Steve McQueen invece costringe lo spettatore a guardare la condizione inumana degli irlandesi detenuti a Maze, la violenza dei carceriere inglesi, i pestaggi e la lenta agonia di Bobby Sands (impersonato da Michael Fassbender, nella foto). "Hunger" obbliga a guardare e a ricordare.

This has been Dr. James Dobson for Focus on the Family.

'Just a year ago, I could easily afford roti and some milk with this much money, but not anymore,' she said with tears in her eyes.

Sukena, a pregnant house cleaner whose husband is a drug addict and an auto rickshaw driver, is among the majority of 170 million Pakistanis living on the verge of poverty, earning barely 2 dollars a day.

They are now also plagued by the rampant scarcity of rice and wheat flour, which is used to make the staple roti, a round, flat bread. In addition, inflation hit its highest level in more than 30 years last month as consumer prices rose 17.21 per cent over the same month a year earlier. Food prices rose 25.5 per cent.

'The food shortage is so severe that it could endanger our national unity and federation,' warned Hari Ram Lohano, a leading food economist at the Social Policy and Development Centre, a leading think tank.

Food riots and skirmishes have already become a routine affair across Pakistan since the beginning of the year. ... more>>

HERE'S SOME WARNING-SIGNS THAT YOU MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE. IF YOU CATCH THEM NOW, IT MIGHT NOT BE TOO LATE:

W. WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU INVITED YOUR FRIEND TO CHURCH?

A. ARE YOU A SELFISH CHRISTIAN, ONLY CONCERNED WITH YOUR OWN SALVATION?

N. NEGLECTING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BECAUSE MYSPACE IS MORE IMPORTANT BEING IN HIS PRESENCE?

D. DO YOU ONLY PRAY WHEN YOU'RE AT CHURCH?

E. "EVERYBODY" IS DOING IT, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

R. READING THE BIBLE IS LIKE GOING TO THE DENTIST.

I. IRRITATED AT LITTLE THINGS - ALL THE TIME.

N. NOCTURNAL INSTEAD OF GETTING-UP EARLY TO SEEK THE FACE OF GOD.

G. GROWING COLD TOWARD GOD, AND GROPING AFTER SIN FOR GRATIFICATION.

If you're experiencing any of these symptoms you are WANDERING away from God. It's time to DRAW NEAR and find rest at the Feet of Jesus.

With rice stored from the previous harvest likely badly damaged as well, it was critical to get farmers back on the land to plant a new crop, FAO regional chief He Changchui told Reuters.

'There is not much time. The planting season has started already. We need to have the funds and resources to bring the farmers back,' He Changchui said in an interview.

Myanmar's Agriculture Ministry also reportedly announced that 650,000 hectares of paddy in Irrawaddy Delta and around Yangon were damaged out of a total 3.2 million hectares. Separately, CARE International stated that "130,000 farming households in the Irrawaddy Division and 117,000 in Yangon Division have been affected by the cyclone. Total crop damage is estimated around 718,000 metric tonnes which includes 585,000 tonnes under storage." CARE also reports that May is typically the beginning of the "Hungry Season" when villagers have typically nearly eaten through their rice stocks from the previous harvest and begin to face a shortage of food until the next harvest season (October to November).

It makes no sense, it feels like the government wants these people to die

Dohlaiy lost her children and grandchildren to the cyclone.

She now lives together with 20 other survivors, in the only house that still stands amid the rubble of the former fishing village of Uomiou. One of its walls is missing.

The survivors have no fresh water and just enough rice to get by.

The rice, they told us, was donated by the neighbouring village, not the government.

"We have two cups a rice a day per family. Its not enough," Dohlaiy said.

"We don't know what to do, we don't have a boat to get out of here, but we can't stay here either," another villager said.

The cyclone has filled their rice fields with sea water, devastating the crops and stripping the people of the only source of livelihood they know.

The state-controlled newspapers have been full of praise for the way the government has handled the crisis.

The generals have tried to make sure that no-one is in a position to challenge their view.

Army checkpoints block all roads to the Irrawaddy Delta.

Foreign journalists have been thrown out of the country and no aid workers are allowed anywhere near the disaster area.

"It makes no sense, it feels like they [the government] want these people to die," said one aid worker, who asked not to be identified as he is waiting for the permission to go into the delta.

In the meantime, the UN says another cyclone could be on its way to Burma.

