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Bay Area Food Banks is an organization of seven food banks across the Bay Area that provides over 100 million pounds of food to those in need every year.

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Bay Area Food Banks, San Francisco Bay Area - Feed Hungry People in Your Community!

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The massive "Camp Fire" devastating Butte County has displaced thousands of people in Northern California. Bay Area food banks are hard at work responding to the immense need and will be providing support to the impacted areas.

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Rise Against Hunger provides food for over 1.4 million people each year and is looking to end world hunger by 2030. Over 400,000 volunteers have aided in stopping world hunger with some providing food such as some Philippine farms.

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Through Rise Against Hunger Philippines' Farm to Fork initiative, we are implementing contract farming, which involves the hiring of small-scale indigenous farmers to provide vegetables for use in Rise Against Hunger meals.

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According to the Global Food Security Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Ireland ranks as the most secure country to feed its people. Some other countries that are close to the top of the list include Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Canada. The metrics for food security in the index is based on climate and the risk of natural resources, which translates to countries leading on the list to be resourceful and secure in the way they feed their population.

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India’s National Food Security Act will help 800 million receive government subsidized food.

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This is part of a series on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre. This article focuses on goal 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Problems can be complicated, but solutions must be simple if they are going to be embraced, implemented and solved.

No goal is more complicated, than the goal of sustainable development. This is reflected in the United Nations' SDGs, with its 17 goals and their 169 related targets. It is easy to feel overwhelmed. Many are already questioning whether such lofty ambitions can realistically be met. Even more worrying is our tendency to subdivide problems, put them in boxes and treat them independently of others - almost universally leading to even more problems.

How do we traverse and embrace this complexity but also identify practical interventions and approaches that ensure sustainable development?

One goal ( SDG2) centres on ending hunger through sustainable agriculture. The beauty of sustainable agriculture (with the emphasis truly on "sustainable") is that it intersects with multiple goals. For example, it can contribute to ending poverty (SDG1), ensuring availability and sustainable management of water (SDG6), promoting inclusive and sustainable growth (SDG8), taking action to combat climate change (SDG13), and many others. A single endeavour, sustainable agriculture, can help us embrace the complexity.

Let's take climate change, which is waging war on our food supply. In Colombia, the farmers that grow the beans for your morning cup of coffee fear they will go out of business as temperatures rise; already production is being hit. In East Africa, prolonged droughts are killing cattle that farmers rely on for nutritious milk, as well as an income. Every day these effects are plunging families further into hunger and poverty.

Climate-smart agriculture - we believe - is where investors will get the most bang for their sustainable development buck. This is a form of sustainable agriculture that gives attention to climate change adaptation and reducing agriculture's carbon footprint. If we enable rural farmers to innovate and use climate-smart practices, it's not only hunger and poverty that will decline. Economic growth increases. Jobs are created. And climate change's grip on our food supply will loosen. Each of these is a sustainable development goal in its own right - and investment in sustainable agriculture can reach them all. There are also SDGs for reducing inequality within and among countries (SDG10) and achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls (SDG5). For climate-smart agriculture to also contribute here, it must give attention to power, gender and social inclusion.
Source: Jakob Trollbäck Photo caption: India promotes climate resilience through its food security bill. Photo: ICRISAT.
Here are four countries that are working to climate-proof farmers' agriculture systems, putting them in line to target many sustainable development goals.

India's recent National Food Security Act will help 800 million people access publicly financed or subsidized food. Thanks to engagement by partners M.S. Swaminathan Foundation and Bioversity International, the government will distribute coarse grains, such as millet, sorghum and maize, in addition to the basic staples, rice and wheat. Coarse grains are highly nutritious and they are also highly resistant to climate-induced stresses such as drought and flood.

It is estimated that over 31 million Indian farmers grow these crops, and the inclusion of these crops in the law is likely to stimulate production, contributing both to climate adaptation and food security. Add to that the increased income the farmers that grow these crops will receive when the government buys their crops, and India can make progress in addressing the problems of hunger, poverty and climate change in one targeted intervention.
Photo caption: Farmers in Kenya are increasing dairy productivity - and reducing greenhouse gas emissions - by increasing their herd's protein consumption. Photo: C. Pye-Smith (ILRI).
The flip side of the climate change adaptation coin is reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that agriculture produces. The livestock sector is responsible for 14% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, making it a key sector for action. In developing countries, reducing emissions makes sense only if food production is not compromised. In Kenya, the World Agroforestry Centre is helping farming households to produce more milk with fewer emissions, through training to improve livestock feeding practices.

