Human-caused climate change is one of today’s biggest global issues. While countries around the world are working toward a more sustainable future – Brazil and the Netherlands are good examples – climate change remains less than a priority in the United States, though the number of American citizens that care about climate change is increasing.
I preface this letter by making it clear that I am not a cop-hater. I do not attend protests outside police stations. I do not walk around looking to record police doing their jobs. Overall, my few dealings with the Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) and the Boston Police Department (BPD) alike have been positive.
When was the last time you walked through Ruggles? Maybe it was an hour ago, when you went to get lunch at International Village (IV), or maybe it was a couple days ago when you visited a friend in one of the Davenports.
Bottled water giant Nestlé has come under fire – again – for purchasing a well in Ontario that Centre Wellington, a small Canadian township, had been trying to buy, according to The Canadian Press.
From a fellow student…
There were once men who weren’t admirable because they knew a lot about one thing; they were famous because they knew a lot about many things. These were the pioneers of their era: Newton, Franklin and even Einstein. They are a reflection of an older time – not their time, but the time of Enlightenment. And the preeminent figure of the Enlightenment was Leonardo da Vinci. His knowledge of several scientific and philosophical fields is a demonstration of the culture of the time, a promotion of a well-rounded knowledge base. Nowadays, this sort of pedantic mastery of subjects is cleverly disguised as pretentiousness.
You are 17 years old and living in a country where war surrounds you. With your 18th birthday around the corner, you are about to be drafted to fight for a cause with which you strongly disagree. Every day, bombs are falling on your village, and women, children and men are being shot for reasons you do not fully understand. You have friends and family who have been seriously injured by the war. You have two options: Stay in your country and risk your life by becoming an active participant in the war, or flee and seek safety for yourself and your family.
I am full of contradictions. I am vulnerable yet guarded. I hate change, but I am extremely adaptable. I am someone who seeks “safety,” but I opt for adventure. I always plan things ahead of time, but I also act on impulse. I may be like that by nature or by design, but I truly believe that I have the power to steer my life in the direction I want to. I take my decisions, I work for them and I go where I want to go – most recently, to Israel on my Alternative Spring Break. One question was all it took to make up my mind: “When will you ever plan a trip to Israel?” Before I knew it, I was in Israel with an amazing group of Northeastern students. The trip consisted of volunteer work at the Israeli Defense Force base, but for me, this experience was much more than the day-to-day work.
For most of the past decade, The Washington Post has had a section on its website called the Fact Checker. Primarily used to monitor the statements public officials make, it has been a solid source for verifying whether politicians are actually saying things that are, you know, at least partially grounded in the truth. And for nearly a decade, it has done admirably well at its job, rating statements on a scale from one to four “pinocchios.”
But then came Donald Trump.
