WEBVTT - Setbacks: Global Hunger is Solvable 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:25.156 Pushkin, this is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg. There's no reason 0:00:25.196 --> 0:00:29.796 in the twenty first century that people should be going hungry. 0:00:29.876 --> 0:00:33.036 But people are going hungry. According to the Food and 0:00:33.076 --> 0:00:37.916 Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in twenty nineteen, nearly 0:00:37.996 --> 0:00:41.916 seven hundred million people across the world we're facing hunger 0:00:41.996 --> 0:00:46.436 and poor nutrition. That's almost one in ten people. With 0:00:46.556 --> 0:00:49.996 the onset of the global pandemic, some experts estimate that 0:00:50.036 --> 0:00:53.436 one hundred million more people might be added to that number. 0:00:53.676 --> 0:00:56.836 It's not a time to give up against the global goals. 0:00:56.676 --> 0:00:59.756 It's a time to redouble our effort. As part of 0:00:59.756 --> 0:01:03.316 our Setback series, we're examining world hunger, both to get 0:01:03.316 --> 0:01:05.756 a sense of the magnitude of the challenge we face 0:01:06.276 --> 0:01:09.556 and because of the new sense of opportunity as we've 0:01:09.556 --> 0:01:12.876 come together to battle this pandemic. What we really need 0:01:12.916 --> 0:01:16.436 now is a radical reset at this moment, the commitment 0:01:16.476 --> 0:01:21.516 globally and nationally to reverse the trend. Abbey Maximin is 0:01:21.596 --> 0:01:25.836 President and CEO of Oxfam America. There is enough food 0:01:25.876 --> 0:01:28.636 for all of us, and when we work together, global 0:01:28.716 --> 0:01:36.036 hunger is solvable. One thing I'd love to understand better 0:01:36.436 --> 0:01:40.916 is the impact that the pandemic has had on global hunger. 0:01:41.276 --> 0:01:45.276 I've seen estimates from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization 0:01:45.556 --> 0:01:49.596 that COVID nineteen might have added something between eighty and 0:01:49.636 --> 0:01:53.516 one hundred and thirty million people to the total number 0:01:53.556 --> 0:01:58.436 of undernourished in the world. Are those accurate numbers? And 0:01:59.556 --> 0:02:03.956 how much did it increase from the baseline before the pandemic. Well, 0:02:04.436 --> 0:02:08.396 the numbers that you were already quoting are ones we 0:02:08.436 --> 0:02:12.476 are seeing consistent in terms of the rise of people 0:02:12.476 --> 0:02:15.916 who are living in hunger, and certainly the number of 0:02:15.956 --> 0:02:20.956 people facing extreme on the verge of the word that 0:02:20.996 --> 0:02:24.956 we don't use lightly famine. But there's a confluence of 0:02:24.996 --> 0:02:30.316 factors COVID, climate conflict, inequality, and the broken food systems 0:02:30.356 --> 0:02:33.356 that have people have been experiencing and we've seen for 0:02:33.916 --> 0:02:37.196 years that has now been clearly unveiled for the world 0:02:37.196 --> 0:02:42.476 to see. Yeah, I mean talk about the actual mechanism 0:02:42.596 --> 0:02:49.756 around the pandemic. We had Paul Farmer on recently and 0:02:49.876 --> 0:02:52.956 he pointed out that many countries in Africa have done 0:02:53.076 --> 0:02:56.876 much better with the pandemic for a variety of reasons, 0:02:56.876 --> 0:03:00.036 and probably a variety of reasons we don't understand, but 0:03:00.116 --> 0:03:03.956 it's a cruel irony that they get these indirect effects 0:03:04.036 --> 0:03:07.916 even if people aren't succumbing to the virus or affected 0:03:07.956 --> 0:03:11.756 by the virus as much. How is the virus making people, 0:03:11.796 --> 0:03:15.276 particularly in Africa, which I think includes something like six 0:03:15.356 --> 0:03:22.116 or seven of the country's most afflicted by hunger, how 0:03:22.236 --> 0:03:25.276 is it making things towards there? About two thirds of 0:03:25.316 --> 0:03:29.516 the population across Africa are smallholder farmers. And what COVID 0:03:29.636 --> 0:03:34.716 has done to local economies, to food systems, and also 0:03:35.196 --> 0:03:37.996 the issues of conflict going on in the places that 0:03:38.076 --> 0:03:42.716 have the highest proportion of hunger, there's been this confluence 0:03:42.836 --> 0:03:48.116 of factors. So the smallholder farmers are really faced with 0:03:48.316 --> 0:03:52.076 very few choices in terms of how to produce and 0:03:52.596 --> 0:03:55.876 move their food through a supply chain, if you will. 0:03:55.916 --> 0:03:59.356 And we've spoken to a number of people, of course, 0:03:59.436 --> 0:04:02.036 the communities we work with, and there's a woman named 0:04:02.116 --> 0:04:06.556 Kadidia Diallo, who's a female milk producer in Burkina Fasso, 0:04:06.636 --> 0:04:09.676 who told us she can't give her children in something 0:04:09.716 --> 0:04:13.196 to eat in the morning because they're totally dependent on 0:04:13.196 --> 0:04:15.996 the sale of milk and with the closure of the market, 0:04:16.036 --> 0:04:17.956 they can't sell the milk anymore, and if we can't 0:04:17.956 --> 0:04:20.836 sell milk, we don't eat. And those are kind of 0:04:20.876 --> 0:04:24.596 the anecdotes that are widespread at the moment. You know 0:04:24.636 --> 0:04:28.316 that notion of what we call the hunger virus and 0:04:28.836 --> 0:04:33.916 oxfam were produced or report last year that COVID is 0:04:34.436 --> 0:04:38.756 unveiling or unleashing a number of shadow pandemics, if you will, 0:04:38.956 --> 0:04:41.756 hunger among them. I want us to talk a little 0:04:41.756 --> 0:04:45.036 more about that where question. I'm looking at that report 0:04:45.116 --> 0:04:47.196 right now and I was just going to read the 0:04:47.276 --> 0:04:53.116 top ten countries for millions of people facing crisis level hunger. Now, 0:04:53.116 --> 0:04:56.796 this report was done in July twenty twenty, so it 0:04:56.916 --> 0:04:59.436 may have been updated since then, but at the time, 0:04:59.476 --> 0:05:03.876 the worst afflicted countries were Yamen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, 0:05:04.156 --> 0:05:09.076 Democratic and Republic being dubious parts of the name, Afghanistan, Venezuela, 0:05:09.956 --> 0:05:15.476 West Africa, sa Hale, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Sudan, and Haiti. 0:05:15.756 --> 0:05:18.796 Is that still pretty much the list? I think that's 0:05:18.796 --> 0:05:22.636 pretty much consistent today because you can see the overlay 0:05:22.756 --> 0:05:26.316 with those those factors that I talked about, conflict being 0:05:26.556 --> 0:05:30.436 amongst them, but then the climatic changes and implications and 0:05:30.556 --> 0:05:35.716 that becomes this toxic situation, if you will, around people's 0:05:35.756 --> 0:05:39.356 ability to access and how markets work and how those 0:05:39.436 --> 0:05:45.116 at the bottom are really left behind. Another impact of 0:05:45.156 --> 0:05:50.796 the crisis is that aid organizations like Oxfam, which is 0:05:50.996 --> 0:05:53.436 the pre eminent one in many parts of the world, 0:05:53.676 --> 0:05:55.956 have had to cut back themselves and have found it 0:05:55.996 --> 0:05:58.876 harder to operate in some of those countries. I know 0:05:59.036 --> 0:06:02.956 Oxfam at in the early days the pandemic had to 0:06:03.996 --> 0:06:07.236 close number of offices, lay off a number of people. 