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Yes, almost 40M people live in food deserts in the US. [1] In rural areas, that means being >10mi away from the nearest supermarket or grocery store. For urban
by phailhaus 3y ago
Yes, almost 40M people live in food deserts in the US. [1] In rural areas, that means being >10mi away from the nearest supermarket or grocery store. For urban areas, the limit is 1 mile since many low-income residents don't have cars.
[1] https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts
- postalrat 3y agoAll low income residents do have working cars outside urban areas?
- phailhaus 3y agoNo, but most do. It's practically impossible to live in rural areas without access to a car.
- postalrat 3y agoPractically impossible because they are "food deserts"?
- phailhaus 3y agoNo, because there is often no public transit and everything is miles apart. Most of the US is built for cars, not for walking.
- Ancapistani 3y agoNot specifically, no. I was born and raised in a place where the nearest grocery store was ~30 miles away. The median annual household income in 2000 was <$30k. My senior class in high school consistent of 32 people. I literally visited the homes of classmates who had dirt floors and no running water. People who live in those areas have access to automobiles. Most of them have at least one operable vehicle per family; those that don't cooperate with friends, family, and neighbors to get what they need. To this day I regularly pick up hitchhikers when I'm driving through the area. I think the real argument here is that the term "food desert" seems much more extreme than the experience actually is. None of those people are going hungry because they can't get to the grocery store. The few that are going hungry, are going hungry because they're so strung out on drugs that they aren't capable of planning ahead even 24 hours. In other words, the lack of easy access to resources isn't the issue - it's the relatively large number of adults in poverty who are in that situation because of their own behavior. Whether they're capable of changing that behavior isn't the point here - they would be in a similar situation even if they were literally next door to a grocery store.
- _chu1 3y agoLooking at things like that link you attached, I assume the people writing about these places have never been or lived there. How is this number even tracked? You could go on down to Pike County and ask the folks there if they live in a "low-income and low-access area" and they'd probably tell you they eat deer. Even in low-income and high-crime areas around Birmingham I don't think anyone would say it's difficult to get food.
- phailhaus 3y agoI don't know man, I trust the people who spend their careers studying these things over your hypothetical anecdotes. Do you have actual numbers, or are you just guessing?
- _chu1 3y agoLet's say I think NY sucks but I've never been there, I have exact numbers and papers that add to this viewpoint, but still never been there. Do you trust my opinion?
- phailhaus 3y agoOh, so you actually know the people that work at the AECF and whether they've actually visited these places? Your entire point is "eh, feels wrong". Ok dude.
- MiguelX413 3y agoRegardless, it's difficult to get nutrition in those areas, which is how food deserts are actually defined.