Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Choosing fuel or food - the problems of poverty in a rich country.

We live in the South East of England, in the county of Surrey, one of the richest counties in England. So, what does food security have to do with us?

Well, being a rich county, close to London, the price of houses and flats is astronomical. Some young people are paying as much as two thirds of their wages simply to provide a roof over their heads, leaving very little money for even the basic essentials, like fuel to keep warm in winter (and our winters are cold, sometimes falling to temperatures below freezing at night time) and food to eat. Very often, it is a choice between eating well and being comfortably warm, but one of my own children has previously been in the uncomfortable situation of being neither warm nor well nourished. If you do not have a family to fall back on in these circ**stances, things can go from bad to worse.

It is difficult to get warm in a cold house, especially if you are not able to eat warm food. This means that it is unlikely that you will be able to sleep much at night, and therefore are more likely to be tired in the morning. If you work and are tired, then you begin to make more mistakes and are thought of as a less valuable employee. This, in turn, creates more stress, making it less likely that you can sleep and more likely that you will become depressed and ill, which has a worsening effect on your chances of retaining the job that is keeping the expensive roof over your head. So what do you do?

Katherine Hibbert wrote a book called "Free" which she described as "adventures on the margins of a wasteful socieity". The astonishing thing about this book was that many of the squatters with whom she lived for a year of her life, ate better by gathering the waste food thrown out by supermarkets, sandwich shops and restaurants, then they had ever done when they were in full time employment and attempting to purchase a reasonably diet for themselves.

In our day and age, surely it is criminal to throw away perfectly good food that could be used to feed the poor, rather than reducing the cost of left over food to a level at which the poor could purchase it? It's not just young people either. Pensioners, on fixed incomes, again, often have to choose between fuel and food.


Views: 12

Comment

You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!

Join Urgent Evoke

Latest Activity

Ning Admin is now a member of Urgent Evoke
May 17, 2023
N updated their profile
Sep 25, 2020
Sophie C. commented on Asger Jon Vistisen's blog post Stinging Nettle
"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
Aug 19, 2020
Meghan Mulvey posted a blog post

Fourth of July on the Lake

This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Jul 6, 2020
Asger Jon Vistisen posted a blog post

Stinging Nettle

In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
Apr 13, 2020
Jonathon McCallum posted a blog post

The meal

It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Mar 10, 2020
Jean Paul Galea shared a profile on Facebook
Mar 1, 2020
Kevin posted a blog post

Future

FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
Jan 1, 2020
Namwaka Mooto posted blog posts
Jan 13, 2016
T D updated their profile
Sep 3, 2015
Brook Warner posted blog posts
Aug 25, 2015
Santiago Vega posted blog posts
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega commented on Santiago Vega's blog post Act 8
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega posted photos
May 5, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted blog posts
May 2, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted a photo

public servants

The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
May 2, 2015

Follow EVOKE on Twitter




Official EVOKE Facebook Page




EVOKE RSS Activity Feed










© 2024   Created by Alchemy.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service