Following a surge in global food prices in 2008 and again in 2011, policymakers and scholars have paid increased attention to the intersection of food security and political volatility. [Video Below]

We made the crossing at night from Chamoli, reaching Okund, a Himalayan foothill town after dark. The innkeeper, anxious for guests in a travel economy that came to a standstill in mid-June, cooked dal and nan bread for dinner and then showed us to a room that was unlit and unheated.

The past three years – and more pointedly the past 12 months – have laid witness to monumental, if not heartbreaking, incidents of gender-based violence. The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi last December; the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl left for dead in a pit latrine in Western Kenya last June; the mass sexual assault of women in Tahrir Square during the 2011 revolution in Egypt and since; all were high profile atrocities that ignited outrage around the world.

Last month, more than 10,000 negotiators from 189 countries attended the latest UN climate change conference, known as the 19^th Conference of the Parties, or COP-19, this year held in Warsaw. To many, COP-19 fell frustratingly short of its already low expectations: there were no significant new agreements and 132 developing countries along with many major non-government groups staged a walkout in protest. However, it was notable for several signs of continued progress in bringing women’s voices to the negotiating table.

Rates of species extinction are so high that some scientists have categorized the current era as Earth’s sixth mass extinction event. In last month’s most popular post, Kathleen Mogelgaard explains that a new study indicates, of all the human factors related to this biodiversity loss, population growth and density may be the strongest. Popular new additions also include a review of former Wilson Center Fellow Jeff Colgan’s Petro-Aggression; the launch of research on urbanization, demography, and climate change adaptation; the UN Foundation’s Alaka Basu on Friday Podcasts talking about re-thinking women’s empowerment; and a brief from the China Environment Forum on China’s distant water fishing fleets.

“Leave enough for everyone.” That’s what my mother used to tell us at dinner. However, the holiday season reminds me that human nature is far from innately moderate in consumption. With Black Friday as a kickoff, consumers will spend more than $600 billion by Christmas in the United States alone. As I witness droves of shoppers running through malls and stores, I wonder if their desire is driven by some insatiable appetite for their favorite products or something more fundamental about human nature.