24 Hours Alert: Act Now on Agriculture!
The Senate vote on the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill has been bumped up to THIS WEEK, leaving us only 24 hours to collect signatures on our petition asking the Senate to fully fund President Obama’s request for $1.36 billion for global agriculture.
Sign the petition now, here. And don’t forget to share it with your friends.
The number of hungry people in the world is increasing, from 915 million in 2008 to 1 billion in 2009. Last year, more than 140,000 ONE members called on the G8 to take emergency action to combat the global hunger crisis and to invest in agriculture. The U.S. and other G8 nations responded with emergency aid and now, President Obama is seeking longer-term solutions to help the world’s poorest people grow more food and stop the spread of hunger.
Increased funding for smart, sustainable agricultural solutions will be critical to preventing another food crisis. Right now, that’s up to our senators — and they’re not going to take action unless we let them know it’s important to us.
We’ll be delivering your signatures on this petition today and tomorrow. That gives you just 24 hours to take action and tell your friends to sign, as well.
If we can convince the Senate to increase funding for agriculture, that will generate tremendous pressure on world leaders to make similar life-saving investments when they gather for the G8 Summit in Italy next week. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity.
-Emily Stivers
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July 7, 2009 at 4:16 am
The G8 is shifting it’s focus from food aid to agriculture… while thinking long term is great, to rape an old cliche: you can’t teach a starving man to fish!
There is a need to think short term too. The world food program does this very well with their Purchase for Progress initiative: http://bit.ly/wvmC
By buying food aid locally, they feed the same locals, feed the local economy and encourage the local agriculture.
It’s a clever balance and real solution to feeding the hungry 1 billion, while investing in the future.