"Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth. The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished" (http://www.foodaidfoundation.org/world- … stics.html). This is our world. I do not know about anyone else but I took one look at these facts and I instantly wanted to do something about it. I started brain storming ideas on how I can get involved, one step at a time. What if I only bought what I needed at the grocery store? What if I did not throw out that entire salad last week? What if I regulated my shower time instead of sitting there, soaking up the heat for an extra 15 minutes? What if I took an extra 10 seconds out of my day to think about what I should do with my leftover food? 1/3 of food is waited. After reading these statistics, I decided that I need to pay more attention to how I use my food. I started to cut my spending money at the grocery store in half and only bought necessities. I  decided to save my food, instead of throwing and entire container out. Food is a basic necessity for life. Shouldn't everyone around the world have access to a basic necessity? Here is the sad part; most don't. I do not want to participate to the terrifying "1/3" statistic. Here are some things that we can do to make a change...
1. Compost to make soil
2. Shower timers
3. Regulating the amount of trash thrown away
4. Only buying necessities at the grocery store
5. Regulating packaging on products you buy
6. Buying less plastic packaging and more biodegradable packaging

Let's make a change!

Abby - I totally agree with this. Not only does this have implications for hunger, it is it also a financial problem. According to FAO, "Food losses and waste amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries." This monetary waste could be a way to convince larger organizations such as our government to deal with this wasted food. If we as a society could find ways to transport extra food or food deemed "ugly" by grocery stores we could feed millions of people facing starvation. While it is sad that we can't trust our government to just act on the fact that taking excess food and feeding the poor is morally right, in our society we have to face the reality that many things are driven by money. While this may not be the purest way to tackle global warming, it is certainly an feasible one.
Source: http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/

I have a few questions: how does only buying what you need help other people? Most hungry people are hungry because they can't afford food. Wouldn't it be better to just buy food for someone, or perhaps get them a job so that they can buy food for themselves?

How does shower time help with hunger issues?

There are several other things on the list that help the environment but not hunger.

Abby- I think you make a great point, I just have a couple questions, similar to Max's. How does buying less help other people? I understand where your coming from, I just think that if you decide not to buy something, it will probably end up going in a dumpster anyway. Composting is good, and it wastes less food, but how does that help the people who don't have access to food? If you don't throw away a salad, does it magically find its way to a family in a third world country who needs food? I think composting helps the person that does it reduce their footprint, which is good, but if so few of us do it, it doesn't make that much of a difference. I think that if you are already buying a lot of food, buy the same amount and give what you don't need to a homeless shelter, or an orphanage, or to someone who needs it, and can't get it themselves. Other than that, I agree with your other points, and I also think food waste is a huge problem in our society, and we need to be doing more about it.

Sam- I think buying less helps other people because it makes the price cheaper in theory. Because price is always supply vs. demand, if the supply is limited or constant, and demand rises because more people are buying or people are buying more for themselves (which contributes to wasting), then the price will also rise, making it harder for those in need or the poor to be able to purchase said food. Now if we all bought a bit less and wasted less than their would be less global warming because of reduced transportation of food, and the food would be cheaper for the poor and needy because we would be buying less of it, and the demand would be lower.

Edward- I agree, but only if the entire country did this. If only the students on this website did it, it would only increase waste. I was thinking more immediate solution, as opposed to long term.

Sam-thinking short term is what got us here in the first place, so if the US and the world is going to start thinking at all about global warming and such, I heavily suggest they only think about long-term. If we do not think long-term then we will just run into another major problem. If its worth doing, its worth doing right.

Edward- My point wasn't that we need to think short term, just that I was thinking short term. Now that I think about it though, long term isn't really a luxury we have right now, and though we should be thinking long term around issues like global warming as a world. However, in the USA, short term food fixes are all we can do because the country is to divided and we need to be able to work together for a ultimate solution.  At this point, the only way I see to get a unified country is to have California declare independence, and then we could be a utopia, where food isn't an issue.

Short term ideas lead to long term. It just takes cooperation and understanding to spread the knowledge around which then can turn into a long term idea. But those ideas do not just happen. It takes kids like us to be leaders and take the first step.