麻豆社

The global economy is affecting millions of people while the Russian invasion of Ukraine is also directly impacting the supply of fuel and food.

Lebanon has been in an economic crisis for almost three years, and Beirut is still recovering from an explosion of stored chemicals in 2020, which killed over 200 people and displaced around 300,000 citizens. Three women talk about how fuel shortages are affecting lives when not everyone can afford to pay the increased cost of energy.

Host Karnie Sharp and the OS team also hear from two protestors in Sri Lanka about dealing with power cuts and if they believe the recent change of government will improve the situation there.

And, as the rising cost of living hits some of the most vulnerable particularly hard, two people in the UK share their experiences: writer and recovering alcoholic Sam Thomas and Jenny Holden. Jenny has a form of chronic arthritis as well as the long-term health condition fibromyalgia, which causes body pain that gets a lot worse in the cold and means paying higher fuel bills is becoming increasingly difficult.

(Photo: An employee pumps fuel into a vehicle at a gas station in the town of Damour in south Beirut, Lebanon, 18 May 2022. Credit: WAEL HAMZEH/EPA)