Lecture 19 - Hunger and the Global Environment Flashcards
World wide how man people experience chronic hunger?
1/9
-1.5 billion people world wide
What is the number one predictor of food security and health?
Income
What are the things that work in synergy that contribute to hunger?
Poverty
Population Growth
Environment
What % of the worlds lands are degraded and who are affected by these lands?
24% of land is degraded
42% of the worlds poor people depend on this land for food and nutrition
What is a food system?
Spans the activities, people, and resources involved in getting food from field to plate
What does the food system intersects with?
Public Health
Equity
Environment
Do we produce enough food to feed everyone in the world? If yes, how many calories/person?
We produce enough food in the world for everyone to get 2800kcals/day
Why doesn’t everyone get the same mount of cals per day?
Food inequalities
Inequitable
Politics
Social Injustice
What is the definition of food security?
When all people at all time have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
What other aspects does food security encompass?
Related to the nature, quality and security of the food supple as well as issues of food access
What does mental health have an effect on?
Food choices and food security
What does food security mean?
- Have the food I need
- Have safe and healthy food
- Have the foods I like to eat and want to eat
- Protecting the water, land and people who grow and produce the food
What is food insecurity?
A state where nutritious food is
- unavilable or inaccessible
- where the supply is unstable
- ranging from the fear of not being able to provide or obtain food to hunger due to food shortages
How many people are food insecure in Canada?
1/8 households
- 4 million people
- 1.5 children
In Canada which households suffer from food insecurity?
Income
Cost of Food
Cost of non-food essentials, housing and transportation
What happens when household incomes declines or food prices rise?
More of their money must be spent by households on fixed costs of non-food essentials leaving less for food
How is food insecurity dynamic at the individual level?
Quantitative: Insufficient intake
Qualitative: Nutritional inadequacy
Psychological: Lack of choice, feelings of deprivation
Social: Disrupted eating patterns
How is food insecurity dynamic at the household level?
Quantitative: Food depletion
Qualitative: Unsuitable food
Psychological: Food anxiety
Social: Food acquisition in socially unacceptable ways
In a household that is food insecure, if there is food who is more likely to not eat?
The mother
In Canada what are the causes of hunger?
Food poverty
-not available and no funds
Threats to financial stability
-substance abuse, disabilities, unemployment, low paying jobs
Social Assistance
-70% of houses on social assistance are food insecure, 24% severely food insecure
Lack of resources
How do we measure food security?
Food Quantity
- insufficient intake
- insufficient or depleted food supply
Food Quality
- nutritionally inadequate
- use of food deemed unsuitable or of inferior quanlity
- monotonous or lack of variety
If there is a choice between food quality or quantity, which one is chosen over the other?
Quantity is moree often preserved at the expense of quality
Why is food security measured?
- Food insecurity is a problem in its own right
- Condition with consequences for the health and well-being of individuals and of society as whole
- Unequal distribution of food
- Nutritional implications
- Chronic disease prevention
Since nutritional implications is a reason to measure food security, what does this lead too?
Less varied diet
Lower consumption of Fruits and veggies
Micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition
What chronic disease can arise from being food insecure?
Adult obesity Type2 diabetes Anemia Poor Mental Health Behavioural and Psychosocial problems (children)
Which nutrient deficiency is linked to child behavioural problems?
Fe (Iron)
What are the social implications of measuring food security?
Shapes and structures individuals behaviour and feeling about themselves
Health issues resulting from food insecurity can become productivity and performance issues on the job
- less able to obtain and maintain a job
- poor job performance
- job loss due to abensteeism, errors, productivity issues
What is the average income we start to see levels of food insecurity increase?
40k/year
What are risk factors of food insecurity?
Income Level Cost of Food Geographic Isolation Food Literacy At Risk Populations
Why is the cost of food a risk factor of food insecurity?
Lean meats, fish fruits and veggies are more expensive per calorie than processed foods
What is the National Nutritious Food Basket?
Theoretically* Survey tool that is a measure of the cost of basic healthy eating that represents current nutrition recommendations and average food purchasing patterns
-looking to meet quantity and quality needs
Which foods have the highest price inflation rates?
Fruits and nuts
Meats
Veggies
Why is geographic isolation a risk factor of food insecurity?
