instant coffee soon came to occupy a large sector of the British and US markets

Coffee Facts

Coffee Producers

Coffee Producers

• Read “Waking Up to World Coffee Crisis” and answer the questions that follow it.

• Also available online: – “Facts About the Daily Grind”– “Bitter Coffee: How the Poor are Paying for the Slump

in Coffee Prices”

• Read the brochure “Discover Fair Trade Certified Coffee” to see what can be done about the coffee crisis.

Fair Trade

• Coffee from Kenya, textiles from India, tea from Sri Lanka, nuts from El Salvador, ceramics from Mexico, and chocolate from Ghana…

• Many of the things we buy are grown or made in developing countries.

• But do the people who produce these goods get a fair price for them, and what are their working conditions like?

Fair Trade

• For most workers, wages are low, there is no job security, and working conditions are often unhealthy and unsafe.

• When the goods they produce are traded for high prices, it is not they who benefit.

• So what can we do to help these people to get a fair reward for their labour? One answer is to buy goods that are produced and sold by fair trade organizations.

Fair Trade

• Fair trade is an international system of doing business based on dialogue, transparency, and respect. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions for producers and workers in developing countries.

• Behind the principles and goals of Fair Trade is rigorous international system of monitoring, auditing, and certification.

Fair Trade

• The international Fair Trade system is structured to produce the following outcomes for farmers and workers in developing countries:– Fair compensation for their products and labour– Sustainable environmental practices– Improved social services– Investment in local economic

infrastructure

Fair Trade

• Akasuwa, a 43 year old cocoa farmer from Ghana explains: – “Why do I sell my cocoa to fair trade organizations?

Because they are honest and fair and do not try to cheat us. They give me a good price and pay me straight away.

– “They also share what they make with us and every year the farmers earn a bonus. So now we are better off and can afford to spend a little more on the children's school fees and other basic things.”

Canadian & World IssuesModified from C. Marlatt

Desertification in the Sahel

Desertification in the Sahel

• The Sahel is the boundary zone in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the more fertile region to the south, known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country of the same name)

SAHARA

SUDAN

SAHEL

Desertification in the Sahel

• Sahel– Roughly a 500-km wide band in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Includes Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad.

• Sudan and Ethiopia can also be considered as part of this band.

– Rainfall is scarce in the northern part of the band, permitting only grazing.

– Entire region is vulnerable because of the potential for desertification

– this potential for desertification can be increased by climate change and human use

Desertification in the Sahel

• The Sahel is primarily savanna and runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Horn of Africa, changing from semi-arid grasslands to thorn savanna.

Desertification in the Sahel

• Desertification is the destruction of the biological activity of the land that eventually leads to desert-like conditions – 40% of the surface of the earth

is either a desert or under desertification.

– Caused by deforestation, climate change, huge population growth, over-farming, and grazing.

Desertification in the Sahel

• Using the Sahel– Local farmers have been herding in the Sahel for

thousands of years, sustainably.– By keeping their herds moving, they ensure a food

supply for their herds, and a life for themselves, in an area where neither could have existed before.

– They follow traditional herding routes, where food supplies exist. As grazing land becomes scarce, they move on.

– A relatively new problem in Africa, though, is geopolitical.

Desertification in the Sahel

• Pre-Colonial Tribal Boundaries in Africa

Desertification in the Sahel

• Today’s Political Boundaries in Africa

– Now, when grazing land crosses an imaginary political boundary, nomadic herders must stop, where they used to continue on.

Desertification in the Sahel

• Read “Desertification – A Threat to the Sahel” and answer the questions that follow it.

Mali

A Watery World

Global Distribution of Water

Hydrologic Cycle

Global Distribution of Water

• atmosphere 0.0001%

• surface storage (rivers, lakes) 0.02%

• groundwater/ soil water 0.5%

• glaciers 1.9%

• oceans 97.6%

• How much of this is useful for humans?

• How do humans use water?

• Which countries have water available?

Global Distribution of Water

Canada's Water Use

Electricity52%

Municipal11%

Manufacturing27%

Mining2%

Agriculture8%

Global Distribution of Water

• #1 Greenland 10,767,900 cubic meters/ capita/ annum • #2 French Guiana 812,121 cubic meters • #3 Iceland 609,319 cubic meters • #4 Guyana 316,689 cubic meters • #5 Suriname 292,566 cubic meters • #6 D.R. of the Congo 275,679 cubic meters • #7 Papua New Guinea 166,563 cubic meters • #8 Gabon 133,333 cubic meters • #9 Solomon Islands 100,000 cubic meters • #10 Canada 94,353 cubic meters

Global Distribution of Water

Canada

Solomons & Papua

New Guinea

D.R. Congo & Gabon

Greenland

Iceland

Guyana, Fr. Guiana, & Surinam

Canada – US Shared Waters

• Many rivers and some of the largest lakes in the world lie along, or flow across, the border between the United States and Canada

• In fact, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system contains one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water

• First international treaty between Canada and the US signed in 1909 was Boundary Waters Treaty

• International Joint Commission (IJC) was created to “help prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters”

Canada – US Shared Waters

• IJC has six members – three from the US and three from Canada – who follow the Treaty as the prevent or resolve disputes on water use on either side of the border

• The current Chair of the Canadian Section of the IJC is The Right Honourable Herb Gray of Windsor, Ontario

• The current Chair of the US Section of the IJC is Mr. Dennis Schornack of Michigan

Canada – US Shared Waters

And guess where they’re

looking to quench their

thirst?!

Read the title article from

Maclean’s and answer the

questions that follow it.