Abstract

This paper will go into intense detail about the key factors of world hunger. It will include the breakdown of: food deserts in our society, the increase in poverty, unemployment rates, minimum wage, and the supplemental nutrition assistance program.  I will compare and contrast the issues in society today and recreate the idea in a “utopia” manner. I will talk about the different areas where improvement is needed in order for the utopia to thrive. My ideas will simply be based on the knowledge that has been engraved in our heads and the research that I have done to back up my points. 

The Start of Something New

In a world where nothing is problematic, there are many things that have to be done for it to be perfect. A perfect world is considered a Utopia and a utopia is basically a place where everything is perfect. Every human's needs are met and nothing can ever go wrong. Unfortunately, this is not possible. The word Utopia literally comes from the Greek word “ou-topos'' which means “nowhere” (Utopia 2021). But let's say that there is such a thing as a utopia, what would be needed in order for it to be the ideal perfect world? My idea of a perfect world is a world where no one is hungry. In our society today, this is a big issue. Many people go days and even weeks without having something to eat. They have to struggle to find food out of the garbage cans, raise money by asking randoms on the street, and sometimes if they have no hope in that, they starve themselves. Its very sad to witness, but it also needs to be brought to the light that this is a very serious issue in the community. 

There are many different factors that play in the role of world hunger. For example, the biggest factor that plays in it is poverty. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. America is considered to have a lot of people who are suffering from poverty. We have poverty rates that are really high and many people suffering from world hunger. On top of that, many people do not have the money to supply all of their needs. Unemployment rates are really high, minimum wage is still not enough, and there are many food deserts in different areas. (Bureau of Labor 2021). I will give a breakdown on ways I will help fix these problems in my utopia. No one will have to worry about struggling to live in their daily lives. Resources will be provided for the people to have better living habits. There are too many people that have to wake up everyday worrying about when their next meal is going to be and how they are going to provide for their families. In my world, there will be no more of that. People will not have to worry about being burdens because they will have the opportunities and strength to succeed in life. 

 Minimum Wage

First, I would like to talk about how the minimum wage is too low for living expenses or the cost of living. According to the article “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift the pay of 32 million workers” the minimum wage in the state of Ohio is $9.30, while the average cost of living arrangements is a monthly cost of $1,113. If you take into account that the average work week has 34.4 hours in it, that is only $319.93 per week (Huq 2022).That means monthly you would bring home around $1,279.68. Now let's talk about why this is a problem. Let's say you were to pay your rent, after that you now have to worry about other things such as food, clothing, gas, water, electricity etc. Also lets say you have to worry about something like your car needing repairs or medical expenses, there simply would not be enough to cover it. 

Improved Minimum Wage 

My ideal minimum wage would at least be able to cover all expenses that are necessary to survive, this means people wouldn’t have to struggle just to simply get by. This will create more opportunities for people to earn or save more money. For example, if they wanted to pick up more hours during the week, they would be able to generate more wealth so people would actually be able to live except for just surviving. Other ways this issue would be solved is to not increase the cost of living while also raising the minimum wage. We could also use the money our country uses on its military and put that towards actually helping people improve their living conditions. People that serve in the military have way more benefits and opportunities than people who do not. I understand that they should be honored greatly, but other people are struggling too and we need to help them. Too many people are worrying about whether they have enough money to pay bills and have food on the table. With the increased amount of minimum wage, that thought will never cross their mind again. It will be enough money for them to be able to provide for their families, as well as have other extra expenses that they may need. 

Food Deserts

Next I would like to talk about food deserts and how it greatly affects most low income areas. Dayton Ohio has been named one of the hungriest cities in the U.S because of a severe lack of full service grocery stores. For example, one of the areas that is affected around me is the west side of Dayton (Casey 2021). For many years prior to 2021 there was no simple way to get fresh produce until the Gem City Markets construction was recently completed in May of 2021. Before then the closest place to get any type of food was the nearest corner stores and drive-thrus. The closest place to the west side of Dayton that has fresh and healthy produce available is Kroger located on Siebenthaler Ave which is just outside of the area (United Nations 2021). Even then, it was not possible to get any fresh and healthy produce from corner stores, the only things they have are junk food and alcohol. Everyone should have access to healthy foods without being limited only to what they can find locally in their area.

Eliminating Food Deserts

In my ideal society there will be a store that sells fresh and healthy produce located within every city or town. There would also be transportation provided to the stores that would come to a designated area multiple times a day at set times. This transportation would be free and can fit multiple people in them, kinda like the RTA or some kind of rail system. Another way this issue can be resolved is to have local gardens that can't plant and provide fresh produce to the surrounding area. We could also use a lot of vacant areas around cities to plant vegetables and even trees that can grow fruits. No person should have to pay to be able to drink clean water, everyone needs water to survive therefore making it a necessity. So I would also make all drinking water free or at least make it a lot cheaper than what it is so people don't take advantage of that and shrink the water supply. 

Figure 1 demonstrates how many people's health are at risk from not having access to quality foods.

