We are made of molecules, stardust and comets — small matter. I am 21, and I just want to love and be loved — because love is all there is. (Photo collage courtesy of Ange Theonastine Ashimwe) 1. I guess, now, I am twenty-one, and I still wonder what it means to be...
In many parts of the world, turning 21 years old is a milestone that signals a transition into adulthood. For Ange Theonastine Ashimwe, a student at Kepler in Rwanda, 21 is a “green-light number.” In her prose poem, she uses memory and metaphor to reflect on her lived experiences, contemplate our smallness in the universe and consider how much more there still is to learn.
Exercise: Ask students to reflect on a birthday that felt significant. What was happening in their lives? Why did it feel like a milestone? Then make a creative piece that explores those feelings.
Kamuskay Kamara grew up in the streets of Sierra Leone’s capital. He saw young people in the clutches of drugs and now is saving their lives. “I want to actually change the lives of young people.” Kamuskay Kamara has created an NGO to combat drug...
Nations have not lived up to commitments made in Paris six years ago. But there has been progress in combating climate change. Let’s not lose hope. A protester participates in a demonstration calling for urgent measures to combat climate change, Brussels,...
While the UN’s Climate Change Conference COP26 left some constituents hoping for more action, correspondent Sue Landau offers a perspective on how far we’ve come in the fight against climate change. There have been major industrial developments since the Paris climate talks in 2015 that started to put real, clean alternatives to fossil fuels within our grasp. But they were not without their naysayers, who tend to forget that we are at the beginning of the story, not the end. Solar power is in its infancy but has the potential to be harnessed much more. Green hydrogen as a fuel and industrial feedstock is still mostly in the development stage. Carmakers are betting heavily on the future of electric vehicles. Change takes time.
Exercise: Ask students to compare and contrast alternative energy sources, noting costs and benefits for each.
Africa has contributed very little to global warming. But the continent is the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change — and already suffering. Children in Madagascar. The United Nations estimates that at least half a million children under the age of...
Like many international negotiations, UN climate talks eschew voting and require consensus of all nations for an accord — a curious form of democracy. A climate demonstrator outside parliament in London, 25 October 2021 (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) This story...
My landlord — “Mum” — treated me like her own son. But I procrastinated — and now regret I never showed her the gratitude she deserved. Beatrice in 2008. (Photo courtesy of Jean Pierre Hakiza). At school, I learned that procrastination is our first enemy...
Earth is headed towards unsustainably high temperatures. The jury is out whether world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow will be able to stave off disaster. Extinction Rebellion Red Rebels climate activists protest in The Hague, Netherlands, 11 October 2021. (Paulo Amorim /...
After Kabul fell to the Taliban, the hurried evacuation of Afghans and COVID-19 have complicated efforts to find the refugees new homes overseas. A child holds up a piece of artwork while drawing in a tent at U.S. Fort Bliss, in New Mexico, where Afghan refugees are...
Press freedom is under assault around the world and journalists are in increased danger. The Nobel Peace Prize highlights threats to the Fourth Estate. American actress Meryl Streep presented the 2020 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney,...
Hungary opened the first cracks in Soviet Communism. Now, the world awaits its elections pitting a right-wing populist leader against a liberal opposition. A street performer in front of a statue commemorating the “Lads of Pest” — youngsters who took up...