0:06:07.516 --> 0:06:10.956 In the UK, it's everyone knows Oxfam for the shops 0:06:10.996 --> 0:06:14.156 it has everywhere, which are like second hand shops that 0:06:14.636 --> 0:06:18.316 help to fund Oxfam relief activities and a lot of those, 0:06:18.356 --> 0:06:23.036 of course we're not open. How has that affected the 0:06:23.116 --> 0:06:28.556 ability to provide relief in those places. Well, it's certainly challenging. 0:06:28.596 --> 0:06:31.436 I mean, as we all know, resources are key. You know, 0:06:31.476 --> 0:06:34.196 the demand is greater than ever and then you know 0:06:34.236 --> 0:06:37.676 there's always a challenge when you're in nonprofits. But certainly 0:06:37.676 --> 0:06:41.956 what you just described when the shops closed, that has 0:06:41.996 --> 0:06:45.436 a big impact on our ongoing operations when there's a 0:06:45.516 --> 0:06:48.796 demand that is increasing. But I also Jacob would like 0:06:48.876 --> 0:06:52.676 to talk about the meadow or more macro level too. 0:06:53.076 --> 0:06:56.436 Um I love talking about OXFAM and when you look 0:06:56.476 --> 0:06:59.076 back at what was happening last year when we wrote 0:06:59.076 --> 0:07:04.596 the Hunger Virus Report, the ten largest food and beverage 0:07:04.596 --> 0:07:11.276 companies in the world had eighteen billion dollars of profit 0:07:11.636 --> 0:07:15.316 that was distributed across shareholders. And those are ones who 0:07:15.316 --> 0:07:17.996 rely on global value chains at a time when the 0:07:18.076 --> 0:07:24.396 global humanitarian response needs was barely funded at under twenty 0:07:24.396 --> 0:07:26.676 percent at the time of eight billion of a total 0:07:26.756 --> 0:07:29.476 need or seven point eight billion. Let me question a 0:07:29.516 --> 0:07:32.956 little further whether or how those two things are related, 0:07:32.956 --> 0:07:35.676 because when I look at the countries on your top 0:07:35.756 --> 0:07:39.956 ten list, the majority of them have been suffering from 0:07:39.996 --> 0:07:44.476 civil war or civil conflict or at least political breakdown. 0:07:44.716 --> 0:07:49.156 And much of the challenge is getting help to people, 0:07:49.356 --> 0:07:52.396 not the willingness of the outside world to provide help 0:07:52.796 --> 0:07:56.556 to a place like Yemen or Syria. So, you know, 0:07:56.796 --> 0:07:59.276 is the question of how much money food companies are 0:07:59.396 --> 0:08:03.236 making really germane to the problem. There's no reason in 0:08:03.236 --> 0:08:07.196 the twenty first century that people should be going hungry, 0:08:07.236 --> 0:08:10.196 and there's a question of human act and inaction and 0:08:10.316 --> 0:08:14.436 policy choices that are made. Their German relationship of looking 0:08:14.436 --> 0:08:18.956 at the entire ecosystem, where we're looking at multilateralism and 0:08:19.156 --> 0:08:23.196 choices that are made to be able to increase resourcing 0:08:23.236 --> 0:08:25.916 at a time to prevent the loss of life and 0:08:26.036 --> 0:08:34.316 livelihoods while the corporations can be profiting significantly. You know, 0:08:34.356 --> 0:08:39.396 there's a whole range of interconnections between what's happening and 0:08:40.436 --> 0:08:45.516 unequal tax systems and where the resources are flowing at 0:08:45.516 --> 0:08:49.796 a time when they could be flowing in other directions. Yeah, 0:08:49.836 --> 0:08:52.956 when you look at the UN sustainability goals, one of 0:08:52.956 --> 0:08:57.836 the core ones was eradicating hunger and famine worldwide. By 0:08:58.156 --> 0:09:03.076 twenty thirty, the first part of the millennium, we saw 0:09:03.276 --> 0:09:09.916 tremendous progress against extreme poverty, including hunger. And a question 0:09:10.036 --> 0:09:13.396 running through this mini series we're doing on the pandemic 0:09:13.436 --> 