"US scientists say fossil
fuel alternatives lacking" - "U.S. scientists
called for a major investment into research and development of alternative
energy sources, saying no current technology provides an adequate replacement
for the the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming." (02/11)
OHVEC - Looking
at the connections between government and the coal industry. (02/11)
Welfare
"From Middle Class to
the Shelter Door" - "Some economists say that
there may be hundreds of thousands of people whose comfortable lives have
unraveled because of the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks."
"Why No Outrage Over How We
Treat Our Own Citizens?" - "Hussein builds weapons
of mass destruction and threatens his neighbors while neglecting the needs
of his own people; Hussein gets richer, while his own people get poorer. Odd,
though, how that same sense of righteous indignation can hardly be found when
it comes to this nation's shortcomings." (02/11)
"Doha Trade Deal Unravelling"
- While "rich countries have been arguing among themselves
about who is to blame for the failure to make progress on agricultural reform,"
domestic agricultural continue. "These subsidies amount to $300bn (£189bn)
per year, according to the OECD, more than six times the total amount of foreign
aid that rich countries give to the poor." (02/11)
Coffee
War Inflates Cocoa Prices but
Leaves Africans Poor" - "As civil war raged in
Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer, speculative traders here
and in New York sent prices this month to 17-year highs. Investors cashed
in, as did middlemen along the global food chain. But in Africa, war and economics
are imposing a harsher tariff." (02/11)
October 2002
(last updated
May 13, 2004
)
Monthly Highlight
Self-Sufficiency Through
Livable Wages by Elizabeth Harder. ' “Self-sufficiency
is the bottom line,” according to Jeanette Ladd, director of Letcher
County Kentucky’s Children and Family Services office." Echoing
the rationale behind welfare “reform” in 1996, Ms. Ladd told [MCC]
that people are better off when they can take pride in their work and support
their families with their own earnings.'
- October 30 to Nov 3, the MCC U.S. Board met in Hindman, KY.
Look for an update next month.
Flooding
Oct 2002 - MCC
Appalachia continues serving on EK-CORE board in Floyd county, KY., as the
board considers plans to continue work in Pike County. (02/10)
Buffalo Creek: An Act of Man
- "In 1975 Appalshop produced a 40 minute film The Buffalo
Creek Flood: An Act of Man which chronicled this 1972 disaster, and an update
in 1984. On the 30th anniversary of this tragedy, we present clips from these
films as well as background information, study questions and resources."
(02/10)
"Wallins Spirit"
- Flooding pictures and reflections by students of Wallins
Elementary School. Click on "Flood Project" link, or stay awhile
to enjoy the scenery and music. (02/10)
Mining
"Top
miners pledge steps to sustainable development" - "A
high-profile mining conference on sustainable development ended...with pledges
that the industry is in the process of mending its social and environmental
ways, but with no concrete action plan on how the trick is to be performed."
"Activists
say US task force favors mining industry" - "A
coalition of nearly 50 environmental interest groups said yesterday a Department
of Interior task force may be giving mining, oil and gas companies an edge
in discussions over toxic chemical cleanup costs."
"Miner
statue Dragline Plaque Inappropriate" - "A statehouse
statue that is supposed to honor coal miners instead appears to honor the
mechanization that cost 110,000 miners their jobs."
"Is
there a a coal slurry impoundment near you?" - "OVEC
intern Bobby Nutter produced a series of mountaintop removal maps for OVEC.
If every picture tells a story, then these maps, first of their kind produced
by a WV environmental group, are an encyclopedia!" MCC notes: one of
the largest slurry ponds in WV stores roughly equal to 1,000 gals of waste
for every adult and child in the state. These areas, starting with Mingo County,
are beside Pike and Floyd Counties, eastern KY, where MCC Appalachia has been
involved in flood relief work. MDS has worked in West Virginia. Eastern KY
mining conditions are similar.
"OHVEC
calls for action on National Energy Policy" - Sept
30, 02. "As you know, the House and Senate passed different versions
of a national energy bill, both of them woefully short sighted in terms of
leading the country away from our deadly dependence on fossil fuels. House
and Senate conferees are now attempting to hammer out the differences between
the two bills." (02/10)
"Now:
The Cost of Coal" - PBS, Aug 02, 02. "Coal is
our largest supply of fossil fuel and it feeds the economy. But coal exacts
a filthy price for the energy we get from it. Burning coal to generate electricity
produces fine particles that are a big public-health problem. And just getting
the coal in the first place can be costly, too - a threat not only to workers
below the ground but to the environment above it. Now's Brenda Breslauer has
[the] first report." (02/10)
Welfare
How Poor
Is Poor? - "The government's method of determining
who's poor is so outdated that census experts say the poverty picture is much
worse than we think."
"From
Welfare to Work, and Then, to What?" - "The fate
of the 740,000 people — mostly women — who left welfare rolls as
a result of public policy is a subject of fierce debate." (02/10)
"Recession
Cut Incomes and Swelled Poverty Rolls" - "The
number of poor people in the United States rose last year to 32.9 million,
an increase of 1.3 million that pushed up the proportion of Americans living
in poverty for the first time in eight years, to 11.7 percent, the Census
Bureau reported today." (02/10)
"In
Trenches of a War on Unyielding Poverty" - "32.9
million Americans — 11.7 million of them under 18 — live in poverty,
while untold others teeter on its edge. The gap between rich and poor is growing.
The Census Bureau's report showed that the weakening economy had begun to
affect large segments of the population, whatever their race, region or class."
(02/10)
Aid
"Is
NAFTA Counterproductive?" - Is 'free trade' an alternative
to aid programs? Here's a review assessing NAFTA’s progress. (02/10)
"A Poverty
Reporter Wins A Genius Award" - "Issues of
structural poverty and wealth inequity are rarely found on the front page
(or any other) of newspapers. Partly that's because there isn't much breaking
news in covering poverty. But a more likely factor is that upper middle-class
readers don't want to read stories about the poor, and upper middle-class
journalists don't want to report them." (02/10)
Other
U.S. Urged
to Wake Up to 'Coffee with a Conscience' - "Americans
are being urged to wake up to "coffee with a conscience" as labor
rights activists push java that addresses the bitter realities of the world
coffee trade.
"Peru
jungle farmers raise cups to fair trade coffee" - "A
growing group of third-world farmers across the world are hoping that consumers
will be willing to pay a little extra for a coffee - or a banana, or a bag
of rice - which carries that fair trade guarantee. What do the farmers get?
Quite simply, they get a price they say they can survive on." (02/10)
Previous News
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MCC Appalachia Office
P.O. Box 460, 59A Main St. Whiteburg, KY 41858
Tel: 606.633.5065; e-mail: appalach@mcc.org
