Richmond - The Editor, Food Security - Where art thou? At every meal I marvel at the fantastic selection of foods available to me from myriad countries around the world but I am abashed when I consider the number of human beings that labour around th
Richmond - The Editor, Food Security - Where art thou? At every meal I marvel at the fantastic selection of foods available to me from myriad countries around the world but I am abashed when I consider the number of human beings that labour around the globe, day and night, to feed me and how the present global food distribution system leaves others starving or in want.My family's "survival" is obviously dependent on a global transportation and economic network and certainly not on local food production. Food security in Richmond, with its ever-increasing and uncontrolled population growth, makes the realization of anything resembling self-sufficiency in local/regional food security a distant, nebulous dream.And then I think about food that was available to me as a child: vegetables that were easily stored over winter: potatoes, cabbages, carrots, turnips and the like and the ever present oatmeal. Most homes (condos were nonexistent) had large vegetable gardens in their yards and most "farmers" stored their vegetable produce during winter in underground "cool-houses," a skill probably long lost following the development of refrigeration, canning and dehydration techniques.Our current challenge (and it is "ours") locally and in the world makes me feel ashamed that we eat so well while millions go hungry because the distribution and economic systems now in place are obsolete and unable to make appropriate local and global responses to hunger in the human family. The problem is exacerbated by uncontrolled local and global population growth which continues to literally eat up the gains made during the "green revolution." The global forecast is "the end of plenty."So what can we do as global citizens living in the Fraser Valley to change systems that will make the world a better place for us as well as the billions of others on the planet? What can citizens of Richmond do that will encourage its council and other administrative bodies to consider what needs to be done to establish basic "food security" in the region? And will doing so encourage others elsewhere in the world to take actions and create local institutions that will help develop ways to eventually establish fair and just local and global food security programs? If the answers are, "nothing" then back to building bridges, highways, and condos!Merrill MuttartRichmond
