Global Changemakers Address Food Security

New York urban farmer Karen Washington speaks about increasing healthy food access, while Jose Olivas of Food Chain Workers Alliance listens. The panel discussion was moderated by Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food Tank, who was the media sponsor of the multi-day event. Photo by Michael Schwarz.

MediaVerks was honored to provide writing and social media services for this historic food security event in Atlanta.

How can we address food security in a world of plenty? More than 200 changemakers from Southern Africa, Latin America, and U.S. cities tackled this issue at the Global Summit on Food Security in Atlanta Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 2018. The event was sponsored by the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance (KFLA), with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Food Tank.

Attending were an African king, medical doctors, professors, an award-winning journalist, community activists, farmers, a political campaign strategist, food policy experts, a Member of Congress and government officials in looking at ways to better understand equity issues through the lens of food.

Ricardo Salvador of the Union of Concerned Scientists explained that hunger is caused by the inequitable distribution of power, financial capital, and resources at the global, national, and local levels.

“It’s not a food issue. It’s a power issue,” Salvador said. Referencing author Frances Moore Lappé, the Kellogg Fellow added, “It’s not about charity. It’s about assuring that circumstances that lead to hunger don’t exist. Give a person a fish or teach them to fish? It’s not about the fish: it’s about who owns the pond.”