A New York Times report from last week on the worldwide foot riots included this heart-breaking bit at the end:

Meanwhile, most of the poorest of the poor suffer silently, too weak for activism or too busy raising the next generation of hungry. In the sprawling slum of Haiti’s Cité Soleil, Placide Simone, 29, offered one of her five offspring to a stranger. “Take one,” she said, cradling a listless baby and motioning toward four rail-thin toddlers, none of whom had eaten that day. “You pick. Just feed them.”

A few related links:

Food Riots Begin: Will You Go Vegetarian – A quick piece suggesting vegetarianism (or at least partial vegetarianism) as a small, personal step to ease hunger—comparable to other “green” practices like compact fluorescents and canvas grocery bags. It’s an idea my wife recommended and while it doesn’t have a direct impact, at the very least it lets us act in solidarity with hungry people around the world.

Oxfam: What Can Be Done – Relief and development organization Oxfam has a section talking about what can be done, including reevaluating U.S. food aid, biofuel and more.

World Vision Canada Cuts Aid – Due to soaring food prices World Vision Canada will be feeding 23% fewer people this year. (Unfortunately the article and World Vision’s site don’t say what people like us can do to help. I assume donations, but you’d think there’d be more.)

America’s Role in Haiti’s Hunger Riots – An alarming article claiming U.S. farm subsidies and aid policies contributed to Haiti’s agricultural collapse and food riots. (Take it with a grain of salt: It comes from Truthout, a site described as “an anti-Bush landfill that masquerades as a bastion of news credibility”—of course that comes from a site that describes itself as “the only site on the web devoted exclusively to intellectual conservatism,” so you figure out who to believe.)