Urban Farming Cont… (file under Sorry needed some rest…)

As you’ll recall I ended yesterdays post with Section 25, Subsection 1 of the United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As it is not germane to this conversation I will not touch on the United Nations. But this document was the result of a period of prolonged war and strife from which a new system had to develop. The Declaration, in and of itself is a beautiful document, in the same way I look at the Canadian Constitution (which in point of fact is a myriad of documents) and the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution. However, these documents are living, they need to evolve, to accept the realities that are ever present and constantly changing. But I don’t want to get into the high politics associated with that statement. Instead I want to continue on the post from yesterday.

I had given you a series of websites to go to as a starting point to start drawing your own conclusions.

I have had an intellectual love affair with Alice Waters (http://www.chezpanisse.com/pgalice.html ) since I first learned about her about two and a half years ago. Not a Chef, in her own words, merely a lover of food. Her entire food philosophy changed when she had a great experience in France as a young woman. Of course the world was changing then and she, to her credit, saw what was happening. She started Chez Panisse and in so doing started a food revolution that first touched Southern California and now, literally, is absolutely global. It is because of her, at least in part, that the White House for the first time has a garden on its grounds, from which, world class Chefs, can draw upon its resources for dinners for the Obamas and for state dinners. I wrote a post on this when it first happened because for me it represented an ideological and philosophical symbol which would trickle down to the rest of the country and possibly the world. A symbol just as powerful as the Victory Gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden ) which ended up providing 40%, FORTY PERCENT, of the countries produce needs. It was also practiced in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. May I also remind you that this was only 64 years ago.

I bring this up because it illustrates what can be done in times of need. When there is a will there is a way. What has happened to us that we have lost sight on the basic needs of everyone. Is it comfort? Contempt? Greed? Collusion? These aren’t rhetorical. I really don’t know. I do know that profit, as outlined in my previous post on the subject, plays a huge role in the decisions that are being made with regard to food policy. Moreover I am acutely aware of the fact that those decisions are the gap between me eating and someone in Africa dying from malnutrition.

These, as I see them, are the irrefutable facts; there is enough food in the world. That food is being distributed in an inequitable fashion. There is a better way. We all need to act now or our kids kids will not be able to eat the very basic food stuffs that we take for granted today.

Some of you may brand me as a socialist. Maybe even a communist. My answer to that is that I live in one of the greatest socialist countries in the world. Our social system is one which still, despite endless cuts and slashes, is the envy of the world. Why is it that we can not ensure that not only all of our population eats, and I don’t mean Big Macs, let alone contribute to the well being, in a nutritional sense of those places in the world that are incapable of supplying their own needs, be it through greed, famine, collusion or whatever.

There exists a social responsibility, not nearly the same as the one which was outlined in the United Nation Declaration, which both demands and commands that we, as citizens, do our utmost to stand up when we see tyranny. Whether it is in a fascist country or in food policy. And what we are witnessing now is the tyranny of one class over another. That being the industrialized world or the less than developed world. Sure they can plant plantations and contribute to our food supply, but how many of them get to eat?

Basically, and I do find this emotionally taxing and physically draining, what I am saying is that yes we need to look at Urban Farming as an impending reality. We need to accept that current food policy can not be maintained NOR SHOULD IT BE. The World Food Program is ineffectual because of greed, theft and collusion. The supposed loans of the IMF and the World Bank which are in theory supposed to be positive and transforming are in fact negative and the beginning of a system of debt that can never be gotten out from under.

Please, examine the websites that I suggested yesterday. Please educate yourself as to where your food comes from. Ontario grows massive amounts of food. Canada grows massive amounts of food and has an abundant supply of fresh water that is being siphoned off by the Americans. All legally and with the tacit approval of the Canadian government. If you think I’m lying I entreat you to prove me wrong. But you won’t. For it is true.

I think rather than my illustrating this point any further I would rather you take a step for yourself and start to explore the realities of what is on your plate.

