A Simple Solution for A Complex Problem

Ocras

     One of the biggest discussions nowadays is about how to solve the world hunger problem. Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reveal that about 820 million people of the 7.6 billion people in the world are suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2019, and there were also 11 million people undernourished in developed countries (Food). Hunger, as defined on the website Our World in Data, is a form of malnutrition, along with, micronutrient deficiency, and obesity (Ritchie). The last form surprised me. I would not have guessed that hunger and obesity would fit in the same definition. The truth is that the world today is being unbalanced by a surplus and scarcity of food. Fights against extravagance always have ended in war; obviously, that is not the solution. On the other hand, scarcity could be solved with acts of generosity and responsibility. The question is: Who is asked to be generous? Or who is responsible to end world hunger? It is not only one person or a group of persons. It is everybody's duty. The battle against global hunger is not just a worldwide concern, but also an individual matter, and there are many actions that people can take in order to end world starvation.

Ready to serve

      It should be possible to find a solution when the causes of the problem are clearly identified. According to the website Concern Worldwide US, a 50 years old community of humanitarians, the top causes of hunger in the world are poverty, food shortages, war and conflict, climate change, poor nutrition, poor public policy, economy, food waste, gender inequality and forced migration (Concern). A simple solution to cancel these factors of hunger might seem hard to reach; however, it should not be impossible if everybody does something to help. Nobody could refuse a hand that extends to assist. Although, there are still arguments against charity and philanthropic actions. It is hard to believe, but such arguments do exist. Bob Brecher is a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Brighton, UK; he is also the author of some sixty articles and book chapters. In his article "Against Charity: Some Preliminary Considerations", Brecher claims that "charity, far from being a good thing, is wrong; that charity is, in fact, immoral" (97). He suggests that food needy people need food because they failed in the responsibilities to meet their own needs, and he explains that giving them food only worsens the issue, making them dependent. He suggests what they need is the discipline of work. Well, this argument has some validity, but it fails to assume that all poor people are in need simply and only because they are irresponsible. That is not the truth. For example, in Somalia, according to FAO reports, civil conflicts and recent drought have been the cause that people cannot feed themselves or get work (Food). Do they deserve some help? Many would argue that they do. Because hunger has many other causes like natural disasters, lack of access to safe water, etc.; then, to share a little bit of compassion, kindness, and charity, it does not hurt anybody, and it is far away from being immoral.
      There are hundreds of organizations working to fight global hunger. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is one of them. FAO is an international organization present in over 130 countries worldwide, and it has projects and plans to end food shortages in developing countries. They have a big project named Path to Zero Hunger by 2030. Their vision statement claims that “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, Zero Hunger in short, is Goal 2 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…adopted in September 2015 to address global challenges” (Food). This is a noble cause that is worthy of praise. However, according to the United Nations website, there are 193 recognized countries in the world (United). Sadly, this statistic shows that there are still some countries that are not involved in FAO’s project. Maybe, those countries should review their values and principles as nations first, and then, they could rethink the possibility of joining the others in this global mission.

We the people

       The United States Constitution supports the belief of taking care of the needy. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"(Constitution). That does not make anybody particularly responsible, even the government, but it does appeal to the common sense and noble heart of the citizens. However, the only way that we could gain this battle against world hunger is by building a society more sensitive to other's needs. A society aware of the problems that surround it is the ideal for Frances Moore Lappé, an environmental activist and author. She states that "The absence of genuine democratic dialogue and accountable government is a prime reason most people remain blind to the many break-thoughts…that demonstrate we can grow abundant, healthy food and also protect the Earth." (Lappé, 295). It is understandable that she is tired of government institutions taking a side on behalf of the big corporations that sell food products. It is not something new that money and power can obscure the good judgment of the best well-intentioned government. I experimented with this in my country of birth, Cuba, where a political system seemed to care about their people's rights until the power, given by the trusted citizen to the government, took out their selfish nature. Why leaving in other's hands the responsibility to make decisions when people can decide for themselves to be better persons and enjoy the pleasure of being helpful to someone?

