Global Envision | The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation

Photo: Geoff Oliver Bugbee for Mercy Corps

share

Will East African Drought Doom Pastoralist Lifestyle?

A few months ago, I wrote about a team of journalists reporting on water issues and conflict in Kenya and Ethiopia, where a tremendous drought is spreading across the region.

share

Taxing Financial Markets to Aid the Poor

Previous posts have examined how private enterprise can fight poverty through "creative capitalism" and corporate

share

What Taiwan Could Teach Tibet

Taiwan’s mid-March elections show that residents there may be willing to have a closer relationship with China if it benefits them economically.

Photo: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/hob/199546789/">Rob McDougall (flickr)</a>

share

Africa's Energy Shortfall

Access to cheap energy underpins modern societies. Finding enough to fuel industrialized economies and pull developing countries out of poverty without overheating the climate is a central challenge of the 21st century.

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/1525609725/">World Bank Photo Collection (flickr)</a>

share

China's Attempt for "Green Games"

Today China announced several plans to help fulfill its promise to make the Beijing Olympics a "green" event.

Photo: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/dmcl/476761117/">Danny McL (flickr)</a>

share

A Self-Energized City?

A town on Ireland's eastern coast is experimenting with running entirely on its own power.

share

U.S. Economy Not So Great, Even Before This Recession

Our economy is shrinking, inflation is increasing, and it looks like it's time to tighten our belts and settle down for the worst. But were the times we are leaving really so great to begin with?

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philippeleroyer/2397311305/">Philippe Leyroyer (flickr)</a>

share

Chinese Say No to French Goods

After all the protests during the U.S. and European legs of the Olympic Torch Relay, I figured a call to boycott Chinese goods may follow. Instead, it's the Chinese who are rallying behind a boycott.

share

Short-Term Crises, Long-Term Hope

Rising global food prices pose a very real threat to political stability and individual well-being in many developing countries.

share

Hunger's New Face

U.N. and World Bank officials say "the perfect storm" of factors has led to skyrocketing food prices, leading to riots in places in Haiti.

share

A New Kind of Appeal

It's hard not to notice that gas prices seem to rise by the day. Most drivers may cringe a little more every time they fill up, but they aren't rioting in the streets.

share

Politics and Trade: Muslims Boycott Dutch Products

Muslims in Malaysia and elsewhere are boycotting Dutch imports in the wake of an incendiary Internet-posted movie by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders.

share

John Hope Bryant on the Silver Rights Movement

A recent article in The Economist explored the role financial illiteracy played in the subprime crisis and a growing global movement to improve financial education.

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9461407@N05/">(C)n Burgos (flickr)</a>

share

A Fix for Afghanistan's Drug Problem?

Opium is widely recognized as a major obstacle to economic development and postwar reconstruction in Afghanistan. It's estimated that Afghanistan currently produces between 90 and 95 percent of the world's opium.

Women in neighboring Guatemala can vote. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/elcanche/">El Canche</a>

share

The Right to Vote

It's well-known that women's empowerment and economic development go hand-in-hand — which is another reason to support a Mexican woman's fight to allow women in rural Oaxaca to vote.