In the latest issue of Vanity Fair, economist Joseph Stiglitz makes a simple point that historians everywhere will cheer: In order to craft the future economy, we need to really understand just what went wrong with the current one. His review of the five economic decisions that have gotten the U.S. to its present state is a must-read for anyone affected by the current recession (read everyone).

What I found interesting? Stiglitz doesn't blame what many on the right consider the usual suspects. He doesn't blame former-President Clinton's Community Reinvestment Act which ensured that banks made home mortgage loans to low income communities, and he doesn't hold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac responsible for the credit melt-down, as they were "late to the subprime game."

Instead he concludes, "The truth is most of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal."

If Stiglitz is right, the current economic data indicates that the consequences of our long-held belief to the contrary will be quite painful.

Photo Credit: Gaeten Lee (flickr)

We want to hear from you. Yes, you.

Central to Global Envision's mission of exploring the confluence of global markets and poverty alleviation is to inspire dialogue.

That's why we've decided to launch a weekly comment contest with a cash prize of $25.*

So how does it work? Simply comment on our blog posts, and when you hit "Save," the box next to it to enter your comment into the weekly contest. You'll need to enter your real name and a valid email address so that we can contact you if you win. There's no limit to how often you can comment, so comment on one blog post or 20, one week or every week.

How will comments be judged? Well, each week we'll simply pick the comment we like best. Sound vague? You betcha. We'll be looking for a variety of things in comments including (but not nearly limited to): thoughtfulness, wit, insight and understanding of the topic. Feel free to challenge us, critique, praise or just plain discuss.

Comment away — we can't wait to hear from you.

* Lest anyone think $25 is not a lot, consider these figures from our affiliate Mercy Corps: $25 delivers clean, safe drinking water to 50 people in one of eastern Congo's sprawling displacement camps. $25 provides seeds to farmers in cyclone-devastated areas of Myanmar to plant five acres of rice. $25 gives traumatized children in Darfur 12 weeks of activities and psychological care to help them heal.

Most of us haul our trash out to the curb or to a dumpster once a week or so. Not Dave Chameides. In an experiment to see how much he can reduce his personal waste, he's keeping all his trash in his basement for a year.

The average U.S. resident discards 1,600 pounds of trash a year. But by choosing to reuse containers, pass along food scraps to the family dog and keep composting worms, Chameides has about 60 pounds of trash in his basement. (Which is probably less trash than most people who aren't even trying to use their basement as a dumpster.)

Chameides is chronicling his experience on his blog, 365 days of Trash, which also features links and tips on what you can do to reduce your waste.

Photo: reway 2007 (flickr)

What do bees have to do with poverty alleviation? A nonprofit founded by a beekeeping expert has found that the two can go hand-in-hand.

Bees Without Borders exists to educate and train impoverished individuals and communities how to keep bees. Volunteers travel to places such as Cuba and the Ukraine to show beekeepers how to increase their honey production and how to create markets for beeswax products such as soaps and candles.

Why try to alleviate poverty using bees? For starters, honey is a more stable product than most cash crops because it does not spoil. Also, only a couple of hours a week are needed to maintain a hive so beekeeping requires little time. A farmer can still keep their primary job while maintaining a hive for supplemental income.

Bees Without Borders is also trying to keep beekeeping alive. For many small beekeepers, it just isn't economically feasable to tend to hives anymore. Colony Collapse Disorder has played a major role, along with natural disaster and war. In Iraq, for example, the New York Times reports that because of oil-field fires, smoke and the repercussions of war, the number of tended hives has plummeted from 500,000 to 20,000 since the beginning of the Gulf War.

Considering the state of the industry, Bees Without Borders may offer the best hope for bees and beekeepers in many of the world's poorest countries.

The current global recession will undo a 20-year trend of fewer and fewer people living in abject poverty, according to the World Bank's Year in Review 2008 report. The reversal is due to high food costs and sluggish growth, which has caused the poverty rate to increase by about 1.5 percent this year in urban parts of East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

Forecasts indicate that strong growth may return to some developing countries by 2010, but not quickly enough for the millions currently hungry and unemployed.

Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai during the recent terrorist attacks Photo: Stuti Sakhalkar (flickr)

India and Pakistan have a violent history since partition in 1947. Relations remained fragile even prior to last month's attacks in Mumbai. But they were getting better, at least on the economic front.

A year ago freight trains started to carry goods across their borders for the first time since partition. Bilateral trade had grown to $2 billion per year. And leaders had scheduled expanded trade talks in early 2009.

Now the question is whether the Mumbai bombings — thought to be the work of Pakistani militants — will rachet up tensions high enough to overturn gains made in economic relations.

Jairam Ramesh, India’s Junior Minister for Commerce, told the The New York Times: “Four years of sincere and bold initiatives from both sides have been put on pause mode. The momentum is badly affected."

