Benjamin Burge

English 2010
Carolyn Holloway
7-9-2015
World Hunger: A Solvable Problem?
Today our lives are so busy. People are going from activity to activity during
the day. We get so preoccupied by life that most of us dont have time to pay much
attention to the major issues in the world anymore. Today there are about 795
million undernourished people. According to WFP (World Food Programme), That
means one in nine people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active
life (World Food Programme). According to Stop Hunger Now, a group trying to
solve world hunger, Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis combined (Stop Hunger Now). These people dont just live in some
African tribe somewhere. These people, starving and hungry, are all around us. So is
world hunger a solvable problem? Yes, world hunger is not only a solvable problem,
but eliminating hunger provides a benefit to everyone, not just the hungry. The
problem can be solved via many different methods. The simplest solutions are food
donations, sustainable food programs, and even just some basic social change.
Food Donations
World hunger exists simply because there are a vast number of people who
are unable to buy or grow the food they need to live healthy lives. Donating food to
large food banks allows people to get the food they need for themselves, or their
family members. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we see those ads asking the

public to donate what they can to help those who wont have enough food to eat,
but can donating food really solve world hunger? Donating food or money to your
local food bank or other humanitarian organization takes care of an immediate
need. It allows people the opportunity to get the nutrition they need right away, so
that we can help them establish a long
term solution for their hunger problem.
It will fill their bellies with healthy, much
needed food. Although it may not seem
to do much, think about this - 1 in 7
[Americans] rely on food banks to
provide food for their children and families. Every year more and more people need
to use services that the food banks offer. USA Today published an article about the
Smallenburg family. They are a small military family who cant afford to purchase all
of the food they need. Nationwide, 25% of military families 620,000 households
need help putting food on the table says USA Today. By donating food you help
those 620,000 households get the nutrition they need now.
Sustainable Food Programs
Food banks are necessary, but they only provide an immediate short-term
solution. There is a famous quote that says, If you give a man a fish you feed him
for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Donating food is an
amazing way to solve world hunger. However, just like the quote, the best way to
solve the world hunger problem is through sustainable food programs. These
programs give communities the needed training and some basic supplies to begin
farming on their own so that they can grow the food they need. Sustainable food
programs have a positive effect on economic systems, satisfy human food needs,

and enhance society as a whole. The idea behind this is to help people, no matter
where they are located, farm the food they need to eat. The vast majority of people
live within cities where there is
little to no land to farm. This
creates the problem of how to help
people farm their own food. Urban
farming, the practice of farming
within cities limits, teaches people
how to farm with the little space
they may have. Rooftop farming
and community gardens provide a place for relaxation and give people a way to
produce food in the urban asphalt jungle. By aiding those people and areas affected
by hunger with a sustainable way to grow their own food we can stop world hunger
in its tracks!
Social Change
Even though we have many organizations working together to solve the
world's hunger problem we still are far from being able to solve it. The vast amounts
of people going hungry is too much for small organizations to do by themselves. By
uniting as cities, governments, and nations we can provide everything we really
need to solve the problem. An example of the awesome power of working towards
a common goal to solve a serious problem is the battle against malaria. According
to BCG Perspectives, nearly a decade ago, malaria was on the rise, killing more
than 1 million people a year (BCG Perspectives). The article continues to explain
that as nations and organizations all around the world began to work together the
death toll fell by 40 percent. That equates to 400,000 lives saved each year. This

massive drop in deaths was attributed to the worlds effort as a whole. If we can do
such an amazing thing like that, just imagine what the world would be like if we
came together to stop world hunger once and for all! When we, the human race,
focus and unite we can overcome the horrible issue of hunger.

Even though the evidence that we can solve world hunger is clear, there still
exists this doubt about the possibility of us solving it. I will admit that world hunger
is a big problem and it can be very intimidating and daunting. With 795 million
people struggling with hunger and a massive 1.2 billion people living in extreme
poverty things can look unsolvable. With war over lands, and political battles over
policies and what is right, things get stopped in their tracks. However, think about
the problem with malaria. Over 1 million people were dying each year. Yet, we have
since started beating that problem. World hunger is exactly the same. As we begin
to work together we can overcome this issue. It may not be easy and it may be a
long task, but in the end it is a solvable issue. In fact, we are already on the path to
solving it. In 2014, the Global Hunger Index produced a new updated hunger
assessment. Since 1990, we have brought world hunger, according to the GHI, down
by 26%! If we continue to do our part and we work together we can bring those 795
million starving people food and we can provide the extra nutrition those 1.2 billion
people in poverty need.

World hunger is a huge problem. We have many methods to solve this issue:
from donating food for those in our local communities, to creating sustainable food
programs to allow people to become self-sustaining, and even to putting pressure
on our governments to work together to eliminate this issue. We have so many
ways to end world hunger. Let us commit as a planet to end world hunger. Imagine
a world where every child never has to starve. Ask yourself, what is the worth of a
human life? The worth of that life is the potential it has to change the world. There
is no need for people to starve. If we can get everyone to come together to fight
world hunger in a unified and organized way, we can eliminate this terrible problem
and give all children a better chance to grow up healthy and happy and be
productive members of our world society.

Works Cited
BCG Perspectives. CATEGORIES: SOCIAL SECTOR SHARE mail. n.d. 9 July 2015.
National Geographic. Urban Famring is Growing a Green Future. n.d. 9 July 2015.
<http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/urbanfarming/#/earth-day-urban-farming-new-york-rooftop_51631_600x450.jpg>.
Stop Hunger Now. Stop Hunger Now. n.d. 9 July 2015.
<http://www.stophungernow.org/>.
USA Today. Hunger in America: 1 in 7 rely on food banks. n.d. 9 July 2015.
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/hunger-studyfood/14195585/>.
World Food Programme. WFP. n.d. 9 July 2015. <https://www.wfp.org/hunger>.