Are you concerned about the problem of poverty in the United...

Are you concerned about the problem of poverty in the United States? If so, there are many organizations such as Bread for the World that lobby our government on behalf of the poor in the United States and the rest of the world. The Web site at htrp//www.breadorg can fill you in on current legislative issues involving the poor and provides Web links to other organizations concerned about similar issues. What legislative issues involving poverty are currently being discussed in Congress? Would you like to contact your legislators about these? (Go to http//www.senate,gov and http//www.house.gov.)

Key Concepts

Lobbying

A strategy used by organizations and individuals to directly influence government decision-makers and legislators. Through lobbying, stakeholders aim to promote policy changes that address issues such as poverty by ensuring legislative priorities reflect the needs of affected communities.

Poverty

A socio-economic condition where individuals or communities lack sufficient resources to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare. This concept is fundamental in public policy discussions aimed at reducing inequality and improving living standards.

Legislative Advocacy

The process of influencing government policy and laws through organized efforts, including lobbying, public education, and mobilization of communities. This concept is essential to understanding how policy change can be achieved to address social issues like poverty.

Civic Engagement

The active participation of citizens in public affairs, including contacting legislators, participating in community discussions, and voting. This concept emphasizes the role of individuals in shaping government actions and policies that impact social and economic issues.

Transcript

0:00 All right.

00:01 So for this problem, we are beginning to take our understanding and the knowledge that we've gained to this unit and try and apply to real world issues, which i think is very important because it's interesting to talk about the science, the theories.

00:13 But ultimately, our understanding should be most important to try and actually change and positively impact people's lives.

00:22 And the topic that we really need to discuss for this problem is world hunger.

00:25 And we're given a lot of facts that are really unfortunate about this, which we'll talk about.

00:30 So it is estimated that 15 % of americans do not have enough food.

00:41 So 15 % of americans do not always have access to enough food.

00:45 So i'll just talk about food shortage for this fact.

00:49 I'll abbreviate with food short.

00:52 So that's one fact that we're told.

00:54 And we're told some more that aren't great to hear.

00:58 Worldwide, more than 1 billion people, that's a lot.

01:01 So over 1 billion people, right? because there's, i believe, about 7 billion people.

01:08 I know it's always growing.

01:09 That's a significant amount of the people in the world.

01:13 One billion we can't even comprehend.

01:15 Go to bed hungry.

01:21 That's very unfortunate to hear about.

01:23 Millions have starved to death in recent decades.

01:27 So that's more unfortunate information.

01:29 And we'll just cover a little bit more.

01:30 So in some cases, we might have war, different diseases to strip people of food.

01:37 But today, people are saying this is.

01:39 Due to poor food distribution.

01:43 And a lot of things are talked about to be distributed unequally nowadays due to the way society is being run, which we don't need to really get into.

01:53 We're just talking about this unequal or insufficient food distribution and people that are just hungry all over the world.

02:01 So what responsibility do nations have for feeding their citizens? so is this nation's responsibility? and this is a little bit of a complex topic, but let's just hit the responsibility.

02:19 I'll make sure i have to spell this correctly while i'm talking, because it sounds like it'd be easy to spell, but sometimes when you're not thinking it's a little easy to mess up words you normally would get.

02:29 So the short answer is, of course it is.

02:33 And there's many different reasons why.

02:35 First of all, in countries where people pay taxes, taxes should go to keeping people alive.

02:44 You know, things like health care should be included, and actual money that you're paying to a government.

02:51 So paying taxes should at least allow people to survive.

02:54 That's kind of a bare minimum.

02:57 I agree.

02:59 And even if there aren't people that are paying taxes, i think people have a right to life.

03:05 I think the government's job, nation's job, is to try and care for its citizens, at least by allowing them to try and be healthy and disease -free...

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