Help the Homeless this Christmas

Blog Action Day 24 hours + 24,000 lives lost = Apathy

A few months ago I asked how much it would cost to end preventable starvation. The answer I got was in the order of an extra $50 billion a year in focussed aid.

That's a drop in the ocean of tears hungry children shed.

There can be no peace when children die and cry from hunger...

Just an increase of 0.4% of global GDP will end human suffering. Yet 99.3% of global GDP isn't enough - the developed would needs 99.7% ...

Yet the Wall St bailout cost $700 billion. That's 14 years worth of funding for war on starvation! In 50 years time that will have evaporated into thin air. So why not fill the world with joy and declare War on starvation!!!

Reducing death from lack of clean water and quality calories isn't rocket science. Neither is it Wall Street child psychological mayhem!

The numbers stack up...

Reduce the number starving by just 12 a day and starvation will be history in 2013.

Here's the song - where's the artist to sing it?

A Dozen a Day is the Message to Send!
=====================================
X-ers feel hezitayshun
Itz a Y-less gennarayshun
Itz thyme to become produ-sirs
Itz thyme to leave behind the you-zers!
Itz thyme to feed, the human race
If ya don't ya just, a waste a space
Ya think ya fone is where it's at?
Kidz r starvin yet ya don't-give-a-crap

Now don't get me rong.
Juz here this song.
It's thyme to end pollushun.
Not just the gutters or the creeks
Itz the minds of leaders n the geeks
Ya gotta activ8 to cre8 a solushun!
Call it a mess-age for the global soul.
Ending war n hunger iz our goal. (yourz 2!)

But don't rest now.
We'll shoot another holy cow.
Ya C itz up to U n U n U n U n U
'N all U DJs, ya gotta see what I say.
This message needs alla you to get on thru
Shache ya head say no more (wake the dead stop the war!)
I'm just 1 voice, so wot do I know?
I've a soul, my voice, 2 help the world grow!

(Chorus)
Rock hard peepul, coz all life has an end,
Just a dozen a day you've a message to send!
a message to send
a message to send
a message to send

Wall St Bail Out - War On Starvation Opportunity Wasted

The bail out of the rich and greedy on Wall St will cost $700 billion.

This money could have ended human starvation for 14 years, based on an estimate of $50 billion per year required to end starvation.

Time Magazine's Top 50 Blogs

Why isn't this blog listed? This topic is the most important on the planet.

Do you care that people are starving to death when there's enough food for everyone?

Child starvation is a crime.

Australia 2020 Vision - A forum for ending starvation?

Prime Minister Rudd has announced a 2020 Summit to gather the best minds in the country to help shape Australia's future.

So I hope there may at least be a passing reference to our need to have a global vision in which ending starvation is a priority.

As those who've been to church or read the bible know, if Jesus were around today, he'd do one thing.

Feed the poor! Remember the fishes and the loaves?

So regardless of your faith, let's REALLY aim on an event all of humanity can participate in and rejoice in...

The day when preventable starvation is ended - forever.

Starving child throws snowballs at Paris Hilton, Bill Gates, Oprah and Barack Obama

Absolutely nobody knows about this website. Which aint good if I'm to help end starvation!

So I've edited a video which includes a link here.

I wonder if it will work?

Perhaps generation Z will end starvation?

The term Generation Y first appeared in an August 1993 magazine AD Age editorial to describe those children born between 1980–1995. The scope of the term has changed greatly since then, to include, in many cases, anyone born as early as 1976 and late as 2000.

So the baby boomers sucked up resources and the iGen (Gen Y-less) care for the environment.

Will Generation Z care for people?

Christine Beatty and Kwame Kilpatrick threaten starvation

Christine Beatty and Kwame Kilpatrick threatens starvation as a news story. Why is there more internet in her than the fact 25000 people died of starvation yesterday?

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty testified in a 2007 civil case involving two cops who say they lost their jobs after investigating the mayor. Text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty have now surfaced causing some to believe they lied in court and that the two were having an affair. The more than 14,000 text messages were exchanged almost daily discussing city business, political gossip and even ‘American Idol.

