How Many Football Stadiums Can America's Hungry People Fill?

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-11-23 06:00:00 UTC
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The New York Times reported last week that 49 million Americans lived last year in households lacking regular access to adequate food. That's 13 million more people than the year before and the highest number since the government began tracking the issue 14 years ago.

Can you even imagine 49 million people?

Miami's Land Shark Stadium, which will host Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, seats 75,000 fans. This country's hungry people would fill up 653 such stadiums. That many 350,000-square-foot stadiums would cover around eight square miles, which is the approximate area of downtown Chicago.

How in the world does a country that is overrun with food have that many hungry people?

The US has become a nation of hyper-capitalists, pursuing the almighty dollar to the exclusion of a fair and kind society and cultivating public approbation of the idea that its pursuit is the worthiest goal of any rational citizen.

While there is nothing wrong with pursuing opportunity, there is, I would venture to say, something wrong with putting financial gain at the center of our world to such an extent that income inequality leads to poverty that forces eight square miles of people to go to bed hungry every night.

Is this due to a fundamental lack of compassion in the system we've created? And if so, does it reflect a lack of compassion in ourselves?

I imagine that none of us would say we want people to be hungry, but the ethos that the majority of us seem to subscribe to — that we should be able to have whatever we want whenever we want it at the lowest price, as long as we don't have to witness the cost to others or the environment — contributes directly to a society that values profit, convenience and materialism over fairness, patience and kindness.

We won't solve our hunger problem until we decide it is unacceptable to maintain a culture that views hungry people — not to mention despoiled nature — as the collateral damage of the unquestioned need — or should I say duty? — to strive for financial gain.

Photo courtesy of ian ransley via flickr

Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations.
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