The Compassion Revolution

How can we achieve food security in the 21st century? What are the environmental challenges of our current food system and what are the alternatives? Is the model of industrial agriculture outdated, and is it time for a paradigm shift towards agroecology? Who will feed the world? (Hand-out of a lecture given at Leuven University ). The coming food crisis  We are facing a global food crisis. For the first time in decades, the number of undernourished people in the world is rising (FAO et al., 2018 & 2020).[1] 1 After a century of decline, food prices are on the rise (UNEP, 2009). Almost 1 out of 10 people is hungry today (FAO et al., 2020).[2] 2 According to the WHO (2020) 45% of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition. More than 3 billion people might not be able to afford[3] 3 [3 healthy diets, leading not only to undernourishment, but also an epidemic of overweight and obesity (FAO et al., 2018 & 2020).[4] 4 This has been called the “doubl

Across the globe, people are expressing dissent with our democratic institutions. Political extremes and more autocratic leadership are gaining favor. We live in a multi-polar, complex and rapidly changing world, which is put under pressure by inequality, climate change, migration and so on. I think people are feeling increasingly powerless. They feel their voices are not heard and their lives might not matter so much. I believe it is a need for security and order that leads them to political extremes, more autocratic leadership, nationalism and identity politics. These all promise simple solutions – sometimes just ignoring existing problems – and a way out of the political deadlock of the mainstream parties. How can we make sure every vote really counts? I do not think however this will solve the problem. In fact, it will probably make things worst. Political extremes promise ‘law and order’, but actually need chaos and confusion in order to thrive. They will hold their law and order