"We asked them to drop rice and water as everyone is starving, but they did not hear us."

Burma generals failing their people

A trail of wreckage and dead bodies stretched all along Burma's Irrawaddy Delta.

Two weeks on since Cyclone Nargis hit, the Delta is still devastated and hundreds of thousands of people are still waiting to be rescued.

They are hungry and homeless not just because of the disaster, but because of the government that does not seem interested in helping them.

YANGON: The Red Cross estimated that the cyclone death toll in Myanmar could be as high as 128,000 — a much larger figure than the government tally. The UN warned a second wave of deaths will follow unless the military regime lets in more aid quickly.

The grim forecast on Wednesday came as heavy rains drenched the devastated Irrawaddy River delta, disrupting aid operations already struggling to reach up to 2.5 million people in urgent need of food, water and shelter.

"Another couple of days exposed to those conditions can only lead to worsening health conditions and compound the stress people are living in," said Shantha Bloemen, a spokeswoman for UNICEF.

A tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal added new worries, but late in the day forecasters said it was weakening and unlikely to grow into a cyclone. Myanmar’s government issued a revised casualty toll on Wednesday night, saying 38,491 were known dead and 27,838 were missing.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, however, said its estimate put the number of dead between 68,833 and 1,27,990. The Geneva-based body said the range came from a compilation based on other estimates from 22 different organizations, including the Myanmar Red Cross Society, and on media reports.

Burma expels foreign aid workers

THE Burmese authorities have sealed off the cyclone disaster zone from the outside world, expelling foreign aid workers and placing multiple checkpoints along roads into the Irrawaddy Delta, to the despair of foreign diplomats and aid workers.

The isolation of the delta confirms the growing sense among international organisations that the Burmese junta is never going to allow a wide-ranging foreign-led aid effort of the kind that was mounted in several countries after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Aid groups are trying instead to mount a stealth operation in which Western aid is distributed by government organisations, local aid workers, and international staff from countries that the regime regards as friendly and compliant.

Time, though, is running out - not only to avert epidemics of infectious diseases such as cholera, but also to prevent a catastrophic failure of this year's rice crop, 65 per cent of which comes from the cyclone-stricken area.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called an emergency meeting on the aid crisis yesterday to discuss a strategy for escalating the humanitarian response.

Myanmar's killing fields of neglect

BANGKOK - With an estimated two million people at risk of death by disease, deprivation or starvation and the scant amount of foreign aid that has entered the country diverted from those most in need, Myanmar's worst case humanitarian scenario is now playing out in full view of the international community.

As the death toll mounts and the United Nations futilely negotiates with the country's ruling generals to open Myanmar's borders and allow a multinational response to the Cyclone Nagris disaster, the moral case for a unilateral US military-led humanitarian intervention has grown.

The the world today, the entertainment and coffee table discussion is Burma, Darfur and China. What entertainment these disasters have become. World governments admire China's rescue and recovery efforts. World governments condemn the Myanmar Junta and Sudan's genocide policies. Talk and talk everywhere while the world watches and waits for things to get worse. That really helps those who have no food, water or sanitation. There must be a death toll criteria before the world decides to take action. There must be a combined agreement to watch these disasters evolve into a global health threat before a decision is made to intervene. Cholera is already spreading. Starvation is spreading. crops are ruined and the victims are unable to support themselves in the meager way they are accustomed. Fishing is ruined until the waters recover from the toxic pollution. Isolation for victims without resources is a criminal act worthy of Geneva Convention intervention. The Junta has demonstrated its unwillingness to open up to world relief efforts. Oh yes, they will accept supplies and confiscate them while telling the humanitarians they have everything under control, its not as bad as it looks. Somehow a few journalists have managed to release more realistic information about conditions.

Is there a monetary value on human life? Is there no consideration for the consequences of neglecting the health and welfare of so many? Will the world look back and see this as the start of a new pandemic? The water, fresh and salt travels to other communities. With that water comes more disease and suffering. Should the world wait until the entire quadrant of this planet is unusable? The human factor should not be dismissed as the consequences of poverty and tyranny. If the world neglects to act now, there will be little hope for recovery for decades. The world can stay aloof from personal emotion because no one knows the names of the casualties. That makes it easier to look to other issues, like oil and entertainment.

und auch sonst so einige interessante Zahlen, die man sich mal vor augen führen kann - ständig akutalisierte Statistiken über unsere Erde mit ihren Bewohnern.

