In response to the February 10th New York Times editorial “Hungry in America,” Ruth wrote a letter to the editor putting hunger in global context. She asserts that “Band-Aid” solutions to food insecurity worldwide are not enough. And she insists that we “rethink the global food system.” Check it out!
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Just over a month after the earthquake, conditions for Haitians remain dire even as relief work, recovery and reconstruction efforts begin. Starvation and malnutrition persist in ways unimaginable. The situation is so bad that the country’s poorest people have been subsisting on mudcakes or gato te in Creole. Made with a little salt, margarine and …
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Imagine being chronically hungry, and then, after finally receiving a long-awaited plate of food, eating just one bean. According to The New York Times, this is precisely what happened to Maxi Extralien, a starving Haitian boy who received food from a Haitian civic group in the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. In the face of …
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With 2010 under way, Nicholas Kristof is filling us in on “the world’s most scrumptious, healthful, gratifying food” – micronutrients such as folic acid and iodine. They’re a lot cheaper than the ingredients that comprise our daily diets—a year’s supply of micronutrients costs less than the cheapest hamburger—and yet their absence from the diets of …
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Back in October, I attended a permaculture workshop at a retreat center in upstate New York. I learned all about food forests, grafting, sheet mulching and many other agro-ecological farming techniques about which I knew little. I was surprised—and delighted!—to learn that many of these techniques are being implemented in the developing world, too. Hundreds …
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“Kitchen gardens in Kenya” is not a phrase we hear often, but for many people, that phrase is the key to survival. In a country of nearly 35 million people, malnutrition and hunger are staggering problems, particularly for Kenyan children, orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS. In the rural, western regions of Kenya, sustaining basic …
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We’re still savoring the success of AJWS’s first benefit event for Global Circle—a new program for young professionals committed to global justice—that took place in New York City about two weeks ago. The room was bursting with the energy of more than 350 people gathered together to support AJWS’s work in the fight against hunger. …
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The BBC reported yesterday that climatic factors have been cited as reasons for several recent conflicts, including the conflict in Darfur. AJWS has been a leader in addressing the crisis in Darfur but it’s not often that we pause to attribute some of the possible causes of civil conflict and genocide to warm climates. What’s …
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The upcoming election in Bolivia is stirring some interesting dynamics between an indigenous plant and a popular president. So, too, it is re-asserting the interconnectedness of politics, agriculture, indigenous culture and economic security in the developing world. A BBC news article reports that as Bolivian President Evo Morales campaigns for re-election, indigenous growers of coca—a leaf …
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Yesterday, I was sadly reminded of just how interconnected our global problems really are. A BBC news report revealed that the people most vulnerable to climate change are women. Why? Because in developing countries, women do most of the agricultural work and are disproportionately affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting food, energy and water. “Given women’s …
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