0:09:17.956 setback is how temporary is the setback or is this 0:09:18.516 --> 0:09:20.316 setback temporary? That is, are we going to lose a 0:09:20.396 --> 0:09:22.436 year or a couple of years and then get back 0:09:22.756 --> 0:09:26.676 on the positive trajectory we were on, or is this 0:09:26.796 --> 0:09:30.436 something more dire that's going to reverse the progress we 0:09:30.436 --> 0:09:34.356 were seeing. What do you think? Well, I think it 0:09:34.396 --> 0:09:40.196 will depend on the ability of wealthy governments to make 0:09:40.236 --> 0:09:43.436 real commitments to look at the debt some of the 0:09:43.516 --> 0:09:46.916 low income countries are forced to carry, and so that 0:09:46.956 --> 0:09:50.796 the right investments can be made at country level, for 0:09:51.436 --> 0:09:55.476 investing in food security and food systems, in livelihoods, in 0:09:55.556 --> 0:10:01.996 public health. We've seen a whole disproportionate level of debt 0:10:02.076 --> 0:10:08.236 repayment that could have covered entire social protection mechanisms in 0:10:08.316 --> 0:10:11.516 certain countries. Is what we really need now is a 0:10:11.636 --> 0:10:16.156 radical reset at this moment, the commitment globally and nationally 0:10:16.396 --> 0:10:23.436 to reverse the trend. Let's talk about solutions a little bit. 0:10:24.036 --> 0:10:28.196 I'm interested in what some of the most effective strategies 0:10:28.236 --> 0:10:32.836 are for OXFAM right now. Solvable listeners have heard a 0:10:32.836 --> 0:10:36.916 couple of times from big advocates of cash transfers who 0:10:37.156 --> 0:10:39.956 argue that we've figured out what works in aid. Basically, 0:10:40.156 --> 0:10:43.396 it's giving people money. It's not giving people food or 0:10:43.436 --> 0:10:46.916 other are trying to help necessarily more specific ways. That's 0:10:46.956 --> 0:10:51.076 not necessarily Oxfam's approach. I wonder what you think is 0:10:51.156 --> 0:10:54.556 working well. That is a component of it. There's not 0:10:54.716 --> 0:10:59.436 a single approach. I think it's a suite of approaches together. 0:10:59.836 --> 0:11:03.996 So we're very supportive of cash transfers and local solutions 0:11:04.076 --> 0:11:07.636 and safety nets be at food. There are appropriate times 0:11:07.756 --> 0:11:12.556 when food delivery might be the right thing, promoting agriculture 0:11:12.596 --> 0:11:16.436 development and smallholder farmers, giving farmers tools and seeds that 0:11:16.476 --> 0:11:22.276 are appropriate and adaptive to climatic conditions. And we also 0:11:22.436 --> 0:11:26.996 work and support what we call female food heroes, women 0:11:27.036 --> 0:11:30.236 who can be productive both in their communities but raise 0:11:30.316 --> 0:11:34.316 their voices to help influence policy and production practices. And 0:11:34.516 --> 0:11:38.436 big social protection programs that we've seen very successful in 0:11:38.596 --> 0:11:42.356 places like Ethiopia where there have been as we know, 0:11:42.836 --> 0:11:46.076 chronic food and security back from the nineteen eighty four 0:11:46.276 --> 0:11:50.356 famine to early two thousands. We're putting in place a 0:11:50.396 --> 0:11:55.756 productive safety net program that works with multilateral governments, the 0:11:55.836 --> 0:12:00.436 local national government and NGOs including Oxfam protect the lives 0:12:00.436 --> 0:12:03.596 and livelihoods of eight million chronically food and secure people 0:12:03.636 --> 0:12:06.836 in the country. So there's a combination of events or 0:12:06.876 --> 0:12:11.356 approaches that can really make a difference. I've seen you 0:12:11.436 --> 0:12:14.716 say that hunger is about power, and you know, I 0:12:14.756 --> 0:12:19.996 think