CSU #7

CSU#7:  Urban Geography

Article Title:  Disney World on the Hudson

By: Jeremiah Moss

Published: August 21, 2012 New York Times

URL:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/in-the-shadows-of-the-high-line.html?_r=4&

Summary

Jeremiah Moss’ op-ed article in the New York Times, Disney World on the Hudson, expresses his opinion about the gentrification of a New York City neighbourhood. In Moss’ opinion, the High Line park built on top of an old elevated railway has ultimately not been in the best interest of the neighbourhood or the people who lived there. Initially, Moss welcomed the idea of a park set above the city. He saw it as a quiet place for reflection and calm above the bustling city. However, his excitement about the park quickly vanished and he has seen it transform into a huge tourist attraction and become the impetus for some of the quickest gentrification that has ever taken place in New York City.

The problem with the park, as Moss sees it is that it is part of the overall plan to make New York City into a type of Disney World. Over 3.7 million people visited the park in 2011 and only half were New Yorkers. The overcrowding is beginning to change opinion about the park. The overcrowding is not the only problem. The plan for the park is that it will eventually be twenty blocks in length. And, as the park grows, it destroys the surrounding neighbourhood.

Mayor Bloomberg and his administration used the park as a means to create a new, upscale, corporate stretch on the west side. In 2005 the city rezoned the area for luxury development. Since that time the neighbourhood has been transformed. Old buildings have been destroyed modern glass towers have replaced them. Real estate prices around the park increased in the period from 2003 to 2011 by 103 per cent. This is good news for the wealthy property owners and rich land developers, but bad for those who have lived and worked in the area for many years. Previously the neighbourhood was a mix of working-class residents and businesses considered to be light industrial. The High Line has succeeded in changing all this. Auto shops are closing or seeing their profits decline. With rents skyrocketing, some long-time businesses have no choice but to close or relocate. Big known chains are making their way into the area. Eventually there will be no place for regular New Yorkers.

Analysis

                  Moss makes a very strong argument about the negative side of the gentrification of New York’s West Manhattan neighbourhood adjacent to the High Line park. With the park and with the city’s current administration’s desire to make New York a sort of Disney World, the social character of the neighbourhood has been altered.  Gentrification of the area began with the High Line, but allowing luxury development paved the way for inflated real estate prices and commercial rents changing the social and economic make-up of the area. Businesses in the area that did not cater to the needs of tourists or upper-income New Yorkers can no longer survive. By establishing a new strip targeted to bring in chain stores and trendy restaurants long-term industrial businesses could no longer flourish.

                  Moss doesn’t address the economic benefits that tourism, residential and corporate taxes bring to the economy of the city and there is really no need for him to present this side of the argument. The residents and business owners that are being displaced by the gentrification process will not be direct recipients of any of that wealth. The once small but flourishing businesses provided jobs for skilled workers such as mechanics. As these businesses close, the jobs that are being created in their place are lower paying service and retail positions. As older buildings are torn down or renovated to make way for luxury condos, long-time residents will be forced t move to more affordable parts of the city. In short, the development of the High Line and the surrounding neighbourhood did not incorporate integration of old and new residents and business into the overall plan. Without any type of insightful urban plan designed for the maintenance of established businesses and residents the gentrification will continue to be a negative for what Moss refers to as regular New Yorkers.

CSU #6

CSU#6 Economic Geography

Article Title:  EU horse meat scandal exposes dangers of globalism

Written by:  Mark Wachtler

Dated: February 24, 2013

URL:  http://www.examiner.com/article/eu-horse-meat-scandal-exposes-dangers-of-globalism

Image included with the article that indicates distributers and brands affected

Summary:

Wachtler’s article chronicles the discovery of horsemeat in a wide range of beef products that are commonly distributed and consumed throughout much of Europe. Apparently, labels detailing product contents were changed from horsemeat to beef. The horsemeat was traced back through a web of suppliers to a Romanian company. The Romanian supplier indicated that the products were clearly marked horsemeat when the goods left their processing plant and they must have been changed at a later time. All seven of the European companies that purchased Romanian meat denied having altered the labels.

Watchler goes on to propose other factors that may have contributed to the mislabeling. Recently Europe banned beef bi-products known as disinewed meat. Essentially, disinewed meat was the leftovers of the cow carcasses ground into a form of meat. The elimination of the beef bi-products is thought to have sent some companies looking for a cheap alternative to offset the loss in profit stemming from the ban on beef bi-products.

