Hunger, Food Insecurity Still Higher Than Before Pandemic

 GALLUP BLOG

AUGUST 30, 2023

Although hunger at the global level stopped rising in 2022, the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report shows that it is still increasing in many places around the world and that levels of both hunger and food insecurity remain higher today than they were before the pandemic.

The report released in July draws on data from many sources -- including food security data collected for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) via the Gallup World Poll* -- to provide the latest update on the world’s progress toward ending hunger and ensuring food security.

This update shows that while hunger is no longer on the rise at the global level, the world is still far off track to reaching its sustainable development goal (SDG) of achieving “zero hunger” by 2030.

In addition to examining these global trends, the report focuses on a megatrend that needs to be fully understood to get the world back on track -- urbanization. For the first time, the report examines differences in food insecurity through the lens of rural, peri-urban and urban populations and looks at how food supply, cost and demand intersect across the urban-rural continuum.

Key Findings

Global hunger stopped rising in 2022 but remains above pre-pandemic levels.

The prevalence of undernourishment** -- the FAO’s traditional indicator of the extent of hunger -- was 9.2% in 2022, virtually unchanged from 2021. Hunger affected between 691 million and 783 million people last year, which is 122 million more than in 2019, before the pandemic.

Further, on the current trajectory, almost 600 million people are projected to still be chronically undernourished in 2030 -- about 119 million more than if neither the pandemic nor the war in Ukraine had occurred and 23 million more than if the war had not happened.

The relative lack of change in hunger between 2021 and 2022 at the global level hides important differences. In Asia and Latin America, there has been some progress in reducing hunger. However, hunger is still on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and all regions of Africa, where the proportion of the population facing hunger -- 20% -- is much larger compared with the rest of the world.

At the global level, there was no progress toward reducing food insecurity, which remains much higher than it was before the pandemic.

For the second consecutive year, the global prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity -- which the FAO inform annually using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) data, collected in large national surveys, the Gallup World Poll and other sources -- remained unchanged, but far above pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, an estimated 29.6% of the world’s population -- 2.4 billion people -- were moderately or severely food insecure, which means they did not have access to adequate food. This is approximately 391 million more people than in 2019, before the pandemic, and 745 million more than in 2015, when the U.N. launched the 2030 SDG agenda.

Moderate or severe food insecurity rose slightly in Africa and in Northern America and Europe. Latin America and the Caribbean was the only region that showed signs of progress, but this was primarily confined to South America. In Latin America and the Caribbean, moderate or severe food insecurity decreased from 40.3% in 2021 to 37.5% in 2022, or about 16.5 million fewer people.

Food insecurity continues to affect more women than men. The gender gap in food insecurity narrowed from 3.8 percentage points in 2021 to 2.4 points in 2022, suggesting that the effects of the pandemic that disproportionately affected women have eased globally and in some regions.

The gender gap diminished notably in Asia and in Latin America and the Caribbean but widened in Africa and in Northern America and Europe.

At the global level, food security improves as the degree of urbanization increases.

As urbanization increases, rural and urban areas are becoming more entangled, and examining food insecurity through the lens of a simple urban-rural divide is no longer enough.

The availability of georeferenced FIES data on food insecurity in 2022 made it possible for researchers to compare -- for the first time -- levels in rural, peri-urban and urban areas using the Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA) classification, a new international standard.

The classification was used to distinguish among populations living in rural areas, towns and semi-dense areas (peri-urban areas), and cities (urban areas) based on population density and size, in a globally comparable way.

The results showed that at the global level, food security improves as the degree of urbanization increases. Moderate or severe food insecurity affected 33.3% of adults living in rural areas in 2022, compared with 28.8% in peri-urban areas and 26.0% in urban areas.

Food insecurity, at both levels of severity, is higher in rural areas than in urban areas in all regions of the world except Northern America and Europe. In this region, food insecurity is worse in urban areas than in rural areas.

These regional differences can be at least partly explained by filtering them through a country-income group lens. For example, in low-income economies, rural and peri-urban populations are more food insecure than urban populations, while in lower-middle-income economies, food insecurity is highest in rural areas but only slightly worse in peri-urban than urban areas. In high-income economies, the urban population is at higher risk of moderate or severe food insecurity.