a lot of younger people feel that aid organizations 0:12:19.996 --> 0:12:25.156 and aid institutions in many ways reflected even as they're 0:12:25.196 --> 0:12:29.876 trying to address it. That you have rich countries who 0:12:30.196 --> 0:12:34.756 you know, often go in with a colonial mentality or 0:12:34.756 --> 0:12:41.916 a savior mentality and are treating the recipients in a 0:12:41.956 --> 0:12:44.636 patronizing way, and they would like to see much more 0:12:44.676 --> 0:12:49.476 of a power balance in the way aid is distributed, 0:12:49.516 --> 0:12:53.716 in the way these organizations work. How has OXFAM been 0:12:53.756 --> 0:12:57.956 affected by that kind of conversation. Well, it's an important 0:12:57.996 --> 0:13:01.276 one and it's one where Oxham has been committed to 0:13:01.516 --> 0:13:05.396 real change for many years. Back in twenty fifteen there 0:13:05.436 --> 0:13:10.436 was a World Humanitarian Summit where we were championing and 0:13:10.476 --> 0:13:13.596 we continue to with others what we like to call 0:13:13.916 --> 0:13:18.316 local humanitarian leadership. We know who are the frontline responders. 0:13:18.996 --> 0:13:24.356 Invariably it is those living locally in communities, and so 0:13:24.436 --> 0:13:28.356 we take a partner led approach. Just over the course 0:13:28.356 --> 0:13:31.796 of COVID, we've worked with over seven hundred partners globally 0:13:32.156 --> 0:13:37.796 across almost seventy countries in terms of supporting locally led response. 0:13:37.836 --> 0:13:40.916 So we look at the local leadership and how do 0:13:40.996 --> 0:13:45.516 we support local organizations to access the resources they need 0:13:45.556 --> 0:13:48.836 and be able to deliver, but ensure global connections to 0:13:48.876 --> 0:13:55.036 make sure that lessons and resourcing can help support the 0:13:55.196 --> 0:13:59.756 local action. And that's relevant here in the United States too. 0:13:59.836 --> 0:14:04.036 We work the Deep South and Puerto Rico in Appalachia 0:14:04.076 --> 0:14:07.916 as well to support activities as well as we do 0:14:07.996 --> 0:14:12.076 around the world. Abby, I wonder why hunger is You're 0:14:12.636 --> 0:14:17.556 solvable at a personal level, what led you to devote 0:14:17.596 --> 0:14:22.956 your life to this huge challenge? But this issue in particular, 0:14:23.676 --> 0:14:26.916 well this issue, you know, I know my own personal 0:14:27.676 --> 0:14:31.796 I would say reckoning or awareness was the nineteen eighty 0:14:31.796 --> 0:14:36.036 four Ethiopian famine. I was just about to finish high 0:14:36.036 --> 0:14:38.876 school at the time, but the images that came through 0:14:38.916 --> 0:14:42.516 in the global attention around this really struck me and 0:14:42.916 --> 0:14:47.356 thinking how can this be? And you know, that was 0:14:47.396 --> 0:14:50.156 a time where I think it was galvanizing for the 0:14:50.196 --> 0:14:54.596 world to understand what was really happening and the full 0:14:54.636 --> 0:14:57.916 gravity of that. I went on to work in Southern 0:14:57.996 --> 0:15:02.116 Africa and then in the Horn of Africa, including living 0:15:02.116 --> 0:15:05.316 and working in Ethiopia for eight years, but spending decades 0:15:05.516 --> 0:15:09.276 working working there, and as we look at what the 0:15:09.356 --> 0:15:14.316 issues of inequality and poverty and the issue of hunger, 0:15:14.996 --> 0:15:19.756 I've seen when there's political will, collective action, local empowerment, 0:15:20.476 --> 0:15:25.316 women's voices at the table, that real change can happen. Yeah, 0:15:25.356 --> 0:15:28.756 I mean that whole history you point to of the 0:15:28.836 --> 0:15:33.676 international crisis and response, which you