Es gibt bei BREATHING EARTH eine weltkarte zu sehen, die den CO2-Ausstoß der Welt veranschaulicht:

Eintrag vom 12. April 08:

Um mal alle Länder der Welt miteinander vergleichen zu können, kann man das wohlgepflegt bei Maplecroft Maps. (Beispiel Kinderarbeit)

Besser verdeutlicht werden die Ergebnisse, die Unterschiede dann aber bei Worldmapper - indem die Weltkarte dementsprechend aufgebläht wird oder zusammenfällt - gemessen als relativer Anteil der Bevölkerung!

Um die tatsächlichen Veränderungen aber an einer Grafik zu verfolgen, die nicht nur einen zeitlichen und räumlichen Vergleich bietet, sondern auch noch die Korrelation zweier Variablen ausrechnet, benötigt man Gapminder. Hier ein Beispielbild - Lebenserwartung in Abhängigkeit von Einkommen:

PS: ganz ohne statistik aber trotzdem sehr informativ ist "Country Insights", wo man zu vielen Ländern der Erde nicht nur die üblichen Fakten sondern auch gesellschaftliche Gepflogenheiten erfahren kann...

]]> http://johnibiii.wordpress.com/?p=418 Fri, 16 May 2008 08:49:59 +0000 johnibii http://johnibiii.wordpress.com/?p=418 By Carlotta Gall 
The New York Times
May 16, 2008
.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Thieves raided the city flour market in broad daylight a few weeks ago, shooting and wounding two people before escaping with their loot.
.
“We are not feeling safe,” said Hajji Hayatullah, one of the flour merchants, sitting on the floor of his shop with sacks of flour stacked around him. “We don’t have security and we don’t trust the government to provide it.” The merchants got together and hired eight private security guards.

Gaharid Olum sifted wheat at a small flour mill in Kandahar. Flour and bread prices have doubled in Afghanistan this month.

Yet their fears remain, not only about gunmen, but because they sense a growing hunger and desperation in the general population. While there have been no riots yet in Afghanistan over spiraling food prices, the economic pain and hunger are hitting the poor and unemployed, aid agency officials are warning. Teachers have threatened to strike and there have been some angry demonstrations.

“Prices are a big problem for our people. People do not grow enough and so we rely on imports from Pakistan, and the prices are going up daily,” Hajji Hayatullah said. “It is very hard for the people, unemployment is the biggest problem, people are very poor.

Read the rest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/
world/asia/16kandahar.html

As media have been reporting, there is a major shortage of food around the world. But yes, those who feel it the most are the inhabitants or poor countries in general. The problem have reached such a level that manifestations because of the hunger have taken place in ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), Senegal, Uzbekistan for instance (Emeutes de la faim dues à la hausse des prix alimentaires).

I believe that what makes this crisis over food even more important is the fact that commodities such as rice are particularly concerned. Personally, I know that wheat is important for bread but rice is just the basis of the meals of millions of people. Everyone cannot afford bread everyday from where I come from, and, having rice is what is essential. Thus, I think that this crisis is of great impact on those who was already in difficulties.

Where is the problem coming from ? According to Angela Merkel China and India are causing the issue (Crise alimentaire : les Chinois ne veulent pas porter le chapeau ). This view as been explained by the idea that since these countries' living standards are going up they buy more food. To that, Niu Dun the Chinese agriculture general secretary responds that it is untrue, and he states that developed nations "have a big share of responsibility" (Crise alimentaire : les Chinois ne veulent pas porter le chapeau). What can be remarked however, is that since there is also this goal of producing less CO2 a part of what was destined to food is now going to producing energy.

I really don't know when this crisis will end but the trend of events and the direction toward which the economy is going does not seem to do much for those who suffer.

Tell me what you think.

