Tag: United Nations

Escaping Environmental Change

Every winter, Floridians see an increase of “snowbirds” in their communities. Snowbirds are Northerners who migrate South during the winter. Their migration is due to the harsh winters in the North and their seeking the warmth found in the Sunshine state. While their experience is due to difficult weather conditions, it is very different to …

Continue reading

Share

Disarming the Developing World

The debate on the use of weapons is heated, personal and wide-ranging. As a conflict resolution student, I’d like to think that conflict can be resolved in other ways besides using deadly force. This particular blog doesn’t try to address the debate on whether weapons should be used or not. It accepts that in today’s …

Continue reading

Share

World Teachers Day and the Gender Gap

Last Wednesday, October 5th, was World Teachers Day, initially recognized by UNESCO. While I will assume that many people did not do too much to celebrate, coincidentally I happened to attend a conference on international education.  Foundation for Social Change hosted the Global Conference for Social Change here in New York City, and Wednesday’s theme …

Continue reading

Share

Defining Human Rights

In previous posts, I’ve stated that I consider myself a human rights advocate. I define this term as an individual who works to ensure that all human beings have their basic needs met and rights enforced. This includes needs such as food, housing, clothing and rights to education and physical and religious freedom. Under international …

Continue reading

Share

Are Some Diseases Just Not Sexy Enough?

Anyone having read aid literature is familiar with the stories about underfunded and overcrowded disease clinics throughout Africa. Where patients don’t have the means to pay for treatments, and often medications are in too short supply. These grueling stories tug at the heartstrings of foreign donors, and because they are so far removed from a …

Continue reading

Share

Unknown and Unwanted

What if your home was no longer yours? What if you were a guest in a place you once called your own? As I prepared for a fact-finding trip to Colombia in May 2010, I tried to do my homework. I looked up demographic and country data, information on the people I was meeting with …

Continue reading

Share

Judging Development: Supercomputers And Your Emotions

On Sept 16th, Foreign Policy magazine printed an article about the predictive powers of computes in foreshadowing revolutions around the world. The writer claims that in the not so distant future, technology and super computers will be able to predict pubic unrest and reveal incredible insights to the functioning of society. Drawing extensively from Klev …

Continue reading

Share

Social Good Summit Recap – Day One

I walked into the 92Y building just a few minutes before the program was scheduled to start. I was attending the Social Good Summit presented by Mashable, the UN Foundation, 92nd Street Y and sponsored by Ericsson, which is a four day event starting September 19th during UN week. I scanned the room looking for …

Continue reading

Share

Loss of Innocence: Children in Combat

There are parts of the world, where children don’t worry about how to tell their parents they received a bad grade or convince them to let them go out on a Friday night.  That carefree life is a far reality from the grim existence that many live in throughout the world.  There is a generation …

Continue reading

Share

Learning, Giving, and Having Fun

As most parents and educators know, children are much more receptive to taking part in educational activities when they are associated with the word “fun.”  Normally, learning new vocabulary words or working on geography and art can all be considered boring in a child’s mind.  However, www.freerice.com, a non-profit website operated by the United Nations …

Continue reading

Share