Tsunami of Crises

The world really is too much with us. After years of peace, prosperity and progress toward the Global Goals, challenges and setbacks are following one after another now. Mark Malloch Brown, one of the world’s experts on development, calls it a Tsunami of Crises. Covid-19 set this wave of trouble in motion. But now as the World Health Organization sees the end of the pandemic in sight, economic disruptions are deepening and inflation is rampant.We visit with an aide worker in Pakistan, Samya K. Paracha, who reports that the price has doubled for a package of basic food and fuel for families dislocated by the historic flooding.Malloch Brown notes that the rich world’s ability to help is deeply hindered by what he describes as a crisis of democracy that has distracted many developed countries. “Our global house is on fire but they’ve not heard the alarm because its not ringing in the north, “ Brown said. “There just isn’t the bandwidth to understand that this is part of a wider breakdown."Co-hosts Claudia Romo Edelman and Lush end the episode on an upbeat note with a look at the decision by Patagonia’s owner to dedicate all the company’s future profits to protecting the planet.