How To Cope With (Water) Stress

Being water stressed means you are unusually vulnerable to a water shortage. Sort of like a household where one emergency can push it over the edge because it spends all it earns, so too with most water stressed nations. That one drought…

The Big Impact of a Little Salamander

The woodland salamander made me think of Adam Smith. In North American forests, wherever it is dark and damp, under a rock or a log, a very hungry salamander could be devouring her daily diet. Eating 20 ants, 2 flies…

The Unintended Consequences of Banning Ivory Sales

New US ivory regulations have had unintended consequences. During November 2013, the US government “pulverized” nearly 6 tons of elephant ivory from Asia and Africa. Intending to send a message to elephant poachers, the Fish and Wildlife Service destroyed ivory that…

What We Sacrifice for Pothole Patches

With 150,000 more potholes than last year and $12 for each temporary patch, Chicago has spent close to $3 million on pothole repair and the end is not in sight. NYC was at a record breaking 113,131 on February 20.…

Is the Price of Protecting Pandas Too High?

By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School This summer, I had an incredible opportunity to travel through China including a stop to see the giant pandas in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Although the pandas didn’t…

Tall and Short Populations

Princeton economist Angus Deaton estimates that it will take 500 years for Indian women to reach the height of English women. In The Great Escape, Dr. Deaton explains that a population could be short because of nutrition or disease. When babies…

The Cost of Conservation

By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School. Saving water is supposed to allow us to cut down costs. For the drought-stricken city of Wichita Falls in Texas, this is not the case.  In 2013, Wichita Falls’s…

1930s Noise Pollution

In 1932, the NYC Noise Abatement Commission received a letter from Mr. N. Schmuck of 137 Milton Street in Brooklyn about the noise from a nearby pickle factory. Other 1930s noise complaints included early morning ice deliveries, “ear splitting shrieks…

Brazil’s World Cup To-Do List

Preparing its transportation infrastructure for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Brazil has one giant to-do list. In the air and on the ground, it has the participants, the officials and the fans that have to be moved around.…

One Way That the “Poor Beat the Rich”

In just 8 minutes, Hans Rosling shows us that, with child mortality rates, the developing world is making more progress than we might expect. With his captivating “gapminder” approach, he creates a race between Sweden in 1900 and Bangladesh in…