The Issue of Food – Article by Luis Arroyo
Luis Arroyo
In the modern-day society, 828 million people still go hungry while the number of undernourished people has grown to now encompass 10% of humanity [1]. This is a grim reality faced by many all over the world, showing clearly, the situation of world hunger is dire. Defined by many forms, levels, and instances of hunger dictated by various conditions like climate change, conflict, and cost most represented by nations like Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, South Sudan, Honduras, Yemen, and 14 other nations that are designated as “hunger hotspots”, with the situation seemingly doomed to worsen [2].
Dismal as this situation may be, food insecurity is an issue suffered in many places. In the USA 38 million people struggle with food insecurity. With hunger rising through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, many witnessed mile-long lines for food banks and hungry/desperate people trying to get food out of dumpsters, only to be violently dealt with by police who “protected” the discarded food, making sure that hungry people could not obtain it. All the while, this was vastly ignored by those in power [3] [4].
Considering all of the people both in the USA and around the world who face hunger and food insecurity, it goes without saying there is an array of effects on the health of an individual who goes through hunger or is food insecure. Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, delayed development in young children, risk of chronic illnesses like asthma and anemia, behavioral problems like hyperactivity, anxiety, as well as aggression in school-age children – all haunt those unfortunate enough to have to experience hunger or food insecurity [5] [6].
These health complications do not come without deadly consequences. For example, one person is estimated to die of hunger every four seconds, meaning roughly 7+ million people die potentially per year due to hunger [7]. These are absolutely staggering losses, serving as modern-day instances of social murder and, among many things, lost potential to contribute and enjoy life.
Such losses, as many as there are and will continue to be, are utterly needless within the context of our global society. Civilization as a whole produces enough food to feed 10 billion people with a global population of just 8 billion people [8]. This reality, coupled with the vast amount of deaths due to hunger, calls into question the efficiency of food distribution and the motives which dictate that distribution, especially when considering the approximately US$1 trillion of wasted food, which is enough to feed half of the world’s population [9].
There are many issues regarding food, as referred to earlier. However, whether is it food wasted rather than being used to feed the hungry, being held behind a price barrier, the lack of market access due to conflict, or crop failures due to climate change, their roots lay within the profit motive, from the war industry’s profitable ventures in relation to Yemen to the energy industry’s ongoing reluctance to change pace fast enough to meet the challenges of global warming.
With all this said, Transhumanists, in prioritizing human health, quality of life, and life itself should advocate for and support the redistribution of food as a rapid response toward eradicating global hunger. If achieved, this would undoubtedly extend life spans, improve quality of life, further maintain the health of countless people who would have otherwise likely perished, and serve as an important milestone in human history [10].
Society has had for some time the technological and societal means to eradicate hunger. For example, Burkina Faso from 1983 – 1987 under Thomas Sankara saw two meals a day and clean water distributed to every person in their nation, which helped to rid Burkina Faso of hunger. This was part of a broader successful attempt that also involved a “one grove, one village” policy that was part of their agroecology effort.
Modern means and abilities, along with the producible surplus of today, make the eradication of hunger more achievable than ever before.
Unfortunately, the situation of today puts society far off from the eradication of hunger [11], leaving many more lives to be inevitably lost. Given the grim and unchanging future that seemingly awaits humanity if action is not taken, as global trends have well shown, people must consider taking action themselves, with the sheer reality of today’s situation demanding urgency and action from multiple fronts.
Whether that be in the form of mutual aid organizations, community gardens or groves, food networks, community fridges, cabinets, vertical farming efforts, etc., the state of food security must be achieved by any means necessary, being that governments cannot be expected to supply their citizens with the basics of life. Therefore, communities must build independent systems of reliance until governments are accountable to the people and not business interests.
Luis Arroyo is Vice-Chairman of the New York Transhumanist Party.
References
[1] “World Hunger Facts“. Action Against Hunger.