Policy changes could help fight hunger
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Steve Chiotakis: Anti-hunger charity Bread for the World puts out its 2010 hunger report today. The recession has worsened hunger around the world. But the organization says there are plenty of policy changes that could help solve the problem. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: Almost 1 in 4 American kids lives in a household that’s struggling to put food on the table.
David Beckmann of Bread for the World wants the government to strengthen child nutrition programs and expand tax credits for the working poor so no child goes hungry.
David Beckmann: This is not rocket science, we know how to make sandwiches. And we can feed kids in America, even in the middle of this recession.
He says pumping money into the U.S. economy isn’t enough to help everybody.
Beckmann: Just expanding the national economy without paying much attention to what you’re expanding is gonna lead to a very short-term recovery. What we need to do is use this time of economic crisis to invest in a more just and sustainable society.
He says attacking climate change is another way to help: green jobs could decrease unemployment. And he says cutting down on fossil fuels would help curb the change in climate that is already affecting people’s livelihoods in developing countries, including food production.
I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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