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The world is on fire but don't worry I'm not going to give you bad news week after week. Despite the shitstorm we're experiencing, some good things keep happening as well. This week, researchers from The Nature Conservancy released their research on Hawai'i's coral reefs and good news: the coral reefs that experienced a massive bleaching in 2014 and 2015 are now healing! They found that the corals that were healing the quicker were the ones with limited exposure to humans, shocking right. Read more about these wonders of nature.

Ever wonder how meat became such a staple in our lives and diets? Turns out Victorians are all to blame. The global mass-meat industry as we know it today took its first steps in Britain. It revolutionized the British diet and how the rest of the world consumed meat. Read about the fascinating story of how 'big meat' came to be.

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How are the Lebanese doing? The Beirut Port Explosion, a year on.

Company blogs

Written by
Fatima Dia

on
4 August 2021

On August first, while attempting to write this very article, gunshots were heard in my neighbourhood. We quickly fell into action, as we usually do — it wasn’t the first time. Neighbours belonging to opposite sects in the country clashed, in a matter of revenge killing. Things got out of control, and by the time the sun set, numerous army tanks made their way to our neighbourhood to put a stop to the situation. My family and I gathered some of our things, including our passports (just in case), and stayed at my partner’s house for a few hours. Things de-escalated, and we went back home. In the afternoon, the streets were filled with armed men running around. Later at night, people were sitting at cafes.

This extreme sea-saw between a steady calmness and a chaotic mess has always been characteristic of living in Lebanon — this was one of the many reasons for the October 17 revolution back in 2019. But the intensity, and the audacity, with which it happens has increased tenfold, and the situation in the country has only further deteriorated since August 4.

What happened last August?

In the afternoon of August 4 last year, the port of Beirut suffered two consecutive explosions allegedly caused by a fire in a warehouse containing fireworks. In a sick domino-effect, the first explosion then sparked the second massive one that we're now well acquainted with: the gigantic apocalyptic blast followed by a shock wave that was felt almost across all of Lebanon, and across the sea, in Cyprus, 240km away.

More than 200 people died, more than 7,000 people were injured, and approximately 300,000 people were left homeless due to property damage expanding almost 20km from the epicentre of the explosion. The first 6km was categorized under “severe damage”, up to 10km as “moderate” and the last 10km as “light”. UN and governmental reports said up to 50,000 houses were impacted severely, moderately, or lightly. Reports showed heavy damage to approximately 15,000 establishments in Beirut, especially small businesses in a number of areas. Several public and private health centres and hospitals that were already overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients were also severely damaged by the explosion. Overall, Beirut suffered US$15 billion in property damage.

The weeks after the explosion held a series of events characterized by foreign aid, Lebanese diaspora in action, and the Lebanese themselves taking to the streets to clean the debris. They helped as much as possible with food donations, temporary housing, and medical needs.

The probe into the Blast

The ammonium nitrate that exploded was stored unsafely at a warehouse in the port for years, and the common slogan after this information was made public was “They knew”. A year before, the Oct. 17 revolution was brought to a stop due to the world-wide pandemic, but the anger towards the corrupt government simmered just beneath the surface. The fact that the explosion could have been easily prevented — had port authorities and the government taken proper actions — only caused more public anger and distrust. The overwhelming majority of the Lebanese people did not believe the judicial system would conduct an independent and just investigation. A year later, this fear still stands.

The local probe has so far failed to show any real progress, and political leaders have refused an international investigation.

In the most obvious form of postponing the truth, the country’s parliament and security agencies have called upon the “immunity” clauses in the constitution— they’re“safe” from being investigated.

Despite said immunity obstructing the road to justice, the current judge, Tarek Bitar, and his team claim to have completed about 75% of the case, including finding out who was responsible for shipping the ammonium nitrate and who unloaded it in Beirut back in 2013 — although that information has yet to be made entirely public. Last year, sources reported that the shipment was onboard a Moldovan-Flagged ship coming from Georgia to Mozambique. New reports this year have said that a Mozambican factory confirmed it had ordered the chemicals and never received them.

Lawyer Youssef Lahoud told France 24 that the “weak point” of the investigation is that they have yet to determine what triggered the blast. The public saw the fire first, but what started it is disputed across the country. Last year, security in Lebanon said welding work started the fire, but experts have deemed it baseless.

