With the Jewish High Holy days fast approaching, check out Ruth Messinger’s JTA Op-Ed “Holidays Remind of What We Still Need To Do in Haiti,” which calls upon our individual and collective responsibilities to the Haitian people. Reflecting upon the ubiquitous liturgical refrain asking “Who shall live and who shall die?” that we recite in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Ruth urges the U.S. government to follow five key strategies for aid in the months and years ahead. These strategies include procuring goods and services locally.

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“Five Questions for…” Interview Series [The Global Food Security blog]
The Global Food Security blog will be running a “Five Questions for…” series beginning with Anna Lappé, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute and author of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of your Fork and What You Can Do about It. The format will consist of a short profile of the interviewee and their work, followed by five questions. “Five Questions for…” will be an occasional interview series where we hope to create a more immediate dialogue with those directly involved with global food security.

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Though media coverage of the flooding in Pakistan is far less robust than the coverage of the Haiti earthquake, there's been some recent buzz in the blogosphere. In assessing Pakistan's crisis, many bloggers have asked some version of the question "Why is no one helping?"

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Food Security in India [NY Times] Terrific letter to the editor by AJWS's Board Chair, Barbara Dobkin!

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Originally posted on the Pursue blog.

AJWS alumna and Pursuer Sara Hahn is currently participating in the 6th Annual UNESCO Intergenerational Human Rights Forum at the University of Connecticut. Sara wrote about an exercise on food security that took place during the Forum:

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Status of Female Farmers Rises During Food Crisis [Women's E-News]
"The women who grow more than half the world's agricultural produce have gained international recognition and aid since the start of the global food crisis in 2007. Instead of being seen as a minor, vulnerable group, international aid agencies have begun keeping sex-specific data and reaching out to them as development partners, said Jeannette Gurung, director of the Washington-based Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and National Resource Management."

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Originally posted on the Pursue blog.

It was 6:20 p.m. on Tuesday night and already a line had formed outside the Local: Mission Eatery, the four month old restaurant founded by Yaron Milgrom-Elcott. Dinner wasn't served on this chilly summer evening. Instead guests were sampling a chilled avocado soup, bread, olive oil, almonds, and tangy deviled eggs. For once, the food was not the focus of the restaurant, but instead guests turned their attention to the panel of speakers who discussed food justice, or the lack thereof.

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The headline of Sunday's front page New York Times article reads, "India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?" Of course it should. The article recounts the sobering fate of India's countless citizens who, after enduring extreme starvation and malnutrition, have fallen through the country's social safety net.

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• An in-depth look at the future of sustainable agriculture [Nature News]
• Where are the NGOs working in Haiti and what are they doing: an interactive map [InterAction]  

• A discussion on whether the free market can deliver food security - Free Market and Food Security [Psychology Today]
• Coverage of the congressional hearing on empowering the Haitian public sector and grassroots community [Boston Globe]
• Report on draught and food shortage in Niger [Democracy Now]
• EU pushes democracy in exchange for development aid to Niger [Reuters]
• Africa’s food production potential [IRIN]
• Pointing fingers in Haiti [Huffington Post]