Transcript ELCA World Hunger and Ethics of Eating Conference

ELCA World Hunger and
Ethics of Eating Conference
October 22-25, 2009
Waco, Texas
ELCA Region 4 Leaders Conference
Region 4
Goals of Conference
• . Have increased capacity to advocate--with
respect to the way food is distributed in this
country--on behalf of people who are
hungry, people who work to produce food, and
the environment. Reflect upon the ways in which
these issues impact the way we should eat.
2. Implement a project, action, or activity as a
follow-up to this event.
3. Subsequently participate in the Hunger
Leaders Network and potentially our online
community.
Guiding questions:
1. What are a few theological frames for thinking about
eating in a way that is just and healthy for ourselves and
the environment?
2. How is food distributed in this country? What is the
role of urban, organic, and conventional farming in this
system?
3. What are some local and regional issues for farmers
and farm workers?
4. How do these different ways of distributing food
locally, nationally, and globally impact: a) hunger in
urban and rural areas, b) the environment and climate
change; and c) worker justice?
5. How should we eat such that it is just and healthy for
ourselves and the environment?
6. What are facets of individual, synod, and
congregational advocacy for policies that would enable
everyone to eat this way?
Highlights from schedule
• Lecture on Food and Faith from Dr. L. Shannon
Jung, Professor of Town and Country Ministries,
St. Paul School of Theology
• Panel on Responding to Hunger in the
Community with County Hunger Coalition
representative and Social worker
• Panel on the Resources available in County
Extension Offices
• Lecture on Climate Change and Agriculture by
Dr. Travis Miller, Professor at Texas A & M and
County Extension
Highlights, Continued
• Panel on Worker Justice Issues from the Farm
to the Plate by Community based organizers
Sean Sellers and Anita Grabowski
• “Living on the Other Side” activity
• Lecture by Dr. Ben Champion, Assistant
Professor of Geography at Kansas State
University, on the Impact of our Food Choices on
Climate Change
• Visit to Nors Dairy
• Documentary on Mississippi Chicken
7 Spiritual Practices of Eating
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Saying Grace
Fasting
Feasting
Honoring the Body
Preparing Food
Sharing
Hospitality
Preparing our own meal
• “Life on the Other
Side”
• Similar to Tanzania
World Hunger Relief, Inc.- Waco,
TX
During a lecture
Nors Dairy – Waco, TX
Family farms…
• Fact:
In Kansas, the top
200 farms of 64,000
farms made more
than ½ of the money
Mr. Nors has to work full
time at a Snickers
Factory to support
himself, in addition to
his 300+ acre farm
The Indoor Outhouse we used
A complex issue
• Ethics- treatment of animals, treatment
of environment, treatment of workers
• Health factor
• Cost
• Impact on local and global markets
and economies
• Conflicting statistics
• Whose best interest?
• Overproduction
• Changes in farming practices and
techniques
Act on Ending World Hunger
R
E
A
D
Act on Ending World Hunger
Relief
Education
Advocacy
Development
What can you do?
• Write letters to corporations and
businesses you support
• Research the companies you support
• Keep supporting church with financail
contributions (supports synod, ELCA,
world hunger)
• ELCA Good Gift
• http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
ELCA Good Gifts
• $10 buys 10 chicks to help a family start an egg
business
• $15 provides health and dental care for a child in
an orphanage
• $30 supplies a pig to help a family out of poverty
• $50 donates a goat to provide milk, meat, and
fertilizer
• $125 offers a microloan to a woman starting a
new business
• $200 helps establish a community garden
ELCA World hunger
• Budget is over $20 million annually
• 73%- International hunger relief and
development
• 10%- hunger education and advocacy
• 10%- Domestic hunger work
• 8%- Administration, fund raising, and
communication
Millennium Development Goals
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower
women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other
diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development
Become a ONE Lutheran
• Direct an additional
one percent of the US
Budget to address
deadly poverty
• Support debt relief for
the world’s poorest
countries to help them
meet the Millennium
Development Goals
• Make the rules of
international trade fair
to all may benefit from
the global economy
ONE: The campaign to make
poverty history
1. Sign the declaration at www.elca.org/one
2. Join the ELCA’s e-Advocacy Network at
www.elca.org/advocacy
3. Tell a friend about the campaign
4. Wear the white ONE wristband (visit
www.one.org to order)
5. Learn more about the campaign at
www.elca.org/one
Quote about poverty:
“Some people are born on third base, but
think they hit a triple”
From the ELCA Social Statement,
“Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood
for All”
“God stands in judgment of those in
authority who fall short of their
responsibility, and is moved with
compassion to deliver the impoverished
from all that oppresses them: “Give justice
to the wea and the orphan; maintain the
right of the lowly and the destitute”
(Psalm 82:3)