Thread by @techreview

This is a thread about why people still starve in an age of abundance.

Hunger around the globe is getting worse, not better. technologyreview.com/2020/12/17/101…

Last year, according to the UN, 688 million people went hungry on a regular basis, up from 628.9 million in 2014. news.un.org/en/story/2020/…

688 million undernourished people seems like an abstract statistic, but *each one* of these millions is an actual mouth to feed, and the hardships they undergo are very real.

In his 2019 book Food or War, the Australian journalist and author @JulianCribb describes the physical process of starvation. The body devours itself in the hunt for sustenance, depleting energy levels and producing side effects like anemia, fluid build-up, and chronic diarrhea.

“In short, starvation is one of the most agonizing ways to die, both physically and mentally—far worse, indeed, than most tortures invented by cruel people, because it takes so long and involves the destruction of virtually every system in the human body" - @JulianCribb

Today, @Oxfam identifies 10 “extreme hunger hot spots” worldwide where millions of people face this abominable torture. Some are theaters of conflict—including Afghanistan and Yemen. oxfam.org/en/world-brink….

But even in high-functioning industrialized countries, the threat of hunger—not just poor nutrition, but actual hunger—has been rising as a result of economic inequality.

In the UK, the use of food banks has more than doubled since 2013.

In the US, food insecurity is widespread, and the hardest hit are children, elders, and the poor. In Mississippi, the country’s hungriest state, one child in four is unable to consistently get enough to eat.

So are there any answers? Can starvation ever be ended? Can we head off the approaching food and water wars? READ this subscriber exclusive, reported and written by @bobbie: technologyreview.com/2020/12/17/101…

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