former Executive Director, Hartford Food System
Former Executive Director (1979-2003) of the Hartford Food System, a nonprofit in Hartford, Connecticut, that works on food and hunger issues; author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty and Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture
Our Unsustainable Table: Another Global Food Crisis? In 2008, a combination of natural events and economic conditions drove food prices so high that food riots erupted in many parts of the world. This year, there's concern that the same thing may be happening again. But the ravages of 2008 aren't yet over.
Does the World Face Another Food Crisis? Two years ago, a combination of natural events and economic conditions drove food prices so high that food riots erupted in many parts of the world. While the ravages of 2008 aren't yet over, this year, there's concern that the same thing may be happening again. The UN says: Be Prepared. Drought has led Russia to ban wheat exports; America's corn harvest is down and climate change is helping to drive world prices higher. Meantime, farmers make more by using their land for sugar, cotton, soya and bio-fuels. Is industrialized agriculture at fault? What are the prospects of another global food crisis, and what are the chances of heading it off?
The Growing Problem of Hunger in a Struggling Economy The Great Recession has increased the number of Americans who depend on food stamps and food banks to get enough to eat. What kind of food do they get? Do food stamps carry a stigma and create dependency at the same time? Do private charities allow government to avoid dealing directly with the causes of poverty?
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?