FK Food for Thought Unit#2 Action Project " Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions"

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Hello reader, this is my unit to Action project for “ Food for thought”. food for thought is my third term, freshman year Humanities class at GCE lab school. We've done some pretty cool things in this class. In particular we went on some pretty awesome field experiences. Those consist of a trip to a place called plant Chicago where we're introduced to an aquaponics system. Also, we went to a place called Uncommon Ground which is a restaurant / rooftop garden where we interacted with many nutritious plants, and a really awesome radiant hydronic thermal solar system. For this project I was assigned to write an opinion paper on one of the subcategories of SDG 2 ( I chose 2.1 “ No Hunger”) And propose a solution to help the cause. I explained my solution in my speech. Enjoy!

Script:

2.1 is a concept I think about quite often, and I believe that the UN's approach to achieving this, and the date they have given themselves to achieve it, are absolutely ridiculous.  Here's why. 


  “Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day” UN news says.  Another article published by UN news says “UN agencies appeal for $266 million to feed refugees in eastern Africa” upon reading the article it states “ The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the World Food Programme (WFP) are appealing for $266 million as they have been forced to cut food rations by up to 60 percent.” This is a problem but not for the reason you think. This statement means that they were using those funds to provide rations. As a person who has volunteered at a non profit organization providing rations to people in east africa ( feed my starving children). The rations were extremely inefficient. I'm aware that the rations the UNHCR provided were  different from the rations I made, but the Ingredients I have seen put into them were very similar. The two main ingredients being corn and rice. These are Extremely inefficient crops  both economically, and nutritionally.  According to nature.com , rice requires 660 gallons of water for 2 pounds of rice and corn requires 600 gallons of water for 2 pounds. These grains also require shipment and a lot of people and processing to make. 



My solution is my idea to help with SDG 2.1  would be to provide High caloric and proper nutrient foods to different starved countries.  This food will come from allied countries, also these countries could provide laborers to build gardens and farms. I'm aware the UN is taking steps to perform these actions  but my main issue is the food.  “ According to the Global Hunger Index 2020, which was adopted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Chad was the most affected by hunger and malnutrition, with an index of 44.7.”  Chad is the most starved country in the world. How do I suggest we fix this problem?  A very rich allied nation of Chad is France. France could provide funding,military, and materials to construct vertical farms. 50% of Chad is a desert. Chad also has a river flowing through it . the Charli river. I believe that if France provided resources, that the Chadin government would construct vertical farms with water coming from the Charli river, and be managed by the french government ( possibly inmates being watched by the french government)  . Foods grown in these vertical farms should include: peas, yams, almonds, cashews, kale, oranges,maringa, avocado, honey, and many more. 



  Famine is very common throughout history, but one of the biggest was the Irish famine. “ Ireland was still growing grain for export when, in September 1845, a fungus named Phytophthora infestans started to bloom. It clung to the lumpers, blistering fast among the dense row plants between the Cottages, not potato Harvest which always just came in the nick of autumn to end the hungry summer turned to black sludge.” (empires of food P.217) A fungus caused the potatoes to rot. “ The British drummed up several famine relief programs, including a public work scheme that employed 750,000 by the height of the famine in 1847. That year, more green and Thailand then flowed out of it although much of this was corn, which the Irish not know how to mill and Cook. By the time the famine was over, an estimated 1 million people had died.” ( Empires of Food P.214) Even though Ireland had lost one of their main crops, Ireland had a large abundance of other crops to grow. “ Potatoes grew well in the wet Irish soil and yielded more vitamins and protein than corn, wheat, or oats. Serve was a little buttermilk or Herring, boiled potatoes could nourish a hungry labor for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When Napoleon fell in 1815, the world grain markets were no longer buoyed by wartime embargoes and shortages, so the price of wheat plunged. Irish landlords looked at their labor-intensive, expensive grain field  and decided a better profit could be gleaned from beef sold to butchers in England’s Menace tenderizing cities, or wool sent to the Mills of Yorkshire.” (Empires of Food P.216)   Ireland tried “prayer,dung,and ditches to coax a harvest” but obviously this did not work.  All of this could have been fixed if England could have allowed them to keep the rest of their crops. 


The UN is inefficiently managing SDG 2.1 and is trying to solve an unreasonable goal in an unreasonable amount of time. My recommendations will help the UN achieve their goal because it is a more  sustainable version of what they're already doing. Like I stated at the beginning, the UN it's just a bunch of bureaucrats with an unreasonable goal with an unreasonable deadline to achieve it. I hope they at least have the brains to take my advice if they ever see this.  if you know someone a part of it send this to them.


Citation: 

Fraser , Even D. G., and Andrew Rimas . Empires of Food: Feast,Famine,And the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. Free Press , 2010. 

Johnson, Ted“UN Agencies Appeal for $266 Million to Feed Refugees in Eastern Africa”, UN News , 2 Mar. 2021, 4:20 PM , news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086122. 

Homes , John. “Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day”, UN News , 3 Oct. 2019, 3:21, www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/losing-25000-hunger-every-day. 

Szmigiera . “Countries That Are Most Affected by Hunger and Malnutrition According to the Global Hunger Index 2020.” Statista , Szmigiera , 23 May 2020, 3: 31 , www.statista.com/statistics/269924/countries-most-affected-by-hunger-in-the-world-according-to-world-hunger-index/#:~:text=Global%20Hunger%20Index%202020%3A%20countries%20most%20affected%20by%20hunger,-Published%20by%20M&text=According%20to%20the%20Global%20Hunger,with%20an%20index%20of%2044.7. 

Ebikeme, Charles. “Water World.” Scitable , Scitable , 25 July 2013, 3:05 , www.nature.com/scitable/blog/eyes-on-environment/water_world/. 

Fraser , Even D. G., and Andrew Rimas . Empires of Food: Feast,Famine,And the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. Free Press , 2010. 


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