2008 Woodie Awards
While we go green, children starve
Julie Lord
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Opinion
This weekend, as I was partaking in my regular ritual of studying my checking account and resigning myself to a few weeks of rice and water, I came across a teeny, tiny little news story that mentioned something about a world food crisis.
Funny, I thought, feels like forever since I've seen the word "crisis" used in the news with a word other than "climate."
Needless to say, I was intrigued by this supposed "crisis." It wasn't long before I found myself staring jaw-dropped at my computer screen, wondering how I could have missed this story.
I pored over articles about "bread riots" in Egypt this week, people dying while attempting to steal flour, desperate Haitians making biscuits out of dirt and cooking oil. The price of basic foods like rice and beans has risen by half in the past year; in other words, a huge population of people who already couldn't afford food can afford even less.
No offense to Al Gore, but this seems like a much more immediate crisis than the possibility of global warming.
Of course, there are many world crises we are ignoring right now - the rampant spread of HIV in third world countries, mass genocide in Sudan and freshwater shortages in many areas, just to name a few.
For the past few years, however, all anyone seems capable of talking about is global warming, the climate crisis, going green and greenhouse gases - important things to talk about, no doubt. But is narrowing our focus so much really a good idea?
As much as I hate to admit it, I have to give some credit to "South Park." In a recent episode, two characters were infected with HIV and set out on a mission to find a cure. Along the way, they ran into people who told them not to expect much help, because AIDS is the disease of the 1980s and people are much more interested in cancer these days.
Doesn't that seem just a little too close to the truth? I remember when every school fundraiser went to buying food for the hungry or "adopting" starving children in Africa. Every commercial on television featured a B-list celebrity urging us to pick up our phones and save a malnourished youth in Kenya.
Funny, I thought, feels like forever since I've seen the word "crisis" used in the news with a word other than "climate."
Needless to say, I was intrigued by this supposed "crisis." It wasn't long before I found myself staring jaw-dropped at my computer screen, wondering how I could have missed this story.
I pored over articles about "bread riots" in Egypt this week, people dying while attempting to steal flour, desperate Haitians making biscuits out of dirt and cooking oil. The price of basic foods like rice and beans has risen by half in the past year; in other words, a huge population of people who already couldn't afford food can afford even less.
No offense to Al Gore, but this seems like a much more immediate crisis than the possibility of global warming.
Of course, there are many world crises we are ignoring right now - the rampant spread of HIV in third world countries, mass genocide in Sudan and freshwater shortages in many areas, just to name a few.
For the past few years, however, all anyone seems capable of talking about is global warming, the climate crisis, going green and greenhouse gases - important things to talk about, no doubt. But is narrowing our focus so much really a good idea?
As much as I hate to admit it, I have to give some credit to "South Park." In a recent episode, two characters were infected with HIV and set out on a mission to find a cure. Along the way, they ran into people who told them not to expect much help, because AIDS is the disease of the 1980s and people are much more interested in cancer these days.
Doesn't that seem just a little too close to the truth? I remember when every school fundraiser went to buying food for the hungry or "adopting" starving children in Africa. Every commercial on television featured a B-list celebrity urging us to pick up our phones and save a malnourished youth in Kenya.
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