Africa: Bees Can Help Boost Food Security of Two Billion Small Farmers At No Cost

http://allafrica.com/stories/201602220806.html

This study examined the importance of bees in food production, especially in Africa, and was conducted by The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In module 5 we discussed developments that have an advantage due to being geographically blessed. This study showed the importance of bees in that area, and how things would be different without them. Bees play a vital role in pollinating plants, and they do it at no cost for people. Without bees, crops would have to be pollinated by hand, a task that would greatly reduce production. The article said that due to global warming, bees were having a harder time pollinating plants. It recommended that we take efforts to reduce global warming, and also suggested that farmers plant plants that flower year round in an effort to keep bees on their property. Bees have played a vital role in food production in the past, and if we want to continue this trend, steps must be made to ensure the bee’s and our future.

Treating Cataracts in India

http://www.cgdev.org/page/case-19-treating-cataracts-india

This study examined the leading cause of blindness, cataracts, in India. It was conducted by the World Bank’s Implementation Completion Report. Before this initiative, nearly 1.5% of Indian’s suffered from blindness due to cataracts. The World Bank started an initiative  to treat this awful condition in 1994 by setting up fixed camps for cataract surgery. Overall, this initiative was very effective and restored sight to nearly 320,000 people annually at little to no cost to the individual. On average, the surgery only cost $10, yet due to poverty, many people couldn’t afford to have the surgery done. This is an issue of environmental justice, because due to poverty hundreds of thousands of people couldn’t afford this simple surgery to restore their sight. Thanks to this program, nearly 15.35 million cataract surgeries have been conducted in India since it’s inception.

The first case study relates to my home town because it is a reoccurring problem across the whole world. Bee populations are rapidly decreasing, and as they go the price of food will increase dramatically due to lack of pollination. In my hometown of York, Pa, agriculture is a very common way to make a living. My town consists mainly of wide open farm fields and bees are important to pollination in all parts of the world. It is common to see bee houses adjacent to fields in my area. The second case study relates to my home because healthcare is something that many people in the U.S. take for granted, especially with a routine procedure like cataract surgery. Not being able to see due to a very curable disease is unthinkable, and something that nobody should be forced to suffer through. These two studies differ because the first one calls for individual action, and the second one is an example of collective action. We can see that in the case of the cataract dilemma, collective action was very effective at solving the problem, while we will have to wait and see how the bee dilemma works itself out.