More Than 1 Billion People Hungry

[Love As Arson]

Humanity will achieve the dubious distinction this year of having more than 1 billion members of its species living in hunger for the first time in history.

The number of undernourished is estimated to soar by about 100 million over last year, to 1.02 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The 11 percent surge in the world’s hungry is primarily a product of the global economic crisis, combined with persistently high food prices. World economic output is expected to decline by more than 3 percent this year—the first global contraction since the Second World War. The economic crisis, the FAO notes, “has reduced incomes and employment opportunities of the poor and significantly lowered their access to food.”

http://wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/hung-j20.shtml

[ZzyzxScarecrow]

pretty sad, but it's easy to sit here and say that

[Burn That Shit]

Stop having children you morons, adopt hungry kids.

[zion the lion]

I was planning on joining the peace corps, or doing my own little peace corps type of thing where I go out and help orphanages and shit (because my mom used to do that). But then I decided that unless I won the lotto or something, that probably wasnt ever going to happen.

But I do find it odd that the continents we take the most from, are the ones that are the poorest. They've given us the things we got rich off of, and they have babies who are starving at night.

[saysmydoctor]

The food crisis is the most uncovered news story of the past two years.

[QuikTrig]

The food crisis is the most uncovered news story of the past two years.

ha it's been the biggest uncovered news story from the past forever years.

i assume its because the media knows that the average american has been desensitized and doesn't give a damn.

[thespearkid]

Let them eat cake.

[saysmydoctor]

How could there have been a food crisis for the 'past forever years' when production has only gone down recently? If you mean that there people starving around constantly, then yes, but the food crisis--shortage--is very recent and completely uncovered.

[.invisible ink.]

look at what farmers are being paid to grow as "food" crops in the United States. One example, look at the mass amounts of corn being produced (waaay overproduced actually) - it's not a variety of corn that can actually be used in its natural state, this is the garbage being used to produce feed for factory-farmed livestock, ethanol, and sugar for high-fructose corn syrup. Maybe if we did something about the millions of acres being used for junk/bogus practices (case in point, ethanol made from this garbage corn takes 6 times the amount of energy to produce 1 gallon as it does to produce 1 gallon of regular gasoline) we could actually FEED people off the land. A novel idea. It's disgusting that in this day and age that over a billion people should still be starving in this world. I find this absolutely deplorable because it's fixable.

(one great little documentary that helps illustrate my point is King Corn, It's not overly politicized by the way.)

[zion the lion]

look at what farmers are being paid to grow as "food" crops in the United States. One example, look at the mass amounts of corn being produced (waaay overproduced actually) - it's not a variety of corn that can actually be used in its natural state, this is the garbage being used to produce feed for factory-farmed livestock, ethanol, and sugar for high-fructose corn syrup. Maybe if we did something about the millions of acres being used for junk/bogus practices (case in point, ethanol made from this garbage corn takes 6 times the amount of energy to produce 1 gallon as it does to produce 1 gallon of regular gasoline) we could actually FEED people off the land. A novel idea. It's disgusting that in this day and age that over a billion people should still be starving in this world. I find this absolutely deplorable because it's fixable.

(one great little documentary that helps illustrate my point is King Corn, It's not overly politicized by the way.)

My aunt refuses to let us eat corn and peanut butter now because of the way it's made. Like the seeds they use to grow corn have been so exposed to mold now that the new seeds are just essentially mold. And peanut butter has a half life of like 50 days in your system.

[.invisible ink.]

My aunt refuses to let us eat corn and peanut butter now because of the way it's made. Like the seeds they use to grow corn have been so exposed to mold now that the new seeds are just essentially mold. And peanut butter has a half life of like 50 days in your system.

ok, you're talking about aflatoxins which is an interesting discussion in and of itself but has absolutely nothing to do with what i posted or this thread, btw. :)

[zion the lion]

ok, you're talking about aflatoxins which is an interesting discussion in and of itself but has absolutely nothing to do with what i posted or this thread, btw. :)

haha yeah I know, the word corn just reminded me of that.

[Machu505]

I want to know how PETA would propose we stop this. Not allowing animals to be eaten severely limits our options.

[wrppdarndyrfngr]

corn subsidies in the U.S need to be removed especially for corn ethanol "biofuel"

[x togepi x]

I want to know how PETA would propose we stop this. Not allowing animals to be eaten severely limits our options.

not really since it takes like seven pounds of grain to make one pound of meat, plus all the other resources like water that meat industries use.

[anthonydarko]

That is a disturbing stat. If I were to throw two cents into the matter, I believe more soy bean crops should be planted, considering how much food you can make out of soy.

[sdbrown]

I want to know how PETA would propose we stop this. Not allowing animals to be eaten severely limits our options.
This is one of their BEST arguments. It's why I became a vegetarian. Turning grain into meat wastes an incredible amount of energy. Anytime energy rises a level of the trophic pyramid you end up wasting a large percentage. There is a reason carnivores usually have a much, much smaller population than producers or herbivores.

