Quinoa, of which both the seeds and leaves can be edible, is a crop native to the Andes Mountains. It took off in richer countries in the 1990s after NASA researchers recommended it as part of a potential space-colony diet. Over the past decade, quinoa, one of the leading crops that 【小题1】 on Bolivia’s high plains, 13,000 ft. above sea level, has become a premier product for foodies, health nuts and fair-trade enthusiasts. The gluten-free staple — in Bolivia it is produced solely by small-scale farmers and 90% is 【小题2】 — often decorates plates from celebrity chefs like Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay and has inspired entire cookbooks 【小题3】 to Salads, soups and stuffing boasting its nutritional goodness. It’s an unaccustomed role for such a humble crop, which poorer Bolivians often grew and ate instead of buying rice. “It was always comida para los indios (food for Indians),” says Benjamin Huarachi, a member of the board of Bolivia’s largest quinoa growers’ association, “Today it’s food for the world’s richest.”

It also provides food for thought about the 【小题4】 that arise when rich nations try to support farmers in the developing world. The colorful tall tufts (丛生植物), which 【小题5】 one of the healthiest foods on the planet, have become Huarachi’s golden goose. As global food prices have risen, the price of quinoa has tripled in the past five years, to $1 per lb., a benefit to growers in the poorest region of South America’s poorest country. “Now we’ve got tractors for our fields and parabolic antennas (抛物面天线) for our homes,” he says.

And trouble with the neighbors. In an economy dependent on unsteady commodity 【小题6】, quinoa has made farmers richer, but it has also become an out-of-reach luxury for many Bolivians and 【小题7】 violent conflict. In February hundreds of farmers clashed over prime quinoa-growing territory, and dozens were injured. The high price of quinoa has 【小题8】 cut domestic consumption, sparking concerns about malnutrition, with many farmers scrambling to export all their quinoa, even supplementing their diets with foods like pasta.

The series of problems raises concerns about whether the satisfying act of buying fair trade — which aims to help small farmers gain 【小题9】 to higher-end consumers abroad — can do more harm than good for the poor in developing countries. “When you transform a food into a commodity, there’s 【小题10】 breakdown in social relations and high environmental cost,” says Tanya Kerssen, a food-policy analyst for the food and development institute Food First, based in Oakland, Calif.

Last week’s United Nations report on the health of the planet and the services it provides made for very uncomfortable reading. It shows that humans are making a complete mess of things, destroying biodiversity and 【小题1】ecosystems. The pressure we are placing on the planet through overexploitation of resources on land, sea and air is driving the Earth and its human cargo towards a catastrophic(灾难性的)end, one that will trigger a global mass 【小题2】which may make the planet uninhabitable.

The sad thing is we can see this crisis 【小题3】our way but don’t seem to be able to do anything to save ourselves. This isn’t just about climate change, although those who deny the human impact on climate may use similar arguments in a(n) 【小题4】to undermine(暗中破坏)the UN report.

It may be portrayed(描述)as exaggeration or bad science, or an issue of dispute among the international team of scientists who compiled the report. Fake news. There is no dispute about the facts 【小题5】, that at least a million species are now in serious decline or facing extinction. These species could disappear and if things continue as they are, another million more could follow.

We are shortening our odds 【小题6】if you look at the UN report. We are damaging the web of life and the way that species interconnect and interact, but we don’t know to what end or how the damage we are causing will impact on ourselves. Are we 【小题7】that humans would survive a runaway greenhouse effect for example? Would we be able to use technology to help us survive? But what of the social unrest(动荡)and migration that would follow a failure of crops in dry, 【小题8】climates?

One direction we cannot turn to for help is planet Earth itself. It too evolves over geological[地质(学)的]time as the 【小题9】that make up its surface ride across the planet. It makes mountains and creates inland seas. It kicks off environment-changing volcanoes and lets geology alter its surface. It doesn’t care if a species pollutes its oceans with plastic or tears down oxygen- 【小题10】forests. It is life, in whatever form, that instead must adjust to accommodate changes in the planet that arise through natural causes or careless intervention.