After waking from a nap today I tuned into the news and found myself seeing the same story that's been playing out for as long as I can remember.
Intertribal wars and genocides in Africa with refugees trying to flee the conflict to more stable countries.
First some history.
The North African Region has been a contested area through out the entirety of human history. Because of the easy access from the Mediterranean sea to facilitate trade routs to the oil found there and heavily sought after since the age of industrialization.
The reason for the current refugee crisis that is seeing nearly 80 million people displaced comes from a variety of situations.
1. During World Wars 1 and 2 the fighting over the region by the various empires destroyed much of the history and infrastructure that supported the region.
2. by trying to "modernize" agriculture in the region much of the rich farm lands were destroyed, creating a mirror to the dust bowl that caused millions of Americans to starve during the great depression.
3. Once trade was established through oil coming out of the region and a flood of resources coming into the area there was a population boom. As the population outgrew what local production could support the region became dependent on outside trade.
4. As the region began to destabilize and governments choosing genocide over resource management the western civilizations began withdrawing their support and placing sanctions on the region.
.
So how do we solve this.
Well, that's why I was working at Walmart actually.
Trying to figure out what it was about the American economy that makes it so successful in some communities and then fails others so badly, and it all boils down to infrastructure and inventory management.
Market places only work when there is adequate infrastructure to support it which is why many minority communities in the U.S. have struggled over the past few decades. Either through neglect or active sabotage minority communities within the U.S. borders have had difficult time securing adequate water and healthy food supplies.
So how does this help us solve the refugee problem.
Well, for starters we better focus our aid.
The first step is infrastructure and the backbone of that will be in recycling.
Recycling what is already there and recycling the supplies that are brought into the region.
The second step is sending better supplies.
Largely humanitarian efforts focus on the cheapest and lightest forms of food to send into a region because it feeds more people quickly. The folly in this is sending dry goods into a dry region. Dry goods are great if you have adequate water supplies to rehydrate them but a kick in the face to a region that does not.
By sending dry goods into a desert you are simply exacerbating the larger problem.
So.
We send canned goods.
Canned goods are more expensive to produce and take larger efforts to ship but they are the supplies that will do the most good in a dry and arid region.
Why Canned Goods?
1. A supplemental water source.
A can of beans over a bag of beans, yes, feeds fewer people but the quality of the meal is far better when it is supplementing hydration needs as well. Also, when dry goods are sent they require a large portion of the already limited water supply to prepare to the point of being able to eat them.
2. Recycling the packaging. -
By creating recycling centers to take the packaging back in and return it to a raw material the metals of the cans can be used to build up infrastructure for electrical grids and water processing/delivery needs. This creates a marketplace of jobs, food, and that can heal and rebuild the region.
3. Nutritional Supplement.
Canned goods, outside of providing supplemental hydration have a higher over all nutritional value than dry goods. Providing healthier food options.
As the recycling centers are established and the canned goods arrive in the region and are consumed and processed the infrastructure around them also increases. Thus stabilizing much of what the various governments and factions are truly fighting over.
Food and Water.
Two birds one Can.
As basic infrastructure in the cities and permanent settlements stabilizes; better, and region specific, agricultural infrastructure can be established.
After all, the majority of the North African region in turmoil is dry and arid that does not support large scale agriculture, but as the area is almost literally flooded with construction material and moisture through the canned goods green houses and other forms of adaptive agriculture can be established.
From a U.S. perspective, the North African region is geologically equivalent to living in a mountainous state like Colorado without an agricultural neighbor like Nebraska or Kansas to provide the bulk of the food stuffs that supply it.
I hope this helps.
It should.
Stay safe out there.
