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News & ArtsWednesday, August 22, 2012
Chow American Waste
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 8:03 AM
Never ever not think this not to be the case: poverty in the US (and Europe) isn't real (external forces) but imposed (internal forces).
Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food every year, cramming landfills with at least $165 billion worth of produce and meats at a time when hundreds of millions of people suffer from chronic hunger globally, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.Real hunger is not political; imposed hunger is. If you are poor or hungry in this country, it is has nothing do with what you have done but what has been done to you.
2
You'd have an abundance of food as well if your daddy and uncle Mugabe hadn't thrown all the farmers out. Now go home and starve like a good little Mudede.
4
@2, i wish you would learning a thing or two about my father. he was an economist/lecturer for botswana between 1989 and 2002. the farmer thing happened in 2000. we left zims a year after zimbabwe became a one-party state, 1988.
6
The US wastes less food than most countries, though. Most food waste occurs long before it ever gets to table, or indeed to a market; this is even more true in third-world countries where refrigeration and packaging and motorized transport are unavailable. The most efficient food harvesting of all? Frozen foods, many of which are processed and frozen right there in the field, infinitely fresher than the stuff that took a week to truck to your organic display at Safeway and another week before they had to throw it out.
7
If you are hungry in this country, you are exceptionally lazy.
If I didn't have a job and spent all my time trying to eat for free, I'd probably eat better than I do now.
If I didn't have a job and spent all my time trying to eat for free, I'd probably eat better than I do now.
8
Yeah @7, because selecting your evening meal from the abundance of choices at the local landfill or the dumpsters behind your neighborhood restaurant does so much for one's dignity and self-esteem. Although in your case, I'm sure laying off the frozen pizzas and Hot Pockets for a while wouldn't do you the least bit of harm.
9
"Never ever not think this not to be case..."
I imagine you consider this clever writing. You would be wrong.
I imagine you consider this clever writing. You would be wrong.
12
But all those negatives confuse me. It would appear you are directing us to disagree with the ensuing statement.
13
Still, though, it's a bit of a false-equivalency, isn't it? When your parents tell you to finish your dinner because there are people starving in Africa, it's not like you have the option to DROP-SHIP your leftovers directly to starving people. Until there is a way to ship and distribute old food (before it goes bad) overseas that costs less than giving out money directly, it seems like these are independent problems.
14
@13:
Why, particularly does it have to go overseas? Currently, 15-16% of the U.S. population regularly suffers some form of food deficiency; either not enough food to feed the family, or poor access to nutritional food. It's estimated 1 in 4 elderly in this country do not receive proper daily nourishment. That comes to about 49 MILLION citizens.
While I certainly sympathize with the plight of those in other countries, we've got a lot of people we could be helping right here at home, who could use some of the food we waste.
Maybe parents should think about modifying that venerable admonition to: "clean your plate, there are people starving in Mississippi".
Why, particularly does it have to go overseas? Currently, 15-16% of the U.S. population regularly suffers some form of food deficiency; either not enough food to feed the family, or poor access to nutritional food. It's estimated 1 in 4 elderly in this country do not receive proper daily nourishment. That comes to about 49 MILLION citizens.
While I certainly sympathize with the plight of those in other countries, we've got a lot of people we could be helping right here at home, who could use some of the food we waste.
Maybe parents should think about modifying that venerable admonition to: "clean your plate, there are people starving in Mississippi".
15
@13, 14: It's not about taking the food that one consumer wastes and redirecting it. It's about the fact that the earth clearly has the ability to produce sufficient food for its population. Food shortages and famines are not a matter of a global, or even regional, incapacity to produce food. They are about distribution and politics.
As Amartya Sen said, "in the terrible history of famines in the
world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press."
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files…
As Amartya Sen said, "in the terrible history of famines in the
world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press."
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files…
17
"it is has nothing do with what you have done but what has been done to you."
In the actual world, not Marxist theory, sometimes it's one or the other. Or more likely both.
In the actual world, not Marxist theory, sometimes it's one or the other. Or more likely both.
18
Charles,
I read that article with utter contempt. $165 billion! A senseless waste. No matter how wealthy one is, never ever take food for granted. I certainly don't (not that I'm wealthy).
I read that article with utter contempt. $165 billion! A senseless waste. No matter how wealthy one is, never ever take food for granted. I certainly don't (not that I'm wealthy).
19
If you are poor or hungry in this country, it is has nothing do with what you have done but what has been done to you.
Nothing is more effective at disempowering an individual than telling them that they have no control over their own circumstances.
Nothing is more effective at disempowering an individual than telling them that they have no control over their own circumstances.
21
@20, I agree with you 100%. But Charles apparently believes that they never have control over their economic circumstances.
And just as they don't sometimes, it is equally true that sometimes they do. And when you tell the ones who do that they don't, then they frequently won't. When you tell the ones who do that they do, frequently they will.
Of course, if you tell the ones who don't that they do, that's bad, as well.
Some of them have the power to change and some of them don't. Pretending that none of them do (Charles) is no less false or useless than pretending that all of them do (right wing Randian).
And just as they don't sometimes, it is equally true that sometimes they do. And when you tell the ones who do that they don't, then they frequently won't. When you tell the ones who do that they do, frequently they will.
Of course, if you tell the ones who don't that they do, that's bad, as well.
Some of them have the power to change and some of them don't. Pretending that none of them do (Charles) is no less false or useless than pretending that all of them do (right wing Randian).
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