Lahoud also told France 24 that they have asked several countries to help with providing satellite images at the exact time of the blast, but so far only France has responded, saying they had no satellite angled onto Lebanon at that time. The investigating authorities in Lebanon did not rule out a possible attack as the trigger, but French and American experts believe that’s unlikely after sampling water and soil from the port.

On July 29, Reuters reported that Lebanese authorities are “ready to lift immunity”, but Parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri has yet to declare when or how. An FBI probe from October last year was made available to Reuters this year, and it was concluded that only one fifth of the ammonium nitrate shipment that unloaded in Beirut in 2013 had exploded — insinuating that much of the shipment had gone missing.

All in all, a year later, the Blast victims and the Lebanese public in general have yet to receive a glimmer of justice, and distrust of the country’s leaders only increases.

Economic Collapse hitting all sectors

Following the Blast, Lebanon catapulted into one of the world’s worst economic crises in the past 170 years, according to the World Bank. The World Bank’s Lebanon Economic Monitor called the country’s economic downfall a “Deliberate Depression” in 2020. By October 2019, the country had spiralled into a financial crisis that resulted from a sudden stop in capital inflows, systematic malfunctions in the banking sector, including a government default on a $1.2 billion Eurobond redemption, the first ever sovereign default for Lebanon, according to the LEM. Soon after, the pandemic reached the borders of Lebanon and the country imposed a nationwide lockdown. Then came August 4.

A year later, the LEM reports that the current crisis ranks among the “top 10, possibly top 3, most severe crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century.” The report also states that for over a year, the county’s authorities have failed to improve the situation in any way with “deliberately inadequate policy responses”.

The World Bank stated this is a “severe prolonged depression”. The real GDP growth contracted by 20.3% in 2020, inflation “reaching triple digits”, and the exchange rate value continues to decrease. As of now, the Lebanese pound has lost almost 95% of its value, and more than half the population has plunged into poverty.

In addition, the port of Beirut dealt with 82% of Lebanon’s imports and exports, and was the country’s economic lifeline, as described in an article in Arabian Business. The explosion not only flattened a fundamental part of the country’s economy, but it also worsened some already vulnerable areas. The World Bank reported “low-grade infrastructure, dysfunctional electricity, water supply shortages, inadequate solid waste and wastewater management, weak public financial mismanagement, large macroeconomic imbalances, and deteriorating social indicators”.

The majority of the Lebanese population don’t get more than two hours of electricity per day, there are petrol and gasoline shortages for vehicles and private generators, and food prices have quadrupled. UNICEF reported alarming percentages about Lebanese families the past year: 15% of families stopped their children’s education, 25% can’t afford tools for online learning, 30% have at least one child who skips a basic meal, and 77% lack enough food.

The World Bank also highlighted the next steps needed towards recovery, like building a better business environment and institutions under good governance on top of physical rebuilding. Due to the country’s history of “insolvency” and lack of foreign exchange reserves, international aid and private investment would be needed — however, they’re unlikely to happen without the proper governmental, social, and financial reforms needed to put a stop to the country’s corruption.

What about our mental health?

The Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care (IDRAAC) reported that 1 in 4 Lebanese adults are at risk of developing a mental disorder at some point in their lives.

IDRAAC told Reuters that the number of patients increased fourfold since the financial crisis in October 2019, and even more people sought help after the blast in their walk-in clinics. Prior to the Blast, about 80% of the walk-in patients were refugees — now they’re mostly Lebanese.

The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy reported earlier this year that Lebanese people still feel the “invisible impact” of the Blast. Nightmares, fatigue, anxiety, and depression are all still prevalent in survivors. The Institute’s analysis also showed that an estimate of 100,000 children directly impacted by the Blast also show signs of post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders.

Despite the absolute need for mental health services, the sector is highly privatised and inaccessible to the majority of the population. Also, the topic of mental health in Lebanon is still stigmatised, and as the Tahrir Institute stated, a large majority of the population was likely to not seek help because of it.

The rise of online help through social media, and the presence of NGOs such as Embrace Lebanon, BeBrave Beirut, and Elgorithm, has proven to be more crucial than ever.

