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Read recent posts from the Foreign Policy Blog network that relate to food security issues. Food and International Folly from the Global Health blog Glorious Food from the Climate Change blog Enjoy!

The AP has a blockbuster report out this morning:  US Nuke Regulators Weaken Safety Rules.  (NPR is featuring the story, as are hundreds of other news outlets.)  The opening sentence certainly gets your attention.  “Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards […]

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance. ~Ruth E. Renkel For all fathers, rich or poor, may today you see the wealth and meaning of your life in that of the eyes of your children.  May you know that the love, humility and wisdom you bestow upon your child each day is […]

Maybe, just maybe, one of the lessons learned from the economic crisis of the past few years is that folks in post-industrial societies need to live within their means better and more.  Credit card debt in the US has decreased by over $167 billion since its peak of $957.5 billion in 2008.  It stood at […]

It seems that politicians spend most of their time trying to get elected and re-elected. After a few terms in office, though, they start to focus more on their legacy – less on what the voters think of them, and more on what historians will think of them. For some, their legacy is changing the […]

It’s been an interesting week in which President Obama defended the U.S. role in Libya against critics in Congress. It’s an odd development and many people find it hard to wrap their brains around the idea of a Democrat president who had campaigned against the wars and pledged to bring our troops home now defending […]

Been consumed by family related errands in Alabama this week so in addition to having to deal with 100 plus degree heat, have not had time to blog.  The heat gave me flash backs to my times in the Mideast desert during my military active duty days which in turn reminded me I have one […]

The bad news keeps rolling in for the “nuclear renaissance” that has been much touted in recent years.  The relentless, heedless proponents of more nuclear have tried to bull their way forward, even in the aftermath of Fukushima.  Well, thankfully, and perhaps predictably, the democracies, at least, are saying no more, thank you, it’s well […]

Over the past week, reports have emerged about pervasive lead poisoning in China and allegations of a cover-up and intimidation by the Chinese government.  The New York Times had a prominent article this week and Human Rights Watch has released a 75-page report.  Of course, we’re talking about a regime that already drastically represses the […]

Tajikistan steps up child polio immunization Medical staff in Tajikistan have scrambled to vaccinate against polio some 95% of children under the age of 15, up from prior levels of about 87%, after a sudden outbreak of the disease last year caught health officials off guard, killing and paralyzing dozens of children. Chronic disease is […]

I had the pleasure of gorging a bit (no pun intended, but please read on) on TED talks a few days ago, and in the process, spent a couple hours listening to several talks in their “Food Matters” theme.  One talk in particular by Carolyn Steel captured my interest: How Food Shapes our Cities.  Carolyn is […]

Aquaculture, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is “the fastest growing food production system in the world.”   It accounts for nearly 50 percent of the world’s food fish, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and more than 1 billion people rely on fish as an important source of animal protein.  With this […]

Glenn Greenwald lays out the “Libya’s About Oil” angle: Is there anything more obvious — as the world’s oil supplies rapidly diminish — than the fact that our prime objective is to remove Gaddafi and install a regime that is a far more reliable servant to Western oil interests, and that protecting civilians was the […]

I know I don’t need to point out how hectic our lives can be. Teaching our kids how to be ruthless; beating the presidential cook after s/he prepared a lackluster chocolate soufflé for our dinner party with the President of FIFA; or getting our son into an overrated, elitist Western university and (cross our fingers) getting him to graduate – these are all things that can take up an inordinate amount of time in our schedules, which of course lead us to take shortcuts that often backfire on us.

In an op-ed last week at the NY Times, Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute, reiterated the same old tired and tiresome nonsense about renewable energy:  It’s not good enough to get the job done.  As I’ve noted here a number of times, that particular Big Lie is easily refuted.  See 80% Renewable – The […]