Jun 29
Every now and then I read an article that I simply have to share with someone; so, today I share it with you! The article in this case is about Lapu-Lapu, a city in the Philippines which has taken an interesting route to promote ecotourism: recruiting students to act as ‘ecotourism police’ who report people they …
Jun 28
Leer la versión en Español Next Thursday the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-the international organization that oversees the global financial system- will have to elect a new Managing Director (MD), after Dominique Strauss Kahn’s (former MD) resignation. The two candidates for the position are France’s economy and finance minister Christine Lagarde and Mexico’s central bank director, …
Jun 27
In the past few weeks, I’ve written about how difficult it is for for a nonprofit organization to successfully address more than a single issue in a sustainable way. Complex problems – like poverty, for example – can rarely be solved by fixing just one aspect, which makes it difficult to make sustainable change. One …
Jun 23
When someone thinks of an “underdeveloped” or “developing” country, it’s all too easy to envision an area that is lagging behind (both technologically and economically) the Western world. It’s common to think of these places as needing our help to catch up to the standards we set and to follow the trends that we start. …
Jun 22
The University of Oregon and the Global Oregon Initiative recently announced an interesting—and controversial—partnership: a partnership with the government of Gabon. This one-of-a-kind cooperative agreement has a noble purpose: to establish joint research centers in Eugene and Libreville in order to study sustainability, economic development, and natural resource management. However, the union is problematic because of …
Jun 21
Leer la versión en Español Scarcity or inequality? We live in a world with economic inequalities, divided between the “developed” and the “developing” countries, the North and the South. As citizens of the world, we deal with those economic inequalities in different ways. Developed nations and individuals feel the need to carry on with the …
Jun 20
On May 31st USAID announced a partnership with IBM and CDC Development Solutions, an NGO that focuses on international corporate volunteerism (ICV), which USAID believes will make ICV more effective and sustainable. The partnership spawned a new agency: The Center of Excellence for International Corporate Volunteerism (CEICV), which will be funded by USAID, IBM, and …
Jun 15
Coal and the future of energy In a recent post I commented about the problems that communities in Kentucky face against coal industries and mountain top removal procedures (see here). People concerned about mining’s environmental impact propose a return to “deep mining. Deep mining is not as damaging as mountain top removal, and it also …
Jun 14
The case of the eastern Kentucky’s Appalachia Mountains Last week I was part of a delegation to Kentucky with Witness for Peace (to learn more about the organization click here). Its goal was to learn about coal extraction and its impacts on the communities and the environment of Eastern Kentucky. During the three-day trip, I was …
Jun 14
The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently published a report that documented the inmate population in the United States. The report showed that in 2002, 24.7% of the prison population was sentenced for drug offenses, including nearly 11% of whom have been imprisoned for possession. Drug abuse is a huge problem in the United States. This …
