Blink:

Back in April, I provided detail about the official list of real issues compiled by the United Nations, specifically their online Twitter engagement.  Environment was ranked second.  Usually climate change dominates all Global environment conversations.  To me, we should be equally concerned about food security.  Environmental solution: Community!

Read On:

Food security is the state of having reliable access to sufficiently quantity of affordable, nutritious food.  The decline of food security will lead to Global social disruption.  Remember the event that triggered the Arab Spring?  Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after he was banned by the government from selling fruit at his local market to earn a meager living.  The event sparked public protests throughout Tunsia; the rest is history.

“To build a better world, start in your community.”  Last night’s fortune cookie.

My fortune cookie reminded me of a great TED Talk by celebrity chef/scholar, Dan Barber titled How I fell in love with a fish.  He speaks in depth about a fish farm in Spain with a sustainable ecosystem (note: worth googling).  At the end, he concludes we need a radically new agribusiness model; create conditions where every community will feed itself.

A great example of a food community project is Alaska’s Seeds of Change.  Located in Anchorage, it is a vertical, energy efficient hydroponic greenhouse that provides education and employment for young adults (16-24 years old) year-round.  Their leafy greens and herbs are sold at their local market, featured at a local restaurant plus delivered by Artic Harvest to Anchorage consumers.  A community project supplying fresh produce and building skills for future generations.

Are you engaged with a community project?