The enormity of the problem surrounding world hunger and starvation has often been an argument used by my circle of friends and acquaintances to turn our collective attention away from the issue. The issue of global hunger and starvation is unequivocally a daunting problem for any country, let alone a group of individuals. Nonetheless, it is an issue that jars one’s complacency once a few straightforward facts are known.
First, there are nearly one billion individuals in the world today who are “malnourished.” A significant part of the problem has been the inability of the world to increase its production of food. That is, the world food production may have reached a plateau.
Here is a staggering figure, however: “Nearly 60% of global land deals in the last decade have been to grow crops that can be used for bio fuels, says Oxfam.” Thus, America’s own Renewable Fuel Standard which mandates 13 BILLION gallons of bio fuel be produced in 2012 as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foreign oil imports has contributed to the world’s inability to produce food for human consumption.
The silver lining for the U.S. and the world is that the policy can be reworked or completely revoked. It’s clear that one of the two needs to occur, and quickly.
Even if the idea of widespread malnourishment doesn’t jar your moral sense, the use of agricultural land for biofuels is also causing global food prices to increase, forcing individuals across the globe to spend more of their disposable income on food.
Not surprisingly, Mitt Romney supports maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard and with it, the burdens to the world’s malnourished as well as the pockets of Americans. While President Obama has been quick to tout the Renewable Energy Standard in the past, the president is unquestionably a man who is concerned about America’s middle and working classes (i.e., the “47%”) and the world’s malnourished.
This is to say that if elected, Mitt Romney would undoubtedly continue the Renewable Fuel Standard along with its disastrous consequences. President Obama, on the other hand, is a man who concerns himself with the welfare of others and it can reasonably be expected that he will seek to address this untenable situation.
If anyone needed another reason to vote for President Obama, I hope I’ve provided one.
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