first saw around the 0:15:34.036 --> 0:15:37.436 Ethiopian famine, but even before that goes to the back 0:15:37.436 --> 0:15:41.076 to the Bangladesh famine and the Nigerian civil war and 0:15:41.156 --> 0:15:46.556 Biafra in the late sixties. Is a very frustrating model 0:15:46.676 --> 0:15:50.556 because the pattern going back to those crises is the 0:15:50.596 --> 0:15:56.596 world gets notices, the world is horrified, the world provides 0:15:56.636 --> 0:16:00.236 a lot of aid, and then it doesn't really the 0:16:00.236 --> 0:16:02.716 aid doesn't really A lot of it doesn't really get 0:16:02.796 --> 0:16:07.156 there either be gets obstructed by politics and conflict or 0:16:07.236 --> 0:16:12.356 because of inefficiencies and distribute hian or you know, there's 0:16:12.396 --> 0:16:14.876 some aid that gets through, but it doesn't it doesn't 0:16:15.116 --> 0:16:18.756 fundamentally alter the situation. What have we learned since you 0:16:18.836 --> 0:16:22.076 started paying attention to the issue thirty five years ago? 0:16:22.116 --> 0:16:25.596 Have we gotten better at providing aid and relief and 0:16:25.996 --> 0:16:30.916 in crisis and in crisis prevention? Well, I truly believe so. 0:16:32.756 --> 0:16:37.036 And as I look at the genesis or founding of 0:16:37.076 --> 0:16:40.836 OXFAM in the United States was during the Bangladesh and 0:16:40.956 --> 0:16:46.916 Cambodia civil wars and the hunger issues there, and so 0:16:47.156 --> 0:16:51.516 part of it is not just moving food but understanding 0:16:51.516 --> 0:16:55.876 the complexity of the issues influencing you know, geopolitical and 0:16:56.396 --> 0:17:00.956 bilateral engagement by countries like the United States, which can 0:17:00.996 --> 0:17:05.276 have a big impact on what happens in other places. 0:17:05.716 --> 0:17:08.676 So we've seen lots of learnings. I think of how 0:17:08.716 --> 0:17:13.356 do you we mobilize action in places like Ethiopia where 0:17:13.356 --> 0:17:17.196 there have been some real learnings over decades of looking 0:17:17.196 --> 0:17:20.396 at chronic vulnerability and food insecurity, and how do you 0:17:20.476 --> 0:17:26.556 respond with a joint government, US, World Bank, multilateral and 0:17:27.156 --> 0:17:31.676 NGEO response to look at social protection not just through 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:35.116 food but through cash and looking at hungry periods, but 0:17:35.236 --> 0:17:38.676 then overlaying it with the issues of understanding the impact 0:17:38.676 --> 0:17:42.636 of climate change. So those are big climate policy related 0:17:42.996 --> 0:17:47.476 commitments that can need to be considered as well with 0:17:47.556 --> 0:17:50.276 collective action and political will you see when you can 0:17:50.356 --> 0:17:54.876 prevent and even reverse the trajectory of some of these issues. 0:17:56.036 --> 0:17:58.996 What are the most important things that listeners can do 0:17:59.516 --> 0:18:06.996 to reduce the worsening of global hunger because of the pandemic. Well, 0:18:07.156 --> 0:18:09.876 thank you for bringing attention to this issue. I would 0:18:09.916 --> 0:18:14.156 say that despite the setbacks we're seeing, it's not a 0:18:14.236 --> 0:18:17.516 time to give up against the global goals. It's a 0:18:17.596 --> 0:18:21.356 time to redouble our effort. So what can people do 0:18:21.356 --> 0:18:25.516 donate to address hunger locally or globally either. I know 0:18:25.596 --> 0:18:28.236 people have been really stepping up to support their local 0:18:28.356 --> 0:18:32.316 food banks and charities. That remains an important component of 0:18:32.356 --> 0:18:36.796 the effort, not the only thing. Supporting local farmers and 0:18:36.836 --> 0:18:39.556 