This post in World Bank’s “Private Sector Development Blog” says that the percentage of people in poverty (from 1990-2004) has dropped from 29% of the world’s population to 18%. This sounds like good news–but we should remember to keep in mind that there are many ways of measuring poverty. These poverty maps referenced in the blog post are worth a look, too.

Senator Barack Obama spoke at a community event in Las Vegas last month. This video highlights what he had to say about issues pertaining to global poverty.

According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the Democratic Candidates all support a plan that would bring greenhouse gas emissions down 80% from 1990s levels by 2050—and they all take a big risk. Some concerns are higher energy costs in the short term and the fact that Americans would face significant lifestyle changes, which could be unpopular with voters.

Here are some of the things the article quoted the candidates as saying:

Edwards explained to democratic primary voters, “It won’t be easy, but it is time for a president who asks Americans to be patriotic about something other than war.”

In an interview, Edwards also recognized the challenges of supporting potentially unpopular climate plans. He said, “I’d be the first to tell you: This is not necessarily the greatest political calculation….” Edwards added, “No matter what the politics are, there’s such a moral responsibility to address this issue. We’ve got to do it.”

In a speech yesterday in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) spoke of her plans that would reduce foreign oil imports by two-thirds in comparison to current projections.

She said, “This is the biggest challenge we’ve faced in a generation — a challenge to our economy, our security, our health and our planet. It’s time for America to meet it. . . I believe America is ready to take action, ready to break the bonds of the old energy economy and ready to prove that the climate crisis is also one of the greatest economic opportunities in the history of our country. . . . It will be a new beginning for the 21st century.”

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said in a Des Moines speech last month that rising energy costs will be mediated by new technology. He also admitted, “But at least on the front end, there’s going to be some costs, and we can’t pretend like there’s a free lunch.”

The Republican candidates are more dubious on the topic of climate change.

Former Mayer Giuliani warned, “if we try to deal with it at too hysterical a pace, we could create problems.”

So far, the only Republican candidate to be seriously addressing global warming concerns is Senator John McCain (Ariz.), who supports a 60 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2050.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) holds that carefully handling the climate change issue is important for either party. He said in an interview that the Democrats could turn off voters with a “litigation and regulation” stance. He continued, “Then, Republican candidates are on the opposite extreme,” he added. “A candidate who’s anti-environment and denies global warming gets killed in the suburbs.”

All policy-makers need to do what’s best for global development, including supporting critical environmental issues.

Read the full article for more information on this topic.

Our world is more interconnected than ever—we need to take steps to make sure it stays that way. A new report underscores that how we treat our environment impacts national security.

Relations between countries will be severely strained due to scarcity of resources and people fleeing droughts and rising sea-levels. Nations may turn inwards and globalisation could be threatened.

Poor countries are the hardest hit in terms of environmental consequences. At a forum to release “The Age of Consequences” report, Leon Fuerth, national security adviser to former Vice President Al Gore said that the more fortunate countries could “go through a 30-year process of kicking people away from the lifeboat.” He continued, saying that this would be “extremely debilitating in moral terms” and “it also suggests the kinds of hatreds that build up between different groups will be accentuated as these groups attempt to move to more clement locations on the planet.”

John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, president of the Center for American Progress think tank, and contributor to the report, spoke about an inevitable scenario “in which people and nations are threatened by massive food and water shortages, devastating natural disasters and deadly disease outbreaks.”

As early as this week in the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, a bill is up for debate regarding limiting carbon emissions. Let’s hope that we can take some steps to shape our policy in order to minimize our harmful impacts on the environment.

We want to continue to support the flow of good will and resources between nations. Each of us can take steps to reduce our own carbon footprint. We can also tell our candidates how important it is to us to contribute to the stability of our planet and the people on it.

Read the article for more information.

You can also download portions of the report (or the whole thing if you have a lot of time on your hands!) to learn more.