The problem of world hunger is overwhelming in its scope and magnitude. It the unfortunate offspring of events both natural and man made. Most of you reading this blog will probably never travel to a developing country to provide direct hunger relief. But there are small things that each of us can do that may influence living conditions in other parts of the world.
Much of the world devotes its resources to satisfying the needs and wants of a relatively small but enormously wealthy population. Many of the most common cash crops–like coffee, bananas, and sugar–are just that, a means of earning cash for the corporations that own the land on which these crops are grown. The farmers who tend these crops will probably not consume any of what they grow; it simply isn’t part of their diet. We can choose to consume things like fair-trade coffee, ensuring that farmers themselves (and their communities) receive the profits of their labor. We can support businesses that sell fair-trade products (McDonald’s recently began selling free-trade coffee).
Of course, the best way to make a difference is to support one of the many NGOs that are working to end world hunger. But it doesn’t hurt to be conscious of the things we consume and how those things are produced.