[sdbrown]

That is a disturbing stat. If I were to throw two cents into the matter, I believe more soy bean crops should be planted, considering how much food you can make out of soy.
It's not that easy. There are any number of factors involved in what crops are planted and harvested. Plus, I'm guessing the people that are starving aren't starving because the crops are not available, they are starving because they can't afford the food. Growing extra crops doesn't do any good if no one can buy them.

edit: from the article
In other words, the sharp growth in hunger is due not to a lack of capacity, although global food production could be significantly increased given a rational and scientific allocation of agricultural resources. Instead, the rise in social misery results from the fact that millions more people are now unable to afford the most basic necessities.

Not to mention that, even if they did have purchasing power, you still need to factor in degradation to farm land and oceans from fertilizer run off and pesticides

[anthonydarko]

It's not that easy. There are any number of factors involved in what crops are planted and harvested. Plus, I'm guessing the people that are starving aren't starving because the crops are not available, they are starving because they can't afford the food. Growing extra crops doesn't do any good if no one can buy them.

edit: from the article


Not to mention that, even if they did have purchasing power, you still need to factor in degradation to farm land and oceans from fertilizer run off and pesticides
That's a yes/no statement there. While yes, some people can't afford the food they need to survive, other people simply cannot grow the food, even for themselves because of where they live. There are many parts of the world where the land is too poor to grow anything. Northwest Africa is a good example of this, I'm sure Ethiopia can come to mind. While the economy is big part of this problem, the inability to grow the food is another, they go hand and hand with each other. The people cannot grow the food and they cannot buy the food so they then starve because of the fact. So to say they are hungry because they cannot afford food is not a whole answer, only a half one.

[sdbrown]

That's a yes/no statement there. While yes, some people can't afford the food they need to survive, other people simply cannot grow the food, even for themselves because of where they live. There are many parts of the world where the land is too poor to grow anything. Northwest Africa is a good example of this, I'm sure Ethiopia can come to mind. While the economy is big part of this problem, the inability to grow the food is another, they go hand and hand with each other. The people cannot grow the food and they cannot buy the food so they then starve because of the fact. So to say they are hungry because they cannot afford food is not a whole answer, only a half one.
This is true, but I posted what I did in response to the idea that this could be solved by planting more crops like soy.

[anthonydarko]

This is true, but I posted what I did in response to the idea that this could be solved by planting more crops like soy.
But of course, you made an awesome point :-)

[.invisible ink.]

Soy is cheap, sure, but it has its drawbacks too. soy is infiltrating processed foods/animal feeds at an alarming rate and can cause physical effects that are not all known yet. Some feel that soy was never meant to be consumed in a non-fermented state, look at the Asian countries who have been using it for years, they primarily eat it as miso and tofu, both fermented products. Soy contains phytoestrogens and in large quantities can possibly be harmful. It's something to consider.

So what is the answer? Well, my feelings are that if we return to farming the way that nature intended (i.e., a "food forest" system, also known as permaculture) we could feed massive amounts of people on small pieces of land, in all climates, including deserts. This is a great tiny little video that explains it and makes complete sense both in theory and in practice (i personally worked on permaculture farms during college, so i know it can work.) bWayqR9RRys

[ShShShark]

I want to know how PETA would propose we stop this. Not allowing animals to be eaten severely limits our options.

besides the fact that it takes almost 8 times the amount of corn to feed a cow than a human....

[Mesthead!]

not really since it takes like seven pounds of grain to make one pound of meat, plus all the other resources like water that meat industries use.

Those animals consume more grain than they produce food for us. We need to stop consuming so much meat in America and use that grain to feed starving people. Americans get way too much protein anyway.

Seriously, this is disgusting. Even if some people ate less food here, gosh. We eat so much.

[timb89]

Stop having children you morons, adopt hungry kids.

they could just eat the kids?

two birds with one stone?

[TeachBirds2Fly]

they could just eat the kids?

two birds with one stone?

Then eat the birds

[timb89]

Then eat the birds

just make sure they dont eat the stones before they kill the birds haha

[whataclush]

i say we go build churches so that people can pray for food!

[thefaceless]

i say we go build churches so that people can pray for food!

this.

but realistically nothing is really going to change whats happening. all we can do is our part, however small it may be.

[My Broken Fever]

We'll all be hungry as soon as the phosphor reserves run out and all the bees are dead. Equality at last.

[Stormtrooper]

How much would it cost to produce, transport, and feed all these people for a year?

[macabre]

The other day I overheard someone trying to make the argument that hunger was a necessary evil because our world has gone beyond its carrying capacity. Therefore, we should do nothing and just let these people die. Such an ignorant justification for such a terrible thing.