By: Jocelyn Schwalm After volunteering on farms around the world, Jenny Spring decided to return to her hometown of Huntsville to give starting her own farm a try. The Spring Farm is a locally run urban farm owned by Jenny…
Global Stage
How a mysterious little girl brought strangers together 145 years after her death
By: Andrew Uyeno What would you do if you were away from your house and the construction crew working on your garage found a tiny casket? That’s exactly what Ericka Karner came home to. Thus began a mystery that captured…
This is what “20 minutes of action” looks like for the victim. (NSFW Short Film)
BY: JESSICA BEUKER There was a communal moment of shock on June 2 when Brock Allen Turner, a former Stanford University athlete, was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and sentenced to six months in jail and probation –…
Why the rest of the world needs to start following Norway’s lead on saving the environment
BY: Zoe Melnyk Norway’s plans to end deforestation and ban gas-powered cars are quickly making it one of the greenest countries in the world. Just last month, Norway promised to ban deforestation. That’s a huge leap most countries in the…
How Banksy has captured our hearts and our minds.
By: Andrew Uyeno We tend to love mysteries. Did aliens land in Roswell? Does the Bermuda Triangle really make ships disappear? Where did Amelia Earhart go? And also: who is Banksy? The graffiti artist from the UK had taken the…
How this man is using dumpster diving to save the world
By: Jocelyn Schwalm Imagine not having to, but wanting to, jump into a dumpster for your food supply. Or consider willfully going a year without showering. For Rob Greenfield, these are just some of the lengths the social activist boldly…
Thailand is cracking down on tourist hot spots to save itself from total destruction
BY: CAROLINE ROLF The tropical country’s coastline and islands are home to some of the world’s most incredible white sand beaches and scuba diving sites. While these magnificent sites drew nearly 30 million tourists to the country last year,…
America’s national parks are sacrificing sacred space in exchange for corporate funding
BY: M. TOMOSKI This August, the National Parks Service (NPS) will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. With over 400 parks, monuments, and conservation areas across the United States, the NPS is responsible for some of the country’s most popular tourist…
With the rise of voter fraud claims, Americans are getting really pissed off
BY: M.TOMOSKI Eyebrows rose unnaturally high early February at the idea that a coin toss could decide the Iowa Caucuses. Despite the confusion, those were the official rules, and anyone who has spent hours shuffling from one side of…
This filmmaker sheds light on the poor treatment of foreign farmers in Canada
BY: CAROLINE ROLF For more than 50 years, migrant workers come to Canada to tend to our fields, work in our orchards and toil inside our greenhouses. We may put a lot of thought into what produce we’re putting on…
This Kurdish film challenges you to rethink war and the power you have to prevent it
By: Victoria Heath Picasso was right when he said, “Art is a lie that makes us recognize the truth.” Yet some truths are too haunting, dark and difficult for many of us to accept as reality. Some are even…
“Airbnb” for butterflies – the native tribes dedicated to saving the monarch
By: Kassandra Dzikewicz The population of the monarch butterfly is plummeting quickly. In recent years, the butterflies have decreased by 80 to 95 percent. Deforestation, global warming and the use of pesticides are the main contributors to the decline.…
Could empathy be creating more global suffering?
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Most people would agree that empathy – the capacity to understand or feel what another is experiencing by placing yourself in their position – is an inherently good quality. After all, the more we empathize…
These are the heartbreaking stories of China’s “Leftover Women”
BY: JESSICA BEUKER In China, women over the age of 27 are referred to as “sheng nu”, which literally translates to “leftover women”. According to NextShark, respecting one’s parents is seen as the most important thing in Chinese…
Is the new Filipino president really worse than Trump?
BY: M. TOMOSKI With the election of the outrageous new Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, many have been calling him the Trump of the East. But in the city of Davao, where Duterte has been mayor for 22 years, he…
Anti-immigrant vigilantes are patrolling the streets of Europe, and locals seem to be ok with it
BY: M. TOMOSKI Founded in September 2015 by Mika Ranta, a self-described neo-Nazi and ex-convict, the Soldiers of Odin (SOO) is a vigilante group that has spread across Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, the UK, Canada, the United States…
When it comes to Bernie Sanders, we all missed the point
BY: M. TOMOSKI Three months on the road feels like one long fruitless year when your days are committed to driving from town to town listening to the same old speeches that end up on the cable TV news loop…
The Indian child bride that became a professional wrestler to fight sexual assault
BY: Zoe Melnyk After not one but two marriages before turning 15, Neetu Sarkar used wrestling as her way out of the oppressive life as a child bride in India. At 13, Neetu was married to a man with…
Modern slavery is not only inhumane; it’s literally destroying our planet.
BY: CAROLINE ROLF As we shop for cellphones, computers and cheap frozen seafood, we remain ignorant to the fact that we are unwittingly supporting the enslavement of tens of millions of people in developing countries. A leading expert on slavery…
Four University of Toronto students hope to start a global financial revolution.
BY: Victoria Heath Late last winter, sheltered in the historic halls of the University of Toronto, four students plotted to start a global financial revolution. Inspired by the 2015 UofT Hult Prize Challenge—which they subsequently won—the group, now officially…