Wednesday, October 7th
today students will learn about deindustrialization
Bellringer
This population pyramid shows that
A. between 2010 and 2050, the percentage of the Chinese population that is under
age 5 will increase.
B. between 210 and 2050, the percentage of the Chinese population that is over the
age of 70 will decrease.
C. in 2010, about 60% of Chinese are under the age of 4.
D. in 2010, about 10% of all Chinese are between the ages of 20 and 30.
E. In 2050, about 5% of the Chinese population will consist of males over the age of
80.
From organic farmers continue to expand markets
Why do organic farms continue to increase market share? what are the
advantages of organic farms that don’t use pesticides or chemical
fertilizers? do you prefer organic foods? why or why not? (write 1
paragraph and cite the article)
From Bosnian ethnic cleansing
What’s the difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing? Who
were the perpetrators and who were the victims of ethnic cleansing in
Bosnia in the 1990s? Why did these atrocities occur? Does the United
States have a moral obligation to intervene to prevent humanitarian
crises from occurring? (write 1 paragraph and cite the article)
From the deindustrialization of Baltimore
What is deindustrialization? What causes it? What are the effects of it?
What are some solutions to it? (write 1 paragraph and cite the article)
Closing Bellwork
Summarize three of the stories you hear in CNN student news
New data shows organic farmers continue to expand markets
October 02, 2015 1:00 am
WASHINGTON D.C. – Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service
released results from the 2014 Organic Production Survey. This is the first comprehensive snapshot of
organic agriculture since 2008. “This survey is incredibly valuable because it provides important trend data
for the organic industry and farmers interested in transitioning into organic production,” said Paul Wolfe, a
policy specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
“We are especially pleased to see that sales from the organic sector have increased significantly during the
past five years,” Wolfe said. “This clearly demonstrates opportunities for continued growth for farmers who
wish to expand or transition into organic production.”
The 2014 Organic Production Survey results are the compilation of the answers to questionnaires sent to all
organic producers, including exempt farms and farms transitioning to organic, in January 2015. While the
survey reports a 72 percent increase in organic sales since 2008, it also states that the overall number of
organic farms and total acreage of farm and ranchland under organic production have decreased during the
same time period.
“While we are concerned with both the small decrease in the number of organic farms and the sizable loss of
acres being farmed organically, the findings suggest that organic farmers are intensifying production and
finding ways to add more value to their existing operations,” Wolfe said. “The question nonetheless remains
as to why we are losing organic acreage at a time when demand for organic products has never been higher
and imports are increasing. This question needs to be addressed lest we lose valuable market share.”
The survey also shows that organic production remains geographically concentrated on the West Coast, the
Northeast and the North-Central region. California continues to lead the country in number of organic farms,
acres and sales, generating 41 percent of the U.S. organic agricultural sales. Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon
and New York also have large numbers of organic farms and sales of organic products.
The survey also reports that while most organic farms rely on wholesale markets, almost half of all organic
farms also sell directly to consumers, such as through a Community Supported Agriculture – CSA – or
farmers’ market. “Organic farmers continue to contribute significantly to local and regional food systems,
with more than 46 percent of all organic sales occurring within 100 miles from the farm,” Wolfe said.
“Organic farmers also continue to diversify their markets, with a much larger share of farmers selling to both
wholesale and local markets compared with conventional producers. The continued growth of local and
regional food systems helps support the next generation of organic farmers, especially in areas of the
country that may not have access to reliable organic wholesale or retail markets.”
