Be Mindful of What You’re Eating
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 20th, 2016
Good morning!
Well, it picked up a bit didn’t it? Here I thought perhaps everyone was out kissing instead of blogging. But I see you were doing both. :) Loved the history and interesting stats too. It just shows us how much kissing means to all of us that it’s so worth studying.
Since all the talk is about lips, it seemed only natural to blog about something delicious that passes through them.
I LOVE avocados. I eat them regularly. I try to buy local/organic as much as possible but I have to admit I am one who has bought them from Mexico too. But now I know better.
From Think Progress:
Your Guacamole Is Hurting Mexican Forests
Eating avocados has been linked with better diet quality and nutrition for years, well now it seems a surging love for this fruit is driving deforestation in Mexico.
Avocados grow best in the same climate and altitude as the pine and oyamel fir forests in Michoacan, a state that produces 88 percent of Mexico’s avocados. The Associated Press reported Tuesday avocado demand is driving local growers to slash and burn forest to plant avocados, a crop that has enjoyed exponential prices in recent months.
The U.S. is a major importer of Mexican avocados. And over the past several months, demand across the country has increased as some major national avocado growers in California have experienced heat waves that have hurt local production. In a time of increasing trade between the two countries, U.S. consumption is likely boosting prices and encouraging Mexican growers to expand into new territories.
“Even where they aren’t visibly cutting down forest, there are avocados growing underneath [the pine boughs], and sooner or later they’ll cut down the pines completely,” Mario Tapia Vargas, researcher at Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Farming and Fisheries Research, told the Associated Press.
Encroachment has already reached natural reserves for Monarch butterflies, a severely endangered species that spends its winters in Michoacan before it migrates to as far north as Canada. In the past few years, the numbers of Monarch butterflies that migrate across the United States have dropped to all-time lows. What’s more, oyamel forest is Mexico’s most endangered ecosystem. Just about 2 percent of the original oyamel forest remains.
Transforming forest into avocado orchards also puts Michoacan water resources at risk. Avocados are water-intensive fruits that when massively produced can demand more water than a natural dense forest. Growing a pound of avocados in Mexico needs nearly 32 gallons of water, Mother Jones reported.
“Beyond the displacement of forests and the effects on water retention, the high use of agricultural chemicals, and the large volumes of wood needed to pack and ship avocados are other factors that could have negative effects on the area’s environment, and the well-being of its inhabitants,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
According to government data, avocado land use is making Michoacan lose some 1,200 acres of forest a year. (One acre is roughly the size of a football field.) But the effects of deforestation go beyond Mexico’s borders. Losing forests exacerbates climate change because trees function as carbon sinks that withhold CO2 from the atmosphere.
A Monarch butterfly sits on a branch at the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary, in the mountains of Mexico’s Michoacan state. High avocado prices in 2016 have fueled deforestation in Michoacan state, where farmers cut down pines to clear the way for more avocado trees. Michoacan’s forests contain much of the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly. CREDIT: AP Photo/ Marco Ugarte.
But the Mexican government is taking action. Last month, federal police in Morelia, the Michoacan state capital, detained a dozen people, seized avocado plants, and vehicles used to switch a deforested area into an orchard.
The federal government also invested about $500,000 six years ago in a program that pays rural communities in Michoacan to conserve water-capturing forests like the ones now under threat. But in a state that has been battered with drug violence and poverty rates of nearly 60 percent for years, conservation programs may be insufficient given the need.
“Avocado farming is very attractive, because of the prices being the way they are,” Tapia Vargas said.
U.S. avocado consumption is likely playing role in Michoacan deforestation. Over the last year, avocado prices skyrocketed in the United States, according to the Haas Avocado Board, pointing to a clear spike in demand. One Haas avocado — the type of avocado Michoacan grows — cost $1.50 on average in July. That’s 50 cents more than same time last year.
The U.S. is a net importer of Mexican avocados. In fact, Mexico supplied most of the avocados the U.S. imported last year. This comes as trade deals like NAFTA allow avocados from approved orchards in Mexico to be distributed around the country.
Meanwhile, recent record-breaking high temperatures in California burned some of the state’s avocado production, and may have also harmed next year’s crop. California, already struggling with drought, is by far the largest avocado producer in the country. If California can’t supply the market, the U.S. might have to rely more on Mexican avocados to fulfill the growing demand that a recent study attributed to millennials, the nation’s largest living generation.
