Green Options

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“Khotso, pula, nala.”
“Peace, rain, prosperity.”
When there is peace and rain people live happier because they will not be fighting; they will plough their fields and will have food. - African proverb.

Listening to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni at any forum has never been boring. He can make his audiences jeer and laugh at the same time but not without drama at times. Museveni is both loved and hated by many because of his straight talking. But that is not to say he does so all the time.

One such time was at a recent Commonwealth leaders meeting in London where he happily laughed off the current global food crisis.

What seems good riddance for his small landlocked nation in east Africa has been boggling minds elsewhere and governments from Argentina to Senegal, from Egypt to South Africa, have grappled with riots of sorts over high prices of food. In Haiti, it cost the political life of a prime minister who had to vacate office for failing to soften the hunger pangs of his people.

Half the world is starving and many are becoming hungrier and angrier. Millions more are impoverished daily. Many of these are poor mothers and children in poor nations of Africa and other developing countries.

The New Face of Hunger is not a stark picture of battered and malnourished children in Ethiopia. It is the rise of commodity prices and super inflation now biting all across the globe.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation predicted in October 2007: “If prices continue to rise, it would not be surprising if we began to see food riots.” World food prices have risen 45 percent in the last nine months and there are serious shortages of rice, wheat and maize, according to FAO.

I don’t know if you caught it, but the whole Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama flap over NAFTA exposed a dirty little secret: The North American Free Trade Agreement isn’t about American jobs or cheap Mexican labor—it’s about Canadian oil.

Think as far back as two weeks ago. I know you can do it. Remember, Britney’s dad started taking control of her life… everyone you know bugged the hell out of you by constantly saying: “I drink your milkshake…”

Anyway, back then, Hillary and Obama were campaigning among blue-collar crowds in Ohio when news broke out that someone from the Obama camp called the Canadian government and reassured them that the tough talk on NAFTA was all just an act. Later, it was revealed that Hillary probably made a similar call.

All of which begged the question: Why would they care so much about Canada if this was about NAFTA? Hasn’t Uncle Lou told us time and time again that NAFTA is all about Mexico: its cheap labor, and its non-existent regulations, which entice American factories to relocate south of the border?

Presidential election campaign 2008 is well underway. And already the grade school politics are brought to the election playground.
In recent news, both Democratic front runners, in an attempt to woo voters, called for renegotiations of NAFTA. They also threatened to pull out of the trade agreement if U.S. demands aren’t met. Clearly a case of, “do what I want because our economic and military might can beat up your economic and military might.”

The North American Free Trade Agreement, has been under scrutiny since its inception.

Thankfully we have Republican Candidate John McCain to defend this groundbreaking trade agreement.

NAFTA isn’t perfect. It was the first time a free trade agreement existed among such economically disparate countries. It was definitely a great experiment, and a lot has been learned from the results. There is no denying that there have been significant advances in a globally sustainable market that was enabled by NAFTA.

Kids outgrow toys and clothes faster than the weeds in my garden (well, maybe not that fast). Beyond hosting your own kiddie swap, there are several sites now that make exchanging kids’ gear easier for families, who may not have local connections for such trades. Reusing and reducing the amount of your children’s paraphernalia will not only lessen your carbon footprint, but it will de-clutter your home!

• Zwaggle: Kristen Chase of Cool Mom Picks calls Zwaggle, “basically a more organized Freecycle“. Organization is good, especially since Zwaggle focuses on socially responsible parents. It is a simple concept: “You receive Zwaggle points (or Zoints) by giving your gently used things to other families, then use those Zoints to obtain “new” things for your family.” You can obtain Zoints just by signing up through Parent Bloggers Network.

Heave ho and the horn blows. It’s departure time for another container ship. Port of embarkation: Savannah, Georgia. Destination: Adana, Turkey. About 25 of the containers on this ship are filled with Georgian cotton. Despite the enduring cotton crisis in America, half a million tons of the fiber pass through the port of Savannah each year, representing some 500 million dollars in exports that are shipped to countries around the world, including China, Pakistan

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Starbucks announced yesterday that it has reached a licensing agreement with the Ethiopian government regarding the marketing use of Ethiopia's well-known coffee producing regions, most notably Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar.

This is the resolution to a row that Starbucks began last year when the Ethiopian government filed applications to trademark its most famous coffee names. Securing the rights to these names would enable Ethiopia to capture more value from trade, by controlling

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U.S. trade policy can have huge impacts on the environment and on the general sustainability of the global and local economies. This congressional session has seen a lot of behind-the-scenes debate about trade policy. In early May some Democratic leaders including Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Finance Committee Chariman Max Baucus announced they had reached a tentative deal in secret negotiations

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