Implications

The latest SOFI report shows the prospects for ending hunger were not any worse in 2022, but they were also not any better. However, the fact that hunger did not increase may provide hope that the situation could turn around.

Looking at hunger and food insecurity through the new lens of urbanization may help in those efforts and provide a better understanding of the growing links across urban, peri-urban and rural areas that can inform policies and investments to get the world back on track.

Read the full report.

To stay up to date with the latest Gallup News insights and updates, follow us on Twitter.

* The data for the FAO's Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) are collected directly from respondents to surveys, including the Gallup World Poll and other sources.

** The FAO uses different data sources to estimate the different parameters of the model for the prevalence of undernourishment. Prevalence of undernourishment are nowcasts based on data on food availability and access to food at the country level.

Julie Ray, Sara Viviani and Anne Kepple contributed to this article.

Sara Viviani is a statistician of the FAO's Food Security and Nutrition Statistics team.

Julie Ray is a writer and editor at Gallup.

Anne Kepple is a food security expert of the FAO's Food Security and Nutrition Statistics team.

‘Extremely rare’ Roman temple discovered on supermarket building site

By Silvia Marchetti, CNN
 Wed August 30, 2023

The discovery of significant temple ruins in the small town of Sarsini will improve our modern-day understanding of "how ancient Roman towns rose and fell across time," experts say.

CNN —

Sarsina is a sleepy, rural town of barely 3,000 residents straddling the pristine Apennine mountains in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region, surrounded by stunning views and grazing sheep.

While it has a glorious past, as a strategic defensive outpost for the Roman Empire and the birthplace of the famed playwright Plautus, today there’s not much to do beyond hiking and birdwatching.

And though both locals and holidaymakers would agree that a rustic, slow-paced lifestyle is part of Sarsina’s charm, its residents were nonetheless excitedly awaiting the construction of a development including a new supermarket, fitness center and playground. But it was not meant to be — at least, not as originally planned.

That’s because workers at the site on the outskirts of town in December 2022 unearthed the ruins of an ancient Roman temple — or ‘capitolium’ — dating back to the first century BC.

In early July, a first look at the underground treasure came to light: a single imposing structure of horizontal sandstone blocks and marble slabs, 577 square meters wide, which researchers have identified as the podium above which the columns and walls of an ancient temple were built.

And what has come out of the ground so far could be just the tip of the iceberg.


The excavation site in Sarsini has yielded ruins on top of ruins, literally.

“We have unearthed three separate rooms, likely dedicated to the triad of gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva,” lead archaeologist at the excavation site Romina Pirraglia told CNN. “The excavations are still underway… and we have already identified an older, deeper layer of ruins dating back to the 4th century BC, when the Umbrian people (an ancient Italic tribe who predated the Romans) lived in the area. The entire temple could be even larger than what we now see.”

According to Pirraglia, the discovery of a capitolium — the main temple in an important Roman city, and a hub for trade as well as religious and social interactions — further confirms the strategic role Sarsina played during the Roman Empire. The town was built in a key mountainous area close to the Tuscan border and overlooking the Savio river, an important waterway connecting central and northern Roman cities.

The discovery of the temple has pushed local authorities to revise their building plans. Federica Gonzato, superintendent of archaeology, fine arts and landscape for the provinces of Ravenna, Rimini and Forlì-Cesena, which includes Sarsina, is adamant in wanting to preserve the ruins and further research its great past.

“We will not tear it down to make room for modern structures, this must be very clear. Previous urban plans will be changed, we will find new construction sites for recreation and sports,” Gonzato said. “The temple is an incredible finding that sheds light on how ancient Roman towns rose and fell across time.”

What makes the discovery exceptional is the temple’s unique state of preservation. “The marvelous quality of the stones have been spared from sacks, enemy invasions and plunders across millennia thanks to the remote location of Sarsina, a quiet spot distant from larger cities,” Gonzato added. “Temples such as this one (were) regularly plundered, exploited as quarries with stones and marble slabs taken away to be re-used to build new homes. But Sarsina’s capitolium podium structure is practically untouched, with its entrance staircase well-preserved, and this is extremely rare.”

