Celebrate Blog Action Day 2011 with us

Oct 7th, 2011 2:59 PM UTC
By Malaka Gharib

This post is part of our contribution to Oxfam’s Blog Action Day 2011, an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers with the goal of sparking discussion and collective action. This year, it takes place on World Food Day, October 16, and centers around the topic of food.

For last year’s Blog Action Day, we highlighted five actions that our ONE members could do from their desks to celebrate and educate others about the importance of water. In keeping with tradition, we thought we’d do the same for this year’s theme: food.

The beauty of Blog Action Day is that you can interpret the topic any way you’d like — and for us, “food” most certainly means famine, hunger and agriculture. As you know, people living in parts of the Horn of Africa are going through the worst drought in 60 years, and famine in Somalia alone has killed 30,000 children in three months. Let’s use Blog Action Day 2011 to raise global awareness for this important issue.

Here are five things you can do to make this happen on October 16:

1. Sign and share our petition: Take immediate action against the famine by signing our petition and asking world leaders to ensure people are hungry no more. Then, share the petition with family and friends. If using Twitter, make sure to use the hashtag #BAD11.

2. Post “The F Word” PSA to your Facebook wall: Get your friends and family MAD about the famine by posting our provocative new PSA, “The F Word,” on your Facebook wall. Besides being an excuse to drop the F-bomb, it truly is a wake-up call for those who think that we can’t put an end to the cycle of hunger for good. For an insight behind why we made such a provocative video, see our blog post recently featured on the Huffington Post.

3. Share our infographic: Our beautifully designed infographic, “Fight the Famine” illustrates the countries that are leading relief efforts in the Horn of Africa and those that are lagging behind. Canada, Germany and the UK have fulfilled their aid commitments, while France and Italy still have work to do. Let’s make sure the public knows that!

4. Write a blog post: These days, almost everyone has a personal blog. If you have one, register your blog on Blog Action Day’s website and write a blog post on the famine for the big day. You can use helpful facts and resources from our Hot Topics page, “Fight the Famine, Feed the Future,” and our blog series.

5. Share the Hunger Map with a friend: A column of numbers cannot possibly tell the story of the famine alone. That’s why we published a new interactive online feature to map the famine crisis in the region. Play around with the map to understand the scope and causes of the famine, then share it with a friend.

We are incredibly honored to be a part of Blog Action Day again this year, and we hope that through these actions, you can be a part of it, too. The topic of food is especially important this year and we’d love your help to get the word out. To view a full list of all participating blogs, go to Blog Action Day’s website and follow the hashtag #BAD11 on Twitter.

TAGS: Agriculture, Fight the Famine, Horn of Africa, ONE