“Hidden Connections,” a thought-provoking digital video series premiering today, explores one of the human consequences of climate change — specifically its little-known link to child marriage. TakePart, the digital division of Participant Media, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation teamed up to produce the three-part series, which gives an intimate look at the lives of two young girls living in Bangladesh.
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On Friday, January 20 in Washington D.C., Donald Trump will be sworn in as the nation’s 45th president. The next day, a demonstration that aims to bring a million women and feminists to the nation’s capital will formally protest his inauguration as commander-in-chief. This march is a show of solidarity to demand our safety and health in a time when our country is marginalizing us and making sexual assault an electable and forgivable norm. EVERYONE who supports women’s rights are welcome.
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It might be time to ask your boss for a raise—that is, if you haven’t gotten one already. According to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, most categories of workers are seeing wage growth hit post-financial-crisis highs. In fact, Bespoke Investment Group points out that the 3.9 percent year-over-year growth expected for full-time employees is faster than at almost any other point in U.S. history. More specifically, women saw some of the fastest increases in wages, reversing the trend of males getting bigger raises earlier this year. So if you haven’t asked for a raise, it might be time to talk to your boss or look for a new role. Especially if you’re a woman.
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Historically, this country’s wildest places have been primarily the domain of men—hunting, fishing, adventuring, outdoorsy, manly men. It’s no wonder that women are intimidated by the idea of strapping on a backpack and stepping into a roadless area, without cell service, populated by unknown wildlife. To suggest that it has relevance to women’s lives seems to be a stretch however wilderness doesn’t recognize gender. As the primary caregivers of their children, women have the opportunity to gift them with a sense of their own power and wildness by introducing them to the wilderness near them. As role models, being in touch with ones own wild world can open the door for the next generation.
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Today, there are nearly 2,000 active landfills across the country and hundreds more are at capacity, a stark reminder of just how massive our waste problem has become. One thing we have to remember when looking at this is that trash, and landfills, are a human invention. Waste does not exist in nature, in any form. Everything that is produced in a healthy ecosystem is consumed or decomposed by another organism, or the sun. That is because, in a natural system, everything has value to something. We need to return to how things were in nature, where waste does not exist, by creating a circular economy and committing to zero-waste systems.
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Three small green businesses offering ethical apparel in New York,Arizona and Wisconsin, were announced as the winners of Green America’s “People & Planet Award.” The winners of the $5,000 prizes are: Themis and Thread of Hector, NY; Fed By Threads of Tucson, AZ; and Fair Indigo of Madison, WI. The winners were selected by the public during a month-long online voting period. The Award recognizes innovative U.S. small businesses that integrate environmental and social considerations into their strategies and operations.
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Construction on new buildings never stops, and with it grows a demand of sustainability options. Green construction depends on using the best materials that meet both strength and usefulness as much as it does environmental standards. There is an expected growth of green construction in demand of 11 percent in the next year, so it’s best to understand how and what’s making this happen.
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Helena Norberg-Hodge, widely regarded as one of the most significant environmentalists of our time, has been a steady critic of the destructive impact of global monoculture. In addition, she is a pioneer of the “new economy” movement, which promotes localization in the face of a global political economy dominated by money, commercialism and the exploitation of resources for the maintenance and reproduction of capital accumulation.
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Television commercials featuring the Kool-Aid Man, the newest cereal flavor, or McDonald’s latest Happy Meal toy are common sights during Saturday-morning cartoons. But two studies published last week suggest that the barrage of junk-food advertisements on television is a driving factor behind rising childhood obesity levels. Some health experts believe the days of junk-food advertisements being shown during times children are probably watching should come to an end.
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The impact of climate change on Arctic communities is so great that it limits their ability to adapt, or at least that’s what has long been assumed. But according to a recent study in Nature Climate Change, it’s non-climatic factors that obstruct adaptation. For those communities who struggle with adapting, the hurdles they face are unrelated to climate change. Instead, outside pressures, such as outdated land management practices, bureaucratic regulatory processes, limited education and marginalization curb the ability of these communities to adapt to the effects of climate change.
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