Banana Crisis

Sitting in my magazine class last week, I listened intently to the other students explain their ideas for our next stories. The girl sitting next to me was to go next. "Apparently the bananas that we eat may be going extinct," she said. Wait--what? bananas going extinct? Now that's interesting.

She went on to explain that she had heard from a member of Northeastern's Council for University Programs, or CUP, that Northeastern would be holding a banana awareness week because there is a banana crisis in effect. I couldn't help but laugh. Seriously banana awareness, like breast cancer awareness or hunger awareness? Do bananas really fall into the same category? One of the ideas CUP had for banana awareness week was to take away all the bananas on campus and have, in effect, a "banana blackout."

Recently Burger King did a similar thing in a commercial to promote the sandwich, The Whopper. They told all the costumers that day that ordered a whopper that it was discontinued. The people reacted as if someone has just told them they will have to amputate their left arm. And the reactions are real.

I'm guessing CUP hopes there to be a similar reaction to the banana blackout: pure chaos and anger all around. I'm not quite sure that the assumption that students value their fruits on the same level that they value their fatty, greasy meals is accurate.

In any case, I had to read up on this banana crisis right away. It was too funny to not tell my friends about it and you better believe I had to get my facts down before I did that. So I found an article on the BBC website which discussed the threat of disease and pests. Apparently if they are unable to encourage people to buy bananas that have been grown with the help of pesticides, or if they are unable to clone or find ways to adapt to other types of bananas that are not yet edible, bananas may be gone forever.

My teacher asked the student if she could contact any banana enthusiasts. I found this conversation extremely amusing. After leaving class however I began to think about life without bananas and, in all truthfullness, I came to the conclusion that it would be very saddening to see them go. My two year old niece absolutely loves bananas. What would I tell those innocent little eyes when she asked for a "nana pease?" What about life without banana splits? Or strawberry banana juice without bananas? All joking aside, lets hope this whole banana crisis is put to rest so we can all rest assured that our bananas are safe.