A University Professor, Elizabeth Dowler, interviewed for the article pointed out that the food system is largely controlled by the private sector and is driven by profit, not by the well being of the public. She commented that the horsemeat scandal would cause local corporations to take a small financial hit for this act of dishonesty and greed. Dowler predicted that people would return to buying beef that was not processed and perhaps even purchasing from the local butcher. Where buying higher end products and locally sourced products might not be possible for poorer consumers, Dowler suggests that these people will still purchase less-processed products, but they will simply choose to eat less.

Analysis:

Wachtler’s article highlights a number of the factors that accompany globalism as it relates to the food that we consume. Clearly having a limited number of large companies involved in production and distribution means that altered or contaminated food can quickly be disseminated over wide areas. With increased globalization and ease of shipping world-wide, there is huge potential for food issues to become even widespread. Despite having agencies that control and monitor food quality, the majority of control lies with the private companies involved in processing our food. Furthermore, when companies are trying to minimize production costs and maximize profits they may choose to purchase product from countries where food safety, labeling and monitoring is not as stringent as in other countries. Some countries will also offer tax incentives to encourage companies to do business with them.

What Wachtler does not address is the other negative impacts that globalization can have on our food supplies. Global trade of both product and livestock can spread disease to humans and animals in other countries. Tainted products or products manufactured in countries with no quality controls can have global impact.  For example, tainted milk products from China shipped to Europe. Additionally, food conglomerates shipping unhealthy products around the world has led to obesity in countries that previously had no problems. Globalization has brought many benefits, but impacts to food safety and quality will be an ongoing challenge.

CSU #5

CSU #5 Agriculture

Article Title:  When the desert devours the lake

Dated: April 6, 2013

Published in the Toronto Star

By:  Raveena Aulakh

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/06/when_the_desert_devours_the_lake.html

Summary

Aulakh’s article is about desertification using Lake Chad as one example. Lake Chad, a freshwater lake, located on the edge of the Sahara Desert spans four countries Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.  In the 1960s, Lake Chad was 38,000 square kilometres. Now, Lake Chad is a fraction of what it once was at 1,300 square kilometres. The reason for the rapid reduction in lake size is because of the Sahara desert, which is steadily growing and moving south at a rate of about 48 kilometres per year. This trend is causing malnutrition, mass migration, conflict and deaths.

                  Aulakh interviews several experts who support the idea that desertification is one of the most visible impacts of climate change and a global issue that should be taken very seriously. The impacts of desertification are far reaching. Desertification is permanent. Land that was once fertile can no longer be used to grow crops or graze animals, and is ultimately abandoned. Desertification is not only the result of climate change, but has other contributing factors such as over cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, damming of rivers that feed lakes for hydroelectric schemes and poor irrigation techniques.

Desertification is occurring around the globe, but is a more severe problem in Africa because climate varies so greatly, no access to fertilizers to restore soil nutrients due to poverty and because of high population. Villages have disappeared and their inhabitants have been forced to migrate to the cities where live is often worse. When people do not leave their villages, conflict over pastures and wells occur.

There are few plans in place by governments to address the problem. There is a UN organization United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Canada recently withdrew from the organization. It was the only country to do so. The reason given by a government official was that too much time was spent meeting and little funding and effort was going to on-the-ground work.

Some positive examples do exist. The Keita Project in Niger, started in 1984 to reverse land degradation and eventual desertification, is such an example. To address falling levels of rain, about 5,000 square kilometres of barren land into a thriving garden for various crops, livestock and trees. The following actions were taken:  planting trees, digging wells, constructing weirs, damming streams, building terraces and bunds, deep plowing of the land and erecting dune fences. New skills were introduced to the community such as planting cash crops and producing traditional handcrafted goods for sale. Another example of reclaiming land is in China’s Loess Plateau. The plateau covers more than 620,000 square kilometres in central and northern China and is highly vulnerable to soil erosion. About 20 years ago, millions of trees were planted, small-scale dams were built and some areas became no grazing zones. This enabled huge bands of Plateau land to be saved. The article concludes by stating that while positive steps have been taken elsewhere, It may be too late for initiatives of these types to be used to save lake Chad.

Analysis

 The article highlights the importance of sustainable agricultural practices in the face of ever-increasing climate change. The shrinking of Lake Chad and the loss of the fertile land that once bordered it is cited as one of the world’s most extreme examples of desertification. With desertification, land loss is permanent. Therefore, action to save remaining land is urgent and stopping practices such as deforestation, damming, poor irrigation techniques, over cultivation and over grazing is essential especially in the face of reduced precipitation due to climate change.

