Information
EarthNews
Hands That Feed, 3 Days to Make-or-Break Haiti’s True Story
Jul 31st, 2010
Haiti is an amazing test case of the risks and failures of the global food economy. Yet most recovery funding is being guided toward the same failed models of the past. Hands That Feed is a non-profit documentary that explores Haiti’s agricultural collapse, its role in the post-quake crisis, and the alternative, grassroots sustainable agriculture-based recovery models that seek to restore Haiti’s food supply and environment. There are 3 days remaining for the public to decide whether this film is made.
The importance of Hands That Feed was recently written about on Civil Eats, Grist.com, Food First, Elephant Journal, Change.org, and more than a dozen other food, haiti, and social justice blogs. The film is supported through grassroots funding on Kickstarter, and if it doesn’t hit its goal by Monday, the project simply dies.
Even former president Bill Clinton is admitting the incredible error of the policies he championed in the 1990’s, both in Haiti and globally. The following video opens with Clinton’s striking admission before the US Senate on March 10th, 2010. It then goes on the introduce the concept of Hands That Feed:
When will the international aid industry and policy-makers begin to actually act upon the implications of Clinton’s reversal? This is like turning a battleship. Yet Haiti’s strong agricultural traditions and demographics, combined with its ecological imperatives, have made the country a testing ground for emerging, alternative development models – approaches which use sustainable agriculture and agro-forestry as the basis for fostering self-reliance, vibrant rural economies, food security, and ecological restoration. Despite great efforts in the field, in order to secure the attention and funding required to truly shape a new future for Haiti, I believe it is absolutely critical that these demonstrated successes be brought to global consciousness through successful media. Thus Hands That Feed.
Furthermore, Haiti stands as an extreme test case of a failed development exercise in America’s backyard. Yet Haiti’s social and ecological challenges mirror those faced throughout much of the Developing World. Sustainable food security is the global challenge of the 21st century – the medium through which myriad other crises will be experienced. Haiti’s collapse, and the potential to rebuild sustainably, stands as an unparalleled “teachable moment” for the world that must not slip by.
- This post was written by Joshua Levin from the Hands That Feed project.
- SERVICEs
-
- URL
- KEYWORDs
Related
-
-
CulturalCreative
![[30aHEADS]](http://greenz.jp/en/wp-content/themes/greenz_v2-1/banner/gfBanner_30aheads.gif)
