Green Options

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The European Union has traditionally been more cautious of genetically-modified (GM) foods than the rest of us. They require more scientific study than other food safety organizations before approving individual seeds and ban a significant number of GM seeds as well. This stands in stark contrast to U.S. policies that encourage GM crop growing through subsidies. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, 92% of Minnesota’s 2007 soybean crop and 86% of its corn crop came from GM seeds.

Now, mounting pressure from both Europe’s farmers and global food aid organizations have caused the high courts of various EU countries to reconsider.

“Khotso, pula, nala.”
“Peace, rain, prosperity.”
When there is peace and rain people live happier because they will not be fighting; they will plough their fields and will have food. - African proverb.

Listening to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni at any forum has never been boring. He can make his audiences jeer and laugh at the same time but not without drama at times. Museveni is both loved and hated by many because of his straight talking. But that is not to say he does so all the time.

One such time was at a recent Commonwealth leaders meeting in London where he happily laughed off the current global food crisis.

What seems good riddance for his small landlocked nation in east Africa has been boggling minds elsewhere and governments from Argentina to Senegal, from Egypt to South Africa, have grappled with riots of sorts over high prices of food. In Haiti, it cost the political life of a prime minister who had to vacate office for failing to soften the hunger pangs of his people.

This week and the one before it, I have covered various aspects of the global food crisis and focussed especially on the predicament of the world’s poor as food prices spiral, and the likely contributors to the problem of inadequate food supply vis-a-vis the cost of basic foodstuff.

On April 12, we looked at how starvation and anger were driving millions to protest in the streets demanding government action. But social unrest can only be avoided when the hungry are assured of plentiful availability of their staples at prices they can afford.

We looked at perspectives on the crisis in 19 Myths and Facts on Global Food Crisis on April 21 and compared experiences of a protester in Damascus, Syria and a stay-at-home mother in Cairo, Egypt. We also quoted several world leaders and experts on biofuels, now being mentioned widely in connection with the diversion of traditional food crops to produce “cleaner” fuel.

Lastly, on April 23, we journeyed together through 12 World’s Largest Biofuel Plants, most of them in the US. Today, to cap this week’s insights on the global food crisis, I present (some of) the figures behind the whole story:

The global food crisis. That is the big news item that makes it on to your living room via the media channels. Everybody has said something about the problem, and now everybody agrees it is a crisis. But at what cost? How does one separate the chaff from the wheat? How do we separate facts from myths? Who is throwing punches at the other? Who blames what as the cause of the massive food shortage?

The global food crisis is so gripping and serious that the World Food Programme is cutting food handout rations to some 73 million people in 78 countries.

This is a sample of what people have said about what makes the world’s hungry (3 billion are at imminent risk the last time I checked, and actually 850 million slept on empty stomachs last night) get so angry to violently knock at the gates of aristocrats demanding to be fed, or at least access to food, basically:

Cida University is the first virtually free university in South Africa. Located in downtown Johannesburg, it serves young people from previously disadvantage backgrounds, but who are academically deserving. It offers a Bachelor of Business Administration and students can learn skills like bio-intensive farming.

This university has a special program, called the Nelson Mandela extranet. In this program, Students go back to their communities and teach them about HIV/AIDS , bio-intensive farming, and money management. Remembering your ancestors and going back to the community to raise the consciousness level of the society is a fundamental principle of ethical leadership.

By Anthony J. Gerst

The war-torn and ravaged nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rather confusing issue. A rapid-fired crash course on the subject brings up some interesting facts, however. This nation has basically been at war since 1998, and the result has been an estimated 3.5 million deaths. There are more residents classified as internally displaced persons (IDP’s) than established citizens. OK, that may be a stretch but not by much.

Oddly enough in the nomadic camps throughout this nation, we find citizens from the entire region, as the populations of these camps are composed of people from Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan and of course the Republic of Congo. So what on earth is going on here, in a nation that recently saw an outbreak of Ebola deep in its jungle recesses? Well, to understand anything of the area is to understand what makes the Congo go around. This nation is home to a vast array of precious metals and resources: found here are reserves of cobalt, copper, uranium, timber, gold and silver to name but a few. It is the control over these resources that brings about the constant battles within the Congo. On any given day, from 6-10 different factions are battling for control. Within this number are local indigenous peoples who are simply trying to stay alive.

Terror and terrorism is alive and well here, as the battles are waged at the expense of anyone in the vicinity. The groups battling have no honor; they are simply armed groups of masquerading hired thugs. They instill fear in the populous with rape and rampage. According to the UN, 90,000 people were forced to flea their homes in September alone. The ongoing warfare has prevented 150,000 people from receiving food aid from the UN World Food Programme.

Warning: the online "edutainment" game at www.freerice.com is addictive. Side effects include the ability to sound smarter, increased levels of altruism and good karma, and the possibility of warm tingly feelings in your stomach.

What’s unique about the vocabulary-building game at Freerice.com — and the reason we think you should give it a gander — is that as you play you’re donating rice to feed hungry people through international aid agencies. A sister site

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