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TechnoratiAmericans Increasingly Worried About Hunger
NEW YORK- People with low income in the United States are feeling increasingly insecure about their ability to buy food, according to a new study released by an independent research group.
"As the economy continues its downward trend, concerns about hunger will only intensify," said Jim Weill, president of the Washington, DC-based Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), which published the study Thursday.
The research indicates that a substantial majority of working families have lost their trust in the federal government's ability to address the issue of growing levels of hunger and that the next administration must pay close attention to it.
The study's findings show there is strong public opinion in favor of the need for a comprehensive debate among candidates for the White House and other public offices on the issue of hunger and food insecurity.
"This is an issue that candidates have not focused on, but one that needs to be part of the political debate for president," Weill added in a statement. "Voters deserve to hear exactly where candidates stand and their plans to address the problem."
The FRAC poll found more than three in five voters seemed more likely to support a presidential candidate who makes fighting hunger a top priority and nearly nine out of 10 said that support for hunger issues is important when voting for a member of Congress.
The report's authors said 94 percent of respondents believe it's important for the federal government to fund anti-hunger programs, including school lunches and special nutrition programs for women and infants.
They said polls also showed that more than 60 percent of people were in favor of a temporary increase in monthly food stamp benefits as part of an economic stimulus package, adding that last year about 27 percent of people expressed their concerns about food insecurity.
By contrast, they said, the percentage of people with at least slight worries about food has risen to 57 percent.
Citing a 2007 survey commissioned by Hormel Foods, researchers said over 50 percent of Americans do not believe that, as a country, the United States is adequately protecting its people from going hungry.
Though critical of the lack of an effective federal policy on food security, some non-profit groups are taking innovative steps to address the problem of hunger at home and abroad.
Last month, for example, the international humanitarian aid group Action Against Hunger joined hands with Weight Watchers, a well-known provider of weight management services, to launch a new campaign aiming to involve affluent Americans to improve their health through good nutrition while providing food for the poor.
Through the nationwide campaign, billed as "Lose for Good," Weight Watchers has pledged to donate the cost of one pound of food -- up to a ceiling of $1 million -- for each pound of weight their members lose.
"[It is] to further inspire [our] members as they take the first step on a journey towards improving their well-being," said Weight Watchers president David Kirchhoff, "In doing so, they will help others by converting their weight loss into another person's gain."
In a statement, Nan Dale, executive direction of Action Against Hunger, appreciated Weight Watchers' move and expressed hope that its philanthropic effort would help reduce hunger in the United States and 40 other countries.
"By coupling the reward of improved personal health with the knowledge that members' efforts will help feed malnourished children around the globe," Dale said, "the campaign is truly an innovative, win-win initiative."
According to the organization Food Not Bombs, every year, about 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. Experts say about 30 million people in the United States could be fed with just 1 out of every 25 pounds of wasted food.
In a 2006 report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledged that more than 35 million people in the United States were threatened by hunger. Of them, about 13 million were children, with most in non-white working families.
Official studies show Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Arizona as some of the states that continue to have the highest rates of food insecurity.
16 Comments so far
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WE Need HEMP Seeds!
The discussion about hunger always reminds me that there are people that own land and do nothing with it, and people that own huge farms and grow nothing with the good soil except for corn that can't be eaten. Millions of acres of land, and all it is being wasted on is some fuel additive that, as it turns out, is nearly energetically negative. Ethanol corn depletes the soil and will most likely render it worthless for any food production in the future, even after everyone figures out a better way to get around, like with small efficient engines that run with water and hemp seed oil.
The discussion about hunger reminds me of how brainwashed into relying on the system we all are. Does anyone remember farming and growing a lot of food? A few farms could host cultivation projects in each community, and everyone could eat. How much land does it actually take to feed a community? Everyone that is able can grow food. How many fruit trees could Weight Watcher's million dollar ceiling buy? Why provide people with one gift of food when you could provide them with a long term solution by teaching them cultivation and provide them with the seedlings and earth to grow them in? If we would funnel our energy into growing food and distributing surplus we could all eat. Time for us all to take responsibility for our own survival and the survival of our communities and communities that need our assistance. Don't wait for other people to feed you, grow and procure your own sustaining means.
