Nov 03
A few weeks back I went to a Garmeen Creative Lab Workshop, where Bill Moggridge, the Director of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum spoke about the new exhibition: Design With the Other 90% Cities. I was reminded of this exhibit when I was researching for my last piece on the 7 billionth person entering the world. The role of this …
Oct 20
Last week I wrote a post about some of the aspects of development besides economic growth that policy makers should take into account when dealing with the developing world, and today I would like to continue in a similar vein. This time, however, I am going to discuss a different variable: culture. Over the summer …
Oct 18
Last year I spent some time backpacking through China, and I came away with some great memories from the trip. Apart from just memories, I also came home with a bag full of incredibly dirty clothes. Being in an urban city, I could not figure out why my shirts were always so dark by the …
Sep 30
Today I thought I would talk to you about an interesting twist on responsible tourism that I stumbled upon: the Youth Career Initiative (YCI). The YCI was launched in 1995 in Bangkok as part of a community initiative by the Pan Pacific Hotels Group, and was intended to “give back” to society by teaching disadvantaged …
Sep 27
On November 28th 2011 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is set to hold their next Presidential elections, and despite having ten candidates vying for the position, current President Joseph Kabila is set firmly as the front-runner. Kabila has been in office since 2001 after his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated. The platform that Kabila …
Sep 16
The state of Penang, Malaysia, has stumbled upon an interesting economic growth device: hospitals. The region boasts numerous private hospitals and those hospitals draw an impressive number of medical tourists each year, which boosts Penang’s economy, as well as Malaysia’s as a whole. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, medical tourists are pretty …
Sep 14
En un esfuerzo de reducir el trafico de drogras, muchos paises han recurrido a la erradicacion forzada de cultivos ilegales. Existen dos principales maneras en las que la erradicacion forzada toma lugar: fumigacion aerea o eliminacion por tierra. En teoria, se assume que la erradicacion de estos cultivos permitira y detendra el trafico de drogas. …
Sep 08
I’ve written a few posts now where I’ve mentioned “greenwashing” (my post about Sandals, for example), but I realized I’ve never discussed what greenwashing is. So, I’ve attached a helpful video that describes greenwashing and gives some tips on how to avoid falling for greenwashing traps when searching for sustainable products. The video deals mainly …
Sep 07
I recently read an article about a mother, Raquel, that had been sentenced to prison for the death of her child, after a car hit her son (who consequently died) as he crossed the street. The mother was sentenced in spite of the fact that the driver who ran over them was drunk. An accident …
Aug 25
Microfinance has become something of a buzzword in recent years (depending on which circles you run in), and the industry’s increase in popularity has also lead to an increase in criticism. You may remember my last post about microfinance, as well as the posts written by my colleagues, but for those of you who don’t, …
