Archive for August 2015
NASA Sheds New Light on India’s Water Crisis
A recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) report says that the groundwater throughout India has been disappearing, owing to the rate that water is being pumped out and consumed, which is faster than aquifers can be replenished through rainwater. The report also says that Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, all farming states in the northern…
Read MoreA Gendered Perspective: Reflections on the MDG and the potential of the SDG
By: Katie Douglas, WEA Intern A woman closes the door behind her and sets off into the early light of dawn. It’s the pre-monsoon season in India, and the air is thick with heat as she walks to her small kitchen garden. What began as a grant of seeds, has transformed into fertile beds of…
Read MoreEverything Connnected to the Land is Connected to our Bodies
The links between land and body have never been more apparent than in recent years, with extractive industries drilling, mining and fracking lands on or near traditional Indigenous territories, providing economic benefits to transnational corporations and national economies at a cost impacted communities are still grappling to understand. A cost most deeply felt by Indigenous…
Read MoreTeaching Girls to Farm in West Bengal
In West Bengal, India, 1 in 5 girls is married by age 15. However, a nonprofit based in Seattle, Landesa, is focused on securing land rights for impoverished families all over the world and has found a key to ensuring girls are able to help bring their families out of poverty and learn valuable skills through gardening.…
Read MoreSowing Seeds, Supporting Women Farmers in India
By: Katie Douglas, WEA Intern “Seeds have no caste, creed, religion, or gender. They are universal and secular. We nurture this sentiment strongly in our work with various communities,” says Manorama Joshi, a farmer in the Malnad region of Karnataka, India. A mother and wife, Manorama has also gone on to become the spirit of…
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