According to Wolfe, the survey’s recent findings not only provide an important snapshot of the organic
farming sector, but also provide invaluable historical data needed to assess whether the growth trend is
likely to continue in the years to come. “We hope that USDA and Congress will realize the value of this
survey and the importance of the clearly growing organic farming sector, and we hope they will work
together to ensure that the Organic Production Survey continues to be conducted regularly in the years to
come,” Wolfe said
Bosnian ethnic cleansing
In April 1992, the government of the Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence
from Yugoslavia. Over the next several years, Bosnian Serb forces, with the backing of the Serb-dominated
Yugoslav army, targeted both Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croatian civilians for atrocious crimes resulting
in the deaths of some 100,000 people (80 percent Bosniak) by 1995. It was the worst act of genocide since
the Nazi regime’s destruction of some 6 million European Jews during World War II.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Balkan states of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro,
Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia became part of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. After the death
of longtime Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, growing nationalism among the different Yugoslav
republics threatened to split their union apart. This process intensified after the mid-1980s with the rise of
the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who helped foment discontent between Serbians in Bosnia and
Croatia and their Croatian, Bosniak and Albanian neighbors. In 1991, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia
declared their independence; during the war in Croatia that followed, the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army
supported Serbian separatists there in their brutal clashes with Croatian forces. In Bosnia, Muslims
represented the largest single population group by 1971. More Serbs and Croats emigrated over the next two
decades, and in a 1991 census Bosnia’s population of some 4 million was 44 percent Bosniak, 31 percent
Serb, and 17 percent Croatian. Elections held in late 1990 resulted in a coalition government split between
parties representing the three ethnicities (in rough proportion to their populations) and led by the Bosniak
Alija Izetbegovic. As tensions built inside and outside the country, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic and his Serbian Democratic Party withdrew from government and set up their own “Serbian
National Assembly.” On March 3, 1992, after a referendum vote (which Karadzic’s party blocked in many
Serb-populated areas), President Izetbegovic proclaimed Bosnia’s independence.
Far from seeking independence for Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs wanted to be part of a dominant Serbian state in
the Balkans–the “Greater Serbia” that Serbian separatists had long envisioned. In early May 1992, two days
after the United States and the European Community (precursor to the European Union) recognized Bosnia’s
independence, Bosnian Serb forces with the backing of Milosevic and the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army
launched their offensive with a bombardment of Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo. They attacked Bosniakdominated town in eastern Bosnia, including Zvornik, Foca, and Visegrad, forcibly expelling Bosniak
civilians from the region in a brutal process that later was identified as “ethnic cleansing.” Ethnic cleansing
differs from genocide in that its primary goal is the expulsion of a group of people from a geographical area
and not the actual physical destruction of that group, even though the same methods–including murder,
rape, torture and forcible displacement–may be used. Though Bosnian government forces tried to defend the
territory, sometimes with the help of the Croatian army, Bosnian Serb forces were in control of nearly threequarters of the country by the end of 1993, and Karadzic’s party had set up their own Republika Srpska in the
east. Most of the Bosnian Croats had left the country, while a significant Bosniak population remained only
in smaller towns. Several peace proposals between a Croatian-Bosniak federation and Bosnian Serbs failed
when the Serbs refused to give up any territory. The United Nations (U.N.) refused to intervene in the conflict
in Bosnia, but a campaign spearheaded by its High Commissioner for Refugees provided humanitarian aid to
its many displaced, malnourished and injured victims. By the summer of 1995, three towns in eastern
Bosnia–Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde–remained under control of the Bosnian government. The U.N. had
declared these enclaves “safe havens” in 1993, to be disarmed and protected by international peacekeeping
forces. On July 11, however, Bosnian Serb forces advanced on Srebrenica, overwhelming a battalion of
Dutch peacekeeping forces stationed there. Serbian forces subsequently separated the Bosniak civilians at
Srebrenica, putting the women and girls on buses and sending them to Bosnian-held territory. Some of the
women were raped or sexually assaulted, while the men and boys who remained behind were killed
immediately or bussed to mass killing sites. Estimates of Bosniaks killed by Serb forces at Srebrenica range
from around 7,000 to more than 8,000.
After Bosnian Serb forces captured Zepa that same month and exploded a bomb in a crowded Sarajevo
market, the international community began to respond more forcefully to the ongoing conflict and its evergrowing civilian death toll. In August 1995, after the Serbs refused to comply with a U.N. ultimatum, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) joined efforts with Bosnian and Croatian forces for three weeks of
bombing Bosnian Serb positions and a ground offensive. With Serbia’s economy crippled by U.N. trade
sanctions and its military forces under assault in Bosnia after three years of warfare, Milosevic agreed to
enter negotiations that October. The U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Dayton, Ohio in November 1995 (which
included Izetbegovic, Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman) resulted in the creation of a
federalized Bosnia divided between a Croat-Bosniak federation and a Serb republic. The international
community did little to prevent the systematic atrocities committed against Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia.
