MetaFilter posts tagged with Hunger

Going hungry in the USA

wilful — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:46:47 -0800

Almost 15 percent of US households are "food insecure". Last year, nearly 17 million children, or 22.5 per cent, lived in households in which food at times was scarce - 4 million children more than the year before. And the number of youngsters who sometimes went hungry rose from nearly 700,000 to almost 1.1 million. "This is unthinkable. It's like we are living in a Third World country,'' said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America, the largest organisation representing food banks and other emergency food sources. James Weill, president of the Washington-based Food Research and Action Centre, said: ''It's frankly just deeply upsetting.'' As reported in Australia.

"All fur coat and no knickers."

adamvasco — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:49:42 -0800

Solving America's hunger crisis is an article by Sacha Abramsky
Feeding America has a Hunger quiz and Hunger 101 - Feed your mind. A comment from the Guardian link: If America can't get it together to look after their sick and ill people ( no NHS ) then what makes anyone think they give a damn about their poor? Has America a good track record on equality issues? No. Has America shown economic benefit of its vast wealth to all ? No. Has America developed good social safety nets for its poor? No. Why not? Because they just don't want to. It's just the way Americans are. Anything that sonds like a National health system or decent state benefits is still seen as Communist, or nearly as bad - Socialist.
ClubOrlov comments on American Socialism.

Cry havoc and let loose the Dogs of War.

adamvasco — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:21:23 -0800

Nearly 2.4 million displaced; mostly in refugee camps where it's about 45 degrees Celsius with no wind. Their economy is devastated."The numbers of people who have moved in that last three and half weeks is the highest rate of movement we have seen for more than 20 years anywhere in the world."
Your tax dollars at work?

One Can Make a Difference

netbros — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:01:42 -0800

Canstruction is a design/build competition currently held in cities throughout North America. Teams of architects, engineers, and students compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food. The results are displayed to the public as magnificent sculpture exhibits in each city where a competition is held. At the close of the exhibitions all of the canned food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include pantries, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers. Since its inception, ten million pounds of food has been donated to aid in the fight against hunger.

May God give us Strength.

hadjiboy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:34:41 -0800

Photographs of The Great Depression of the 1930's to 1940's (previously), and an interview with a survivor growing up during those hard times... posted before on Mefi, here.

Paging Mr. Dickens...

dejah420 — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:39:18 -0800

When welfare benefits the rich, and starves the poor: Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years. The American tradition of guaranteeing cash assistance to the poor came to an end with the signing of legislation in August 1996. Since then, states get block grants, and state and local governments decide how to spend the money. For example; fewer than 2,500 Georgia adults now receive benefits, down from 28,000 in 2004—a 90 percent decline. Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois have each dropped 80 percent of adult recipients since January 2001. Nationally, the number of recipients fell more than 40 percent between then and June 2008, the most recent month for which data are available. In Georgia last year, only 18 percent of children living below 50 percent of the poverty line—that is, on less than $733 a month for a family of three—were receiving aid. States are spending the TANF block grants to plug budget holes[PDF], fund property tax rebates, [google book excerpt] and other discretionary spending. Because there is no federal oversight anymore, it's become a real challenge to find out where all the money goes, once it leaves the feds hands. One thing is for sure though...it sure doesn't seem to be getting to the poor.

Ensuring the future of food

oxford blue — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:50:18 -0800

A well designed Japanese video about food security

Haitians are reduced to eating dirt.

Melismata — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:49:29 -0800

Many poor Haitians, driven over the edge by world rising food prices, are now eating cakes of mud, salt and shortening in order to survive. This article in the September issue of National Geographic describes how, thanks to history and other factors such as hurricanes, Haiti has lost its ability to feed itself; more than 90% of the country is deforested. The picture caption in the print version, not seen online, uses the word "clay" instead of "dirt". Bill Quigley wrote about the U.S. role in Haiti's food riots, which claimed six lives last spring.

The forgotten Holocaust

hadjiboy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:10:41 -0800

In 1943, while the Allies were busy battling the Axis Powers and the Nazi Regime, there was another kind of war that was being waged against a helpless populace (living on the Indian Sub-continent). A war that has been largely ignored by the mass media and the history books of our time. It is known as the Great Bengal Famine, and ended up causing the death of an estimated 1.5 million to 4 million people.

Hungry like the (neo-colonial) wolf

cal71 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:43:38 -0800

Worried about food prices? Don't be, if you've got capital! You can lease land from starving countries like Sudan to ease your own food problems. This ain't Food Force (previously), but the gamesmanship (via) is underway (pdf). On the bright side, let them eat lobster!

Sitting Out Earth Day

netbros — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:23:47 -0800

The new face of hunger -- “World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period” says the International Food Policy Research Institute. Food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator because of soaring food commodity prices. So, where does the world get more food? If the extra supplies are to come mainly from large farmers in America and Europe, then they may be trapped in a farm subsidy Catch-22. Increase production per acre? We just learned about the myth of GM crops (previously of MeFi). All of this is why some are just sitting out Earth Day.

This invisible germ of life in the grain of wheat can thus pass unimpaired through three thousand resurrections...

KokuRyu — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:27:01 -0800

Some of the world's biggest grain exporters barred their farmers from selling in global markets yesterday, exacerbating the food price crisis for poorer nations that import their food and highlighting the failure of governments to nurture stronger rules for agricultural trade. Google news on restrictions on grain exports... Previously on MetaFilter. “Business as usual is no longer an option,” Paris-based UNESCO says in a sweeping report on the world agriculture system that was three years in the making and released on April 15. “There is a recognition that the mounting crisis in food security is of a different complexity and potentially different magnitude than the one of the 1960s.” The need for action is urgent. Since March 2007, soybean and wheat prices have increased by 87% and 130% respectively, and global grain stores are today at their lowest level on record. Prices of staple foods such as rice, maize and wheat are expected to continue to rise because of increased demand, especially in China and India, and because of the alternative use of maize and soybeans for bio-fuels. Furthermore, states the report, “35% of the Earth’s severely degraded land has been damaged by agricultural activities.”

A Hungry Man is an Angry Man

adamvasco — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:19:56 -0800

Land turned to biofuels in the US alone in the last two years would have fed nearly 250 million people with average grain needs. Prices of all staple food has risen 80% in three years. 33 countries face unrest because of these price rises. Subsidiziation of Biofuel is driving the poor to starvation. In Bangladesh Biofuel production hits food security. Half of Pakistan population at the risk of food insecurity, warns WFP. Cost of food increases hunger in Nepal. wiki

What Am I Craving?

amyms — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:19:53 -0800

What Am I Craving? That's the question we always ask ourselves when thinking about what to eat. So we got to thinking: wouldn't it be cool to have a tool that could listen to what we were craving and then suggest something good to cook?

Rule 1 of Burrito Project: You do not talk about Burrito Project.

basicchannel — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:15:21 -0800

Burrito Project is an organization which helps feed the hungry and homeless in cities around the world. The organization encourages people "to get together with friends and build burritos to take to the streets". Anyone can start a Burrito Project and the organization encourages everyone to help feed the hungry in their local communities. Haven't heard of the Burrito Project? There's probably a good, albeit very strange, reason why. [via]

Feed The Beast Starve the People

adamvasco — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:34:06 -0800

The looming food crisis is already upon us. The Institute for Food and Development - Food First - whose Policy is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger is joined by Green Horizon talking about a global food crisis emerging. By promoting biodiesel as a substitute, we have missed the fact that it is worse than the fossil-fuel burning it replaces. As a result the line between the food economy and energy economy has become blurred. In the United States and Canada, governments are manipulating the market in the biofuels industry.

Burning our food

bumpkin — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:48:46 -0800

Tonight, G.W. Bush is expected to announce a major energy proposal, including cutbacks in gas consumption and development of alternative fuels. High on the list is the development and subsidisation of ethanol, primarily as derived from corn. The utility of corn-based ethanol in meeting energy needs is debatable: its probably weakly energy positive, but not very good in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. More immediately, the US drive towards corn based ethanol has had major effects on the price of corn, and has caused the otherwise free market leaning Mexican President Felipe Calderon to introduce price controls on tortillas. Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown: "The competition for grain between the world’s 800 million motorists who want to maintain their mobility and its 2 billion poorest people who are simply trying to survive is emerging as an epic issue.". (This post based on a column by Barrie McKenna, unfortunately subscriber only.)

John Murtari Hunger strike for fathers rights.

IronWolve — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:46:42 -0800

John Murtari hunger strike protest. John Murtari has been on a hunger strike after being jailed without a jury trail. A PHD in aeronautics, Murtari lost his job and took a lower paying job at an ISP. Unable to pay the extremely high child support payment, he asked the courts to re-adjust his payment. The court denied him. The judge offered him probation or 6 months jail time. Murtari chose jail time with protest. Murtari stated Even Terrorists get a trail by jury. He is finally on a feeding tube, forced down his nose, after loosing 28 lbs. Update with protest photos and his comments on the protest.

So... what's eating you today?

insomnia_lj — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:47:03 -0800

UN reports "vast" levels of hunger for Iraq's children. The World Food Programme is reporting that a "dismal shortage of cash" is jeopardizing the health of over 3 million Iraqis, over half of them children. The organization cites "a growing negative impact on the most vulnerable". Last year, a survey indicated that over 27 percent of all Iraqi children under the age of five were chronically malnourished. This was before reports came out, indicating that food rations have been cut off, and reports of food prices escalating sharply. Some Iraqis have resorted to selling their blood for money to make ends meet. Approximately 400,000 Iraqi children now suffer from "wasting," a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea and dangerous deficiencies of protein. Iraq now has the third highest infant mortality rate in the world, just ahead of Afghanistan.

Hungry?

brautigan — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 09:39:46 -0800

Hungry? You will be.

Guantanamo Bay Hunger Strikes

jperkins — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 21:50:39 -0800

"Guantanamo hunger strike staged," reads the BBC. Reports vary from the US military claiming only 76 of the 500 prisoners there are involved in a hunger strike to claims of more than 200 of the prison population by others. There's widespread divergence for the reasons for the strike ranging from the prisoner's demands to be tried or set free to "rumors of a violent interrogation session and two rough extractions of detainees from their cells, as well as a new incident of alleged desecration of a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book." Some of them are reported to be undergoing force feeding now. The detainees are apparently attempting to embarass the U.S. government into action. The government needn't worry since most of the U.S. main stream media isn't reporting it anyway.

Come One, Come All, There's Plenty of Misery to Go Around

fenriq — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:56:00 -0800

Meanwhile, Malawi Withers
After a poor harvest that brought in 1.3 million tons of maize (well short of the 2.1 million tons needed) the United Nation made an $88m (66 million pounds) food appeal for Malawi ten days ago but has not received a single penny or pledge of aid from any nation so far.

Woops, check that, Ireland's just pledged a million euros. Only 65 million to go.

on my tongue

Phantast — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 11:48:28 -0800

Are you HUNGRY or do you just crave the flavor? (my favorite is that Mustard is under the heading Exotic.)

Choosy mothers choose Plumpy'nut

ancientgower — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 17:17:18 -0800

Hope for hungry children, arriving in a foil packet [NYT article], interesting article about a seemingly simple (if partial) solution to malnutrition in Niger: a peanut-butter-like mixture that avoids the problems associated with traditional treatment methods. What truly interests-and bothers me-about this article is that a French company came up with this. Is there an American company that makes products simply to alleviate world hunger?

Walk A Mile in Your Shoes

amberglow — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:45:28 -0800

Walk A Mile project brings policymakers and people on assistance together. One of their programs is Living on Food Stamps, where policymakers try to eat for a month on the same amount of food stamps regular people receive. Here's how it went in Oregon, and some lessons learned by legislators.