Oxfam, the Britain-based aid group, estimates that economic chaos this year has pulled the incomes of an additional 119 million people below the poverty line. Richer countries from the United States to the Persian Gulf are busy helping themselves and have been slow to lend a hand. Full Story »
Posted by Marsha Iverson
This five-part study ran from April 27-May 1, 2008. Daily topics include: The New Economics of Hunger--a global economic perspective; Where Every Meal is a Sacrifice--a look at extreme drought/famine in Africa; and three subsequent reports on food costs in America. Issues include global trade and food as commodity; famine; subsidies; biofuels; and transportation/growing cost increases, all before the global economic crisis. Useful background for understanding today's dire situation.
We're having food problems in the US before the economic meltdown, as the costs of food are rising. Yet we still have no shortage of food, and we import substantial amounts of food from developing countries, leaving them with nothing to eat. Part of our inability to understand the enormity of this problem may be due to the fact that most of the decision-makers in the USA--from government policymakers to journalists who report on the issues--have never known famine. Find someone who ... More »
Although ethanol was once promoted as a way to slow climate change, a study published in Science magazine Feb. 29 concluded that greenhouse-gas emissions from corn and even ... More »
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