Hum Ecology & Environment

Peers response

Your responses should consist of your informed input. One or two-sentence peer responses will not fetch full points. Do not merely recite the content you read in the unit; don’t simply give your opinion.

Your input should be in your own words (to avoid plagiarism), demonstrating your understanding and comprehension of the topic. Be sure to support all your posts (initial post + responses) with specific references to the assigned readings, lecture material, and other relevant research you find appropriate in APA format.

1st peees response

Octavia Dykes

Food insecurity and food scarcity by definition are different. Food Insecurity is caused by a lack of means to obtain food with the leading cause being income. Food scarcity is the lack of food available this could be caused by location or production. Both situations create hunger.  A person with food insecurity could be near a market with available goods but have limited or no money to buy food.  A person with food scarcity may have the money for goods at the market but the closest market with goods available is an hour’s drive away or the market close by has limited goods available for sale. 
 These would be densely populated areas without an adequate grocery source or areas of very low population where there are no grocery stores until the next major city (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021).  “
It is not confined to one single sector, sub-system (e.g. value chain, market) or discipline, and thus broadens the framing and analysis of a particular issue as the result of an intricate web of interlinked activities and feedbacks. It considers all relevant causal variables of a problem and all social, environmental, and economic impacts of the solutions to achieve transformational systemic changes” (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. (2018). Sustainable food systems.).

As nurses, we can assess our patients for having signs of being malnourished, and be observant of those that tend to hoard every scrap left on their tray for “later”, these are in my experience the patients having food security issues outside of the hospital. We can provide resources before they discharge, such as their closest food banks and food drive locations so that they may receive these resources. The hospital I work for does monthly community service events, it’s usually a food bank so that we can collect and give food out to those in need. As nurses, we can get involved within these communities. I’m not saying use all your free time but a few hours one weekend a month is such a great help with soap kitchens, food drives, food banks, etc.

References: 

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. (2018). 
Sustainable food systems. 

http://www.fao.org/3/ca2079en/CA2079EN.pdf

The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2021). 
Food Deserts in the United States. 


https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts

2nd peer response

Zoe Snider

Food insecurity refers to the lack of consistent access to food. Chronic food insecurity can lead to various health problems among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing health conditions (Nord, Coleman-Jensen, Andrews, & Carlson, 2020, p. 1). Food insecurity can be on the individual level or the community level. Food scarcity on the other hand is more of a systemic issue, affecting the population. Multiple factors can cause food scarcity including adverse weather conditions, population growth, and political climate (Kanter, Redmond, & Wansink, 2013). When looking at what impacts food security the most I quickly thought consumption would play the largest role. Food production cannot keep up with the amount of food that humans are consuming. This could be from overpopulation. The relationship between food and race takes a look at the community’s access to healthy, sustainable food. These communities may only have convenience stores and fast food supplying them with their weekly food intake. Not only would they have to travel farther for healthy food, but it also is much more expensive than a fast food dinner. Nurses can detect food insecurities in a multitude of ways. A basic assessment would tell a nurse a lot. Direct questioning can go a long way! This is why rapport with patients is important. 

Kanter, D. R., Redmond, L., & Wansink, B. (2013). Food scarcity and obesity: A view from behavioral economics. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 45(5), 651-658.

Nord, M., Coleman-Jensen, A., Andrews, M., & Carlson, S. (2020). Household Food Security in the United States in 2019. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.