[ Myths and Facts about Hunger ][ Solar Energy ][ Gates gives UNICEF ][ World Food Programme "Fast Food" ][ Paradox of our Time ]
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6 Myths and Facts about Hunger Based on documents from Food First - The Institute for Food and Development Policy
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Myth 1: THERE JUST ISN'T ENOUGH FOOD PRODUCED IN THE WORLD TO FEED EVERYONE.Fact: World production of grain alone is over 1.5 billion
tons, enough to supply the entire world population with two pounds a day. This,
with the current production of vegetables, fruits, nuts and meat, is enough to
supply each man, woman and child with 3000 calories a day - equal to the
consumption of an average American. There is enough food: the problem is that
some people cannot afford to pay the price of available food. World hunger and
malnutrition is a matter of poverty and accessibility, not production.
Myth 2: HUNGER IS CAUSED BY FAMINE AND NATURAL DISASTERS WHICH CANNOT BE CONTROLLED BY PEOPLE.Fact: Most hunger is not the result of famine or disaster. These recurring conditions are devastating, but they are the cause of only a small portion (10%) of the hunger problem, even though they tend to be the most publicized portion. People could still eat when famine and natural disaster occur if they had enough food in storage nearby. Furthermore, some famines are in fact man-made. For example, wars and revolutions often produce famine and mass migration of refugees. Primarily, hunger results from chronic undernutrition; people lack access to enough food, lack the resources to purchase or grow their own food, or the food they eat lacks sufficient nutritional value.Myth 3: HUNGER IS THE RESULT OF OVERPOPULATION. IF PEOPLE HAD FEWER CHILDREN THEY WOULD NOT BE HUNGRY.Fact: Contrary to popular belief, overpopulation is not the cause of hunger. It is usually the other way around: hunger is one of the real causes of overpopulation. The more children a poor family has, the more likely some will survive to work in the fields or in the city to add to the family's small income and, later, to care for the parents in their old age. High birth rates are symptoms of the failures of a social system - inadequate family income, nutrition, education, health care and old-age security.Myth 4: PEOPLE WHO ARE POOR ARE UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO HELP THEMSELVES.Fact: In less developed countries people who are poor work for long hours at low wages, sometimes only pennies a day. In order to survive in these circumstances, they must be hard working, innovative, and resourceful. Poverty lending in Latin America, Asia and Africa has proven that by giving destitute people access to credit (loans averaging $50) they are able to successfully start a small business and work their own way out of poverty.Myth 5: WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN HUNGRY AND THE POOR PEOPLE IN AMERICA FIRST, BEFORE WE TRY TO HELP OTHERS.Fact: Actually there is no reason that we have to choose between helping people in the U.S. and people in other countries. Both domestic and global hunger and poverty are blights upon humanity; both cause immense and unnecessary suffering and both must be tackled simultaneously if the world is to prosper. The resources are ample, if we decide to put people who are hungry - wherever they are to be found - first. In an interdependent world the good done for any part will benefit the whole.Myth 6: INDIVIDUALS CANNOT AFFECT THE WORLD HUNGER SITUATION: ONLY GOVERNMENTS OR VERY RICH AND POWERFUL PEOPLE CAN MAKE THE NEEDED CHANGES.Fact: Individual citizens collectively hold public power. In countries that adhere to democratic principles, it is much easier for that power to be expressed. This ability to influence and participate in public policy-making gives each of us the responsibility to act. Not only do we have the power to influence the course of events, but the moral obligation to exercise that power. Recent history shows what individuals working collectively can do to affect policy (Civil Rights, Environmental, and Eastern Europe Democratic movements, for example). Changing government policies and achieving sufficient funding of programs that work to empower poor people are essential. Each of us can help create that change.Page created by David Bodnick and Daniel Zalik, 1993 |
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some study concerning alternative solar energy, they calculated that 25
satellite, with an area of 65 KM2 each, will be able to cover the energy
supply for all the USA |
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Gates Gives UNICEF 26 millions dollars grant United Nations, New York An American support group for UNICEF, the UN children's fund, announced November 21 1999 that it had received its largest donation ever, a grant of 26 million from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ear-marked for the elimination of tetanus among babies and their mothers in the poorest nations. Nearly 250.000 people. most of them infants, died of tetanus in the developing world in 1998, according to the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, the American support group and the oldest of UNICEF's 37 national support committees. The grant from the foundation, which was created by Mr.Gates, is intended to make immunizations more widely available to the poor. (NYT) | |
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Our speciality is high-speed delivery - not pizzas
or hamburgers, but desperately-needed food. The World Food Programme
is the United Nations' frontline agency in the fight against hunger.  For
victims of war or natural disasters we get supplies where they're needed
- fast. More than fast, we're efficient too. www.wfp.org |
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| The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller
buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These aredays of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete. |
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[ Myths and Facts about Hunger ][ Solar Energy ][ Gates gives UNICEF ][ World Food Programme "Fast Food" ][ Paradox of our Time ]
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