Its a factor of our economic system–which accepts that the "market system" is based on supply/demand/profit for those who control resources. Profits for corporations like Archer Daniels Midland, ConAgra are exploding and we accept that this is the outcome of our economic system–and that it has to be this way.
But our economic system can change–and it changes when we realize that we've inherited a system of values that we CAN question and change. It is not necessary for us to perpetuate this system–and if we truly care for our children we will change it to one that is built on caring for humans and the planet.
One way to do this is to stop acting as if we're powerless victims and take charge of our own lives and survival. Food–one of the most vital resources on the planet (next to water), can be grown by anyone, any where. Yet, over the last 100 years, we've let ourselves become beholden to a few corporate powers to control this resource. Now, with farming highly concentrated into the corporate industrial farming systems and food prices being masterfully manipulated by the stock market to increase prices to the benefit of the few stockholders, we all find ourselves at the mercy of price increases that are leaving more and more people with not enough food.
The solution?
1. Grow your own food. Whether you have a lawn you can rip up or you use self-watering container gardening boxes (the easiest way to grow lots of food!), you can do this.
2. Build a neighborhood of people working together to grow food. Again–rip up your lawns or build a network of self-watering container gardens where you coordinate a group of 3-6 homes and determine who will grow which foods and then share the bounty–in a very short amount of time, you'll have food.
3. Buy two extra self-watering container gardens, enough soil to fill them and green bean seeds and donate them to a local food bank. Let the Food Bank give them to people who arrive to pick up food and show them how to start growing their own!
4. Send $100 to Mercy Corps which is working in 38 countries around the world to help those who need food. Put a request on these dollars that they are for the purchase of self-watering container garden boxes and soils and seeds. That $100 will purchase 3 boxes/soil/seeds and people in these areas can start growing their own–even if they don't own land. Within 4 months they'll be producing food and this will enable them to combat the rising food prices. (Imagine 10,000 garden boxes showing up in Haiti) :)
Want to build a caring economy? Grow your own food–and discover that your survival isn't dependent on money–but on your self. Remember, give a man a fish...and he eats for a day–teach your SELF to grow your own food–and you eat great food for a lifetime.
PS...the 3 links to container gardens are all different–giving you lots of options as to where you purchase them. And if you're especially handy–you can even build your own.
