Anthropology & American Studies double major at the College of William and Mary. Social Media Coordinator and Team Member of Real Food Williamsburg, WMTV and Smile of Virginia. Featured posts on environmentally-friendly thinking, sustainable farming and living, education & inspiration for outdoor adventure and stewardship, art, photography, film, literature, music, politics, philosophy, monthly pick of non-profits and more.
good:
The planet is undergoing rapid climate change, and precious corners of the earth are being irreversibly environmentally altered. The International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” It’s a good time to ask, how does one see the world without contributing to problems of pollution and global warming?
32 Notes
![theatlantic:
Campaign 2012 Will Be Nasty, Brutish, and Anything But Short
Now that the Republican primary is just about over, political junkies cast their eyes ahead to the next seven months, and in many cases, their anticipation is tinged with dread.
Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney, we’re pretty sure, is not going to be one of those fun elections — a gleeful free-for-all infused with a sense of passion and possibility. Rather, it’s going to be a life-sucking slog — a mirthless, grinding blitzkrieg of unrelenting negativity.
As you look forward to Nov. 6, the essential characteristics and contours of the campaign you can expect along the way are already clear. It will be:
Expensive: Between two candidates with major blue-chip donor bases, two healthy, determined political parties behind them and a universe of super PACs and other outside groups unleashed by a new campaign-finance landscape, no expense will be spared over the course of this campaign. […]
Negative: Two candidates of whom the public is generally skeptical and a bit weary will devote their energy to tearing one another down, seeking to terrify voters into casting votes for the lesser evil — or just staying home. […]
Long: With each side flush with cash and focused on its opponent, there will be no down time from the presidential campaign in the next six and a half months.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2kxioBmUE1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Campaign 2012 Will Be Nasty, Brutish, and Anything But Short
Now that the Republican primary is just about over, political junkies cast their eyes ahead to the next seven months, and in many cases, their anticipation is tinged with dread.
Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney, we’re pretty sure, is not going to be one of those fun elections — a gleeful free-for-all infused with a sense of passion and possibility. Rather, it’s going to be a life-sucking slog — a mirthless, grinding blitzkrieg of unrelenting negativity.
As you look forward to Nov. 6, the essential characteristics and contours of the campaign you can expect along the way are already clear. It will be:
Expensive: Between two candidates with major blue-chip donor bases, two healthy, determined political parties behind them and a universe of super PACs and other outside groups unleashed by a new campaign-finance landscape, no expense will be spared over the course of this campaign. […]
Negative: Two candidates of whom the public is generally skeptical and a bit weary will devote their energy to tearing one another down, seeking to terrify voters into casting votes for the lesser evil — or just staying home. […]
Long: With each side flush with cash and focused on its opponent, there will be no down time from the presidential campaign in the next six and a half months.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]
38 Notes
![Interesting.
theatlantic:
Finally, a Google for Grandma
Internet usage, studies have suggested, can improve older people’s mental and emotional wellbeing. And yet, for many seniors, the shiny machines sitting on their kids’ or grandkids’ desks (or in their hands, or on their laps) are just that — machines, foreign and cold. Nearly 80% of all Americans, Pew says — and nearly 80% of all baby boomers — use the Internet; only 42% of seniors do.
The digital divide, in other words, has a corollary: the generational divide. […]
So it’s both ironic and fitting that the young company that made its name simplifying the web is now trying to bring that simplicity to the web’s oldest users. In a pilot program at its Dublin offices, Google has rolled out classes that pair up older people with (generally, much younger) Googlers, providing instruction on everything from email-sending to photo-uploading to searching for information to, in general, navigating a not-always-intuitive Internet.
Read more. [Image: Cambridge Community Television]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2bzeoq4Bk1qcokc4o1_500.png)
Interesting.
Internet usage, studies have suggested, can improve older people’s mental and emotional wellbeing. And yet, for many seniors, the shiny machines sitting on their kids’ or grandkids’ desks (or in their hands, or on their laps) are just that — machines, foreign and cold. Nearly 80% of all Americans, Pew says — and nearly 80% of all baby boomers — use the Internet; only 42% of seniors do.
The digital divide, in other words, has a corollary: the generational divide. […]
So it’s both ironic and fitting that the young company that made its name simplifying the web is now trying to bring that simplicity to the web’s oldest users. In a pilot program at its Dublin offices, Google has rolled out classes that pair up older people with (generally, much younger) Googlers, providing instruction on everything from email-sending to photo-uploading to searching for information to, in general, navigating a not-always-intuitive Internet.
Read more. [Image: Cambridge Community Television]
198 Notes
![theatlantic:
Austerity Is a Disaster: The Lesson of Europe’s Record Unemployment
Euro zone unemployment just hit a 15-year high. German unemployment just hit a 15-year low. What can those of us across the Atlantic glean from this seemingly bipolar state of affairs? That austerity, every economic conservative’s favorite prescription for an ailing economy — the medicine Republicans here in the United States are pushing hard — is an utter disaster.
A few euro zone members, including Germany and the Netherlands, are enjoying a relative jobs boom. And yet, europe’s overall unemployment rate is 10.8 percent. How is this possible? Because of depression-level unemployment in Europe’s austerity-plagued periphery. […]
This should put to rest the notion of “expansionary austerity” — that is, that budget cuts can spur growth by giving businesses increased confidence. It has been an epic, epic failure with interest rates at zero. The more a country has cut, the more unemployment it has. Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have all had markets (and Germany) force them to radically reduce deficits amidst already deep slumps. The result has been even deeper slumps. Joblessness has jumped to levels not seen in advanced countries since the 1930s.
Read more. [Image: Eurostat]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1v5anetD41qcokc4o1_500.png)
Austerity Is a Disaster: The Lesson of Europe’s Record Unemployment
Euro zone unemployment just hit a 15-year high. German unemployment just hit a 15-year low. What can those of us across the Atlantic glean from this seemingly bipolar state of affairs? That austerity, every economic conservative’s favorite prescription for an ailing economy — the medicine Republicans here in the United States are pushing hard — is an utter disaster.
A few euro zone members, including Germany and the Netherlands, are enjoying a relative jobs boom. And yet, europe’s overall unemployment rate is 10.8 percent. How is this possible? Because of depression-level unemployment in Europe’s austerity-plagued periphery. […]
This should put to rest the notion of “expansionary austerity” — that is, that budget cuts can spur growth by giving businesses increased confidence. It has been an epic, epic failure with interest rates at zero. The more a country has cut, the more unemployment it has. Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have all had markets (and Germany) force them to radically reduce deficits amidst already deep slumps. The result has been even deeper slumps. Joblessness has jumped to levels not seen in advanced countries since the 1930s.
Read more. [Image: Eurostat]
82 Notes