Local solutions for global challenges: how can we help?

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Pexels.com

>6 mins read. Approx. 640 words

The context:

October is an important month of the year for many reasons. Some of them are:

• Fall sets in most of north-east US, and we transition into cooler temperatures
• It’s the beginning of the harvest and festival season everywhere (Halloween in the US, Day of the dead in Mexico, Dussehra and Diwali in India and so on)
• Numerous international days of significance, especially in the week of October 14 :

1. Global Handwashing Day (2019 theme: Clean Hands for All)
2. International Day of rural women (2019 Theme: Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resilience)
3. World Food Day (2019 Theme: Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World)

Personal significance:

October is also a time to begin reflecting on your choices, decision, accomplishments and what needs to be done for the remainder of the year for some. Personally, its a time for me to reflect and analyze what I have been able to do to contribute towards alleviating the world’s biggest challenges. Here is my list this year:

1. One of the most significant achievements, professionally, in 2019 for me is to be selected as one of the first three women board members of a very driven nonprofit organization, Gravity Water, for 2019-20. Gravity Water is a fairly young U.S. nonprofit organization working to help children in schools access safe drinking water. Bali, Indonesia is one of their newest provinces of operation. Just a US$8 donation to Gravity Water will give drinking water to one child. One of my fellow board members is raising funds on the occasion of his birthday to bring water to kids in Bali, Indonesia. They are also hiring for a National Director’s role in Indonesia. Please contact me directly or write to dannyatgravitywaterdotorg for JD and how to apply.

2. Personally, my family and I have decided to become vegetarian going forward. I have been a life long vegetarian, and ate fish or seafood very sparingly. However, because of the recent evidence on how our daily choices and contributions can help combat climate change has driven my family to make their choice as well.

In conclusion:

People often dismiss ideas of how our daily choices and lifestyle impact the planet as a whole, so I do not get into those discourses with family and friends. The question that comes up often though is if we buy locally, as a consumer in the US, won’t it hurt the women farmers in Africa, Asia or Latin America. It is my intention that the readers of this blog shall at least stop and think for a minute about their daily actions and choices of their own about the following:

1. Buy and eat less meat: If possible, as a consumer, try to eat locally reared and minimally processed meat, poultry, dairy and eggs. Pay a premium price to eat the best but less of it.
2. Buy produce locally: We can all make a trip to the farmers’ markets once a week, decide to undertake meatless Mondays and get creative to incorporate more plant based foods in our diets. Country specific cuisines from across the world, including India and the Mediterranean, present numerous recipes/options without much effort.
3. Buy and eat more whole foods: Its a simple fact that eating an orange is better than drinking a glass or bottle of the same juice (you get the fiber without the added sugar and preservatives).
4. Buy fair trade items: For products that you know have to come from different parts of the world like coffee and chocolate, try to buy a fair trade seal product bearing items.
5. Support small grassroots organizations and initiatives: with your donations, in kind or tax-deductible monetary donations, these organizations make your contributions go the farthest to the real in need communities.

Think globally and act locally might sound like a cliché, however it has never been more relevant than in these times.