Also, I am reminded that grocery stores in our country in some places are horribly out of touch with the kind of food people need to thrive and feel healthy. We are bombarded with chemical additives, pesticides, artificial colors, preservatives, flavors, more chemical additives, flavor enhancers to hide the horrid blandness, sodium that is processed, grain that is processed until no semblance of the original grain is left, artificial fats that our body can't digest and which clog our circulatory systems,PCBs and dioxins that mess up our reproductive systems,and our hormonal balances, animal flesh that is pumped so full of adrenaline and growth hormone and antibiotics that to eat it means certain imbalance, It is sometimes not a matter of whether a person has something to stuff into their mouths to stave off the rumbling in their stomach or not that means whether they go hungry or not, Mujeriego. Cause it's nutritionally void food that people are eating. Nutritionally void food, as bloating and stomach-filling as it may be, still facilitates malnutrition.
And what about our water? We are composed mostly of water. We are going to need our water clean...Why is there any tolerance for dumping toxic chemicals, or any poisons, including sewage, pesticides and herbicides, into our waterways? Why is there any acceptable level at all? If our already fragile infrastructure was to collapse in certain areas, how would people find food and water? There would be mass starvation and dehydration, Just GRRREAT! We can't drink water, eat food, or breath the air... I guess if people all perish, it would perhaps be because we are so lacking in common sense as a whole regarding the necessities of physical existence. Obama is right, we need change, alright, REAL change, not rhetorical change.
As long as there are adults living in a world where there are children starving, Humans are on a potentially fatal path. As long as we are willing to vote for politicians that would rather spend millions and millions of dollars into running a slanderous campaign for president instead of feeding millions of starving children, There may be no hope for humanity. The U.S has spent 11 trillion dollars on a war that has killed more than 1 million people, and there are starving children in the world??? That is a problem. We are all contributing to this with our tax money. We have to start protesting like never before. This is not an "it will never happen to me so I don't have to care about it" type of thing!!! All of humanity is in for a bumpy ride in the near future if things don't change overnight. For SHAME to anyone that still believes in our current system. We should be enraged to the core of our beings. 800 billion dollars to keep the economy from doing what???? And there are starving and cold children in this world?
We need to get our priorities straight and stop all the rhetoric. Start growing food!!! If you have a lot of land that you aren't utilizing, share it with people that will grow food; Develop gleaner groups!!! Even middle class families are going to feel the hunger pains! We cannot afford to keep ourselves separate from our neighbors anymore! Work together!!! Don't delay.
Good comment. Land should not be a speculative commodity, nor foodstuffs.
We should spend less on paying food designers and food engineers. The food companies have hordes of them who come up with the super cheap salt, sugar, fat and chemical fantasies that degrade our taste, waste our money with high manufacturing and advertising markups, and make us simultaneously fat and undernourished.
We should spend more on figuring out how to use urban plots, suburban yards, small farms and large agricultural tracts for feeding people. We should put some of our best minds to work on the problem of producing healthful food and the transportation to bring it to market.
Somehow we have to take back the earth and the things that nourish us. Everyone who has some land should think about how to line up their own needs and the needs of others.
This is harder, but we should design our government to encourage loving husbandry of our resources. Any program that pays farmers to undercut the public good should be scrapped. Instead the money should be spent on programs that help farming serve the people of this country and others. The farm bills in Congress are very complex and usually include some confusing combination of positive stuff and unwarranted benefits for landed special interests. We must ask our legislators to separate out features so that a vote has a clear intent.
Joe
Americans can still eat very well on less than $3/day per person. Seems the left wing of the elite party can't talk about this because it wants to promote big government handouts, the bigger the better, to the people, while the right wing doles it out to the elites. Government of by and for the elites can't handle independence among the people.
