Wednesday 26 September 2012

Sustainable Food Consumption. How can we be part of the Solution?

These are extracts we discussed to explore the concept of hunger and poverty, and their relationship to each other. The article came from the Australian 2010.
It's more expensive to ignore poverty

However, the problem of global poverty and hunger is not just a moral challenge. For the financially minded, the good news is that addressing the problem is far cheaper than ignoring it.
For example, let's take a closer look at Millennium Development Goal One, which aims, among other things, to halve hunger by 2015. According to the UN, to reach this goal, an extra $40 billion in aid is needed each year to support agricultural and food security programs that increase self-sufficiency in food production.
To put that in perspective, a recent ActionAid report found hunger was costing poor nations more than $450 billion annually through reduced worker productivity, poor health and lost education. That means fighting hunger is now 10 times cheaper than ignoring it.

In India, one of the world's emerging global economic successes, one in five of the population is hungry and close to half of all children are malnourished.
It's not all bad news, however. By investing more in local agriculture, governments can feed their people and regenerate rural economies.

Recent research has pointed to the vital role that agriculture played in China's initial take-off.
Agriculture was estimated to have contributed to poverty reduction four times more than growth in the manufacturing or service sectors.
Meanwhile, many other countries have slashed hunger rates by increasing investment in small-scale farmers - in particular women farmers.
Safety nets are also important to help small farmers keep planing and harvesting through tough times.
Archie Law is chief executive of anti-poverty agency Action Aid Australia

So what does that mean? it started us thinking about the link between both.
poverty = is the deprivation of food, shelter, money and clothing that occurs when people cannot satisfy their basic needs. Poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more broadly in terms of barriers to everyday life.
hunger = When relief workers and social scientists talk about people suffering from hunger, they usually refer to those who are unable to eat sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs for a sustained period of time.

If communities can learn to be self sufficient, they can become more economically viable and in turn, begin to resolve the issue of hunger. Sound so simple!

The next issue of government assistance should take the form of education, implementation of programs and funding. In many cases, there are very good initiates inplemented.

Then we can ask, how is it that people actually go hungry when the NSW Government shows that the average NSW household throws out $1,036 of food per annum 
 
Did you know 50 % of Food is Wasted Causing Water, Food and Hunger Crisis More than enough food is produced to feed a healthy global population. Distribution and access to food is a problem – many are hungry, while at the same time many over-eat.

Water losses accumulate as food is wasted before and after it reaches the consumer. In poorer countries, a majority of uneaten food is lost before it has a chance to be consumed.

Each NSW household throws away more than $1,000 of food per year. Across the state that totals 800,000 tonnes per year.
What can we do?
1. shop sensibly
2. educate
3. volenteer aid
4. Every one of us has food in our fridge, freezer and cupboard that we can use to make delicious lunches. By taking last night’s leftovers to work or packing them in your kids’lunchboxes, you will be keeping food waste out of landfill, making a difference to our environment and saving lots of money.

All our research uncovered many programs. One that we felt was relevent to our community is the Food Waste Challenge.
The Food Waste Challenge is an exciting, innovative and unique education program, developed by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW in partnership with the Office of Environment and Heritage through the Love Food Hate Waste program, which provides you with the skills to reduce your household's food waste- saving your wallet and helping the environment!

There are many councils and regions taking the Food Waste Challenge right now- have a look at the list below.

If there is a Challenge is your area, don't delay
register today!
 




leftovers at work int


 

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