Saving the Environment

Today I learned about "Indigenous Science" with Jessica Hernandez. It was posted on February 15, 2022 and I listened to it on 4/5/2022. I learned about the indigenous people being limited with a voice when it comes to the environment. They try and voice their opinions on fixing the environment but are ignored during these meetings. I liked how Hernandez was giving examples of different translations in order for me to understand where the word came from. Like here, "Most of the words in our language hint towards healing, other than conserving only because they can not be directly translated" (Latino 14:09-14:15). I didn't like how they didn't go too much into detail on the environment and indigenous people but was well done anyways.

Banana Tree

I read an article called "Longitudinal changes in the retail food environment in Mexico and their association with diabetes" by Carolina Perez-Ferrer. The article basically talks about the environment and its direct connection to the health of the inhabitants. Both the article and the Latino USA talk mentioned the correlation between the environment allowing for better production of food. As shown here in the article, "However, the food environment in this region is experiencing significant changes concurrent with the increase in obesity and diabetes prevalence" (Perez-Ferrer). Both talked about the significance of the bananas and how important they are to the health of the people.

Dr. Jessica Hernandez, Writer of Fresh Banana Leaves

I found through this article and the "Indigenous Science" episode that the environment was very important to the people there at the time for their health. As shown here, "It has also adapted over time, our environment has adapted for the better over time because of our indigenous science" (Latino 8:52-8:59). Over time the banana has not been as easily grown as in times before due to the change in the environment over time. They are hoping that in the upcoming years they can return it back to it's normal state when the people a couple hundred years ago were using the land. As seen here, "Research in this context is necessary because of the unique characteristics of the food environment (i.e. high density of fresh produce stores) which may be protective against nutrition related chronic diseases, but also because of the fast changes in the environment which may be having a negative effect on health" (Perez-Ferrer). These both show the change in environment over time that has caused these unusual changes.

Works Cited

“Indigenous Science with Jessica Hernandez.” Latino USA, 15 Feb. 2022, https://www.latinousa.org/2022/02/15/jessicahernandez/.

Pérez-Ferrer, Carolina, et al. “Longitudinal Changes in the Retail Food Environment in Mexico and                 Their Association with Diabetes.” Health & Place, vol. 66, Elsevier Ltd, 2020, pp.                                  102461102461,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102461.