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?

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?

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

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.