Food Poverty

Hunger in America can be hard to recognize. With how the economy is now, the effects of hunger are more severe. Many Americans are relying on food stamps and private organizations to help with this crisis. Millions in this nation are currently suffering from hunger in America. Half of that being from job loss. More than 12,000,000 children suffer from food insecure hunger because of limited or uncertain access to nutritious food. About 900,000 are hungry in the three- country Detroit metropolitan area alone. The hardest hits are the elderly, the unemployed, immigrants, and the mentally and physically impaired.

The world we live in today is growing at an extremely fast pace. It seems to be that everyday there are more buildings being built, more concrete being poured, and more free land being destroyed. The cause of these events is the worlds’ population rate. Every day our population reaches an all-time high, every day we gain more mouths to feed, and every day we are losing ways to feed these mouths. Food insecurity has risen significantly along with the rise of our population. We must find ways to lower the food insecurity rate by finding new farming practices, making the public more aware of this issue, and doing more ourselves to make sure that we make a change to this problem.

Food insecurity is defined as “the lack of access to enough food to ensure adequate nutrition.”1 The Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that 14.6% of US households were food insecure during at least some portion of 2008 (up 11.1% from 2007), the highest levels recorded since monitoring began in 1995.2 Food insecurity is a concern of under consumption and obesity is a disease of over consumption, yet both outcomes may coexist, seemingly incongruously, within the same household.2 The most popular explanation is that low-cost, energy-dense foods linked to obesity are favored by financially constrained households, who are the most likely to be food insecure.2 Another theory, focusing on environmental context net of individual circumstance, argues that obesity and insecurity are both symptoms of malnutrition, occurring in neighborhoods where nutritious foods are unavailable or unaffordable.2 A separate literature researches environmental roles in poor nutritional outcomes, recent studies link obesity as well as atherosclerosis and diabetes to the food environment, the local context of available food items.2 The theory is that local inaccessibility to healthy foods influences diet composition, a claim supported by evidence.2 Especially in poorer neighborhoods, food options are often limited to fast food restaurants, convenience stores, or grocery stores more poorly stocked both in

Hunger and poverty are global issues that American is not an exception to. As of 2012, statistical data provided by the government reported that "46.5 million people were in poverty, including 16.1 million children under the age of 18" and households with children are hit disproportionately with hunger (Feeding America, Hunger). This disproportion results in an equally startling deficit in the quality of education for our children. These alarming statistics attest to the fact that poverty has become an epidemic. Educating all students to ensure they become productive and successful citizens cannot just be a desire, but a need. The required reformation to fix this epidemic requires government and community assistance with teacher involvement.

Last summer I volunteered at our local Planting Hope event. We distrituted food products from the Maryland Food Bank to people of lower-income in my local town. We also gave shoes and clothes to those who needed them. What I learned after this experience is the realism of poverty and hunger in our country and even my hometown. What may seem to be a prevalent idea for third-world countries far from our homeland, the reality is that poverty and hunger are located closer than we think. Over thirteen percent of Americans are food insecure which seems untrue, but in fact it is a reality that sometimes we ignore. Planting Hope has not only signalled this issue into me, but has allowed me to want to learn more about other issues and rising issues

Before I came here for high school, I always thought the U.S. as a country without poverty; it has affluence resources, superior technologies, and an efficient politic system. After all, the U.S. is the most developed country in the world, and it is hard to associate poverty with Americans. However, my experiences of volunteering in food banks changed my perception about poverty problem in the U.S.: it is more prevalent than I thought. I volunteered for two different food banks.

Poverty is a growing health issue for the youth of American. Poor nutrition is harmful for anyone but children have a more vulnerability and can lead to more potential long term consequences. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that 13.1 million children under 18 years old in the US live in households who are consistently unable to access nutritious foods that are necessary for a healthy life (Feeding America, 2016). The top five states in 2014 to rate the highest for food-insure children under 18 were Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, Alabama, and Arkansas. Feeding America is a food bank that is leading the fight against hunger in communities nationwide. Their network feeds more than 12 million hungry children nationwide with a variety of programs. Of the 12 million children that are served by the foundation, over 3.5 million are children who are ages 5 and under. Unemployment is a leading factor for poverty and hunger in American.

Society has the strange misconception that welfare recipients prefer to remain uneducated, unemployed, and are uninterested in becoming self-sufficient. The words welfare queen embodies the preconceived notion that single mothers are living lavishly at the Government’s and tax payer’s expense. This could be nothing further from the truth. Welfare.org 2015 stated, “The average monthly welfare stipend is around $167 per person”. Meaning that a family of four has to survive an average of 30 days on $668. Also

According to the Household Food Security in the US in 2013, some people experience food insecurity. Food insecurity is the access to adequate food is limited by money or other resources. Obesity is one of the top health problem in America and this is due to eating habits. Junk food is what people can afford. While eating junk food people are consuming more calories. According to the article “Fast Food Linked to Child Obesity” by Jaime Holguin about one third of children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food. This will lead to an increase in weight and obesity.

Food security described as having access to enough food for a healthy life. Americans living with food insecurity are uncertain of having enough food to provide for household members due to insufficient funds or other resources for food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, very low food security is considered a food insecurity in which access to food is severely restricted. Hunger is described as a physical discomfort from not consuming food and can occur episodically but is possible to be the result of severe or protracted food insecurity. In Mississippi around 2007, about 29% of minorities were food insecure. According to the Feeding America network, African Americans are more likely to suffer from food insecurity.

The discourse of land as capital is an important theme for using Critical Race Theory to discuss food systems. Access to means of production have historically influenced the ways in which groups use land resources to exert dominance over others. Simply put, land is power. Social justice scholars have integrated the growing of food as a crucial tenet for achieving food sovereignty in communities of color.

Malnutrition is the lack of proper nutrition, caused by an insufficient quantity or quality of food being consumed. People in poverty are the most affected by malnutrition. In fact, “several studies have reported that poverty, inadequate access to a balance diet and underlying diseases (tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea, etc.) contribute to high levels of malnutrition” (Juma). “Death and disease in developing countries are often primarily a result of malnutrition,” which disproportionately harms those in poverty (Juma). Thus, malnutrition disproportionately harms people in poverty but can be prevented through a conscious effort to offer nutritious food to these people.

World economies and infrastructures have grown to heights never achieved in man’s history, allowing the majority of the world to experience prosperity. So why does poverty still exist, and can it ever be truly eradicated? For the majority of human history people have been consistently plagued with disease, hunger, thirst, and many other dire ailments. However, within the last two-hundred and fifty years these impediments have become decreasingly common. Furthering scientific research and the development of technology has allowed much of the world to increase their standard of living and reduce the amount of deaths caused by lack of food and other necessities. While these developments have impacted a great portion of the world, poverty

According to Dr. Russell, the Children’s Commissioner of New Zealand, there are approximately 305,000 children that are currently in poverty in the country by December 2015, which is 29 percent of the children nationwide (Collins, 2015). Child poverty could be either due to material deprivation or hardship, and these kids are likely to suffer from hunger, cold, health problems and more (OCC, 2012).

While Maori are represented within all socioeconomic areas of New Zealand society, Maori are currently over-represented in poverty statistics. Maori children are far more likely to be exposed to the impacts and effects of poverty than the average child. (Simpson, Duncanson, Oben, Wicken & Pierson. 2015). There are around 13 percent of Maori children that are effected by severe poverty compared to only five percent of