Archive for April, 2008

Global Food Crisis Now an Emergency

Monday, April 14th, 2008

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, “The rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions.”
Rising prices have already raised the costs of the WFP’s current operations from $500 million to $755 million.
I assume the inflation comes from the rising price of energy, which has risen from increased demand and decreased […]

Getting Young People More Involved in Activism

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Throughout my unprofessional studies of history and geopolitics, I have come to the conclusion that young people tend to start, push and lead the most effective and positive social movements. For example, consider the hippies, yippies, and such in the United States, namely in the 60s and 70s.
I believe young people tend to have the […]

Poverty Causes Teen Sex Problems

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Today, I just started reading the book Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex by Judith Levine. Not being specifically about poverty, Levine argues in the book that sex is not necessarily harmful to minors, and that trying to keep children ignorant about sex and puritanically abstinent often backfires.
So far, I have […]

80 Percent of Poor Americans Work

Friday, April 4th, 2008

I just read a good article by Wendi C. Thomas in which she says that 80 percent of poor Americans have jobs.
The article contains some personal anecdotes about a few poor people. And it aims to help dispel the myth that poor people are lazy and do not want better for themselves.
Wendi C. Thomas […]

Alleviating Poverty Makes Us Happy

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

I wrote a short article on the philosophy forums explaining why I think what is often called ’selfishness’ is actually compatible with kindness. Check it out: Is Selfishness Compatible with Kindness?
I think we can more effectively organize to alleviate poverty if we realize the various ways that kindness and humanitarianism are actually in our own […]

Working Poor Most Generous

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

In a recent article, Arthur C. Brooks, author of Gross National Happiness, pointed out an interesting fact about charity: Most studies have shown that the working poor tend to give away between four and five percent of their incomes, on average, while the rich give away between three and four percent. So-called “middle class” people […]

April World Hunger and Poverty Blog Carnival

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Today I will post a list of links to relevant blog posts that I received last month. This is called a “blog carnival.” I do one on the first of every month. Please bookmark this page right now so you can come back later and read more posts. Remember the following posts do not necessarily […]