Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Food challenge

What's the biggest food security challenge near you?

The Challenge is what is near me! And to get involved.

As Sithembile Ndema says (http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/02/201029113234906173.html )

Political instability, global poverty and health, the financial crisis, religious conflicts and climate change are all issues that affect us and require long-term solutions to address substantially.”

Each person who takes that first step makes a difference. They add knowledge, time, energy and effort that may lead to action. As we keep making steps along our journey, we discover more and find ways to help. We always have to choose what, when, why, how. As has been said about almost all the desperate “whats” in life, usually after the whys are clear and a few paths of how glimmer in the distance: (the ads usually have their how!) “If not NOW, when?” So, pick your very own “what to do” and do it NOW!

The world problems need world coordination and effort. Local problems need local coordination and effort with participation from higher level resources, sometimes. The magnitude and urgency of a problem dictates that.

Describe the biggest challenge to food security in your own local community or country -- and an innovative solution that is already underway.

So what are the local food security concerns here in Hobbs, America?

Unemployment, low wages, rising costs, welfare, some homeless, people on street corners with “work for food” signs... That means people in our community going hungry and at the mercy of Agency Relief or the State.

We have equivalents of food kitchens/pantries, shelters and

The standard path people take is soliciting individuals, ministerial alliance: food, housing, resources. Then it’s shelters, relief agencies: Salvation Army,

From discussions I know that there is a lot of economic desperation in our community.Rents are too high, but finally beginning to drop.

I was nearly broke (my last ten dollars) when I bought lunch for a fired farm hand who had biked three miles in town from the farm he was working at. My wife has distributed food coupons bought from MacDonald’s. We’ve contributed clothes and other items to the Salvation Army and rang bells for them at Christmas time.

No innovative local solution has gotten any press. As far as I can tell, people just hunker down and do what they have to do. At the State level, there is a Free Health Insurance program for those who cannot afford it. But they stopped enrollment last fall. More effort with food stamps, also in fiscal trouble.

Research found the following”

http://www.dws.state.nm.us/NMWIRED.html

The WIRED program funds regional initiatives that integrate educational, economic development and workforce activities to promote talent development and economic transformation

http://www.ninesigma.com/WhatWeDo/CaseStudies/FoodScienceSolutions.aspx

Here is a broader, than local effort on food sustainability worth looking at. Projects seem to be focusing on details with broad use. It came up in the same search as the first URL

Views: 36

Comment by Bongumusa on March 13, 2010 at 10:59am
I am happy that you are aware that the challenge is on you. As man who have strong knowledge, you can make huge difference by doing something very little. You are well educated which means you have a big advantage to get access to information which can strength you to be good farmer. You can start by joining small programmes in your society. I don't think that it is always Government who is expected to make change. It begins with you. But government is expected to do more than individuals. Government is one who is in control for economy and other source of funding, therefore they need to comeout with projects that are relevant and need for the community. I agree with you that it is not only poverty, there are also other facts i.e. political instability is a main cause of high rate of poverty in countries. You know it, the problem in developing countries lies on politics e.g Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, there is a lot of land to do farming but due to politics, they are facing hunger and there are moving to South Africa to create more hunger. We can keep donating,but it will never help. The solution is rather to invest on Agriculture and provide advice in a sort of training programmes which aims at empowering farmers knowlegically and mentally. I am happy with your creation and facts that you provide to us. I still remember one of my local teacher who was a Farmer. He was teaching me Economics in High school. My TAXATION lecturor is also a farmer. He is a teacher in my University.
Comment by Claire Moylan on March 15, 2010 at 3:26am
John, I think Evoke has been very good about defining food security as a "long-term" solution and not short-term. Thus, feeding people is not food security under this definition. I can sense some frustration with government programs, but even if they fed everyone every day, it still wouldn't be food security. Is there some job market that could address both unemployment and food security? I don't know, I am asking to spur discussion on your blog.
Comment by Lim Zhen Jiang on March 16, 2010 at 2:19pm
Yes I would think that perhaps the larger point to all the food security issue is to increase supply of food, through investing in agriculture. This way, it would solve the long term problem of food shortages and even provide more employment within the country.

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