A few kids died of starvation while you read that...

Is nature to blame for starvation?

It's too easy to blame nature. Human-made forces are making people increasingly vulnerable to nature's vagaries. Food is always available for those who can afford it - ­starvation during hard times hits only the poorest. Millions live on the brink of disaster in South Asia, Africa and elsewhere, because they are deprived of land by a powerful few, trapped in the unremitting grip of debt, or miserably paid. Natural events rarely explain deaths; they are simply the final push over the brink. Human institutions and policies determine who eats and who starves during hard times. Likewise, in America many homeless die from the cold every winter, yet ultimate responsibility doesn't lie with the weather. The real culprits are an economy that fails to offer everyone opportunities, and a society that places economic efficiency over compassion.

Source

Starvation of the haves vs starvation of the have-nots

How many poor starving kids in developing countries would believe that some wealthy people choose to starve themself?



Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia often control body weight by voluntary starvation, purging, vomiting, excessive exercise, or other weight control measures, such as diet pills or diuretic drugs.

A great video on ending starvation

Global crisis - 600,000 die of starvation in 24 days

By Jonathan Crabtree

The war on terror took a turn for the worse today as it was revealed 600,000 died of starvation in the last 24 days. Instead of living with the most basic of human rights of food shelter education and peace, these people died because of a lack of clean water and calories.

In recent days there have been numerous reports of animal cruelty in television. Why? Animals have been paraded in front of people and even touched! Shock horror!

Humans are the ONLY species that watch others die of starvation when there is enough food for everyone.

The human race should adopt the values and ethics of animals and let others survive in 2008.

People are animals, so lets' end the animal cruelty of starvation

By Jonathan Crabtree

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animal, of which animalia is the plural, and is derived from anima, meaning vital breath or soul. In everyday colloquial usage, the word usually refers to non-human animals. The biological definition of the word refers to all members of the Kingdom Animalia.

Therefore, when the word "animal" is used in a biological context, humans are included

So Greenpeace, the RSPCA and WWF should all be outraged that more people die of starvation every day than Pandas or whales. They're not.

You see more in the media about cruelty to pets than starvation. Why?

A man on the moon moment can end starvation...

By Jonathan Crabtree

Just 1 month and 1 day after I was born something remarkable happened...

President Kennedy called for a mission to send man to the moon during a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
— President Kennedy, May 25, 1961

Here is President Kennedy's famous speech at Rice Stadium.




So when will a President of the United States make a pledge to end starvation?

Here's President John F Kennedy's speech and handwritten edits.



The president cautioned Congress that the cost would be significant, more than $9 billion in 1960s dollars. Congress accepted the challenge.

Despite skeptics who thought it could not be accomplished, Kennedy's dream became a reality on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong took a small step for himself and a giant step for humanity, leaving a dusty trail of footprints on the moon.

People may be skeptical about whether, if we made the commitment, we could end starvation.

I'm not. Are you?

Will Biofuels Demand Cause Mass Starvation?

Will grain production to produce bio-fuels lead to a transfer of crops for food to crops for fuel?

Will the current oil price of $US 100 a barrel contribute to starvation? Cuban President Fidel Castro has strongly criticised the use of biofuels by the US, in his first article since undergoing surgery last year.

He said George W Bush's support for the use of food crops in fuel production would cause 3bn deaths from hunger. Let's hope this is politicking and NOT reality!

Interesting read...

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004908.html

My own view is that the increase in the information economy will greatly reduce the need to commute to and from work. Cyber/tele commuting will do far more for peak hour traffic jams and gridlock.

And lessen our need for oil.

So it's not all doom and gloom. We should all remember though. We don't need oil! Ride a bike. Walk. Join a carpool. Ask your boss if you can work from home 1 day a week.

Think different!

Nic Jacko's High School video to help end starvation

Starvation to end October 2013?