The discovery of the temple has afforded archaeologists "the opportunity to realize what unique relics and monuments may lie below ground” in Sarsina, said Romina Pirraglia.

Gonzato believes the discovery will further research on demography and urban transformations in ancient times. And there’s more to the site than just the temple’s podium. Pirraglia said there are signs that the building was reused in medieval times. An ancient water drainage system was found alongside medieval tombs and hearths indicating that locals likely inhabited it, or used the site for other social purposes.

“This is the beauty of Italy: wherever you dig, some hidden treasure comes out of the ground. Wonders never cease to amaze us,” said Gonzato.

How Norway Is Helping To Restore Humanity Inside US Prisons

 August 31, 2023  

By Eurasia Review

As part of an innovative prison reform program, the Oregon State Penitentiary created a healing garden on its grounds to provide some respite from the concrete and resemble the outside world. One incarcerated man who had spent most of the past two decades in solitary confinement described going to the garden as, “the first time I walked on grass in 20 years.” 

“Many of us have found beauty in weeds and flowers growing through the cracks in the pavement,” he told UC San Francisco researchers, who helped institute and then evaluated the reforms. “There is both beauty and inspiration in knowing that we, who have fallen through the proverbial cracks in the system, can, if properly motivated and cultivated, grow through those very cracks.” 

Oregon is one of a handful of states testing a Norwegian-inspired approach to prison reform that’s designed to bring greater humanity to corrections and improve conditions for staff as well as those who live behind walls. This includes reducing the use of solitary confinement. In the first evaluation of this method in a United States’ prison, the UCSF researchers found the Norwegian techniques dramatically increased the time people spent outside their cells and, in turn, reduced disciplinary actions and violence.

The reforms increased the time residents spent outside their cells and engaged in social activities, particularly for those with serious mental health and behavioral problems, according to an analysis by the Amend team published in July in the online journal PLOS ONE. 

From 2016 to 2021, the rate of assaults dropped almost 74% among residents who interacted with teams that had been trained in the techniques. And staff use-of-force incidents dropped nearly 86% in the Behavioral Health Unit, which houses individuals with mental health disorders who tend to have the most disruptive behaviors. 

“The paper shows a promising model for transitioning people out of solitary confinement,” said Cyrus Ahalt, a UCSF public health researcher. “This model decreased violence, increased time out of the cell and accelerated movement out of these restricted units into general or more populated units.” 

An approach that stresses dignity and respect

The pilot program builds upon efforts started in Norway in the 1990s to humanize its prisons and minimize its use of solitary confinement. By using techniques that focus on building relationships and trust, they have profoundly changed living conditions for imprisoned people with serious mental illnesses and histories of trauma and violence.

To begin with, incarcerated individuals are referred to as residents or patients, rather than inmates, convicts or prisoners. Correctional officers learn effective ways to listen, empathize and de-escalate conflicts through communication rather than resorting to giving orders or using force. The staff and residents are encouraged to create positive connections, talk with one another and socialize together. Sometimes the difference can be as basic as asking how someone’s day is going. 

“This approach, called ‘The Resource Team,’ provides prison staff the training and inspiration they need to help incarcerated people in these units change their behavior – rather than locking them up and making them worse – so that they return to our communities as the best versions of themselves, as better family members and neighbors,” said Brie Williams, MD, MS, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at UCSF. 

In 2015, Williams founded Amend at UCSF, which works to improve the health of both prison residents and staff. The Amend team leads immersion programs in the Norwegian Correctional Service for delegations of U.S. prison officials, policy makers and prison staff to learn about their approach to prisons. Norwegian teams also come to American prisons to help with officer training.   

“We have this hidden public health crisis – not just among the people who live in the prisons, but the people who work there,” said David Cloud, JD, PhD, who is the research director of Amend. “If we’re going to end the human rights abuses in our prisons, then we’re going to have to really work on finding a way to show the people who work there a fundamentally different approach.” 

More prisons adopt reforms

Aspects of the Norwegian-inspired approach are being introduced in Oregon, North Dakota, Washington and California, but Oregon was the first to start. They focused on changing the experience of people in isolation. Following a damning report from disability rights leaders in 2015, Oregon prison officials started trying to improve conditions but fell short of goals laid out in a signed memorandum. They learned about the Norwegian approach and began using it in 2019.