I would like to see your $3 a day menu for say a child, an adolescent, an adult and a senior citizen based on today's prices. The recent sharp rise in food costs have been a big hardship on people I know, resulting in downright hunger.
Add this to the fact that fuel, heating, housing, health and other basic costs have also risen to push back the food budget.
Joe
Oh please, no one I know can "eat very well on less than $3/day per person. A year ago a bag of rice cost about $4.50 where I live; now it costs $16. Rice isn't the only thing that has risen in price; everything else has, too.
Thanks, Republican f**ks.
"If more Americans would substitute their corn-fed junk with grass-fed meat and diary,"
**I knew it!
I had a feeling you were the farmer with the horse slaves promoting a 19th century plantation farm.
Do the math.
If every american was eating grass fed meat then what about water and wildlife slaughter that comes out of it? I know already-you dont care about that.
Only a small farmer with a $$ stake would say not to care about the effects of water waste and the destruction of habitat and wildlife caused by small meat and dairy farms(not to mention the health issue-but tobacco farmers wouldnt care about that either).
Veganism or strict vegetarianism is the only sensible diet for masses of humans-even Einstein said it.
A few years ago, I could spend $40 a week on food and eat very well. Basics, like rice, beans, vegetables and cheeses. Now, I'd have to spend $90 for the same amount of food with no discernible jump in quality.
Result: I go hungry.
And don't give me that crap about "just get food stamps" or "go to a food bank". I've been denied food stamps six times, mostly because I'm single and have no children. Same with the food bank. "We really need to save food for FAMILIES."
I guess single people don't matter.
Go to any food pantry near a middle class neighborhood and you will see the soccer mom's lined up for food. Here they just show up in their cars and pop the trunk. Food is loaded in their trunk by helpers and off they zoom away.
As I listen to the national discussions of the meltdown I am struck by the absolute inability of any talking head to address the issue from the level of people. Even when asked a direct people question they give lofty economic like responses. Washington cannot even speak on the level of everyday people so how are they going to address the food problem. They are not. Plan for tough times.
What's the salary levels of 'the talking heads'.
On the national news, its in the millions probably. Or at least six figures. The same for most of the 'experts' they bring on the air. One of the big disconnects is that the people who are saying this live in a completely different world from everyone else.
Of course, the corporate networks don't have much interest in getting the real worries of real people on the air. They are in the classic mode for the start of problems of trying to deny there is anything wrong. I'd guess in the meeting rooms behind the scenes, you'd hear a phrase like "we don't want to alarm people."
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
"Planets Fattest Lardasses FINALLY Worried About Hunger"
I seriously doubt that there is one person in the entire USA that has EVER experienced REAL hunger...they probably just have gas from that last Big Mac binge.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
This is obviously written by someone who knows nothing.
Type "Appalachia" into a search engine and learn something. Or maybe "ghetto". Or maybe "South Bronx" or "Watts".
I hate to shatter your stupid stereotypes, but there a lot of Americans who know an awful lot about real hunger.
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"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
Off topic but I wanted to tell you that I live in Texas and we were talking about wetlands. Houston is not in the wetlands. Just to clear that up.
And since you brought up appalachia, it reminds me that some folks won't apply for food stamps and sometimes their kids do go hungry till CPS finds out. Not that its Appalachia, thats here in Texas but I'd guess it happens everywhere.
Remember that we didn't always have government programs and I can assure you hunger here was well documented.
Now, the food stamp program, though privitization efforts by the Republicans damaged the appratus in some states, no person has to go hungry, ever.
Good point about people getting stuff from the food pantries that shouldn't. But you really can't check them out, you just have to disburse on trust.
If more Americans would substitute their corn-fed junk with grass-fed meat and diary, lentils, and vegetables, they wouldn't be going so hungry in the first place. It's time to SHUT DOWN THE RIGGED MARKET mislabelled "free".