Daily Starvation Rate 25,000
Daily Reduction 12
Days to End of Starvation 2,083
Current Date January the 19th 2008
Starvation Ended! October the 2nd 2013

If NASA can cost and plan a mission to Mars, why can't we just save a dozen people from starvation a day and end starvation by 2013?

Ten Years On... My Goal to Feed Starving Kids

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

What the world spend in 1998 rather than ending starvation

US$8 Billion Cosmetics in the United States
US$11 Billion Ice cream in Europe
US$12 Billion Perfumes in Europe and the United States
US$17 Billion Pet foods in Europe and the United States
US$35 Billion Business entertainment in Japan
US$50 Billion Cigarettes in Europe
US$105 Billion Alcoholic drinks in Europe
US$400 Billion Narcotics drugs in the world
US$780 Billion Military spending in the world

Ccompare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in ALL developing countries:

US$6 Billion Basic education for all
US$9 Billion Water and sanitation for all
US$12 Billion Reproductive health for all women
US$13 Billion Basic health and nutrition

Source: Human Development Report 1998, Chapter 1, p.37, United Nations Development Programme

Missiles or the end of starvation?

For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years

Fact - The world can end starvation

The world has the resources to address all the problems [of hunger & starvation] with the technology and the global wealth that exists. However, do we have the will and commitment to do so?


Source: Nor, Salleh Mohd (2001). Globeglance: We Can Have Enough Food. Retrieved May 21, 2007, from United Nations Web site

The intenational aid promise to be kept to end starvation

Facts on International Aid

At the Monterrey Financing for Development Conference in 2002, world leaders pledged “to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7%” of their national income in international aid. In today’s dollars, that would amount to almost $200 billion each year.

In 2005, total aid from the 22 richest countries to the world’s developing countries was just $106 billion—a shortfall of $119 billion dollars from the 0.7% promise. On average, the world’s richest countries provided just 0.33% of their GNP in official development assistance (ODA). The United States provided just 0.22%.

The cost of supporting countries to meet the Goals would require donors to increase ODA to 0.44% of GNP by 2006 (or $135 billion) and to plan for a scale-up to 0.54% by 2015 (or $195 billion) – well within the bounds of the 0.7% promised in Monterrey. This means that of the combined rich world GNP of approximately $30 trillion dollars, on average just $150 billion a year would be enough to get the world on track to ending extreme poverty throughout the world.

Five countries have already met or surpassed the 0.7% target: Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Five other countries have committed themselves to a timeline to reach this target before 2015: Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In May of 2005, all members of the European Union (except for those 'new' members who joined after 2002) agreed to meet the target by 2015. This brought the number of rich countries who have already met, or have committed to meet, the 0.7% target by 2015 to seventeen.

Public perceptions reflect support for higher levels of aid. When asked what percentage of the federal budget they think goes to foreign aid, Americans' median estimate is 25% of the budget, more than 25 times the actual level. Only 2% of Americans give a correct estimate of 1% of the budget or less. When asked how much of the budget should go to foreign aid, the median response is 10%. Only 13% of Americans believe that the percentage should be 1% or less. Over 60% of Americans believe that contributing 0.7% of national income to meet the Millennium Development Goals is the right thing to do.

Source

Child starvation data from UN

"Hunger and malnutrition are the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths, killing nearly 6 million children each year."—Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, (2005). The State of Food Insecurity in the World. Retrieved May 20, 2007, from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Web site ,

Is there enough food to go around to end starvation?

Abundance, not scarcity, best describes the world's food supply. Enough wheat, rice and other grains are produced to provide every human being with 3,200 calories a day. That doesn't even count many other commonly eaten foods - ­vegetables, beans, nuts, root crops, fruits, grass-fed meats, and fish. Enough food is available to provide at least 4.3 pounds of food per person a day worldwide: two and half pounds of grain, beans and nuts, about a pound of fruits and vegetables, and nearly another pound of meat, milk and eggs - ­enough to make most people fat! The problem is that many people are too poor to buy readily available food. Even most "hungry countries" have enough food for all their people right now. Many are net exporters of food and other agricultural products.