The connection between climate change and avocados is not new. Companies like Chipotle, which thrives on millennial consumers, have already included climate change-triggered avocado shortages in their business plans. In 2014, the company told investors climate change could force prices for raw produce like avocado to jump, pushing their guacamole off the menu. ClimateProgress broke the story and prompted many headlines and an assurance from Chipotle that the disclosure of climate risk was a “non-issue.” Yet two years later, with higher prices and drought conditions forcing avocado supply shifts, Chipotle’s risk disclosures may still prove prudent.
So while avocados are good for the body, and extra guacamole on a burrito is always great, it seems that there is such thing as having too much guac.
*****
Readers: Something to think about.
Happy Saturday! xxxxx
Blog me!
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 20th, 2016 at 3:45 pm
Ok I’ll minimize my guacamole buy not my xxxx’s!
It’s my ast night in CA before heading back to Asia so Illl skip the guac, take all the xxxx’s I can and def won’t be blogging!
If there’s wifi on the plane tomorrow I’ll be here, if not I’ll catch you all on the flip side.
Happy weekend to you all,
Luv, Zen Lill
August 21st, 2016 at 9:48 am
Zen Lill, Would have been nice if you had told us you were back in the States.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:02 am
I love avocados too, but we need to be responsible.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:08 am
Michelle, I couldn’t get in on Saturday to return those xxxxx’s you were sending me so I’m doing it now. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Yes, I’m in love!
August 21st, 2016 at 10:13 am
I’m sorry if the fucking mexicans want to destroy their forest to make a few dollars on Avocados, that’t their problem. I’m going to continue eating all the avocados I want.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:17 am
When the forest go, the butterflies die because they have no habitat.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:18 am
Humans will suffer too, according to Greenpeace Mexico, a charity working to defend the natural world and confront environmental abuse.
“Beyond the displacement of forests and the effects on water retention, the high use of agricultural chemicals and the large volumes of wood needed to pack and ship avocados are other factors that could have negative effects on the area’s environment and the wellbeing of its inhabitants,” a spokesman from the charity said in a statement.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:22 am
I hope there is WiFi on your plane Zen Lill.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:23 am
Have a safe and enjoyable trip Zen Lill. Asia’s gain is America’s lost.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:24 am
Zen Lill since you are taking all the kisses you can get, here are a few more. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:48 am
Why is it that people will do anything for money?
August 21st, 2016 at 10:49 am
What is the happy balance here? I love avocados, but I don’t want to see the forests in Mexico destroyed.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:53 am
Here in Mexico earning a good honest living is so difficult that it is hard to tell someone who has found a way that he should stop or the forest will die.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:54 am
I work on a avocado farm. It is hard work. We do not kill a forest.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:55 am
Tex, I announced my impending arrival, my arrival amd some of my adventures and escapades along the 2 month US journey, where were you?
Thank you, Craig, that’s a very special
MaQin, me, too, I don’t like missing the write by Mischa or the comments by all of you!
Samuel, thanks for the xxx’s : )
~ ZL
August 21st, 2016 at 10:56 am
Michelle, no everyone has a choice on how to earn a living to survive. My family does the best they can on our avocado farm.
August 21st, 2016 at 10:58 am
Zen Lill, I only came to this blog about two weeks ago. You are my favorite already. I like your machisma.
August 21st, 2016 at 11:02 am
There are no excuses for destroying the forest we as humans all depend on. It’s like nuking your neighbor knowing that the close proximity will kill everyone you know too.
In that case you do something else. Same is true for the avocado versus destroying the forest, you do something else before the action you take destroys the world for everyone including the ones you love and care about.
August 21st, 2016 at 11:06 am
Some of you who claim you are doing a honest day’s work growing avocados know you are lying. In my neighborhood many are arrested for destroying the surrounding forest.
The devastation is ruinous for others and the animals that depend on the forest for their lives and livelihoods. You are just selfish, greedy creatures going for the easy money.
Thank you Michelle for bringing this subject out for more examination.
August 21st, 2016 at 11:07 am
Pedro#18, I agree with you 100%. There is a better way. These people are just looking for the easier and more profitable one.