...die dafür wirbt, dass man doch einfach darin "investieren" soll, dass mit Lebensmitteln spekuliert wird. Man soll also den Geldmächtigen der Deutschbank sein Geld geben, damit diese so richtig mit dem Hunger anderer Menschen zocken können. Wahrlich, genau die richtige Botschaft auf einer Brötchentüte. Vor allem für jene, die sich wegen der Gleichzeitigkeit der allgemeinen Teuerung und der allgemeinen Verarmung kaum noch Brötchen leisten können. Da weiß man, was wirklich hinter den mechanisch lächelnden Gesten der Reklameplakate und der Allverkäufer in den Filialen dieser widerlichen und lebensverachtenden Institution steht. Das ist alles für ein Mords-Geschäft. Das ist Leistung, die Leiden schafft.

via Fefe

Thursday, 12/22/05

I was out with the mobile soup kitchen on a feeding run tonight, and unlike most nights, the vibe was strained on the truck.  For starters, I’d arisen from my sick bed to show up for the commitment I’d previously made, realizing that in the past few weeks I’ve been writing about the homeless, thinking about them, talking about them a great deal... but that I needed to see them, touch them, talk to them -- that being with them is what I love, not doing politics about them.

I felt ill on the run, alternately sweating and freezing, thinking I might pass out.  There’s nowhere to sit on the truck, and the floor was slimy with spilled soup, so we volunteers slipped and slid around as it bumped along through the downtown streets.  One of the regular volunteers was tired, which made her very sharp-edged.  When she was rude to the rest of us one too many times,  I came within an ace of walking away and hitching a ride back to my car.  It was an unusually wretched start and middle to the run, and I was determined to just endure.

Then I began talking with Joe, a homeless man we picked up at the first stop to ride with us and help us feed. Wanting to get the real lowdown, I was asking him how things were out there.  It was a grim, unflattering and unsympathetic portrait of who was out on the street and what was going on.

As the van clattered and lurched along, between bouts of bending over to slop scalding soup into paper cups, as I sweated and froze and felt I’d faint, as the grouchy volunteer barked irritable orders at everyone, as an uncharacteristically-rowdy, block-long line of ragged people milled and pushed and shoved and shouted outside the truck in front of the Day Resource Center, I thought to myself, “Now, exactly why am I doing this?”

Joe offered to do the ladling, and I stepped away to rest my back.  He was so kind to notice I was tired.  Then the director asked me to come outside the truck and ‘work on the ground,’ which I love, so it was a relief to get outside and hand people food and talk to them a little.  “How are you?  How’s it going?”  “God bless you all for being out here!” they’d say, or  “I’m OK, but I could sure use some work.”  “Joseph, I’ll pray for you.”  “Oh, thank you.”  A man getting mock angry when I let a woman be served ahead of him.  The woman giving me a hug, and then another.  “Why do the women get to go first?” a man asks.  “Does it make you men feel like chopped liver?” I joke with him.  “You call them ladies, but you call us men.”  “OK, we’ll call you gentlemen from now on!”

I was starting to loosen up, to remember, to feel what this was about.

And then I began to look into their faces, one by one, as they stepped up in line to receive their soup, sandwich, cookie and banana.  A young woman with cerebral palsy, looking brave and dignified, not wanting to meet my eyes.  A man who could barely stand, trying to signal something as he swayed away, almost as if he were crossing himself.  A woman deathly pale with a yellowish pallor to her skin and a cap pulled down that barely covered the absence of hair.  People with skin leathered and hands swollen from the cold.  Someone blind.  Someone on crutches.  So many of them thanking us, blessing us, wishing us Merry Christmas.  Loving us for loving them.  Dark faces, pale faces, every kind of face in the world.

Broken faces.  Broken, as we all are.

Beauty.  Real beauty. 

We left, and as we rumbled back toward our starting point, I thought, “This is why I do it.  To be near them.”

But, still, why?  What is the Grace that’s near them, that spills over onto me, that makes me want to be out in the cold, ladling soup, giving away sandwiches?  When I try to pin down a reason, it slides away, like mine and Joe’s tennis shoes on the soupy metal floor of the catering truck.

And then, sitting here in Barnes and Noble, drinking my hot cocoa, feeling less at odds and less resentful of the middle-class Dallas culture than I did in my first entries into this journal a year ago -- accepting it, even, and my place in it, and the fact that I drive a nice car while many people have no homes...  Remembering that driving here, I drove all the way down Beverly Drive looking at the stupendous displays of Christmas lights and didn’t need to turn away in frustration, accepting that that kind of wealth is part of life, too -- just observing, not judging...  

Anyway, I got it, sitting here, remembering the beauty, the desperation, the softness, the fear, the humanity, the love, the blankness, the greed, the need -- in those broken faces in the crush of people outside the Day Resource Center -- giving to them out of my own brokenness, as they gave to me.  I got it...

