How was Poverty in America first defined? Poverty was first defined by Mollie Orshansky January How did she define it? "Orshansky based her poverty thresholds on the economy food plan--the cheapest of four food plans developed by the Department of Agriculture.” So how does it work? Each person is assigned to one out of 48 different possible poverty thresholds which are based on this size of the family and the ages of the members. But aren’t there problems with the thresholds? The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation. "Orshansky was aware of the inconsistency involved, but there was no other alternative; she reasoned that the result would yield "a conservative underestimate" of poverty."

Poverty Thresholds for 2007 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18 Years Size of Family Unit Weighted Average Threshold s Related children under 18 years None One Two Three Four Five Six Seven 8 or more One person (unrelated individual)10,590..Under 65 years10, years and over9,944 Two people13,540..Householder under 65 years13,95413,88414,291..Householder 65 years and over12,55012,53314,237 Three people16,53016,21816,68916,705 Four people21,20321,38621,73621,02721,100 Five people25,08025,79126,16625,36424,74424,366 Six people28,32329,66429,78229,16828,57927,70527,187 Seven people32,23334,13234,34533,61033,09832,14431,03129,810 Eight people35,81638,17438,51137,81837,21036,34835,25534,11633,827 Nine people or more42,73945,92146,14345,52945,01444,16843,00441,95241,69140,085 Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Poverty is nothing we can ignore. "Currently over 1 billion people-- two thirds of them women-- live in extreme poverty on less than US$1 a day. This figure rises to 2.8 billion if a standard of US$ 2 a day is used (OECD 2001). Climate change is happening and it will increasingly affect the poor. Water scarcity is already a major problem for the world’s poor. The number of people impacted by water scarcity is projected to increase from about 1.7 billion people today to around 5 billion people by 2025, independent of climate change (IPCC 2001b). "developing countries are likely to suffer most from the negative impacts of climate change”, but why? -The capacity to cope with extreme weather is economically dependant. -Things like draughts are hard to handle. -A dependence on physical abilities for work. Of the world’s 19 mega-cities (those with over 10 million people), 16 are on coastlines and all but 4 are in the developing world.

The increasing amount of floods is posing a threat for the less adaptable areas. Floods lead to the destruction of homes and crops. The contaminated water leads to a rapid spread of diseases and illnesses.

The increasing temperatures dry out bodies of water that the communities would usually rely on. In addition, a lack of rainfall in certain areas contributes to the drought. This leads to the death of crops, livestock, and even people due to starvation, thirst, or malnutrition.

To the left is Bangladesh, a country In danger due to its low-lying coast- line, and high population density. The Philippines, also a coastal area, is at risk of catastrophic results from natural disasters.

Everyone needs to work to protect our environment for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind. Everybody has different strengths and abilities and should use them to work towards a common goal. Those who are more privileged should do more to address the issues of poverty and climate change.

B IBLIOGRAPHY African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Department for International Development, UK, Directorate-General for Development, EU Commission, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Development Cooperation, The Netherlands, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations Development Programme, and The World Bank. "Poverty and Climate Change." Oecd.org. 30 Oct Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 12 Mar DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessicac C. Smith. "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007." Census.gov. Aug US Census Bureau. 12 Mar Department of Health and Human Services, Gordon M. Fisher. "The Development and History of the U.S. Poverty Thresholds —." 16 Dec United States Department of Health and Human Services. 12 Mar "Info about Global Warming Future Climate Forecast and a range of solutions." Info about Global Warming and a range of solutions. 18 Apr Stock Photography: Search Royalty Free Images & Photos. 18 Apr U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. "How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty (Official Measure)." Census.gov. 26 Aug US Census Bureau. 12 Mar

Mark Janzer Jeffrey Hatakeda Nick Cicollela Ben Wartel Tung Pham