Bunguey has been a dairy farmer for 40 years and he recently reduced his herd from 18 to five cows. These five cows receive protein-rich feed and now produce nine times as much milk as they did before. This means Bunguey's herd of five cows is twice as productive as his herd of 18.
Photo caption: Senegal shares approaches with Colombia for dealing with climate change in agriculture. Photo: J.L. Urrea (CCAFS).
Climate-smart actions such as this in the dairy sector in Kenya have huge potential. The Kenyan government estimates that these actions can be scaled up to reach 1.8 million households by 2018, decreasing the country's emissions by 3.3% of its 2010 emissions, while sustaining 180,000 jobs in the sector and improving smallholder incomes by $1,000-$2,000 a year. In addition to meeting goals on hunger and nutrition, poverty reduction and climate change, two additional SDGs are covered here: driving economic growth and creating decent jobs for all. Of the farmers involved, 25% were women and the next phase of the project will examine how to increase the participation of women, contributing to a third goal: SDG5 to empower women and girls.

Colombian farmers who used to enjoy reliable rainfall are increasingly taking a hit when extreme floods and droughts occur, wiping out the crops they rely on for cash and food. To help farmers adapt to these harsh conditions, a knowledge exchange with farmers in Senegal was facilitated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture ( CIAT) and national partners in both countries. Senegalese farmers have a wealth of indigenous knowledge for coping with long droughts and have also been working in some regions with the national meteorological agency to develop more accurate and useful seasonal climate forecasts that can be disseminated across the country by radio and SMS.
Insurance can help smallholder farmers get back on their feet faster after floods, droughts and other severe weather events. Photo: N. Palmer (CIAT)
Inspired by Senegal's innovative system, a new collaboration was developed in Colombia between the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture, six National Growers Associations, the National Agricultural Research System, as well as local experts and non-governmental organizations. This partnership has focused on developing better climate and site-specific information that farmers can incorporate into their planning systems and strategies. Nearly 160,000 farmers are now receiving improved climate advice in Colombia. As a result, they are better equipped to make decisions about what to plant, when and where. In the medium term, the project is expected to reach over 1.5 million farmers. Given that 25% of farmers in Colombia are women, by giving them equitable access to climate information, SDG5 can also be tackled here.

In Nigeria, 14.5 million people are smallholder farmers. That is 14.5 million whose income will take a drastic hit when climate disasters strike. That is why the Nigerian government has pledged to insure these farmers against extreme weather events. Scientists at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society ( IRI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center ( CIMMYT) are now working with Nigeria to formulate a four-year roadmap providing guidance for reaching the goal of nationwide smallholder coverage.

In India, a similar kind of large-scale programme is already in place and 22 million farmers are already covered with index-based weather insurance, which pays farmers automatically when determined weather events occur. This could be reaching a certain temperature for a sustained period of time, or reaching a certain level of rainfall. Using various scientific techniques to analyse crop-weather relationships, the CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security ( CCAFS) developed new rainfall triggers in India that are specific to different regions and crops. Nearly 1 million farmers are now benefiting from better insurance products.
Author : Bruce Campbell is director of the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, research programme, a strategic collaboration between CGIAR and Future Earth Guest editor of this series is Owen Gaffney, Director, International Media and Strategy, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Future Earth Image: Farmers plant saplings in their rice field on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Ranchi July 20, 2009. REUTERS/Rajesh Kumar Sen
We urge countries and investors to recognize the power of financing agricultural research and development and ask them to work with farmers to find the long-term solutions. It is a smart choice that will contribute to many more SDGs than reducing hunger.

Have you read?
10 things to know about the Sustainable Development Goals
How can we eradicate poverty by 2030?
5 ways to improve health and well-being for all

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4 ways countries are successfully fighting hunger

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This is part of a series on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre. This article focuses on goal 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Problems can be complicated, but solutions must be simple if they are going to be embraced, implemented and solved.

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Effects of laundry detergent on water pollution

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Effects of laundry detergent on water pollution

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Detergent inputted into water supplies can contaminate the water with harmful chemicals such as bleach, magnesium, and carcinogens. These chemicals can cause health hazards for humans that rely on the water.

Contaminated water can cause skin irritation and nausea, as well as allowing microbes to spread and cause pandemics. Most importantly, the chemicals can support bacteria and viruses that can spread diseases to those most susceptible to them.

We can prevent people from being harmed by this laundry detergent pollution by using eco-friendly detergents and using less water during washing cycles.

https://sciencing.com/chemical-pollution-caused-day-detergents-6664097.html

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djedzura/iStock/GettyImages

Water pollution by chemicals (such as detergents) is a big concern in the global context. Many laundry detergents contain approximately 35 percent to 75 percent phosphate salts. Phosphates can cause a variety of water pollution problems. For example, phosphate tends to inhibit the biodegradation of organic substances. Non-biodegradable substances cannot be eliminated by public or private wastewater treatment. In addition to, some phosphate based detergents can cause eutrophication. Over enrichment of phosphate can cause the water body to become choked with algae and other plants. Eutrophication deprives the water of available oxygen, causing the death of other organisms.