The beauty, the grace is in the brokenness.

But it makes no sense!  And when I once read that Henri Nouwen said it, I thought, well, my great hero is just wrong on this one.  Beauty in healing?  in unconditional love?  in service?  Sure.  But in brokenness?  

The only connection I can make is with Christ’s broken body on the cross.  But wasn’t the beauty in the resurrection?  The brokenness of Christ’s body I find devastating!  Do we have to be broken first in order to be healed?  Is it because only through brokenness comes the possibility of Grace?

The Spirit of Love is out there on the street, for sure -- in the people themselves -- surrounding them, hovering near them.  I feel the intensity of Christ’s Love there, have always felt it.

It a mystery, a magnificent mystery.

And our street people show it to me.  Every time.

KS

In case you somehow missed it, this past weekend was the NALC’s 16th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive. Across the country people were asked to donate non perishable food by leaving it at their mailbox for their letter carrier to pick up. In Broward County, that would be members of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 2550. The response was fantastic, with almost 250,000 pounds of food donated to The Cooperative Feeding Program! (The final numbers aren't quite ready yet as some branches have continued to receive donations and some of the smaller branches donations were given to other local agencies. )

What a lot of people don't realize is how much volunteerism is involved in this project. This is a tremendous effort that is spearheaded by the NALC but involves people across the postal service and other AFL-CIO unions. Individual letter carriers lugged donations back to their branches on Saturday, May 10th.   NALC members, their families and community volunteers sorted, boxed and sealed the food for transport to CFP.   Amazingly they managed to process all that food and get it on to 10 tractor trailers.  The food was delivered to CFP throughout the day on Sunday, May 11th - Mother's Day.

Fortunately we didn't have to unload that all ourselves! NALC members and Target team members were on hand to help unload the trucks and stock the warehouse throughout the 11 hour day. Tammie Cadwell, the coordinator for Broward County, even got in a little forklift practice (see pic above). In between deliveries they cleaned and stocked the pantry, sorted out the warehouse and did a host of other projects that needed doing. It was a long day of work that netted huge results. I would say you all made your mothers proud!

The Farm Bill passed 318 to 106, meaning that there is a majority to override a veto by the Bush Administration.

Here is the story from the Washington Post

One of the many issues raised by this expected population surge is how to feed all those people. Meeting the world demand for nutritious and abundant food is a challenge today and will only grow in the future. Happily, agricultural biotechnology offers solutions, including biotech crops that increase yields and reduce crop losses due to pests. Making farmland more productive, in a sustainable way, is a good thing. Already more than12 million farmers in 23 countries have planted more than 283 million acres of biotech crops.

In this edition of BIOtech NOW, BIO's Jackson Bain interviews two of those farmers: Advocate Mdutshane and Makhosandile Rebe, both from South Africa. Tune in and hear what they have to say about the practical and economic advantages of planting biotech crops on their land.

Download or listen to the podcast now

In California, New York, and some parts of New England there have been signs posted at places like Costco and Sams Club rationing bulk items such as rice and other staples according to the “buyers previous purchasing record”. 

If you are not old enough to remember these from history:

Perhaps you can imagine an updated design for new ones in the near future.

Recently the New York Times did an investigation into how the Department of Labor Statistics calculates inflation and average prices for basic goods. It is the estimates of the DLS that determines if the Federal Reserve will raise or lower interest rates. In other words, the formulas used by the DLS are of great importance to the federal government in determining the health of the U.S. Economy.

However, some have questioned whether their estimates truly reflect the reality of inflation and standard of living for the average American.

Here's a link to the story.

Here is a pdf of the article.

Additionally, take some time to check out the very in-depth chart that examines the increase and decreases in common goods and services. What is striking is that while basic foods have increased significantly in the past year: bread (14.7%), milk (13.3%), cheese (12.5%), and eggs (29.9%), the cost of entertainment has either been stagnant or significantly decreased: TV's (-18.3%), computers (-12.0%), and video equipment (11.3%).

What can be drawn from this is that the things that most low-to-moderate income households spend their money on have increased significantly, while the things which are generally more affordable for higher income households are declining in price. However, the cost of basic necessities affects everyone, yet it is lower-income households who are more vulnerable when prices increase for these staples, putting further pressure on already tight budgets. Just as a reminder, the welfare grant has not been raised since 1990.

