A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR.

AuthorKline, Gary
PositionEditorial

In the pages of this issue of the Journal of Global South Studies, readers will find engaging essays on South-South relations and case studies drawn from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. As usual, I am heavily indebted to the very competent and professional associate editors and the editorial assistant I work with. Without them, this journal simply would not be. I receive a steady stream of papers submitted by scholars from around the world. It goes without saying that they provide the research and hard work that culminates in the fine articles we publish. So I also wish to thank them for their cooperation through multiple drafts until we are all satisfied with the end products.

Likewise, I want to thank our publisher, the University of Florida Press, for their excellent production work. Particularly, I wish to commend journals manager Lauren Phillips, who is not only a tremendous help but also a delight to work with. We are relieved and glad to note that she and her family "weathered" Hurricane Irma in good condition.

Further, I would be remiss if I were to fail to gratefully acknowledge the financial backing the journal receives from the institution from which we emerged, Georgia Southwestern State University. We are very indebted to them and to the GSW Foundation for their material and spiritual support over many years.

I have been a teacher and academic for more years than I care to admit, but I do not recall living in such "interesting times" as we are today. The number of truly menacing issues we face globally is staggering to the point of being almost overwhelming. As climate change inflicts ever more severe weather events on people, simultaneously eroding coastal areas and threatening human settlements, crops, biodiversity, health, and livelihoods globally, the US continues to dither. However, the strong consensus of scientists who have studied the problem is that urgent actions are necessary.

A growing number of countries in the Global South have recognized the critical need to transition to cleaner, renewable sources of energy and have begun the process. China, India, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Costa Rica, and other countries have initiated projects to develop solar, wind, and geothermal sources of power to meet their needs, while the US is actually trying to resuscitate the nineteenth-century solution--coal. Clearly, the US could learn important lessons from studying countries in the Global South.

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