Food stamp recipients at record 41.8 million Americans in July 2010

By Alan Bjerga; editing by Steve Stroth Oct 5, 2010 1:46 PM PT The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said. Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a […]

Ethiopians want more from sacred Nile waters

By Staff WritersGish Abay, Ethiopia (AFP) Sept 26, 2010 Here in the shadow of Mount Gish, the spring water that forms the Blue Nile is believed to have healing powers, but Ethiopians say that is the only benefit they get from the mighty river. “These waters are sacred, they perform miracles for the sick,” Berhanu […]

Book review: The Coming Famine

By Nicole EckersleySeptember 14, 2010 Author, journalist and science writer Julian Cribb has created a sobering text in The Coming Famine: The global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it, from CSIRO Publishing. Cribb’s view of the global food crisis paints a frightening picture: demand for food slowly outstripping supply, food production […]

100,000 kids without food in Pakistan floods face death

By MARGIE MASON (AP) 20 September 2010 SUKKUR, Pakistan — Suhani Bunglani fans flies away from her two baby girls as one sleeps motionless while the other stares without blinking at the roof of their tent, her empty belly bulging beneath a green flowered shirt. Their newborn sister already died on the ground inside this […]

Flood and drought worsen food crisis in West Africa

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF September 7, 2010, 10:31 am Torrential rains and flash floods that swept through cities and villages in West Africa in late August have intensified a food crisis in the region, leaving upwards of 10 million people suffering from severe food shortages, the United Nations and relief organizations warned last week. The […]

‘Triple threat’ unfolding in Pakistan, says WFP chief

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) 31 Aug 2010 ISLAMABAD — It only took a few minutes on board a helicopter scudding across the wasteland that is the Pakistan flood zone for WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran to understand the full extent of the crisis currently facing the country. Hectare after hectare of prime farmland […]

Slideshow: Niger’s double disaster

BBC27 August 2010 An existing, long-term food crisis in the landlocked west African country, has now been compounded by devastating floods – which saw the River Niger rise to its highest level for more than 80 years. The UK aid agency, Oxfam, says half the population – nearly eight million people – were already facing […]

Record droughts, floods, and fires strain food markets’ resilience

By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD of ClimateWireAugust 12, 2010 UNITED NATIONS — A string of devastating natural disasters many are attributing to climate change has sent food prices on a roller coaster ride, leading to fears of a wave of climate-induced food price shocks of the sort that sparked rioting in the developing world two years ago. […]

Devastating Pakistan floods now threaten food crisis

  By Faris Ali; additional reporting by Asim Tanveer, Augustine Anthony and Kamran Haider in Islamabad and Junaid Khan in Swat; reporting and writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Nick MacfieWed Aug 4, 2010 9:43am EDT NOWSHERA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistanis facing life-threatening shortages scoured towns for belongings and food in several areas on Wednesday […]

Climatologist sees disastrous weather in future

By CARL HARTMAN, For The Associated Press Mon Aug 2, 6:53 am ET The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes From a Climate-Changed Planet (Harper, $25.99), by Heidi Cullen: Climatologist Heidi Cullen was taken aback at her lecture on the prospects for global warming when a member of the audience […]

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