Finally, as Food Stamps gets evaluated during the debates over the Farm Bill re-authorization in congress, the Food Research and Action Center, as well as a number of other hunger advocates, are calling for a full indexing for inflation in the Food Stamp program. Though the Food Stamp program gets an increase every year for the "cost of living", many advocates note that the cost of living adjustment has not kept pace with the inflation in food prices that we are now coming to see.

Da sind Bilder und Erzählungen dabei, die einem den Appetit vergehen lassen. Beispiele? In der österreichischen Hauptstadt Wien wird jeden Tag so viel Brot, das eigentlich noch essbar wäre, vernichtet, wie eine andere österreichische Großstadt, Graz, täglich verbraucht. Oder ein Beispiel aus der Fischerei: Was früher als wertloser Beifang über Bord flog, wird heute mit verarbeitet, weil viele Leute eben keinen „echten“ Fisch mehr bevorzugen, sondern den verarbeiteten. Und den kann man ja künstlich aufpeppen. (Fische im Meer sind übrigens nicht fingerlang, eckig und paniert…). Mal ganz zu schweigen von der hemmungslosen Überfischung der weltweiten Bestände, die mittlerweile ganze Arten in ihrer Existenz bedroht. Ein weiteres Beispiel: Hybridsaatgut, das sich selbst nicht vermehren kann. Es bringt zwar die gewünschte Frucht, die ist aber wirklich nur zum Verbrauch geeignet, nicht zur Aussaat. Das wiederum macht Millionen Bauern auf der Welt von internationalen Konzernen abhängig.

Die Krönung finde ich ein Interview mit dem Konzernchef des größten Nahrungsmittelkonzerns der Welt. Der möchte, dass Wasser als Lebensmittel gehandelt wird wie alle anderen Lebensmittel auch, natürlich nur, damit die Menschen gewahr werden, wie wertvoll Wasser ist und um es effektiver an die Bedürftigen verteilen zu können. Bei so viel Philanthropie kommen einem glatt die Tränen der Rührung: Es geht natürlich überhaupt nicht darum, dass auf eine Substanz, die zum Leben unabdingbar wichtig ist, ein Preisschild draufgeklebt werden soll, um es dann nur noch denen zugänglich zu machen, die es sich leisten können, und damit Milliarden zu scheffeln…

Das Schlimmste war für mich bei dem Film das Gefühl der Hilflosigkeit. Hilflosigkeit angesichts der Tatsache, dass ich ein Teil dieses Systems bin, dass auf der ganzen Welt für Ungerechtigkeit, Armut und Hunger sorgt. Und dass ich – trotz gelegentlicher „Fair-Trade“-Einkäufe die meisten Lebensmitteleinkäufe doch nach der "Was ist am billigsten"-Frage tätige, schon allein aus wirtschaftlicher Notwendigkeit. Ich will aber nicht beim  „Da kann man nichts machen“ stehen bleiben. Wie kann ich, gerade als Nachfolger von Jesus, in dieser Welt wenigstens für ein Stückchen mehr Gerechtigkeit sorgen? Ein Austausch wäre hier erwünscht…

To read more click the link below.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121062985377986351.html?mod=hps_us_at_glance_health

Hook Up With mindful and healthy eating today. 

PS. Remember, you'll find satisfying and great tasting snacks, meal replacements, and weight loss products via the link on the Hook Up With health tab. 

As a measure against nocturnal rice thefts, Thai authorities introduced a 6 p.m. curfew on combine harvesters, vehicles used to harvest the crop.

In Thailand, as in many parts of Asia, the price of rice has gone up dramatically in recent months tempting greedy and corrupt dealers to use any means available to get a hold of the pricey grain for either sell or hoarding. In fact, the hoarding of rice has been blamed for the price spirals forcing governments to impose buying rations.

According to the Asia Development Bank (ADB), approximately 1 billion Asians need assistance to cope with soaring food prices and shortages.

The purchasing power of many of Asia's poor has been seriously eroded reversing previous gains made in fighting poverty.

The International Herald Tribune describes rice, a staple food for half of the global population, as one of the "world's most politically fragile crop."

Like the price of rice, general food prices are on the rise in many parts of the world, forcing poor people to protest -- sometimes violently -- against governments.

Food riots have erupted in countries such as Haiti, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Senegal and Somalia, among others, threatening national stability or exacerbating conflict. Poor people, particularly children and those living with diseases, face the risk of malnutrition or death due to inadequate diets.

