22 posts categorized "Climate Change"

Domestic

Food Czar Hopes to Change the Way Baltimore Eats. While Holly Freishtat's directive may be straightforward — get more healthy food on the tables of the people who need it — accomplishing it may not be. [AP]

Initial Jobless Claims Dip, Lowest Since May. New claims for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week, signaling that layoffs are slowing but not enough to signal strong job creation. High unemployment remains one of the biggest obstacles to a strong, sustained recovery. [AP]

U.S. Recovery Seen as On Track, But Will Slow. In a 2010 review of U.S. economic conditions released Thursday, the IMF attributed the economic recovery to a "powerful and effective policy response" as well as improved financial conditions. "While still modest by historical standards, the recovery has proved stronger than we had earlier expected," the IMF said. [CNN]

Minnesota Effort Seeks to Ease Rural Poverty Through 'Agripreneurship.’ Immigrants who have flocked to rural communities following the dream of putting their agricultural backgrounds and expertise to good work have run into a road block. According to advocates for people with limited income and resources, large scale, conventional farming has left most of them in poverty, and taken its toll on the land as well. [Public News Service]

International

Hunger Crisis Update for Niger and Haiti. Severe drought has struck in Niger and the resulting food shortages have sent child malnutrition rates soaring. For any country, a child acute malnutrition rate over 15 percent is considered an emergency. In Niger, the rate is currently 16.7 for children under five. [The Washington Examiner]

Burkina Faso: Vital Role for Local Food. ...Sesame, tamarind and certain leaves are vital tools in the fight against malnutrition, say aid workers training families in northern Burkina Faso. [IRIN]

Nigeria: Gearing Up to Fight Food Shortages. Severe water shortages, plummeting livestock prices and rising grain costs would affect each of the northern states, according to an assessment in May 2010 by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. [IRIN]

Climate Change/Environment

Could Be a Busy Season for Disasters. The La Niña phenomenon has officially arrived and disaster response teams around the world might need to brace themselves for heavier monsoons, bigger and more frequent hurricanes, and angrier cyclones. [IRIN]

Domestic

African-American Women Struggle to Overcome Wealth Gap. Call it a tale of three women. In the most hard-scrabble parts of South Carolina, Kenya Williams, Natisha Boston, and Germaine Jenkins are all struggling to overcome personal hardship and overwhelming odds. [BBC]

Child Poverty Persistence: Facts and Consequences. Using the PSID, this study finds that 49 percent of children who are poor at birth go on to spend at least half their childhoods living in poverty. In addition, children who are born into poverty and spend multiple years living in poor families have worse adult outcomes than their counterparts in higher-income families. [Urban Institute]

[Blog] As Food Prices Rise, How Will Retailers Respond? The reality is that many food prices, due to late plantings, weather conditions and natural disasters, are on the way up. [Supermarket News]

International

[Blog] Poverty is Destiny. The World Bank estimates that there are more than 1.4 billion people in the world who live below the poverty line of $1.25 per day. It will be interesting to see what happens to children born in poverty: to follow them from womb to tomb, the entire life cycle. [The World Bank Institute]

Rust in the Bread Basket. A crop-killing fungus is spreading out of Africa toward the world’s great wheat-growing areas. [The Economist]

Two Faces of Asia, Ultrarich and Desperately Poor, Hound Economists. Philippine policymakers and other developing-country planners must rewrite their economic plans into what the Asian Development Bank calls “inclusive growth,” or the scaling down of the gap between the rich and the poor. [Business Mirror]

After World Cup Euphoria Fades, South Africa’s Poverty Will Remain. For many citizens, the $5 billion sports extravaganza will generate little more than pride. [The Globe and Mail]

Climate Change/Environment

Conservation Can Be a Weapon Against Poverty. The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico shows how local people can be paid for protecting their environment... [The Guardian]