Not only is food essential for life, it is also a human right. Clause 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, …” and the UN General Assembly has gone so far as to pass a resolution titled, “The Right to Food.” Despite this recognition, however, people around the world still go hungry and contend with food insecurity, as well as the effects of it.
With the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) in 2015, the UN established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)- seventeen goals with a total of 169 targets designed to make the world a better place. Goal 2 “aims to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. It also commits to universal access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food at all times of the year.” While the situation around the world has improved since the MDG’s were established, people still suffer from chronic hunger. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) states, “About 793 million people in the world still lack sufcient (sic) food for conducting an active and healthy life.”
The United States
Looking at the above map, we see the United States is not in as bad a situation compared to the rest of the global community. In fact, the proportion of undernourished is less than 5% of the population. It’s important to recognize, however, that millions of U.S. households are food insecure. According to the USDA’s Household Food Security in the United States in 2015:
- 12.7 percent of U.S. households (15.8 million households) were food insecure
- 5.0 percent of U.S. households (6.3 million households) had very low food security (italics in original)
- Children were food insecure at times during the year in 7.8 percent of U.S. households with children (3.0 million households)
While those numbers are down from 2014, they should still be cause for alarm. There is no good reason that people living in the world’s largest economy go hungry. To be sure, the government has a number of programs in place to help ease the effects of hunger and food insecurity, but the fact that we have so many people living that way is problematic.
Wisconsin
The situation in Wisconsin is also disheartening. In 2014, 687,370 people were food insecure, and in Dane County alone, that number was 58,480 (Feeding America). Looking at the Kids Count Data Center, we see that 52,554 individuals participated in SNAP that year.
What Can Be Done?
Despite the federal programs available, it is clear that more needs to be done to ensure “universal access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food at all times of the year.” The first question we should ask is why federal and state lawmakers continue to allow the problem of hunger and food insecurity to perpetuate. The fact that these problems still exist means one of two things- either politicians are choosing to ignore them, or they are choosing to give other policy areas priority. We, as the electorate, and as human beings, should be concerned that our elected officials are not protecting basic human rights. Hold them accountable- email them, call their offices, etc.
Also at a policy-level, we should ensure USDA child nutrition programs receive more funding. If children live in food insecure households, their only meals might come from the schools they attend. As such, we must make sure they are fed while they are in school. To address the issue of feeding children during the summer (when school is not in session), the USDA has the Summer Food Service Program. For that to work, however, more people need to be willing to sponsor or manage sites.
If those ideas don’t appeal to you, here are some simple actions you can take (from “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World“):
- Freeze fresh produce and leftovers if you don’t have the chance to eat them before they go bad. You can also do this with take-away or delivered food, if you know you will not feel like eating it the next day. You will save food and money.
- Shop Smart—plan meals, use shopping lists and avoid impulse buys. Don’t succumb to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need, particularly for perishable items. Though these may be less expensive per ounce, they can be more expensive overall if much of that food is discarded.
- Buy Funny Fruit—many fruits and vegetables are thrown out because their size, shape, or color are not “right”. Buying these perfectly good funny fruit, at the farmer’s market or elsewhere, utilizes food that might otherwise go to waste.
Conclusion
Food is a basic human right, but for some reason, our lawmakers continue to allow hunger and food insecurity to plague our society. Since they are failing to provide for their constituents, we need to step up and help. No person, especially a child, should go without food.
Thanks for reading.
Additional Resources
Sustainable Development Goal 2
Food and Agricultural Organization
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin
Jason L. Knoll 