Nationwide food waste

       There are many nonprofit organizations in America and around the world that are engaged to relieve hunger issue, in which people can enroll. Supporting them with donations or simply making them known, could be a big approach to stop this global problem. The first time I heard about this kind of organization was through my mail. I receive monthly letters and reports from an organization called Feeding America. It sounds ridiculous that this country of abundance needs to ask for donations to feed their people. Maybe, David Biello, who is a renowned and awarded journalist, can explain why. In his article, Will Organic Food Fail to Feed the World? he states, "The food problem is one of distribution and waste…According to the Manufacturers Association, in the U.S. alone, 215 meals per person go to waste annually" (Biello, 264). It is natural to give more attention to other causes that seem more important, like, war, gender inequality, lack of water, etc.; however, of all the causes of hunger in the world, this one could be the most underestimated. The food waste acts quietly and makes more damage than people could imagine. Fortunately, some stores and other businesses in the United States are active partners of an organization like Feeding America in the fight against food waste. Some names can be mentioned like Costco, Publix, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Starbucks, Aldi, Amazon, Uber, and many others (Feeding) It is a relieve to know that so many corporations are active in helping with food banks all over the country. In the meantime, there are many schools in this country that still do not care enough about food waste. My husband works at a school cafeteria and he is a witness to a large amount of good food that is discarded every day. A menu, with a great variety of meals, is offered at school lunch only based on probabilities that never get right about what the students want to eat that day, so the leftover is inevitable. It is a shocking reality that young people are been trained to be irresponsible and negligent with food while maybe their neighbors are starving or having food insecurity. While I wonder why these things still happen, I can recall my mother telling me: "Eat all food in your plate because there are many children in this world that don't have any". She taught me to be respectful and grateful for what I have. So, maybe, what is happening right now is that we are modeling in front of our children a disrespect for what we already have and inherit from our ancestors. We need to begin our lecture on ethical behavior at homes and schools.
       Empathy is a word not frequently used, but it is a keyword in a website about education named Edutopia, founded by innovative and award-winning filmmaker George Lucas in 1991. In an article, we can find that three benefits of empathy are: to build positive classroom culture, to strengthen relationships, and to prepare leadership (Owen). Many young people have been touched by their trips to study abroad where they have interacted with the real world for people in other countries. That is a good idea for teaching empathy. If the students are taught in the sensibility and care about the world that surrounds them, is highly probable that the society from the future reaches more achievements that the current one. Classrooms and family rooms are the best settings to start the fight against global hunger and any global challenge.
      It is true that when we hear a phrase like fighting against global hunger, we tend to think’ that it is somebody matters, and it does not have much to do with us. It can be a natural reaction, but it is not the right one. Any problem that reaches a global magnitude started once as a little portion, and the solutions could be so simple that when the problem began. Yes, we need international organizations, governments, alliances that taking care of the problem at big scales, but we also need to reconsider our values and priorities, and how we transfer them to the next generations so that they can be more aware of their nearest or remotest neighbor's needs.

Works Cited

Biello, David. “Will Organic Food Fail to Feed the World?” Food Matters, edited by Bauer. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 262-265.

Brecher, Bob. “Against charity: Some preliminary considerations” Ethics & Bioethics (in

Central Europe), Sciendo, 2017.Vol 7, pp 97-103.

Concern. Concern Worldwide Us, Accessed 09 Dec.2019. www.concernusa.org/story/top-causes-world-hunger.

Constitution of the United States. 1787. Preamble to the United States Constitution. US National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives. gov/founding-docs/constitution.

Feeding America. Food and Fund Partners, Accessed 09 Dec.2019. www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/partners/food-and-fund-partners.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Path to Zero Hunger by 2030, Accessed 09 Dec.2019. www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/1003923.

---. Somalia: USD 144 million needed to help 6 million people, 2019. http://www.fao.org/resilience/multimedia/audio/audio-detail/en/c/1201242.

---. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the world, 2019. http://www.fao.org/state-of-

               food-security-nutrition/en.

Lappé, Frances Moore. “Biothecnology isn’t the Key to Feeding the World”. Food Matters, edited by Bauer. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 294-296.

Owen, Lauren. “Why Should I Care?” Edutopia, 11 Nov. 2015,

               www.edutopia.org/blog/empathy-classroom-why-should-i-care-lauren-owen.

Ritchie, Hannah and Roser, Max. "Obesity". Our World In Data, 2019.

               https://ourworldindata.org/obesity.

United Nations. Shaping our future together, Accessed 09 Dec.2019. www.un.org/en/about-un/index.html. 

"Nationwide Food Waste Infographic" by Jennifer Giesler is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 
"Ocras" by flinner! is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 
"Ready to serve." by Messiah Lutheran (Mechanicsville, VA) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 
"We the People" by StevenANichols is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0