Course: SAT 230 Managing Food Production Systems in the Urban Landscape

Reading and Multimedia Assignments

Multimedia Assignment 1
Multimedia Assignment 1

This first video is from Josette Sheeran, head of the U.N.s World Food Program.  She discusses the effects of hunger and malnutrition and how they can be reduced or even eliminated.  This video is not an “urban agriculture” video, nor even a general agriculture video; it is a video about what can be done, today, to end hunger.

As you watch the video pay attention to the programs she discusses that are being used in various countries around the world to help combat hunger and malnutrition.  Notice that these programs for the most part are not give-away programs or even charity in the most recognized sense of the word.  They are programs that enable people, often the very people for whom hunger is an issue, to solve the problem.

Notice also the segment on the cost of hunger and malnutrition and the economic benefit obtained by instituting programs that fight hunger.  Finally think of how urban agriculture can fit, and fit very well, into a program that enables people to gain access to nutritious food.  Think about the economic gain urban agriculture can provide not only to the producers of food but also to the community as a whole if it can break the cycle of hunger and malnutrition.

“Ending Hunger Now” video by Josette Sheeran, TED TALK, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

If you cannot see the video above, click here to open a tab to watch the video.