In October 2009, Parliament member David Bahati vocalized Uganda’s long history of homophobia by proposing a bill that imposed the death penalty as punishment for anyone engaging in same-sex relations. Bahati introduced the bill, which was signed by the President and passed into law in 2013, in an attempt to “protect the cherished culture of … Read more
What I remember most from coming out to my parents was the morning after. My dad walked into my room at about 7:00 am, shook me awake, and decided to tell me what he was thinking. “The path that you’re going down is a life of disease and depression.” I rubbed my eyes while trying … Read more
“Tell me, how large is the population of your country?” the representative from China asked Christiana Figueres, the representative from Costa Rica, during a lunch break at the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 1997. They had just spent the morning debating the establishment of the Clean Development Mechanism, which would allow developing countries to earn tradable … Read more
The history of the United States’ treatment of its indigenous peoples is more notorious than it is honorable, littered with controversial policies including tribal relocation and forced assimilation. From the earliest days of American colonies to the 20th century, the United States and Native American nations negotiated some 500 treaties, nearly all of which were … Read more
The judgement had come down. Critics had tasted the burger in front of the camera and an invited audience of journalists, and they had judged the patty to be “rather like” meat. The key was that the burger was not made from conventional meat: rather, it was composed of cultured beef muscle cells grown in … Read more
Suing Over Climate Change is a Win No Matter the Verdict On June 24, 2015, a Dutch district court in the Hague handed down a decision binding the Netherlands to reduce its total climate warming greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020. The case marked the first time any country had ever … Read more
American politicians enjoy declaring unwinnable wars on nouns. The ’60s bore witness to the war on poverty, the ’70s saw Reagan wage the war on drugs, and the ’00s have seen the rise of a war on terror. Is a war on cars up next? Ever since Seattle rolled out an ambitious growth plan limiting … Read more
For most, the idea of vacation evokes images of beaches, famous landmarks, or museums in exotic locations. For the approximately one million people each year who opt to partake in ‘slum tourism’ — a practice which involves travelling to an area of extreme poverty — the idea of vacation takes on an entirely new meaning. … Read more
An inquisitive child impulsively reaches toward a piece of artwork that has captured her imagination. Arms stretched out, she leans toward the gilded frame, anticipating touching the sinuous lines on the canvas created by the oil paints of an Impressionist artist. “Stop!” an anxious security guard shouts. The child turns away, as her hope of … Read more
For nearly four decades, the United States has been losing a grueling ground war on several fronts. In 2016, casualties reached an all-time high and the federal government officially declared this conflict a “national emergency.” Even with over one trillion dollars spent thus far on the war effort, victory is nowhere in sight; deaths continue … Read more