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 13
I recently returned from a 6-day trip to California (you may remember my preparations) that turned out to be surprisingly eco-friendly, and so I thought I would deviate from the traditional blog post today to do a sort of photo-essay. Hopefully this will help drive home the point that no matter where you are going …
Jun 10
I watched the Heat vs. Mavericks game last night—cheering for LeBron, Wade, and Bosh the whole way. Unfortunately, they lost this one. However, it had me thinking about why men’s sports teams are so glorified and women’s sports teams so devalued. Not only are women athletes and sports teams often devalued—they are very often suppressed, …
Jun 09
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post applauding charity: water on their excellent use of social media to benefit the organization and its cause. Today, I want to focus on another unique aspect of the company that deserves equal praise: the way they market their business model. Charity: water uses the 100% model, which …
Jun 08
As I traveled to Hawaii this past week on American Airlines, I thought about part of a previous post I wrote about on international airlines showing anti-slavery PSA announcements in-flight to fight child sex tourism. I could not help but to think again about the important difference it would make in ending modern day slavery …
Jun 08
This is a follow up of my last post where I discussed the Millenium Villages. In the last one I discussed the problem of sustainability (is it a good project in the long run?). Here I am going to discuss the problem of scaling up the project. I feel like the project is too ambitious …
Jun 08
The concept of ecotourism is frequently misunderstood despite its rising popularity across the globe, which results in an outcropping of businesses and companies that claim to be “eco-friendly” or “environmentally correct” when they are, in fact, nothing of the sort. Being eco-friendly can be difficult; it’s much easier to cut corners while benefitting from the …
Jun 06
When I was a freshman in high school, I had a tense conversation with my biology teacher that has always stuck with me. As a class, we had been learning the basics of genetics, and examining some of the ethical issues surrounding prenatal screening for congenital disorders. Our teacher was an enthusiastic supporter of screening, …
Jun 03
The Importance of Learning Languages in Schools Languages are some of the most important cultural and social building blocks of humanity. They can be barriers when people cannot understand one another or they can be connectors that bring people together. As countries become more globalized, knowing a second language has become almost essential for young …
Jun 02
Since civil war broke out almost five months ago, Libya has been all over the news. There have been both intranational and international efforts to take down Muammar Gaddafi, who has been the leader of Libya since 1969, but none have been successful. As Gaddafi attempts to maintain his rule, the international community has taken drastic …
