What a big day, with much to reflect on. I’m still at this Peace & Justice conference with its theme of Food Security. What follows will be a bit of a summary of the day but I cannot attempt to put everything in.
As mentioned yesterday, this is predominantly a Catholic event, however an ecumenical Morning Prayer service was held this morning, led by a female Anglican priest, Sarah, and I read one of the readings. It was a mini ‘Lamas’ liturgy.
Our morning session began with a couple of ‘witnesses’ or testimonial stories. One was a refugee from Uganda. She told us how her family and community had been decimated by the cutting down of all the trees. She didn’t say this but I found out later that many of her family were killed, and she fled. It took the UK Government 3 years to consider her refugee application (sound familiar?) and her application for asylum was denied. She was detained in a prison for 3 months but a local MP and charity workers secured her release. However she was not allowed to work, so she and her children were totally reliant on charities – for food, accommodation, everything. There were no choices about food, just desperation.
The next plenary speaker was Fr Shay Cullen SSC, a past Nobel Peace Prize nominee). His talk was entitled “Can fair trade help feed a hungry world?” Shay’s story was quite amazing. He has been working in the Philippines since 1969 where he found a huge sex industry amongst women and children, related to the US military bases there.
Shay suggested that impoverished people have eroded souls. Fair trade then, is not just about buying and selling commodities, but about human dignity, and justice. 1 billion people go to sleep hungry tonight, all around the world in both developing and developed countries with the highest percentage of 642 million in Asia. There has been a very large increase (146 million) just in the last couple of years. Shay explained the importance of nutrition to a child before 3 yrs of age and how undernourished children will suffer brain damage. 5.4 million children die per year from hunger.
Shay then brought things a little closer to home for the locals. Women are being brought in from Eastern Europe and sold at Stansted Airport as sex slaves. Hunger has caused them to be so very vulnerable.
Shay also challenged us with the idea that Food Security exists for developed nations, at the expense of the developing/poor nations. Developed nations purchase much land to grow their own food. Land is often also turned into growing fuel crops eg sugar for ethanol, rather than for growing food.
Part of Shay’s work was to coordinate the beginnings of a dried mango factory in the Philippines as they had had excesses of mangoes which were fed to animals or tossed out. Now there are homes for children and women victims of sexual abuse. Children are rescued from prisons and given a new home and opportunities. We were given a sample of the dried mango that they now export – yum!
Next we had another couple of ‘witnesses’. One was a professional ballet dancer who was taught to loathe food, weighing herself twice a day, taking laxatives and diet pills. Food became her enemy. This story presented a different challenge but one that is prevalent in our society. How do we change people’s attitudes towards food? How can we encourage healthy eating and healthy sizes – even for ballerinas?
The next plenary speaker was Elizabeth Dowler, University of Warwick, member of the Iona Community, and Food Ethics Council.
Elizabeth suggested that we could use food/nutrition as a lens for looking at society.
In the UK and other similar nations, the “world comes to us on a plate”, and we are unaware of sources, components etc. Although many complain that food is expensive here, it is relatively cheap because other people, and the environment, pay the price. The UK imports 50% of its food, the majority of which is fruit/vegetables.
However, for those struggling with money, food is the most ‘flexible’ item on the budget. Utilities bills etc tends to be the priority. This means that people can’t afford to make mistakes with the food that they have, so they tend not to experiment or create variety.
Elizabeth also noted that the Scandinavian and German governments both advocate for eating less meat.
After lunch (speaking of food!) we had 2 workshops. There were many to choose from but I went to “LOAF on a budget” and “Is meat a moral matter?”. LOAF stands for local, organic, animal friendly, fair trade. They are general principles but ones in which we can try to incorporate into our budget and lives. We know that organic and free range food is often more expensive than the alternatives, so one suggestion for LOAF on a budget was to set aside a percentage of your food budget to be spent this way. Give yourself achievable goals but worth making an effort rather than thinking it’s all too hard. Buying as a group is also worthwhile considering eg getting a group of neighbours together, or church folk and buy in bulk, take turns to go to farmers market etc.
The “Is meat a moral matter?” workshop essentially assumed everyone should be vegan or vegetarian. As most people were already, I guess it seemed fair enough. One reason given was that you cannot have a non-violent piece of meat. So there is the matter of the animals themselves, their right to life etc. Then there’s the methane emissions, the amount of water required, and the amount of land required for meat production.
After my vegetarian evening meal, we had “The Big Food Debate”. This was great as it highlighted different issues from different perspectives. They debated whether organic farming could feed the world. They talked about technology and how high technology can be used badly so ends up being very low technology. For instance thousands of people have been killed by pesticides.
There was affirmation that nutrition content is higher in ecological systems.
There was discussion of GM (genetically modified) crops, and whether they had value or not.
They did however seem to agree on the need for good soil. Carbon can be buried. Water can be conserved by the biggest dam in the world – humous enriched soil. Whereas, fertilizers strip the soil and it can no longer hold any moisture increasing the amount of irrigation required.
There was a call for funding into soil/crop biodiversity rather than GM crops. For instance, 5678 species are said to exist in a rice ecosystem.
We were challenged to be change merchants and to be conscious consumers.
After all of that was the option of a dance or a drink at the bar (this is a very civilized church conference centre!). I went and watched the dance for a while – essentially a barn dance, then came in to write this. It’s late and I’ve realised how sleep deprived I really am!
So, with all of that food for thought, I bid you good night.
blessings Leigh, much food for thought ! J
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