Recent food safety scares in the U.S. have sparked an investigation by The New York Times* into an over-reliance on private (or third-party) food inspectors to certify the safety of food processing plants. In some cases, as in the Peanut Corporation of America scandal, the inspectors were hired by the companies being inspected, leading to […]
Countries hit heavily by food shortages often rely greatly on foreign food aid to prevent starvation. The United States is the leading donor in food aid worldwide, but its food aid policies have come under heavy criticism by analysts. Often this criticism comes as a result of the practice of “dumping,” as described in […]
Henry Waxman has been My Man ever since the Acid Rain Wars of the 1980s. He has been quietly but forcefully reconfiguring the House Energy and Commerce Committee to achieve an optimum environmental effect with the critical energy and climate change legislation that will be forthcoming this year. In an article from ClimateWire in yesterday’s […]
In “Climate of Change”, I celebrated the first Obama budget proposal, along with the economic stimulus package and the renewables tax credit package from the autumn, as just what the doctor ordered for the push to decarbonize the economy and create hundreds of thousands of green jobs. Two of the world’s most eminent economists, Joseph […]
At the World Affairs Councils of America’s (WACA) Annual Meeting in February, Charles MacCormack , president and CEO of Save the Children, spoke about how the 2008 Global Food Crisis has impacted the UN Millennium Development Goal (MGD) for fighting global hunger. Watch the video of his remarks at the conference and hear him address […]
Looking at climate change as much and as often as I do, I have come to have a heightened sense of the danger looming and the urgency of our situation. Therefore, knowing that snow reflects solar radiation back into space, thus diminishing the radiative forcing on the earth, snow is something that has come to […]
Kipling had it right. I was at an event recently at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs (where I’m teaching) and Elisabeth Rosenthal, the “NY Times” environmental reporter based in Europe, was being interviewed. She touched on a number of important subjects including the talks in Poznań in December, some of the international politics of climate […]
That’s the title of Paul Krugman’s column today at the “NYT.” As I’ve been saying here, that sure seems to be the gestalt of the Obama administration and the new Congress when it comes to energy, the environment and climate change. Krugman says here, among other things, “…it’s also heartening to see that the budget […]
The BBC Special Report page entitled “The Cost of Food” features a collection of resources on the current global food crisis. The page includes the latest news, analysis, video reports, and image galleries on food security issues. Also contained within the Special Report page are links to a food prices Facts and Figures page, providing […]
According to a new report by the Fairtrade Foundation, farmers in the developing world have come under intense strain amid skyrocketing prices for food, fuel and fertiliser. The report, which includes interviews with farmers’ groups in Uganda, Malawi, Nicaragua, India, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean, claims that houshold budgets for many farmers in these areas […]
You’ve been hearing me whoop and holler here about the activities of the new Administration and the new Congress. (Fear not: You’ll continue to have more of this from me.) But there’s going to be some other visible and important action on The Hill next week – on Monday, March 2, in fact. Capitol Climate […]
The Great Decisions 2009 article on the “Global Food Crisis” identifies U.S. agricultural subsidies as an example of a divisive issue between developed countries and developing countries, particularly as they try to negotiate a fair, free trade system. The U.S. government provides subsidies, or payments, to farmers or agribusinesses (often large-scale, corporate farms) for their […]
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