Obesity? Is It A Moral Issue?

[cronus]

It still ain't right that fat slobs exist in a world with hunger is it though?

[pErvinalia]

It's still a non-sequitur, Scumple. As we've shown. The two have nothing to do with each other.

[cronus]

It's still a non-sequitur, Scumple. As we've shown. The two have nothing to do with each other.

Not directly. Requires a cognitive leap into our shared common humanity.

[pErvinalia]

Or LSD...

[cronus]

Or LSD...

..whatever helps.

[JimC]

Crackling, anyone?

[pErvinalia]

Or LSDyoutube clip...

:fixed: :FIFY: :Thatcuntingfixitfairy:

[Hermit]

Curbing our excessive intake of kilojoules won't make any difference to those who die of starvation. There is no shortage of food. We have trouble finding waste disposal sites for our butter mountains, milk lakes, rice ranges and wheat surpluses. Farmers regularly dig trenches with bulldozers and fill them up with tomatoes by the trainload and other produce they can't sell. Other farmers are actually paid to not grow things. The problem is not a shortage of food. It's one of capitalism. It's cheaper to bury the excess than to sell it to starving people who don't have the money to buy the stuff. Most of us don't want to know about that. Lolbertardians just laugh and jeer: "Serves you right, losers."

The problem with surplus food is not that poor people can't afford to buy it...Americans donate millions of tons of surplus food every year. The problem is that even if the tomato farmer wants to give the tomatoes away there is no way for him to get them to the people who need them without spending so much on transport and processing that any profit he might make from the rest of his crop disappears.

It's a delivery cost and logistics matter. Every step in that supply chain costs someone actual money, and the profit margins in foodstuffs are razor thin to begin with. That's WHY good food gets thrown away, because it's cheaper to toss it or recycle it than it is to try to get it to someone who needs it. Farmers are not charitable organizations that are funded by donations so they can grow and transport food to market at a loss. When someone comes along and offers to take the crop and move it where it is needed at no cost to the farmer, he's happy to let them have his surplus. These sort of charitable "gleaning" operations are seen all the time in farming.

No kidding.

[cronus]

Whilst there are charities willing to distribute food, no matter how inefficiently, to those who are really hungry then eating all the pies remains very very wrong. I can understand why some are defending their positions with lengthy excuses. The weight of argument is not in their favour though.

[pErvinalia]

Less drugs and youtube clips, and more critical thinking.

[JimC]

Excuse me, rEv, I'm sure you meant to type "more drugs"...

[pErvinalia]

Not for scumple. I reckon he's got enough errant chemicals running around in his brain..

[cronus]

Reminded me to take the heart meds....Rev. Thanks.

[mistermack]

It wasn't so long ago that we actually HAD the answer to food waste.

When I was a kid, most families in rural Ireland kept a pig. The pig ate everything that the dogs couldn't stomach. And the chickens ate whatever was too small for the pig.

No scrap of food got wasted. And the pork and chicken tasted a lot better than what you can buy now.

In many poor countries, people keep pigs and run them on the rubbish dumps.

We have pointless green waste bins for garden waste. Change that to a special bin for food waste, and feed it to pigs. Food waste problem solved.

[pErvinalia]

It's not so much personal food waste (although, that's probably a significant part). It's commercial waste and as others have said, waste in the farming process due to the vagaries of capitalism.