2008 Woodie Awards
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The U.S. should take a stand to eliminate hunger
Instant Gratification
by Elon Glucklich | Opinion Editor
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If so, chances are you're not living in one of the 33 countries the World Bank says is either teetering on the brink of, or in the midst of, a dangerous food shortage.
That's right. Food, our most basic commodity, is far more of a finite resource than I or any lifelong, red-white-and-blue-blooded American can hope to understand. And while not everyone here can afford food, even poor Americans can walk to the grocery store and look at some. Can you imagine not finding any food anywhere?
The picture's grim: Riots have broken out in 10 African and East Asian countries, including Cameroon, where two dozen people have been killed in two months. These outbursts of violence have come riding the wave of food prices that have risen across the globe. Prices of staple crops - corn, beans, rice etc. - have nearly doubled in less than three years.
So what's to blame for this skyrocket? There are enough factors available for us to pick our favorite if we wish. We can blame the booming economies of China and India, which need more and more grain to feed their growing livestock populations to feed their growing human populations, driving supplies down and prices up. We can blame weather in regions like Australia, where droughts have forced them to import crops rather than grow their own. Or we can blame the increasing production of biofuels, which are taking a sizable bite out of our current crop yields.
Ok, so we've got the blame part out of the way. Now, what do we do? Or better yet, can we do anything? If you know the answer to either of these questions you should probably tell someone and pick up the Nobel Peace Prize that's waiting for you.
And if you take exception to the sarcastic tone I've been using so far I'm sorry. Obviously this isn't a funny issue, nor is it very photogenic; therefore, it isn't getting nearly as much print space or airtime in the American press as it has been getting abroad.
But in spite of our media's relative apprehension toward international issues that don't involve explosions, we are the world's largest donor in foreign aid - thanks in large part to our philanthropic private sector. More than $160 billion of the $190 billion the United States gave in 2007 came from private gifts, loans and investment, according to the Hudson Institute, an international public policy think tank.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Isaac
posted 4/28/08 @ 4:50 AM PST
I find it confusing that you claim that students shouldn't get involved in politics right now because apathy is acceptable or some such malarkey only to turn around and take a political stance. (Continued…)
Liberal Fascism
posted 4/28/08 @ 8:51 AM PST
When Leftists divert 28 percent of U.S. grain into fuel production, and when you artificially make its value as fuel higher than its value as food, why be surprised that you've suddenly got less to eat? Or, to be more precise, it's not "you" who's got less to eat but those starving peasants in distant lands you claim to care so much about. (Continued…)
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