When I first met filmmaker and activist Shekhar Kapur, he asked me about my jeans. Did I know their history? In particular, did I know how much water was used in the process of producing them. I did not. He informed me that ...
Alongside the surge in international attention since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there has been a sustained criticism of the way outside interventions have operated in the most destitute country in the Western hemisphere. One start-up organization, KOURAJ, is trying to break from ...
To readers of mainstream media, it would seem that Occupy Wall Street had been hibernating for the winter. But, in fact, Occupiers spent the winter working hard on movement-building, strategizing, planning, and dealing with internal problems. Here’s an update on how the New ...
Do India’s Numbers Add Up? India saw new figures this week. Poverty rates have dropped since India liberalized, with states such as UP and Bihar apparently progressing. At first, the numbers are glossy, illustrating a progressing India. But, some are asking if these ...
There's been a slow but steady push in recent years to improve girls' access to education in developing countries. But while education has tremendous implications for gender equality and economic and social development overall, the potential for progress is limited if girls end ...
Everywhere you look—the Republican primaries, Occupy Wall Street, the media—the spotlight is on fixing the economy. Some critics have charged that the economy, as we know it, never really worked in the first place—and that alternative money systems might be more equitable. You ...
Banking Gets A Beating? Former Goldman Sachs employee, Greg Smith wrote an OpEd this week in the New York Times that highlights the malignant work culture at a company that he calls “morally bankrupt.” This outright acknowledgement from a mid-level employee has opened ...
Every year, the UN chooses a social or environmental issue of global importance -- such as biodiversity (2010) or microcredit (2005) or sanitation (2008) -- to bring attention to the issue or issues, and to drive resources toward solving them. This year, 2012, is ...
Matt Gunn, a 34-year-old elementary teacher from Logan, Utah built a living quarters and school for orphans in Leogane, Haiti. He partners with other organizations so that the orphanage has a self-sustaining revenue stream. Here he discusses the hard choices he's had to ...
JB Reed, a photographer turned social entrepreneur is using a new revenue model to raise funds for sustainable social ventures. After having his own work showcased in publications such as the NYTimes, New Yorker, Washington Post, and Bloomberg, he created Nuru, which celebrates ...