The food crisis will lead to an additional 16 million malnourished children in developing nations by 2020. Photo: Christopher Schuch for Mercy Corps

While car companies and banks are getting a bailout to address their dire financial situations, poor people struggling to feed themselves need one, too.

That's the message delivered by Joachim Von Braun, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, in an interview in this week's Scientific American:

Von Braun says despite a drop in market food prices, the food crisis is still severe and more aid to invest in agricultural reforms is needed. For example, if the amount of money that goes into agriculture research in development was doubled in the poorest parts of the world — sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia — almost 282 million people would come out of poverty in the next 10 years. Providing high-yielding crops and fertilizers to small farm sectors and investing in child nutrition will increase food production and a country’s productivity. Without such investments, an additional 16 million children will be left malnourished by 2020.

Read the full interview here.

When I talk to friends here in Portland, in other parts of Oregon and throughout the Northwest, I'm hearing stories unlike any I've heard for a long time. People are worried about the economy, and many are uncertain about what the future holds for their families. They're also wondering, in light of reduced household budgets, how to infuse the holidays with the warmth and joy we all crave.

The theme in the air this season is simplicity, a return to old-fashioned values of hearth and home. We're urged to purchase fewer things. To make gifts ourselves. To shift our focus from gadgets to celebrations: a lively game or song, a roaring fire, a gathering with friends and family to savor a home-cooked meal. These are the timeless experiences that ground us in what's real: our human bonds and the essential goodness of being together.

To these excellent suggestions I will add one more: Let's all make a point of helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Few will dispute the glow that brightens our hearts when we give to others. Seeing the pleasure on the face of a child opening a present is one way to savor the joy of giving. There are many others.

Here in Oregon and around the world, each of us has the power to make a profound positive difference in the life of someone who is up against hardship even more severe than our own. When everyone chips in, our collective generosity moves mountains.

It's paradoxical but true that in challenging times, such as Oregonians are facing now, we become even more mindful of the many blessings we enjoy. If we have health, enough food and education for our children, we are fortunate indeed.

As our many local nonprofits — some 26,000 are based in Oregon, and most of them are frugal, effective and worthy of our investment — face the extra challenge of raising funds to keep working through down budget cycles, consider making a contribution of any size. I promise you that the act of giving will warm and brighten your holiday season. May it bring you and yours comfort and cheer.

For centuries coastal communities have struggled with a sad, ironic dilemma: they are surrounded by water they can’t drink. The salt content of the ocean makes the water undrinkable, but a new invention called the Watercone could change that. When 1.8 million children die every year because they don't have access to clean water, this innovation has the potential to change lives.

Watch the video below to see how it works.

The Watercone will go into production and world wide distribution in summer of 2009. It is easy to use and will cost less than 26 dollars, their official website predicts that “Presuming a daily usage of the Watercone and a daily average yield of 1 liter, the Watercone has paid for itself in about 2 months and will work for free the next 5 years .... [V]endors could invest in a dozen Watercones and sell 15 liters of water a day and have their investment returned in no more than half a year.”

Although the Watercone may not be the global answer to clean water access, it is a small part of a larger solution. Other inventions such as Playpumps, Life Straw, and the water purifier dubbed the Slingshot (featured on the Colbert Report) are other products improving access to clean water around the world.