By Jason Mark, AlterNet. Posted August 31, 2006.

For farmers [...], today's challenges may be tomorrow's crises. The problems of coping with high oil prices reveal how utterly dependent our food production system is on nonrenewable fuels. As long as oil is plentiful, that dependence isn't a concern. But in some circles fears are growing that if global petroleum production begins a steady decline, our entire food system will be strained,

Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer.

Trivandrum, India (August 9, 2006): The state government of Kerala in south India has banned the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state. The companies will be asked to close their operations entirely.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan stated today that the ban was being imposed because of the health hazards posed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Canada has a safety net for its workers, it's the healthcare system. So when you work yourself to near death, or you have an arm ripped off on the jobsite, there is a place that will fix you up. But with all the technology and gadgets and pills, the system still lacks a common sense approach to wellness. It's as though the technology advanced while the mentality behind the practice stayed in the 1950's.

Increase in oil prices translates into higher prices of all commodities. As Hindustan Times reported oil price hike turns cereal killer (Hindustan Times, Wednesday, June 14, 2006, page 2 table). Yet the increase in oil prices in world markets is inevitable because the resource is dwindling and supplies have peaked, peak oil means the end of cheap oil, and an end to economies organized around the increasing availability of cheap oil.

"We want to be clear that when (the Ontario government) talk(s) about cheating, they’re talking about single moms who were able to feed their children, or someone who was living on the street who could finally afford to get an apartment and keep it. These are the people who they were calling 'cheaters.'"

--OCAP Organizer Rachel Huot

Today, April 10th, marks the eighth day of Sara Anderson's hunger strike. She refuses to eat food or take her daily medication in protest against Ontario social assistance low rates and inaccessibility.

Buenos Aires, Mar 21 (Prensa Latina) The Argentine Nestor Kirchner
administration rescinded the contract of Aguas Argentinas Tuesday, the multinational Swiss-controlled group that has controlled national water since the 90s.

In announcing the resolution, Federal Planning Minister Julio de Vido emphasized to press the decision was made to defend the neediest sectors from abuses committed by the firm.

INUIT ASK EUROPEANS TO SUPPORT ITS SEAL HUNT AND WAY OF LIFE
Monday, March 6, 2006

Nuuk, Greenland - Inuit in Greenland are alarmed at reports in European capitals that some governments are contemplating legislation restricting sealskin imports.

Independent - Mar 1, 2006 | By Martin Hickman

Falling sales have forced McDonald's to close 25 restaurants, in a sign that the public may be losing its hunger for the company's colourful plastic interiors and fatty burgers.

By Raymond Lotta

I was reading the conservative financial journal The Economist. They were reporting on the acute and widespread hunger in Niger, and a phrase popped off the page: "the market respects demand, not need." What they were saying was that famine is stalking Niger not because there is too little food. No. The problem, and this was freely admitted in the article, is that the poor majority of people cannot afford to buy the grain they need. And that grain is available! In short, market forces are responsible for the critical levels of hunger now affecting 3.6 million people in Niger.