Category Archives: Weekly Article Spotlight

Weekly Article Roundup: Creating a Commitment for Food Security

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As an organization, we are committed to working to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. This also includes committing to providing a long-term sustainable solution for food security to our projects worldwide.

In the United States, we’re working in the Delta and Appalachia to provide resources and training for farmers to begin providing for their family and community. Take a look at these articles regarding our Seeds of Change project and poverty in the U.S.

We are also excited to hear President Obama and the G8 commitment to food security. Heifer CEO, Pierre Ferrari wrote a post today regarding how we welcome their announcement today that brings private and public sectors together to make a difference in Africa.

Roger Thurow, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global affairs wrote a post on how the benefit to reaching women farmers on HuffPost Impact. 

To follow along to the G8 summit, check out the Global Agriculture Development Initiative here, or follow on Twitter with hashtag #GlobalAg. 

 

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Weekly Article Spotlight

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As I’m reviewing which articles I want to use in this week’s article roundup, I realized that they all weigh heavy on the heart. With the drought in Africa and famine in Somalia, it’s a lot to take in at one time. Thankfully, I know where to find the Kleenex in the office. Never the the less, it’s still incredibly hard to re-read some of these stories. 
Here is a list of just a few articles we’ve been passing around the office:
Pretty tough stuff, right?

I will try to end this week on a lighter note – How about some wood pulp in your prepacked shredded cheese? Not sure about you, but I think from now on, I’ll grate my own cheese. http://www.foodrenegade.com/would-like-some-wood-pulp-your-shredded-cheese/

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Weekly Article Roundup

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Though we’ve been sharing a lot of information the past couple of days about how the government needs to continue to make an investment in ending hunger and poverty while they work out the U.S. budget, I thought I’d share some recent articles that have been passed around Heifer headquarters this week.
Though the Red Cross made a successful drop of food drop in Samalia this week, the Somalia’s deputy prime minister said in a FAO meeting that people in areas who were controlled by Al-Shabaab may starve to death if aid doesn’t reach them in the next couple of weeks. According to the U.N., an estimated 11.6 million people need humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa. Check out our recent blog post about what you can do to help.
There has been a lot of added discussion this week to the Let’s Move! Program set up by First Lady Michelle Obama to put healthy foods back into smaller communities. So what will happen to all of the ‘bad’ food that will still be out there? It could possibly be taxed. At least 30 cities have considered putting a tax on soda or all sugar-sweetened beverages. Would you still order your soft drink if it the prices goes up?
Throughout all of the articles I read during the week, climate change is still high on the trending topic list. This week an article pointed out that many U.S. cities could face water-related climate dangers. How can we fight climate change? By not focusing on it said Time.
The State of the Nation Housing 2011 report came out with some interesting facts. For instance, the number of people facing housing challenges increased about 30 perfect from 2007 to 2009 to more than 170,000. And since last measured in 2009, 19.4 million spent more than half of their incomes on housing. After paying their money outlays to rent, families with children had only $593 left to cover all other expenses.
Share your comments with me below – I’d love to know what you have to think about all of the topics mentioned above. There is a lot going on in the world right now, but there is also a lot we can do to help.
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Weekend Article Spotlight

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It’s been a very busy week at Heifer Headquarters. We’ve had some of our wonderful volunteers in the office, been busy writing about the great working going on, and even created a little stir with our post about reality checks for Hollywood.
On top of working on all our daily projects and tasks we have been reading articles that really hit home of why our work is continually needed.
Climate change seems to be all over the news lately. Whether the weather man is discussing it on your local television station or an article about how it’s changing agriculture issues in countries all over the world, the discussion of climate change is here to stay. Check out this infographic map that shows the effects of climate change in your neighborhood provided by www.SmartPlanet.com –
The International Business Times put together a compelling group of photographs showing the malnourished children in Africa suffering from the drought. I have to warn you that these images are very strong and shouldn’t be shared in front of children. – http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/182133/20110718/horn-of-africa-drought-somalia-food-crisis-horn-of-africa-food-crisis-africa-drought-africa-malnutri.htm 
 First Lady Michelle Obama announced the start of the California FreshWorks Fund designed to increase access to healthy, low-cost food in poor neighborhoods in the state. The $200-million financing is to attract grocery stores to neighborhoods who have limited access to fresh, healthy food. Read more about the project here: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/the-giveaway/financing-access-to-healthy-food-in-california/493?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en
Even though the local food movement in American is gaining steam, does it have enough to scale up the programs? Without sufficient capital from the private sector to build large, profitable bussinesses this will become a fad, not a movement. http://www.fastcompany.com/1768276/can-the-local-food-movement-scale-up
Leave your thoughts about any of these articles in our comments section and let us know what you’ve been reading or anything you’d like to share. 
As the School House Rocks cartoons use to say, knowledge is power.
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What We Are Reading at Heifer

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Here at Heifer we’re focused on ending hunger and poverty, however, we also want to make sure we are staying on top of trends that are going on around the world. 
With so much information being sent out through news stories, blogs, articles and so forth, I thought it might be helpful to share the top stories we found interesting this week.  

How28 poor countries escaped the poverty trap 

  

Maps of the impact of Climate change
Let me know what you thought of these articles and what you are reading. What topics are top of mind with you and you follow closely? Sustainable agriculture? Food Security? Climate change? 
Share in the comments below.

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