World Food Day Oct 16: Focus on the Right to Food

If you're in NYC... see you here:

From the Greater New York Dietetic Association:

The choice of The Right to Food as the theme for 2007 World Food Day demonstrates increasing recognition by the international community of the important role of human rights in eradicating hunger and poverty, and hastening and deepening the sustainable development process.

The links between climate change, hunger and poverty will be the focus of the 2007 teleconference. Three international leaders -- Suzanne Hunt, independent consultant, currently dividing her time among the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Global Bioenergy Partnership, Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, Research Scientist and Leader of the Climate Impacts Group at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford University professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and founder and editor of the Interdisciplinary journal, Climate Change, -- will discuss the many crosscutting issues of global climate change and the potentially disastrous consequences, especially for millions of poor and chronically undernourished people. The overwhelming majority of the world's climate scientists are convinced that the looming crisis is caused primarily by "humankind's activities" and will require immediate and farsighted action by all nations, rich and poor. In addition to the guest panelists there will be a live uplink from the World Food Prize ceremonies and cameo comments from other experts.

Two documentary films – The Millennium Development Goals and The Ecological Footprint – will highlight the goals agreed to by rich and poor country leaders in 2000 and will consider an ingenious way for determining whether we are living within our ecological budget or consuming nature's resources faster than the planet can renew them.

When: Tuesday October 16^th, 2007, 11:45 AM – 3:00 PM

12 Noon – 1:00 PM Teleconference panel discussion

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Individual site discussion of local hunger issues and activities; prepare question for panel (bring your own lunch)

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM "Town meeting" question & answer period between panelists and individual sites

Where: Cornell University Cooperative Extension, 16 E 34^th Street , 8^th floor
bring photo ID for building security

Please R.S.V.P. to Maggie Meehan, GNYHEN Co-chair at: meehan.maggie@ gmail.com, be sure to put "World Food Day Teleconference" in the subject heading

Update from National Labor Committee: Good News from Guatemala

I was so excited to read that there was a MAJOR breakthrough at the factory I mentioned below that the National Labor Committee had exposed. Read about the good news here. It's so inspiring to see that exposing the truth can actually make change. Kudos to the National Labor Committee.

Who Chopped Those Broccoli Florets?

You might be surprised to learn that it quite possibly could be a 13-year old living in Guatemala.

Today, the National Labor Committee released this damning report about rampant rights abuses of children in produce processing plants in Guatemala, with children ages 13 to 17 working long hours for little pay in often dangerous and debilitating conditions. And where are they sending all that cut broccoli, melons, and pineapples? Four million pounds of it, the NLC writes, gets exported to the U.S. via Sysco, ending up in schools, hospitals, and prisons.
The report and this New York Times article go public just as advocates are gearing up to push our elected officials to consider the rights of workers and all eaters as they redraft, and set funding levels for, the national Farm Bill. Some of the policies being pushed--and which seem obvious no-brainers--are procurement policies that would allow states to prioritize local fruits and vegetables when they're making purchasing decisions for schools and other institutions. No-brainer to me, maybe, but apparently a big fight.
If you'd like to learn more about what people are doing to push for a Farm Bill that respects workers rights and ensures that all of us -- no matter where we live, or how much we make -- has access to fresh, safe foods, check out the Community Food Security Coalition and the Food and Farm Policy Project.
Hear more about the report from Democracy Now! transcripts of Amy Goodman's interview with NLC Executive Director.