Paul Farmer is a tireless campaigner against the world's "stupid deaths." His hands-in-the-dirt work on behalf of diseases that afflict the poorest of the poor in places like Haiti and Rwanda was chronicled in the 2003 NYT bestseller, Mountains Beyond Mountains. He's also eloquent voice for health care as a human right.

Paul Farmer took a break from his humanitarian work in Rwanda to contribute this convincing essay on NPR's Weekend Edition last Saturday.

A gift of five dollars will provide seeds to a farmer in cyclone-devastated areas of Myanmar to plant an acre of rice. Photo: Jeremy Barnicle/Mercy Corps

We're all thinking harder about what we can afford these days. Even the daily routines that we used to take for granted, like grabbing coffee on the way to work, aren't as easy as they used to be. As our pockets are lighter, the value of small change feels greater than ever.

But in some of the places where Mercy Corps works, what we might consider small change is a fortune to families in need.

A sum like $5, which we might spend on a quick lunch, is as much as some families earn in a whole week. Imagine trying to house, clothe, educate and feed a family on that. These are daily struggles for millions of families living in places most of us never hear about.

What we might drop on lunch — or a week's worth of coffee, or a movie — could instantly change lives.

• $5 will provide seeds to a farmer in cyclone-devastated areas of Myanmar to plant an acre of rice
• $10 will grant six months of agricultural training to someone trying to rebuild their farm in war-torn northern Uganda
• $15 will deliver clean, safe drinking water to 30 people in one of eastern Congo's sprawling displacement camps
• $25 will provide traumatized children in Darfur with 12 weeks of activities and psychological care to help them heal

Imagine: No more thirst. Better health. The pride in growing one's own food. These are realities you can make happen today.

And your gift, combined with the resources of our worldwide partners, leverages even more change: every dollar you donate helps us secure more than $11 in food and other vital supplies.

How much is change worth to you? Even the smallest amount helps. Donate to Mercy Corps today.

In this Texas community 60 percent of people live under the poverty line. The current recession may push more children into poverty. Photo: Jakob Vølver (flickr)

The current recession could land another three million children in poverty — with disastrous long-term consequences, according to a new report by the children's advocacy organization First Focus.

Children raised in poverty tend to have lower-than-average lifetime earnings and are much more likely than their unimpoverished peers to remain poor. First Focus cites research that says on average, children who spend more than half their life in poverty end up making 39 percent less than the median income.

Says Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus:

"If we do not act now, the current economic climate will lead to millions more children living in poverty, which will cause a severe economic loss for our nation's future. When children enter poverty at a young age, their ability to achieve the American dream is diminished. They are 13 times more likely to remain in poverty for several years after the recession ends, leading to adverse effects on lifetime earnings as well health outcomes."

The ultimate cost of those additional impoverished children to the U.S. economy? More than $1.7 trillion, according to the group.

As the number of unemployed continues to rise, state funding to pay this growing population is shrinking — fast, the New York Times reports.

Here’s how funding for unemployment benefits work: States collect unemployment taxes from employers. The tax rate varies depending on the state, and is paid per employee. These funds are deposited into a pool that's used to pay out unemployment benefits.

With more people out of work, there is less money being contributed to this pool — and for some states, this is causing a big problem. Michigan and Indiana have already plowed through their unemployment funds and are now having to borrow money from the federal government in order to cover unemployment benefits. Another 30 states are at risk of having to do the same, according to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

Federal borrowing will only delay the inevitable — and possibly make it even more painful. Loans not paid back within the federal government's fiscal year, according to the Times piece, are subject to an interest rate of 4.7 percent.

Photo: hdod (flickr)

Chicken giant Tyson Foods is helping Rwandan women raise their own chickens as part of the ambitious UN-sponsored Millennium Project to combat world hunger, disease and poverty.

Rwanda is a place that needs help: Nearly half of children there suffer from chronic malnutrition, and two-thirds of its population lives below the poverty line, according to Food for the Hungry.

But you might ask what Tyson, an Arkansas-based company, is doing in the small African nation. Especially since it insists in a press release announcing the project that it has no plans for commercial chicken production in the country.

Tyson's philanthropic efforts, not surprisingly, focus on hunger relief — efforts accomplished mostly by giving away their own products. But on this project they've teamed up with the Millennium Project, led by prominent development economist Jeffrey Sachs.

Sachs visited Tyson headquarters earlier this week, where he told employees that hunger breeds instability — and how ending hunger is in our national-security interest.

"You cannot stabilize a hungry place," he said, "Troops can never do it. We need you, we need the ability to grow food, we need modern technology to be able to solve these problems."

Watch a few minutes of Sachs' speech here.

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.