Causes of food inequality and hunger

Alvaro Israel Galvis Pinzon 8C

Let's start this document, today Wednesday 2/22/23 I am sitting here in my chair,
next to a delicious seafood casserole that my mother made for me, and as I eat this
casserole I ask myself why is there hunger in the world? why is there inequality in
the world? That was the beginning of my arduous search to which I myself would try
to give an answer.
Let's start at once, at the beginning my thoughts came from the most generic things
that we all have always heard and these were those ideas:

Climate change:
Climate change affects many things on the planet such as melting of the poles,
destruction of the ozone layer, natural disasters but what I will focus on is the
destruction of animal life both marine and terrestrial, the seas normally have some
ocean currents through which many types of fish pass in certain seasons, but with
the destruction of key places such as corals in certain seasons due to climate
change the fish can no longer pass through these currents causing that in places
where fishermen used to catch these fish they can no longer do so thanks to the
change of ocean currents, and that things like fishing seasons have to change
radically making that in places where in certain parts of the year they only have the
way to fish for food they can no longer do so and have to go through the sea to catch
their catch.

Poverty:
Due to the social status where many people are, they do not have the possibilities to
get food in honest ways, some by bad decisions, others by bad luck, causing even
births only for the benefit of the parents because in some places the government
gives them x or y money for having children and when they receive it, they spend it
on themselves while the innocent children suffer from hunger.

conflicts:
There are places where war is a reality, in this kind of places the resources are for
those who go to the conflicts and the normal people are left without resources to be
able to eat.
Also thanks to these conflicts, places that have nothing to do with these problems
such as farms, small villages and so on are looted by people of the conflicts and
robbed of all their food leaving them with nothing.

Job instability:
In many places where there are not as many problems as the above, hunger is
mostly caused by poverty that generates lack of jobs or low wages. Hunger rates
increase when the national or local economy declines. Once people lose their jobs,
they are unable to find new ones. Even when the economy improves, there are some
who continue to struggle to find employment. Those who have been in prison face
large-scale discrimination, which makes it difficult for them to find employment once
they re-enter their communities. In single-parent households, the parent may find it
impossible to take a job or work enough hours because he or she lacks child care
options.

Food scarcity and waste:

Food shortages in developing places are very common. The people most affected
are smallholder farmers and their families, who rely on their own surpluses to survive
between harvests. The period before a harvest is known as the "hungry season".
Food from the previous harvest runs out and families cut back on their meals. This
period can last for months, depending on the size of the previous harvest. Also,
low-income U.S. families run short of money at the end of the month. Families cut
back to one meal a day, eventually going without food for days at a time. Another
reason for food shortages is that up to 40% of the food grown in some countries is
lost. Small farmers do not have adequate storage facilities to protect their crops from
pests and weather.

These thoughts had a good basis but when I was thinking about this topic for a while
I started to see other points of view to these same problems, let's start with a
biological example, the human body is an organized system where the bloodstream
is the one that distributes food to each and every cell in the body, this food is always
equal or necessary for each cell.
an organized system where the bloodstream is the one that distributes food to each
and every cell in the body, this food is always equal parts or the necessary for each
cell, this normally and originally is so, but there are cases where a cell takes the
decision of wanting to take more food than it is given or needs, this cell begins to
take away from the other cells part of their food to satisfy itself at the same time
these cells to have been taken away their food these to see their need for their food
take the decision to take away from others, These cells no longer do it because they
want to have more food or nutrients but they do it because they need to be able to
feed themselves, when this happens a chain is made where everyone takes from
everyone, where no one has what they really need and when they want more food
on a whim or out of necessity they take away from the cells that have nothing to do
with this, this disease is called CANCER.
Now let's think as if the human body were our planet and we humans were the cells,
when there was a cell that already had what it needed but by the whim of wanting
more ended up taking away from the other cells, that does not happen in real life?
There are many people who have too many things and not only things like food, but
also things like land, cars, houses, etc...
Continuing with this something that people want a lot just for themselves is money,
yes money is something that many people keep and do not use it, do not spend it,
just keep it in a quiet place, without any function, and although it seems that keeping
so much money without doing anything seems something not so bad it is terrible
because money is like a current, a current which if it is obstructed, it is not so bad, a
current which if it is obstructed it stagnates and the river cannot fulfill its function,
which is to be able to be useful, to be able to obtain clothes, food, a roof where to
lodge, but if it stagnates this makes that one has much and many others have very
little.
This is called SELFISHNESS and is the reason why I believe that there is hunger
and inequality, selfishness is that which leads the cell to take food from the others, it
is that which leads people to keep the money which is a source of infinite things for
everyone making them keep it only for themselves, I believe that without the cancer
that is selfishness we could share equally for everyone what we need, we could
share it without resentment that we lost something and so this cancer that exists in
this world along with its side effects that are hunger and inequality would disappear.

