I just wanted to share this striking photo from a slideshow related to The Cost of War, a new Oxfam report documenting the human cost of chronic conflict and disorder in Afghanistan. Taken by Travis Beard, it shows women shopping for new burqas in a bazaar in Herat.

At first glance, I thought it was a beautiful image, the stiff folds of fabric falling like drapes in a Renaissance painting. Then I read a little more about women’s experiences in Afghanistan under extremist rule, and the more haunting elements—the cold blue light, the claustrophobic space, the bent and faceless figures—came to the forefront.

When the Taliban came to power, most Afghan women were banned from work and not allowed to leave home without a male escort and a full-length burqa. These draconian laws left many women considering suicide.

“During the Taliban period, our life was bad, because we didn’t have the freedom to go outside,” said one Kandahar woman. According to the report, 42 percent of women surveyed in Kabul now meet the conditions for post-traumatic stress disorder.

More than 700 Afghan people spoke to Oxfam and partners about their experiences for the report. Check out more of their photos and stories in our new slideshow, Lives Interrupted.

Loko Dadacha. Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson / Oxfam America

After two weeks away from the office on a personal trip to Japan, I came back today to find hundreds of emails piled up in my inbox. But once I plowed my way through the spam and the endless Outlook meeting invitations, I discovered something really exciting: a link to Oxfam’s new short video about how climate change affects poor people in countries like El Salvador, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and the US.

 This video holds a special significance for me, since back in August I was lucky enough to tag along as a crew filmed some of this footage in southern Ethiopia. In many ways, that trip (my first visit to Africa) is still very much on my mind: I can’t read an article about climate change without thinking about the striking effects of drought in those rural communities—and the amazing strength of the local people who are fighting back against the crisis.

One of those people is Loko Dadacha, a widow and mother of six who’s taken on a leadership role in helping her community prepare for droughts. Having read my colleague Coco’s stories about her, I have to admit I was a little bit awed by meeting Loko in person, not to mention impressed by her patience as a film crew and a crowd of Oxfam staffers followed her every move for an entire day.

“If you ask me what I wish… I would say I wish to see pasture growing, to have enough water. I wish to do things for myself—to be self-reliant,” says Loko near the end of this two-minute video. Her words really capture the way these communities are facing the massive changes in the climate: with toughness, determination, and incredible resilience.

Check out the video here:

A woman gathers water from the Dawa River in southern Ethiopia. With drought sweeping the region, clean drinking water sources are becoming fewer and farther between. Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson / Oxfam America

Last night a colleague emailed me a copy of a really powerful speech by Rajenda K. Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the 2007 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. At the 45th Annual Nobel Conference in Minnesota earlier this week, Pachauri talked about water—a topic that struck me as particularly important right now, given the drought sweeping through East Africa and my own recent experiences visiting drought-affected communities in Ethiopia.

“At one level the world’s water is like the world’s wealth. Globally, there is more than enough to go round. The problem is that some countries get a lot more than others,” Pachauri said.

He also emphasized the link between climate change and water, and the fact that scarce resources can lead to conflicts in already-fragile areas.

“Due to the very large number of people that may be affected, food and water scarcity may be the most important health consequences of climate change,” Pachauri said. “There is no more crucial issue to human society than the future of water on this planet… We must work diligently to see that the worst effects don’t come to pass. We have very little time. Unless we act with a sense of urgency, there will certainly be conflict and a disruption of peace.”

By now, most of you have probably seen the great news photos from Sunday’s Human Countdown event in Central Park. But to get the full effect, you really have to see the massive, 1,200-person stunt in action. Check out Oxfam’s official video of the earth and hourglass from above:

And here’s the slightly shaky, but fun video I captured from my spot in the bottom of the hourglass:

As I write this from a borrowed office near Manhattan’s UN plaza, a police officer leans against the window a few feet away. I can hear the crackle of her radio and the tap of her nightstick against the glass; I can see her stance, weary yet alert. For the last hour, she’s been carefully eyeing each pedestrian who wanders past.

Because of this week’s UN General Assembly, including a high-level climate summit that begins tomorrow, the neighborhood is full of police officers guarding newly erected metal barriers. With more than 100 world leaders in town—including President Obama—security is understandably tight.

I also noticed this extra security at today’s Climate Week NYC opening ceremony, where celebrities and world leaders (including Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Hugh Jackman, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon) kicked off a week of climate change events. In just one day, I’d gone from a grassroots stunt led by Oxfam campaigners and featuring thousands of volunteer activists—the Human Countdown in Central Park—to an invite-only panel that showcased the voices of power.

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Photo by Kate Vacanti / Oxfam America

Yesterday I found myself wrapped in a pale blue plastic poncho, arm in arm with my friend Kate on one side and a total stranger on the other. Hundreds of people rushed toward us as we stood squinting in the late afternoon sunlight—and then, in time with the music echoing over the sound system, they all turned as one, raising both arms to point at the sky. As a sea of extended arms lowered, beat by beat, an ominous countdown echoed overhead: “Tck. Tck. Tck.”

That’s what it looked like from where I stood, anyway—one among the thousands who turned out for Oxfam’s Human Countdown event in New York’s Central Park.

Viewed from above, the carefully choreographed spectacle makes more sense. An army of volunteers transform themselves into a massive, perfectly rendered planet earth, which trickles down through an hourglass, then forms the words “tck tck tck.” Our group was the bottom of the hourglass, while the blue- and green-clad dancers in front of us formed the earth’s oceans and continents.

But beyond just looking really cool, yesterday’s event sends a clear message: Time is running out for our leaders to act on climate change.

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This weekend in New York City, I’m going to be part of something truly unusual. I’ll be one of more than 2,000 people who will form a moving human sculpture of our world in a race against time: a massive, living planet earth and hourglass. Called the Human Countdown, this event will be broadcast by media outlets around the world, and will send an urgent message to leaders that time is running out to take action on climate change.

Why is now such a crucial time? Because, two days after this event, world leaders are gathering in New York for the UN Climate Summit—the first in a series of key moments when presidents and prime ministers will make major decisions about the future of our planet. Leaders, including President Obama, are meeting in New York and Pittsburgh in September and in Copenhagen in December, where they will decide whether or not to stop the clock on climate change.  

I’ll be there, blogging about the event for Oxfam. And if you’re concerned about climate change—especially the way it’s already affecting poor people here and abroad—I hope you’ll be there too. Having just come back from Ethiopia, where I saw communities facing increasingly severe drought, I feel a new sense of urgency to get away from my desk and actually do something about it.

The Human Countdown will be held at the Wollman Rink in Central Park on Sunday, September 20, and will feature national and international speakers, celebrities, and great music. Sign up to be part of it on our website—hope to see you there.