How far does our compassion for children extend?

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Twenty children dying in the Newtown massacre has emotionally rocked the country, as well it should. I am glad that we have compassion and understanding. Yet what really surprises me is that we are emotionally blind to very similar circumstances where we as a country are deliberately killing innocent children. If we feel this way when our children are killed, then how do people in other countries feel when we kill their children? Continue Reading

Working together for women’s human rights in Moldova

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Chisinau, Moldova, is a place where the Soviet footprint is still visible. Stray dogs greet you at the airport. Tall, half-destroyed bloc apartments are the first buildings you see on your way into town. People live there, and lots of them, to judge from the laundry flapping out over each unfurnished balcony. The trees in the shabby but gracious old city are whitewashed from their roots up nearly three feet to encourage their growth. Most of the buildings are one or two stories in various states of disrepair, with the formerly lovely intricate stucco trim now crumbling. But I don’t let the appearance of things fool me—the people and government of Moldova are making real progress on protecting and advancing women’s rights. Continue Reading

Behind every Lao community is a strong Lao woman

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It’s 5am. Mom quietly shuffles in to pick up baby Coraline. Her hands plagued with age and diabetic stiffness carefully cups Coraline’s little head against her chest. She sways and sings a lullaby. Mellow and sweet, it pierced my memory bank. Where did I hear that before? Familiar. Comforting. An hour passed by. Then I woke up wondering how I fell asleep. Continue Reading

What’s at stake for agriculture in COP 18?

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The biggest threat for agriculture at the 18th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC is the certain likelihood (oxymoron intended) of “non-decisions” for setting ambitious emissions reduction targets for the post-2012 period, when the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period expires. Bill McKibben’s widely circulated article Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math tells us in starkly clear terms what we need to do to set things right: Continue Reading

While Europe burns: We can ignore Europe’s crisis, but we’d do better to learn from it

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It’s been a long time since I wrote about Europe. How many ways can a humble blogger say, “Nothing has really changed”? Nothing has. Currency union has turned into a straightjacket of austerity and the European Union is plunging into a deep recession. The only true news has been a day of protest across Europe, fueled in part by the now 25% unemployment rate in Spain and other nations. It has become a full meltdown. Continue Reading

A global step forward on climate and agriculture

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Last week in Rome, the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) agreed on key principles on how governments must address the massive food security challenge that climate change brings. The big news: Governments at the CFS recognized that policies addressing climate change must also support the Right to Food—an important step forward that if taken seriously by governments could result in a major shift in the way agriculture and land use are considered at the global climate talks. Continue Reading