Already, at the dawn of the
21st century, 40 million men, women and children (that's roughly 7 Jewish
holocausts) perish annually- that's EVERY YEAR- from hunger, starvation, disease
and malnutrition. Out of the roughly 100,000-150,000 who die every day around
the world, roughly 40,000 of these are children.
In 1900, there were
approximately 1 billion people inhabiting the Earth. Today, in 2003, that number
is well over 6 billion- an unprecedented and exponential increase in 100 years
of human history.
China and India, the two most populous nations on the
planet (both with well over a billion inhabitants), as well as the poor,
undeveloped and developing nations that comprise the continents of Asia, Africa
and Latin America, will continue to bear the brunt of world hunger and global
starvation. Africa is by far the poorest and least developed continent harboring
the poorest of the poor and the most destitute worldwide.
Today, more than 1
billion people in the world are chronically starving and malnurished. By
contrast, the United States throws away 100 billion tons of food a year. Of a
total of 6.2 billion people worldwide, roughly 1.2 billion live on less than US$
1/day. 1.7 billion lack access to clean water. 3 billion live without decent
sanitation.
Solving and ending world hunger and global starvation will
require alot. First and foremost must be the immediate cessation of a nearly US$
1 trillion dollar global military budget. Funds instead must be re-directed towards
creating healthy, organic, largely vegetarian lifestyles and
solutions.
Sustainable ecological/economic development with heavy emphasis on
recycling, protecting and preserving local, regional and global environmental
resources must become paramount. Green businesses that promote care, compassion
and nuturance rather than greed, exploitation and profit, are also an important
factor in transforming our global society into one that can survive the 21st
century.
The continuing corporate/commercial "green revolution" and the introduction of genetically
engineered foods will only further harm the environment in the long term as well
as exacerbate the non-sustainability factor and drastically undermine the
prospect of feeding the world's poor and hungry in the immediate years and
decades to come.
Currently, there is enough food grown on the planet to provide every single
man, woman and child with approximately 3500 calories of nutrition per day
(a normal healthy diet takes in between 2000- 2500 calories per day). Feeding
the world is attainable if given the will and the priority of the peoples
and nations to make it so. An evolving/advanced world civilization will
REQUIRE that feeding its people become a high priority goal to be met and
attained.
Steve Jones P.O. Box 1574 Mt Shasta, California
96067 USA
E-mail: aldebaran775@yahoo.com
SOURCES
1. Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy 398 60th St,
Oakland, California 94618 USA Website: Food First
2. The Hunger
Project 15 E. 26th St, New York, New York 10010 USA Website: The Hunger Project
3. World Food
Summit c/o Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) The United Nations,
777 UN Plaza, New York, New York 10017 USA Website: World Food Summit