Solitary confinement, which increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, has long been shown to have detrimental physical and emotional effects, and most states have introduced or passed legislation to limit or ban its use. But policies to end it have faced resistance from inside correctional systems, making the achievement in Oregon even more notable.

Advocates of the reforms say there’s nothing intrinsically Norwegian about the approach, and it can be adapted for the United States. Before that can happen, however, correctional officers need to buy into the concept.

Toby Tooley was a captain at the Oregon State Penitentiary system in 2018 when he participated in an immersion program in Norway and brought the concepts home. He encountered some resistance from his fellow officers, but said they started to see the value both for the residents and for themselves. As incidents of violence began to drop, officers in the program saw their health and personal lives improve as their stress diminished.

“I was impacted both professionally and personally, and that motivated me to try to get this message out to as many people as I can,” said Tooley, who quit his job in 2021 to work as a program manager for Amend so he could promote the benefits of the model more broadly. “This absolutely has to go nationwide.” 

US asks Mexico to investigate labor rights at cargo airline under trade agreement

There have been 13 labor rights complaints against Mexican facilities since 2020 agreement's implementation

Reuters
Published August 30, 2023 

The United States is asking Mexico to review whether the labor rights of pilots at a small cargo airline are being infringed, the eight such request Washington has made this year, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade took effect in 2020, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative has now launched a total of 13 labor rights complaints against facilities in Mexico.

The United States wants Mexico to probe if pilots at Mas Air, a Mexico City-based cargo airline, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The carrier's web page says it operates five planes.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai speaks in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 8, 2023. (REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo)

"Today's action highlights the United States is committed to safeguarding the labor rights enshrined in the USMCA across industries and sectors," Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.

Washington wants the Mexican government to review the matter under the USMCA's Rapid Response Labor Mechanism. Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from Wednesday to complete the review.

A GLOBAL CRISIS

Nurse assaults in workplace continue as hospital industry looks for answers

Study shows healthcare workers are five times more likely to be assaulted on the job compared to other professions

Posted: 

 Aug 31, 2023

By: Joe Vaccarelli

Data shows workplace assaults against nurses and other medical professionals continue to increase while those in the industry search for answers.

LOVELAND, Colo. — Nursing was a second career for Kay DeLuca, but it was one she approached with a lot of passion.

Graduating from nursing school at age 50, she switched careers with the hopes of making a difference in people’s lives.

“Honestly, I woke up one day and said, ‘I want to do something that changes the world,'” DeLuca told Denver7 from her Longmont home.

However, a few years into her new career, she learned there was another side to the job that she didn’t learn about in nursing school.

Since starting as a nurse, DeLuca has experienced various forms of assault. She's been strangled with her stethoscope, bitten by patients and had heavy medical packs thrown at her from across the room.

“You name it, it has occurred,” she said.

Denver7

In October 2021, DeLuca suffered an assault at the hands of a patient that put her career on hold indefinitely.

While treating a patient at Medical Center for the Rockies in Loveland, DeLuca said the patient lost control and punched her in the chest after staff would not allow him outside to smoke a cigarette. The patient also bit her during the assault.

DeLuca suffered severe medical complications after she developed an infection. She also developed post-traumatic stress disorder and has been out of work for nearly two years as she struggles to recover.

DeLuca is not alone. Data shows workplace assaults against nurses and other medical professionals continue to increase while those in the industry search for answers.

Denver7 Investigates spoke to other nurses on the condition of anonymity who said they too had been slapped, punched and had their hair pulled while on the job. Still, nurses say the issue has largely been ignored. But now some proposed federal legislation could make penalties more severe for assaulting a healthcare worker and require hospitals to create policies and procedures for prevention.

Assaults often go unreported

Jeff Tieman, president and CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association (CHA), said assaults against healthcare workers have traditionally been underreported for a variety of reasons.

“I’ve literally heard people say it’s actually kind of part of (their) job to manage these situations or to face verbal or physical abuse,” Tieman said. “And you know, that’s not right. I think we have a moral obligation to do better for the people who take care of our patients and communities.”

The CHA produced a report in February that showed healthcare workers are five times more likely to suffer workplace violence injuries compared to other industries.