Source

Starvation on the internet...

A few links reporting starvation statistics and news...

Famine, Fear and Fizzled NukesChepang community in Dhading under starvationZimbabweans Facing Starvation - UNNorth Korean Food Crisis LoomsStarvation Stalks Indian Tea Plantations132 Million in Asia Face StarvationNorth Korea Facing 1 Million Ton Food Shortage Zimbabwe Faces Major Food ShortageMugabe Cornered Amid Famine FearJerusalem and Washington Bring Palestinians to the Brink of StarvationSouth Korea: Many North Koreans Go HungrySudan: Famine that Kills: DarfurDarfur Refugees Trapped in a State of Bare Survival and Little HopeDjibouti: Dry Spell Causes Food Insecurity in NorthwestFears of North Korean Famine MountCCpur meet discusses district’s economy woesSomalia: Starvation Levels Decrease In SomaliaUganda: Over 100 Karimojong StuckZambia: Urgent Need to Feed the HungryOxfam Closes Offices in DarfurUN: Urgent Aid Needed to Avert Anarchy, Starvation in SomaliaEthnic Cleansing By Starvation Christian “AIPAC” Supports Palestinian StarvationKenya: 3.5 Million People Face The Threat Of Starvation – Says Action AidEastern UP villages battle starvation 15 Million People Face Starvation in Horn of Africa: UNAs Millions Face Starvation, Kenya's MPs Demand Pay Rise Al-Mubadarah Warns Against Israel's Policy of StarvationWorld Ignoring Hunger Threat to 2 Million in BurundiFamine Experts Say Niger Faces Another Difficult YearFamine Woes In Africa Require New Solutions 40,000 children face starvationN.Korea rationing raises starvation risk: groupUNICEF Briefing on Hunger among World's Children Breaking stranglehold of hungerFloods could push North Korea back into famineAngola/Guinea-Bissau/CPLP: Summit Reiterates Commitment To Fight Famine, PovertyThousands faced with starvation in KwaleLikoma residents claim starvation

News report on ending starvation

Ending Starvation - The Graphic Truth

Here's the graphic truth about ending starvation. World leaders need to know this is what we want. What do we want? The end of starvation! When do we want it? 2013!

Starvation & Poverty Statistics

Every 3.6 seconds someone starves to death and 3/4 are children under the age of 5.

More than 2.8 billion people, close to half the world's population, live on less than the equivalent of $2/day.

More than 1.2 billion people, or about 20 per cent of the world population, live on less than the equivalent of $1/day.

South Asia has the largest number of poor people (522 million of whom live on less than the equivalent of $1/day). Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of people who are poor, with poverty affecting 46.3 per cent or close to half of the regions' population.

Nearly 1 billion people are illiterate; more than 1 billion people do not have access to safe water; some 840 million people go hungry or face food insecurity; about one-third of all children under five suffer from malnutrition.

The estimated cost of providing universal access to basic social services and transfers to alleviate income poverty is between $50 to 80 billion, which is less than 0.5 per cent of global income.

The top fifth (20 per cent) of the world's people who live in the highest income countries have access to 86 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP). The bottom fifth, in the poorest countries, has about one per cent.

The assets of the world's three richest men exceed the combined Gross Domestic Products of the world's 48 poorest countries.

How to save someone starving to death...

Having declared war on starvation, I guess I better know what to do if I met a starving person.

People starving to death can be treated in the same way I once saved a possum. However you have to treat the starving person with care and cautiously or shock can set in.

Firstly the starving person should be given small amounts of sugared water. After this follow up with diluted milk, followed by whole milk. Then once the person can digest these liquids, can simple foods be given.*

So what happens next? Let's fast forward 20 years. The person you saved is now aged 25.** And you are a legend! The girl you saved has been educated and has a job. She has started a family of her own and her family and her children tell the story of hoe YOU were such a hero back in 2008.

