Aug 11
I’ve written a lot about climate change and how future development needs to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. It’s easy to talk about these things like there are simple solutions and unlimited funds to develop sustainable products. In reality, however, it’s an extremely difficult process to create a product that is the perfect intersection between …
Aug 11
On Tuesday afternoon I gave a webinar presentation on voluntourism, or volunteer tourism, and though it is now available on the SISGI Group Institute for Social Change website, I thought I would give a quick summary of it for those of you who couldn’t attend (or didn’t know about it). Voluntourism is the combination of …
Aug 10
Are dogs really man’s best friend? As a dog owner of two, I would say so. The unconditional love and excitement they share is hard to find elsewhere. Every time I walk into my house from a bad day, I can always rely on their wagging tails and slobbery kisses to put a smile on …
Aug 10
Facing climate change and modernization Lebanon is a relatively resource rich country. It has no deserts, it has good arable land, it has four seasons and it is the most water-gifted country in the Arab world. But despite such natural attributes, Lebanon is a food import dependent country for 70% of its total food consumption. …
Aug 09
As I was writing the blog series analyzing the current situation at Dadaab Refugee Camp, I started to think about the need for refugee camps and services in general. A refugee is a person who flees – or who has been displaced – from their home and seeks refuge elsewhere. Many refugees flee in fear …
Aug 08
There’s a new kind of state (country states, not US states, just so we’re clear) emerging: MIFFs, Middle Income Failed-Fragile states. These MIFFs are classified as middle-income states in the World Bank list of countries by income category, but they have highly unstable governments and a lot of conflict. They are—or are close to being—failed …
Aug 05
Warren Jeffs, a polygamist religious leader and head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), was found guilty yesterday of child sexual assault charges stemming from a 2008 raid on his Yearn for Zion (YFZ) Ranch in Texas. This was not his first stint with the law, as he was …
Aug 05
Our agricultural and food system have many inefficiencies. Damages to the environment and promotion of an unhealthy food system are both causes and consequences of bad agricultural practices. We’ve previously studied the dangers of the monocrops. They’re apparently threatening our long-term agricultural sustainability (to learn more see posts). A change is needed, but how can …
Aug 03
Yesterday, Ryan wrote the third post in our series discussing the current situation in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. He talked about the need for mental health care and social entrepreneurship services in Dadaab, as they crucial in enabling the refugees to eventually leave the camp and rebuild their lives. Both of these services, along …
Aug 03
We all know that the no-fly zone and military action in Libya is ongoing, but what few people know is that the action was undertaken using the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and as such is fairly controversial. The United Nations enacted Responsibility to Protect (RtoP or R2P) during the 2005 UN World Summit as a …
