What Can we do about World
Hunger?
Food First
http://www.givegetnation.net/img/scan10004225.jpg
Thoughts about the Future
• “The way people think
about hunger is the
greatest obstacle
toward ending it.”
-- Peter Rosset, Food First
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http://www.policyinnovations.org/innovators/people/data
/:v_get/45663/07114/_res/id=sa_Picture
Thoughts about the Future
• “The only real risk is
the risk of thinking too
small.”
• -Frances Moore Lappe
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/mtm05/img/frances_moo
re_lappe.jpg
http://www.gladrags.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/diet-for-a-small-planet.jpg
Thoughts about the Future
• “The world has enough for
man's need, but not for man's
greed.”
--Mahatma Ghandi
http://www.theprometheusinstitute.org/images/stories/quotes/gandhi.jpg
Questions
• Should we have guilt?
• We have so much
food, wealth!
http://z.about.com/d/hotels/1/5/L/c/PR_buffet.jpg
Questions
• Should we have fear?
• We might lose it all!
Food riot, 2008
http://www.ecollo.com/image.axd?picture=FoodShortage.jpg
Questions
• Can we protect the
environment and grow
enough food?
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/relevance/images/pestspray.jpg
Questions
• Should we seek
justice?
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Questions
• Should we seek
efficiency?
http://www.alliantenergy.com/docs/groups/public/documents/pub/p015076-1.jpg
Questions
• Can we eliminate
hunger without losing
freedom?
http://www.milada-real-estate.com/Rancho-Santa-Fe-House-1.jpg
Five Principles
• 1) Hunger results
from human choices
– not inexorable forces
of nature.
• Therefore we can choose to
end hunger in the same way
we chose to end slavery.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/abraham-lincoln/pictures/abraham-lincoln-2.jpg
Five Principles
• 2) Economic democracy
– and the empowerment of
women
• are keys to ending hunger
• and will also reduce world
population growth.
Microfinance meeting, India
http://www.andhranews.net/India/2007/July/10-Microfinance-Institution-Bandhan.jpg
Economic Democracy
• “Because no human being
chooses hunger, hunger is
proof that a person has
been denied a voice in
meeting survival needs.
• And, since a say in one’s
future is the very essence
of democracy, the
existence of hunger belies
democracy.”
• -- Frances Moore Lappe
Hunger results from a lack of
Economic Democracy
http://www.organicvalley.coop/img/kickapoo/frances_moore_lappe.jpg
Five Principles
• 3) Ending hunger need not
destroy the environment
– but will require sustainable
agriculture
• that can be practiced by even
the poor.
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Five Principles
• 4) Greater fairness can
lead to ending hunger
– if we devise food
systems where those
that do the work
• have a greater say and
reap a greater reward.
Farmers protesting for land reform
Five Principles
• 5) The increased wellbeing of the poor in the
third world
– can enhance our own
well-being
• we need not fear their
advancement.
http://www.businessfacilities.com/blog/uploaded_images/time_india-792084.jpg
What can we do?
• If change is possible,
we must change
ourselves.
ISU student in Africa
What can we do?
• We must examine our
everyday choices.
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Personal Choices
• 1) Get alternative
information.
• Mainstream TV, press
has a vision clouded
by myths.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/peter-jennings.jpg
Personal Choices
• 2) Educate others—
– friends
– co-workers
– family.
• Speak up when others
voice self-defeating
myths.
http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/images/aboutus/newsevents/commencement05/valedictorian.jpg
Personal choices
• 3) Choose a job that
contributes to the
solution rather than to
the problem.
• Is accumulation of
material possession
the real key to a
satisfying life?
http://www.gradebook.org/substitutex.jpg
Personal Choices
• 4) Help hungry,
homeless people
through church,
community groups.
http://msconnecticutlatinaunitedstates.com/myPictures/preparing%20to%20serve%20food%20to%20shelter%20clients.jpg
Personal Choices
• 5) Participate in
–
–
–
–
Habitat for Humanity
http://www.lmu.edu/Asset2717.aspx
community planning
more and better jobs
affordable housing
environmental
protection.
Personal Choices
• 6) Elect officials
committed to
addressing roots of
hunger.
http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper295/stills/r0eo2e67.jpg
Vote!
http://www.polichicksonline.com/Hilla%20American%20Eagle%20vote%20T%20shirt.jpg
Personal Choices
• 7) Spend money on
less processed,
– less packaged foods
– from co-ops or worker
owned stores.
Farmers market
http://www.elysianfarm.com/images/lgCarrboro-Farmers-Market.jpg
Personal Choices
• 8) Boycotts have been
successful:
– Nestle stopped marketing
baby formula in third
world
– divestment helped bring
majority rule to South
Africa.
http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/home/Mercy%20College%20site/untitled/business%20studies/pix/nike-boycott-large.jpg
Personal choices
• 9) Become an activist.
• Social movements
Civil rights protest
http://students.spsu.edu/mgarner/US%20History/Civil%20Rights%20Project/march-wash.jpg
– brought women the
vote
– got civil rights
legislation
– helped end war in
Vietnam.
Moral Courage
• Compassion is essential
– but is easy.
• Harder to achieve is moral
courage.
• It takes courage to cry out
"The emperor wears no
clothes"
– In the face of injustice,
inequity, malnutrition
Nigeria
http://www.stolenchildhood.net/images/nigerian_children_33.jpg
Moral Courage
• Takes courage to challenge
the status quo,
– to point out that the world is
awash in food
– and all of the suffering is the
result of human decisions.
• We risk embarrassment,
– dismissal by friends
– to speak out about
widespread false
understandings of the world.
http://photos22.flickr.com/27974053_f2ae332d53.jpg
Compassion
• This courage comes from
the same place our
compassion comes from:
– our innate moral
sensibilities,
– our deepest emotional
intuitions
• about our
connectedness to others'
well-being.
http://images.rescuegroups.org/rainbowbridge/fullsize/s462r959.jpg
Compassion
• Ironically, the message
of compassion and
connectedness to
others' well-being
– underlies the dominant
western religion,
Christianity
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/ibrendell/Saints_--_Mother_Teresa_with_Baby.jpg
Compassion
• But our culture has
elevated economic
dogma
– market and property rights
– above the Christian
message
• of love, compassion and
connection.
Mall of America
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