Planetary Health as Atmospheric Cultivation: Lessons from Nicaragua's Sugarcane Zone

A guest lecture by Professor Alex Nading of Cornell University.

ABSTRACT:  Chronic Kidney Disease of non-traditional causes (CKDnt) is among the first pathologies to be directly associated with climate change, and it has become a case study in the emerging field of “planetary health.” While its exact origins remain unknown, leading theories suggest that CKDnt is triggered by exposure to extreme heat. A desire to test that hypothesis has drawn occupational and environmental health researchers to sites where CKDnt is widespread. Perhaps most prominent among these is the sugarcane zone of western Nicaragua, where thousands of laborers have been diagnosed with kidney disease. In this talk, Nading develops a critical anthropological approach to planetary health, arguing that the recent focus on mitigating workplace heat exposure elides other environmental health concerns regarding industrial sugar production, particularly about the use of toxic agrochemicals. The systematic push by corporations and transnational scientists to find ways to profitably produce sugarcane under conditions of extreme heat is paralleled by the efforts of sugarcane zone residents to make knowledge claims about the slower and more accretive changes in climate wrought by chemically driven cane production.