I'm also angry!
And I hope that after you've read this you'll be furious too.
Today a human tragedy of vast proportions is upon us -- but most politicians turn their heads.
In a world that spends over a trillion dollars a year on armaments, about a billion humans go hungry every day. Hunger and malnutrition rose by more than 100 million last year.
Every six seconds somewhere in the world a child dies of hunger-related diseases. That's more than five million children a year.
That makes me angry. So now I am blowing the whistle. The truth is that for the past 30 years what world leaders have been doing about it is in fact less than nothing.
Since the mid 1980s, far from increasing international aid to agriculture in developing countries, aid meant to help poor people feed themselves has almost been halved. It has fallen by 43 percent.
You could say that at least world leaders are now talking about the problem, with hunger regularly on the agenda at their summits and high-level meetings.
True, between one photo op and another, they issue resounding declarations pledging early and resolute action. But let me blow the whistle again.
In L'Aquila, Italy, last summer, G8 leaders solemnly pledged to invest $22 billion in three years to help developing countries produce the food they need for their people. But ten months later, despite serious efforts to monitor the commitments and the creation of a fund for Global Agriculture and Food Security Program at the World Bank, how much of this pledged amount has reached the smallholder farmers in least developed countries? Almost none.
That's because words are cheaper than money. People can't eat words, though. If they could, one billion empty bellies would now be full.
Over the past 17 years I have reasoned with leaders, I have pleaded, and raised awareness on risks of explosions as we saw with food riots in 32 countries during 2007/2008.
But still hunger rises, so now I have decided to blow the whistle, and I need your help. I need you to blow it too.
Today, in events taking place around the world to launch "The 1billionhungry project," thousands of people will be blowing yellow whistles. Giant banners saying "I'm Mad as Hell" will appear on buildings and on public transport in urban centers. A disconcerting video will go into circulation on the Internet.
I want you to blow your whistle as loud as you can to wake people up to the fact that one billion human beings are suffering hunger right this moment, that 20-30 kids died while you were reading this.
I want you to blow your whistle to say that it's completely unacceptable and that you want it stopped. Now.
In September I'll be going to New York to attend the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals Summit, due to review progress towards the Goals adopted by the UN in 2000. Goal One is to reduce by half by 2015 the proportion of people on earth who are hungry.
Now the beauty of statistics is that you can theoretically halve a proportion but end up with a larger number than what you started out with. That's because the world's population is still growing by 80 million a year and, perhaps unsurprisingly, because people aren't proportions.
What interests me though is how many people are hungry, how many children are dying.
In October, I'll be taking the petition to world leaders through the United Nations in New York - to say we have had enough of living in a hungry world.
To get their attention I'll need at least a million names on that petition. I hope you're furious. I hope you're angry. I want your name on there too.
The 1 Billionhungry petition can be signed at www.1billionhungry.org.
The work of Heifer International -- www.heifer.org
"To those who hunger, give bread. And to those that have bread, give the hunger for justice." (Latin American prayer). Hunger for justice, get angry, know the issues, be a part of the solution.
Disclaimer: I am an employee of Heifer International.
"Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself." This includes the right to feed yourself & your children -- as long as this injustice exists anywhere, it's our problem as human beings to address it.
AID CREATES DEPENDENCY -- This misconception is evidence that our minds are still stuck in what foreign aid has been historically. The simple act of providing food to hungry people around the world has indeed exacerbated the problem, creating dependencies & undermining local food production on a massive scale (with the exception of emergency relief). But this is an archaic model. The new model is about empowering people to reach self-reliance. Sounds great, right? But what does it actually mean? The situation is complex with intertwined cultural, environmental, political, & corruption issues, but the solution is fairly simple -- providing resources & training in a grassroots, wholistic manner enabling families to become self-reliant. What does this look like? Listening to a community's needs, instead of assuming the problems & answers are already known; hiring & training local human resources; a 360 degree approach with all aspects taken into consideration & treated as the integrated system that they are (whether it's the ties between food production & the environment, or between education & gender equity); sustainability for both the environment & the people; empowerment, providing the assistance necessary for communities to be self-reliant & enabling them to assist their own neighbors & to be the ones to advocate
WHY SHOULD IT BE OUR PROBLEM? -- First, because you're human & you love your life & children, just the same as every hungry person in the world. Don't ignore our shared humanity to assuage responsibility Second, because we're not isolated communities -- we share the same air, water, soil & sun -- left unchecked, the effects of poverty will reach everyone whether through food riots, environmental degradation, social/political instability, or mass migration. Third, because privileged countries have been undermining others ability to feed & support themselves for centuries -- people are not hungry because they are too lazy or stupid to feed themselves (or because of the myths addressed above). Beginning with colonialism & continuing with trade laws & resource-extraction today, the world powers continue to cripple the capacity of others to produce & sell their own food & goods. Need examples? The effect U.S. food subsidies & cash crops have had on Sub-Saharan Africa, of NAFTA on Mexico, of the United Fruit Company on Central America...the list goes on. Again, hunger isn't about scarcity, it's about distribution of resources. Ideally, all countries will someday be able to feed & support their own, but in the meantime they need our help to get there (starting with debt cancellation of developing countries -- would you rather they paid us a fraction of our GDP or feed their children?).
OVERPOPULATION -- check out the 12 Myths of Hunger http://www.foodfirst.org/en/pubs/backgrdrs/1998/s98v5n3.html Pay special attention to Myths #1 and 3. Hunger is not caused by too many people or not enough food. Regarding the concern that overpopulation will become a problem if all are fed & able to reproduce, the most effective way to reduce the birth rate is to educate people, primarily girls. In Sub-Saharan African educated girls marry older & have an average of 50% fewer children. Sorry folks, but we can't blame this on too many people -- hunger isn't about scarcity, it's about distribution of resources.
Meant BRING not being......sorry.
Once our elected leaders (cough cough) put a stop on the Pentagon's ENTITLEMENTS, and start directing OUR money to logical purposes for the betterment of us and our fellow man, we can feed the starving and being a slight redemption of our collective consciences and Universal Character.
We have to stand up and STOP IT, they aren't volunteering, they never have and never will.
They are VULTURES that suck us dry and then have the nerve to point all the anger and rage toward the least among us, the poor that work hard for a meager living...some of them browner immigrants.
ENOUGH already.
Enough of talking about donation, instead of they should find an alternative solutions. It breaks my heart knowing that 80% the Nile River comes from Ethiopia, the beneficiaries’ are Egypt, and Sudan. Egypt had made sure Ethiopia should not interfere with Nail River, and signed a treaty that will prohibit from using the River. But the point is Western countries should teach third world countries how to use modern farming system, like irrigation and etc. Don’t get me wrong over 70% of Ethiopian population are farmers, if each farmers get a chance how to irrigation, imagine the benefit. Its clear now, that if Africa or any third world countries continuous to depend on western nation, it will be disastrous. We need a solution not a donation!!