Food to my attention

This morning on facebook, A from GUI wrote on his status,

"totally agrees what Ivy Singh said "You can print money overnight but you can't grow food overnight" What is a financial crisis compared to a food/water crisis?"

To add to that, an article on AP caught my attention with the headlines,

"In lean times, SoCal residents trade guns for food"

And it just reminds me of what HL told me the other day about David Harvey talking about how organic food production has diminished the quantity of food, exacerbating the food crisis. But at the same time I'm also reading this manga Akumetsu, which talks about the economic crisis in Japan and the pork barrel politics. And some how I cannot see organic farming as the evil perpetrator. I cannot agree with D Harvey when shouldn't the economic system be under scrutiny instead? Why blame something that at least have good intentions? Of course I do not think that the organic system is anywhere near perfect. It's so problematic in the first place but let's not divert attention from the source of the problem in the first place alright? It's alright to criticize something but to totally discredit organic farming is like diversionary tactic. It's hardly addressing the root of the problem isn't it? What would normal people do with such information except to feel self-righteous and self-justified that organic is "evil" after all and they can continue with their current lifestyle of supporting "normal" crop produce. Of course as W would probably tell me, capitalism is not all that bad. Yes sure, I think that forms of capitalism have always existed but what happen to progress? I think we're way overdue for a paradigm shift.

I do admit however that I am in no position to comment further until I have read up on this more. Perhaps I will take HL's advice and read DHarvey's book on neoliberalism. You can't criticize what you have not read.

Personally I wouldn't start advocating for people to jump onto the organic bandwagon. I would still eat regular produce but this is why I'm more inclined towards the freeganism ideals. Not that I'm about to start climbing into dumpsters though. Still, I think that there is no idealised alternative at this point in time. I'm still thinking. I honestly care less about food safety and what not ever since I started my research. However, I'm being more aware of not consuming food from faraway countries. And yes, if I am the consumer, I would support local organic produce. In that order of priority. I'm not about to consume organic food from the US or Europe! But personally I think the only way I can change my lifestyle is to help exact change in the source of my food. I have decided my "power" as a consumer is not strong enough but neither am I willing to go and amass consumers to my cause. It's such a complex equation. If I address the issue from producer perspective, they will just tell me that there is no consumer support. If I address consumer support, I do not have a produce to deliver to them. I do not think organic is ideal. So what if something is labelled organic? It means hardly anything to me. Especially if it's sold in a supermarket and have fancy packaging.

Seems like, the more one knows, the harder it is for one to live an "easy" life.

So here's my question now - why is it that singapore is not willing to pay more for ethical food but europe, usa, hongkong and japan are willing to? Why is US and Europe supermarkets able to exercise greater pressure on their supply chain while SG is not? Why are we only concerned about food safety while other developed countries can exercise pressure on environmental issues? Is environmental issue in your source really a domestic problem and none of our business? Why does our regulations only limited to food safety? How can we exercise some form of regulation over the environment conditions of where our food come from? Certification? How effective is that? Is there any other way?

Independent Study Module (ISM)

The concept of an ISM is to have flexible coursework / studies / research usually culminating in an essay.

My ISM was the most unstructured module ever but in the end, I produced a paper. It wasn't too bad but prof wanted a comparison with the Von Thunen theory as well as other criticism of the space-bound theory while I am introducing similar case study under transnational conditions. Amongst other things. Hope I at least passed.

City-States and Transnational Agricultural Hinterlands:
A case study of the Singapore-Cameron Highlands Fresh Vegetable Trade

INTRODUCTION

"Cities are unnatural…[they require a] concentration of food, water, energy, and materials that nature cannot provide" - Lester Brown (2001: 188)

If cities are unnatural, then city-states are the oddities amongst the odd. Even as cities require food, water, and other resources from imported beyond its own metropolitan boundary, city-states likewise require these resources but from across transnational boundaries. There are only 3 modern city-states in the world now – Singapore being one of them. However, there is a growing movement to view metropolitan regions as “citistates” which are characterized by social, economic and environmental interdependence (Peirce et al, 1993). With globalization and an increased ecological footprint of metropolitan urban cities (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996), urban consumption and environmental degradation are quoted as some of the “most pressing global issues” today (Jorgenson, 2003: 374). Thus, there is much that can be learnt from city-states, such as Singapore, that juggle the urban issues of food dependency and inter-state resource politics across transnational boundaries and hinterlands. Most literature contends with case studies of intra-national rural-urban issues (Tacoli, 1998) or inferred global impacts through agricultural expansion (Southgate et al, 2007). The different scale and definition of hinterland have since expanded with increased connectivity across the globe.

This essay will examine these different definitions of the hinterland concept in relation to agrarian landscapes with specific case study to the city-state of Singapore and its transnational agricultural hinterland in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The question that this essay hopes to answer is if the existence of transnational hinterlands is the unavoidable precondition of a city-state or is it the result of an encroaching ecological footprint from the growth of an urban area and its growing consumption.

Neoliberal Environmentalism

Eureka! I think I've found the keyword for my study.
Very interestingly, much of the literature appears to be located within Geography. Must do more google search for relevant literature. If all goes well, I think I've found my personal holy grail. Not that I actually attained it, at least I know what it vaguely looks like. Damn it was the right decision to write about conceptual framework for my GRS paper after all.

References
Davis DK (2006) "Neoliberalism, environmentalism, and agricultural restructuring in Morocco" The Geographical Journal, 172 (2) pp. 88-105

Lockie, S and Goodman, M (2006) “Neoliberalism and the problem of space: competing rationalities of governance in fair trade and mainstream agri-environmental networks” in T Marsden and J Murdoch (eds) Between the Local and the Global: Confronting Complexity in the Contemporary Agri-Food Sector (Research in Rural Sociology and Development)

Update @ 28 Apr 08
Bought a book today from the routledge sale on neoliberal environments.
Heyen N, McCarthy J, Robbins P and Prudham S eds. (2007) "Neoliberal Environments: False Promises and Unnatural Consequences" Routledge

What is a hinterland?

Originally I was going to do a independent study module paper talking about Singapore and its transnational agricultural hinterland: preconditions of a city state or an encroaching ecological footprint.

However, a senior pop by today and got me thinking that transnational doesn't just mean Malaysia and that's what I was working towards. Likewise, agricultural doesn't mean vegetables. How do I lead into talking about Malaysia and Singapore's historical trade?

So in the end, I decided that a change of title is needed.

What I've ended up doing for 2 hours today is to compile a list of definitions of Hinterlands, the different type of usage in different conceptual relationships such as hinterlands in metropolis-hinterland relations or transport geography, foreland-hinterland. There is also heartland-hinterland relationship. I've also looked at rural-hinterland versus urban-hinterland, urban fringe and metropolis. There is international/global/transnational hinterland versus local/immediate hinterland. But do I really need to read central place theory to really know what I am talking about? When do I get to the main dish? Enough with the appetizers already!

Updates @ 11.21pm
Alternative titles may include:

"City-States and Transnational Agricultural Hinterlands: a case study of Singapore-Malaysia Fresh Vegetable Trade"

"Locating the fresh vegetable supply trade within the global food crisis: a Singapore perspective"