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Bolivia 
Sat Dec 03, 2011 at 23:28:31 PM PST
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I went poking around, mostly on the World Bank's website, to check out the most recent statistics available for the countries I've visited for my current book, along with Kenya, which I will visit in February. I'm not sure if I've said it here yet, but my book will be out in early 2013 from Chelsea Green, which is a thrill as they were my absolute first choice in publishers.
The statistics below are not all taken from the same year, but they are generally from within the last decade, and they are all the most recent numbers available. Only one statistic - gini coefficient - is not from the World Bank. That came from the CIA, as they seemed to have more current data.
Compare the inequality in the Philippines and Kenya. The Philippines has a much higher per capita GDP than Kenya, and yet there is a higher percent of the population living on less than $2/day in the Philippines compared to Kenya. Also note the health indicators in Cuba. They have less money than Mexico and yet they are doing slightly better than the U.S. in life expectancy, infant mortality, and AIDS prevalency.
Stunting and wasting both refer to malnutrition. Stunting means the child is low in height, wasting means the child is low in weight. Stunting is due to chronic malnutrition, whereas wasting is due to acute malnutrition.
Here, the measure for "sanitation" is basically looking at the percent of the population that has some form of toilet. Electricity measures the percent of the population with access to electricity.
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Fri Dec 02, 2011 at 21:57:52 PM PST
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This will be the final diary describing my 2011 trip to Bolivia. Our last day together as a group was somewhat of a bust. That is, we were supposed to go to a touristy town called Porongo to get a taste of what this area looked like during colonial times. We got to Porongo and nothing went as planned. The next day, I flew back to La Paz for one final day there, because I couldn't bear to leave Bolivia without one last visit to my favorite city. I spent that day stuffing myself with street food. It was great.
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Thu Dec 01, 2011 at 23:49:07 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. On our thirteenth day, we traveled around the agricultural area of Santa Cruz with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). This diary is about our visit to a "responsible" farm in Santa Cruz.
"Model Farm: Managed with criteria of social and environmental responsibility. Proprietor: Francisco Gonzales. Supported and certified by PROBIOMA."
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Tue Nov 29, 2011 at 21:59:39 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our thirteenth day, we traveled around the agricultural area of Santa Cruz with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). There, we saw a little responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
This is a diary that I have been both anticipating and dreading, because I swore that when I wrote it, I would commit to giving up sugar for a month, with minimal cheating by substituting honey and maple syrup. You'll see why as you take a look at Santa Cruz's industrial agriculture below.
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Mon Nov 28, 2011 at 13:10:33 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our twelfth day was one I was eagerly anticipating. We left the city of Santa Cruz for two days with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). First, they took us to their training center, where we would spend the night, where they presented on their work. Then we visited a small, organic farm. The next day they took us to the heart of the industrial ag region of the department where we saw responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
This post covers the last of a very long, tiring (but wonderful) day with PROBIOMA, in which they presented to us on some of the specific biological pest controls they promote.
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Sat Nov 26, 2011 at 23:03:24 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our twelfth day was one I was eagerly anticipating. We left the city of Santa Cruz for two days with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). First, they took us to their training center, where we would spend the night, where they presented on their work. Then we visited a small, organic farm. The next day they took us to the heart of the industrial ag region of the department where we saw responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
This diary covers the organic farm we visited on our first day with PROBIOMA.
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Fri Nov 25, 2011 at 14:29:49 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our twelfth day was one I was eagerly anticipating. We left the city of Santa Cruz for two days with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). First, they took us to their training center, where we would spend the night, where they presented on their work. Then we visited a small, organic farm. The next day they took us to the heart of the industrial ag region of the department where we saw responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
This diary covers their presentation on Santa Cruz agriculture.
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Wed Nov 23, 2011 at 18:54:17 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our twelfth day was one I was eagerly anticipating. We left the city of Santa Cruz for two days with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). First, they took us to their training center, where we would spend the night, where they presented on their work. Then we visited a small, organic farm. The next day they took us to the heart of the industrial ag region of the department where we saw responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
This diary covers their presentation on their work, as well as an outrageous story that cleared up the truth about the organization we had previously visited, Friends of Nature Foundation.
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Tue Nov 22, 2011 at 15:31:30 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our twelfth day was one I was eagerly anticipating. We left the city of Santa Cruz for two days with Productividad Biosfera Medio Ambiente (PROBIOMA). First, they took us to their training center, where we would spend the night. Then we visited a small, organic farm. The next day they took us to the heart of the industrial ag region of the department where we saw responsible soy production and lots of irresponsible soy production.
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Sun Nov 20, 2011 at 22:52:45 PM PST
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This diary is part of a series describing my trip to Bolivia to study food sovereignty, agroecology, and climate change. Our eleventh day was not one of the more exciting ones. We began with a presentation by a wonderful organization, The Democracy Center, then flew to Santa Cruz, and ended with a presentation by a not-so-wonderful organization, Friends of Nature Foundation (Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza).
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Sat Nov 19, 2011 at 15:09:11 PM PST
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On our tenth day in Bolivia, Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO), who we had met the day before, brought us to visit a Quechua (Incan) village they work with to learn about their agriculture. This was perhaps the best day of the trip. Part one covers our stop at a market in the town of Sipe Sipe, and part two covers an ancient Incan site we visited that was nearby.
Now we go to the Quechua community itself. It is called Linku or Linko - our group could never figure out how it was spelled. Be warned, this diary includes some very cute pictures of children.
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Tue Nov 15, 2011 at 16:31:55 PM PST
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On our tenth day in Bolivia, Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO), who we had met the day before, brought us to visit a Quechua (Incan) village they work with to learn about their agriculture. This was perhaps the best day of the trip. Part one covers our stop at a market in the town of Sipe Sipe. This part covers an ancient Incan site we visited that was near the Quechua community. Cochabamba has been the granary of Bolivia since pre-Columbian times.
We got lucky because half our group got lost and I was in the half that did not get lost. While we waited for them, our guide, Gilberto, got himself warmed up and just talked for well over an hour about the local area and AGRUCO's work there.
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Tue Nov 15, 2011 at 11:03:24 AM PST
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On our tenth day in Bolivia, Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO), who we had met the day before, brought us to visit a Quechua (Incan) village they work with to learn about their agriculture. This was perhaps the best day of the trip. On our way there, we stopped off at a market in the town of Sipe Sipe to grab a snack and to use the facilities.
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 at 22:11:30 PM PST
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On our ninth day in Bolivia, we visited Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO). This section is on AGRUCO's chuño project. It is the third diary on AGRUCO. The first provides just a basic introduction to them and their work and the second tells about their continuing education program.
The talk below is somewhat poorly translated because the speaker sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles. However, please at least check out the bolded sentence toward the bottom and the paragraph below it. This is probably the most important thing he said - and it is VITALLY important!
On our 10th day, AGRUCO took us to one of the communities they work in, a Quechua community in Cochabamba. It was FANTASTIC. So please read this with the knowledge that a very fun application of what you learn about AGRUCO is on its way.
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 at 19:44:28 PM PST
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On our ninth day in Bolivia, we visited Agroecología Universidad Cochabamba (AGRUCO). The diary below tells about their fascinating and wonderful continuing education program. It is the second diary on AGRUCO. The first provides just a basic introduction to them and their work.
On our 10th day, AGRUCO took us to one of the communities they work in, a Quechua community in Cochabamba. It was FANTASTIC. So please read this with the knowledge that a very fun application of what you learn about AGRUCO is on its way.
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