We see things like #WorldHungerDay and think… “Oh, I really should donate some money to that cause. It’s so sad that people, especially babies, are hungry.”
And when you think about hunger… don’t just think third world countries.
8.4 million people in the UK are struggling to afford to eat
(I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in)
What if I told you that there are things you can do every single day to help ease the world’s hunger pangs? What if I told you that the contributors to world hunger are more vast than you realise?
Climate change causes global hunger.
Climate Change is among the leading causes of rising global hunger according to a new report released by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
The number of extreme climate-related disasters, including extreme heat, droughts, floods and storms, has doubled since the early 1990s, with an average of 213 of these events occurring every year during the period of 1990–2016. These disasters harm agricultural productivity of major crops such as wheat, rice and maize causing food price hikes and income losses that reduce people’s access to food.
Food Waste is a contributor.
More world hunger caused by food waste rather than lack of food. #FoodWaste #Recycle
FareShare.Org is doing some amazing things in the UK to educate people about food waste and food insecurity. You really should head over to their site and check it out… tonnes of information and ways to help there!
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of good food is wasted by the UK food industry every year. At the same time, millions of people are struggling to afford to eat. Our work addresses these two issues by redistributing food industry surplus, which would otherwise go to waste, to the people who need it most.
FareShare.Org.UK
For myself, since I’ve decided to eat “green”, I’ve noticed my food waste decreasing significantly. When you eat fresh, you have to change the way you buy and use groceries. They have a shorter shelf life than processed foods, so you have to learn to buy then eat. This means more trips to the shop, but MUCH less waste.
Women suffer with hunger more.
Though women produce the majority of food in developing countries and are typically the primary caregivers for children, gender inequality in societies leads to a higher malnutrition rate among women and girls.
Conflict/War keeps farmers from farming.
Conflict often uproots people from their homes and land, so food production dwindles or stops completely. Conflict also disrupts economies, so markets become unstable. This leaves people who are already vulnerable more susceptible to malnutrition.
Availability of food (distribution) is a large factor in global hunger.
One of the biggest reasons for world hunger is not what many may believe. Surprisingly, it’s more an issue of actually getting food TO people.
We assume hunger exists in poor communities because there’s not enough food, and we’d be right. But that’s the smaller problem. In reality, it’s just about getting food to the people who need it.
“The problem of undernourishment and hidden hunger around the globe is a distribution problem rather than a production one,” says an important new paper on global food waste published in Environmental Science & Technology.
There are SO many things we can do to help the cause of alleviating world hunger. Volunteer with FareShare, write your elected officials about policy, don’t waste food, recycle/reuse, decrease your carbon footprint to help with climate change, and of course… donating your resources (time/money) to agencies helping with this crisis.
I never realised the issue was so interconnected with everything else happening in the world. Have you ever struggled with food insecurity? Did this open your eyes to ways you could help the cause? I’d love to talk about this with you – join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
