Have you ever needed to fast before a doctor's appointment?

Do you remember how hungry you felt, going hours without food?

Imagine feeling like that every day. Imagine not getting adequate nutrition every single day.

This is the reality for over 815 million people around the world, or approximately 1 in 9 human beings. In a world that actually loses or wastes about 1/3 of its overall food production, it's simply unacceptable for so many people to suffer from chronic hunger.

But there is good news. World hunger has actually declined in recent years. Global humanitarian efforts are actually making a difference. As the largest food assistance organization in the world, the World Food Programme (WFP) assists over 85 million people in more than 80 countries every year.

This organization, and others like it, do more than just deliver food to impoverished communities. They also provide job training, teach sustainable agricultural practices, and even source the food they do donate from struggling farmers. With your help, WFP can reach its goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.

Cancer.

One word that feels like a death sentence when uttered from a doctor's mouth.

A diagnosis that affects not just the patient, but all the friends and family who loves the patient. Even if you are not a cancer survivor yourself, you probably know someone who has survived cancer—or worse, not survived.

More than 9 million people die annually around the world from cancer, making it the second leading cause of death. While cancer mostly strikes in older populations, it still affects people of all ages. Looking at 2017 rates of cancer deaths:

46% are people aged 70 or older - 41% are people between ages 50 and 69 - 11% are people between ages 15 and 49 - 65% are people between ages 5 and 14 - 52% are people under the age of 5

Thanks to cancer research, many more cancer patients are able to survive their diagnosis. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of data analysis, the age-standardized death rate from cancer has fallen by 15% since 1990.

That's great news, but we can do better.

People still get cancer. People still die from cancer. People still live with long-term side effects from cancer treatments. Cancer research is still necessary to learn new ways of preventing, detecting, diagnosing, treating, and curing cancer.

Organizations around the world are doing just that. By participating in RAOK, you can help.

These are just a few of the basic needs for all living things. Certainly humans depend on these necessities to live, but so do animals.

Animal welfare refers to the general state of being of an animal. Promoting positive animal welfare goes beyond just preventing animal neglect or abuse. An animal with good welfare is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to express innate behavior. An animal with good welfare is not suffering from any unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress.

Because animals can contribute to human welfare by providing food, fiber, work, companionship, and more, humans have the moral obligation to provide for the well-being of animals.

Good animal welfare is important even for animals raised for human consumption, like chickens, pigs, and cows.

The Humane Society International and SPCA International are just two of many non-profits working to improve animal welfare worldwide.

Slavery is a dark part not just of American history, but world history. From 1525 to 1866, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World (South America, the Caribbean, and North America). As astounding as that number is, it's only part of the world's history of slavery.

Unfortunately, slavery isn't just a story from our history books. Modern slavery, as a result of human trafficking, is an ongoing problem today.

Human trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to control another person to obtain commercial sex acts, labor, or services against their will. This is a worldwide problem, including right here in the United States, in all 50 states.

Sex trafficking has been found in a variety of areas within the sex industry, including:

- residential brothels - escort services - fake massage businesses - strip clubs - street prostitution

Labor trafficking has been also been found in diverse labor settings including:

- domestic work - small businesses - large farms - factories

There is not a single profile for victims of human trafficking. Victims come from various socio-economic groups, they have different levels of education, and they may be citizens, documented immigrants, or undocumented immigrants. Human trafficking occurs in rural, suburban, and urban areas.

Even with all of these differences, there are several red flags to look out for when identifying a victim of human trafficking. These warning signs come from the U.S. Department of State.

- Living with employer - Poor living conditions - Multiple people in cramped space - Inability to speak to individual alone - Answers appear to be scripted and rehearsed - Employer is holding identity documents - Signs of physical abuse - Submissive or fearful - Unpaid or paid very little - Under 18 and in prostitution

To stop human trafficking, governments, non-profit organizations, and concerned citizens need to all work together. Polaris and Agape International Missions are just two of the many organizations working to eradicate modern-day slavery. The two primary objectives are 1) to prevent human trafficking and 2) to help victims of human trafficking

The United Nations declares that climate change is the defining issue of our time, and that we are at a defining moment that will make or break the world's collective future.

The Earth has a natural greenhouse effect, which refers to how the Earth's atmosphere traps some of the Sun's energy.

The basic process is: Sun's rays pass through the atmosphere

Some rays are reflected back into space, allowing Earth to cool Some rays are trapped by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Natural sources of carbon dioxide include respiration, decomposition of plants and animals, forest fires, volcano eruptions, and more. However, humans have greatly contributed to the production of carbon dioxide on Earth, causing more heat to be retained, and temperatures to be raised. After more than 150 years of industrialization, deforestation, and large-scale industrialization, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not seen in three million years.

The 20 warmest years on record all occurred in the past 22 years, with 2015 to 2018 making up the top four.

The world is well overdue for action, but that doesn't mean it's too late to enact change.

Non-profits around the world are investing in clean energy sources, planting new trees and preventing deforestation, and so much more.