Opinion

2014.07.10 Ranchers in Idaho are threatening to face off against the government once again…and this time, it’s over some birds. The US government is considering listing the sage grouse as an endangered species, which could have a sharp impact on the very generous arrangement that the ranchers currently enjoy. Much of the cattle ranching in

2014.07.02 We spend so much time focusing on the problems of the present day that it can be very easy for us to ignore the past, and to ignore the historical actions and events that have led us to the situation of inequality and injustice that we face today. But as the famous saying goes,

2014.06.26 There’s both good and bad news coming through this week when it comes to energy news. On the one hand, we have some positive new EU rules on biofuel use; and on the other hand, we have some very bad news about the growing use of coal. Let’s have a look at both of

2014.06.23 The educational system in the United States is in dire trouble and there seems to be little real hope of effective reform in the near future. Our country’s once top-flight educational system has been in a state of decline for decades and we are rapidly falling behind many other developed countries. This decline in

2014.06.18 Educating girls and young women is not only one of the biggest moral challenges of our generation, it is also a necessary investment for a peaceful and poverty-free world. Until we give girls equal access to a good quality education, the world will continue to suffer from child and maternal mortality, disease and other

2014.06.09 Two 12-year-old girls lured their female friend of the same age into the forest in Wisconsin, USA, and stabbed her 19 times before leaving her to die. Fortunately, the girl survived, and was able to crawl to the road, where she found help and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Her attackers are being

2014.06.05 Of all the things that matter to humans, language might be the most important – considerably more so that politics, race, or even money. Language is probably the most inherent part of human culture: it separates us from the animals but it also distinguishes us from each other and helps us form particular communities

2014.05.24 We spend a lot of time here attending conferences on serious issues of oil, energy, and environment and reporting back to you with what we’ve learned, but sometimes something that initially seems a bit more light-hearted comes around. This was the case with this week’s FoodNews Juice Asia conference, held in the Singapore Sheraton

2014.05.20 Last week a court in New Zealand passed a potentially landmark ruling over what initially seems like rather a minor issue – the immigration of a single family from the Pacific island of Kiribati (pronounced kirr-e-bas, despite those final two letters). The family was returned to the island nation, but it is the reason

2014.05.12 The kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria by the extremist sect Boko Haram is starting to make big waves in the international media, partially due to the horrifying nature of the story and partially due to the sheer unlikeliness of managing to kidnap so many people without anyone knowing where they’ve been taken. The