A nurse is assaulted every 30 minutes nationwide, and a survey of Colorado hospitals reported an increase in violence against staff in 2021, with 17.7 assaults per 100 beds. That number was 14.2 assaults per 100 beds in 2020.

At the same time, Colorado is expected to be short 10,000 nurses and 54,000 ancillary workers by 2026, according to the CHA report. Some experts point to assaults as a reason.

“I think we need to encourage a culture or reporting, especially when incidents are really significant," said Tieman.

Shortage could get worse

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tara Kosmas founded Debriefing the Front Lines, a nonprofit that provides psychological support to nurses and other front line workers. She said those numbers reported by the CHA are not a surprise and believes staffing levels need to increase to help nurses avoid vulnerable situations.

“I suspect those numbers will only grow. They will only intensify if we do not address the national staffing shortage occurring on the front lines of our U.S. healthcare systems,” Kosmas said. “There is going to be a critical emergency, and there are not going to be enough nurses to care for patients.”

Other nurse advocates have pointed to a lack of training as part of the problem. Some nurses have also taken to protesting, as happened at the VA Hospital in July in Aurora. There, nurses picketed outside the hospital over their treatment and a lack of support from management.

Push for more training

At UCHealth, the hospital organization that employed DeLuca, Chief Security Officer Chris Powell said the company has increased training for staff and posted signage in hospitals on how to handle and prevent assaults.

“We focus a lot of our training around de-escalation and recognition of behavior so that we can be more predictive and reactive to anyone committing violence,” Powell said.

Two federal bills are in the process of becoming law and would potentially deter violence against nurses. One would develop a federal standard to develop a workplace violence prevention plan for healthcare facilities. The second would increase penalties for people who assault a healthcare worker, similar to penalties for assaulting a police officer.

“I believe it’s time that we as a nation, and as a state and as a community, put our healthcare workers up front and we link arms with them and tell them we’re here to support you, we’re here to protect you and we’re thankful that you’re here and delivering this mission,” Powell said.

DeLuca decided to press charges against her assailant, Torey Peavy. Peavy was charged with second-degree assault and is also facing more serious charges related to a fatal DUI crash. That case is still pending in Larimer County.

In the end, DeLuca hopes to get healthy again so she can get back to what she loves: making a difference.

“I still want to be a nurse, and I’m still trying to navigate getting my health back and figuring out what I want to do,” she said.

Hollywood’s working class turns to 

non-profit funds to make ends meet during the strike


“It's dignity and standing up for yourself. So if it means we have to take a hit right now for the bigger cause, it’s worth it.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS / August 30, 2023

Shawn Batey, right, a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, pickets outside of Netflix's offices in New York on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, the 100th day of the Hollywood writers' strike.

 (AP Photo/Thalia Beaty)


NEW YORK (AP) — Shawn Batey was sweating in the August sun on the 100th day of the writers strike, carrying her “IATSE Solidarity” sign on the picket line outside Netflix's New York offices, but she was glad to be there.

A props assistant and documentary filmmaker, Batey is a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents many entertainment workers, in Hollywood and New York, but also around the country. She recently worked on “Pose” and “Russian Doll,” but since the writers strike began in May and the actors joined them on July 14, she's had trouble covering her expenses. So she applied to the emergency fund from the Entertainment Community Fund for help.

“They say apply when you’re at a critical point,” said Batey, adding that she needed to show her union card, her wages and, in her case, that she'd worked as a member of the union for a certain number of years. The application is lengthy, but she said, “It is definitely worth for people to apply. Just be patient.”
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Batey — who used her grant to pay her rent, phone bill and electric bill, and other expenses — is one of 2,600 film or television workers that the Entertainment Community Fund has helped during these strikes, granting $5.4 million as of Aug. 25. The fund, formerly known as The Actors Fund, is one of several nonprofits that have long supported workers who make the entertainment industry run, but who were essentially gig workers long before the term was coined. That includes both unionized and nonunionized workers, and those on strike as well as those who've lost work because of it.

The fund has received the most requests for help from people in California, followed by Atlanta and New York. It’s raised $7.6 million so far and is granting about $500,000 a week. For now, it’s issuing one-time grants of up to $2,000 for individuals or $3,000 for families.

