Paula Theisen
It’s hard to not think about the world and be a bit worried. I like to listen, read, and watch the news. Every day I learn something a bit more concerning. Last week it was the United Nations more serious warning about global warming, and the looming incredibly short time-line to solve things. This week I heard a really scary interview with a scientist who has just been studying two very diverse ecosystems in the western hemisphere, one in North America and one in South America. He and his colleague have discovered that drastic numbers of insects have disappeared over the last ten years, and with them the next level up the food chain as well; that being many many birds and amphibians, most notably, the frog! The quickly warming of the planet is not allowing these tough but sensitive species time to adapt.
Every living thing needs food. Lucky for us humans, we can go to the grocery store. The wealthier you are, the more food you can buy. The wealthier you are, the more tasty and nutritious food you can buy. And I suppose if you are very wealthy, you don’t even have to prepare it or clean up!
This week’s news was revealing that America’s weapons industry is planning to sell Saudi Arabia 110 billion dollars’ worth of weapons; weapons that are in their own accumulation, “weapons of mass destruction”. I notice that that term is only used when it suits people. They have already sold them billions of dollars’ worth of weapons, and in fact, Saudi Arabia has been their number one customer since the nineteen nineties.
Food security in my mind at least, is the source of all the world’s unrest. People that don’t have enough food are desperate people. They are angry people. They will do anything to get food to survive. It is a basic need and a basic right. Young people everywhere are willing to fight for it, and they are. We are giving them weapons, and some people are profiting from it.
Even here in Prince Albert, our vulnerable youth are taking to gangs and violence to get what they need. There is no education for them; there are no skills training for them; there are no jobs for them that pay a living wage. There isn’t enough affordable decent housing for them. It seems like there is no hope for them accept what addictions might provide as a temporary fix.
Our great local organizations like the Food Bank and the Salvation Army and many more are barely keeping up to the needs here in Prince Albert. What to do? Share more? Gee that’s an old fashioned idea! In the olden days people went to their church every week, and they gave money. They gave quite a bit of money, and that was used to give back to the community. A lot of people still do that, and we are grateful that they do. It’s just not enough. People are hungry, and suffering poor health as a result of poor diet, right here in Prince Albert.
Being assured that everyone has enough healthy food to eat every day, is a great start to try and help our community be the best that it can be. I just wish more of the world leaders would think that way too. What the world and certainly the environment doesn’t need, are more weapons. What a difference 110 billion dollars could make in providing food and ways to grow food in the world.
