Giving Compass' Take:

• The Huffington Post reports on how as a nation we are unsure as to how to drive policies to combat hunger crisis and our many individuals argue about what type action needs to be taken to address hunger issues. 

• How can we create a common ground around dealing with problems around hunger and food waste in the United States? 

• Read about what the New York City Department of Sanitation is doing to combat food waste.

Nobody deserves to go hungry. In the US there is wide cultural and political agreement on this principle, even among those who fully embrace the American mythology of self-made individuals who pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

Beyond this general understanding, actions and policy to eradicate hunger - both nationally and internationally - vary enormously. When it is time to act on one’s outrage, ideas and values about the role of the government, personal responsibility, and the effectiveness of different interventions inevitably clash. Should the government support private efforts to avoid the worst for those who cannot afford to buy food, or should it rather intervene in the functioning of food production and distribution, the job market, wages, housing, healthcare, and access to education, among other factors?

When it comes to international aid, should the government buy surplus crops from national farmers and then ship them to the areas where food is needed, or should it rather invest money in supporting the development of agriculture in those areas, allowing local farmers to make a living? Is the main goal charity or social justice? Should we address symptoms or deal with the root causes?

Big Hunger also examines the issue of food waste, which was recently the topic of the Zero Waste Food conference organized by The New School and the Institute of Culinary Education. [Andrew] Fisher fears that an excessive focus on reducing waste by redirecting food to charity may end up hiding important dynamics:

“The charitable food system exists at the intersection of waste and want. Driven by the inefficiencies of the supply chain, it was invented as a morally preferable alternative to throwing away ‘Perfectly good food.”

Nevertheless, we need to remember that wasted food is not only an ethical disgrace, but also an environmental, social, and economic one, which we need to address systemically if we want to move toward a sustainable model of a circular economy.

Read the full article about hunger issues by Fabio Parasecoli at the Huffington Post