Browsing Posts tagged Gardening

by Lorraine Murray

A Well-Fed World is both an ideal and the name of a wonderful organization that works to achieve some important goals. They seek to make sure that:
AWFWLogoRoundNew-Web (1) all people have enough food, and the right kinds of food. The right kinds of food maximize well-being and minimize harm to people, animals, and the planet; (2) people are not underfed and undernourished, dying by the millions of “diseases of poverty,” such as hunger, nutrient deficiency, and dehydration; (3) people are not overfed and malnourished, dying by the millions of “diseases of affluence,” such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes; and (4) food is produced and distributed in ways that prioritize the common good—that nourishes people, protects animals, and replenishes the planet.

To that end, A Well-Fed World (AWFW) supports a number of programs that alleviate hunger with animal-free food and community-level farming. The organization, founded in 2001, took its inspiration from a 1999 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute that warned of the effects of the expanding “Livestock [Farming] Revolution” in developing countries.

save bothSome groups, such as Heifer International, have played into this global development by encouraging people to send animals into servitude in developing countries. They frame this exploitation as “empowering” and “sustainable,” “giving people the tools to provide for themselves” rather than just a handout.

What’s wrong with that? A Well-Fed World can tell you why animal gifts don’t necessarily help, and sometimes harm, the recipients and how these programs may be misleading to donors.

A Well-Fed World’s Top 10 Reasons to Say NO to Animal “Gifts”

1. Most recipients are lactose intolerant and harmed by dairy: While dairy is a source of calories, the resources used to produce it may be better spent on alternatives that provide a higher quality and quantity of calories, protein and calcium.

2. More farmed animals does not equate to less hunger: Pro-meat biases mean that sustainable plant crops that actually provide better nutrition and more income are often overlooked.

3. More farmed animals mean more mouths to feed: Many recipients of animal gift programs struggle to provide even the most basic care to the animals they receive.

4. Farmed animals do not just “live off the land”: They must actually have food and water brought to them. This food and water can be in direct competition with human consumption.

5. Farmed animals use a great deal of water: Raising animals requires up to 10 times more water than growing crops for direct consumption.

6. Experts disapprove of animal gift programs.

7. Animal gift programs are misleading: In reality, donations may not go toward the purchase of the selected animal, children may miss school to take care of the animals, and many animals endure mistreatment and neglect.

8. Animal gift programs have questionable spending: Former Indian minister for social welfare and animal protection Maneka Gandhi said, “Nothing irritates me more than charities abroad that collect money and purport to give it to women or children or for animals in Asia or Africa. Very little reaches the country or the cause for which it is meant. …This is cynical exploitation of animals and poor people.”

9. Animal gift programs raise concerns with charity-raters.

10. There are better gift-donation programs to feed people in need.
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by Gregory McNamee

Almost every gardener who’s ever lifted a trowel or spade knows the terrible feeling: while digging one of those tools into the earth, a poor passing earthworm gets caught in the downstroke and winds up, well, segmented.

Common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)--© Robert Pickett/Corbis

The Washington Post, published on an impossibly fertile part of the country blessed by ample rain, lots of woodland mulch, and plenty of worms, offers news that may assuage the guilt: if the cut is close enough to the head, then the head will grow back, and if close enough to the tail, then the tail will grow back. Have a look at the illustration, read into the piece, and feel a little better about the world. continue reading…

© 2015 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.