Am's and Are's (not um's and ah's)
- Ashmead Green
- Nov 1, 2017
- 2 min read
I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I last posted here - I have missed diarising the the summer journey of my old oak in its entirety!
But here we are again and it was 2 quotes that flew around my brain as I passed old faithful (who hadn't upped and left in spite of the lack of attention!) this fine afternoon.
'I think therefore I am (Cogito ergo sum)' and 'You are what you eat'.
Descartes quote, quite apart from being more prosaic, speaks to me of existence only whilst Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's more poetic utterance 'You are what you eat (Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es)' seems far more concerned with overall well-being.and the nature of its achievement..
What got me thinking about the differences between these two was a white paper I had read earlier in the day, Eradicating World Hunger.
The following facts stood out for me:
The world produces enough food to feed everyone, yet, about 800 million people suffer from hunger. That is one in nine people. 60% of them are women.
About 80% of the world’s extreme poor live in rural areas. Most of them depend on agriculture.
Hunger kills more people every year than malaria, tuberculosis and aids combined.
Around 45% of infant deaths are related to malnutrition.
The cost of malnutrition to the global economy is the equivalent of USD 3.5 trillion a year.
1.9 billion people – more than a quarter of the world’s population – are overweight.
One third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted.
The world will need to produce 60 percent more food by 2050 to feed a growing population.
No other sector is more sensitive to climate change than agriculture.
How can we continue to live in a world that produces sufficient food to feed everyone yet allow 800 million to go hungry.
Most disturbing is the fact that 1.9 billion people are overweight with a good deal of these obese or morbidly obese.
Something must change. We need to redress the balances, or more correctly the imbalances, that exist.
For the majority we must strive to eat food which is better not only for us but also for a planet struggling to cope with our excesses. Those less fortunate must be provided with the means necessary to achieving the food security necessary to address their hunger and malnutrition.
I am currently on a mission attempting to address these two issues simultaneously through the launch of a new business dedicated to providing food designed to support improved health and wellness at the same time delivering a means of improving the circumstance for those providing the produce we will use in achieving this.
I think therefore I know I am what I eat.
It seems logical to me (well it does today!) that my journey in tackling this mission should fashion my daily musings inspired as they are by me ol' Mucker, the Oak,
Apologies in advance for any soapboxing (or mission inspired boredom!)
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