Hunger In America

The only major political move in the United States to end hunger in recent years was made by president Obama, we simply can’t have that. Although we are a constitutional-republic, we cannot rely on one person or a few activist groups to do what we all know needs to be done. Do you think that we will rid this country of hunger if only a few of us try? We won’t. We may achieve some meaningful progress, but we will not completely destroy the simplistic monster that is hunger if we do not try as a people. So do me a favor, do yourself a favor, do your neighbor a favor, do a starving child a favor and join the fight to end hunger in

Every day an estimated 24,000 people die from hunger or hunger related causes. Three-fourths of these deaths are children under the age of five. One may wonder how this can be living in a country were it seems so much food is wasted everyday. Food restaurants and grocery stores throw away food every night before closing. Many Americans waste food every day within their own homes. With so much “left over” food in America, how is it that an estimated 800 million people around the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition?

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

Although the United States government spends $176 billion on hunger programs every year, there are currently more than 46 million Americans going hungry every day. In the U.S. every county, state, or congressional district experiences some form of malnutrition and hunger. Right now there is a rapid increase in the number of hungry Americans and the issue is quickly becoming problematic. Today one in six Americans participate in one or more of the fifteen nutrition assistance programs funded by the government and provided by the USDA. Recently more people have begun to question what hunger really is, what all the programs actually do, and what their results are.

In the United States of America, the richest nation of the world, one in six Americans do not have enough food to eat. Have you ever wonder why there are so many food banks and food pantries throughout the country? They are not simply, as you thought, existent to offer emergency food assistance. Indeed, they are the main sources of food to millions of food-insecure Americans. Food insecurity, the state of not having sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, has been very widespread and common in America. It affected millions of Americans and has been increasing dramatically in recent years; in 2012, more than 48 millions of food-insecure Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (McMillan). The depth of deprivation varies in each family. Some families have to skip meals in order to save food for the next meal, some families get enough food but eat an unhealthy diet due to economic reasons, and some families get to eat but in the cost of other family members go hungry. Food insecurity is one of the most serious nutrition-related public health issues in the United States. Obesity in America is due in part to the consequences of food insecurity because of innutritious and unbalance diet. Food insecurity is associated with

America is the wealthiest country in the world, but it is also home to some of the hungriest people. According to the IMF’s advanced economy countries on Food Insecurity, America rank’s the worst (a place at the table). Similar to the rest of the world, the majority of the hungry in America are those with a low socioeconomic status; however, the hunger in America is not due to lack of food but lack of nutrition. The people who are poverty stricken in America are also commonly affected by obesity due to lack of income and education. Though it may seem to be a paradox, hunger and obesity run hand-in-hand. Often times

Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a country that had no problems whatsoever? Well, this could be a possibility in a fairy tale or in someone’s imagination, but the reality is that America has quite a lot of problems. Two of which happen to be nationwide hunger and food insecurity. These issues go hand in hand and affect not only the children of the U.S. but also young adults and the elderly as well. According to Feeding America, a nonprofit organization that secures and provides food for families in need, 48.1 million Americans live in households that experience food insecurity. Food insecurity, according to USDA, is based on households that suffer from economic and social conditions that limit or create uncertain access to adequate food.

How have we been able to leave earth and break unbelievable feats that sound nearly impossible, and still not be able to do the simplest thing and feed our people with enough nutrition? Like the great saying goes, "We have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the Earth in our lifetime. We need only the will." Stated by our former president from the 1960s John F. Kennedy but although there were only three billion people during his time we still have the means to eliminate hunger in the United States with methods that scientist believe could feed the world of today that has above five and a half billion people or more which was stated by “feeding the worlds people”. But we should

Hunger stalks America and many other countries. How the world deals with hunger is dependent on cultural attitudes and the understanding of what hunger means to the individual and communities. In the United States, the majority of hungry people are the elderly, children, and the disabled which represent a bloc of people unable to provide for themselves with employment. The understanding that governmental systems and institutions responsible for food insecurity are failing, is becoming mainstream in the population, not the previous idea that agriculture does not produce enough food. How to provide physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to meet dietary needs and food preferences for healthy lives is a problem of political and economic exclusion, social injustice and discrimination (Cunningham 2017, Lecture 1). The right to food security should be an uncompromised right of humanity, no matter the cost to government or agriculture.

Millions of people deal with hunger daily while the United States, as well as other developed countries, waste enough edible food to feed every hungry person on the planet. “Forty percent of the food in the United States

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”- Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

The current political situation in the United States has shaken people to the core. What once was a stable country has quickly disrupted into chaos. This has lead many people to wonder what the future might hold for those who are already struggling to get by. But it doesn't have to be this way though. With careful planning, Americans can regain some control over their lives. And the best place to start is with their food supply.

In the past ten years the world population exceeded six billion people with most of the growth occurring in the poorest, least developed countries in the world. The rapidly increasing population and the quickly declining amount of land are relative and the rate at which hunger is increasing rises with each passing year. We cannot afford to continue to expand our world population at such an alarming rate, for already we are suffering the consequences. Hunger has been a problem for our world for thousands of years. But now that we have the technology and knowledge to stamp it out, time is running short.

Next, the U.S. has enough food resources to feed the people in poverty. According to a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, everyday people throw away 38 million tons of food away. Not including stores, 40% of food isn’t eaten. The group says more than 20 pounds of food is wasted each month for each of 311 million Americans, which is equal to $1,350 to $2,275 yearly, wasting for a family of four. Food resources can end world poverty.

We do have an issue with food, malnourishment. Malnourishment can be undernutrition or sub-nutrition (commonly known as obesity). There are 795 million people suffering from undernutrition and there are 600 million people in the world who are sub-nourished/obese!