the last thing you need.

there are about to be no more bananas.

This week's New Yorker has a huge story about the banana industry that touches on all of the familiar complaints against it: the inherent lack of sustainability of their product, company-funded massacres. But what it mostly focuses on is Tropical Race Four, a sort of super-fungus that turns Cavendish bananas into mush. So scientists are trying to build a better banana! One that is resistant! Here's the thing: It doesn't sound like they're making a lot of progress.

One of the most interesting pieces of info in the story is that this already happened once. See, the bananas that were originally eaten all over the U.S. weren't the Cavendish variety, they were Gros Michel bananas. (They were also, by all accounts, far tastier.) But a fungus called Race One, which is closely related to Tropical Race Four, wiped them out in the first half of the twentieth century. Really, one of the main reasons we have Cavendish bananas is because they're resistant to Race One. But it sounds like we might not have them for much longer either. (via)

great.

thx a lot, liz.