And Now, the Good News (part 1)

And Now, the Good News (part 1)

It’s hard to ignore the endless stream of frightening news from around the globe (of late, university shootings, hotel attacks, the refugee crisis in Europe, the ongoing death spiral in South Sudan – just to name a few).  It’s enough to make you think that the world is in a bit of a free fall. 

And, despite our best intentions, with 24/7 news sources delivering wall-to-wall coverage of the dark side, it’s difficult not to be sucked in, to believe that the evil element is about to strike close to home tomorrow, or the day after. Of course, there are legitimate threats. But millions of people across the globe, every day, are taking active steps to improve the planet.  And many of them are succeeding. 

Part I of our series explores one of the most compelling issue of our time, or any time – world hunger. And we’re not just talking about the crises in less-developed countries. Mind-numbing statistics from a recent book (“Hunger: The Biology and Politics of Starvation,” by Butterly and Shepherd) points out that, currently, 49 million people in the United States (roughly 15% of all U.S. households) do not have enough to eat each day, and suffer from recurring hunger.  The challenge exists globally, but a detailed U.N. report released earlier this year maintains that, based on steady progress in recent years, world hunger could conceivably end in our lifetime. To that end, www.bit-of-news.com titled a recent report: “Generation Y may be history’s first zero-hunger generation.” Added Rachel Zelon, executive director of Hunger Relief International: ““This is an engaged generation,” she said. “They want to be a part of the solution.”

Some noteworthy facts – and reminders – from the UN report (titled: “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015”): 

·        In the 22-year span between 2990 and 2012, “the number of hungry declined to 795 million,” down from 1 billion (this 21% decline took place at a time when world population rose by 35%, from 5.2 billion to 7 billion).

·        The decline results from “an increasing number of countries [hitting] their MDG (Millennium Development Goal) targets on hunger,” according to the UN report. Said Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization): ““The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime.” Of the 129 countries involved, 72 achieved their MDG goals for 2015, “with developing regions as a whole missing the target by a small margin,” added the UN report.

·        Said the UN Report: “. . .  large reductions in hunger were achieved in East Asia and very fast progress was posted in Latin America and the Caribbean, southeast and central Asia, as well as some parts of Africa, showing that inclusive economic growth, agricultural investments and social protection, along with political stability makes the elimination of hunger possible.” Amid this progress, worldhunger.org adds this cautionary note: “[T]here has been the least progress in the sub- Saharan region, where more than one in four people remain undernourished – the highest prevalence of any region in the world.”

·        And another cautionary note, from the same UN report.  Despite great strides in reducing global hunger, they said, progress towards achieving the 2015 food security targets “was hampered in recent years by challenging global economic conditions as well as extreme weather events, natural disasters, political instability and civil strife.” Along these lines, the UN’s World Food Programme points out that: “Good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the 1980s and the 1990s, but progress began to level off between 2000 and 2010.” They added: “All of us – citizens, employers, corporate leaders and governments – must work together to end hunger.”

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