Today's Sign Of The Apocalypse is the lack of biodiversity in the banana crop:
The 100 billion Cavendish bananas consumed annually worldwide are perfect from a genetic standpoint, every single one a duplicate of every other. It doesn’t matter if it comes from Honduras or Thailand, Jamaica or the Canary Islands—each Cavendish is an identical twin to one first found in Southeast Asia, brought to a Caribbean botanic garden in the early part of the 20th century, and put into commercial production about 50 years ago.
That sameness is the banana’s paradox. After 15,000 years of human cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all. A fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket shelves empty.
A wild scenario? Not when you consider that there’s already been one banana apocalypse...
Which actually prompted the vaudeville-era song.
The same thing happened with pears in the early 19th century which is why all pears now have a gritty texture; that was the variety that was disease-resistant.
P.S. I don't really like bananas.
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