Most Recent Archive
Climate change in Nepal
Dhiraj Adhikari, Climate advocacy intern, Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions Climate change is affecting communities all around the world, including those in Nepal where Mennonite Central Committee has worked since the 1960s. According to Durga Sunchiuri, program coordinator for MCC in Nepal, the communities he works with have been facing many challenges recently due to the impacts of climate change. Nepal’s geography is mostly mountainous. Families must use the steep terrain available to grow food for their household. Lower income groups tend to live closer to the riverbanks, making them more susceptible to flooding which has worsened with climate change. […]
Congress responds to annexation
This month—July—marks the start of when the Israeli government could move to formally annex parts of the West Bank, with the support of the Trump administration. Annexation would codify Israel’s ever-increasing control over the West Bank and make life even more difficult for Palestinians, who would lose access to land and basic rights. The responses from Members of Congress have varied. Some support the administration’s position, while others are working to ensure U.S. money is not used to implement annexation. Here’s a summary of what is happening. On the House side: In June 116 representatives expressed support for Israeli annexation, […]
Immigrants are essential
Estefania Martinez, international fellow, Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office. Do you ever think about the importance of your big toe? According to Scientific American, the big toe carries about 40% of our weight. Also, because it is the last part of the foot to push off the ground before taking the next step, without it we lose balance, strength and the ability to easily move forward. Similarly, how often do we think about the importance of essential workers in the United States? A pandemic that has affected all of us has caused us to realize the importance of […]
What does climate change have to do with racism?
The killing of George Floyd brought issues of racial justice to the forefront of our national conversation. These conversations are extending beyond policing to the many other ways systemic racism impacts communities of color, including air and water pollution, climate change and health disparities. The burning of fossil fuels contributes to climate change but also has a more immediate effect—pollution. The burden of this pollution falls more heavily on low-income communities and communities of color. Power plants, disproportionately located in Black neighborhoods, lead to higher rates of asthma and premature death. The Trump administration’s recent weakening of regulations governing power […]
Safer communities for all
The tragic list keeps growing: David McAtee, George Floyd, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor and more. All of them are African-Americans who were killed by police officers. The current nationwide protests have brought to the forefront pre-existing tensions between police departments and the communities they patrol, rooted in the long U.S. history of racism. Major cities spend more on their police departments than they do on public health or economic development. The city of Los Angeles’ 2020-21 budget grants the police department $3.14 billion out of a $10.5 billion budget, much more than they invest in economic […]
Rethink, don’t return to normal
“When things go back to normal,” we say on phone calls, and wistfully imagine a return to church pews, book clubs, and outdoor concerts, dinner parties, holiday travel and bear hugs for our friends and families. “When things go back to normal,” we write in emails, and imagine a time when we can give work our full attention, children in school, pets at home and plans that dare to stretch months into the future. So many of us want things to return to normal. But in “these times,” prophetic voices are reminding us that pain and uncertainty are nothing new, […]
A creative response in Nigeria’s northeast
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria’s health infrastructure was inadequate and strained by the crisis of ongoing conflict with Boko Haram, which has forced people from their homes and caused many to lose their livelihoods. In 2014 Jummai Bello’s family of six escaped deadly crossfire between Boko Haram and Nigeria’s military in the town of Gwoza in Borno State. Lacking access to shelter, water and food for days as they fled, they remain unable to return to their home community. Currently, more than 2 million people are displaced in Nigeria’s northeast due to fighting between Boko Haram and the military. […]
Responding to the National Commission on Service
“As conscientious objectors, we believe Jesus commands reverence for each human life since every person is made in the image of God.” –From a letter sent by 13 Anabaptist groups in September 2019 When it was released on March 25, a report from the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service got little attention amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The few headlines that did appear focused on the commission’s recommendation that women should register for Selective Service. If it were to be implemented, the recommendation means that both female and male conscientious objectors to war would need to determine whether […]