P: They are not licensed to profit from their customary rights.
S: Still, I don't think that this is fair.
P; Before you form an opinion, there are a few other points you should
consider, First, the Maori population is not large and there are not so
many fishermen among this group of people as to further endanger the
species of fish. Second, the Maori fishermen understand the situation
of the fish population and the decreasing availability of certain species.
The Maori may impose their own rules on fishing in order to sustain the
current numbers of fish. This, in turn, would sustain their cultural
heritage while avoiding the effects of overfishing.
S: But if they don't want to overfish, why don't they just observe the rules
set out by the government for the whole population?
P: Because they are someone else's rules. To be more specific, the Queen
of England signed a treaty with the Maori in the nineteenth century and
agreed that while the authority to govern New Zealand was given to the
Queen, the Maori would retain their customary rights. Today, the
Maori still practice their customary rights, one of which is fishing. The
groups of European immigrants who moved to New Zealand cannot
make laws to take away these rights, according to the original
agreement between the Queen and the Maori.
Among the hundreds of thousands of plants in the world,
is composed of only twelve.
80 percent of our
wheat, and rice
(1)
are overwhelmingly re
And the top three food plants in the world,
resented in our evervdav diet.
is no coincidence that we eat the seeds of these three plants, and not h
leaves. This is because these three plants are exceptionally good at converting
the light from the sun and storing it in their seeds as carbohydrates, fats, and
protein. Conveniently, these seeds can be stored for long periods of time
without spoiling. In addition, because our ancestors experimented with these
plants, our present-day corn, wheat, and rice have larger seeds than the
original species.
It is natural to assume that our production and consumption of these three
plants have resulted in better economic conditions for humanity. After all, if
(2)
these three plants were to suddenly disappear, there would be mass starvation
It
t e
around the planet. Therefore, it appears that our experience with corn, wheat,
and rice is a huge success story. Think again.
One of the problems with these plants is that their mass production plus
government subsidies have made them very cheap. Corn, for example, is now
found in an amazing number of foods because it is such a cheap ingredient.
Most soft drinks arc sweetened with corn syrup. Cows are fed corn for the
latter half of their lives; therefore, milk and beef have a corn signature on
them. Likewise
(,)when you eat chicken and eggs, you are eating corn. When
food is cheap, people often eat more of it, and this has led to many health
problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease, and even
cancer.
With the switch towards a diet that is largely based on seeds, we may
have caused another health problem. Humans are omnivores so we eat a wide
variety of plant and animal foods. Since the beginning of industrial agriculture
-- 2 - OM1(31t-2)in the 20th century, we have reduced
that variety dramatically. For example,
much more of our nutrition comes from seeds as opposed to leaves. However,
our bodies need the nutrition supplied by ( a ), which provide various
micronutrients, s