Step Up to the Plate: Ending the Food Crisis

Oct 20th, 2008 12:39 PM EST
By Field

On Thursday October 16th WHY and its partners held Step up to the Plate: Ending the Global Food Crisis in New York City. It was an amazing event… emotional, educational, and poignant. The event, which took place on World Food Day, was the launch of a National Call to Action and the beginning of a campaign to put the global food crisis on the American political agenda. The Great Hall at Cooper Union was packed with people passionate about global access to local, healthy, and affordable food, and enthusiastic to hear our speakers.

Acclaimed activists like Alice Waters (chef and founder of the Chez Panisse and founder of the Edible Schoolyard program), Raj Patel (author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System), Ben Burkett (president of the National Family Farm Coalition) and more each spoke about food access on a global and local level. I think the most stirring speech, though, came from Gerardo Reyes Chavez a farm worker and a lead organizer for the Coalition for Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, FL. He not only gave an impassioned speech about the state of farmworkers’ rights, but also made a lot of interesting points about who he believes really runs the food system in this country (from Taco Bell to McDonalds) and what we can do, and are doing, to change it. Even for people who already knew about the extremely poor conditions in which many farmworkers live, it took me to a new level to hear somebody talk about the pain of being separated from his family and his fear of dying. It inspired a new level of commitment, in me, to securing justice in our food system when we see that even in the worst of circumstances the fight and the passion to create change are paramount.

The Call to Action addresses the issue as much more than just food access, but also as a human rights issue as well. If we want to improve global trade, find alternative energy sources and end poverty at home and abroad I believe the next president must heed this call to action.

To read the Call to Action and then sign-on, click here.

To watch excerpts from last nights event, click here.

-Ellie Hurley, World Hunger Year (WHY)

TAGS: Agriculture, ONE, ONE Members, Trade