A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

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Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com Right of the public to "recall" corrupt MPs Statutory register of lobbyists Scottish Parliament to get more powers under Referendum of devolution of further powers to Welsh assembly Review of Scottish MPs voting on England-only legislation Ban on "non-doms" sitting in Parliament Reform of political donations and party funding Source: BBC News 13 th May 2010 Action Above all support Unlock Democracy, Local Works, Liberty and Amnesty International. Sign the Take Back Parliament petition. Support Fair Trials International (FTI), New Politics Project, One World Trust, Open Democracy, Operation Black Vote, Power 2010, Pressure Works, Redress human- rights, Simultaneous Policy- a global political platform. Use WriteToThem and Your Freedom (UK Government). Go to Electoral Reform Society for an explanation of the different voting systems and the Institute of Government for a review Big Society. There are similar organisations throughout the world. 158
Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com Chapter 12 - Feeding the world – a real green revolution, food sovereignty and security, eco-agriculture vs. agribusiness, bioregionalism and localisation vs. globalisation, sustainable distribution. May 2009 The Backdrop to feeding the world is this: The Backdrop to global food We are consuming about 30% more than planet earth can provide, allowing 10% of bio-capacity for nature reserves World population, now 6.7bn is expected to reach 9bn by 2050, leading to a big increase in demand, unless we change our eating habits Food waste and overeating in the North is massive In the North we are losing our food growing and culinary skills; we lack contact with nature Climate change is causing drought, desertification and a more turbulent climate Peak oil: declining supply and rising cost will affect industrialised agriculture and global food distribution; the costs of farm machinery, fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides and everything in which oil is embedded will rise We are degrading the earth: destroying the soil and ecosystem; industrialised agriculture is causing salinisation Pesticides and herbicides harm our health; pandemics may originate in inhumane, industrialised animal husbandry Large corporations dominate the production of key foods Peasant farmers are losing their land and drifting to cities World Hunger - the situation we are in. The World Health Organisation estimates one-third of the world is well-fed; one-third is under-fed; and one-third is starving. Nearly a billion people are hungry. One billion are overweight. Both are victims of poor diet, though in the case of the overweight, as much because of an unhealthy lifestyle, caused by overuse of the motor car, new technology and changing ways of working. Poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle often exist in the same family or household. In USA and UK poor diet is associated with race and class. These problems are spreading to developing countries and even continental Europe where there are more sensible food cultures. Worldwide, two billion people lack essential micronutrients, such as vitamin A, iron and zinc. Most of the poorly fed are young women and babies. The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have about 40%. In parts of India 50% of children are still malnourished. Every year 15 million children die of hunger. For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years. Hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. As well as hunger resulting from an empty stomach, there is also the hidden hunger of micronutrient deficiencies which make people susceptible to infectious diseases, impair physical and mental development, reduce their labour productivity and increase the risk of premature death. Hunger puts a crushing economic burden on the developing world which stands to lose from a population whose physical and mental development is stunted by hunger and malnutrition. 159
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