A Speech By Frances Moore Lappe

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 03:05:32 AM PDT

She begins with a basic premise: That the world grows enough to feed everybody and yet many people go hungry. And - as I have been shouting about on this blog - she points out the inaccurate frame we often use to look at hunger: scarcity. And as long as we're focused on scarcity, the answer will always be "grow more." But what happens when we recognize that we already HAVE enough and the solution to hunger is already fully within our grasp? Well... the Powers That Be don't like to talk about that. Because it means they'll have to share.

As Frances Moore Lappe points out, we are each capable of atrocities like those committed at Abu Ghraib, and we are also capable of empathy and sharing! In fact, she said, the parts of our brain that our active while we cooperate with others are similar to those active while we eat chocolate. So if cooperating is as pleasing to us as eating chocolate, how do we set up our society in a way to engage THAT part of our brain instead of the selfish, miserly parts of us that don't mind letting others starve?

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

• A great article subtitled "Why shopping at the farmers' market is good for you and the planet" gives amazing stats about nutrient degradation in produce after it's picked. I guess it's not shocking that your broccoli is healthiest if you buy it fresh-picked. I am hanging my head in shame that the broccoli in my fridge has now been there about 10 days, and I DID buy it at the farmers' market.

• Nanotechnology in food scares me.

• Want to celebrate at a food festival near you? Here's a really big list of festivals.

• It's not a new article, but it's really, really cool. SF Gate tells about a program that teaches vets how to farm. I've heard again and again about the healing and restorative effects of agriculture... maybe more to your spirit than to your fingernails.

• Tom Laskawy comments on Frances Moore Lappe's recent article about the city in Brazil that ended hunger. I just heard her talk about it on the radio too (here - under Archives, click on 3/07/09).

• Why is Men's Health magazine perpetuating the idea of healthy fast food? Shit, no wonder this country's in trouble.

• Hooray! Hennepin County Medical Center promises healthier food! 165 facilities have signed the pledge but Hennepin was the first public teaching hospital to do so.

• IATP brings us a wonderful series - the journal of a beginning farmer.

• Here's some late St. Patrick's day celebrating for you to nurse your hangover with: Video footage of a green roof in Ireland.

• Here's a fantastic article touting the benefits of no-till gardening.

• Yes! Magazine features one of my heroes: Will Allen, founder of Growing Power. If you aren't familiar with Growing Power yet, you need to be. This is a model that should be re-created in every major American city.

• Here's one for the "Duh" file: Combining pesticides makes them more deadly. Ya think?

A Hungry Thanksgiving for Many Americans

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 09:38:30 AM PST

Overall, 11.1% of Americans lived in "food insecure" households during 2007. That is 36.2 million people, or a little less than the entire population of California. Can you imagine? An entire California of hungry people? The government calls that number "essentially unchanged" from 2006 but in reality even if the percentage change is low, it means there are an additional 700,000 people who were food insecure in 2007.

Of those "food insecure" households, over one third have "very low food security" - which I believe, translated into English, means HUNGRY. We're close enough to Thanksgiving that Sarah Palin is doing photo ops next to turkey executions, so I think now is a good time to talk about the state of hunger in America.