The deindustrialization of Baltimore By Nick Barrickman 20 May 2015
Baltimore was once an industrial hub for steel, ship building, automotive, electronics and chemical
manufacturing. The city of 622,000 people today lies in a near-ruined state as idled factories and acre after
acre of abandoned industrial wasteland litter the region. Throughout the twentieth century, Baltimore was
synonymous with steel, as the region began producing in 1887. Upon establishing its mill at nearby
Sparrows Point in 1917, the Bethlehem Steel Company ordered over 10,000 living units constructed to house
the plant’s workforce, eventually employing half the town in its massive steel operations.
The mill would go on to become the largest in the world throughout the middle of the twentieth century,
producing hundreds of thousands of tons of steel each year to build the Golden Gate bridge and the tunnels
to New York City and much of its skyline. Bethlehem’s shipbuilding operations, started in 1905,
manufactured and repaired cruise ships, cargo and other commercial vessels and over 1,100 military ships in
World War II alone. In addition to Bethlehem, which was the eighth largest company in the US, numerous
other manufacturing firms, including General Motors, Solo Cup and Huish Detergents (now Sun Products)
employed tens of thousands of workers in the city. As with other cities located in once-powerful industrial
regions in the US, higher-paying manufacturing jobs began drying up throughout the 1960s and 1970s as
international competition forced the American ruling class to abandon its previous policies of class
compromise. Beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating in the 1980s, the corporate and financial elite, with
the full backing of both big-business parties, embarked on a slash-and-burn policy, including a wave of
factory closings, mass layoffs, union busting, and the destruction of wages, benefits and social programs.
This coincided with shifting production to lower cost countries and the domination of the US economy by
ever-greater forms of financial parasitism.
In 2005, General Motors closed a 70-year-old van assembly plant in the city, resulting in over 1,000 job
losses. From 1970 until 2000, Baltimore lost as many as 100,000 manufacturing jobs as companies shuttered
plants and moved to areas with a more readily exploitable workforce. According to Thomas J. Vicino, author
of an authoritative 2009 study on deindustrialization in Baltimore, manufacturing work went from employing
a third of the city’s workforce in 1970 to less than seven percent in 2000. The effects of this process have
been devastating for the working population in the city, leaving the official unemployment rate at 8.2 percent,
or more than three points higher than the state average and the US as a whole. “All cities have their divide
between the haves and the have-nots. But Baltimore stands out for the extent of its gap, as well as the
proximity of the uu extremes,” stated the Washington Post in an article posted in its Wonkblog section last
month. The article noted that life expectancy in parts of the city is worse than in parts of the developing
world, including in North Korea and Syria. According to a 2014 report released by the Maryland Alliance for
the Poor, more than 150,000 people in the city of Baltimore live below the official poverty line. A family at the
poverty line has less than half of the required income to rent a standard market rate two-bedroom apartment.
The report notes that over 36 percent of children in the city live in poverty. Noting the connection to the
decline in living standards, deindustrialization and the role of the trade unions, Ronnie, a former steel
worker, told the WSWS, “the decline of living standards in Baltimore goes back to the betrayal of the 1977-78
miners’ strike,” referring to the 110-day miners’ strike, which was sold out by the United Mine Workers
despite the miners’ defiance of then-President Carter’s back-to-work order.In place of manufacturing, lowwage service sector jobs have become the main employers in the Baltimore region. In the same period from
1970 to 2000, regional service sector jobs more than doubled from 70,000 to over 200,000.
The Baltimore Sun admitted in a comment on the opening of an Amazon Distribution Center—located on the
site of the shuttered GM van assembly plant—that “[the distribution center] will not have the economic
impact of the sort of higher-paying manufacturing jobs that have left Baltimore in such great numbers since
the 1970s.” The number of young people searching for employment has far outstripped the availability even
of low-paying, temporary jobs. “We’ve heard of ‘food deserts’ [environments in which access to fresh food is
scarce] in the inner cities before, but there also exists such a thing as a ‘job desert’ too, in which the only
jobs on offer in a community you must have connections of some kind to get,” stated Karl Alexander, a
research professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University in an interview with the WSWS.