The Wall Street Journal

Hi!

I picked up three articles that had connections with food from The Wall Street Journal.

1. "For Pets, It's Fat Thursday With Pies, Dressing Under the Table"

This article was talking about pets' obesity. Today, more than half of dogs and cats are overweight because owners feed them human food, especially on Thanksgiving holidays. And they don't always realize that human food can be harmful for animals and their pets are suffered obesity. Because of these problems, dogs and cats have to work out and lose weight like human do. Even personal trainers for animals, doggy fat camps, and canine fitnesses exist.

2. "U.N. Says 2015 Likely to Be Warmest Year on Record"

As you can see from this title, United Nation said the year 2015 is the warmest year on recored. So now, the period 2011 to 2015 has been the warmest five years on recored. It was caused by the effects of El Nino and global warming. The global average surface temperature rose to 14.73℃, about 1℃ hotter than pre-industrial era.  

Obviously, if the temperature keeps going up, crops won't grow well. And there have already been drought in the U.S. and they cannot harvest crops.

3. "Work for Robots" (one of the sections of article "A Blocked Path to Development")

According to this article, sales of industrial robots have been increasing and will probably keep increasing, especially in Asia. And it was talking mostly about India. In India, many people lost their jobs because robots were used instead of people.

It might be a little silly to say, but I was thinking when I read this article, what if robots make all the foods we eat in the future, like in factories, restaurants, farms, and everywhere. And I don't want that to happen!

NPO in the UK and Japan

Hi everyone!

I will be writing about "Food For All" and "Second Harvest Japan" in this post.

They are both NPOs that help people basically through foods.

<Food For All>  

It's a charity group based mainly in London. They distribute meals to people like homeless, disadvantaged, financially challenged, for free. Its activity is different from other food distribution charity group and their main aim is to enable homeless people to get new skills and become self-reliance. 

<Second Harvest Japan>

It's a Japan's first food bank started in 2000. They get foods, which have to be thrown away  for some reasons even though they still can be eaten, from company, farmer, or individuals. And then they distribute those foods they have collected to people who need them. 

<What are the main activities or events that these groups carry out?>

Food For All

food bank

eco garden 

cooking meals for people 

Second Harvest Japan

food bank

cooking meals for people

bringing food to people

<From what you saw on their web sites, what surprised or interested you the most?>

I was interested in when they started their activities. Food For All has been doing it for more than 20 years and Second Harvest Japan just started in 2000. From these, I thought food bank (and other activities too)has been more popular in England than in Japan.

<How would you be able to offer help to either organisation -- as a volunteer or supporter?>

I would be one of those people who cook meals. Donating money is a good way to support, but I think actually doing something for people who need help would make them feel our support more than just giving money to them.

<Which group seems to be more active? Why do you think so?>

Food For All. I looked at both schedules and found that Food For All does food distribution everyday except Sundays, while Second Harvest Japan does their activities 4-5 days a week.