Urban Food Chains

the links between diet and power

Advertisement
Amazon raw

Risky contact

peter 0

The Amazon basin is home to some of the largest human populations that have no regular contact with the industrial world. There is no knowing how many there might be, but the awkward truth remains that incoming populations are regarded as evil and indigenous folk are constantly intensifying their avoidance of civilisation. The pressure on land resources is growing, as secondary occupations follow the chainsaws, taking advantage of recently-cleared ground.

Logging concessions cut raw green corridors in what would otherwise still be viable jungle. More importantly to the indigenous folk, the loggers are stripping out the largest trees, depriving local populations of resources that are irreplaceable. For the indigenous population, there are no meaningful distinctions to be made between loggers, settlers and peasant farmers. They all represent  the same hazards for indigenous  health; disruption of the indigenous economy  and the destruction of once abundant habitats.

fish raw

Maws

peter 0

 

Will global warming and the acidification of the oceans lead to toothless sharks? Researchers in Germany have confirmed that current climatic conditions are a factor in accelerating tooth corrosion and disrupting the normal alignment of shark teeth. Visit Heinrich Heine University` to get the full story.

 

draft animals haulage three quick questions

From legs to wheels

peter 0

Having covered a blank canvas with lengthy discussions of horses’ roles in the transport of goods (click on a “horse” badge for the full list), the moment has arrived to resolve any lingering doubts. Registrations of commercial vehicles on British roads grew steadily in the 1920s: the figures used in this table  are all civilian, there are no military registrations to factor in. 0 At the start of the first world war, the British government commissioned regular orders with about half a dozen automotive manufacturers equipped to fulfill wartime orders. During the hostilities, these firms built 20,000 vehicles for the military – mostly lorry chassis ready for adaptation once their role had been allocated. The government disposed of a further 6,000 vehicles that were either no longer required or beyond repair.

The only army horses ever to return to the UK were those belonging to officers, some 65,000 in all, out of a total of close on a million. There was very little reliable data on the UK’s horse population at this time. The country had been a long term importer of horses since the mid-nineteenth century. There were groups of draft horses traded by specialist breeders, who saw to it that strong lines of Shire horses, Suffolk Punches and Percherons were kept available for companies that needed to patch a gap in a team, or other specific need.

The British army commandeered as many horses as it could lay its hands on. The entire industrial world was short of mules and horses during the 1920s. It was the growing reliability of automotive products that helped some to turn the corner. There was a persistent chafing between England’s lorry drivers and coachmen who were still in a job. Knowing that the brakes on lorries were often barely fit for purpose, coachmen would wind up lorry drivers while loading their vehicles and persuade them to increase their load to a point where the vehicle was a danger to other traffic.

 

City life France raw

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

peter 0

Television advertisements get a seasonal boost over Christmas, many of them going off at a tangent to promote lifestyle changes. In the process, they can lose focus and clarity. This year’s Intermarché two and a half minute spot is a case in point, as you will see when you click the link above and run it. The animation is flawless, the soundtrack is bright and the subtitles are timed to perfection. The storyline should be as clear as day, or at least as good as the component parts. In this case, a family Christmas lunch scene dissolves into an insoluble conflict between a wolf’s longing for friends and the creature’s assumed carniverous background. To be sure, you can’t have friends and eat them (the reference to cakeism is deliberate), but you need something a bit more substantial than the “mother carries child off to bed” ending. If the ending rounded off a strong storyline, one might forgive the lingering doubts that follow the final screen. But with an understated narrative, the story fails to inspire, inform, or instruct. It has no clear statement to offer, nor lessons to learn. Which is a shame, given the high creative standards of the agency.

Skip to toolbar