Could a ban on asking about salary history help close the wage gap?
Across the United States, men outearn women in comparable jobs by 15%, Meanwhile, white employees outearn their Black peers by 11%, even after accounting for such differences as education, experience, occupation, industry, region, hours worked, and union coverage says Jim Bessen, executive Read More...
Victory! Activist groups succeed in shutting 3 major oil pipelines
The cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, and Keystone XL Pipeline not only represents a major victory for the environment, but also for grassroots groups which spearheaded the opposition movement. Shutting down these pipelines demonstrates the effectiveness of Read More...
Petition website Change.org to dedicate $6 million to racial justice
Change.org is a petition website that has been hugely instrumental for getting online communities to rally together in order to amplify a particular message or demand. The two biggest petitions ever seen on the website call for justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two names we should all Read More...
How to heal while fighting for social justice
In a time of deep, civil unrest (not to mention a pandemic), self-care has perhaps never been so important. You might brush off a morning meditation or virtual get-together with a simple thought: There are more important things to be focusing on right now. And you're right—there are. But that Read More...
How Dave’s Killer Bread is baking up opportunity by employing ex-convicts
After serving 15 years in prison, Dave Dahl and his brother, Glenn, went to work in their parents’ bakery with two goals - great bread and employment opportunities for ex-convicts. The company, which claims one-third of its workforce is comprised of ex-convicts, began their “Killer Bread” Read More...
This restaurant is giving inmates a chance at reinventing their lives
EDWINS, which stands for “education wins”, is a restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio that is creating success for itself and for the inmates that make up the staff. Brandon Chrostowski pulled himself out of crime and is now channeling positive change by creating this restaurant. One of the Read More...
Possibility: Don’t wrestle with pigs, and other lessons from the ideological battlefield
From The Intelligent Optimist Summer 2016 This U.S. election season is a perfect backdrop for discussing James Hoggan’s new book, I’m Right and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up. Hoggan’s special interests—ethical PR and climate change—merge in Read More...
Why elections are bad for democracy
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Our voting system worked well for decades, but now it is broken. It brings forward the wrong people (Donald Trump) and it leads to bad decisions (Brexit). There is a better way to give voice to the people. By David Van Read More...
Possibility: The justice of the crowd
From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 In recent years, crowdfunding has become a popular tool to fund projects and interests shared by groups of people. It is particularly common in arts and culture, leaving it up to the audience to determine what gets done and what they want to see. A British Read More...
Possibility: Keeping refugees afloat
From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 A quarter of a million. That’s the number of immigrants and asylum seekers who have already tried to get to Europe in 2015 by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the highest number on record, according to the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees. Thousands Read More...