All Perspectives
Toys for Tots: creating 7 million smiles a yearA Marine Corps Reserve effort helps families.
Education is key to protecting children in West AfricaPeople need to feel free to ask questions, to voice their opinions, and to understand the role they can play in changing practices such as child marriage, says a Muslim leader and child protection specialist.
Lava Mae provides mobile showers for homeless peopleFunded by Google and Indiegogo, a San Francisco nonprofit turns old buses into much-needed shower facilities for those living on the streets.
A decade after a devastating tsunami, new forests protect Indonesia's coastThe tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004 obliterated vast areas of Aceh Province. But villagers there have used an innovative microcredit scheme to restore mangrove forests and other coastal ecosystems as a natural barrier against future killer waves and storms.
Caring for our food at its sourceThe pleasures of dinner can be quickly spoiled when you consider where it came from. But that consideration is behind the ethical food movement.
Readers RespondWhy earmarks hinder CongressLetters to the Editor for Dec. 8, 2014 weekly magazine:Alexander and Ellis:聽Earmarks aren鈥檛 a silver-bullet solution to gridlock, and they wouldn鈥檛 alleviate the stark ideological divisions in Congress.
Difference MakerPeter Schumann's puppets speak out on big issuesAs a boy Peter Schumann carried his hand puppets with him when he fled the Russians. Now he's one of the foremost practitioners of experimental puppet theater in the world.
Inventor hopes to clean the air with giant purifiersIn Lima, Peru, now hosting UN climate talks, Jorge Gutierrez is showing off his air-purifying 'super tree' device that he says can convert as much carbon dioxide into oxygen as 1,200 trees.
Religious leaders vow to eradicate modern-day slaveryAn anti-slavery drive, led by Pope Francis, receives the backing of a wide array of the world's religious leaders.
Prospector Theater helps disabled people entertain new prospectsA restored theater in Ridgefield, Conn., provides customers with a great moviegoing experience while employing people with developmental disabilities.
Readers RespondReaders Write: Soceity makes war honorable; a new approach in Syria is neededLetters to the Editor for Dec. 1, 2014 weekly magazine:Kauffman:聽I wonder if humans don鈥檛 all carry an innate horror of violence and warfare. But we are socialized to think that 鈥渘ecessary war鈥� is actually honorable, and those who engage in it are heroes.Frank:聽What the US is currently doing in the region isn鈥檛 working, and聽we are running out of choices.
California police chief connects cops to the communityIn Richmond, Calif., a police chief has employed several steps that have greatly reduced violent crime as well as the need for police to use deadly force.
Mining character for cluesWe study people's pasts 鈥� especially the pasts of people who rise to prominence 鈥� hoping to understand how they will act in the future. But humans can always surprise us.
Fort Drum goes wood powered in a push for renewable energyIt's the first green energy project to come online since the Pentagon's 2012 commitment to develop 3 gigawatts of renewable energy on military bases by 2025.
Difference MakerChen Hui-jie runs a political campaign 鈥� at age 16A teenaged girl in Taiwan serves as a campaign manager for a city council candidate, and provides a model of civic activism for cynical teens.
Helping schoolchildren find the Vision To LearnThrough Vision To Learn, Austin Beutner brings eye exams and glasses to low-income students, helping them see their way to a better education.
Finding faith's common coreCoexistence is more than a bumper sticker. It is a vital need in a world with 7.1 billion different ways of seeing things.
Readers RespondReaders Write: Why Congress is gridlocked; taking a balanced perspective on CongressLetters to the Editor for Nov. 24, 2014 weekly magazine:Hauer:聽It would be easy to be discouraged by ideological extremes, but many polls have shown that a considerable majority of Americans favor balanced, independent thinking.Connolly:聽The comments were insightful, logical, and nonpolitical.
How to talk guns: First, get to know each otherA public dialogue on gun control, begun at a 2013 Monitor forum, continues in Montana.
Difference MakerChad Houser cooked up a caf茅 to give young offenders a second chanceAt Caf茅 Momentum in Dallas former juvenile offenders learn valuable life skills.
