Kashmiri farmers face drought losses without government support – Spring and autumn have disappeared due to climate change – ‘We are helpless before nature’

By Roshan Din Shad 10 October 2012 CHAKOTHI, Pakistan (AlertNet) – The failure of Muhammad Saddique’s maize crop following a three-month drought has left him threatened with lack of food and economic ruin. But the government of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, where Saddique lives, seems unprepared and unable to help farmers like him adapt to changing weather […]

Pakistan: No end to humanitarian crises after three successive years of devastating floods

Islamabad/Brussels, 9 October 2012 (ICG) – Three successive years of devastating floods threatening the lives of millions, coupled with the displacement of hundreds of thousands due to military operations and militancy, gives Pakistan’s radical Islamist groups opportunities to recruit and increases the potential for conflict. “Since the democratic transition began in 2008, some progress has […]

Red Cross: Afghanistan ‘sliding towards collapse’

By Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, www.guardian.co.uk8 October 2012 The police and army in an increasingly violent Afghanistan will struggle to secure the country when foreign forces leave and the people face a corrupt presidential election in 2014, the Red Cross and a thinktank have warned. At stake is the limited and fragile stability that has […]

U.S. water costs rushing higher

By Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY4 October 2012 While most Americans worry about gas and heating oil prices, water rates have surged in the past dozen years, according to a USA TODAY study of 100 municipalities. Prices at least doubled in more than a quarter of the locations and even tripled in a few. Consumers could […]

Drought stressing U.S. farmers and ranchers – ‘If it’s doing this for the next two years, I can’t see us being able to keep going’

BUTLER, Missouri – They have canceled vacations. Their children are forgoing out-of-state colleges for cheaper ones close to home. They are delaying doctor’s visits, selling off land handed down through generations and resisting luxuries like new smartphones. And then there is the stress — sleepless nights, grumpiness and, in one extreme case, seizures. Lost amid […]

Global warming damaging global economy already, report finds

By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk25 September 2012 Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year and costing the world more than $1.2 trillion, wiping 1.6% annually from global GDP, according to a new study. The impacts are being felt most keenly in developing countries, according to the research, […]

Report warns of global food insecurity as climate change destroys fisheries

By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk24 September 2012 The Persian Gulf, Libya, and Pakistan are at high risk of food insecurity in coming decades because climate change and ocean acidification are destroying fisheries, according to a report released on Monday [pdf]. The report from the campaign group Oceana warns of growing food insecurity, especially […]

Climate change severely impacting food prices – ‘The U.S. is taking a wrecking ball to the climate convention’

By Jaya Ramachandran, Arab News 16 September 2012 (SRPC) – While there are hardly any signs of substantive and forward-looking agreements being reached at the UN climate change conference from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, in Doha, latest research cautions that impact of climate change on future food prices is being underestimated. “By the end […]

Graph of the Day: Mitt Romney’s America

Graph by Tamino, 19 September 2012 By Rick Ungar17 September 2012 David Corn of Mother Jones Magazine has obtained a video recording of Mitt Romney speaking to a small group of wealthy contributors at a fundraiser wherein the Republican candidate reveals what he really thinks of people who he expects to vote for President Barack […]

Graph of the Day: Union Membership in the U.S. and Canada, 1920-2009

Contact: Alan Barber (202) 293-5380 x11528 August 2012 Washington, D.C. (CEPR) – Unionization in the United States has been on the decline since the 1960s. While many reasons have been offered to explain this drop in the rate of unionization, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research highlights the roles that […]

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