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Why do you think world hunger and overpopulation are linked ?

🤔our professor argues there is a link, I don't think so...
SW-User
That's stupid. 72 BILLION pounds of food are WASTED every year and this guy wants to blame overpopulation?? He needs to blame the international robbery and systemic misappropriation of resources for smaller countries left undeveloped in sacrifice for the ease of life of the more powerful nations today. Is 72 billion POUNDS of food enough to feed all the poor and hungry? I think so :p
Rosejilly · 56-60, F
@SW-User Dead right. Enough food to go round. Just that our lot (US/Euro) scoff the lot. Was skipping round online news last month - story about starving ppl in Yemen, then an eating contest in Texas (some fat twat had broken his own record). Mind you, Yemen can f.off because we need to sell the Saudis the arms to bomb Yemen don't we. Oil doesn't grow on trees.
SW-User
@Rosejilly people want to ignore international trades. Bribery of huge wealth from powerful countries to the LEADERS of poorer countries so that they can suck the biggest economic industry of that country dry for free or cheap prices then use them to better advanced systems (having not paid a fair price). It is obviously also the fault of the corrupted leaders, but they are suckered by the ill intent of investors who KNOW the worth of the resources and just take advantage of their fellow human's desperacy and ignorance :/

Yet people are not able to see this OBVIOUS reality? Man are we blind in this day and age
CountScrofula · 41-45, M
Your professor is wrong, or at least oversimplifying things.

Obviously if you have more people than you have food that's a problem, but we have a distribution problem. Food is produced en masse and then shipped to rich countries, where like 40% of it is thrown out. Not to mention all the arable land used to produce luxury goods rather than staple crops.

That's a problem with capitalism, not population.
BlueVeins · 22-25
It's because poverty causes both overpopulation and hunger. Poor places tend to be agrarian and pre-industrial, and under those circumstances, people have a lot of kids to help tend to the fields and take care of them when they're old.
gol979 · 41-45, M
@BlueVeins yep......also when their economic situation improves the number of children drops
BlueVeins · 22-25
@gol979 It's a shame that effect lags so damn far behind, though.
gol979 · 41-45, M
@BlueVeins and a shame (as displayed below) that this situation is wrapped up as "breeding like rabbits and they're too stupid to use protection". That obviously isn't the case but it suits horrid stereotypes
They hungry so they have sex instead?
SW-User
@Dewms the kids grow up and then have more kids. It isn't the parents' fault, either >_>

Observe international relations and resource value in country-to-country trades and how they translate into nominal worth from place to place according. The SAME item just moved somewhere then resold will suddenly be worth more
JaggedLittlePill · 46-50, F
@Dewms women in poverty don't have proper access to birth control and womens health.

The government is too busy taking away those opportunities because those women should have those babies..not use birth control to prevent them and certainly not abortion.

Then after those babies are born the government now wants to limit the care they give to them eventhough they forced the women to have them by not providing options.
@SW-User >.>
our international trade translates into how the prices of the goods work? is that what youre saying?

@JaggedLittlePill plus they're too poor to even feed their family of 5, how else are they gonna buy contraception o.O in here, the government doesn't even provide care for the women and babies in poverty
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gol979 · 41-45, M
Your professor is wrong......there are studies that show to solve world hunger would cost £3 billion (makes a mockery of philanthropy, also get a tax break from donations) and a slight change in agriculture.
Maybe one of.the issues might be that a few corporations control food manufacturing. On top of that if you look at what is happening to the agriculture in India, currently able to feed the whole country, the government has let corporations come in, strong arm the farmers and coerce them to sign contracts for GE seeds......and there's a transfer of land from local farmers to corporations. The end result is that India will no longer be self sufficient food wise.
So while population obviously plays a part it's mainly down to political and economic decisions based purely on profit
Straylight · 31-35, F
Time to start space colonies.
indyjoe · 56-60, M
@Rosejilly No...I am in no way a fascist😄
Rosejilly · 56-60, F
@bijouxbroussard Depends who we send up. Tempting to drop a few off half way.
@Straylight Unfortunately, the people with the funds for space travel seem to be the same folks involved with polluting [b]this[/b] planet. I’m just not optimistic.
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tenente · 100+, M
@monimathu wrong
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Wraithorn · 51-55, M
Personally I think that overpopulation and world hunger are caused by similar things.
Those things involve oppression, lack of free education, cultures and religions which disregard women's rights and the selfish and gready leaders who take advantage of those things.

Also...even though there are enough resources on Earth to feed everyone, in order for some people to be rich and living a high life other people need to be kept under the thumb. There is not enough for everyone to be rich. Unfortunately being rich is seen as being successful even if it invloves keeping other people poor.
It's a bit of a complicated subject that does need intense study.
revenant · F
corruption may have something to do with it too.
MasterofNone · 26-30, M
First solve bureaucratic problems related to food storage and it's consumption. Then think how overpopulation affects it.
It's not more humans but greedy humans that's the problem.
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GlassDog · 41-45, M
A lot of studies show that family size comes down when people are lifted out of poverty, get education, and have prospects. By not lifting people out of poverty, we are actually making the problem worse in the long run because a greater number of children will be born in poverty and the resources of the world will be further stretched.
revenant · F
@GlassDog I think values shift.
GlassDog · 41-45, M
@revenant Pretty sure that's the case. I remember the willingness to accept death (another factor for large family sizes) in LDCs with strong religious beliefs.
revenant · F
@GlassDog that and what Rhodesian said. Western families place more importance on their children, their education, welfare, future etc too as they become wealthier.
Shaneishere · 31-35, M
There is no overpopulation problem. There is a disproportionate distribution problem.
flimflam · M
Everything is linked. But it's an oversimplification to suggest too many people and not enough food.

