Nine Ways Our World Changed During the '00s

Sarah van Gelder, 12.30.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine, www.yesmagazine.org

What was the decade of the '00s about? The following nine trends are a snapshot of some of the driving forces we're dealing with now at the turn of the decade.

The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same

Abe Gurko, 12.30.2009

As citizens, in case you're the Jasper Schuringa on your next flight, or as politicians, who need to cut the lip service and demand results.

The Entire Decade in Less Than 3 Minutes (WATCH)

Lee Camp, 12.30.2009

satirista, LeeCamp.net

Hope in a Time of Uncertainty

Jim Lichtman, 12.28.2009

In 1940 journalist Edward R. Murrow stood in a church in England while the country endured German bombers night after night. Inside the church was a c...

Dry Spells, Good Eats Put Everglades Birds In the Mating Mood

Joseph B. Treaster, 12.28.2009

Editor, 1H2O.org, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami

MIAMI--Drought, that killer of crops, destroyer of rivers and lakes, may turn out to have its good points - particularly in the Florida Everglades. ...

Slideshow: Somaliland's Nomadic Lifestyle at Risk

Louis Belanger, 12.18.2009

Oxfam International Spokesman in New York

I went to Somaliland, the north western part of Somalia, back in November this year. Going across this arrid region, I witnessed the droughts that are...

The Malibu Mud Shuffle and Why It Is Time to Move

Charles Feldman, 12.16.2009

Journalist and media consultant

Fires and mudslides are only a problem in LA and surrounding areas because, over the years, reckless and greedy developers pushed to build on land that should not have been built upon.

Copenhagen -- You Can't Talk Climate Without Talking Water

John DeCock, 12.15.2009

President, Clean Water Action

The effects of climate change are all about water. By failing to tie these effects together by this single, cogent thread, delegates to Copenhagen are failing those they represent.

Law & Disorder: NOPD Shootings Raise Questions

ProPublica, 12.14.2009

America's largest investigative newsroom

By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica, Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi, New Orleans Times-Picayune The following report was taken from Case Two of the Frontl...

Recent Ruling Shows True Tragedy of Katrina was Federal Government's Creation of the Disaster Itself

Sandy Rosenthal, 12.14.2009

Founder, Levees.org

The majority of Americans live in counties protected by levees, and the most important ones are built by the US Army Corps of Engineers, whose failure in Louisiana was presumably not an isolated event.

Are Crippling Droughts the Next Great Threat to Iraq?

Martin Chulov, 12.14.2009

The flow of the Euphrates that reaches Iraq is down, according to scientific estimates, by 50% to 70% and falling further by the week. The water shortage here has not been worse for at least the last two centuries.

The Consequences of Climategate

Janet Ritz, 12.11.2009

Publisher, editor, the-environmentalist.org

At what point, when we're dealing with wars over resources and the growing chasm between rich and poor leading to political upheaval, will these skeptics step back and say: oops?

Funding New Orleans Health Centers Must be a National Priority

Rep. Edolphus Towns, 12.04.2009

It has been more than four years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans region. As we all know, the health care infrastructure was partic...

Sudan Is Still the Issue

Khadija Sharife, 12.08.2009

Visiting scholar, Center for Civil Society

After all is said and done, chucking a sitting head of state for war crimes into The Hague is akin to regime change. If we're going down that route, we might as well start with Switzerland.

What Will President Obama Do?

Pierce O'Donnell, 11.30.2009

Trial Lawyer, PierceODonnell.com

Obama must soon make a crucial decision that will test his oft-repeated commitment that his administration "will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast."

Why Twitter is the Most Popular Word of 2009

Jose Antonio Vargas, 11.30.2009

Technology and Innovations editor, Huffington Post

Of course Twitter is the most popular English word of 2009. In a world made smaller by the Internet and new technologies, Twitter forces us to become each other's witnesses, one tweet at a time.

Decades Are Only "From Hell" If We Make Them

Will Bunch, 11.30.2009

Author, "Tear Down This Myth"

In the 2010s, I don't think we can afford to sit around watching CNBC and waiting for the Decade Gods to automatically turn everything green as some sort of karmic balance for the awfulness of the 2000s.

United Nations Food Leader On Defeating Hunger

Joseph B. Treaster, 11.29.2009

Editor, 1H2O.org, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami

This year the number of poor people around the world struggling to get enough food for survival for themselves and their families has risen to a little more than a billion -- the highest level in 30 years.

Why Obama Needs to Weigh In With the Corps of Engineers

Harry Shearer, 11.24.2009

Actor, author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, multi-media artist

Republicans defended Bush and blamed state and local officials when the Army Corps of Engineers was found culpable for the flooding of New Orleans. Now Democrats are doing the same thing.

A Tree Breathes Rain, An Axe Brings It Down; Floods Sweep The Land

Joseph B. Treaster, 11.16.2009

Editor, 1H2O.org, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami

MIAMI--This is the story of a tree and what it means to the water supply and to the global environment. It is an ancient story but it is also a story ...

NBC's Brian Williams: Changing the World for the Better

Jim Luce, 11.17.2009

Thought Leaders and Global Citizens

Several weeks ago Brian Williams profiled the children of the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO) and its founder Andeisha Farid in ...