Knowledge Check: Season Synthesis

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

Discovery, then mass production, then global peaceSacred knowledge, then colonial extraction, then dependency, then a justice movementEach 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?

Coffee is most adaptable; sugar is most restrictedTea is most adaptable; kava is most restrictedThey are all equally adaptableKava is most adaptable; tea is most restricted

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

The more specific a plant's geography, the easier it was to mass-produceOnly climate matteredGeography had no effect on commodificationThe more specific a plant's geography, the more culturally embedded it stayed and the harder it was to commodify

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

The plants that best resisted commodification are the ones most threatened by climate changeClimate change helps these plantsThe most adaptable plants are the most threatenedNone of the plants are threatened

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

Discovery, patent, profit, retirementSpring, summer, fall, winterIndigenous knowledge, colonial extraction, post-colonial dependency, justice movementPlanting, harvest, shipping, sale

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

About 500NoneAbout 50About 5 million

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

The 2024 WIPO TreatyThere is no such agreementThe 2007 UN DeclarationThe 1807 abolition of the slave trade

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

Everyone shares equallyThe retailersThe brands and marketersThe farmers and communities who grow the raw material, about 5 to 25 percent

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

Everyone was paid equally under colonialismThere was no colonial patternOrigin communities got the least, while metropolitan markets and trading companies got the mostColonies always got the most

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

Market economics values scarcity; traditional economics values sharingNeither has a source of valueBoth value scarcity equallyMarket economics values sharing; traditional values scarcity