Sunday, October 15, 2017 will go down as a historic day, as California Governor, Jerry Brown, signed new legislation that will allow the residents of California to choose a gender other than male or female on official documents. The bill,…
The rest of the world hasn’t forgotten the Paris Accords
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months, you might not have heard of a little thing called the Paris Accords. For those not in the know, the Paris Agreement came into existence in 2016, a…
Puppies Behind Bars lets prison inmates raise service dogs
BY: SYDNEY KEEFE Puppies Behind Bars began in New York in 1997 and its mission is to have prisoners raise and train service dogs for wounded war veterans. After 9/11 Puppies Behind Bars branched out into training explosive detection canines for law…
Hitchhiking guide to the United States (Part 1)
BY: TIM O’NEAL While still very common in many other countries, hitchhiking in the United States has gone out of fashion. The distances can be great. There is a stigma around hitchhiking that can be a barrier to catching a…
How is horse racing still a thing?
BY RHIANN MOORE Animal Aid, with the assistance of cosmetic superheroes Lush, have set out to end horse racing in Britain. Through their campaign they are hoping to expose the salacious details of Thoroughbred deaths, approximately 200 horses a year,…
What does coal actually do to the air?
BY: RHIANN MOORE For decades most of the world has been reliant on coal for the production of electricity, and despite widespread knowledge of the damage that coal does to the air it is still in use today. Countries like…
Here’s why after 146 years, Ringling Bros. circus has decided to close for good
BY: PHILIPPE DE JOCAS The Greatest Show on Earth has finally shut its doors. After 146 years, 37 presidents, a great depression, and two world wars, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus – citing declining attendance rates and increasing…
What a gun auction taught me about ‘middle America’
“Do you know why Lincoln was splittin’ wood?” My grandpa’s question, inspired by the sight of decades old split rail fences lining Highway 40, abruptly broke the silence. As my phone signal aggressively cut in and out, I couldn’t help…
Someone mapped out the history of America’s unemployment rate- and it’s a complete shitshow
BY: SAMANTHA TAPP We know that unemployment rates have been, and will continue to be, a national problem. The unemployment rates seem to rise and then fall just as quickly on a monthly basis. According to the Washington Post, America…
The world’s most friendly (and powerful) passports
BY: TONY BUCHNON If you had the choice of any passport you liked, which would you choose? As it turns out, your passport says more than you might realise about your level of access to the world. European countries tend…
These best friends quit their jobs to visit 59 national parks in 59 weeks
BY: ALEX BROWN Something devastating happens when you reach your late twenties, hit the quarter-life milestone and responsibility comes knocking at your door. Soon, you’ll no longer be able to consider yourself in the careless twenty-something bracket—but that doesn’t mean…
The first openly transgender White House official could change American politics
BY: MELISSA MYERS Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is the first openly transgender person to join the White House staff, and a transgender women of colour at that. This announcement comes less than two months after same-sex marriage was declared a right in…
These American-poverty commercials are parodying condescending World Vision ads
The next sad-eyed, impoverished child you see totting donations from developed countries might be the face of an American. Looking to extend a hand to a struggling nation, feed the hungry, and make your positive contribution to the world? It’s…
Stanford just drafted the perfect plan to get America running on 100% renewable energy by 2050
BY: TYLER FYFE A new study by Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University in collaboration with U.C. Berkeley is the first guidebook for all 50 states to run on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050. If progressive politicians at…
Powerful photos show the untold story of immigrants illegally crossing the border
By: Nicola “Ókin” Frioli, all rights reserved. Will all who come to the United States really enjoy equality and freedom? Photographer Nicola “Ókin” Frioli tells the untold story of heartbreak and devastation that many migrant families suffer when seeking security and opportunity…
Why the war on drugs is creating addicts, not helping them.
BY: DANIEL KORN Illegal drug trade is a huge problem internationally for a few reasons. While drug-related murders only account for an estimated 5% of all murders in the United States, it becomes much worse in developing countries. Honduras, the…
Medical Tourism: Why Millions Each Year Are Trading Bikinis For Hospital Gowns.
BY: SARAH HOWELL The stigma of traveling to a foreign country to receive medical care is long plagued by urban myths of straw hut clinics, rusty surgical tools and Freddy Krueger plastic surgery results. In recent years it seems that…