If you chose to keep pesticides in Organic Outburst, you must deal with the wrecked environment:
Dead In The Water
The pesticides and fertilizer your nation uses on its crops run off into the Gulf of @@NAME@@, feeding the algae until it chokes out all other life. You are on a fishing trip arranged by @@RANDOMNAME@@, your minister of agriculture, meant to impress various dignitaries and members of the media. At her signal, you cast a line into the water. The fishing rod bends and flexes as you pull at it, quite unlike any ministers present.
[option]Echoing what you were told beforehand, @@RANDOMNAME@@, CEO of oil company Drills And Gills, says, “You can’t catch anything in sterile water.” She jabs a finger at the open sea and adds, “If you want to squeeze more production from this gulf, abolish the obsolete environmental regulations hindering our offshore oil rigs. There’s nothing left to protect, and cheaper oil brings cheaper fertilizer.”
[effect]derricks in winter are heated by contained oil slick fires
[stats]eco-friendly down, whatever proxies for oil up, maybe an added penalty to trout fishing and/or a bonus to agriculture, the latter not necessarily being enough to create upward motion, just to reduce the ding from trashing the environment.
[option]A hard pull on the line drags the rod out of your hands. @@RANDOMNAME@@, an astonished senior captain from Something Fishy, a multinational trout fishing concern, makes a diving catch for it and wrestles with whatever is on the other end. She says, “If that’s a fish, we must find out how it lives in lifeless water! Otherwise the only way to save the fishing industry -- and the environment -- is to ban the pesticides causing this destruction.”
[effect]debate rages over whether ground fish guts can be spread on fields
[stats]eco-friendly up, trout fishing up and a dent in agriculture for the same reason as above. pro-market down. Pesticides illegal.
[option]With a wrench and some salty language, the captain lands the “fish”, revealed as a woman in a scuba suit. Tripping on her swim fins, she says, “No, take me back! I had proof the genetically modified crops I planted shed no harmful chemicals, and now that proof is at the bottom of the gulf.” Floundering on deck, she continues: “They grow better than any of the plants we now poison to keep alive.” She collapses with a tear in her eye. “Help me,” she says, “I can give you autofertilizing, autopesticidal autotrophs. Pesticides would be obsolete.”
[effect]superstitious farmhands refuse to enter @@NAME@@’s immaculate fields
[stats]No idea. I only included GMOs because of a request in the writer’s block thread, so presumably someone knows. GMOs enabled.
If you chose to ban pesticides, you must deal with the lowered productivity:
Portions of Biblical Proportions
The ban on pesticides has been blamed for allowing a plague of locusts to devastate crops in @@NAME@@’s bread basket. It being a voluntary no-lunch day for government workers, implemented to fight spiraling food costs, your stomach is grumbling when a number of activists come to your office with grumbles of their own.
[option]“It is time to tighten our belts,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a popular ascetic, while running her thumbs through her suspenders, “There are many ways to save money on food. Buy at the lowest price per calorie, use recipes that turn leftovers into luxuries, and most especially hold back on any children you may have been planning.” She sneers at a woman in your office snacking out of a small paper bag. “Our citizens just need a little encouragement. Posters. Public announcements. You get the idea.”
[effect]the banana peel mondae is more popular than the banana sundae
[stats]Obesity down, unexpected death up, whatever government department is responsible for the propaganda (health care?) up, compassion down, a tax cut.
[option]@@RANDOMNAME@@, the owner of the paper bag and a locavore guru, is the only one with any cheerfulness. She says, “There’s no need to do any of that. The answer is right in front of us.” She starts to crunch on candied locusts pulled from her bag as she talks. “Native animals destroy our invasive foreign crops," she says, "Native plants reclaim our fields before the plague has abated." After a swallow she says, "This is their home. With some agricultural research and job retraining, we could make these the staples of our diet and no one would go hungry. Think globally, eat locally.”
[effect]culinary schools organize their recipe books by biome
[stats]civil rights down, pro-market down. Eco-friendly up. Vegetarianism repealed.
[option]“The Pollyannas who think nature is our garden forget to mention that gardening is a lot less productive than farming,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a stooped and weatherbeaten farmer hiding some stolen locusts behind her back. “Do you know how much labor can be saved by integrating best practices with the latest generation of pesticides and fertilizers? It would restore food security with minimal harm to the environment.”
