Global Development
In an increasingly globalized world, international development efforts aim to improve living conditions, equity, and human rights around the world. Our global development section tracks this globalization and reports on specific equitable and sustainable development initiatives.
UN reclassifies cannabis as a less dangerous drug
In 1961, The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs classified marijuana as a Schedule IV drug, the most dangerous category. Now, cannabis has been removed from the list per the World Health Organization’s recommendation. The drug’s declassification opens up the door for more research Read More...
Scotland becomes first country to make period products free for all
Scotland is making history in public health as it becomes the first country in the world to make period products free to anyone who needs them. The Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill last week to ensure that menstrual products are free and Read More...
Want to make a donation this holiday season? Here’s a guide to help you
During Thanksgiving, we shared how you can still safely give back during the pandemic, but when it comes to choosing which organization to support, it’s not always so simple. Today we share a guide on choosing a nonprofit (or multiple!) to support this holiday season. Think about the work Read More...
The Optimist View: Empowerment, skills training, and the fight to eradicate hunger
“Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice.” - Jacques Diou By Amelia Buckley Right now, 80 percent of food banks in the US are serving more people than they were at the same time last year. The pandemic has exacerbated the need for immediate food relief, but it has Read More...
This project uses beams of light to expand global access to the internet
There are more than 3 billion people in the world who still lack access to the internet. Many of them live in remote areas with rough terrain where deploying conventional internet infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables, is a difficult and expensive undertaking. But X, Alphabet’s moonshot Read More...
Thankful Thursdays: A note to non-profits
What is the most impactful organization in your community? In this week's Thankful Thursdays prompt, we look at organizations and non-profits that serve our neighborhoods and the global community. This can be an organization that you have been involved with, have been helped by, or simply just Read More...
Internet balloon breaks record by spending 312 days in the stratosphere
Loon, a project developed by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has recently revealed that one of its internet-beaming balloons has broken a flight record, floating in the stratosphere for 312 days straight. The idea behind Loon is to launch a fleet of large communications balloons into the Read More...
Indian charity serves free meals to underprivileged students in England
A charity feeding millions of poor children in India has recently expanded its focus to put an end to holiday hunger in England by distributing free meals to those facing food insecurity. The charity recently opened its first planned kitchen of three in Watford, a town northwest of London. Serving Read More...
This chef uses food waste to feed and empower her community
After moving from a small town to Rio de Janeiro to become a chef, Regina Tchelly wanted to incorporate food waste reduction into her recipes to help give a second life to ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away. Pumpkin rinds, banana peels, and seeds are just some of the ingredients Read More...
Affordable housing design uses plastic waste to build sustainable homes
There are hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste in the environment all over the globe, threatening both human health and natural ecosystems. What if we could take this problem and use it to solve another one? That’s the line of thinking behind a new ambitious project aiming to build Read More...