Olives, People, and Ecosystems: Pressed Beyond Repair
Istanbul, Türkiye
2024, Senior, Creative Writing
Each summer, my family embarks on a journey down the Gebze-İzmir Motorway to my mother’s hometown of Izmir, Turkey. The four-hour trip is lengthy, yet never dull, as my eyes gaze upon scenic landscapes and captivating sights and sounds that allow my imagination to roam and stay free from boredom. As the hours pass, my excitement peaks when we pass by the majestic olive tree groves, and their silvery leaves captivate me as they shimmer in the sunlight. Immediately, my father reminds me of the tree’s cultural significance, healing properties, and promises of good health. Seeing the olive trees reminds me of how these agricultural marvels are part of Turkey’s rich culinary heritage and beautiful land.
In fact, my family’s deep love for olives is obvious when we travel during the summer months. My dad always pays homage to the Kavlak (famous olive oil producer) flagship store on at least one of our travel pit-stops. I am always amazed by the liters of olive oil canisters holding liquid gold stacked to the roof. Everyone who passes by knows about that store; it supplies us with our yearly oil stock for breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout Turkey and worldwide.
In the summer of 2023, when we arrived at my cousin’s house, she greeted us with the most delicious breakfast. The table looked like a surrealist piece of art, with glasses of tea set around, colorful produce, farm-fresh eggs with orange yolks, organic cheese from a local farm, and a plate full of ink-black, glistening olives. The table is full of chitter-chatter and plans for the coming week when suddenly, the morning news on the TV in the background mentions that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians’ olive trees have been illegally uprooted by the Israeli authority. (Anadolu Ajansı) Instantly, I noted a grimace on my father’s face for three reasons: He is an olive oil connoisseur, recognizes the economic importance of the olive trees that yield olives, and makes oil and even soap. Quickly, my aunt chimed in, gave her ten cents’ worth, and stated that such a provocative action and micro-aggression of destroying agriculture was meant to exert power and destroy farming heritage and antiquity. Also, she predicted that it would lead to bigger things, and she was not wrong.
Fast-forward to the present. Each morning, as I pop olives into my mouth, I can’t help but think that a people, land, and olive oil that was once known as a universal symbol of peace are now under imminent threat, and it is not just the trees and their ecosystems that are threatened. Worldwide, natural disasters are increasing rapidly because of human habits, and the military complex causes one horrible habit during wartime that increases significantly during combat.
Whether it is jet fuel or carpet bombing, our worldwide militaries leave a high carbon footprint and are some of the biggest polluters to our planet. Scientists now estimate that more than 281,000 tons of carbon dioxide were produced by Israel’s ground bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza in only the first two months of the war. (Inside Climate News) That is bigger than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. (Lakhani) Not only do innocent civilians lose their lives, but combat also decimates ecosystems and biodiversity. Deforestation increases greatly during war, due to armed or criminal gangs taking advantage of the collapse of management systems, as well as locals relying on charcoal and wood for fuel (Conflict and Environment Observatory).
Furthermore, water, soil, and air suffer from contamination. Land mines and other explosives used in wars restrict access to agricultural land and cause the soil to pollute. After major conflicts, military scrap contaminates groundwater severely, causing severe health risks for the locals. (Conflict and Environment Observatory) The final stage results in forced migration, which adds another burden to the global environment and communities, leads to an ecocide, and gains recognition as a war crime. The BBC states how forced migration can lead to overgrazing, water shortage, and water pollution. (BBC) We have now entered an era of human and climate insecurity. What started as merely the removal of centuries-old olive groves has turned into a humanitarian and climate crisis.
So the next time you eat olives and cook with the liquid gold known as olive oil, realize that this precious commodity reduces heart disease and improves brain function and overall well-being. Adjacently, olive trees are a unique habitat for animal species in arid environments. Most importantly, people throughout the Middle East have intertwined olive oil in their roots and have battled environmental disruption and human threats. The strong roots of the olive trees and the hands that cultivate them continue to symbolize the resistance and resilience needed to withstand and thwart climate change. People commonly know that agriculture tethers them to their land and nurtures wisdom that they inherit and the human exchange at global tables for everyone to savor.
Works Cited
“Anadolu Ajansı. “Anadolu Ajansı.” Anadolu Ajansı, 14 March 2024, https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ayrimcilikhatti/ayrimcilik/israil-son-20-yilda-filistinlilere-ait-800-bin-zeytin-agacini-yok-etti/1819400. Accessed 29 May 2024.
British Broadcasting Corporation. “Forced migration – Causes and impacts relating to forced and voluntary migration – Higher Geography Revision.” BBC, 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8g334j/revision/3. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Caritas Internationals. “How wars destroy the environment and contribute to climate change.” How wars destroy the environment and contribute to climate change, 17 April 2024, https://svet.charita.cz/en/news/how-wars-destroy-the-environment-and-contribute-to-climate-change/. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Conflict and Environment Observatory. “How does war damage the environment? – CEOBS.” The Conflict and Environment Observatory, 4 June 2020, https://ceobs.org/how-does-war-damage-the-environment/. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Hedroug, Layla. “Forced migration – Causes and impacts relating to forced and voluntary migration – Higher Geography Revision.” The Yale Review of International Studies, 2023, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8g334j/revision/3. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Inside Climate News. “As Conflict Rages On, Israel and Gaza’s Environmental Fates May Be Intertwined.” Inside Climate News, 15 March 2024, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15032024/todays-climate-gaza-israel-sewage-environment-debris-pollution/. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Lakhani, Nina. “Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe.” The Guardian, 9 January 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/emissions-gaza-israel-hamas-war-climate-change. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Worthington, Rowena. “The olive tree: a symbol of peaceful resistance — Embrace the Middle East.” Embrace the Middle East, https://embraceme.org/blog/symbol-of-resistance. Accessed 28 May 2024.”
Reflection
Culinary heritage has always inspired me because it connects me to my cultural roots, traditions, and history and tickles my taste buds! Thus, as I type, our food systems and people are being threatened by war. While olive trees grow in an arid and harsh environment, they can only withstand so much. Though food transcends places and borders, culinary heritage is threatened by war, which accelerates climate change, causing me to lose my appetite. So today, I offer humanity an olive branch in hopes of peace, prosperity, and a cease-fire as we lose human lives and ecosystems face their demise.