The Coming Crisis of Weekly Food: Hope and the Future of Food.
By Liam Hysjulien
Credit: http://www.adamzyglis.com/cartoon723.html
In a new series, As It Ought To Be will be providing semimonthly updates on different topics ranging from literature to food policies. For today, I will be looking at the potential—no matter how small—for hope in our current food model. Yes, obesity is reportedly costing the US $215 billion a year. Yes, as a result of our current economic recession 1 and 6 Americans are now struggling to feed themselves (that’s roughly 49 million American suffering from food insecurity), but there are avenues of hope—no matter how small—that shouldn’t be ignored. At the federal, state and local level, policy-makers, community activists, and local citizens are attempting to reinvent our food system. Here are some of the most recent examples.
Federal ______________________________
Thoughtful and brilliant commentary by Caleb R. Schultz M.D. on our current school lunch food system
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Francis Thicke wants greener food production in Iowa. In Thicke’s own words:
“One of the things that I intend to do if elected is reactivate the Iowa Food Policy Council and give it a home in the Department of Agriculture. I’ll ask the Council to come up with a set of food policy proposals that we can take to the legislature. For example, how we can connect farmers to high school and university cafeterias.”
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US Food Sovereignty Alliance wants to end poverty by encouraging local food production.
State ______________________________
More scientific support for Alice Waters and healthy school lunch food. As Waters says,
“We knew validation of the work was important in order to reach a wider public. This is one of our first steps in reaching new audiences—particularly the scientific and academic community—and of course we hope it has implications for public policy.”
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Stellar website on food, hunger and desertification by Professor of Botany, Willem Van Cothem.
Local ______________________________
Chicago receives $6 million to combat childhood obesity
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Read more about the Community Food Security Coalition and the work they do to support low-income groups and local agriculture projects.
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Community Gardens in Detroit. WATCH:
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