“It's a lot of the crafts people, the wardrobe people, the makeup people, the carpenters that build the sets, the painters, the electricians,” said Tom Exton, chief advancement officer for the Entertainment Community Fund. He said the fund has supported industry members through many previous crises, including the AIDS epidemic and financial crisis, and would continue to fundraise to provide help as needed.

Another charity created more than 100 years ago to help entertainment workers get through tough periods, the Motion Picture & Television Fund, helps administer funds from some of the unions to provide emergency assistance specifically for their members. It declined to disclose the amount of financial support its received from those unions. The fund also provides financial and counseling support to unaffiliated workers and offers housing to industry veterans over the age of 70.

Bob Beitcher, its president and CEO, said many of the lowest-paid entertainment workers have little savings or reserves coming out of the pandemic. The federal programs and protections, like eviction moratoriums that helped keep entertainment workers and many others afloat during COVID-19 shutdowns, also aren't around now.

“They are losing their homes. They’re losing their cars and trucks. They’re losing their health insurance,” Beitcher said. “And it’s pretty awful.”

Striking actors and writers have accused the studios of purposefully prolonging the strike so that they lose their homes.

MPTF has been getting 200 calls a day as opposed to 20 a day before the strike. Over 80% of callers are “below-the-line” workers, meaning not the actors, writers, directors or producers. They've processed 1,000 requests for financial assistance through the end of July, the fund said, with applicants waiting an average of two weeks for the money to be dispersed.

Beitcher called for greater support from industry members, in an open letter on Aug. 17, saying, “As a community, we are not doing enough to support the tens of thousands of crew members and others who live paycheck to paycheck and depend on this industry for their livelihood. They have become the forgotten casualties during these strikes, overlooked by the media.”

MPTF said it has raised $1.5 million since the letter was published.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to support the members of the actors union, quickly raised $15 million with initial donations of $1 million or more from Dwayne Johnson, Meryl Streep, and George and Amal Clooney in the first three weeks of the actors strike. Other $1 million donations came from Luciana and Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Deborra-lee Furness and Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Julia Roberts, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oprah Winfrey.

Cyd Wilson, the foundation's executive director, said her pitch to the top talent is that even the biggest stars need the army of smaller actors, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, to make their movies and television shows.

“Those are the people that we’re going to be helping the most, because those are the people that are going to be hurting the most,” she said.

The foundation exclusively supports the 160,000 members of the union and 86% of those performers don't make enough work in a year to qualify for health insurance, Wilson said.

“They waitress, they bartend, they work catering, they drive Uber, they babysit, they dog walk, they housesit. They have all these secondary jobs in order to be able to survive,” she said.

As the strike goes on, the funds expect more and more union members will lose their health insurance because they will not have worked enough hours to remain eligible. A small group of mostly showrunners decided they wanted to specifically fundraise to cover health care for crew members, and set up a fund with the MPTF.

“It’s one thing for us to be sacrificing our own day-to-day for our greater good, but to watch our brother and sister union stand beside us?” said actor and writer Andrea Savage. “We just got together and said, ‘How can we show that we’re there for them? And also really put our money where our mouth is and actually do something concrete?’”

On Wednesday, talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver launched the “Strike Force Five” podcast, with proceeds from the limited run going to the writers and crew on their TV shows. Mint Mobile and premium alcohol maker Diageo signed on as presenting sponsors.

Savage, along with other actors like “Girls” creator Lena Dunham and “Black Monday” star Paul Scheer, started talking on WhatsApp groups, then met on Zoom and eventually founded The Union Solidarity Coalition. They've raised $315,000 so far in part from a benefit show in Los Angeles on July 15 that went to the MPTF fund (Savage said she and Scheer covered the cost of the portable toilets).

The writer Liz Benjamin helped set up an initial auction, which included a ceramic vase made by Seth Rogen and a blue dress worn by Abbi Jacobson in th

Generational Attitudes in a New Nuclear Age

BY LAMA EL BAZ AND CRAIG KAFURA

August 29, 2023

Millennials and Gen Z are less confident in the effectiveness and utility of nuclear weapons than Boomers and Gen X.


