NationofChange
As Black and Latinx families experience disproportionate food insecurity, experts warn of famine in dozens of countries.
Beyond the questions surrounding the availability, effectiveness and safety of a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to question where our food is coming from and whether we will have enough. According to a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) report, COVID-19 might have left up to 265 million people with acute food shortages in 2020. The combined effect of the pandemic as well as the emerging global recession “could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems,” which would “result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century,” states another UN report.
Pandemic May Have Left 265 Million People With Acute Food Shortages in 2020
Food is distributed during a mobile food pantry on February 16, 2021, in Immokalee, Florida.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Beyond the questions surrounding the availability, effectiveness and safety of a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to question where our food is coming from and whether we will have enough. According to a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) report, COVID-19 might have left up to 265 million people with acute food shortages in 2020. The combined effect of the pandemic as well as the emerging global recession “could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems,” which would “result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century,” states another UN report.
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This week, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was appointed to the Senate Agriculture Committee becoming the first vegan Senator to serve on the committee. Booker has been vegan since 2014 and is a longtime advocate for reforming agricultural systems, particularly factory farming, to create a more equitable food system for people and animals. Newly elected Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) was also appointed to the Senate Agriculture Committee marking the first time in the committee’s history that two Black Americans have served as members simultaneously.
“Our food system is deeply broken. Family farmers are struggling and their farms are disappearing, while big agriculture conglomerates get bigger and enjoy greater profits,” Booker said. “Meanwhile, healthy, fresh food is hard to find and even harder to afford in rural and urban communities alike. In the richest country on the planet, over 35 million Americans from every walk of life are food insecure.”
It’s not yet clear exactly how the word “conserve” will be applied to the 30% of lands and oceans that proponents are touting be done by 2030. However, President Biden has penned his support and put into motion the process of planning to meet this proposal. Biden signed a Jan. 27 executive order, creating the National Climate Task Force consisting of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and other department heads.
According to the order, the “Task Force shall facilitate the organization and deployment of a government-wide approach to combat the climate crisis. This Task Force shall facilitate planning and implementation of key federal actions to reduce climate pollution; increase resilience to the impacts of climate change; protect public health; conserve our lands, waters, oceans and biodiversity; deliver environmental justice; and spur well-paying union jobs and economic growth. As necessary and appropriate, members of the Task Force will engage on these matters with state, l
Vegan Kitchen: Is meat-eating around the world trending down?
Let s hope so, says our columnist. The pandemic contributed to a decline in the consumption of animal products for the second year in a row.
By Avery Yale Kamila
Could 2020 mark the end of peak meat? Let’s examine the evidence.
COVID-19 sent seismic shocks through the economy and culture during this challenging year, and the widening chasm opened by the pandemic shone a bright light on the atrocities of our animal-based food system. Slaughterhouses and animal-processing plants, including those owned by Tyson Foods, Smithfield and JBS USA, became COVID hotspots. The result was deaths, employee walkouts, brief shutdowns and finally President Trump ordering meat plants to stay open with an executive order he said would “solve any liability problems” for the corporate giants.