Rural, remote and northern places have troubles with:
- transportation of food delivery= higher prices
- Processed foods are cheaper and cost less to transport
- Northern houses have lower incomes
Urban Areas:
- food desert
- food swamps
What % of households in the Nunavut are food insecure?
46.8%
What is a food desert?
Geographic areas that have limited access to healthy food.
-common in neighbourhoods that are economically or socially disadvantaged
What is a food swamp?
Geographical area with adequate access to healthy food retail, but that also features an overabundance of exposure to less healthy food and beverages
Where is the food desert in London?
Downtown and east
Why is food literacy a risk factor of food insecurity?
- People who are already food insecure already use a budget
- People who garden were as likely to be food insecure as those who didnt
- Intervention programs aimed to improve food and budgeting are unlikely to impact food insecurity
- food skills dont help people who are food insecure
Why are at risk populations a risk factor of food insecurity?
Lone parent families: women more likely
Aboriginals living on reserve: less jobs and access to food
Immigrants: high cost of foods used in traditional diets, changes in lifestyle and working
Older Adults: due to low income levels, poor mental health and limited mobility
What are some Canadian programs that help promote food security?
Food Banks (most well known)
- Breakfast Programs
- Soup Kitchens
- Emergency Shelters
How many people globally suffer form being undernourished and underweight and people who suffer from diseases of over nutrition?
1 billion for each
- undernourished in under populated countries and
- over in more developed countries
What happens to poverty as population increases?
More mouths to feed, poverty worsens, as least for those who are food insecure
What happens to farming as population increases?
More more people more food and more farm land being converted to housing
How is hunger impacted by the environment?
Producing more food damages the environment
Damaged environment cannot produce food
-vicious cycle
How does planting crops cost the environment?
Clearing land
Use of fertilizer
Use of herbicides and pesticides
Irrigation
What is a food shortage?
Sever food shortage leading to starvation and death
What are the causes of food shortages?
Political Turbulence
Armed Conflict
Natural Disasters
What do most people experience in terms of malnutrition?
Most experience persistent hunger and malnutrition, not famie
What are the nutrients of concern when looking at someone who is food insecure?
Iron
Iodine
Vitamin A
What is the underlying cause that 45% of children die from?
Underlying cause of malnutrition
How many people worldwide suffer from vitamin or mineral deficiencies?
2 billion
Who owns food?
4 companies produce more than 58% of the worlds seed
4 global firms account for 97% of genetics research and development
4 produce more than 60% of the agrochemicals farmers use
What is nutrition transition?
The change from a diet rich in starch and fibre, low in fat and a physically active lifestyle to a diet rich in sugars saturated animal fat and processed foods, low in fruits vegetables and fibre and a sedentary lifestyle
What happens to residences when a local farm is bought by a bigger company?
This leads to malnutrition because the land that used to be producing food for thee town is now growing a monoculture to feed other people. Forcing people to buy more expensive food not sourced locally
What does increase population growth+consumption of a western diet equal?
Putting more environmental pressures of the food system could increase immensely
-90% by 2050
What is the food environment cycle?
Use earth for food, produces food, use more resources to farm food, taking away from the planet, worsening conditions, working harder and putting in more resources to get the same yield.
Why are natural disasters a problem for hunger?
Climate change can cause an increase in intensity of disasters and affects people ability to produce, access and consume food
What are the ramifications of chasing global?
Energetically costly
Socially Unjust
Economically unwise
Biologically risky
What are some sustainable solutions for poor nations?
- Contraception and family planning
- Education for girls
- Better assistance
- Slow or Reverse the destruction of environmental
What are some sustainable solutions for rich nations?
- Stem wastefulness and pollution
- Ease The debt burden of poor nations
What are sustainable actions that could be taken?
- Conserve resources and minimize wastes
- Educate yourselves and others about hunger and its consequences
- Advocacy by professional organizations
- Supprt organizations
- Make smart lifestyle choices
What are the 5 steps to zero hunger?
- Puth the further behind first
- Pave the road from farm to market (making supply chains more efficient)
- Reduce food waste
- Sustainable crops
- Make nutrition a priority (first 1000days of growth)
What can you do?
- Reduce waste and environmental footprint
- Make conscious choices in your consumption
- Show compassion and stand up against racism
- Use your imagination
