"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…"
A crash course in changing the world.
The GREAT food miles debate
Dear fellow Agents, for the past week or so we have been discussing different ways we can grow enough food to feed the globe sustainably and affordably.
In many developing countries smallholder export horticulture is aleady proving to be a powerful new engine for growth in rural economies. My country Kenya has been one of the quickest to develop as a supplier of air-freighted fresh vegetables from smallholder fields to consumers in Europe. More than a 1 million livelihoods have been created in farm production and a further 3 million in associated employment. Now other African countries including Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia want to follow suit.
However with rising concerns over climate change, consumers, environmentalists and politicians in the developed world are debating whether it makes environmental sense to continue to import foodstuffs with high food miles. The debate on if emissions caused by the airfreight of our fresh produce from Africa v/s this growth in rural economies is HOT.
Please share - are you FOR air-freighting of fresh produce from one country to or another or AGAINST?
Views: 143
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Comment by Samuel Freilich on March 18, 2010 at 6:47pm
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I second Rahul's statement to watch that video. Despite my nitpicking on one of the video's conclusions, almost everything in it is very well argued and communicated.
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Comment by Rahul Dewanjee on March 18, 2010 at 7:53pm
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The truth is the next ten years, we will see a lot more hyper competitive market action happening where the need for innovation will be to develop opportunities for business to leverage design thinking and lead a business level transformation....and most of these transformation will create impact points that will alter the game itself...game-changing and radical in nature....
the flip side is a grim picture where most businesses across category will merge with each other (like a music company and mobile phone co) to create new models of impact points....like SPINVOX that is tryng to monetise voice enabled texting services...if you look at the applications that can be developed downstream from it....the potential is limitless....
watch this video: sixth sense
However, the innovations will thrive when we can create endearing value.
To derive any such value, we need to
(i) execute innovation as strategic planners (town planners, population planners)
(ii)develop innovation capability (with a sectoral focus: aviation for example)
(iii)create innovation mindset (among leaders) &
(iv) innovation value orientation (in customers)
this cannot happen without any
(a) functional governance (that is accountable and empowering),
(b) fiscal prudence of government spending, &
(c) a constitutional framework to create checks and balances for all micro actions (Evoke inspired personal or group interventions)
Without institutional mechanisms with deep pockets, we cannot sustain a social innovation over a larger time horizon, create scalability of the social innovation project to cover larger touch points within the impact map and to make the project start delivering value.
The interconnectedness is so profound that even if I write another thirty pages and use macro models like Shell Directional Policy Matrix or Asymmetric Threat Contingency A****sment models which can use up to 3,000 parameters (as far as I am exposed to) can still fail to fully predict how macro fundamentals can seriously impact all kinds of micro activities - activities classified under initiate, spread, oversight or reconnaissance (I am trying to explain things from a scenario planning perspective)
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so the future will be highly contextualized, non-linear, design embedded, constantly replicating from discontinuos frameworks whose interpretations are limitless possibilities but for a short time only...large periods of competitive advantage will shift...attention span will reduce, information will create its own patterns and we will be criss crossing each other in a very fluid social structure....our lives our business our livng pattens - they will be highly representative of a fluid movement....this is my interpretation
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Comment by Karen L. on March 19, 2010 at 6:08am
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The environmental aspect of it does initially make it to vote against. But, I am voting for it - to keep global economy going - to give further participation of countries to trade with Europe and all parts of the world will keep the economy going and to me - that is a win. It is a tough call. But, if we argue that air miles is bad for everything - well, we might as well turn back the clock on commerce to a hundred years ago without aviation - was the world global economy better than? No.
Thus, my vote is for!
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About Design Thinking which I mentioned above has a very relevant video to follow through. Please view Agent Evan B's video that features Tim Brown from Ideo talking about design thinking.
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Comment by Simon Brookes on March 19, 2010 at 11:01am
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Agent Dewanjee, believe me, I do not find ANY of your contributions objectionable. In fact I am massively impressed by your intellectual contribution to this debate. I rewarded your knowledge share with +20 points only yesterday as a way of saying thank you. I agree that we clearly need to understand and assimilate ALL perspectives when we are looking at finding practical solutions to these hugely complex problems. I also agree that there is little point ignoring the "meta-facts" associated with such problems if we are to attempt to make headway as change agents. However, I am also keen to support innovative approaches which exemplify how,even under such constraints, the power of the human will to survive and improve ones life, overcomes any obstacles. EVOKE is highlighting examples of incredible local success stories in countries where the political, environmental and economic conditions, viewed externally, would seem hopeless.
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Comment by Linda Holt on March 19, 2010 at 11:42am
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I believe that the "Epicenter" strategy of the Hunger Project holds great promise in the most fire situations. This is an example of the transformation for a woman in Ethiopia:
http://hungerreport.org/2009/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=36:hunger-project&catid=16:sidebars
AWFFI is also the first microfinance initiative to successfully implement a credit program to establish rural banks led and owned by women that are recognized by the government. As women’s businesses expand and rural banks are established, women across Africa become independent economic players in their household and effective leaders in their communities in the fight against chronic hunger.
I also find great merit in Rahul stating so perfectly that "information will create its own patterns and we will be criss crossing each other in a very fluid social structure"
I believe that this is the goal of empowerment and transformation and that the Hunger Project is an excellent case study of an organization that "re-invents" itself in such a fluid manner because it is "dancing" with the people it helps, instead of imposing it's structure on them.
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Sorry - I meant "dire" situations. . .
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Comment by Jonathon James English Cranston on March 19, 2010 at 3:59pm
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I wouldn't say i was for or against it. The problem is not the transportation - its the over consumption by many of our nations. Im from the UK. We consume 5 times as much food as we need, America is even more than that. Our problem is over consumption, if as a world we sorted that out then we would be fine. There is enough food on this planet to feed everyone and yet some people still starve everyday. Thats our problem - greed. Not air transportation of foods.
at least thats what i think
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Comment by Hayden Darrell Linder on March 19, 2010 at 10:14pm
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Breath Lynn. Breeeeeaaaaattthhhhhh.
Sooooooooooooo I'm for it.
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