Does your guac come with a body count? Jessica Wynn peels back blood avocados, cartel taxes, and deforestation on this week's Skeptical Sunday.
Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn!
How a Los Angeles mailman's single grafted tree became the Hass — now 95% of the world's avocados — and how decades of slick marketing rebranded a suspiciously oily fruit into the "healthy fats" superfood clogging your Instagram feed.
Why drug cartels muscled into guacamole after NAFTA opened the border in 1997 — discovering that "green gold" was safer than cocaine and nearly as profitable, then taxing every crate, shaking down farmers, and pioneering what economists call "narco-agriculture."
How "blood avocados" hide their real cost — Michoacán's homicide rate more than doubling alongside soaring exports, journalists murdered for covering the trade, and indigenous families displaced while the violence stays invisible to anyone ordering a side of guac.
What the environmental toll actually looks like: 700,000 acres of Michoacán forest cleared, arson weaponized as a legal loophole, monarch habitat collapsing, and roughly 300 liters of water drained for just two or three avocados — and the same pattern in Chile and Peru.
Why the smartest move isn't a guilt-ridden boycott but better leverage — backing fair-trade and Pro-Forest certified growers, pushing retailers for real transparency, and remembering avocados swap easily for lentils, broccoli, and olive oil when you want a break.
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
Jordan Harbinger. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Jordan Harbinger och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