In the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Joe Biden announced that US troops would not be sent to militarily support Ukraine in order to avoid a direct conflict with Russia and, potentially, a nuclear war. While some agree with this approach, others have criticized it, arguing that it communicates a message that countries possessing a substantial nuclear arsenal can deter the United States or, at the very least, compel it to act with greater restraint.

For older Americans, these events may have reminded them of memories from the Cold War. For younger Americans, the idea of a nuclear war has largely been a discussion in history class. To find out how younger Americans view the US nuclear arsenal and US nuclear policy, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Carnegie Corporation of New York conducted a survey and found that most Americans—regardless of generation—are unfamiliar with issues at the forefront of nuclear weapons policy debates. But compared to older generations, younger Americans are less confident that nuclear weapons help to prevent conflicts and are more likely to say they don’t make a difference to national security.

Millennials and Gen Z are More Skeptical of Nuclear Weapons

When asked if they think nuclear weapons have been effective in preventing conflict between the United States and other countries, 62 percent of Americans say they are at least somewhat effective. Only a narrow majority of Millennials (52%) compared to more solid majorities of other generations agree (63% of Gen Z, 64% Gen X, 68% Boomer). However, the belief that nuclear weapons have been very effective in preventing conflicts declines consistently across the generations, with fewer than two in 10 Millennials (19%) and Gen Z (15%) saying they do.



Millennials and Gen Z are also less likely than Boomers and Gen X to say that having nuclear weapons makes the United States safer.

Americans of all Ages are Unsure about Nuclear Weapons

Despite the prominence of nuclear weapons in US foreign policy, a majority of Americans (58%) don’t think they know enough about nuclear weapons to assess the benefit or harm to them personally. That’s a view shared across generations, with similar proportions of Boomers (56%), Gen X (57%), Millennials (56%), and Gen Z (61%) all stating they don’t know enough about nuclear weapons.



In addition, most Americans say they have not heard or read much or not at all about nuclear a variety of nuclear issues, including US nuclear weapons policy (69%), the cost of nuclear weapons (79%), targets of US nuclear weapons (68%), and the US missile defense system (68%). The extent of Americans’ familiarity with nuclear issues starts and stops at the effects of nuclear weapons when they are used. Across the board, each generation is as unfamiliar with nuclear issues as the other. Boomers are the most likely to be unfamiliar with the cost of nuclear weapons for the United States.

Generations are Split on Sources of Information on Nuclear Weapons

When asked about where they turn to the most for information on US nuclear weapons policy, roughly one-third (34%) of Americans say they don’t turn to any sources for that kind of information. Millennials (39%) and Gen Z (37%) are the most likely to say they don’t look for information about US nuclear weapons policy, while Boomers (30%) and Gen X (33%) are somewhat less likely to say so. This is consistent with findings that younger generations are less interested in following international affairs than older generations. Among those that do seek out nuclear policy information, television is a popular choice, especially among older Americans. The television is the most common source for Boomers (38%), Gen X (37%), and Millennials (19%), whereas only one in 10 Gen Z report turning to the television for nuclear news; this makes it the second-most common source for Gen Z after social media (16%). This is consistent with their lack of interest in following international affairs.



Though few Americans say they turn first to academics for information about US nuclear weapons policy, Americans trust the information they receive from academics (57%) more than any other person or group, including the president (43%) and Congress (37%). US military leaders come in a close second (56%), though Millennials and Gen Z are less trusting of them (51% and 46%, respectively) than Boomers and Gen X (59% and 61%, respectively). Gen Z is notably more trusting of information on nuclear weapons received from Congress (44%) and activist groups (29%) than older generations. Trust in social media is also 14 percentage points higher among younger generations than older generations, though only a minority of any generation trusts the information they receive from it.

Conclusion

Perhaps because they have lived through a period in American history in which nuclear weapons were less of a prominent daily concern, young Americans seem to be less confident in the utility and efficacy of nuclear weapons than are older generations. At the same time, the world is entering a new nuclear age characterized by the expansion of nuclear weapons arsenals, renewed nuclear proliferation, and advancements in nuclear weaponry. Where will nuclear weapons fit in the defense policy of a country where an ever-growing portion of the voting population are unconvinced of their effectiveness and utility? Will US policies change to fit with younger generations’ views, or will Millennials and Gen Z learn to love the bomb?

