News & commentary on sustainability, activism, urban planning, politics, and our world.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has just introduced the Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act, legislation which would allow students to refinance their college debt at a much lower fixed rate of interest. These reforms are especially needed, because in July US student loan rates are set to double to nearly 7%. Strangely, this is also happening at a time when our government continues to allow billionaire Wall Street bankers to borrow money for a small fraction of that cost.
It’s 5 o’clock, and Yasmina is running late for her drawing and painting class; she quickly grabs her watercolors, kisses her mother, and runs out the door to school. But what you might not realize, is that Yasmina and her fellow Roma students are all defying their culture’s norms just by showing up to their art class today.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced her first bill, which allows for college students to borrow money at the same low rate of interest which Wall Street banks enjoy. Why would billionaire bankers be given a much more favorable loan rate than poor, struggling students? That is a very good question that the senior senator from Massachusetts has been asking.
Recently I was listening to an engrossing radio interview with the visionary economist and author, Gar Alperovitz, as he was discussing his new book, What Then Must We Do?, which highlights the rise of cooperatives, worker ownership and the restructuring of our failing economy from the bottom up.
Riding a bicycle helps the body stay fit and is environmentally friendly, and provides numerous benefits that allow for self autonomy, mobility, and health, all factors that help our society to evolve and improve. Although when I am riding my bike, some days it still feels like some people do not understand just how truly liberating riding a bicycle can be.
Last month we returned to our beloved Latona Community Garden in San Francisco’s Bayview District for a spring party, which was attended by scores of local families. Years ago my spouse and I helped to transform this former dump, and create this shared neighborhood space, so it was especially gratifying to see that the urban garden is continuing to thrive.
President Barack Obama did not give his regular public address to the nation this week; in his place was Francine Wheeler, whose six-year-old child was brutally murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School four months ago. The grieving parent used the national broadcast to express why she believes that the United States must implement common sense gun safety reforms.
Rachel Maddow highlighted a satirical commercial featuring Exxon that is especially funny, because the bizarre scenario that it depicts is actually strangely close to reality. Comedian Andy Cobb is presented as a spokesperson for the corporate oil giant’s newest method of petroleum delivery, flooding your neighborhood streets and lawns directly with their viscous toxic crude.
A new study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) has discovered a strong correlation between robust weapons regulations and much lower rates of gun violence in the United States.
Decorated Iraq War veteran Tomas Young was paralyzed in 2004, after being injured during his military service in Iraq. Young has since become a vocal activist working for peace, and is also a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Young reads from his powerfully honest letter, “A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from a Dying Veteran”.