Sources:
-https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0717-554X2020000300241&script=sci_arttext_plus&tl
ng=es#:~:
-https://www.bread.org/es/que-causa-el-hambre/
-https://www.unicef.org/lac/comunicados-prensa/la-desigualdad-agrava-el-hambre-la-desnutrici
on-y-la-obesidad-en-AL
-https://razonpublica.com/colombia-alto-riesgo-padecer-hambre-aguda/#:~:text=En%20conclusi
%C3%B3n%2C%20la%20situaci%C3%B3n%20de,la%20vida%20de%20las%20familias.
Comencemos este documento, hoy miércoles 22/2/23 estoy aquí sentado en mi silla, junto a una
deliciosa cazuela de mariscos que me preparó mi madre, y mientras como esta cazuela me
pregunto ¿por qué hay hambre en el mundo? ¿por qué hay desigualdad en el mundo? Ese fue el
comienzo de mi ardua búsqueda a la que yo mismo trataría de dar respuesta.
Empecemos de una vez, al principio mis pensamientos venían de las cosas más genéricas que
todos hemos oído siempre y estas eran esas ideas:

conflictos:
Hay lugares donde la guerra es una realidad, en este tipo de lugares los recursos son para los
que van a los conflictos y la gente normal se queda sin recursos para poder comer.
También gracias a estos conflictos, lugares que no tienen nada que ver con estos problemas
como granjas, pequeños pueblos y demás son saqueados por la gente de los conflictos y les
roban toda su comida dejándoles sin nada.

El cambio climático:
El cambio climático afecta a muchas cosas en el planeta como el deshielo de los polos, la
destrucción de la capa de ozono, los desastres naturales pero en lo que me voy a centrar es en la
destrucción de la vida animal tanto marina como terrestre, los mares normalmente tienen unas
corrientes oceánicas por las que pasan muchos tipos de peces en determinadas estaciones,
pero con la destrucción de lugares claves como los corales en ciertas estaciones debido al
cambio climático los peces ya no pueden pasar por estas corrientes haciendo que en lugares
donde los pescadores solían capturar estos peces ya no puedan hacerlo gracias al cambio de las
corrientes oceánicas, y que cosas como las temporadas de pesca tengan que cambiar
radicalmente haciendo que en lugares donde en ciertas partes del año solo tenían la forma de
pescar para alimentarse ya no puedan hacerlo y tengan que atravesar el mar para capturar su
pesca.

Estos pensamientos tenían una buena base pero cuando estuve pensando en este tema durante
un tiempo empecé a ver otros puntos de vista a estos mismos problemas, empecemos con un
ejemplo biológico, el cuerpo humano es un sistema organizado donde el torrente sanguíneo es el
que distribuye el alimento a todas y cada una de las células del cuerpo, este alimento es siempre
a partes iguales o el necesario para cada célula.
un sistema organizado donde el torrente sanguíneo es el que distribuye el alimento a todas y
cada una de las células del cuerpo, este alimento siempre es a partes iguales o el necesario para
cada célula, esto normalmente y originalmente es así, pero hay casos donde una célula toma la
decisión de querer tomar más alimento del que se le da o necesita, esta célula comienza a
quitarle a las otras células parte de su alimento para satisfacerse a sí misma al mismo tiempo
estas células al haberles quitado su alimento estas al ver su necesidad de su alimento toman la
decisión de quitárselo a otras, Estas células ya no lo hacen porque quieren tener más comida o
nutrientes sino que lo hacen porque necesitan poder alimentarse, cuando esto sucede se hace
una cadena donde todos toman de todos, donde nadie tiene lo que realmente necesita y cuando
quieren más comida por capricho o por necesidad le quitan a las células que no tienen nada que
ver con esto, esta enfermedad se llama CÁNCER.
Ahora pensemos como si el cuerpo humano fuera nuestro planeta y los humanos fuéramos las
células, cuando hubiera una célula que ya tuviera lo que necesita pero por el capricho de querer
más terminara quitándole a las demás células, ¿eso no pasa en la vida real? Hay mucha gente
que tiene demasiadas cosas y no solo cosas como comida, sino también cosas como terrenos,
coches, casas, etc....
Siguiendo con esto algo que la gente quiere mucho solo para ellos es el dinero, si el dinero es
algo que mucha gente guarda y no lo usa, no lo gasta, solo lo guarda en un lugar tranquilo, sin
ninguna función, y aunque parezca que guardar tanto dinero sin hacer nada parece algo no tan
malo es terrible porque el dinero es como una corriente, una corriente que si se obstruye, no es
tan mala, una corriente que si se obstruye se estanca y el río no puede cumplir su función, que es
poder ser útil, poder conseguir ropa, comida, un techo donde alojarse, pero si se estanca esto
hace que uno tenga mucho y muchos otros tengan muy poco.
Esto se llama EGOISMO y es la razón por la que creo que existe el hambre y la desigualdad, el
egoísmo es el que lleva a la célula a quitarle la comida a los demás, es el que lleva a las
personas a quedarse con el dinero que es una fuente de infinitas cosas para todos haciendo que
se lo queden solo para ellos, creo que sin el cáncer que es el egoísmo podríamos compartir por
igual para todos lo que necesitamos, podríamos compartirlo sin resentimientos de que perdimos
algo y así desaparecería este cáncer que existe en este mundo junto con sus efectos
secundarios que son el hambre y la desigualdad.