Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition
Every morning when I wake up the first thought in my mind is usually: FOOD! I often lie in bed for a few extra minutes, planning out what I am going to eat for breakfast. Seldom as I go through this routine do I stop to think about those who are less fortunate than me. I often take for granted that everyone wakes up and eats breakfast. But this is far from true, not everyone shares the luxuries that we have in the United States. Some people wake up and wonder if they will eat at all that day, let alone eat breakfast. Why? Because food, like many other things, is unequally distributed throughout the world.
The struggle for enough food has gone on for centuries. Back in primitive days, the first task human beings undertook was the search for food. Primitive people were collectors, they would find what they could to eat and hope that it would be enough. When this failed to meet the population's needs, humans became hunters and trapped their food. Finally, some years later, humans began to farm the land. Because of the growing demand for food, those who could produce the most crops were considered the most powerful.
But the limits of farming too were quickly discovered. If the earth were to produce food naturally, there would only be enough to feed about ten million individuals. With the earth's population now exceeding five billion we can see how this could pose a problem. Because of this overwhelming gap between how much the earth can produce and how much is actually needed, many agricultural advancements have been made that allow us to produce much more.
One very important advancement was the irrigation system. This system supplies dry land with water by means of ditches, pipes, or st...
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... flowers came from, after all it is too cold for flowers to grow in America. But these flowers are not grown here, they are grown in Mexico. Huge plantations of fertile land are bought by American coporations and instead of being used for agricultural purposes, the land is used to grow flowers for Valentine's Day. People struggle to provide enough food to feed and nurish their families, while fertile land is being wasted to grow flowers. Atrocities such as this are commited by the rich countries every day. We take from other less fortunate countries valuable resources that they truly need, though we have plenty of our own resources to work with. Perhaps if people in the US (as well as the other rich countries) began conserving more and wasting less on luxuries that we do not really need, we could take the first step towards helping those less fortunate than we are.
There are several programs in the Muncie area that assist those who are dealing with food insecurity. Some of these programs are: Indiana school breakfast and lunch program, Second Harvest Food bank and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program. These three programs help those who suffer from food insecurity but do so in different ways.
Hunger is a very important issue in the United States. The film “Place at the table” addresses to this problem through the stories of American people and families who have to face the struggle with hunger on the daily basis. It is hard to believe that such a prosperous country like United States has such an issue, but the statistics provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture tells us the horrifying truth that one in every six Americans does not have enough food to eat. That is approximately fifty million people. The government and majority of US people are in denial of this problem, because they are simply ashamed to acknowledge it. Hunger can be next door in your neighborhood, but nobody knows about it, because people afraid to talk about it.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in the years 2010-2012. Ellen Gustafson has spoken in ted talks on the issue of Obesity plus Hunger equals one global food issue. One the main issues Gustafson speaks of is world hunger and how to end it. She also speaks briefly on obesity and how in comes into play with world hunger. Even though some people would argue that there just is not enough food in the world, world hunger and obesity can easily be prevented and eliminated with proper knowledge and programs.
For most Americans, the word poverty means insufficient access to to housing, clothing and nutritious food that meet their needs for a healthy life. A consequence of poverty is a low socioeconomic status that leads to being exposed to poor nutrition. Since food and dietary choices are influenced by income, poverty and nutrition go hand in hand. There are many important factors that threaten the nutritional status of poor people. The number one factor is not having enough money to buy food of good quality and quantity. Not having enough money can have a profound impact on the diets of low-income people. Limited financial resources may force low income people to make difficult decisions about what kind and how much food to buy. Limited financial resources often lead to food insecurity. According to Gundersen, Waxman, Engelhard, and Brown (2011) food insecurity is the lack of access to healthy food in quantity or quality.
The irrigation systems help to keep the food supply plentiful which helped to play a role in the development of civilizations because it didn't require groupd to move when the food source got low.
