Silent Tsunami

I'll get back to cute pictures and the like soon, but I need to share this with you first.

... the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned of mass starvation and other dire consequences if food prices continued to rise sharply.

"As we know, learning from the past, those kind of questions sometimes end in war," he said.

He said the problem could lead to trade imbalances that may eventually affect developed nations, "so it is not only a humanitarian question."

Grrrrr... because we can't be expected to prevent mass starvation unless there's something in it for us, right? It makes me angry and sad that Mr. Strauss-Kahn has to frame the coming disaster in these terms to have any hope of motivating the richest nations.

According to this CBC article, the World Food Programme needs $755 million just to maintain existing emergency operations as food costs rise.

Here's a letter I'm firing off to Stephen Harper (and copying to my MP) this morning. I encourage you to find out more about what's happening, then ask the Prime Minister and your Member or Parliament to give priority to this "silent tsunami that respects no borders." (Feel free to copy this text into your own email, if you need some inspiration.)

Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Your Member of Parliament: find here

Dear Prime Minister,

In the next few months, Canada (as a member of the G8 and UN) will be presented with a plan to address the mounting global food crisis. As the price of staples like wheat, corn and rice skyrockets, World Bank head Robert Zoellick has warned that “100 million people in poor countries could be pushed deeper into poverty by spiralling prices. …We have to put our money where our mouth is now so that we can put food into hungry mouths. It's as stark as that." ¹

Canada is a wealthy nation, and part of what enables us to live at the level of security and luxury that we do is our participation in an unjust world economy. The full effects of rising food and fuel prices may eventually trickle down to us, but long before we directly feel the impact, our most vulnerable neighbours in the global village will be faced with starvation, riots, and weakening political and economic stability. (Many already are, as we have seen in Haiti.)

We have a moral imperative, as fellow human beings, to respond to this crisis quickly. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon estimates that the World Food Programme “needs an extra $755 million to cover the rising costs of existing emergency operations.” ²

I am calling on you, Mr. Harper, to do everything in your power to ensure that Canada steps up to take immediate and meaningful action. Already, President Bush has released $200 million in urgent aid. Britain pledged an immediate $59.7 million on Tuesday. The citizens of this country have shown themselves to be generous and compassionate in the face of global disaster. I urge you on behalf of concerned Canadians, to commit to meeting the goals and targets that will be set forth by the international community without delay.

¹ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7344892.stm
² http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/22/un-world-food.html?ref=rss

EDITED TO ADD: If you send a letter to your MP, be sure to sign it with your address so that they know you are one of their constituents. I really encourage you to do that... if twenty or thirty of us all send something off to the MP who covers the tri-city area, it WILL get noticed. (Look at the verbal acrobatics I go through to keep our location hush-hush!)