One of the main sources of chemical pollutants is everyday detergents. Specific contaminants leading to water pollution include a wide range of chemicals (such as bleach) and microbes. Several chemicals that we use our daily life are harmful elements and compounds. These could be magnesium or calcium based substances that affect water. Detergents sometimes could be carcinogenic, so they should be eliminated from the water. According to Enviroharvest Inc, "The detergents can contain suspected carcinogens, and ingredients that do not fully biodegrade."

Detergents also contain oxygen-reducing substances ("i.e." a chemical compound that readily transfer oxygen atoms) that may cause severe damage to the fishes and marine animals. This may also lead to eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process by which a water body becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients (e.g., phosphates, calcium and magnesium). It has negative impacts on environment, especially on aquatic animals because water rich in nutrients stimulates the growth of aquatic plant life, resulting in depletion of oxygen. A few more harmful components of detergents such as anthropogenetic components such as herbicides, pesticides and heavy metal concentrations (e.g., zinc, cadmium and lead) can cause the water to grow murky thus blocking out light and disrupting the growth of plants. Turbidity also clogs the respiratory system of some species of fishes. Pathogens from these toxic water bodies bring about in human or animal hosts diseases, which may be fatal. Furthermore, these contaminants alter the chemical composition of water that includes electrical conductivity, temperature, acidity and eutrophication.

Chemicals could be a source of drinking water contamination. Drinking water contaminated by detergents can be hazardous to human health. Humans become ill with a range of symptoms such as skin irritation, sore throat, nausea, stomach cramps, and liver damage. This can be poisonous and accounts to death in several cases. Such contaminated water is also not preferable for the growth of crops e.g., rice, wheat and soybean.

Detergents are surface-active agents, which tend to produce stable, copious foams in rivers. These foams generally form a thick and dense layer over the surface of the water, extending over several hundreds of meters of the river water. These foams also prove to be an unhygienic source of domestic water.

Water pollution is a serious problem today. Many of the chemical substances which are disposed in water are toxic. Disease causing microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses are mainly responsible for waterborne diseases in both humans and animals. Apart from severe health hazards that these detergents pose, the elements (e.g., lead) present in them can lead to acidity. This could lead to many problems in a fit and healthy man too. The use of better, biodegradable detergents that are friendlier to the environment should be encouraged.

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Chemical Water Pollution Caused by Every Day Detergents

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Water pollution by chemicals (such as detergents) is a big concern in the global context. Many laundry detergents contain approximately 35 percent to 75 percent phosphate salts. Phosphates can cause a variety of water pollution problems. For example, phosphate tends to inhibit the biodegradation of organic substances. ...

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The National Health Foundation Health Society helps South Los Angeles residents by providing food and water for over a 1,000 students and 3,000 residents. It has introduced fun activities such as Cafeteria Makeovers and Hydration Stations. It has given over 700 high school students new ways to get water through the hydration station.

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National Health Foundation has engaged Historic South Central Los Angeles youth as change agents for a healthier community. After two years, their work is beginning to pay off, with seven local corner markets now promoting produce in new and attractive ways, residents increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables by 35 percent, and over 6,000 [...]

Nearly 13 percent of South Central Los Angeles has diabetes-a number higher than most other areas in LA-and roughly 30 percent is overweight, according to an environmental scan conducted by National Health Foundation. So NHF is doing something about it. Over the next three years, its instructors will teach 550 nutrition education classes at All [...]

Not only do sugar-sweetened drinks, including soda, fruit punch, lemonade, and sports and energy drinks, contribute to poor diet and obesity, they are also associated with tooth decay and deteriorating bones. Hardly worth the extra 300 calories a day! So, students from Santee Education Complex and Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles wanted their [...]

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National Health Foundation has engaged Historic South Central Los Angeles youth as change agents for a healthier community. After two years, their work is beginning to pay off, with seven local corner markets now promoting produce in new and attractive ways, residents increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables by 35 percent, and over 6,000 [...]

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The Water Project provides clean potable water to several communities in sub-Saharan Africa. They have impacted almost a half a million people today by providing water and other necessities. The Water Project also provides educational resources for people to understand the impact of potable water access.

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The Water Project - A Charity Providing Access to Clean Water in Africa

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The Water Project is a charity that provides access to clean, safe and reliable water and sanitation solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, one village at a time.

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The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish Painting

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The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish Painting

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Lanfranco, Giovanni. The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish. 1624-1625, oil on canvas. The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

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Water.org is a water company accepting donations to help provide water for people from Ethiopia all the way to India.

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It's because of you and your generosity, that we have been able to reach millions around the world with access to safe water and sanitation. Continue to help us change the world and donate today.

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Water for People is a program that promotes the development of premium drinking water and services that provide water to those that can’t afford or access it.

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We're on a mission to bring access to safe water and sanitation to 4 million people across 9 countries for generations to come.