by Carly Livingstone

is adding a lot of options to our grocery shopping experience, and in ways that might make us want to think before we click. In Canada, I may soon be able to order fresh, organic produce from and, with my Prime membership, have it delivered in under two hours. I will be able to stand in my kitchen and tell Alexa to order more eggs and, again, have them delivered in time for breakfast. Already, if I don’t feel like talking to Alexa, I can simply hit the Amazon “Dash” button on my fridge to place my bi-weekly coffee order and, if I’m feeling adventurous, I can walk into my local Whole Foods Market and collect my Prime membership rewards points at checkout (which, I may not have to do much longer thanks to soon-to-come “no check-out” grocery stores).

For anyone thinking “wow that’s great,” I’m with you. We are increasingly busy. As a (proud) member of the millennial generation, I balance a fulltime job and fulltime studies, with a rising cost of living that has me biting my fingernails each month.

But, at the same time that I need convenience and affordability, I also feel a growing responsibility to purchase food “ethically”. For me, that means food produced in an environmentally friendly way, by people who were treated fairly and paid a living wage. Oh, and I’d also like it to be locally sourced/produced. The catch? This food is, more often than not, more expensive and sometimes takes more effort to locate.

Enter Amazon: like a savior for procrastinators and time/money strapped people everywhere, Amazon has expanded its business reach to serve all of our grocery needs, focusing on organic and “niche” food products delivered cheaper and faster. And clearly, we like it. Already, Amazon dominates online grocery sales. By 2017, . Predictions by eMarketer suggest that by 2019, .

But should the world’s largest tech company’s growing dominance in the grocery business worry us? I am of the “yes” opinion. Why? Because as Amazon continues to give us what we want (ethical, organic, local) and need (cheap, convenient), it makes itself the obvious choice for our shopping needs. And when Amazon is the obvious choice, the space for competition narrows, with consequences that aren’t yet entirely visible.

It is likely, for example, that the local grocery store down the street and even our larger, more traditional retailers, won’t have the logistics platforms or the technological capabilities in place to deliver fresh food in under two hours (without a hefty price tag attached), or give you the option of re-ordering your groceries by telling your smart-home system. The massive scale that Amazon operates at also lets it discount traditionally more expensive, high-demand organic foods by combining grocery services with its existing Prime membership program. But the local , which sources from organic farmers in the local area, isn’t going to be able to give us those same discounts. Probably not even close. Amazon’s success relies on its ability to shape what we demand, and it is giving us expectations that smaller, locally-based grocers and larger, more traditional supermarkets, simply won’t be able to accommodate.

Eliminating the competition for our wallets, however, also shapes the role we are able (or not able) to play as citizens and consumers in the food system. It forces us to consider whether we are simply self-interested consumers seeking convenience, or active participants with a role to play in creating a food system that acts in the interests of all people (from the farmers who grow the food to the citizens that eat the food), and the environment. Amazon is strategically working to fulfill this more “ethical” side of consumerism by prioritizing organic food offerings, but it is, ultimately, a global corporation. One driven by growth and accountable to its shareholders, where citizens are viewed as customers and where the well-being of people and the environment are secondary to corporate interests.

Creating a people-centered food system where corporate interests take a backseat is not impossible. It does require, however, that we exercise our democratic right to participate in shaping our food system and what it offers us. But as Amazon’s market dominance grows, the less opportunity there will be to promote alternatives. A good start, though, is thinking before we click; and we may need to start doing that thinking yesterday.

The post The Future of Food looks a lot like Amazon: But is it the Future We Want? appeared first on ALiGN: Alternative Global Network Media Lab.

by Anna Hum

11 years. That’s the amount of time that we have left according to the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) before our Earth has warmed so much that our everyday lives will be plagued with dire circumstances – extreme heat waves, droughts, floods, and other climactic extremes.

Labeled as a and as , the IPCC’s report is once again putting climate change at the forefront of our worries – as it should be. Painting an apocalyptic future, the highlights the significant impacts of climate change: what has happened, and what will come if (and when) we reach the tipping points of 1.5°C and 2°C. With our continued inaction, it’s likely that nothing will go unaffected: the sea levels will continue to rise, our health will deteriorate, and it’s just risk after risk after risk.

So now what?

Maybe after hearing about the impending doomsday-esque future we have in store, or reading the report yourself, you’re now thinking something along the lines of “well, this really sucks, but what can I do?” Some have suggested that small individual-level actions, like , has the potential to make a huge difference. Or changing your commute and methods of transportation – , and . But the one action that may have the biggest impact, and debatably be the most significant thing that you can do? Demand for more (and better) political action to mitigate the effects of climate change.

If we’re going to be serious about tackling the climate crisis, it’s time for us to . More importantly, our governments and the most powerful international bodies need to change the things that individuals can’t do on our own. But what happens when governments are You strike. You protest. You make your voice heard. At least, that’s what 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is advocating for.

Too young to vote and frustrated with politicians being all talk and no game, in August 2018, Thunberg started walking out of school to protest outside of the Swedish parliament. What once started as a solo-mission from the has since developed into a global movement to demand for better. Youth around the world have mobilized: they are walking out of their schools each Friday to demand that adults take more action. The global strikes are dubbed as : protests for a livable planet, and a livable future.

By temporarily sacrificing their educations to participate in the , these students are encouraging adults to actually do something instead of leaving this massive burden on their children and the generations that will come after them. Who cares about a career when the planet you inhibit will be dead by the time you need to look for a job, right? They have a point.

They’re calling out the politicians that have sat back and failed them. They’re taking action into their own hands. They’re demanding for better: for cleaner energy, for fossil fuels to stay in the ground, for safe pathways to a sustainable future – and they have the momentum. But are you ready to listen to them? Are you ready to join them?