food systems, and people in the United States can make 0:18:39.636 --> 0:18:43.716 choices of being much more conscious of knowing where their 0:18:43.756 --> 0:18:46.836 food comes from because of the supply chain, if you know, 0:18:46.956 --> 0:18:49.956 getting cheap food in the United States often starts somewhere 0:18:49.996 --> 0:18:54.756 else and kind of end the extreme asymmetry between small 0:18:54.796 --> 0:18:59.516 scale producers and big food companies and really encourage people 0:18:59.556 --> 0:19:02.036 to learn more and be an advocate on the issue 0:19:02.276 --> 0:19:06.476 of hunger with family and friends, and get involved politically 0:19:06.476 --> 0:19:08.716 and reach out to their representatives to let them know 0:19:08.756 --> 0:19:12.356 they care about it. Is there anything you've read recently, 0:19:12.476 --> 0:19:15.756 either a book or an article or a film or 0:19:15.876 --> 0:19:19.876 TV show that has brought home and would bring home 0:19:19.956 --> 0:19:22.996 for listeners the dimensions of the problem and the way 0:19:23.036 --> 0:19:28.596 you're talking about it. I'd say Roger Thureau the last 0:19:28.676 --> 0:19:31.156 Hunger season, and he has a TED talk and other 0:19:31.196 --> 0:19:35.796 things that helps unpack the question for people. Michael Pollen 0:19:35.956 --> 0:19:38.476 in Defense of Food that helps look at the bigger 0:19:38.516 --> 0:19:46.196 issues in the industrialization of food. Movies goosh like Was 0:19:46.236 --> 0:19:48.916 It The Boy Who Harness the Wind? It's a book 0:19:48.916 --> 0:19:53.356 and a movie that looks at a water related situation 0:19:53.436 --> 0:19:56.836 in Malawi during a food crisis that also brings to 0:19:56.916 --> 0:19:59.236 life some of these issues. Those are some things to 0:19:59.556 --> 0:20:03.516 come to mind. Abbey, thanks for joining us today. Thanks Jacob, 0:20:03.556 --> 0:20:08.116 good to be with you. Abbey Maximan is the President 0:20:08.156 --> 0:20:12.516 and CEO of Oxfam America. To learn more about progress 0:20:12.516 --> 0:20:15.276 in the fight against global hunger and how the pandemic 0:20:15.276 --> 0:20:18.316 has affected it, as well as other global development goals, 0:20:18.716 --> 0:20:22.356 check out the links in our show notes and Solvable listeners. 0:20:22.436 --> 0:20:24.756 We have some exciting news to share it. You might 0:20:24.756 --> 0:20:27.516 have heard him on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour as 0:20:27.516 --> 0:20:30.716 a guest contributor or on a number of other podcasts 0:20:30.756 --> 0:20:34.556 Inside and Outside the World of Public Radio. Host Ronald 0:20:34.636 --> 0:20:38.636 Young Junior is joining our team. I'm thirty seven. I'd 0:20:38.716 --> 0:20:40.396 love to get married and have kids within the next 0:20:40.476 --> 0:20:42.916 three years by the time I'm forty. Tell me what 0:20:42.956 --> 0:20:45.676 the world looks like for them if we continue on 0:20:45.756 --> 0:20:48.716 the path that we're on. More from Ronald coming soon. 0:20:49.796 --> 0:20:53.396 Solvable Senior Producer is Jocelyn Frank. Research in booking by 0:20:53.436 --> 0:20:57.196 Lisa Dunn. Catherine Girardo is our managing producer, and our 0:20:57.196 --> 0:21:01.676 executive producer is Mia Loebell. Special thanks to Sasha Matthias 0:21:01.716 --> 0:21:05.796 and Sophie mckibbon. Solvable is a production of Pushkin Industries. 0:21:06.076 --> 0:21:08.556 If you like the show, please remember to share, rate, 0:21:08.596 --> 0:21:10.956 and review. It really helps us get the word out. 0:21:11.836 --> 0:21:14.916 You can find Pushkin podcasts wherever you listen, including on 0:21:14.956 --> 0:21:19.716 the iHeartRadio app and Apple podcast. I'm Jacob Weisberg.