Well I have just completed the easiest protest I think I have ever done. As I wrote in ‘How to be an armchair activist’, I have just finished the COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CHANGE – WORLD HUNGER STRIKE. My 5 day commitment to this protest started at midnight on Sunday October 18^th and was concluded at midnight on October 23^rd.

Watch the short YouTube ‘Eyes Wide Open’ and you’ll want to get involved

The protest campaign has two goals and I think it will allow thousands of people to take part between now and Copenhagen on December 7^th. The first objective is to send a strong message that we need world leaders to make binding emission reduction agreements at the up coming COP15 meeting. The second is to raise awareness of those who will perish from starvation as a result of climate change in the coming years. These innocents, mostly in the Third World, haven’t been responsible for the emissions that are now due to haunt our futures on the planet, but they will be some of the worst affected by the rising temperatures around the globe, that these emissions will result in. We know that they will suffer intensified droughts and crop failures, as are already plaguing most of East Africa, where only recently it was reported that in Kenya alone, 23 million are now at risk of starvation. With only 25 cents a day needed to feed a starving child, the money I raised through pledges from family and friends, will go a little way in assisting. It’s not much, but will feed 1,260 people for a day.

These 5 days though have brought home to me with stark reality, how much we eat and how little we really need. Looking at the clock today I see that the amount of food discarded in the US today alone is equal to 26,150 tons and that is 5 times the amount of food the world provides in food aid which today stands at 5,475 tons It shows that there is a person who dies of starvation every 3 second and as at today, this year alone there have been 8,474,975 deaths. It also shows that there are 340,011,092 obese people in the world. Now admittedly some may be due to health conditions but many others are the result of lifestyle and over eating. It also shows that today in the US there has been $23,862,956 spent by householders on food that was then thrown away. It displays how we spend around $10 million a day on pet food, but only around 10% of that amount in food aid (these figures will have varied when you look at them however the percentages will hardly have changed). So that brings me to the point that this protest has personally driven home to me.

We need to rethink what we eat and what we spend of our hard earned money on food we throw out. 

My family are not over eaters, well not in terms of some I have encountered. I was amazed when we visited America in 2006 to accept a Global Environment Award, how some people, in the ‘all you can eat buffet breakfast’ at the hotel we were staying at, even though they had mountains of food on their plates and side plates, when told by the waiter that the buffet would soon close, went back and helped themselves to yet more food. I was surprised that most, if not all of these extra portions were left on the table when they departed. I asked one guy who was British, but living permanently in the US, why so many seemed so gluttonous? He said that he thought it was because they wanted to make sure they got their monies worth. Well as I said most of the food was left on the table, so I don’t see how that works for them too well. To me it’s just plain wasteful.

My eating habits and what I ended up consuming throughout the last 5 days won’t get any applause from nutritionists’ or a tick from the Heart Foundation. However I’ll be honest with all those reading this. I have become accustomed since the early 80’s, living a busy commercial life in the corporate sector, to miss meals, to the point where; I never eat breakfast, rarely eat lunch and have a reasonable, but not overly large, evening meal. I drink too much coffee and these days don’t get enough exercise. I weight in at about 75 kilos (165lbs) and although the midriff bulges a little with middle age spread, you wouldn’t consider me over weight. So the free weight loss program I have just finished has dropped a couple of kilos – mostly I’m delighted to report off that belly.

It’s recommended that people who take part in the COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CHANGE – WORLD HUNGER STRIKE, which has options for a 1 day (24 hour) fast or 3 days, or 5, which as mentioned I opted for, should only rule out solid food during the protest, so all liquids are allowed such as fruit and vegetable juices, clear soups and broths. Coffee & tea is also ok, which is good for me because as mentioned I drink lots of the former. But I have to admit, I didn’t do too well on following the guidelines to the letter by consuming these (apart from coffee) regularly. In fact I didn’t have my first glass of fruit juice until the morning of the fourth day and only had one glass subsequent to that. Apart from that I only consumed 1 cup of clear soup during the whole 120 hours of fast. So chastise me if you like. I’m a naughty boy.

I mentioned we are not heavy eaters but it did strike me last night (while still on my hunger strike) when I saw the remainder of the family sitting down to a BBQ dinner, that we still eat and waste too much food. There were lamb chops cooked, along with sausages, a large potatoes bake and fresh salad. Looking at what remained left over, which will mostly be fed to our three dogs, there are 3 chops and around 20 sausages in a container, along with a third of the potato bake and about a quarter of the salad (this will go to the chickens we keep). Now that’s a lot of wasted food.

Anyway my epiphany is that we don’t have a problem feeding the world even as the population grows over the next few years. We just need to rethink what we consume in the developed world and then redistribute that and we would have the job of world hunger beaten. Think about that when you go back for the second serving of breakfast at the all you can eat buffet.

Oh and join us – this will be the easiest and most important protest you can be involved with in the lead up to, and right through the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. Go the registration page here and sign up, even if you can only manage one day of active protest. If you can’t even do that for health reasons, or some other impediment, think about giving a donation of a few dollars – remember it only cost 25 cents a day to save a child from dying of starvation.

You might even consider cutting out one meal per week and donating the $25-$30 per month you spend on food now, to the fight for world hunger – that would contribute to providing 100-120 days of food every month to those who most need our help.

UPDATE TO THIS PROTEST – I have decided that starting from midnight on Saturday November 14th I will commence a second 5 day protest. To help me in this why not sponsor me with 10 cents per hour – for the 120 hours it would the small sum of $12 – but this small sum would help feed 48 people for a day. DONATE/ PLEDGE HERE And why not join us, even if you can only participate for a single day – JOIN US HERE NOW for a day any time before Copenhagen starting on December 7th and show you care. You can send me a direct message too on Twitter to ZEROGreenhouse or to Bob_Williamson. Thank you for your support.