Tag: Trade

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Tobacco Road by Michael H. Brownstein

tobacco pathways
across North America
ocean to ocean

by Michael H. Brownstein

Like many others, I always thought the native people of North America smoked and/or ingested a number of different plants to expose themselves to different plains of consciousness. This botany research reveals that isn’t the case. Tobacco was the main plant for smoking–perhaps the only one in certain areas–and it is also a study of how tobacco made it across the nation to the State of Washington.

Further reading:

‘An Ancient Residue Metabolomics-Based Method to Distinguish Use of Closely Related Plant Species in Ancient Pipes’, K.J. Brownstein, S. Tushingham, W.J. Damitio, T. Nguyen and D.R. Gang, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffmolb.2020.00133

‘Biomolecular archaeology reveals ancient origins of indigenous tobacco smoking in North American Plateau’, S. Tushingham, C.M. Snyder, K.J. Brownstein and D.R. Gang, 2018, https://doi.org/10.10bioche73/pnas.1813796115

Author bio:

Michael H. Brownstein’s latest volumes of poetry, A Slipknot to Somewhere Else (2018) and How Do We Create Love (2019) were both published by Cholla Needles Press. In addition, he has appeared in Last Stanza, Café Review, American Letters and Commentary, Skidrow Penthouse, Xavier Review, Hotel Amerika, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Pacific Review, Poetrysuperhighway.com and others. He has nine poetry chapbooks including A Period of Trees (Snark Press, 2004), Firestorm: A Rendering of Torah (Camel Saloon Press, 2012), The Possibility of Sky and Hell: From My Suicide Book (White Knuckle Press, 2013) and The Katy Trail, Mid-Missouri, 100 Degrees Outside and Other Poems (Kind of Hurricane Press, 2013). He is the editor of First Poems from Viet Nam (2011). Michael recommends Project Agent Orange.

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Consider the lobster

To know global trade,

consider the lobster from

trade route to market.

 

There has been a 515% increase in the trade of fisheries products for human consumption from 1976 to 2014. This international scale leaves small-scale fishers and fishing economies vulnerable despite an apparent global market.

By mapping the global trade routes of lobsters Stoll et al (2018) have revealed vulnerabilities of small-scale producers in North America to changes in a small number of end-markets. In particular the trade routes make it harder to identify and anticipate risk – should the demand change (as a result of a trade-war between the USA and China for instance) the impact on the $1.5 billion-a-year Maine lobster industry would be vast.

This sciku also includes a reference to David Foster Wallace’s collection of essays – Consider the Lobster.

Original research: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00239

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How small the harvest

How small the harvest

for sustainability,

this cream-coloured gold.

 

Illegal poaching and the ivory trade have decimated African elephant populations, but could ivory be harvested sustainably at a level to both maintain the species and satisfy the trade?

By modelling a reference population of African elephants, Lusseau & Lee (2016) show that only a very small amount of ivory can be harvested sustainably without endangering the species and that this amount is well below the current demand. They comment that ‘any overexploitation very quickly runs the risk of driving elephants to extinction’.

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How safe the trader?

How safe the trader?

The agricultural costs

of invasive pests

 

Invasive pest species threaten global agriculture and can devastate crops. A study of almost 1,300 agricultural invasive species and 124 countries suggests that whilst the biggest agricultural producers (USA and China) “could experience the greatest absolute costs from further species invasion”, their trade patterns mean they are also the greatest potential source of invasive species and so represent the greatest threat to the rest of the world. In contrast, the countries most vulnerable to invasive species were found to be from Sub-Saharan Africa. Paini et al, 2017.