Conviction: 2000

The facts in this are so shocking, but so important.

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Conviction: Misplaced

As we continue here with the RFP series on different issues that deserve some attention, let's look at why there are so many hungry people in the world.

Like the issues thus far, money (and what is done with it) has a lot to do with ending hunger. In past years, the cost of food has risen at an alarming rate, and for people in underdeveloped countries who may not receive more than a few dollars a day, a sharp increase in the price of food staples (like rice or other grains) can be a big issue.

Though a lot of the factors in the "food crisis", as several sources term it, can be helped by outside involvement, plenty are rather irreversible. Rising fuel prices make it more expensive to transport food items to where they are bought and consumed, and that price is reflected in the amount paid by the consumer. In many African nations, military conflict and raids have displaced entire populations, and when unable to rely on their tradition food sources, the groups cause strain to be put on other healthy systems.

It's important to look at this more clearly though. "Sure, sure, food is more expensive. It's more expensive to buy strawberries in January, but whatever!" One might argue that point, and yes. That's true. But the increase we are looking at here is unbelievable.

World Vision cites these numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association:
The cost of maize has increased by 80%.
The cost of wheat has increased by 70%.
The cost of rice has increased by 25%.

That is huge. And like I mentioned before, these are staples -- the things that make life livable. So where is the money? The money that could be spent to help alleviate the poverty that prevents so many people from getting a meal at least once a day?

Lets do a little experiment here:

There are 6,892,727,905 people in the world right now,
and 1,030,493,710 of them are undernourished.

There has been 5,134,630,478 tons of food produced this year,
and 130,620 tons wasted today in the USA alone.

Americans have spent $117,276,615 on food today, only to throw it away,
and it would only cost $35,474,859 to feed the hungry.

Honestly, it kind of makes me sick.
So what are you going to do to change those numbers?

Conviction: Hunger

Let's kick off another week, with statistics to get a idea of the scope of this issue.

As you might imagine, hunger is one of the most widely spread problems. It affects people down the street, people in the middle of nowhere, people next to the White House. People in Europe, people in Australia, people in Mexico and in China. There isn't anywhere that hunger isn't a draw on the resources of a society.

More than 11,000 people have died from starvation today. That means that a child dies from starvation every 7 seconds.

There are more than 1 billion people in the world suffering from hunger.

Approximately 1 in 4 children don't get the nutrition they need.

Along with that information, World Vision also cites this:

Even if a child is just moderately underweight, she is four times more likely to die from an infectious disease compared to a well-nourished child.

Worldwide, approximately 145 million children are underweight and at risk of dying — simply because they don’t get enough nutritious food.


It's not a good outlook, by any measurement. And like the other topics we've covered so far, there isn't any easy solution by which every hungry person will suddenly be fed and happy and healthy. The reason for that lies in the reasons that there are so many hungry people in the world, and those are coming up tomorrow!

Conviction: Your Neighbor

If you haven't been able to read all of the posts on HIV/AIDS, then check it out! Because we are movin' on, pals, and there is a lot to learn.

This week, our topic is Poverty, but specifically, poverty in the US. Not suprisingly, there is a lot of information available on poverty and its effects around the country, so for today, I just want to share a little of that with you.

According to the ever-so-handy Dictionary.com,
pov·er·ty  /ˈpɒvərti/ [pov-er-tee]
–noun
1. the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence.

In the United States, poverty is something measured not only by the government but by many other organizations in the country. The Census Bureau has a convenient (although complex!) system for determining whether a family falls above or below the poverty line, which you can read about more at the Overview/Highlights page. In general, each family is measured as a group, so if you live with your parents and siblings, you are all at the same level. If you live alone, then you are 'a family'. In any case, the method boils down to the "thresholds" that the government assigns: how many people in a household and how many of them are under 18. Then this compared to the actual income of a family determines whether or not they are below the poverty line. Check this out:

The nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008
"Income / Threshold = $27,000 / $26,245 = 1.03"

In this example, the income is greater than the threshold, and the family would not be in poverty. That solution (1.03) is called the ratio of income to poverty.

"The difference in dollars between family income and the family's poverty threshold is called the Income Deficit (for families in poverty) or Income Surplus (for families above poverty)."

So using this rule, here are some statistics:

According to the Census Bureau, the nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008.

Again, though numbers are good, lets look a little deeper.
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty;
There are over 74 million children under age 18 in the United States.
42 percent – 31.3 million – live in low-income families.
21 percent – 15.3 million – live in poor families.

I don't know about you, but I don't think that's right.

Until we're back for tomorrow's post, I would highly recommend you take a look at both of my sources for today's post: US Census Bureau and their page on poverty, as well as NCCP and their information.

Do you have any great resources for this kind of info? Fill me in below!