Examples of limiting desertification in Niger and China are provided which indicate that action has successfully been taken in the past to combat desertification.  However, in both of these instances steps were taken over twenty years ago when the effects of climate change were not nearly as significant as they are today. Given that the Sahara is moving southward at a rate of 48 kilometres per year, delay in taking action means that portions of fertile land will be lost forever.

There is a great human cost associated with deforestation that Aulakh and the experts she interviewed focus on. As land and resources become scarcer, this gives rise to conflict over limited pastureland for grazing and access to water. Additionally, lack of farmable land and water becomes a push factor for migration. Economies based on subsistence agriculture are wiped out and rural populations are forced into urban areas to a foreign way of life and into low paying jobs. Furthermore, the overall security of the food supply is threatened. This endangers people in poorer countries who are often already malnourished and susceptible to disease.

Experts interviewed for the article stress that this is not simply a problem in the areas that are currently affected. It is a global problem. Clearly, desertification is a complex problem that requires local government intervention and where countries, such as Africa, lack the technological and financial resources to take action international support will be required. The article mentions the withdrawal of Canada from the UN organization, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) established to deal with desertification around the world. Canada is the only country to withdraw at this point. Leadership will obviously be required if desertification in to be stopped.

CSU #4

Article:                                     Is Palestine now a state?

By:                                               Pamela Falk

Date:                        November 30, 2012

URL:                          http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57556382/is-palestine-now-a-state/CBS News/

Summary:

Falk’s article, Is Palestine now a state?, follows the United Nations General Assembly’s vote to change Palestine’s UN status from an Observer Entity to an Observer State. Based on this event, Falk explores the questions of what Palestine really gained and whether or not Palestine is now a State. 

According to the United Nations (U.N.), recognition of a new State is an action that can only be taken by other States and Governments. Because the U. N. is not a State or a Government, it has no authority to recognize any State or a Government.”  Additionally, a state can be recognized as a state by other countries and not be a part of the U.N.   Examples of this are the Holy See (Vatican City, a microstate) and Kosovo. The United States recognizes 195 states, but there are only 193 members of the U.N. Falk also clarifies that the U.S. opinion is that Palestine’s status change does not establish them as a state.

State recognition by International Law follows the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, which lists five the criteria for a state "possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other States."  However, in 1948, the World Court added five other criteria for states seeking full U.N. membership.  Those seeking full membership must be a state, must be peace-loving, must accept the obligations of the U.N. charter, must be in a position to carry out the conditions and must be willing to do so. The U.N. Security Council previously declined the Palestinian bid for full membership in 2011 because of questions about their ability to meet "peace loving" requirement, and the lack of effective governmental control over the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority.

What Palestine did gain from the change in status to observer state is the ability to apply for membership in specialized U.N. agencies and international organizations.  Falk also points out that there are questions that might be raised out of the "statehood" status at the U.N. like will this give the Palestinians the right of self defense under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter.

Falk concludes, that the Resolution does not "recognize" Palestine as a state and that the more important issue coming out of the Resolution is the stress it placed on the urgent need for quickly resuming negotiations.  Negotiation is key, according to both Israel and the Palestinian authority, to a real two-state solution.

Analysis:

                  The ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel is a hotly contested issue with advocates for both sides. The change in Palestine’s status from Observer Entity to Observer State in November of 2012, generated a great deal of discussion about whether or not Palestine is now officially a state. However, Falk’s article does not take sides or discuss the ongoing conflict. Instead, the article focuses on whether an international organization, the United Nations, can recognize a state and how International Law evaluates a state. The Barron’s definiton of a state  is “a politically organized territory that is adminstered by a soverign government and is recognized by the international community.” Although, the UN vote to change Palestine’s status was supported by a majority of countries, the US and eight other countries including Canada, opposed the change and 41 countries chose not to vote. Therefore, based on Barron’s definition, Palestine cannot be recognized as a state because it is not recognized by the international community.

If the criteria of a state is broadened to include the elements of International Law mentioned in the article, then the ongoing territorial disputes with Israel provide evidence that shows that Palestine can not unquestionably be considered peace-loving.  So, by many definitions, Palestine did not become a state when its UN status changed.  For the Palestinian people, nothing changed. Ultimalely, the UN called for negotiations to be resumed with a goal of achieving a two-nation state. This will likely be an ongoing spatial conflict and for now, Palestine remains a statelesss nation.

Sources:  http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/ga11317.doc.htm

To better understand the article, I reviewed the UN General Assembly document that included details about how countries, especially Canada, voted.