Of course you feel pretty modest about your hero status. You say anybody would have done the same in your situation.

But they don't!

The furthest by time anybody lives from anybody else is 22 hours in a Boeing 747.*** Yet how far away are we from anybody by phone or email? The answer is seconds.

So if you saw a starving child 100 metres away you'd help it, just as you might help a lost puppy. A hundred years ago it took months to sail from one country to another. Now it only takes seconds to be amongst the world of children needing a sip of sugary water to live another hour...

So why don't we simply end starvation? And what can we do?

Subscribe to my blog and we'll see if we can work it out together!

SOURCES:
* Source
** Why 25? Well that's likely as 3/4 of people dying from a lack of clean water and calories (starvation) are aged under 5.
*** The earth's circumference is 40,075 km. As a Boeing 747-400 cruises at 913 km/h the time to go half way around the world is in theory, about 22 hours.

The World's New Year Resolution - End Starvation

A few days ago it was reported that Angelina Jolie rubbed caviar cream onto her face and arms to look younger. The cost per treatment is $400.

What a strange world. To most people who know what caviar is, it's a delicacy. Now rich people rub it into their skin!

So because of this news I wrote a letter about the World's New Year Resolution should be...
===============================

THE WORLD'S NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

Caviar is a modern miracle.

It makes the world's #1 celebrity humanitarian, Angelina Jolie, look younger.

So should the world undertake plastic surgery? Should we all squash fish eggs into our face?

No... Let's just end starvation. It can be done. Yet world leaders are distracted.

I Googled "end terrorism" and got 108,000 responses. So is it any wonder the world wastes trillions of dollars hunting down morons with death wishes?

Kyoto is cool too, as "end global warming" scored 49,500 Google responses.

So I just Googled "end starvation" on behalf of the 781 children who just died in the last hour.

The bad news is "end starvation" only scored 8,570 responses on Google.
Yet the good news is that ending starvation is MUCH easier than ending terrorism or global warming!

It's cheap too!

The war in Iraq, the coalition of the willing's best attempt yet to "end terrorism" has cost the USA alone $481 billion. Let's round this up to half a trillion dollars all up.

Yet that's nothing compared to the cost of global warming that kicks in at $9 trillion.

If ending starvation was on sale, you'd most likely find it at the Reject Shop or some other discount superstore. You see it's a bargain. Where else can you buy such a noble goal as ending starvation for a mere $50 billion a year?

The answer is you can't. And as any parent knows (I've got three) there can be no peace when children cry (and die) from hunger...

If just 12 more people every day get clean water and quality calories, starvation will be ended by 2012. Subtract calories from obese countries, add them to starving countries and both survive.

Caviar anyone?

Copyright 2007 Jonathan Crabtree. May be reproduced in full provided copyright notice remains.

Dear Jonas, I've decided to declare war on starvation... It's got to end...

Jonas I'm pretty sure you don't have intenet access in Mozambique. I guess what little spare time you have is spent collecting wood.

How our worlds differ. My kids spend much of their time on a computer game called Playstation. When they get bored they might surf Youtube or chat online. And when they get hot, they go for a swim in a sparkling blue swimming pool in our back yard.

If you know much about Australia, you might know about crocodiles or kangaroos. Like much of Africa, Australia is in the midst of a severe drought. So we all do our best to keep our showers to 4 minutes.

So why am I writing to you? And why a blog?

I guess the answer is that it's better than crying...

After the loss of a child I began to sponsor children like you. Now 21 years later, you are the third child I've sponsored - yet never spoken to, let alone met.

This year I decided to forget my usual list of New Year Resolutions. They always seem to be: get out of debt, improve my relationships, change my job or lose some weight.

So this year I simply decided not to have a New Year Resolution for myself. I never seem to keep them anyway. This year would be different. This year I decided my New Years Resolution is to declare war on starvation!

NOTE: Jonas is the 9 year old boy I sponsor in Mozambique. I've also sponsored children in Papua New Guinea and Senegal.