Money in the Pocket Stats |
Health 9-1-1 Stats |
Food and a Table Stats
Sunshine & Blue Skies Stats |
Trade & Consumerism Stats |
Peace and Conflict Stats
Money in the Pocket Stats
Coffee Case Study Stats and Facts
I'm a coffee drinker - what impact am I having on the coffee trade?
Suppose you drink two cups of coffee a day. If you do this every day for a year, you'll drink 34 gallons of java, made from 18 pounds of beans. If the beans are from Colombia, then farms have 12 coffee trees growing to support your personal coffee supply. Farmers will apply 11 pounds of fertilizer and a few ounces of pesticides to the trees this year. Colombia's rivers will swell with 43 pounds of coffee pulp stripped from the beans you consume. (adapted from Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things Ryan and Durning, p.08)
More stats on coffee prices
A 100 lb bag of Nicaraguan coffee the was worth $350 US on the world market in 1976 sold for just $50 in September, 2001.(Union of Nicaraguan Coffee Growers)
In the past ten years, coffee production has increased at twice the rate of consumption. (Oxfam)
What coffee growers have to say about coffee prices
"What has happened to the price of coffee is a disaster. Years back, when coffee prices were good, we could afford to send our children to school. Now we are taking our children out of school because we cannot afford the fees. How can we send our children to school when we cannot afford to feed them?" small coffee farmer in Uru district of Tanzania.
"We are not doing too good around here. We are dependant on coffee but production has decreased (because of pests) and the price is really low. I think two thirds of the community has left. Many houses which are now empty are on the verge of collapsing. I produce coffee because my father did so. I won't give up on coffee. I just hope the prices get better. Primitivo de la Rosa. Coffee farmer in his early seventies in Cacao, in the Dominican Republic
More about company profits
Nestle, one of four corporations that control 60% of US and 40% of international coffee sales (the others are Proctor and Gamble, Philip Morris and Sara Lee), posted a 20% increase in profits last year, while Starbucks boasted a 41% increase in the first quarter of 2001. (Oxfam report: The bitter taste of coffee)
In 1997, coffee sales reached $43 billion US. Though developing countries produced the beans, they received less than 1/3 the total revenue. (Oxfam)
At Starbucks in British Columbia new workers faced an actual wage decrease-from $7.50 to $7.00 an hour-during a period when the chain was doubling its profits and opening 350 new stores a year. (No Logo, Naomi Klein)
What a coffee producer has to say about fair trade
"Selling my coffee in the fair trade market has improved the quality of life for my family. We have a stability that did not exist before, and many of my neighbours have seen this and joined our cooperative. The community is changing here and more producers are taking pride in their production because they receive a just price for their work" Adolfo Talavera, small producer, Los Alpes, Jinotega, Nicaragua
IMF Case Study Stats and Facts
Extra info about IMF loans to Argentina
The government took loans from the IMF in exchange for linking the value of the peso to the US dollar. The peso had been worth much less, but under the new IMF system, it was worth exactly one US dollar. This caused flights from Buenos Aires to Miami to be cheaper than before, but it also meant that other countries stopped buying exports because they became more expensive with the new exchange rate.
(Oxfam report: The bitter taste of coffee)
Sinking below the poverty line
"Children are getting weak and hungry. Some are fainting in class and others vomit because they eat too fast on an empty stomach." Silvia Almazan, representative of a Buenos Aires teachers' union. (from The Rich Taste Hunger, The Guardian, May 19 2002)
'We used to get escalopes or chicken. Now most days it's rice,' says 14-year-old Fernanda, who trades toilet paper for food at the local barter market after school.
With a literacy rate of 96.2%, Argentina has been the best educated country in Latin America, but that is changing quickly. Sixty per cent of young people want to emigrate, and students are often absent because they no longer have enough to eat. (from The Rich Taste Hunger)
Debt payments
In Tanzania, where 40% of people die before the age of 35, debt payments are 6 times greater than spending on healthcare. (No Nonsense Guide to Globalization, Wayne Ellwood, p.51)
In Africa, external debt has ballooned by 400% since the World Bank and the IMF began imposing structural adjustment programs onto national economies. (ibid, p.51)
Making decisions from Washington
Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs, a former advisor to the IMF, criticises the way that the Fund is structured: "It defies logic that a small group of 1000 economists on 19th Street in Washington should dictate the economic conditions of life to 75 developing countries with around 1.4 billion people." (ibid, 97)
After resigning from his position as the World Bank's Chief Economist, Joseph Stiglitz warned that international agencies should not have excessive power over countries. "Countries must make decisions for themselves, and the responsibility of economic advisors is only to appraise them of prevailing views," he said.
