• At the 63rd Synod, parishes in the Diocese of Edmonton joined a growing number of faith groups, schools, community organizations, stores and restaurants promoting fair and ethical transactions in the marketplace by committing to use Fair Trade products.  You can find more information about fair trade at: www.fairtrade.ca and www.cftn.ca (Canadian Fairtrade Network). If you go to the “products and companies” tab, you can find information about companies selling Fair Trade products, and also Fairtrade products available in Canada, and where to get them.
  • Edmonton and its Fresh food and agriculture strategy is the focus of a recent study on food deserts. “The term ‘food desert’ has frequently been used to describe situations in which consumers lack access to affordable nutritious food, typically a populated low-income area with limited access to full-service supermarkets. There is growing interest in the role of community gardens and farmers’ markets as solutions to food desert problems.” View the study.
  • World Food Day 2021 is October 16 with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. The 2020 worship package includes resources to PRAY, GIVE, LEARN and ADVOCATE for an end to global hunger. Perfect for use on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in Canada (Sunday, October 11), or any time! Prayers, songs, litanies, stories, and other features including a children’s activity are all focused on the theme of support for people around the world who do not get enough to eat.
  • PWRDF has on their site a variety of worship resources that are free to download. This link takes you to several that are related to food security.
  • Climate Action and Food Security. Perhaps nowhere is climate change more brutally felt than in many of the vulnerable communities where PWRDF partners work with people who do not yet have the resources to cope. Small holder farmers struggle to feed their families. Soil degradation and expanding deserts decrease food security, increase poverty and drive migration. Climate-related disasters, such as drought, floods, cyclones and tropical storms, increase food insecurity, both in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and in the long term.

    But as scientists sound the alarm over climate change, there is also reason to see hope. There are small changes afoot. As part of PWRDF’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan and our commitment to Sustainable Development Goal #13 (Climate Action), we are working with partners in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Cuba, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Colombia on strategies to mitigate the impacts, and adapt to the realities of climate change.

    Earlier this year PWRDF launched a three-year Education Focus titled “Creation Care: Climate Action.” Each year will focus on a different theme: year one is climate action and food security; year two is climate action and women, and year three is climate action and health.

  • World Water Day is held on March 22nd, and focuses on the importance of water. It goes back to 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. It serves to raise awareness and reaffirm that water and sanitation measures are key to poverty reduction, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. It also aims to encourage action to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030, which is linked to agriculture and food security.