Find out where it comes from. How it gets there. Who gets it there and why. I think that the answers to these questions will open up your mind.

A good place to start your investigation into the impending food crisis, as I have mentioned before is Jeffrey Sachs. This article is pretty good, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734834,00.html . You may also want to read; http://www.larouchepub.com/other/1995/2249_import_dependency.html .

Draw your own conclusions and then for the love of your grandchildren ACT!

Jeffrey Sachs recently said; "It's the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years. 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.”
What are you going to do?

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM

Urban Farming (file under possible solutions but…)

In the past few weeks I have heard more and more about urban farming. It first came to my knowledge about a year ago. It had been presented to me as a means of solving the impending food crisis. At first I thought it was a great idea. But I also realize that it is a band aid solution to a gaping bullet wound. But that does not mean that we should not explore it as a means of at the very least aiding the problem.

I have gone to many sites on the issue such as;

http://www.urbanfarming.org/
http://www.cityfarmer.info/
http://www.urbanagriculture-news.com/
http://www.dott07.com/go/urbanfarming
http://urbanfarm.org/index2.html

This is by no means an exhaustive list. But it represents some of the sites that I have gone to for information on the subject. As I may or may not have explained before ‘truth’ which is elusive can only be arrived at by consulting as many sources as possible on the subject and then drawing your own conclusion.

The basic problem is this how do we allow sustainable growth and still enable vast populations to eat. The urban farming of the future that I have seen is presented as this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scs2SIeIkkM which is a short news snippet from The Discovery Channel. Again, this is a possible solution but is it the right one. You see the problem is so vast and complex that there may be a million solutions. By problem with this solution is that it does nothing to address the real problem; wanton waste, manufactured scarcity as well as hunger and famine elsewhere in the world. The point of the story is how doe we keep cities fed as we continue to grow and expand our cities. To my point of view this does nothing to address any of the very real issues that I touched on in my previous post about food policy. Does that mean that it should not be explored? Absolutely not.

If you go through the Urban Farming Organization website you will quickly realize that they are very interested in ensuring that the poor and needy get food. This is a beautiful project and I support it whole heartily. If you go to http://www.urbanfarming.org/presentation.htm you will see that they have opened approximately 500 gardens in less than four years. Their goal, stated, is to eradicate hunger worldwide. BEAUTIFUL. But again, you watch it and draw your own conclusions. What makes it so beautiful is the coming together of people to help others. And it is something that WE ALL CAN DO!

Many times (at least a few) I have mentioned that my Mother, giving up lots, chose to move to Africa, in Malawi to provide much needed medical services to people that would otherwise not get any medical services. I commend her for what she and my Stepfather are doing. It touches my heart and soul in so many beautiful ways that sometimes I break down.

When I decided to become a Chef, I knew that I too would have a mission. Not only one which saw me feed people in my restaurant but also people from all over the world. I believe that food and water are BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS and need to be guaranteed. Right now they are not. They are used as weapons. Against people that would literally start a fight to eat even one one hundredth of what we do. My goal is to create an environment which enables me to provide food, food knowledge, food product and service to people all over. Starting of course in my own back yard and then extending that to a much wider, READ GLOBAL, community.

I am going to write more on this subject tomorrow. Unfortunately, I am tired and I need to get my rest so I can continue. Sorry to cut the post short but I feel like I am going to fall flat on my face.

Food for thought? I think so. I will continue this post tomorrow. In the mean time, consider what I am writing about. Ask yourself, what can I do? How can I help? Believe me, it is a lot easier than you think. But it takes all of us, one at a time, to solve this very real issue.

Article 25, Subsection 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states;

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

It is not merely enough to state that people have these rights.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote; “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” 200 years on and we still aren’t getting it right.

Are you dreaming big and inspired? Those dreams and inspiration MAY be the answer that we need.

A la prochaine

SDM