TOOL: Addressing Food Security
On Tuesday, October 16, we celebrated World Food Day. But, after following the hashtags, reading the headlines, and watching some new videos we hope your interest doesn’t stop there. It can’t stop there.
If we want to see a world with #ZeroHunger by 2030, we need to continue taking action. Here are some tools and resources to help you do so. Whether it’s in the classroom, at the dinner table, or in your community, continue to be a force of positive and sustainable change.
ONLINE RESOURCES
The World’s Largest Lesson brings the Global Goals to life with free and creative resources for educators to teach lessons, run projects and stimulate action in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Last year, World’s Largest Lesson launched Plate PioneerZ for the Global Goals, a set of resources that address healthy eating, waste reduction, eliminating plastic packaging, local produce, the practices of food producers worldwide. It addresses Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), 3, 13, 14, and 15. Plate PioneerZ includes multiple lesson plans as well as educational comics and graphics.
Use the Guardian’s We Feed the World: Photo Stories of Farmers Fighting Climate Change in Five Continents as an image analysis exercise. The photo series features five photographers who have followed the challenges facing small-scale farmers, and their pioneering solutions for a farming system that does not cost the planet. Complete with in-depth captions, have students complete the following steps from Facing History: 1. Observe the photo’s contents. 2. Record without interpretation. 3. Record questions about the photo. 4. Discuss questions with others. 5. Record what you think the photographer is trying to convey. 6. Discuss interpretations. 7. Reveal the photo’s details including the caption.
Auditory learners? Listen to (or watch) Esther Ndichu’s TED talk: Hunger isn’t a food issue. It’s a logistics issue. Most people presume that world hunger is caused by a lack of food. But Esther Ndichu, Humanitarian Supply Chain Director at UPS, argues that the real issue is logistics. She points out that farmers often struggle to get goods to market and that food often rots just miles from the neediest people. She explains that by fixing “the last mile” hunger can be solved in our lifetime.
Think.Eat.Save is a campaign dedicated to changing how we produce, consume and waste food. Educational articles and useful tips are used to address the massive global food waste problem that negatively affects humanitarianism, the environment, and economies. Think.Eat.Save proposes that simple changes to our habits can significantly shift the impact of food waste.
Transform your commute or daily chores into an educational experience with Target Zero Hunger, a podcast put out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations all about global food security. If you’re looking to dive right in, the podcast now has 30 episodes that discuss the transforming our food system, why 820 million people are going hungry, women empowerment, and more! Its latest episode, released on World Food Day 2018 discusses how we can achieve Zero Hunger.
LESSON PLANS
A part of Plate PioneerZ, Food Tales: Investigating Climate Change through Literacy/English Language Arts addresses the global impact of our everyday food choices through our carbon footprint and effect on the environment and global warming.
Food or Fuel is an interactive game about food sovereignty from Development and Peace. In groups, participants simulate the experience and struggle many small-scale farmers in the Global South face settle. Touching on poverty, conflict, and environmental impacts, this activity with get everyone thinking.
Another Plate PioneerZ resource, The Human Face of Food: Investigations in Social Science tackles food production around the world, its environmental impacts, the social impacts on equality, economic growth, and human rights for those that work within agricultural and fishing industries.
Season to Season is an interactive game from Canadian Foodgrains Bank that addresses the complexity of managing resources and allows students to understand why long-term food insecurity is a persistent problem with small-scale farmers in countries such as Malawi. In groups, participants explore the difficult decisions and harsh variables that affect the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of lives and communities.
SUBTOPICS
As discussed in Tuesday’s post, food security, hunger, and malnutrition are caused and impacted by a multitude of issues. The main causes are poverty, conflict, and climate change. Find resources below that will help you explore these issues even more.
Putting Food Insecurity on the Table (Canada) – Homeless Hub Podcast
Posted in: Action Project Ideas, Planning Resources and Tools
