Opinions
How expensive it is to be poor
Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center released a study that found that most wealthy Americans believed “poor people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return.”...
Let’s address the State of Food
The state of the union, food-wise, is not good. The best evidence is that more than 46.5 million Americans are receiving SNAP benefits — formerly food stamps — a number that has not changed much since 2013, when it reached its highest level ever....
Republican candidates grapple with a touchy topic: poverty
COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Saturday, only three weeks before voters in Iowa first get to weigh in on the presidential candidates, six Republican hopefuls gathered at a convention center here to talk about poverty. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the top two, weren’t there. But still, poverty?...
Ethiopia silences its critics with a deadly crackdown on dissent
Ethiopia has long been celebrated by the United States for its economic growth and its willingness to engage in the battle against the Somali extremist group al-Shabab. Generous U.S. aid has been granted. But the EPRDF regime, which won 100 percent of parlimentary seats in last year’s elections, i...
‘Returning citizens’ are still one of D.C.’s most marginalized and motivated groups
“I was unfocused. I was very violent at one point, and they taught me how to conduct myself, as a human being, as a father, as a man and a citizen of Washington, D.C.” ...
What happened to the biggest land grab in Africa? Searching for ProSavana in Mozambique
What if you threw a lavish party for foreign investors, and no one came? By all accounts, that is what’s happening in Mozambique’s Nacala Corridor, the intended site for Africa’s largest agricultural development scheme – or land grab, depending on your perspective....
US-Mexico sugar deal means higher prices for consumers
GASOLINE PRICES in the United States are a perennial source of ambivalence, or at least they should be. When they’re up, motorists suffer but the environment benefits, because people conserve. Falling prices boost economic growth — but people drive more and carbon emissions rise....
World Food Program’s struggle to feed millions
If the term “international community” is to have any meaning, it should denote the shared responsibility of all nations to assist people forced to flee their countries and lose their livelihood through no fault of their own....
On the national Day of Maize in Mexico, protecting the sacred plant
Adelita San Vicente Tello speaking at local celebration of Mexico's first National Holiday of Native and Creole Seeds. Photo courtesy of Adelita San Vicente Tello....
Think we can’t end global malnutrition by 2035? Think again
There is a public health crisis that is threatening the health and lives of men, women and children across our planet at an alarming rate, and the richest nations are affected as well as the poorest. And the sad truth is that many nations in the world have not made addressing the crisis a high enoug...