Alicia Procello Maddox – Pesticides and the Effect on Women in Mexico

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In 2018 and beyond, the world is changing. One of the biggest initiatives around today is the use of sustainable food growing practices and ending the use of toxic chemical compounds in farming. At the Avery Dennison Foundation, the president, Alicia Procello Maddox is making it a priority for the foundation moving forward. Upon analyzing the current state of affairs in some of the world’s most impoverished regions, Alicia Procello Maddox and her team, have come upon a number issues that are affecting the biodiversity of the once fruitful lands, and threatening our future’s food supply.

Despite certain steps forward, pesticides still manage to touch on every aspect of our lives. From the residues left behind on our vegetation, to the effect these toxic compounds have on human life; toxic compounds are killing off our food supply and hindering the health of the communities that they come from. One prominent example lies in a small farming village of Venustiano Carranza, in Mexico’s southernmost state, sharing a border with Guatemala, a “powerhouse” in food production. The village has a population of just over 750, and most, if not all, of these indigenous peoples are dependent upon farming for their livelihoods, and their annual crops are vital to their survival. Research done on this village has indicated that toxic compounds and issues in the food supply are leading to a disturbing increase in women experiencing malnutrition, illness, and even death. Their poor diets, that are contaminated with pesticides, and carcinogens. Women suffer the most, as their place in the society is a secondary one. Something Alicia Procello Maddox has spent her career fighting.

The team at Avery Dennison and Alicia Procello Maddox have been working alongside a local group known as Batsil Antsetik, A.C. The group is using a $2500 grant to establish an environmentally friendly, and self-sustaining organic food production center, in which members of the community will be trained and taught how to operate in a modern farming world, and alternatives to archaic toxic compounds. Not only will the farmers be trained and taught better, and safer practices, but also increasing and improving the food security for the 33 families in the area and their women. With women suffering the brunt of the issues from the environmental devastation, Alicia Procello Maddox believes it prudent to have female leadership at the helm.

Throughout history females have always been known to put the family first, and sustainability isn’t an individual issue, it is one for the community. Alicia Procello Maddox believes the female leadership will not only secure inclusion of all community members, in agricultural decision making but also help bolster the status of women as a whole. Alicia Procello Maddox and her team will include organic farming, environmental sustainability, nutrition, poultry and rabbit management, composting, and organically growing fruit trees. In addition to the farming practices, Alicia Procello Maddox has made sure to have workshops to build women’s leadership training and create an exchange of ideas platform with women from other communities. AlciaProcello Maddox and her team hope this initiative will reduce the use of harmful pesticides, increase the local food production to improve nutrition for children and women, promote women’s leadership, and encourage public conversations on gender equity and human rights.

 

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Flower Markets and Barong Traditional Dance

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Flower Markets, as a tradition in Canton, are popped up every year before Spring Festival. Different flowers and plants indicate different wishes or sign. For example, Kumquat plants with Kumquats similar to small citrus fruits, means your wish of a prosperous year ahead. Peach blossoms mean love and romance.

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Barong Traditional Dance from Bali, Indonesia​. The Barong play represents a fight between good spirit and evil spirit. Barong is a mythological animal that represent a good spirit and Rangda is a mythological monster that represent an evil. The Barong Dance is often portrayed with two monkeys and is probably the most well-known dance in Bali. by Alicia Procello Maddox

About Bichanakandi landscape beauty

 

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Bisanakandi is situated at Bangladesh-India border in Sylhet. It is a landscape beauty among gardens and hills. Bichanakandi is a village situated in Rustompur Union under Guainghat Upazilla. This is where many layers of the Khasi mountain meet at a single point from both sides. Flowing from above is a high fall. Adding to its charm are dark clouds hugging the mountain in the rainy season. And flowing underneath towards Bholaganj is a branch of the Piyain. Along the stream flowing from high up in the mountain come huge boulders that are deposited and mined in Bisanakand. By Alicia Procello Maddox, California

Avery Dennison’s InvENT Scholarship – Alicia Procello Maddox

As the President of the Avery Dennison Foundation, Alicia Procello Maddox has been an integral part of one of the foundation’s newest education initiatives, the Spirit of Invention InvEnt Scholarship. The scholarship was created to recognize and reward students who show, an aptitude for invention, innovation, and overall academic excellence.

Alicia Procello Maddox and her team at Avery Dennison created the scholarship mainly for the benefit of students in China and India, who excel in the fields of science, engineering, and technology. By helping to create the scholarship, Alicia Procello Maddox is providing students with much needed funds to purchase books, as well as cover associated expenses of schooling. In her time with Avery Dennison, Alicia Procello Maddox has made a number of amazing strides for people, young and old in China and India, and the InvEnt scholarship allows young adults who previously would not have any means of affording a higher education, the opportunity to attend college. The scholarship is something that the foundation hopes to be able to provide to students in many different countries every year, making it an annual act of educational enrichment. This goes along with Alicia Procello Maddox and Avery Dennison’s efforts to bolster the economies as well as the quality of life for those living in the countries where they have factories.

Many corporations should learn from the actions of Alicia Procello Maddox and Avery Dennison. Not only have they provided jobs to underprivileged regions like China and India but they are now providing the younger generations with an opportunity to strengthen their education systems, as well as providing the leaders of the future with knowledge and skills in important developmental fields like engineering, science, and technology. Hopefully with the contributions of Alicia Procello Maddox and others like her, generations to come in the underserved world can live a fruitful and prosperous future, with the enrichment of education.