Maryam Henein, Truthout: Food security, poverty, gender inequality and climate change can all be addressed if we adopt a significant paradigm shift, according to the UNs Trade and Environment Review (TER), a 320-page report written by 63 authors from organizations around the world. They provide evidence with numerous coherent case studies and surveys. The solution to all these interrelated problems is establishing a conglomerate of small, bio-diverse, ecological farms around the world and a localized food system that promotes consumption of local/regional produce. I try to raise awareness about the need to shift away from globalizing to localizing, Helena Norberg-Hodge recently told actor and activist Russell Brand on his internet show The Trews (truth+news= trews). Norberg-Hodge is an analyst on the impact of the global economy and on cultures in agriculture worldwide. Localizing is a systemic alternative that has incredible power. In fact, small farms are known to be two to 10 times as productive as large industrial farms and much more profitable, not just in the developing world, but also in the developed world, reports the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS). Smaller diversified farms employee more people and use less land and water and produce more foods, says Norberg-Hodge in her interview with Brand. She explains that localization also shortens the distance between consumers and producers, which helps the environment and also ensures that you do not eat produce that is pretty much dead traveling such insane distances. Industrial agriculture and our globalized food system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, up to 50 percent if proper account is taken of emissions from land use change and deforestation, most of which are due to agriculture, and for food-related transport, processing, storage and consumption, writes ISIS. truth-out.org/opinion/item/27636-united-nations-calls-for-an-end-to-industrialized-farming Don Tipping, Chris Hardy, Jason Gallagher, Jim Garrison, The Global Summit,
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 06:14:29 +0000
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