Capitalist agriculture and industry raping California

This is Kern County California. As we pointed out in a previous video, 21-9% of the population in Kern County live below the poverty line and we figure it is much higher than that. Tulare and and Fresno Counties next door have poverty rates of 28.1% and 26.8% respectively.

Kern County also has the highest number of shootings by law enforcement in the country.  Despite the poverty that exists in the Central Valley, there is incredible wealth there. Ranches or farms as large as 150 or more square miles are owned by billionaires or agribusiness.

Source: Mother Jones

This is a scene just outside Bakersfield. Wealth under the Earth and wealth on top of it. California is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, an economy that is the 6th largest in the world. But this is all artificial. The water is brought in, the labor is brought in, the soil is not so fertile and there is heavy pesticide and chemical fertilizer usage.  Much of the central valley is, after all, a desert.

Capital flows to the most productive and profitable source. It does not concern itself with environmental degradation or workers' rights. It is a power unto itself.  Almonds are very trendy nuts right now and therefore a very profitable investment. Capital has flowed in to almond production but they are a very thirsty crop. In an area where water is scarce, they consume massive amounts of water, one gallon per almond by some accounts.

To look around at the earth one gets the feeling that it is hurting, it is damaged like the horse in Animal Farm and that at some point it will simply die. Unless we save it from the market.

Read the Mother Jones article here:

Your Almond Habit Is Sucking California Dry