首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
"You don’t have to wait for government to move... the really fantastic thing about Fairtrade is that you can go shopping ! "So s
"You don’t have to wait for government to move... the really fantastic thing about Fairtrade is that you can go shopping ! "So s
admin
2011-03-10
57
问题
"You don’t have to wait for government to move... the really fantastic thing about Fairtrade is that you can go shopping ! "So said a representative of the Fairtrade movement in a British newspaper. Similarly Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University, argues that "when you choose organics, you are voting for a planet with fewer pesticides, richer soil and cleaner water supplies. "
The idea that shopping is the new politics is certainly seductive. Never mind the ballot box: vote with your supermarket trolley instead. Elections occur relatively rarely, but you probably go shopping several times a month, providing yourself with lots of opportunities to express your opinions. If you are worried about the environment, you might buy organic food ; if you want to help poor farmers, you can do your bit by buying Fairtrade products; or you can express a dislike of evil multinational companies and rampant globalisation by buying only local produce. And the best bit is that shopping, unlike voting, is fun; so you can do good and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Sadly, it’s not that easy. There are good reasons to doubt the claims made about three of the most popular varieties of "ethical" food: organic food, Fairtrade food and local food. People who want to make the world a better place cannot do so by shifting their shopping habits: transforming the planet requires duller disciplines, like politics.
Organic food, which is grown without man-made pesticides and fertilisers, is generally assumed to be more environmentally friendly than conventional intensive farming, which is heavily reliant on chemical inputs. But it all depends on what you mean by "environmentally friendly". Farming is inherently bad for the environment: since humans took it up around 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation on a massive scale. But following the ".green revolution"of the 1960s greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain yields with very little increase in the area of land under cultivation. Organic methods, which rely on crop rotation, manure and compost in place of fertiliser, are far less intensive. So producing the world’s current agricultural output organically would require several times as much land as is currently cultivated. There wouldn’t be much room left for the rainforest.
Fairtrade food is designed to raise poor fanners-incomes. It is sold at a higher price than ordinary food, with a subsidy passed back to the farmer. But prices of agricultural commodities are low because of overproduction. By propping up the price, the Fairtrade system encourages farmers to produce more of these commodities rather than diversifying into other crops and so depresses prices—thus achieving, for most fanners, exactly the opposite of what the initiative is intended to do. And since only a small fraction of the mark-up on Fairtrade foods actually goes to the farmer—most goes to the retailer—the system gives rich consumers an inflated impression of their largesse and makes alleviating poverty seem too easy.
Surely the ease for local food, produced as close as possible to the consumer in order to minimise "food miles"and, by extension, carbon emissions, is clear? Surprisingly, it is not. A study of Britain’s food system found that nearly half of food-vehicle miles (ie, miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) were driven by cars going to and from the shops. Most people live closer to a supermarket than a farmer’s market, so more local food could mean more food-vehicle miles. Moving food around in big, carefully packed lorries, as supermarkets do, may in fact be the most efficient way to transport the stuff.
What’s more, once the energy used in production as well as transport is taken into account, local food may turn out to be even less green. Producing lamb in New Zealand and shipping it to Britain uses less energy than producing British lamb, because farming in New Zealand is less energy-intensive. And the local-food movement’s aims, of course, contradict those of the Fairtrade movement, by discouraging rich-country consumers from buying poor-country produce. But since the local-food movement looks suspiciously like oldfashioned protectionism masquerading as concern for the environment, helping poor countries is presumably not the point.
One of the disadvantages of organic food is that
选项
A、it might occupy woodland.
B、it might use more fertilizers.
C、it depends more on insects.
D、it demands more efforts and water.
答案
A
解析
细节题。由organic food定位至第四段。最后两句指出:So producing the world’s current agricultural output organically would require several times as much land as is currently cultivated.There wouldn’t be much room left for the rainforest. [A]是对这部分内容的概括,故为答案。从倒数第三句Organic methods,which rely on crop rotation,manure and compost in place of fertiliser,are far less intensive可知[B]和[C]与原文不符;这里没有提到water,排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6PYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
HumanitiesDisciplinesInmanypeople’seyes,thehumanitiesdisciplinesseemtobedyingout.However,actually,studentsc
WhentheSpanishArmadawasdefeated,therulerofEnglandwas______.
A、sufferedseverecasualtiesB、wereontherecentlyissuedlistofterroristsC、foughtwithSaudipoliceforcesD、werethoughtt
Note-takingSkillsNote-takingrequiresahighlevelofabilityinmanyskills,particularlyinthefollowingfourmostimpo
______isthecoreofleadershipoftheBritishgovernment.
Theofficialresidenceofthe______isatnumber10DowningStreet,London.
ThePressConferenceThepressconferencehascertainadvantages.Thefirstadvantagelieswiththe【1】______ofthe【1】______eve
晒过的被子有一种芳香的干爽味,是那些把衣服拿到洗衣店然后取回来安心穿在身上的人嗅不出来的。酒店最令我不安的是那些没晒过的被子和床单,每一次都让我皮肤过敏,甚至不能入睡。而我却又最怕阳光,在太阳光底下晒10分钟,脸上的雀斑立刻如山洪暴发。每天出门前都
人类社会的发展进入了快车道。现代都市文明的产物——抑郁症等心理或精神疾病正开始折磨着人们。心理学家和医生认为21世纪将是心理疾病高发时代。据估计,本世纪大约有3%的人需要心理治疗。大部分人的心理问题可以通过自我调整来控制。不少学者指出,我们应该更加
Peopleunderstresshaveperformedspecificfeatsofstrength,likeliftinganautomobileoffanaccidentvictim.
随机试题
张叔叔非常喜欢旅游,在旅游中认识了来自各行各业、具有相同爱好的朋友,他们经常分享彼此的旅游经验,并结伴到各地旅游,这体现了同辈群体的()。
关于使用增感屏摄影的叙述,错误的是
女,25岁。人工流产术中出现血压下降、心率减慢、面色苍白。处理方法是
上市公司的()违背对公司的忠实义务,利用职务便利,操纵上市公司,致使上市公司利益遭受重大损失的行为,构成背信损害上市公司利益罪。(2008年多项选择第57题)
通常认为小概率事件在一次试验中()。
脚手架上禁止集中放置材料、站立人员;禁止超载,脚手架的负荷不得超过()kg/m2。
下列关于社会融资总量的说法中,正确的有()。Ⅰ.社会融资总量是全面反映金融与经济关系,以及金融对实体经济资金支持的总量指标Ⅱ.社会融资总量是增量概念,为期末、期初余额的差额Ⅲ.各项指标统计,均采用发行价或账面价值进行计值Ⅳ.以外
位于市区的某公司出租房产,合同约定自2011年1月1日起租赁期为五年,每年租金10万元,并约定第一年1月1日一次性向租赁方收取50万元房屋租金,一次性开具发票。问题:上述出租房产业务第一年的营业税和企业所得税应如何处理?
设齐次线性方程组为正定矩阵,求a,并求当时XTAX的最大值.
Thesongsays:"youweremeantforme."O.K.,buthowdoyoufindtheonethat’s"meantforyou"?Therearefourmillionormore
最新回复
(
0
)