Ecuadorean Valentine Ros
It is 6: February 7, in the Ecuadorean town of Cayambe, and Maria Pacheco has just been dropped off for work by the company bus. She pulls on thick rubber gloves, wraps an apron over her white, traditional embroidered dress, and grabs her clippers, ready for another long day. Any other time of year, Maria would wor k until , but it’s a week before Valentine’s Day, and Maria along with her 84 coworkers at the farm are likely to be busy until By then, Maria will have cut more than 1,000 ro stems.
A few days later, after they have been refrigerated and shipped via aircraft, the ros Maria cut will be lling for premium prices in stores from New York to London. Ecuadorean ros are quickly becoming the Rolls-Royce of ros. They have huge heads and unusually vibrant colors, including 10 different reds, from bleeding heart crimson to a rosy lover’s blush.
Most of Ecuador’s 460 or s o ro farms are located in the Cayambe and Cotopaxi regions,
10,000 feet up in the Andes about an hour’s drive from the capital, Quito. The ro bushes are planted in huge flat fields at the foot of snowcapped volcanoes that ri to more than 20,000 feet. The bushes are protected by 20-foot-high canopies of plastic sheeting. The combination of inten sunlight, fertile v
olcanic soil, an equatorial location, and high altitude makes for ideal growing conditions, allowing ros to flower almost year-round.
溺水事例Ecuador’s ro industr y started some 20 years ago and has been expanding rapidly since. Ecuador is now the world’s fourth-largest producer of ros. Ros are the nation’s fifth-largest export, with customers all over the world. Ro farms generate $240 million in sales and support tens of thousands of jobs. In Cayambe, the population has incread in 10 years from 10,000 to 70,000, primarily as a result of the ro industry. The revenues and taxes from ro growers have helped to pave roads, build schools, and construct sophisticated irrigation systems. In 2003, construction was to begin on an international airport between Quito and Cayambe from which Ecuadorean ros will begin their journey to flower shops all over the world.
Maria works Monday to Saturday, and earns $210 a month, which she says is an average wage in Ecuador and substantially above the country’s $120 a month minimum wage. The farm also provides her with health care and a pension. By employing women such as Maria, the industry has fostered a social revolution in which mothers and wives have more control over their
famil y’s spending, especially on schooling for their children.
三七粉的功效作用For all of the benefits that ros have bought to Ecuador, where the gross national income per capita is only $1,080 a year, the industry has come under fire from environmentalists. Large growers have been accud of misusing a toxic mixture of pesticides, fungicides, and fumigants to grow and export unblemished pest-free flowers. Reports claim that workers often fumigate ros in street clothes without protective equipment. Some doctors and scientists claim that many of the industry’s 50,000 employees have rious health problems as a result of exposure to toxic
chemicals. A study by the International Labor Organization claimed that women in the industry had more miscarriages than average and that some 60 percent of all workers suffered from headaches, naua, blurred vision, and fatigue. Still, the critics acknowledge that their studies have been hindered by a lack of access to the farms, and they do not know what the true situation is. The International Labor Organization has also claimed that some ro growers in Ecuador u child labor, a claim that has been strenuously rejected by both the growers and Ecuadorean government agencies.
In Europe, consumer groups have urged the European Union to press for improved environmental safeguards. In respon, some Ecuadorean growers have joined a voluntary program aimed at helping customers identify responsible growers. The certification signifies that the grower has distrib
uted protective gear, trained workers in using chemicals, and hired doctors
to visit workers at least weekly. Other environmental groups have pushed for stronger sanctions, including trade sanctions, against Ecuadorean ro growers that are not environmentally certified by a reputable agency. On February 14, however, most consumers are oblivious to the issues; they simply want to show their appreciation to their wives and girlfriends with a perfect bunch of ros.
越柬旅游
Sources: G. Thompson, “Behind Ros’ Beauty, Poor and Ill Workers,” The New York Times, February 13, 2003, pp. A1, A27; J. Stuart, “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby,” The Independent, February 14, 2003, p. 1; V. Marino, “By
皮沙发怎么保养
Any Other Name, It’s Usually a Rosa,” The New York Times, May 11, 2003, p. A9; A. DePalma, “In Trade Issue,
the Pressu re Is on Flowers,” The New York Times, January 24, 2002, p. 1; and “The Se arch for Ros without Thorns,”The Economist, February 18, 2006, p. 38.
Read the article, and answer the following questions using what you learned from the first five chapters in our textbook:
冠心病早期症状
1.How has participation in the international ro trade helped Ecuador’s economy and its people? How has the ri of Ecuador as a center for ro growing benefited consumers in developed nations who purcha the ros? What do the answers to the questions tell you about the benefits of international trade?
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2.Why do you think that Ecuador’s ro industry only began to take of f 20 years ago? Why do you think it has grown so rapidly?
怀念战友原唱3.To what extent can the alleged health problems among workers in Ecuador’s ro industry be laid at the feet of consumers in the developed world and their desire for perfect Valentine’s Day ros?
4. Do you think governments in the developed world should place trade sanctions on Ecuador ros if reports of health issues among Ecuadorian ro workers are verified? What el might they do to improve the situation in Ecuador?
酸菜鱼的做法和步骤图
