World Hunger Solved (And Other Dirty Thoughts)
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about dirt recently. And I’ve been thinking about hungry people, sick people, and poor people. And naturally, with all the political campaigning going on these days, I’ve been thinking about the government’s role in feeding, healing, and caring for hungry, sick, and poor people.
Maybe I just lost you there. Which is fine. No one’s making you stick around to hear a crunchy hippie talk about politics. But this isn’t really about politics. And yet, it’s all about politics.
Politics and dirt.
Hear me out . . .
Some friends of mine have started reading a book and they come over a couple times a month to discuss it with my husband and I. Red Letter Christians it’s called. A serious look at the teachings of Jesus (often printed in red letters in many Bibles) and the author’s stance on how that should affect the political involvement of followers of Jesus. At this point, I’ve only read the first two chapters. So this post isn’t meant to be a complete book review. But I just wanted to give you some background as to what sparked my most recent musing.
It started with my thinking about what kind of compost method we should start in our new backyard. We don’t have bins of any sort and I’d like to get started as soon as possible, so the heap method seemed to make the most sense to begin with. I’d also like to make a worm compost bin in the coming weeks, which I plan to name Wormwood Estates II (after building the original Wormwood Estates on a permaculture farm in New Zealand). Fun, right?! But I digress . . .
Composting. The concept is really fascinating. You take all your leftover vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, grass clippings, and fallen twigs and branches, add the proper conditions and some time, and you end up with this amazingly nutrient rich soil which you then spread onto your veggie garden. Then in the veggie garden, you add the proper conditions and some time, and your veggies grow and flourish. Bam. You have food. Which you then bring into the kitchen, chop up for dinner, and add the scraps back to the compost pile. Repeat this cycle ad infinitum and you have a completely sustainable system with zero waste.
Fast forward from my musing on dirt and kitchen scraps back to the book. I read a sentence about universal health care in America and feeding the poor of the world and I started to twitch just a bit. The point the author was making was well-intentioned. He was stressing the importance of Jesus’ mandate to bring His Kingdom to earth by feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and clothing the naked (see Matthew 25:31-46) and how that should influence my political involvement as a Christian. But I still twitched, and here’s why.
You see, the earth will give us food – if we only provide the right conditions and a small amount of work. The kindness of God in this way is so wonderful and extravagant! This cycle He has designed and set into motion is such a brilliant and sustainable model! And yet, instead, we think we are taking care of the poor and hungry in Third World nations and in urban settings here in the States by sending them handouts of our processed crap. It’s well-intentioned, well-meaning charity (for the most part), but do you see that it only teaches people to rely on cheap handouts? The food we send is void of nutrition. In fact, it leaches nutrition from the bodies of those who consume it. It only encourages more strife in those places. More reason to be lazy and wait for handouts to arrive. Handouts that rely on a wasteful amount of unsustainable energy to produce and on chemicals that devastate the soil and bring death in the long run.
You see, the blessings of the LORD only ever bring good – never harm. In any way! It’s only ever good, all the time. (Check out Proverbs 10:22) No industrial food conglomerate or pharmaceutical giant can make that claim. Not even close! Chemicals concocted in a lab will ultimately bring death and destruction, but I want to choose LIFE when I care for the poor and needy and hungry and sick.
And yet, it’s a difficult topic to bring up when you’re discussing the problem of world hunger or universal health care. Because most people don’t want to address the one caveat that throws a monkey wrench in to the plan. It’s called personal responsibility.
It’s called work.
It looks like individuals in crappy situations making a personal choice to unplug themselves from the matrix, so to speak, and to take their food and their aid in their own hands – with the help and care of genuine people with the means to educate and assist them. They first have to have a reason to get up off their asses and make a compost pile for a garden of their own, for example. They have to be willing to not rely on cheap handouts anymore. We all need to learn that not only will this food be mostly free (other than the work required), but it will cause us to be healthier and more alive. Now we don’t require the same level of universal healthcare and an overpriced pill for every ill. It’s an upward spiral of life instead of the downward one our current model propagates.
But people need to know these things and truly believe them before they will take it upon themselves to act. And how will they know if no one tells them?
You guys, this is something that has been growing inside me for quite some time now. I believe it’s the Voice and the Message I’m supposed to carry. So, will you help me out and spread this message too? You can start with the social icons below. Like this on Facebook, tweet it out, pin it, email it to your friends, family, & co-workers.
Then look into volunteering with a garden-based organization that serves the hungry and needy in your city. If you’re in Nashville, you can check out The Nashville Food Project or Good Food for Good People.
It’s time to see some serious change in the way we care for other people! True charity and service brings LIFE!
This post is linked to Fight Back Friday, Sunday School, Monday Mania, Simple Lives Thursday
Comments are closed.
Simply Life
March 5, 2012 at 7:16 pmwe were able to compost in our last apartment and I LOOOVED doing it! it makes such a difference- I can’t wait until we can do it again!
Darlene
March 15, 2012 at 9:39 pmGreat post! I had to read through it twice to “get” it all. At first I was upset,then I read it again and understood what you were saying. With all the politics in the news nowadays,I just shut down when I perceive anything political. I am so tired of all the negativity.I’m glad I read your post again to see what you were saying! I compost and love growing our food.Each year I try to add more. Darlene
Lori Winter
March 19, 2012 at 8:36 amThanks for reading through a second time Darlene ;) I agree with you – all the negativity in the media is draining!
Emily @ Butter Believer
March 18, 2012 at 3:45 amLori. You’re amazing. I heart you, big time.