The post There’s No Plan(et) B – It’s Time to Wake Up and Change appeared first on ALiGN: Alternative Global Network Media Lab.

Jamaica’s development and national identity have been influenced by various cultures throughout history. Growing up, I was fascinated by the language, food, and the general attitude and spirit of my Jamaican culture and its people. Pieces of several nationalities are incorporated into the fabric of the Jamaican identity, making it both distinct and inclusive. That said, the hybridity of this island made me curious about the ways in which we make sense of culture in a world of increasing deterritorialization. I decided to call my aunt who still lives in Jamaica to discuss her observations and opinions on the response and effects of globalization on the island.

, and (1996) helped to drive our discussion. These works examine globalization’s potential threat to traditional culture in India, as well as the relationship between various global cultural flows, respectively. Appadurai describes these flows as “scapes”: ethnoscapes (the movement of people across cultural and geographical landscapes), financescapes (the movement of money, currency, and financial trade across the world), technoscapes (cultural interactions and exchanges through the use of technology), mediascapes (information dissemination through media production), and ideoscapes (the flow of global ideologies, especially political values). I used these works as a point of reference within my conversation with my aunt, in order to add a scholarly foundation and lens through which to examine globalization.

First, my aunt and I used �ʲ�����������ɲ�������’s article to discuss the notion of Americanization. I explained that the call centre industry in India was a way for young adults to live more frivolously and enjoy flexibility, but with consequences. We also talked about “nostalgia for the present” –nostalgia without memory – and whether Jamaica also has this “bottomless appetite for all things Western” (Appadurai, 1996). She was quick to reply that Jamaicans want to be like Americans, emulating their behaviour, dress, and actions. When they go abroad, Jamaicans for practices and customs they perceive as a new trend, and then bring it back to the island. And this is not only the “power class”, as she calls it. This also includes the lower classes.

Next, my aunt related Jamaican culture to ethnoscapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes. She described the fantasy of moving “a foreign” (a term in Jamaican Patois to refer to visiting or moving to a foreign country), that establishing a more fruitful life in the West means you have made it. Individuals in the Jamaican diaspora have had a huge influence on the language, food, and mannerisms of many Western communities, especially Toronto, New York City, southern Florida, and London through movement and migration. In turn, as discussed earlier, there are residents, immigrants, and tourists who travel and/or settle in Jamaica from all over the world who then contribute to Jamaican culture. We can define this as creolization or hybridity: the “fusion of relatively distinct forms, styles, or identities” (). Unlike �ʲ�����������ɲ�������’s accounts of Indian culture, my aunt does not believe that globalization is a threat, nor has it had major consequences for Jamaica’s culture – at least, not in a negative sense (Parameswaran, 2008). This supports claim that the culture of the local is not always threatened by the global.

My aunt spoke extensively about the benefits of technoscapes and the fluidity of high-speed technology. There has been a vast increase in technology in the education system, business sector, and among both unemployed and highly-skilled workers. When I asked if technology is further widening the gap between the rich and the poor, she said that if anything, the gap seems to be narrowing. From children to rural citizens, individuals have access to the Internet and other forms of technology via households, schools, work, and/or Internet. As a result, they are able to connect with friends and family members living in the Jamaican diaspora, learn about cultures and customs that exist elsewhere, and contribute to global conversations on social, political, and business platforms. Indeed, the Jamaican government and private sector have recognized the importance of technological accessibility for its residents, allowing them to research, learn, contact, and access the rest of the world within seconds.

Media- and ideoscapes were less dominant in our conversation, but still significant. My aunt noted that she does not think Jamaican culture is influenced heavily by global broadcast news. Instead, Jamaicans take their cues from reality and scripted entertainment programs and movies. Shows like and blur the lines between realistic and fictional landscapes that exist abroad. For example, my aunt mentioned that criminals have referenced Western television shows as their inspiration for crimes they committed. Therefore, it appears the images and scripts of “imagined lives” fuel Jamaicans’ desires to move elsewhere. Jamaican audiences’ impressions of what life is like ‘’a foreign’ causes them to draw (sometimes extreme) conclusions about how certain actions should be copied domestically, and also perceive certain countries as superior to others (Appadurai, 1996). Additionally, while my aunt does not see the political implications of ideoscapes, she has noticed that exposure to other cultures has influenced certain ideologies, especially human rights. Jamaica is unofficially known as one of the most homophobic countries in the world. In the past, residents and celebrities would proudly declare these beliefs. However, due to the change in views of homosexuality in countries like the United States, Jamaica’s principles have subsequently become more tolerant, with individuals’ freedoms more valued, and notable figures more cautious of what they say.

Although I have always been proud of my heritage, I have neither lived in Jamaica, nor visited long enough to truly observe the effects of global influences on the island. Therefore, my aunt was the perfect authority to consult with regarding the ways in which migration, technology, media, and foreign ideologies have altered and increased Jamaicans’ access to the rest of the world. While some of her comments revealed the drawbacks of globalization, it is evident that her views are primarily positive: Jamaica’s policies, accessibilities, and opportunities have all been advanced in some way by international flows. Jamaica is a unique island with a rich mosaic culture, and it continues to grow in affluence and gain international acclaim in a number of categories. While there are certainly aspects of globalization that are problematic and troublesome for countries not considered first-world, it is evident that a once colonized country has embraced, for better or for worse, the integration of cultural influences from around the world, and used the incorporation of foreign customs as a national strength.

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Raven Wilkinson

The post The Other Side: A Brief Look at the Impact of Globalization on Jamaican Culture appeared first on ALiGN: Alternative Global Network Media Lab.