Tired of all things "Hunger" related? Perhaps we should look deeper at "hunger" and what it means for global communities today and in the future.
While Hunger Games storms theatres, and everyone stuffs themselves with buttery popcorn, we mustn't forget that the world faces a growing crisis in food production, distribution and consumption.
Oxfam suggests that by 2050, the planet will need to produce enough food to feed nine billion people.
Our growing numbers increasingly encroach on diminishing lands and thus, the stuff of dystopian stories like the Hunger Games, so eagerly devoured nationwide today, may become a frightening reality.
Start your exploration at the New Westminster Public Library with Food, Inc. (Blu-ray disc) which critiques systems of global food production and Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel.
If you're still committed, watch the World According to Monsanto for a look at the implications of genetic modification on global food systems.
Delve further with Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty by Robert Thurow and Fair Food by Oran Hesterman (downloadable eBook), which discuss issues and alternatives for sustaining growing demand on the world's food systems.
Initiate discussion with your kids by letting them watch Wall-E in which Earth is decimated and the human race lives offplanet in an extreme state of obesity (they can no longer even walk), living off prefab foods.
Your teens might prefer books that discuss youth confronting food problems such as anorexia nervosa.
Skin by Adrienne Vrettos and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson are good options.
And the next time the kids plead for a trip to McDonald's, sit them down to watch Super Size Me, in which a man who lives off nothing but McDonald's food for a month becomes ill. Raising "hunger" awareness with children today will provide the means for critical problem-solving tomorrow.
Ask our librarians for other suggestions related to this challenging problem.
