Actually, this is not a funny post today. This is serious. Like, no more banana splits or banana bread serious. I posting a link here to a National Geographic article alerting us to a truly dire threat. Bananas in East Asia have been decimated by a fungus that, though not harmful to humans, affects the banana trees. They stop producing bananas.
Now, that fungus has come to Central America, the key world region for growing bananas. The bananas you see each time you visit the supermarket. The nation of Columbia declared a state of emergency last week. There is no cure yet for the fungus and, by the time it first appears, experience in Asia shows it will have already spread out of control. Scientists are working on cures, GMO solutions, new strains of bananas that could be resistant.
However, so far there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You’ll want to read this article and then stay alert to any progress. The loss of bananas in our diet could be compensated for, but the cultural loss, the culinary loss, would be severe. The economic loss for Central America would be catastrophic.
Let’s hope the scientists can find a solution. Quickly. In the meantime, enjoy them. A decade from now, our lives could be very different.