Top of Page
Health 9-1-1 Case Study Stats and Facts
Malaria deaths in Africa
90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub Saharan Africa.
(World Health Organization, Malaria Fact Sheet, 1998)
Recognize the onset of malaria
"The malaria attack arrives quickly, sometimes abruptly, with few preliminaries. It is a sudden, violent onset of cold. You begin to tremble, to quake, to thrash about."
Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shadow of the Sun.
Top of Page
Food and a Table Stats
Poverty Case Study Stats and Facts
Poverty growing in the United States
In January of 2000, CNN reported that during the 1990's-which was a time of economic prosperity for the U.S.-the income gap between the richest and poorest U.S. families had grown wider. Earnings for the poorest 20 percent of American families rose less than 1 percent during the 10-year period but jumped 15 percent for the richest fifth. Income for the poorest 20 percent rose by $110 to $12,990, while the richest twenty percent saw their earnings increase by $17,870, to $137,480 (Economic Policy Institute, Jan 18 2000)
Canadian child poverty
One in six children, or 1,139,000 children, still lives in poverty in Canada. (Campaign 2000 report on Child Poverty)
Why do people live on the street?
Well, one reason is that it's getting harder to find cheap places to live. Take a look at the decline in affordable housing units being built in Canada over the last twenty years.
Eight months pregnant
There is overwhelming public interest in protecting a pregnant woman in our community from becoming destitute. Justice G. Epstein, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, May 31, 2000
Agricultural Subsidies Case Study Stats and Facts
Global hunger is not caused by lack of food
700 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat. Every year hunger kills 12 million children. Yet there is enough wheat, rice and grain grown to provide every human with 3500 calories/day. (Food First, The institute for food development and policy)
Farms are larger
In 1950 there were 5.4 million farms in America: today the figure is around 2.9 million. As the number of farms declines, the average size of remaining farms increases: it's now over 380 acres, compared to 215 acres 20 years ago. (US Dept of Agriculture)
What corn is worth
In 1997, a bushel of corn sold in Virginia for $2.69. In 2001, it was worth only $2.10. (Virginia Agricultural Statistic Service)
Grain for livestock
More than half the grain grown in the United States (requiring half the water used in the U.S.) is fed to livestock. (Richard H Robbins, Readings on Poverty, Hunger and Economic Development.)
Farm subsidies
Although farm subsidies began as a way to aid poor family farmers in the 1930s, by last year nearly three-quarters of the money went to the richest 10 percent of American farmers. Recipients of five- and six-figure farm subsidy payments included John Hancock Life Insurance Co., Chevron, banker David Rockefeller, and basketball star Scottie Pippen. (Andrew Cassel, Philidelphia Inquirer)
U.S. grain exports
In 1999 the U.S. exported 83,879,771 metric tons of grain. (Waterborne Databanks)
IMF cut import taxes
Through a series of structural adjustment programs beginning in the late 1980s, the IMF encouraged Haiti to adopt some of the lowest tariffs in the Caribbean, which is why taxes on imported rice dropped from 50% to 3%. In order to get international loans from organizations like the World Bank, the Haitian government needed to adopt the IMF's recommendations. To learn more about the IMF, click here.
American rice exports to Haiti
Since 1985, exports of American rice to Haiti have grown from virtually zero to more than 200,000 tons a year, making the poverty-stricken country of 7 million people the seventh-largest market for American rice. (Michael Dobbs, Washington Post)
Top of Page
Sunshine & Blue Skies Stats
Global Warming Case Study Stats and Facts
Human activities and fossil fuels
Human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, are increasing the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses, which tend to warm the atmosphere. International Panel on Climate Change.
