All Perspectives
6 organizations that protect animal rights Many charitable organizations dedicate themselves to improving the welfare of animals. Here, we tell you about some of the best. These six organizations have four-star ratings from Charity Navigator, along with at least $13.5 million in total annual expenses.
What we do, what they knowEven primitive humans left data trails in the form of footsteps, campfires, and arrowheads. But in the digital age, we are constantly generating data. Search engines and advertisers tap it. So does the National Security Agency. Convenience and security are the upside. Loss of privacy is the downside.
Cindy Elkind started Kevlar for K9s to protect 'working' dogsPolice and military dogs benefit from body armor, and so far Kevlar for K9s has provided it to more than 140 of them.
Difference MakerDiane Luby Lane shows teens how performing poetry can ignite their dreamsHer Get Lit 鈥� Words Ignite project introduces the excitement and benefits of performing poetry to thousands of highly challenged teens in the Los Angeles area each year.
Like shopping at local businesses? Now you can invest in them, tooA newly formed company based in Seattle makes it easy to put your money to work in the local economy.
A penny saved is two pennies earned for poor women in savings groupsSaving for Change operates in 13 countries with 680,000 members, most of them women. They not only benefit from receiving loans but share in overall profits of 30 to 40 percent.
Security checks, duty-free shops, and ... beehives?Beekeepers are using empty public land around Seattle-Tacoma Airport to breed and distribute healthier strains of honeybees.- Readers RespondReaders Write: Myth of a 'ban' on school prayer; Modeling respect for AfghansLetter for the Editor for the August 5, 2013 weekly print issue:Shorthand references in headlines to a Supreme Court 'ban' on school prayer are misleading. The meat of the recent cover story makes clear the court did no such thing. The 'ban' language is part of a campaign by those who want to return government-mandated religion to public schools.Can Afghanistan defend itself? The more important question to ask is whether the people of Afghanistan can defend themselves from themselves.聽Americans can never force Afghan citizens to treat each other in a certain way. They can only model respectful treatment.
When budget cuts hit a Connecticut historic site, a volunteer steps upAt Weir Farm in Connecticut, volunteer Pat Hegnauer tends the historic gardens, teaches first aid, and strolls the grounds as a docent, igniting visitors鈥� creativity.
Rethinking mental health careDe-institutionalization of mental patients was better than locking them away, but outpatient treatment has often been inadequate and underfunded. Now a new effort is being made to coax those experiencing mental problems into programs that gently support them and foster their reintegration into society.聽
Standards for humanitarian aid to be unified, simplifiedThe Sphere Project, which produces a popular humanitarian handbook, is working with two other key international organizations on a new standard that will unify and simplify the maze of existing international aid guidelines.
Difference MakerSri Lestari travels by motorcycle to bring an empowering message to disabled peopleTraveling by modified motorcycle Sri Lestari rides around Indonesia giving disabled people new hope.
Ghana's vulnerable till their own gardenA handful of disabled residents in Dazuuri, Ghana, have begun growing their own dry-season vegetable garden, adopting water-saving techniques to make it productive.
How laundry detergent became a catalyst for green innovationAdam Lowry, co-founder of Method, a company that has pioneered environmentally friendly cleaning products, tells how his small firm is nudging large corporations toward sustainability.
Well-designed $20,000 houses for the poor? Rural Studio makes them20K Houses, a visionary project of the architects at Rural Studio in Alabama, designs and builds innovative $20,000 houses.- Readers RespondReaders Write: US must not arm Syria's rebelsLetters to the Editor for the July 29, 2013 weekly print issue:聽The Sunnis fighting against the Assad regime are backed by Islamist jihadist groups. If the US arms the opposition, it will be, in effect, helping Al Qaeda. The best thing for America to do is stay out of Syria's civil war completely.Did intervention make Iraq a better place? Unseat Bashar al-Assad so Islamists can make further inroads? Arming the rebels will only amplify the firestorm.
US artist, Syrian children beautify a refugee campA mural painting project at the Zaatari refugee camp gives a moment of color and self-expression to kids who have had their lives shattered by Syria's war.
Tolerance: The Nile's age-old lessonTo share the resources of the great river in the desert has always required one thing above all else: tolerance. In today's Egypt, that fundamental condition has been severely shaken.
Pivot TV wants its audience to 'do something'The new cable channel will offer entertainment that aims to amuse and to inspire social change. "TakePart Live," for example, is devoted to "decoding" the news, including online involvement by viewers.
An 'explosion of human talent' will feed a growing world populationCNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria says the world faces 'enormous challenges, but they are not going to be challenges of decay, but of growth and abundance.'
