Category: Greed

World Wide (Conversation) – Coffee, apples, honey – were it not for the precious work of pollinators, countless things that we eat and drink would not exist, totalling more than 30% of global food production. Most pollinators are insects, particularly from the bee family (close to a thousand species in France alone), along with butterflies and diptera, such as syrphids. Apart from helping feed humans, these insects also play a vital role in the reproduction of a wide variety of wild plants, fertilising them by transporting pollen from one flower to…

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United States (Conversation) – Iran shot down a U.S. drone on June 19, further escalating tensions between Iran and its adversaries. Relations with Iran have been worsening for months. In early May, one year after the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 between Iran, the U.S., the European Union and five other countries, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country may also withdraw from the agreement, which limits its ability to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions. In June, Rouhani announced that Iran…

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Colorado, United States (Yes) – Twelve years ago, unintended pregnancies among young women in Colorado was at a stubbornly high rate. Federally funded family planning clinics in the state had been providing free contraception to families who couldn’t afford them for four decades, yet six of every 10 women, ages 15 to 24, who had a live birth that year said their pregnancy had been unintended. In 2008, an anonymous donation allowed the state to expand family planning services and for the first time provide long-acting reversible contraception, such as IUDs…

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Maryland, United States (Conversation) – Between 1850 and 1950, thousands of African American men, women and children were victims of lynchings: public torture and killings carried out by white mobs. Lynchings were used to terrorize and control black people, notably in the South following the end of slavery. Yet despite the prevalence and seriousness of the practice, there has been an “astonishing absence of any effort to acknowledge, discuss, or address lynching,” reports the Equal Justice Initiative, the leading organization conducting research on lynchings. Until now. In April 2018, the…

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United States (Cronkite) – Undocumented immigration from Mexico has dropped so significantly over a decade that Mexicans no longer make up the majority of those living in the U.S. illegally, according to a Pew Research Center report. Mexicans make up less than half the total undocumented immigrant population for the first time in more than half a century, the report says. Arizona is among more than a dozen states showing a decline, with 220,000 fewer undocumented immigrants in 2017 than 2007. More undocumented people are leaving the U.S. than staying, the…

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United States (Conversation) – In marking the 60th anniversary of one of the world’s best-known toys, the Barbie doll, scholars and journalists have a wealth of angles to explore. The impact of the Barbie doll on girls’ body images and the spread of a stereotypical model of womanhood has been the subject of extended reflections. They can also focus on the American company that markets it, Mattel, and its current difficulties in dealing with more interactive toys. Yet one story that’s much less known is that of Ruth Handler, the…

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United States (Conversation) – Alabama’s new abortion restrictions were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. But more has been said recently about the fact that the bill was passed by 25 white men in the state Senate. Media reports have pointed to how this law will disproportionately affect black and poor women. Only four women currently serve in Alabama’s state Senate. Three voted against the bill, while one abstained. In response to the Alabama vote, Democratic State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison compared men’s votes on abortion legislation to “a dentist…

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United States (JR) – Two new studies demonstrate a link between Medicaid expansion and positive health outcomes, adding quantitative evidence to inform the nation’s ongoing debate about health insurance coverage. Medicaid is a health insurance program for people who don’t have sufficient income or resources to otherwise attain health insurance. It is funded by both state and federal governments, but is managed at the state level. As of March 2019, 65,949,108 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid, and 6,662,765 were enrolled in the related Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), according to the Centers for Medicare and…

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United States (Conversation) – On Nov. 14, 1972, a controversial two-part episode of the groundbreaking television show, “Maude” aired. Titled “Maude’s Dilemma,” the episodes chronicled the decision by the main character to have an abortion. The landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade was issued two months after these episodes. The ruling affirmed the right to have an abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. “Maude’s Dilemma” brought the battle over abortion from the streets and courthouses to prime-time television. Responses to the episodes ranged from celebration to…

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United States (Conversation) – Outrage over racial profiling and the killing of African Americans by police officers and vigilantes in recent years helped give rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. But tensions between the police and black communities are nothing new. There are many precedents to the Ferguson, Missouri protests that ushered in the Black Lives Matter movement. Those protests erupted in 2014 after a police officer shot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown; the officer was subsequently not indicted. The precedents include the Los Angeles riots that broke out after…

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