“After August 4 I feel like there wasn’t much of a choice,” said Luma Makari, founder of NGO Elgorithm that helps provide schools with access to digital mental health programs. “All of our mental healths were collectively affected and it was something that needed to be brought to light and discussed.”

Embrace Lebanon works towards the accessibility of mental health care in a country where that has “long been overlooked,” as their spokesperson said. The NGO created Lebanon’s first national helpline for emotional support and suicide prevention (1564) in 2018.

“Now, more than anytime, mental health is taking a front seat in our community,” they added. “We have been hit by several shocks this year, and have witnessed an increase in the sense of solidarity and communal support, and our ability to be kind to one another and stand by each other.”

As a response to the Blast, Embrace launched the Embrace Mental Health Center (EMHC) “to provide direct, affordable, and quality mental health care to persons experiencing mental illness in Lebanon,” said their spokesperson. This service alongside the Lifeline and Embrace’s Awareness and Outreach Interventions (A&O) have provided the public with more accessible help.

“[These services] have shown a dramatic increase in terms of calls received to 1564, appointments scheduled at EMHC and significant increase for A&O sessions to schools, scout groups, universities, and NGOs,” they said, adding that this “only shows the increasing need by the community to access credible mental health services to help [people] alleviate the struggles they, and all of us, are going through.”

Anniversary Effect

Feeling anxious, irritability, reliving moments, inability to sleep, emotional shutdown; these are signs of the Anniversary Effect. In Psychology, the term is defined as a “unique set of unsettling feelings, thoughts or memories that occur on the anniversary of a significant experience.” As we reach the one year mark since the Beirut Port Explosion, seek help, surround yourselves with loved ones, and grieve however you feel is necessary.

“Of course [we have hope],” said Embrace Lebanon’s spokesperson. “We are committed to ensure that mental health and access to care is positioned as a basic human right that must be met for all persons, through awareness, advocacy, and dignified mental health services across the spectrum of care.”

Written by Fatima Dia

This story features:

Lebanon / Beirut / Beirut Blast / Embrace Lebanon

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Does your home reflect your mind? Why we all got sick of Kondo.

Company blogs

Written by
Merel Cheng

on
29 July 2021

Not so long ago my Pinterest board was a long scroll of white walls, beige pillows, and concrete countertops. What was minimalistic design, if not the epitome of sophistication? I was mesmerised by the sleek, Scandinavian design I’d see everywhere.

Over the last decade, minimalism peered its polished head around every corner, cropping up in all our feeds. Stuck in a pit of the financial crisis — we were starving for something meaningful to latch onto.

Becoming unemployed was not the glamorous introduction to minimalism we’d all imagined, but that's how it was for most of us. Meanwhile, the Steve Jobs' of the world could choose exactly how and why they wanted to live this sleek, minimalist lifestyle. Ahh, privilege.

Part of the idea is that you rid your home of anything that doesn’t serve a greater purpose — anything that doesn’t help you become your most productive, successful self. The juice detox of the home if you will. A life of simplicity. Who doesn’t want that?

Minimalism seeped into all aspects of lifestyle and design. I too wanted to be draped in COS, lounging on an earth-toned couch, lit by a bare bulb at my local cafe. There wasn’t one perfect prototype of a minimalist; you could be living a picturesque nomadic lifestyle in your van, or epitomising the minimalist aesthetic in your wardrobe. Maybe you did both.

Whatever form of minimalism you subscribed to, it was a great way to relieve the pounding headache of consumption culture. A way to prove to the world that more meaning could be created with less.

Minimalism for a clearer headspace

I think we can all agree that tidying up helps to alleviate anxiety. A hoover might even be man’s new best friend. A clean and decluttered home helps our minds feel decluttered. Naturally, how we style our homes also has a big impact on our psyche and vice versa. People love to Kondo their way out of a chaotic headspace.

The organizational guru herself says owning only items that spark true joy will bring “you closer to who you are as a human being, and [can help] you identify what you like, what kind of values you have, and what kind of lifestyle you want to live.”

Several minimalist authors came to the realisation that owning more things didn’t make them happier. Their lives pre-minimalism was one of stress — largely from having to manage too many possessions. To them, minimalism was a gateway to freedom and autonomy.

