Southeast Asia has often received flak and a bad reputation when it comes to environmental sustainability. In the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019 released by the World Economic Forum, Southeast Asia, as a bloc, got a score of 3.8 out of 7 on factors that contribute to environmental sustainability. Given that the region is...
Inequality has always been viewed as a problem. So much so that it is in fact listed as #10 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals — to reduce inequality within and among countries. According to the United Nations, the types of inequalities that persist globally are based on “income, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation,...
As of 2016, 3.2 billion people globally are considered middle class. A study by the Brookings Institution estimates this number to increase by 140 million annually, and in the next five years, by 170 million. While the growth of the global middle class is not necessarily the same all over the world, it can be considered...
Up to this day and age, women continue to be underrated, underrepresented, and generally everything under—. This is particularly true in the arena of politics and STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine). And one of the significant reasons for this is because there are those among us who shy away from being assertive. But...
Green cars. Eco-conscious consumers are loving thee, but how much do thy really cost? Let us count thy ways… This piece started as a look into the purchase costs of green cars. As eco-conscious consumers, we are looking at our gas-guzzling old cars and considering replacing them with spanking new electric-powered vehicles (EVs) that are...
Being eco-conscious when it comes to baby and kids clothing is not just good for the environment. It also goes a long way towards safeguarding the health of your children. You see, environmentally-harmful clothing is tantamount to health hazards. Non-organic cotton, for example, is grown using a lot of chemicals — insecticides and pesticides that...
When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you do? Check your phone for social media updates, emails, and more? What about all throughout the day? Do you notice yourself constantly checking out your smartphone? And before you sleep, have you noticed yourself still checking your phone? For many people, phone addiction...
The recent article by Jennifer Nini on the adidas x Parley collaboration on the upcycled sustainable running shoes has generated a lot of interest. And rightfully so as each pair of the adidas UltraBOOST Parley and UltraBOOST X saves at least 11 plastic bottles from being dumped into the world’s oceans. Overlay this with the...
Manila, Philippines: I have just very recently read The Ethics of Mining Gold: The Social and Environmental Impacts of Gold, written by my colleague Mary Imgrund. Let me say, as a person who has visited small-scale gold mining communities in the Philippines and worked for the NGO BAN Toxics which has presence in said communities,...
There is no sport that is as attuned to nature as surfing. This is perhaps the reason why Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian, and considered the father of modern surfing, said: “Out of the water, I am nothing.” The concern for nature is inherent in surfers. In fact, having spread awareness on the impact of the...
In July 2016, UK’s giant supermarket chain Tesco announced the removal of at least 20 percent of John West tuna products from their stores. The reason? Unsustainable fishing. Immediately after the announcement, two more British supermarket chains, Waitrose and Sainsbury, also threatened to pull John West products off the shelves for the same reason. This...
London, United Kingdom: “Us” versus “Them.” This is turning out to be a common theme in politics nowadays, from the United Kingdom’s Brexit to the rise of strongmen leaders in Asia, and the election of Donald Trump in the United States. The current buzzword used to explain this phenomenon? Identity politics. But what is ‘Identity...