"It's the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years," Jeffrey Sachs, and economist and UN special adviser recently told The New York Times. "It's a big deal and it's obviously threatening a lot of governments. There are a number of governments on the ropes, and I think there's more political fallout to come."

Experts say that food reserves are at their lowest in 35 years, and there is a systemic imbalance between the forces of supply and demand that cannot be fixed in the short term. UN statistics show that global food prices have risen by 65 percent since 2002 to levels increasingly beyond the reach of the poor.

The current food quagmire has been festering over the years with little to no media attention.

"In the seven of the last eight years consumption has exceeded production, which can happen only if we draw down our stocks. The carryover, the grain in the bin when a new harvest begins, is the seminal indicator of food security, and it's now down to 54 days consumption, not much than is needed to fill the supply line," says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.

Nearly 1.7 billion people in Asia -- three times the population of Europe -- live on less than US$2 a day, and to them the spiraling food prices are like a shockwave.

"The world's food import bill will rise in 2007 to $745 billion, up 21% from last year, the FAO estimated in its biannual Food Outlook. In developing countries, costs will go up by a quarter to nearly $233 billion," reports Time Magazine.

Asia's poor are particularly vulnerable to rising food prices for staples such as rice because 60 percent of their spending goes toward food and the figure rises to 75 percent if transport costs are included, according to the ADB.

Many countries in the region have resorted to banning food exports and imposing price controls; however, the ADB warns that this could worsen the crisis, as farmers will stop growing crops that bring a negative return on investment.

An assortment of causes have been cited for the ongoing food crisis from climate change, population growth, increased consumption of meat in Asia, particularly India and China, a ballooning oil price, focus on bio-fuels to greed and corruption.

According to experts, the transportation of specific commodities over long distances chews up a lot of oil, which in a context of a skyrocketing oil price is responsible for the food price hikes.

Also, the fact that many people in Asia and other parts of the world now eat like North Americans is also an underlying factor for the upward spiral of food prices. The more people eat meat, the less food will be available to satiate empty bellies of the poor because grains meant for human beings go to fattening chickens and animals for meat. Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat-eaters and the world's poor, says the World Watch Institute.

In addition, the increased commercialization of agriculture has negatively impacted the productivity of small farmers. Consequently, small farmers opt to abandon the land, and trek to urban areas in search of proverbial greener pastures.

According to a United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) report between 2000 and 2030, Asia's urban population is expected to increase from 1.36 billion to 2.64 billion, putting pressure on urban areas which are already incapable of meeting everyone's food needs.

As the Asian food story reveals, to avert a global food crisis requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional approach that employs short term and long-term measures.

In the short term, bilateral and multi-lateral agencies can lend monetary support and food aid to help seriously affected countries cope with the food crisis. While government subsidies can help the poor to withstand the food crisis, it is not a sustainable strategy in the long-term.

National governments will need to invest in agricultural systems in a manner that keeps small farmers engaged in the production of food with a guarantee of support, fair compensation and improved access to market information.

The ADB recommends that farmers need to have access to reliable and affordable seed, fertilizers, pesticides and credit.

In the long-term, agricultural research, improvement of irrigation systems and the development of new technologies, including improved seed and crop varieties suited to specific climatic conditions, are essential to improving yields.

The use of low cost technologies such as drip kits and treadle pumps can also help farmers to make optimum use of land and water in the face of global warming. Labor-saving technologies that will adapt agriculture to new conditions generated by rural-to-urban migration can help to compensate for the depletion of labor.

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon succinctly put it, the longer-term challenge is to boost agricultural development, particularly in Africa and other regions most affected.

With increased political will, fair trade and investments into agricultural systems, hopefully rice farmers in Thailand will, once again, have nights filled with sleep unafraid of waking up to a bare rice field harvested by some unscrupulous characters bent on making a quick dollar.

Day-End Dough-Nation

"Through the Day-End Dough-Nation program, unsold bakery products are packaged at the end of each day and donated to local food banks and charities. Over the past few years, we have donated more than $12 million worth of bread products to non-profits served by America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization."

Hunger is nothing new in the world. There have been "starving children in Africa" for as long as my parents have been able to tell me so in order to guilt me into cleaning my plate, and for many years before that. And while surely there are starving children here in America too, for the most part, Americans are living fat and happy. We clean our plates and then some. What most people fail to realize, however, is that we could feed all the hungry people in the world if only everyone reduced or eliminated their meat intake.

