All Perspectives
Detroit charity turns blight into gardens, parks, and homesMotor City Blight Busters is fighting to bring Detroit back one abandoned building and one vacant lot at a time. The nonprofit demolishes abandoned buildings that are beyond repair, renovates homes, and cleans up parks and illegal dump sites.
Manufactured homes can provide low-cost housing that saves energy tooLow-income families can benefit themselves and the environment by moving into energy-efficient manufactured homes, says the founder of Next Step.
Why we should listen to the worldLocal is crucial. Families, homes, and communities need our attention and care. But without a global perspective -- without making the effort to learn how other cultures are tackling problems ranging from education to health care, fighting terrorism to fostering innovation -- we miss valuable lessons developed in the laboratories of other nations.聽- Readers RespondReaders Write: Consequences of climate change; US attitude adjustment on wildfiresLetters to the Editor for the September 2, 2013 weekly print edition:Wildfires, natural gas and fracking, and Arctic development are closely linked to climate disruption, but the articles on those issues failed to mention that key connection.Solutions to wildfires must address entitled-to-be-saved-from-myself attitudes in the US. If we continue like this, people will build on the lips of volcanoes and then demand to be saved.
- Difference MakerWhen Khanyisile Motsa saw girls living on the streets, she took them homeKhanyisile Motsa is 'mother' to a very large family 鈥� 62 orphaned girls at her Johannesburg, South Africa, 'Home of Hope' orphanage.
YouthBuild: solving America's youth crisisYouthBuild has helped 120,000 low-income high school dropouts produce more than 23,000 units of affordable housing while studying for their high school equivalency diploma.
A new way to finance education: Pay part of what you earnInstead of taking out a college loan, students pay back the cost of their education using a portion of their earnings after graduation.
SCORE helps small businesses start, grow, succeedNonprofit SCORE provides education and mentoring services to small-business owners across the US, with more than 10 million clients so far.
MLK's dream is the American dreamFifty years ago, black Americans -- and many whites as well -- descended on Washington, D.C., to insist on one simple thing: that the United States keep its word that "all men are created equal." Fifty years later, progress on equal rights has been realized in some ways, but it remains a dream in others.- UN turns to Twitter and Beyonce for fundraisingThe UN is turning to the power of celebrities and their social media following to raise money and awareness of international humanitarian needs.
In an Afghan refugee camp, she looked to universal principles of lawSetting up services at an Afghan refugee camp meant creating some kind of rules.聽Sakena Yacoobi looked at 'what was fair, moral, and just 鈥� what we could want for ourselves. I now know that these are sometimes called universal principles of law.'- Readers RespondReaders Write: US must preserve, not develop Arctic; Way forward for Israelis, PalestiniansLetters to the Editor for the August 19, 2013 weekly print issue:聽The effects of climate change in Alaska are significant.聽Instead of striving to develop the Arctic, the United States should focus on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, among other things. Strengthening reasonable voices on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a good idea 鈥� but only if those voices respect universal human rights.聽A fully secular two-state solution is the best way forward.
A teen starts Genevieve鈥檚 Crutches to give others an extra boostColorful crutches decorated by Genevieve Finn and her family are being sported by wounded warriors, children, and others.
How to stop global child traffickingHilton has become the second US-based, multibrand hospitality company to sign the ECPAT Tourism Code of Conduct, supporting its voluntary principles to prevent child sex tourism and trafficking.
Difference MakerLynne Patterson brightens the futures of struggling women with Pro MujerWomen in developing countries 'hold the key' to their futures, Lynne Patterson says. Her nonprofit Pro Mujer helps them find it.
Hidden environmentalists: India's waste pickersIn Pune, India, a city that suffered a waste disposal crisis in 2010, an alliance of waste pickers has established an inclusive, sustainable model for solid waste management that presents a potential blueprint for the future.
Vermont sailing barge may be model for carbon-free shippingThe 39-foot Ceres 鈥� built by volunteers 鈥� is an update on the type of cargo vessels that once plied inland waterways throughout the northeastern US.
Baby boomers now the largest source of charity giftsBaby boomers (born 1946-1960) give 43 percent of all the money contributed to charities by individuals. But millennials (born 1981-1995) believe more fervently in volunteering, a new study finds.- Readers RespondReaders Write: Civil discourse in Big Sky country; Kids of US parents aren't 'immigrants'Letters to the Editor for the August 12, 2013 weekly print issue:聽The recent cover story on a new 'green' economy in the Rocky Mountain region created a civic space in its pages for persons who hold often strongly divergent political views to find some measure of common ground as they think about the economic potential of the region.The term "second-generation immigrant" is inappropriate and inaccurate when used to describe children with one parent born in the United States.
Maggie Doyne went from high school graduate to surrogate mother of 40 in NepalAt age 19, Maggie Doyne founded a school and orphanage in a remote village in Nepal.
