Week 5 - Hunger, Obesity, Paradoxes and Vicious Cycles

One of our best class discussions yet came out of this week's case study analysis. While we ended up somewhat up in arms regarding the feasibility of certain strategies to eliminate hunger, I think one thing we might all finally agree on is that it is possible to accomplish this, no matter how big the hurdles. In addition, I feel like we clearly established why it is so important to do this. Hunger, poverty, and health status go hand in hand in hand. All of them have to be improved, and for any one to be ameliorated and sustained all of them have to move in that direction. So it is in fact quite a hurdle. However, we have seen and discussed that it is possible to stimulate local economies, perhaps even through local food production, and that educating the women in local communities can improve poverty levels, health status, and therefore reducing the number of hungry people. We have also talked a lot about the roles of private and public domains and how they fit and will fit in to solving the biggest problems. I am of the mind that when presented with an opportunity to improve life that is also beneficial in other ways, I and most people would not hesitate to take part. However, there are people who will most likely never make the right decision, and who don't really care to improve life, so how does one skirt that issue? This came up when we were talking about war and violence in developing countries that has created major road blocks to establishing stability and positive, progressive change. I am not sure there is an answer, and maybe there will never be complete peace, but I do think there is a balance (yes, that word again) that can be struck so that the majority of lives can exist in positive environments. So what does all this have to do with hunger? Well, I truly believe the saying, we are what we eat. If people are suffering from malnutrition and lack proper nutrients in their diet, or if they are obese because they are eating happy meals and can't control their urges, then of course they are going to be unhappy and that will translate to the world around them. This is happening on all ends of the spectrum, both in poor and rich, and a major cause of distress, disparities, and perhaps even eventually violent conflicts. What if we could commence the road to solving some of our major problems just by growing and eating better food? Maybe this is a key catalyst we have been looking for to balance out the yin and the yang....