The food doesn't get to where it should for economic and political reasons not a lack of ability to produce enough food.

Although rising sea levels are rapidly removing large swathes of land traditionally used for rice paddies so we could be heading into more complication soon.
tenente · 100+, M
person here. can confirm: not linked. we're able to produce more than enough food per person all around the world, and, events like famines where people starved to death haven't happened that often. why do people starve to death? because of evil dictators and idiot politicians - not 'overpopulation'
JaggedLittlePill · 46-50, F
@tenente Lol..I am glad I could assist!

@gol979 Yes....in some ways we have already started in that direction. We still have many opposed to such things. Mainly I speak of the Non-GMO movement who believe those advancements are killing us all with chemikillz.
gol979 · 41-45, M
@JaggedLittlePill there's vertical farming too. And if the majority went vegan......would alleviate much of this problem
@tenente Good Point.
Rhodesianman · 56-60, M
There is in Africa .I lived in Africa and a lot of africans there believe their wealth is in their children so have loads of kids but don't have a way to feed them all .Most also don't have pregnancy protection so breed like rabbits .
revenant · F
@Rhodesianman exactly
Wraithorn · 51-55, M
@Rhodesianman This one of the reasons why I feel education is important. People need the opportunity to progress their minds past the limitations of culture and religion which are closely linked and keeping many people's minds in the dark ages.
firefall · 61-69, M
I dont think so, either. If you look at global food production, it's clear noone -has- to go hungry, so it's a political decision (or a bunch of them) that keeps food distribution unequal.

ETA: famine is always a political decision, since living in cities started
The theory will be to have more children and thereby secure enough of them to survive their childhood (hunger and diseases) and successively be able to take care of their parents when they grow too old to take care of themselves.
indyjoe · 56-60, M
One often overlooked factor in this is politics....years ago we sent all kinds of food to Africa and their government would not allow it's own people to have most of it...that is just one example.
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indyjoe · 56-60, M
@monimathu I think there might be some truth in the overpopulation/hunger thing, but for the most part I think a lot of it is a ruse to draw attention away from the actual political aspect of it...and as you see, not many people have thought about that or brought it up (so it works).
FurryFace · 61-69, M
apparently there's room for everybody in the world , its just that people tend to gather in major cities where the jobs are , but like the Arctic regions and Desserts and remote islands still not populated , lol but another thing climate control with CO2 emissions isn't the problem either , now its the Sun causing climate change less sun spots and flare outs , now a mini ice age is coming , ok so i wandered off topic somewhat OOPS !
revenant · F
it is more of a matter of resources
SW-User
More people means less personal income.
gol979 · 41-45, M
@MartinTheFirst but still think that only a small percentage can have a good income, even with that hideous fact?
MartinTheFirst · 26-30, M
@gol979 Yes, I don't believe in delusions even if I want to.
gol979 · 41-45, M
@MartinTheFirst I feel for you dude that you cannot even imagine a world where equality (or even more equality) is achievable. You have swallowed every piece of spin
Montanaman · M
It's about economics.
we all need to eat lol
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SW-User
Not enough food for everybody, yet the population increases each year so it gets worse
Of course there’s a link. The more people the more mouths to feed.
SW-User
Overpopulation causes a shortage of food
tenente · 100+, M
@SW-User wrong
Dan193 · 31-35, M
why do u think it isn't?
MartinTheFirst · 26-30, M
That's wrong. What's the difference between one man making food for himself, and 7 billion men making food for themselves?
flimflam · M
We'll come back to this in 5 years then?

If you want to know why the health service, education, roads, social care, welfare, etc etc are all screwed, the answer is debt. The political determination to reduce deficit and national debt whilst making less and less tax revenue.

Not to mention off books debt like national pension commitments.

Trust me, debt is, as you say, a bit of a woolly concept, but all that money belongs to someone somewhere and if you pull the plug on the lending it all comes crashing down.

You can't stop paying for it without losing access to more. But it's getting so we spend so much servicing the debt we can't provide what's needed.

It WILL crash. You young guys I'm afraid will have a tough decade at a very critical time of your lives.

Good luck. It's going to be a very bumpy ride.
SW-User
@MartinTheFirst The difference is that the 7 billion would have to share the same limited resources. They can't make food out of nothing!
MartinTheFirst · 26-30, M
@SW-User The resources are limited but they are by no means scarce in relation to how many we are. The core of the problem is poor management.
More people, less food to go around, perhaps ? 🤔
tenente · 100+, M
@bijouxbroussard more people, more despotic dictators starving their enemies to death
@tenente Yes. And sometimes deciding their own people are the “enemy”. 😞
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@MarmeeMarch
This is funny. Seems like a common thing with a lot of users here too 🤔

 
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