About the Authors
Lama El Baz
Research Assistant, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy
Lama El Baz joined the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2023 as a research assistant for the public opinion and US foreign policy team within the Lester Crown Center. She is passionate about public opinion research, data analytics, and the regional affairs of the Middle East and North Africa.

Craig Kafura
Assistant Director, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Craig Kafura is the assistant director for public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project, and a Pacific Forum Young Leader. At the Council, he coordinates work on public opinion and foreign policy and is a regular contributor to the public opinion and foreign policy blog Running Numbers.

Here’s How Rapid Intensification May Have Made Hurricane Idalia More Dangerous

Arianna Johnson
Forbes Staff
I cover the latest trends in science, tech and healthcare.


Updated Aug 30, 2023

TOPLINE

As experts believe climate change is worsening rapid intensification of hurricanes worldwide, Hurricane Idalia appeared to demonstrate this phenomena before touching down in Florida Wednesday with winds of 125 mph, causing severe damage and resulting in at least two deaths.


This satellite image, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

KEY FACTS

Experts warned that Hurricane Idalia was rapidly intensifying as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Wednesday.

Idalia went from a Category 3 storm Tuesday morning with winds of 75 mph to a Category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph Wednesday morning in just 24 hours, before dwindling to a Category 1 storm later that day.

Rapid intensification is a sharp increase in the maximum speed of winds of a tropical cyclone of at least 30 knots over a 24-hour period, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Because warm waters fuels tropical cyclones, the Weather Channel suggests an increase in ocean temperatures due to climate change could be a reason for Idalia’s rapid intensification.

Research published in Atmosphere found warm oceans may potentially trigger rapid intensification as storms pass through

Waters across the world have experienced record-high temperatures this year, including those in the south of Florida near Manatee Bay, which saw triple-digit numbers in July comparable to the temperature of hot tubs.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, told Vice that “as the oceans warm a little bit, you’re just gradually making [rapid intensification] more likely.”

KEY BACKGROUND

The increase in rapid intensification has been linked to climate change. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that recent spikes in rapid intensification are a possible side effect of human influences on tropical activity. Meteorologists at Yale University’s Yale Climate Connections believe the “unnatural effects of human-caused global warming” will only make hurricanes more destructive. A study published in Advancing Earth and Space Science discovered that between 1990 and 2021, global extreme rapid intensification events that saw winds increase by at least 50 knots within 24 hours significantly increased from 17% to around 35%. The study also found that the number of named storms in the Atlantic has almost tripled from 1990 to 2021. A 2019 study published in Nature Communications found a “highly unusual” upwards trend of rapidly intensifying hurricanes in the Atlantic between 1982 and 2009.

RECENT HURRICANES

Hurricanes that have rapidly intensified have been a common occurrence in recent years.

In 2022, Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified twice: First on September 25, 2022, and then again as it headed toward Cuba the next day. Ian was responsible for 150 deaths and around $112 billion in damage, making it the most expensive hurricane in Florida’s history.
In 2021, Hurricane Ida was a Category 4 storm that rapidly intensified several times, devastating Louisiana and causing $75 billion in damages and over 90 deaths.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey underwent rapid intensification, quickly strengthening from a Category 3 to a Category 4 storm within the same day. It resulted in $125 billion in damages and 88 deaths. Warm waters intensified Harvey’s damage, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria went through an extreme rapid intensification, strengthening from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm. It caused over $94 billion in damages to Puerto Rico (offset only slightly by the rolls of paper towels flung at residents by then President Trump) and nearly 3,000 deaths.


TANGENT

Florida officials have confirmed that at least two people have died as a result of Idalia. One of the victims is an unnamed 40-year-old man who died early Wednesday morning in Pasco County after losing control of his vehicle while driving. A 59-year-old man also died Wednesday morning in Gainesville, Florida. He swerved into a ditch and hit a tree while driving through the storm. Over 275,000 homes and businesses in Florida and another 64,000 in Georgia were without power Wednesday morning. The damage of the storm also resulted in an electrical transformer exploding in Georgia, widespread coastal damage and flooding and Florida’s Steinhatchee River’s current reversing due to Idalia’s intense storm surge.