-
More Thoughts on Ethanol
Silvio Donizetti Palvequeres, president of the farm workers? union in Ribeir?o Preto, told the New York Times in April that Brazil?s ethanol boom has only increased the burden placed on sugarcane farmhands.? ?You used to have to cut 4 tons a day, but now they want 8 or 10, and if you...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
The Latest on the $100 Laptop
Since it was announced in April of last year, MIT’s One Laptop per Child initiative has received a great deal of media attention, as well as some healthy skepticism. Questions were raised about the $100 laptop on NextBillion here and here. I hadn’t heard much recently about the project...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Building Opportunity for the Majority: Day Two
The second day of ?Building Opportunity for the Majority? had an inauspicious beginning: I was told no coffee would be allowed into the auditorium, a change from the previous day?s policy and a potential threat to my productivity. The threat was averted by something much more powerful...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Sugarcoating Petroleum’s Future
With skyrocketing gas prices and dwindling supplies of oil, many energy experts have turned their attention to Brazil and its thirty year initiative to develop alternative sources of energy. Now former President Bill Clinton has joined the rank of those who see Brazil as a pioneer in this...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Mass Transit That Works
In grassroots politics, Porto Alegre is best known for participatory budgeting, a practice in which councils of city residents, and not political fat cats, decide how to allocate municipal funds. The success of this practice in rooting out corruption was a watershed event in local politics...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Building Opportunity for the Majority: Quotes (Day One)
"I compare vaccines to water. I compare vaccines to education.” -Jean R. Stephenne, President, Biologicals, GlaxoSmithKline, Belgium “When you request 100-200 million units, you’re able to influence corporate strategy.” -Professor Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, One...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Building Opportunity for the Majority: Day One
I attended the Inter-American Development Bank?s ?Building Opportunity for the Majority? conference today ? a 2-day event serving as a launching pad for newly-elected Bank president Luis Alberto Moreno?s personal agenda. If Day One of the conference was any indication, Bank-watchers...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Diabetes and Development
Morbidly obese boys and girls who slurp down 20oz sodas after consuming their prepackaged, plastized lunches are the poster children, so to speak, of the diabetes epidemic that is ravaging the United States. But other countries, especially those in the developing world, are no longer immune to...
- Categories
- Uncategorized
