Opinions

Five stars for the hunger summit

by Simon Maxwell August 21, 2012

The Hunger Summit held in London on 12 August has had mixed reviews. Not from me. I would have given it six stars if I had been invited - but as I wasn't, have slashed the score to five stars....

Fix the minimum wage—income for a minimum-wage breadwinner for a family of four is $7,000 below the federal poverty line

by Elizabeth Rose OtherWords August 20, 2012

In most states, working full-time in a minimum-wage job pays $7.25 per hour. That’s just $15,000 a year for full-time work. It’s not enough to live on. In fact, a breadwinner for a family of four earning the minimum wage would be a full $7,000 below the federal poverty line....

The hunger wars in our future: heat, drought, rising food costs and global unrest

by Michael Klare Truthout August 7, 2012

The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America's counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions...

How to feed 9 billion people

by Greg Page Washington Post August 3, 2012

In America’s heartland, farmers are making the agonizing decision to plow down cornfields that have succumbed to the worst drought in decades....

Wages aren’t stagnating, they’re plummeting

by Dylan Matthews Washington Post July 31, 2012

For workers in the 10th, 20th and 50th percentiles, median hourly wages haven't grown much at all since the early 1970s. ...

Corn for food, not fuel

by Colin A Carter and Henry I Miller New York Times July 30, 2012

IT is not often that a stroke of a pen can quickly undo the ravages of nature, but federal regulators now have an opportunity to do just that. Americans’ food budgets will be hit hard by the ongoing Midwestern drought, the worst since 1956. Food bills will rise and many farmers will go bust....

Poverty in America: Why can’t we end it?

by Peter Edelman New York Times July 28, 2012

RONALD REAGAN famously said, “We fought a war on poverty and poverty won.” With 46 million Americans — 15 percent of the population — now counted as poor, it’s tempting to think he may have been right....

Statement on divisive Foreign Policy piece

by Coalition of International Development Companies July 20, 2012

See Links...

Forced labor on American shores

by New York Times July 8, 2012

It is time to banish the idea that forced labor and sweatshop exploitation are problems of bygone eras or distant countries. These conditions exist within America’s borders....

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 40 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.