Knowledge Check: Season Synthesis

1. Across the season, what was the single repeating arc for every plant?

Sacred knowledge, then colonial extraction, then dependency, then a justice movementDiscovery, then mass production, then global peaceEach plant stayed exactly where it beganThere was no shared pattern

2. On the geographic-specificity spectrum, which plant is most adaptable and which is most restricted?

Tea is most adaptable; kava is most restrictedKava is most adaptable; tea is most restrictedCoffee is most adaptable; sugar is most restrictedThey are all equally adaptable

3. What does the geography pattern say about specificity and commodification?

The more specific a plant's geography, the more culturally embedded it stayed and the harder it was to commodifyThe more specific a plant's geography, the easier it was to mass-produceGeography had no effect on commodificationOnly climate mattered

4. What is the cruel irony of the climate-vulnerability pattern?

The plants that best resisted commodification are the ones most threatened by climate changeThe most adaptable plants are the most threatenedClimate change helps these plantsNone of the plants are threatened

5. What are the four stages of the historical pattern that fits every commodity?

Indigenous knowledge, colonial extraction, post-colonial dependency, justice movementPlanting, harvest, shipping, saleDiscovery, patent, profit, retirementSpring, summer, fall, winter

6. About how many enslaved people were forced to work on sugar plantations, across the trade?

About 5 millionAbout 500About 50None

7. Which legal framework was the first binding international anti-biopiracy agreement?

The 2024 WIPO TreatyThe 1807 abolition of the slave tradeThe 2007 UN DeclarationThere is no such agreement

8. In the value chain, who tends to capture the least of a product's retail price?

The farmers and communities who grow the raw material, about 5 to 25 percentThe brands and marketersThe retailersEveryone shares equally

9. What colonial pattern does the modern value chain echo?

Origin communities got the least, while metropolitan markets and trading companies got the mostColonies always got the mostThere was no colonial patternEveryone was paid equally under colonialism

10. How do market economics and traditional economics differ on the source of value?

Market economics values scarcity; traditional economics values sharingBoth value scarcity equallyMarket economics values sharing; traditional values scarcityNeither has a source of value