Think about this: Every one kilogram of beef produced requires 100,000 liters of water and 10 kilograms of feed. Compare that to a kilogram of potatoes produced, which requires only 500 liters of water. In terms of land use, one hectare of potatoes planted would feed 22 people per year, whereas one hectare of land dedicated to beef production would only feed one person per year.** The inefficiencies are staggering--and I could cite a million*** other statistics along these same lines. I first read about this in The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and was floored. Despite the fact that the world's poorest people don't even have enough basic grains and water to sustain themselves, we produce "feed-grain" for cows and pigs and other farmed animals so that we can buy (cheap) meat. So why don't we just eat the grains directly instead of feeding them to animals which we then eat?

Animal rights issues are increasingly becoming inextricably linked to human rights issues. The food crisis won't be resolved over night, and the starving children of the world won't be fed tomorrow because I've given up animal products - I get that. But if enough of us made a commitment to reduce our animal product intake, over time we might just make a difference and be able to get food into the mouths of the hungry, instead of into the mouths of poorly treated, factory farmed cows, chickens, and pigs that we produce for food.

Cows aren't even supposed to eat grain and corn, by the way. They're ruminants, so they're supposed to eat grass. But cows require a lot of grazing land and that's not cheap. What's more, they don't fatten up as well on grass, which is why they're fed some pretty disgusting things: "Cows are still allowed to eat feeds that can include parts of pigs, fish, chicken, horses, even cats or dogs....And cattle can continue to consume pig and horse blood for protein, as well as tallow, a hard fat from rendered cattle parts, as a fattening source."**** We've turned herbivorous cows into carnivores and cannibals so that they gain weight faster and can be slaughtered when they're practically still babies (a little over 1 year for "beef" cattle and anywhere from 3-6 years for "dairy" cows--the natural lifespan for a healthy cow would be over 20 years, just for comparison purposes).

So, what does this all mean? Maybe you're not an "animal person". Not everyone is (unfortunately) . . . but I have yet to meet someone who would turn their back on a hungry child.

Do your part: reduce your meat and animal product intake and help feed all the hungry people in the world. You can make a difference. Do it for your health, for the animals, the environment, and for all the people out there who will go to bed hungry tonight while some poor cow or pig suffers needlessly in a feedlot.

_____________________________
* "U.N. Agencies Weigh Response to Food Crisis". Reuters. 28 April 2008. 28 April 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-food.html?scp=2&sq=hunger&st=nyt
** Gold, Mark. "The Global Benefits of Eating Less Meat." Compassion in World Farming Trust. 2004. http://www.ciwf.org/publications/reports/The_Global_Benefits_of_Eating_Less_Meat.pdf
*** Possibly a slight exaggeration, but you get my point.
**** "Cattle Feed is Often a Sum of Animal Parts." Common Dreams. 28 January 2004. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0128-03.htm

Wednesday is hump day, the day that separates where your work week starts from when you work week ends. I thought what a perfect day to take a break and do something quick and easy that will make a positive difference. This day will be reserved for petitions and causes.

Our first lucky "Hump Day" winner is ONE. I first heard of these guys reading Ben and Jerry's email newsletter. They have partnered with the organization to gain more exposer for their cause. What ONE does is raise public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries.

In their own words, "ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

ONE is nonpartisan; there's only one side in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. Working on the ground in communities, colleges and churches across the United States, ONE members both educate and ask America's leaders to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S. budget and presidential elections to specific legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption."

They have a lot on their plate and much work to do, so what you can do to help is click on this link and sign the ONE Declaration and have you voice heard. It is super easy. If you want to do more you can visit ONE's "Take Action" page and spread the word, volunteer, shop to support the cause, etc.

One person can make a difference, so do.

-Cara

Reason 89 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

Handling livestock these days is risky business, not the least because humans are increasingly contracting diseases from the animals: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Nipah virus, bird flu, and SARS are a few examples. “Exotic,” and often endangered, animal cuisine provides the conduit for a global pandemic. In China, wet markets display caged and invariably sickly creatures, such as cobras, civet cats, and anteaters, for consumers who want that “taste of the wild.” In Africa, the bushmeat trade is blamed for the spread of Ebola and AIDS.