Word: agrarians
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There are a lot of ways to divide the world--rich and poor, east and west, industrial and agrarian. Now add one more: smoking and nonsmoking. In the U.S. and other developed countries, Big Tobacco is on the run, chased to the curbs by a combination of lawsuits, smoking bans and high taxes. Fewer than 20% of Americans now smoke--the lowest rate since reliable records have been kept. President Barack Obama recently signed laws boosting federal cigarette taxes from 32¢ a pack to $1 and giving the FDA the power to regulate cigarettes like any other food or drug...
...shift in disease burden has a number of root causes. Victories against infectious disease mostly affecting children lead to more people living to adulthood, and thus an increase in chronic diseases. Economic development leads to lifestyle changes that increase the risk for chronic diseases. For example, shifts from agrarian to urban living results in less physical activity, more processed food, and exposure to more air pollution. Most African governments lack information and resources to respond to this growing crisis...
...Krista Mahr's article on rich states renting agricultural land in developing states presents a thorny question: Can the hungry be a provider to the well-fed? Let's take the case of the Philippines, my homeland. Most Filipino farmers are poor and neglected. The Department of Agrarian Reform can't even protect their rights against greedy hacienda owners. Without sufficient safeguards, food-security agreements might only aggravate the lot of farmers and their families from Sudan to Indonesia. Remember: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Dennard Dacumos, Manila...
...Traveling in India and China, I cannot help but feel that some life is cheap there. The agrarian poor do not benefit from investment, and the backward castes are left behind. It is nauseating to think how much genius lies fallow between the Indus and Yellow Rivers. It is even more revolting to consider how many simply charitable and industrious citizens and workers are outside the system...
...Simultaneously, the Khmer Rouge were planning the steps necessary for a radical shift to an agrarian society. During the Khmer Rouge's nascent days, the movement's leader, Pol Pot, had grown to admire the way the tribes on the outskirts of Cambodia's jungles lived, free of Buddhism, money or education, and now he wanted to foist the same philosophy on the entire nation. Pol Pot envisioned a Cambodia absent of any social institutions like banks or religions or any modern technology. He sought to triple agricultural production in a year, absent the manpower or means necessary...