Today, October the 16th, is World Food Day. As it was last year. As it will be next year.
But, does having a day dedicated to the world’s food security problems do any good? I ask myself.
Last year, the world lit candles, ran races, listened to Arabic music, all sorts of things as far removed, it seemed, from tackling the issues head on as you could get.
This year, food insecurity feels a little closer to home, what with the price of oil driving up prices on the supermarket shelves have brought the issues into sharp focus. This year, the focus is on the Challenges of Climate change and Bioenergy. All issues close to CABI’s heart, especially with the recent launch of Environmental Impact and the numerous projects going on around the world to help people struggling to feed themselves, their families and their communities better.
There are people out there actively fighting hunger, finding solutions to the problems of food production in the face of climate change and fuel production; while I sit here at my desk sipping coffee and scratch my head. And still, I struggle to understand sometimes what good it can possibly do, having one, official, day for food. Surely every day should be a World Food Day?
But hold on a minute, maybe it’s me who’s missing the point here. Missing the opportunity to blog against poverty yesterday raises another inevitable question, why? I was, admittedly, beavering away for another department equally committed in its way to combating world poverty as the rest of CABI is. You’ll see this if you browse our bookshop at any time. But I cannot deny that I naturally assumed one of our other devoted Handpicked… bloggers would take up the challenge.
And that is the point…of it all: Blog Action Day, World Food Day, Sustainability Day (don’t know if that last one’s real). If it’s an issue you care about; you should do something, whatever little bit you can, to raise awareness. If all you have is information, pass it on to someone else who might be able to use it better. Who knows, your little bit might just trigger something big.
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