A report examining the many ways climate change threatens coffee and coffee farmers has alarmed people who are now imagining what it would be like getting through the day without their caffeine fix.
Author: WHES
U.N. refugee summits fall short for children
As Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini opened the floor for U.S. President Barack Obama’s leaders’ summit on refugees, she embodied a hope unavailable to most child refugees. On Monday, the United States was one of the main countries to obstruct a U.N. Declaration that no child should ever be detained. Though welcome, the U.S.’ commitment the following day to resettle 110,000 refugees in 2017 was overshadowed by its ugly record on detaining unaccompanied minors.
U.N. refugee summit: No cause for comfort
With record numbers of forcibly displaced persons around the world, many were left disappointed by the outcome of a high level UN summit designed to address the issue by bringing together world leaders on the sidelines of the UN’s annual General Assembly. During the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, global leaders approved a declaration that aims to implement a more coordinated, comprehensive and humane refugee response.
Wheat, one of the world’s most important crops, is being threatened by climate change
A new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change reiterates concerns that wheat — the most significant single crop in terms of human consumption — might be in big trouble. After comparing multiple studies used to predict the future of global crop production, researchers have found that they all agree on one point: rising temperatures are going to be really bad for wheat production.
Behind the Monsanto deal, doubts about the GMO revolution
Farmers are reconsidering the use of biotech seeds as it becomes harder to justify their high prices amid the measly returns of the current farm economy.
How South Sudan’s leaders robbed their country – and nearly got away with it
South Sudan’s political and military leaders have bled their country dry to fuel extravagant lifestyles and fund a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, says the Washington-based conflict investigative group, The Sentry, co-founded by actor George Clooney and human rights activist John Prendergast.
Why water war has broken out in India’s Silicon Valley
Violence has broken out in India’s technology hub Bangalore in Karnataka state over a long-running dispute about water. Protesters are angry at a Supreme Court ruling ordering Karnataka to share water from the Cauvery river with neighboring Tamil Nadu.
U.S. household incomes soared in 2015. Number of people in poverty declines by 3.5 million.
Middle-class Americans and the poor in 2015 enjoyed their best year of economic improvement in decades, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, a spike that broke a long streak of disappointment for American workers but did not fully repair the damage inflicted by the Great Recession.
In historic move, Gov. Jerry Brown expands overtime pay for California farmworkers
California governor Jerry Brown signed historic legislation Monday that would gradually add hundreds of thousands of California farmworkers to the ranks of those who are paid overtime after eight hours on the job or 40 hours in a single week, closing out one of the year’s most intense political battles in Sacramento.
How the sugar industry shifted the blame to fat
The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.