There was already so much going on in our online worlds, did our offline world need to be the same? We began to question if we owned our belongings or if they (and consumerism as a whole) owned us.

Mental turmoil during the pandemic

Clarity of mind quickly flew out the window when COVID-19 reared its ugly head. Bombarded with anxiety-inducing information, we lost many parts of ourselves that used to be out in the world; the bits and pieces that made up our identity.

The sport we played, the people we saw, the clubs we went to — all these things helped us feel whole. Now our entire identity was tied up in our homes. Worry and loneliness were at an all time high, along with reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, stemming from repeated lockdown extensions.

Work and life tipped out of balance, as people transformed their homes into an office, gym, and social scene. Crippling loneliness from living alone, or constant chatter of housemates or partners — neither of scenarios were a recipe for happiness. In these conditions, it was hard to foster the minimalist environment and lifestyle people had worked so hard to maintain.

Returning our Identity with Maximalism

Minimalism is hard to keep up — ironically, maintaining simplicity requires constant attention and restraint. How we lived our lives changed during times of crisis.

Our environment needed to spark more joy than minimalism could provide. We bought a few more plants, collected a few more prints, and indulged in some serious retail therapy. Our new hobbies needed equipment. What was once minimalistic was now cluttered, but cozy.

The transformation was complete: we became Maximalists. More is more. Out with the mundane and in with the excess. Maximalism, already trending in 2019, dominated social media. The pandemic challenged us; forcing us to play with colour, materials, and patterns. A celebration of all things bold.

Perhaps we were tired of the oppressiveness of minimalism. It held the reins on what was considered tasteful for a decade, delaying the age of rebellious maximalism. Unsurprisingly, retail therapy is a real coping mechanism for stress.

Soo Kim and Derek D. Rucker, authors on consumption, found that before receiving negative feedback, people would buy items that uplifted parts of the self that might be threatened. When our sense of self is threatened, say during an extended lockdown, we start buying things that make us feel like we have an identity.

There is a thin line between minimalism and sterility. In an attempt to embody minimalism, we risk stripping our homes of all personality. Turning to minimalism to reduce anxiety was counterproductive. It produced pressure to own the ‘right’ things with the ‘right’ functions, and embody the ‘right’ aesthetic. To outperform consumerism and live a 100% sustainable, well-organized, successful life. Realistic? Maybe for superheroes, but definitely not for the rest of us.

WIth maximalism on the rise you might wonder whether we’re regressing to a state of over-consumption — wasn’t that what we were rebelling against in the first place? We’ve yet to see if we’ve left environmentalism and efficiency for dust. Or if the clutter will invite a new kind of anxiety into our homes.

Where do we go from here?

There is a lot to say for both minimalism and maximalism, maybe there’s a happy medium in there somewhere. When we have migrated back to a sense of normality perhaps we will find ourselves Kondoing everything we’ve collected over the past year and a half. Perhaps we’ll keep living in a chaotic, thriving nest of plants and rugs. We’ve grown closer to ourselves and have a better barometer on our feelings, what’s most important is that we’ve created a safe, comforting space where we can fully embrace ourselves, while taking care of our mental health.

Written by Merel Cheng

Would you like to lend a helping hand to people with mental health problems? Check out Strongminds, a non-profit that treats depression in women and adolescents in low-income communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

This story features:

Mental health / interior decoraration / maximalism / minimalism / Strongminds / anxiety / health

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Tony's Chocolonely and chocolate’s bitter ingredient: slavery

Solutions

Written by
Sarah Faith

on
26 July 2021

Aged just 11 years, one of the plaintiffs in an ongoing US court case brought by International Rights Advocates against some of chocolate’s most dominant corporations, is alleged to have been lured from his home in Kouroussandougou, Mali, with the promise of lucratively paid work in the Ivory Coast. It is claimed the boy then worked “for two years without ever being paid, often applying pesticides and herbicides without protective clothing.”

It’s a tale too-often repeated in Ivory Coast and Ghana – the two countries which produce 70% of the world’s chocolate between them. 41% of children living within their cocoa-growing regions are involved in child labour, to the detriment of their health and education – a percentage that has increased over the last 10 years despite promises from highly influential ‘big Cocoa’ businesses (including Mars, Nestle, Barry Callebault, Mondelez, Lindt and Hersheys) to tackle the issue.

