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junho 14, 2004


Anti-Globalização


Artigo no Tech Central Station (meus destaques e link):
"In a typical year, Americans consume more than 1 billion pounds of shrimp, according to the American Seafood Distributors Association. About 90 percent of that comes from overseas, often from commercial shrimp farms in developing countries.

Now a coalition of environmental activists wants Americans who like to dine at chain restaurants, such as Long John Silver's, to eat less shrimp from the Third World.

Now, before rushing to picket your local Red Lobster, consider the lopsided portrayal of shrimp farms in the greens' rhetoric. As The Economist reported last year, environmentalists often describe shrimp farms and other aquaculture efforts as «alarming environmental and health hazard[s],» while they overlook the potential of these farms becoming a reliable «source of food for the world's rich and poor alike.» They also ignore the fact that aquaculture «is at an early stage of development,» and, that as farms become more efficient, the costs of production -- and any negative effects on the environment -- will shrink.

Environmental activists overlook another positive aspect of shrimp farms. They give marginal communities in poor countries a chance to participate in the global economy by producing something that can be sold to Western consumers.

Ainda alguém acredita que os activistas/ambientalistas defendem os interesses do Terceiro Mundo?