I don’t even know what else to say except that every part of me agrees with every single word of this and I’m really, really inspired by it.
And yes, I will absolutely try to help you spread this message! This is something the whole world needs to hear. The direction the whole world needs to take. We should ask people to submit info for garden-based charitable organizations in their area and create a sort of database of them. And then spread that around too!
Lori Winter
March 19, 2012 at 8:37 amThanks Emily!! And thanks for helping to spread the message :-D
What an amazing idea to gather garden-based charities into one database. I’m definitely going to look into that!
Sunday School Blog Carnival #19 | Butter Believer
March 18, 2012 at 4:58 am[…] World Hunger Solved (And Other Dirty Thoughts) by Laurel of Leaves. I loved this. So, so much. I audibly said out loud, “Oh. My. Gosh. This is sooo GOOD!” as I got chills over this part, “You see, the earth will give us food – if we only provide the right conditions and a small amount of work. The kindness of God in this way is so wonderful and extravagant!” I also may have shouted out a few, hearty “AMEN!”s throughout the whole thing. If you want to make a difference in the health and lives of people in your community, or around the world, start here. This will get your thoughts pointed in the right direction. (Plus there are some pretty awesome bible references in there to check out. This IS Sunday School, y’all!) […]
Angie @ Bare Root People
March 18, 2012 at 7:49 pmThis is a very brave post. Kudos for pointing out dirt is indeed political & also for reading & considering Jesus’ actual words about the sick & poor, a not-too-common activity these days.
Compost IS amazing. I also agree that the food the US supplies — to its own citizens, paying customers or not — & to other nations is a travesty. I like your points about teaching farming & related skills to the poor. (Some world charities already do this, btw. Heifer International & Mercy Corps come to mind.)
I am saddened, however, by some of the assumptions in this post. Summarizing the cause & solution to global poverty in a few words: personal responsibility or lack thereof, allows us to reduce people, not to mention entire nations, to “lazy,” less-than-human entities that won’t just “get off their asses.”
My guess is that the mother of hungry children would love to get off her lazy ass & build a compost pile on the desert floor if only that genocide, war, disease epidemic &/or natural disaster weren’t in her way.
Is it that much of a leap to grasp that American poor may be up against significant structural barriers as well? Probably not warlords, no, but drug lords, yes. Lack of water, probably not, but lack of wheelchair access to employment &/or avenues of learning, sure. Age & disability are major factors, statistically, amongst the U.S. poor, uncomfortably enough.
We have enough income & leisure to sit around reading, writing & commenting on blog posts. What an amazing privilege. Compassion, kindness & the humility to acknowledge that we may not know all the answers or even understand all the questions would be nice as well. Perhaps Jesus was hinting at this.
Thank you for such a thoughtful post!
Lori Winter
March 19, 2012 at 8:47 amHey Angie, thank you for your thoughts! I really love starting a conversation like this. You do bring up some really great points. You are 100% correct – I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers to these kinds of issues or to think it can all be summed up into one word. And looking back, I wish I had made that clearer in my post. So I do apologize if I came across too harshly. I just find that sometimes people need a ‘kick in the butt,’ so to speak, to unplug themselves from this matrix of industrial agriculture and thinking that we are actually helping people with the GMO food that is sent to third world nations, etc. That’s the issue I wanted to focus on. And is it something that needs to be addressed on a case by case basis in a holistic way? Absolutely! But hopefully I’ve gotten some people thinking differently about exploring better ways to serve other people.
Thanks again for connecting! :)
Elisabeth
April 15, 2012 at 8:38 amI love your ideas. When God talked about caring for the poor, He set aside the fringes of the land and the food that had dropped to the ground while harvesting. It wasn’t a handout, and it wasn’t done anonymously or outside the context of a relationship. By the way, you might enjoy watching this movie at some time (which I do not profit from and am in no way related to). It’s much simpler than composting and yet it builds the dirt in a responsible and do-able fashion. http://backtoedenfilm.com/
Lori Winter
April 20, 2012 at 9:13 pmThanks so much for linking to the film! I’m really excited to check that out!
Emme
May 11, 2012 at 1:01 pmI completely agree! In America, welfare and WIC programs are contributing the decline of society’s health. Free formula and high-glycemic Gerber cereals for babies, free juices for kids, free cereal for kids, blocks and gallons of hormone-infested dairy and an itsy bitsy monthly fresh produce voucher are creating more of a demand for children to be on Medicaid — adding more doctor’s visits and antibiotics to combat what the government is giving low-income parents to feed them. It’s a vicious cycle that has to be stopped, but low-income families are in a tough position to turn down food that feeds their children. Thanks for speaking the truth!
Lisa
May 15, 2012 at 8:21 amI really like your blog, it is well written and informative. But there are so many factors that cobtribute to world hunger. In many deeloping countries land is used to grow food for Western consumption while the indigenous population starve. Drought, war, political ideals. Many people indeed have the knowledge but external favtors prevent its use.
Apple Cider Vinegar Facial Toner
June 22, 2012 at 10:32 pm[…] apple cider vinegar good for? For real, this stuff is probably the answer to world hunger (or maybe this is, but I don’t pretend to know for sure). In the world of natural beauty sans toxic chemicals, […]
A Glance in the Rearview Mirror (March 2012)
July 11, 2012 at 12:22 pm[…] the blog in March, you guys made your thoughts known on my politically incorrect post, World Hunger Solved (And Other Dirty Thoughts). The post was also featured on Butter Believer’s Sunday School blog carnival! I also made a […]