Acknowledging the Apocalypse Getting Up in the Morning

Acknowledging the Apocalypse & Getting Up in the Morning… A. K. A. Are we doomed? Now is your chance to leave 2013 PEC Conference Presbyterian Hunger Program

A sketch of God’s food system Food for all ~ • • Produced with dignity, entire food chain Equitably shared Responsive in times of shortages Produced ecologically & so that future generations can feed themselves • Healthy and life-giving nutrition • Eaten in gratitude and with joy

Sugar & Slavery Sugar Cane Economies • > 50% slaves in Americas in sugar fields & sugar processing factories • Racism needed to rationalize slave labor Sweet Charity • Sugary addiction; Poverty & Obesity • Racism used to rationalize impoverishment & ‘food apartheid’

Current Food System • World Population = 7 billion • Hungry People = nearly 1 billion • Close to 2 billion people overfed • 50 million hungry or food insecure (U. S. ) • Exploitation throughout food chain • Run on fossil fuels & unsustainable

The APOCALYPSE! Apocalyptic • Lifting of the veil • Disclosure of something hidden • Coming to clarity

What are you afraid to acknowledge about the world?

Acknowledging What Is • Intrinsic goodness of people • Resilience of people & God’s creation • Human weakness: sin, greed, fear and avoidance

Wishful thinking? “Christians will do right thing if they know the truth. ” • If survival, status or position or material comfort at risk… • Some will accept injustice without comment or complaint

What injustice (small or large) do you accept?

What else is? 1. 2. 3. 4. Multiple crises at planetary scale Modern capitalism unable to ameliorate Growth model worsening problems Denial by politicians, business & religious leaders and many of us 5. Technological fundamentalism: unintended consequences of growth & tech. can be remedied by more technology

James Baldwin to the rescue • We must remember “that life is the only touchstone and that life is dangerous, and for those without the joyful acceptance of this danger, there can never be any safety for anyone, ever, anywhere. ” • 55 passages in the Bible about “Fear not!”

James Baldwin “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced. ”

Wisdom of the Ages • When you destroy the earth, you destroy yourself • You/we/it are inextricably linked • Beyond interconnection • Interbeing

Don’t abandon hope; affirm life! • Turning over the tables • Many tables to be upended, but way is not often clear • While persisting in efforts to reform, fear not, and offer radical Christian analysis

Love & Grief What do you love about the world? And how would you feel if this was lost or destroyed?

Don’t abandon hope; affirm life! • Be the change you want to see In the world • Lifestyle integrity; radical hospitality & sharing

Way you live, hospitality, sharing What change do you hope/intend to make? Future: “How did you transcend whatever was holding you back? ” andrew. kangbartlett@pcusa. org

Don’t abandon hope; affirm life! • Building relationships to restore wholeness • Education & community organizing • Strengthen the base for the radical changes we need (institutions, networks, alliances) • Learn from & support movement building!

Food Sovereignty Democratizing the food system People’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

PHP and Food Justice ~ around the world Tending the Garden of God • Joining Hands ~ Campaigns on Food & Land, Extractives & Water, and Trade Reform: Mobilize people of faith and others to tackle systemic causes of hunger in US and abroad • Support partners in 30 countries in their efforts to fight hunger and its causes through international grants

Meta-study compared data from nearly 100 studies of conventional and sustainable/organic agriculture, concluded: • worldwide switch to organics could increase global food production by as much as 50% -- enough to feed a population of 9 billion people without any additional land

PHP and Food Justice ~ in the U. S. Tending the Garden of God 1. Assist people in developing analysis about systemic causes of hunger and poverty 2. Avenues for action: resisting structures that perpetuate & building alternatives – Programs & Campaigns (food sovereignty, corporate and public policy advocacy) 3. OGHS $ support for partner organizations resisting and building alternatives

PHP and Food Justice ~ in the U. S. Tending the Garden of God 4. Support for congregations doing food justice work (Food Justice Learning Calls, materials) 5. Connecting people of faith with others doing food justice work (PEC, anyone, everyone) 6. Food Justice Fellows & Anti-Hunger Americorps* VISTAs

2013 PHP VISTAs • Gina (national focus), Todd, Amber & Emily (Louisville) • Elise, Ilana & Whitney in Indianapolis • Casey in Cincinnati

Veggies as a Vehicle: Delight and Joy

morphogenic fields ~ making the impossible

Food Sovereignty Democratizing the food system People’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.