While not all labourers have been trafficked – although this appears to be particularly rife in the Ivory Coast - physical punishments and a lack of personal freedom are part and parcel of life on cocoa farms. A former cocoa slave, Aly Diabate, told the BBC “The beatings were a part of my life. I had seen others who tried to escape. When they tried, they were severely beaten.” For child-labourers the work is often dangerous – using machetes to clear forests and cut bean pods and spraying plants with industrial agricultural chemicals with no protection.

Ben Greenfield, UK country manager for Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolate company with a mission to make 100% slave-free chocolate the norm, explained the problem in an interview earlier this year. It is, he says, the seven big chocolate processors and manufacturers which dominate the middle of the supply chain who are the driving force behind persistent inequality. They hold all the power - keeping wages for producers low whilst ensuring profit margins are high. Nyagoy Nyong'o, the Global CEO of Fairtrade International, echoes this. “It's about not earning a living income. It's about farmers struggling, but not getting the returns that they should get from the products that they grow.” Where cocoa producing families cannot afford to hire workers because they are not paid enough for their crop, they hire children instead.

Tony’s Chocolonely, is attempting to break the mould. Quite literally. Instead of neat rows of squares, its chocolate bars are divided into a maddening mish-mash of large and small pieces to highlight that not everyone in the chocolate industry gets a fair deal. Tony’s aims to make change happen, both through their own actions and supply chain and by calling the world’s attention to an issue that has, for the most part, been swept under the corporate chocolate rug for too long.

But now Tony’s have been called out. In February 2021 it was axed from The Slave Free Chocolate List for sourcing its chocolate from Barry Callebault – one of the seven ‘Big Cocoa’ corporations intrinsically linked to the use of child labour on cocoa farms in West Africa, and one of the companies named in the International Rights Advocates’ lawsuit. And with investigators finding illegal child labour on even Fairtrade certified farms it seems there is no sure way to tell whether the chocolate you are eating is the product of exploitation.

So, should we be ditching chocolate for good? Is there any hope for truly guilt-free chocolate indulgence? With its extraordinary level of damaging child labour, alongside little transparency from the powerful cocoa companies, there’s a real case to be made for avoiding any chocolate with cocoa sourced in West Africa. But Tony’s would disagree. They argue that by working with Barry Callebault they can show it is possible to have a 100% traceable slave-free supply chain even at scale. They say “We want to show the biggest chocolate brands that it is possible to make delicious, profitable chocolate that is free from modern slavery and illegal child labour. If we made our chocolate ourselves, big chocolate companies could disregard our 5 Sourcing Principles as it wouldn’t be possible for them to adopt or use at scale.”

And while it hasn’t found a case of modern slavery in its supply chain, even Tony’s doesn’t claim to be completely child-labour free. So rife is the problem in Ghana and the Ivory Coast that instances of illegal child labour have been found on farms that produce its cocoa beans. But, crucially, what it does highlight is that a 100% traceable supply chain is possible – and is the key to ending the ongoing exploitation in cocoa production. “Most big chocolate companies do not know how many cases of illegal labour there are in their cocoa supply chain, so they cannot work to remediate them. But because we have a 100% traceable supply chain (as validated by PwC in our annual reports), we can take 100% accountability for eradicating the problem.”

The chocolate industry is worth a staggering $140 billion. Certainly significant enough to wield a powerful blow against illegal child labour and modern slavery. Consumers need to demand more transparency, and laws are needed to ensure companies take responsibility for their supply chain. But perhaps, as Tony’s Chocolonely is trying to do, the only way to effectively change a deeply unequal, exploitative industry - and eradicate modern slavery - is from within.

Written by Sarah Faith

Want to give to an organisation fighting slave labour? Donate to Solidaridad, who work to clean up supply chains across the world.

This story features:

slave labour / cocoa / Equality & Justice / Tony's Chocolonely

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No Nemo without corals

Dear friend,

More Stories

What happened last August?

The probe into the Blast

Economic Collapse hitting all sectors

What about our mental health?

Anniversary Effect

Minimalism for a clearer headspace

Mental turmoil during the pandemic

Returning our Identity with Maximalism

Where do we go from here?