What are “Global Environmental Politics?”

Bananas

Bananas are a pretty common item in the lives of Americans and Europeans. Everyone knows what bananas look like. Everyone knows where bananas come from. Everyone has eaten a banana. And that's all anyone needs to know—or is it?

Bananas are a big business. They are mass produced on plantations in one part of the world and sold, in large quantities, in markets in a different part of the world, which is where we first see them. But between the images of green banana trees swaying in the sun (Hello, Carmen Miranda) and yellow bananas piled high in supermarkets (Hello, Foodworld) there is a void, about which we can ask many questions.

For example: How are bananas grown? ...