Increase in Poverty

Then I would like to talk about the increase in poverty rates. Recently there has been a spike in poverty rates from December 2021 to February 2022 with the increase being 1.9 percent going from 12.5 to 14.4 percent of Americans living under the poverty line over that time span. (National Alliance 2021). Also due to the recent pandemic, it has had a huge impact on unemployment rates because of the unsafe working environments and people not wanting to put themselves in danger of getting the disease. With the increase in inflation, the conflict in the Ukraine, and the cost of living increasing, the number of people below the poverty line could increase by 75-95 million people in this year alone compared to projections prior to the covid pandemic. This has been a huge issue even before the pandemic. Many people have not had enough money to have a successful life. There are a lot of individuals that are not financially stable enough to provide for their families. This is especially a problem in the country America. To make matters worse, its a big problem for African Americans.  The poverty rate for them is at an astonishing rate of 27%, while whites are at a measly 9.9% (National Alliance 2021). All poverty rates are not good, but the fact that its really targeted towards African Americans really shows us how the government treats them. Blacks get less benefits and opportunities than caucasion individuals. In my perfect world, the government will treat all individuals equally. No one will be treated differently than the other and everything will be perfect. For example, the government will create more jobs for everyone. Creating more jobs will help the poverty rates decrease, and this will help black people be able to work to become financially stable. This will also put a rise on the national economy, causing people to have more money and less people will be in poverty.

Unemployment Rates

In the previous topic I spoke a little about unemployment rates but now I'm going to go deeper into detail about that. Since the pandemic started back in 2020 the unemployment rate has been decreasing since then going from 14.7 percent in April 2020 to 3.6 percent in March of 2022. Even though the rate of unemployment has seen a decline it is still a problem that affects a lot of people living in America today, along with the possibility of that number increasing  (Delavega 2021). Not everyone has the same opportunity to get certain higher paying jobs such as people of color and women. African Americans have the highest unemployment rate compared to other minorities. Education level or background could also affect this (United Nations).

Improving Unemployment Rates

In my perfect society everyone has a true equal opportunity for employment. No one would be discriminated against by race or gender which would make for a perfect work environment. I would also make it easier for people who have no contact information to be contacted by job. I will do this by making the process of looking through applications more efficient, So something like a walk-in interview.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

Lastly, I'm going to talk about how people need to rely on government assistance such as EBT or  supplemental nutrition assistance ( Population 2021). In America 13 percent of the population uses EBT, why this is a problem is because no one should have to rely on government assistance to help them survive. Food is a necessity and everyone should have access to it.

Resolving this issue

In my utopia, no one would have to suffer from hunger or rely on government assistance.  Everyone would have access to food regardless of if they are elderly or have a child because everyone needs food.

Figure 2 describes the number of people in Ohio that receive supplemental nutrition assistance compared to the percentage of people in Ohio that receive it in total.

In Conclusion… 

World hunger is a big issue in our society today. Many people do not have the funds or the benefits to be financially stable enough to have food on the table. It is a very emotional topic and way more things should be done to help the individuals that experience it. This is why in my utopia, no one will ever have to suffer. No one will have to worry about when their next meal will be, or being unemployed. The government will create way more jobs for everyone, including black people to work at. This will improve the poverty rates because more people will be working, which means more money will be brought to the table. In my new and improved society, people will also have a better minimum wage. This also means that more money will be made, which means more people will have the funds to buy their essentials. No one will have to worry about going to the nearest corner store or drive thru for food to eat, because there will now be markets with fresh produce within 20 minutes of their area. In my society, no one will ever have to worry because everyone will be treated equally to prevent any problems.

References 

Elena Delavega, A. P. of S. W. (n.d.). “Covid-19: This is how many Americans now live below the poverty line”. weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/poverty-america-united-states-covid-coronavirus-pandemic#:~:text=Poverty%20in%20the%20U.S.%20increased,according%20to%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau. 

Food stamp benefits by state 2022. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2022, worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/food-stamp-benefits-by-state 

Homelessness and black history: Poverty and income. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2021, February 26). Retrieved May 21, 2022, endhomelessness.org/blog/homelessness-and-black-history-poverty-and-income/#:~:text=Among%20all%20racial%20groups%2C%20Black,wealth%20that%20white%20families%20have. 

Huq, S. (2022, May 11). “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift the pay of 32 million workers”.

povertycenter.columbia.edu/news-internal/monthly-poverty-february-2022#:~:text=Monthly%20poverty%20remained%20 

 The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2021, February 14). “Figuring out the Concept Behind Food Deserts”.  Retrieved May 21, 2022, aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2021, February 14). Exploring America's food deserts. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2022, aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts  

United Nations. (n.d.). Employment and decent work | poverty eradication. United Nations. Retrieved May 21, 2022, un.org/development/desa/socialperspectiveondevelopment/issues/employment-and-decent-work.html 

United Nations. (n.d.). “Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere - united nations sustainable development”. Retrieved May 21, 2022, un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022, May 20). “State employment and Unemployment summary - 2022 M04 results”. bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm