Study: Hunger stalks U.S. cities as poverty rises

WASHINGTON, December 15 (Reuters) – A growing number of families in the United States are struggling to put food on the table as poverty rises in major cities, a new survey showed on Thursday. The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 2011 hunger and homelessness survey [pdf] found all but four of the 29 cities surveyed reported […]

‘Dismal’ prospects: 1 in 2 Americans are now poor or low income – ‘Number of poor families to rise for the next several years’

WASHINGTON, December 15 (AP) – Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income. The latest census data depict a middle class that’s shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government’s safety […]

From Cairo to the Cape, climate change takes hold of Africa – ‘A new and harsh reality’

By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk  1 December 2011 We are right on the equator, and Speke, Moebius, Elena, Savoia, and Moore, the five great glaciers of the the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, glint in the bright Ugandan sun. Usually lost in the mists that cloak these peaks up to 5,100 metres high, […]

Cardinal: Failure to address climate change is ‘moral apartheid’ – ‘Don’t we realize that the climate is out of control?’

December 5 (Catholic World News) – As the Durban Climate Change Conference reached its midway point, the president of the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies compared current environmental policies to apartheid. Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, said that “just as South Africa’s apartheid era policies sought divisions along race lines, […]

Climate change hits Africa’s poorest farmers – Agricultural output must triple by 2050 to meet growing needs

By GILLIAN GOTORA, Associated Press26 November 2011 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – As she surveys her small, bare plot in Zimbabwe’s capital, farmer Janet Vambe knows something serious is happening, even if she has never heard of climate change. “Long ago, I could set my calendar with the date the rains started,” the 72-year-old said. Nowadays, […]

Hubbert’s third prophecy

Hubbert said, “The third curve (on the left) is simply the mathematical curve for exponential growth. No physical quantity can follow this curve for more than a brief period of time. However, a sum of money, being of a nonphysical nature and growing according to the rules of compound interest at a fixed interest rate, […]

U.S. wealth gap between young and old is widest ever

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press  7 November 2011 WASHINGTON (AP) – The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. The typical U.S. household headed by […]

Most U.S. unemployed no longer receive benefits

By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer5 November 2011 WASHINGTON (AP) – The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent – a shift that […]

Record floods continue torrent of destruction in Thailand – Flooding reaches deeper into Bangkok, residents complain government sacrificing poorer areas

By Ann M. Simmons in Los Angeles4  November 2011 Floodwaters in Thailand have crept closer to central Bangkok, forcing new evacuations and the closure of one of the country’s largest shopping malls as the deluge threatened to swamp the Thai capital’s subway system, according to international news agencies. Bloomberg news service reported Friday that Thai […]

Graph of the Day: Maplecroft Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2012

The Climate Change Vulnerability Index features subnational maps and analysis of climate change vulnerability and the adaptive capacity to combat climate change in 193 countries. It features an improved methodology analysing the exposure of populations to climate related natural hazards and sensitivity of countries in terms of population concentration, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and […]

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