I made this piece while thinking about Americas (and sometimes my own) Insatiable craving for new “stuff”

If we are going to bail out these greedy bankers, why can’t we give assistance to the many homeowners who fell victim to walls streets predatory lending practices? It is common sense that providing assistance to struggling homeowners (and stopping foreclosures) should be included in the “bailout” to save the economy. In the words of Bruce Marks (founder and CEO of NACA, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) “It’s the foreclosures stupid!”

Prices of food staples (such as rice wheat and corn) are on the rise. Since the end of 2006 the price of food has rise by 45%. This rise in prices has left more than 100 million people around the world without enough to eat. In Haiti people are even resorting to eating biscuits made out of dirt causing Haitians to take their frustration to the streets. Haiti is not the only place affected by the rise in food prices. The high cost of food has sparked riots in places such as Egypt Indonesia and Mozambique.There are several causes for this food crisis: growing demand of food from countries like China, the rising demand for oil and the increased use of biofuels.

I would love to get on my soap box and say, “we should have affordable food for all people of the world before we work on turning that food into an alternate energy source for our cars,” or “let’s cut our consumption of energy so the demand is lower.” But really I am overwhelmed with guilt because I feel that I am a part of the problem at this point (not the solution). I commute 30 minutes to work every day, I eat meat occasionally (a diet with meat uses more resources than an all plant diet) and sometimes I let food go bad (the shame). I am going to work hard to remedy this because I really love my soap box.