starving

A Ugandan boy suffering from malnutrition is measured at a hospital in the Matany village of Moroto in Karamoja, one of the driest and least developed areas in Uganda. The World Food Program fears the crisis will plunge more than 100 million of the world's poorest people deeper into poverty, forced to spend more and more of their income on sky-rocketing food bills.
Walter Estrada - AFP/Getty Images

if you think i am overreacting

when i say there is ALREADY a food emergency, you're kidding yourself. if you think you are safe, think again. sure WE still have plenty of food, but the cost is going up by the second.

rice. people whose diets consist mainly of rice can barely afford it these days. RICE. i'm not talking caviar here.

the cost of gas is through the roof. how do you think your food gets to the grocery store? well a bunch of stuff happens first, THEN it gets loaded on a truck. what makes that truck run? you got it.

i heard on the news the other day, company owners are doing everything in their power to get the most out of the truck runs. waiting until that truck is ABSOLUTELY filled (for one), putting regulators on them so they can't go over 62 mph and adding something to the roof that makes it aerodynamically better. (this is all good practice ANYWAY. we should have been doing these things all along)

wait a couple of weeks and check your grocery tab out. it's hard now. wait
(if YOU are having a hard time putting food on YOUR table, think about someone who is trying to support a family on minimum wage OR LESS)

As Hunger Rises, Chew on This
By Terry J. Allen
A diet of bread and water used to be emblematic of poverty. Now a global food crisis is transforming that meager meal into a luxury for much of the world.
The prices of the world’s three main grains — corn, rice and wheat — more than doubled last year. The causes include poor harvests linked to climate change, diversion of cropland to biofuels, population increases, rising meat consumption, emerging diseases and soaring fuel prices.
In a globalized economy, issues of food scarcity and inflation should be a matter not only of humanitarian concern, but also of national security. A food crisis is exploding.
Last year, spiraling food prices sparked protests and riots in Cameroon, Egypt, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Children in Yemen marched to draw attention to their hunger. Farmers in Thailand slept in fields to prevent rice crop theft. Hundreds of construction workers in the United Arab Emirates torched cars and ransacked buildings to demand higher wages to counter surging inflation.
The problem is not just price but actual shortage. World grain stores have not been this low since the end of World War II. Argentina and Vietnam have risked treaty violations to impose protectionist trade caps and taxes aimed at stabilizing supply and stanching inflation. The Philippine government asked fast food restaurants to serve less rice to ease shortages.
The poorest are the worst hit, especially as the lifeline U.N. World Food Program (WFP) frays. In late March, it warned that unless donor countries immediately kick in $500 million to offset price hikes, WFP will start rationing food aid that feeds 73 million people — from Darfur’s genocide refugees to Haiti’s children......

wow the world bank

is actually saying something that matters.

people are starving all over (including the u.s. on tv the other day, i saw someone in a grocery store shopping. a newscaster was with her. the shopper had to make up her mind between buying a full gallon of milk OR buying her daugher a couple of bagels. the daughter won. they got a 1/2 gallon of milk. that had to last them a week - which she said would not happen). there is a crisis out there. it's spreading and NOT getting any better. it's knocking on OUR door right now.


unfortunately, WE can't help feed the hungry of the world. we're far too busy destroying it
World Bank Chief Calls for Immediate Action on Deepening Global Food Crisis

By Harry Dunphy
Associated Press
The president of the World Bank yesterday urged immediate action to deal with sharply rising food prices, which have caused hunger and violence in several countries.
Robert B. Zoellick said the international community has to "put our money where our mouth is" now to help hungry people. Zoellick spoke as the bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, ended two days of meetings in Washington.
He called on governments to rapidly carry out commitments to provide the U.N. World Food Program with $500 million in emergency aid by May 1. Prices have only risen further since the program issued that appeal, so it is urgent that governments step up, he said.
Zoellick said that the fall of the government in Haiti over the weekend after a wave of deadly rioting and looting over food prices underscores the importance of quick international action.
He said the bank is granting an additional $10 million to Haiti for food programs. .......