On Social and Economic Development

War is a Racket! by The Department of Homeland Inspiration – featuring the Art Ranger and Michael Sheridan

War is a Racket! by The Department of Homeland Inspiration – featuring the Art Ranger and Michael Sheridan

Mar 23, 2023

Art Ranger, along with her colleague Michael Sheridan, review “War is a Racket” by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler. This highly decorated war hero becomes dogged activist and tours the country giving speeches about how he was in effect, a bully for the corporations, then quit.  Art Ranger and Sheridan share excerpts of the text as well as a piece of their minds. Sonic textures provided by our back up band, The Dirty Pens.

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ON DEVELOPMENT | Soaring humanitarian costs in 2023, The New Humanitarian

ON DEVELOPMENT | Soaring humanitarian costs in 2023, The New Humanitarian

Dec 2, 2022

More hunger, more displacement, more people in crisis, and a soaring price tag: Humanitarian needs and costs will once again shatter records in 2023, but available funding – and the system itself – isn’t keeping pace.

Source: Soaring humanitarian costs in 2023: Key takeaways, The New Humanitarian, by Irwin Loy and Jessica Alexander, December 1, 2022

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ON DEVELOPMENT | Protecting 30% of Earth’s surface for nature means thinking about connections near and far, The Conversation

ON DEVELOPMENT | Protecting 30% of Earth’s surface for nature means thinking about connections near and far, The Conversation

Dec 2, 2022

Governments, scientists and conservation groups are working to protect 30% of Earth’s land and water for nature by 2030. Scientists say that protecting 30% of Earth’s surface will help species and ecosystems recover from the stresses that are depleting them. It also will conserve valuable services that nature provides to humans, such as buffering coasts from storms and filtering drinking water. Protecting forests and grasslands can help slow climate change by promoting carbon storage in soil and plants.

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ON AFGHANISTAN, ON DEVELOPMENT | Afghanistan: ‘38 million people are suffering because a few hundred are in power’

ON AFGHANISTAN, ON DEVELOPMENT | Afghanistan: ‘38 million people are suffering because a few hundred are in power’

Aug 12, 2022

A year after the Taliban took power, humanitarian needs are rising even as foreign aid has dried up.

During the former Islamic Republic, foreign aid grants funded 75 percent of public spending. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the United States has provided $775 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, but the UN says at least $4.4 billion is needed to address the emergency needs of more than 24 million Afghans – 60 percent of the population.

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