Water and Food Insecurity, Time to Get Involved
for Pearson News by Miranda Greco and Frank Caracciolo, ESD
Earlier in October, Miranda Greco and I launched a project to raise awareness about water and food insecurity both globally and within our own communities. The project was to coincide with this year’s World Food Day on October 16th.
World Food Day was founded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, whose sole purpose is to raise awareness about world hunger. Our mission with this project was to spread awareness and get students talking about food and water insecurity. It would also allow them to do some self-reflection and think about how these issues have affected their lives. We provided teachers with a PowerPoint presentation on the FAO and World Food Day, which included facts and graphics, to help facilitate the learning process in the classroom; the presentation is still available as this topic will continue to be an issue in all our lives going forward. With this information, we prompted teachers to submit a short video on the topic showing how their class celebrates World Food Day.
Pierre Elliot Trudeau Elementary answered the call and submitted videos with the assistance of their teacher Cathy Diemahave. Cathy is the Visual Arts Specialist and is always willing to bring students into topics that they can relate to, and she does it using the arts. We are happy to share the student videos as well as a video created by Miranda and me (click the images below to view them).
Click an image to view the video
Although World Food Day has passed, the unfortunate fact is that water and food insecurity are issues that are still present every day in our communities and globally. We see conflicts and environmental crises happening around the world and therefore it is important to be aware of how these events impact our food and water sources.
Click the image to view the video
Miranda is our Nutrition Consultant and believes that raising awareness about nutrition, where food comes from, and encouraging healthy eating habits among students can help guide them to make more informed decisions about the foods they choose to pack in their lunchboxes. This knowledge would allow students to have a better understanding of the impact these choices have on their overall health. We can often take for granted how easy it is for us to turn on a faucet for water or go to a store to buy food. There are many people around the globe who do not have the ability to do just those simple tasks. The rising food prices can also hit home in our communities further contributing to food insecurity. These are real issues that impact us all and we hope to inspire our students to have a better understanding of the world around them. For more information on the project and how you and your class can get involved, please contact us at ESD at LBPSB. Thank you to all the teachers and students who showed their support on World Food Day.