Poverty itself is a controversial and widely debated issue with a variety of opposing viewpoints. Despite differences in opinions on how poverty should be treated, the vast majority agrees that poverty is a problem plagues the nation on both economic and social levels. Economically, poverty affects everyone. As taxes are paid by the entire nation, poverty influences where our money goes and how it is spent. Socially, poverty affects families and individuals on an emotional level. Impoverishment affects happiness and health, the decisions people make, and most importantly the development of children. To best understand poverty, one must look at the issue economically and socially, and contextualize the numbers surrounding poverty as well as
There are many factors of poverty but before getting into that I would like to state that being rich is not just about having money. You can be rich in health, you can be rich in character, and you can even be rich in the love you receive or provide. Many, take for granted of the small things that can’t be purchased. When all of the materialistic things are gone, all you’ll have left is the person you have become and the soul you keep. Poverty has been around for quite some time, back when agriculture was as rich as technology is now. Let’s face it technology has consumed America. I say America because if you go to a third world country many don't have the luxury of ever coming close to owning an iPhone, you’ll mention iPhone and they’ll stare at you in awe. IPhone is a great example of how profound poverty in America continues to be. The sales for the iPhone 4 devices sold were 1.5 Million! There were people purchasing this new device when they knew they could not afford it. What drove them to buying? The needs to have the newest technology, there’s a difference from the wants you buy and the things you need. 9 out of 10 of the things you want are to feed your satisfaction, who am I to judge who buys what, but when you can’t pay rent or buy diapers for your child and use your welfare money or child support money then who is morally wrong? In the following pages I will be covering the causes of poverty, along with various topics from childhood poverty to spouse divorcing poverty that David Cheal has outlined for us in his notable book New Poverty: Families in Postmodern society and the changes from old poverty into new poverty.
There are many sad scenarios that come to mind when thinking about the victims of domestic violence. With this particular issue, the victims are impacted mentally and physically. A situation that comes to mind is one of a little boy hiding under his bed. He is in a neighboring room and can hear furniture moving and screams of his mother in agonizing pain. He understands that he is too small to intervene on his mother’s behalf and too scared to confront his father. What is he left to do? The young boy calls 911 with the hopes that they could step in and end his mother’s pain. The boy’s father repeatedly abused his mother and insisted that she stay in her place and never considers ending the relationship. This fictional situation is one that occurs everyday in every corner of our country. Domestic violence incidents in 2005 accoun...
In order for us to maintain our lives, we need to consume food to supply nutrient-needs for our bodies. As the global population increased, the demand for food also increased. Increased population led to mass production of foods. However, even with this mass production, in under-developed countries, people are still undernourished. On other hand, in developed and developing countries, people are overfed and suffering from obesity. In addition, the current methods of industrial farming destroy the environment. These problems raised a question to our global food system. Will it be able to sustain our increasing global population and the earth? With this question in my mind, I decided to investigate the sustainability of our current global food system.
Many people do not realize that there are tens of millions of people in America who are living in poverty because they are stuck on the fact that America is one of the richest nations. People who are living in poverty barely have enough money to survive on basic necessities like food, shelter and electricity. They often have a hectic schedule filled with work, school, or other activities that they have to do in order for them to live a somewhat stable life. Unfortunately, there are others who are living in poverty that may be ill or disabled and barely able to survive even if they are receiving money to help with their situation. There are a few programs that help those in poverty with their financial problems, but they only help them to a certain extent. Changes need to be done to help alleviate the poverty rate because these people should not have to deal with all of these hardships or have such a negative perspective of life. Therefore, America can reduce its poverty by raising the minimum wage, making health care more accessible, and by making child care more affordable. These solutions will be a great start to reducing poverty and they will lead America into a brighter future.
Nearly 50,000 people, including 30,000 children, die each day due to poverty-related problems and preventable disease in underdeveloped Countries. That doesn’t include the other millions of people who are infected with AIDS and other incurable diseases. Especially those living in Sub-Saharan Africa (70%), or “the Third-World,” and while we fight to finish our homework, children in Africa fight to survive without food, or clean water. During the next few paragraphs I will give proof that poverty and disease are the two greatest challenges facing under developed countries.
According to Saunders (2005) what are the consequences of living in poverty? How does it affect children and family life?
One of the most complex issues in the world today concerns human population. The number of people living off the earth’s resources and stressing its ecosystem has doubled in just forty years. In 1960 there were 3 billion of us; today there are 6 billion. We have no idea what maximum number of people the earth will support. Therefore, the very first question that comes into people’s mind is that are there enough food for all of us in the future? There is no answer for that. Food shortage has become a serious problem among many countries around the world. There are many different reasons why people are starving all over the world. The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Has anyone ever considered thinking about what the world is really going through? How many people don’t have the necessities in order to survive? If so, what are these people going through? Poverty is the state of one who lacks a standard or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Sometimes events occur that changes a person’s perspective on life. Poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/her. Over half of the world is going through this tragedy and we, being the ones who created it, have the responsibility to end it.