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Some perspective:
One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the UN.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the figure was a record high.
Persistently high food prices have also contributed to the hunger crisis.
Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory... More by Charles Mudede
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And what a sad world it is.
What’s even more telling is “Christians” are spending huge sums of money trying to take away people’s rights instead of feeding starving children.
Just about the entire rest of the world is 10 times more fucked-up than we are, at least. Oh, there are places that are almost not as fucked-up (England, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia), but for the most part, this is as good as it gets.
Scary thought, eh?
To place a specific number of 1 billion “hungry” seems like crafty marketing ploy rather than hard science. Without reading the actual report, it’s difficult to critically analyze the substance of the claim. This “press release” refers to a projected conclusion that won’t be issued until October.
Press releases tends to sway the lay public long before an actual report is released. This “1 billion” number will be bandied about without any way to check the methodology, definitions of hunger, etc. That is problematic.
After reading the FAO’s background document, it’s clear that their main point is that the global economy is bad causing job loss, therefore, they expect more people will be unable to afford food.” Why don’t they just say that? Whether people are actually hungry or not is difficult to know. Yet, they put a hard and fast number on it.
I also noticed the background document says “undernourished” rather than hungry (except in the title). I wonder what undernourished means exactly? I’m sure the report defines it, but again, we won’t know for several months.
These press releases are confusing at best and misleading at worst.
There’s a woman giving birth in the world once every ten minutes. She must be found and stopped!
You guys should check out Peter Singer’s book “A Life You Can Save”
Isn’t ethanol and biofuel great?
The causal loop from the spike in oil prices and biofuel production to mass starvation is very strong.
This just means there should be 1 billion fewer people around.
Let’s start with you, #8.
Our farm subsidies are a huge part of the problem. The grain that we don’t need and pay for anyway, as taxpayers, undercuts the prices that farmers on other continents can get for local crops, putting them out of work in economies where agriculture is one of the only ways to make a living.
I actually agree with @8 I don’t support the killing of or painful death or anyone or anything like that … but it does mean that our planet is weighing thin.
However, then you look at how fat we are in America … ugh. Maybe if this fucking country lost a few pounds we could sustain the 1 billion hungries out there.
“Undernourished” in the context of the report means <1800 calories per day. So, yeah, directly related to hunger pangs.
Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s also a big uptick in the number of MAL-nourishment ailments and birth defects, e.g., too-low levels of essential vitamins and minerals. Scurvy, rickets, other seldom-heard terms may become more common. One serving of gruel a day and a fish head once a week won’t quite cut the mustard.
And just think! The Catholics, Mormons, and Anglicans want poor people to breed more! I guess they want more people to starve to death!