[effect]farmhands in masks and latex gloves apply pesticides to crops with eyedroppers
[stats]eco-friendly down, whatever industry proxies for pesticides and fertilizer up, pro-market up. Pesticides unbanned.
[option]“No!” screams a woman in polyester and vinyl. She grabs the bag of locusts and dumps it out the window. “These land-intensive methods abuse the ecosystem. We must move all farms into greenhouses, big as skyscrapers, and grow only what cannot be replaced by technology!” She leans over your desk and says, “If that means genetically modifying crops to survive the new conditions, it’s a small price to pay for the ethical treatment of nature.”
[effect]the Hanging Edible Gardens of @@NAME@@ are marveled throughout @@REGION@@
[stats]Once again, no idea, except it should probably include the penalties for government being this invested in agriculture directly.
If you chose to implement GMOs to solve any of the previous two, you must have a chance to ban them again. The fourth option has escaped my control. The character has decided she's a supervillain. She's wordy, dramatic, and worst of all threatening but I can't convince her to calm down. I'm ready to let the editors just butcher it (or scrub it) and move on, because deep down inside I like her too much to do it myself.
Are Green Fields of Golden Soy a Gray Goo?
Golden Soy, the genetically engineered main ingredient of the world’s healthiest tofu, has escaped its fields. Immune to natural predators and designed to weed itself by killing off competitors, ecodiversity has plummeted across the nation. Not even your nation’s other crops are safe. The people summoned to discuss this issue have gathered around your window planter.
[option]@@RANDOMNAME@@, a professor of ecology from @@NAME@@ University, digs at a stray soy plant. She says, “We must destroy each and every Golden Soy like the weeds they are and ban GMOs so this can never happen again.” Up-ending your pansies, she rips the soy out of your planter. “Spare no expense: time, money, labor.”
[effect]children with tiny trowels dream of joining the Weeding Corps
[stats]Bans GMOs. Employment up. Something to push the tax rate and/or the government’s slice of the economy pie up. Ideally, median income down. Farmhands don’t get paid much, despite the tag. Reverse whatever mystery effects occur when you enable GMOs.
[option]“Nonsense,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@, lead researcher for Genomes R Us, the company that invented Golden Soy, “We were prepared for just such an eventuality.” She drenches a different soy plant with a spray bottle, covering the petunias in your planter with a lurid pink goo. As the soy plant withers, she says, “A targeted pesticide and an upgrade to the plant itself will solve this problem quickly and efficiently.”
[effect]seed packets are stamped with a version number
[stats] Pesticides unbanned. Environmental beauty down, for basically ignoring eco-diversity, but agriculture up, because selling lots of new versions seems to fit in with the business strategy of real world GMO companies.
[option]An aide comes from behind you to drop a catered lunch on your desk, decorated with a tasteful arrangement of soy flowers. “What’s wrong with soy?” she says, pointing out the dishes of your meal, “Tofu in soy sauce, soy milk, edamame as a side, why should we stop any of it from growing?”
[effect]families mourn when children are diagnosed with soy allergies
[stats]Unexpected death up, eco-friendly and/or environmental beauty down, a tax cut.
[option, requires 441:3]“She’s right,” says a woman indicating your aide with a blue rose. Present on the strength of her reputation alone, @@RANDOMNAME@@ says from the comfort of your sofa, “Why stop any of it? Golden Soy is a success, not a mistake. Our work has never been a mistake, not even the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ bee.” She buries a smirk in the rose. “The successor I have invented goes where we need it,” she says. An insect within the petals crawls onto her cheek and buzzes. “The real mistake is vulnerability. Give me the proper facilities," she says, "And I will replace the mistakes in our ecosystem with obedience.”
[effect]every tree has @@ANIMAL@@-shaped leaves
[stats]government size up, scientific advancement up, appropriate industries up, environmental beauty down, but not necessarily eco-friendly. You’re spending the same amount of money on the environment, you’re just doing it wrong.
Religion hasn't been very prominent in the GMO fight. Typically religious institutions IRL have been skeptical of GMOs though, so you'd have to have the trope again of the religious nut who wants to ban everything. I think it's a good idea that you haven't included it. That said, spirituality and godlessness ought to be hit (only very, very slightly though).