10 of 30 - The Coming Bananapocalypse

[aggienaut]

   What would you say if I told you that bananas as we know them may be in extreme danger of disappearing. You find the thought utterly terrifying, I'm sure, but it's true!


   If you'll bear with me for a moment, and picture a large banana-like object called "Big Mike" ... that is what the common banana used to be (the gros michel banana). This was the banana everyone knew and loved for many years. When people thought banana this is what they thought of. These heroic bananas of yore were bigger and yellower and superior in all ways to modern bananas (well, I'm not sure they were say yellower but they were generally considered to be all around better). And then, they were gone.

   You see, all gros michel banana plants were seedless clones of one another, and thus a single disease was able to quickly wipe nearly all of them from the face of the planet (much like the potatoe famine).

   This was as recently as the 50s, so your grandparents might still remember a time when bananas were large and glorious.

   With no more delicious delicious gros michel bananas, the big banana industry turned to the next best banana they could find, the cavendish banana. The cavendish banana is the banana you currently consider your trusty yellow friend. When you think banana you think cavendish, and you think your little cavendish will never desert you. And you are wrong.

   Panama disease, the very disease that wiped out gros michel, is showing itself to be just as effective against the cavendishes. As cavendishes are ALSO all clones of one another, this has extremely dire implications for the industry. One day in your life time "yes, we have no bananas" may be more than just a silly phrase.


   Our only hope right now may be the goldfinger banana currently being developed by Honduras*

* unless James Bond stops them? **
** last year's coup in Honduras -- just part of a DEVIOUS banana conspiracy?!

The illustrious whirled models our visual aid today!

Comments

[nefariousvirus.livejournal.com]

Considering I am Allergic to Banana, I would be ecstatic if they were gone :P

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Dear arrrghonaut: It appears that you are doing 30 in 30 with BOTH you livejournals????

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Muahahahaha although between the two of them it's gonna be hard to get 30 entries /:

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

I hate bananas but I would not want them to disappear!

[elvenforever.livejournal.com]

Interesting news. I don't, however, like bananas. :)

[jfargo.livejournal.com]

I learned about this a while ago and I was shocked. Honestly, this is horrible. Please don't let the bad diseases take my bananas away!

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

Random bit of info: a few years ago 90% of Australia's banana crop was wiped out due to a cyclone. Bananas went from around $2/kg to up to $25/kg. For a good while, my daily banana became a special monthly treat and the Yes We Have No Bananas song was on a constant loop in my head!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Shenanigans!!

[infloresence.livejournal.com]

I remember the great banana shortage well. It was horrible. Kids everywhere were cranky. Mothers, stressed.

[pouncing-tiger.livejournal.com]

It gets scarier. When you think about the genetic engineering and cloning companies like Monsanto are doing to the rest of our food supply. Disease could wipe out ALL our food.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Indeed. And of course the very fact that all bananas are clones of themselves, no longer even able to reproduce naturally (at least the commercial ones, there's still wild banana-like fruits) is due to monsanto-style mischief

[infloresence.livejournal.com]

This post made me 1. really want a banana so badly my mouth was watering and 2. go read about bananas.

Apparently the Gros Michel was sweeter than other bananas. Some strains of it still exist. I'd really like to taste one.

*smacks lips*

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

We totally need to add "eat a gros michel banana" to our life goals!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yes! Finding a genuine gros michel sounds like a worthy life quest!

[technophobe1975.livejournal.com]

Banana and ice cream is my favourite comfort food!