Category: Community
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Will you be my friend?
Having spent my whole adult life tucked away in my car or in my office or at my house, I have missed out meeting new people. I think it is probably possible to stay that way, even by taking public transit for the morning commute. Head down tapping away on various technology devices or absorbed…
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How much can a mind absorb?
It must be an interesting question for educators. How much can a person really learn over a span of time? Given that everyone learns in vastly different ways, it must be inherently difficult to create a standardized learning template. Not to mention, the will to learn comes down to each individual and has a significant…
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Voting with every dollar spent
Over the past 10 years or so, the concept of an economic democracy has been turning over in my mind. I feel like there is a ballot being cast with every retail transaction we make. There is a vote associated with every dollar spent at a retail outlet. This sends a message to the supply…
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How did I become addicted to plastic?
There was a time, when I lived in my first apartment, where I could fit everything I owned into the back of a pick-up truck. Consequently, the amount of garbage I created in a week, would not fill a full-sized trash bag. There was little recycling in those days, but even so the amount of…
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There is freedom in diversity
Back in 2002, Wade Davis gave these comments in an interview where the question was asked, “why does diversity matter, if nature and society are changing all the time anyway”? Just as there is a biological web of life, there is also a cultural and spiritual web of life—what we at the National Geographic have…
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The true cost of water?
As we left behind the water crisis in Cape Town, it was with a sigh of relief. Phew. We have done our time conserving water, getting down to our allotted 50L per person per day. Which is not much water. Our landlord told us that other tenants were getting down to 35L per person per…
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Teach women, invest in a community
I’m not sure how it came to be, that I learned how to sew. Did I pester my Mom to teach me? What did I think I was going to make on her old Kenmore? I remember she explained it all to me and was very clear about her instructions. She wanted me to pay…
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Where can you live in the sky with a canopy of trees?
The 2 ideas do not seem possible to coexist. Skyscrapers are built on a patch of land devoid of trees. These structures tower over the land at ever dizzying heights where no species of tree is able to reach. Not to mention that tree roots are an enemy to concrete foundations. We have long accepted…
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Teenagers are teachers, if we listen instead of lecture
“Coming home with straight A’s is fine, I’ll accept that, but what I’d rather have you do is come home and tell me something amazing that you learned in the spirit of doing something good for someone else, come home and tell me some really dramatic failure that occurred as you were trying to solve…
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Largest annual mass human migration in the world
And we think travelling for Christmas is a big deal! No, we have nothing on the global numbers who will reunite with friends and family on Chinese New Year. It is not surprising that communities all over the world are busy with preparations for the lunar new year, weeks ahead of the start. Why wouldn’t…