During President Obama’s recent trip spanning China, Myanmar and Australia, he along with Chinese President Xi Jingping announced what amounts to a historic agreement between the nations to reduce greenhouse emissions (amongst agreements to extend visas and trade deals to eliminate tariffs on IT products).
In a unique collaboration, 40 world-class chefs have come together in support of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and created what is essentially an international culinary travelogue, offering recipes that detail tastes and key culinary choices from different parts of the world.
“The physical features of the Somali country are much the same wherever the traveler may land. Bereft of all vegetation but a few scattered thorn- bushes bristling like hedgehogs, it is destitute of wealth and forbidding in aspect. The fine sand is driven by rainless storms into innumerable drifts. All the world seems ablaze; […]
Last December, Hawaii’s Big Island passed a bill prohibiting biotech companies from operating on the island and restricting farmers from growing new genetically modified crops. The island does not currently have any operating biotech companies, but approximately three-quarters of the 30 million pounds of papayas harvested there are genetically modified according to The New York Times. […]
With the passing of another year comes the need to look ahead at the issues that will increasingly define the world we live in. Every year since 1945 the international community marks World Food Day, serving as a reminder of the importance of food security in a world where 1 in 8 go hungry. With […]
Hosted by Sarwar Kashmeri, the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions podcast series will headline issues together with the leaders whose decisions today will mold the foreign policy of tomorrow. Each podcast will tackle a different Great Decisions topic in the 2014 series, a list of which can be found here. Tackling climate change has unearthed a […]
Bjorn Lomborg is Director of Copenhagen Consensus Center and author, most recently, of How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place. Copenhagen Consensus Center brings together many of the world’s top economists, including Nobel Laureates, to set priorities for the world. Dr. Lomborg is among TIME Magazine‘s 100 most influential people in the […]
Posted by contributor Andres Santamaria. The recent drought that has been spreading throughout the Midwest portion of the United States could now potentially create another global food crisis like the one in 2008, according to an article by Suzanne Goldenberg, U.S. environment correspondent for the Guardian. Why is there such a danger now? Extreme heat […]
Although recent media attention on North Korea has focused on its new first lady, the emergence of a significant humanitarian crisis has quickly replaced the sensational headlines. Compounding recent reports of malnutrition among North Korean children and the “…[estimation] that two-thirds of North Korea’s 24m population suffer from a chronic shortage of food…” , the […]
Want to tackle child hunger in your area? This fall, “Run 10 Feed 10” campaign, launched by Women’s Health magazine and FEED Foundation, aims to raise funds through a series of 10K runs in selected cities and an online fundraising effort for those who cannot participate directly. According to the Run 10 Feed 10 campaign, […]
Posted by contributor Andres Santamaria. A recent Washington Post article by Sudarsan Raghavan reports about the abundance of teenage girls getting married as a result of food shortages in Niger. Nearly one of two girls gets married before the age of 15 in hopes of exchanging dowries to provide much needed food and financial support […]
While this blog often posts about many of the current issues in food security, there are also opportunities to present ideas about the future of food. The Atlantic’s “The Future of X” channel recently looked at “The Future of Food” through an interview with Nicola Twilley, writer of the Edible Geography blog. Watch the video […]
The United States has designated one-third of its counties as federal disaster areas in order to authorize emergency funding for them to cope with some of the worst drought in nearly 60 years, according to John Eligon’s article in The New York Times. The extensive drought zone falls within some of the country’s largest […]
Housing nearly half a million people, the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya been a growing haven for those fleeing drought, famine and chaos in neighboring Somalia, albeit one with problems of its own. This past week, aid agencies reported that funds needed to keep servicing the camp are falling short by nearly $25 million. “The […]
Posted by contributor Andres Santamaria. It has been said by some that the recent Rio+20 Conference was needed but did not deliver. Some criticized the many meetings where no real concrete plans or timelines were adopted. Others claimed that there is no substantial international driving force behind several of the abstract goals. Many believe it […]