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen by 31%. Sierra Club of Canada
UN Projection Graph
Global temperatures could rise by 6C
The 6C depends on just how much fossil fuel we burn this next century - if we burn less, then the increase will be less. Sir John Houghton, an IPCC member
Consensus among international community
A Global Climate Coalition study, which was released shortly after the IPCC report, said that temperature and precipitation extremes are no more common now than they were 50 to 100 years ago. To take a look at a different perspective on how we should address climate change, go to http://www.globalclimate.org
The costs of not reducing CO2
The political world may have been slow to tackle the challenge of global warming, but the scientific community early on recognized the enormity of the problem. Dr. David Suzuki.
Top of Page
Trade & Consumerism Stats and Facts
Goal of ads
They have to look at your jeans, look at your brand image and say 'that's cool…' At the moment we're ensuring that Pepe is seen in the right places and on the right people." Pepe Jeans marketing director Phil Spur. (No Logo, 89)
Feeling they don't have enough
Despite the astounding economic growth between 1958 and 1980, Americans reported feeling significantly less well-off in 1980 than they had 22 years before. (The Case Against Growth by Paul Wachtel)
Ramona's wages
Ramona pays $ 2.63 a day for rent, $0.68 for daycare, 80 cents for bus fare and 91 cents for a breakfast of rice and beans. Unless Ramona works overtime, she has less than $1.75 to pay for water, utilities, clothing, food and anything else she and her daughter need. (Sweatshop Series, Victoria International Development Education Association.)
WTO & AIDS Case Study Stats and Facts
The WTO: a powerful global force
"We are writing the constitution of a single global economy"
former WTO Director, General Renato Ruggiero
AIDS infection rates
Of the thirty six million people infected with HIV worldwide, twenty five million live in sub-Saharan Africa. (New Internationalist, June 2002)
Cost of AIDS therapy
Between 1997 and 2000, AIDS deaths fell by half and the country saved $677 million on treatment costs. (New Internationalist, June 2002)
Patent protection
According to the WTO rules on Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIP's) someone who creates something has exclusive rights over his/her creation for a certain period of time. In the music industry, TRIPS makes it illegal to copy and sell an artist's CD without paying them royalties. In the case of AIDS medicine, the TRIPs laws stop poor countries from producing cheap imitations of antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
Research and development money
Only 10% of research and development money goes towards studying diseases that affect 90% of the world's population. The bulk of the research money-US $73 billion per year-is spent on Western afflictions such as obesity. (Canadian Institute of Health Research)
In 1998, the top ten drug companies made worldwide profits of $34.7 billion. They have one of the highest profit margins of any industry in the world. (Medecins Sans Frontières)
Top of Page
Peace and Conflict Stats
Sudan Case Study Stats and Facts
Talisman Energy's 25% share
Talisman Energy, who bought a 25% share in the oil project, paid $250 million to the government in 2001 (J.B.MacKinnon, Behind the Grass Curtain)
Where is Sudan?
Lost homes
During conflicts between rebels and the military, the people who are most affected by the conflict are the civilians caught in the middle. In 2001, while Southern rebels and the military fought over a town called Raga, its citizens-about 21, 000 people-lost their homes and had to resettle in a village 700 km away. They walked 700 km from Raga to Mabia. It took over a month. Almost one hundred people died en route, and 26 children were born. (J.B. MacKinnon, Behind the Grass Curtain)
20,000 people left the area
Efforts by the Government of Sudan to protect oil production have included a policy of forcible population displacement. from Human Security in Sudan. Report Presented to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2000.
Not good for stocks
Announcing the sale of the Sudan project, in November 2002, Talisman CEO Dr. Jim Buckee said "Talisman's shares have continued to be discounted based on perceived political risk."
Violence in India Case Study Stats and Facts
Muslim-Hindu relations
India is home to one billion people. Most of them are Hindus, and about 14% are Muslim. Violence between Hindus and Muslims occurs mostly in India's cities.
The Hindu temple and the Mosque ruins
Hindu extremists tore down the 16th century Mosque, saying that it had been built on the birthplace of a Hindu God. Afterwards, two thousand people died in outbreaks of violence.
Dholka's history of rioting
Dholka is listed as a communally sensitive town, meaning that it is prone to violence. Rioting, killing and looting took place in Dholka in 1981, 1985 and 1992.
Top of Page
|
