Last year, 17.2 million households in the United States were food insecure, the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17.2 million households, 3.9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to get enough to eat in the wake of the economic crisis:

17.2 million: The number of households that were food insecure in 2010, the highest number on record. They make up 14.5 percent of households, or approximately one in seven.

48.8 million: People who lived in food insecure households last year.

3.9 million: The number of households with children that were food insecure last year. In 1 percent of households with children, ‘one or more of the children experienced the most severe food-insecure condition measured by USDA, very low food security, in which meals were irregular and food intake was below levels considered adequate by caregivers.

No Comments

Economics is at the start of a revolution that is traceable to an unexpected source: medical schools and their research facilities. Neuroscience-the science of how the brain, that physical organ inside one’s head, really works-is beginning to change the way we think about how people make decisions. These findings will inevitably change the way we think about how economies function. In short, we are at the dawn of ‘neuroeconomics.

No Comments

On November 28th, in Durban, South Africa, a two-week conference about global climate change begins. There’s a lot at stake: the future of the Kyoto Protocol, relations between industrial and developing nations, our global ability to address looming environmental catastrophes before it’s too late. What’s not at stake is the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ‘Summary for Policymakers

No Comments

MIAMI, Fla. – ‘Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation’ is out, and none too soon: 2011 has been one of the most costly years on record for extreme weather events worldwide, and the U.S. has had more ‘billion dollar events’ than ever before. Released by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the new report reveals that changes in weather patterns and resulting ocean warming will have a direct effect on Florida.

Dr. Harold Wanless, professor and chair of the Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Miami, co-authored the report. He warns that by the end of this century, regions of South Florida will be uninhabitable.

‘There is consensus that Miami-Dade County will be abandoned, basically, by the end of the century. Mumbai will be abandoned – 15 million people, Atlantic City – you name it. With a four- or five-foot rise in sea level, most of the deltas of the world will be abandoned.’

The rise in sea level is a result of warming due to carbon dioxide gas released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, Wanless explains. As sea water warms, polar ice melts.

The report reflects the recognition that the changing planetary […]

No Comments

No Comments