In recent years, a growing proportion of migrants at the US southern border have come from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. This surge of migrants from Central America has prompted the U.S. government to seek to better understand and address the root causes of migration from the region. One substantive response came in July 2021, under Executive Order 14010, when the Biden-Harris Administration released what has become known as the Root Causes Strategy. The White House pledged to commit $4 billion over four years on efforts to address drivers of irregular migration from these three countries.

China dominates the world in its overseas development finance into power plants, mines, dams, and other infrastructure. However, while many projects sail through, a good many get stalled. The results have less to do with Beijing and more with the strength of the host country partners. There is a complex dance between governments, elites, and bureaucrats to win the best “deal” with China, including Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. These deals may benefit not just the economy, but also may empower one of these three actors. 

Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken recently reaffirmed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—a nation located in Africa’s heart—as a “geostrategic player and critical partner” for the United States. It is a country that features prominently in climate change discussions, not only because of  its vast natural resources (including mineral wealth estimated to be the largest in the world, as well as possession of a forest cover second only to the Amazon Basin), but especially due to its cobalt reserves.

On November 15, the world population is projected to reach 8 billion people. As we approach that milestone, there’s no denying that our rapidly growing human population also places extraordinary pressure on the environment. The human population has doubled in the last 50 years, while wildlife populations have been cut in half.

For many people, stillbirth— the occurrence of a fetal death at 20+ week’s gestation—is a concept. A statistic. Each year, at least 23,000 stillbirths occur in the United States. It occurs in one out of every 160 pregnancies. Yet when these numbers become a reality in your own life, they take on a new meaning.

We should be outraged by sexuality education’s colonialist connections. As a researcher and trainer based in the UK, I see how deeply blatant colonialist influences run in the field of sex education. The British empire was obsessed with the sexualities of their subjects and imagined their societies to be exotic licentious places where upper class British men could live out illicit fantasies. Yet, at the same time, these societies were deemed to be wells of immorality that needed Victorian moral education. These dual imaginaries were used to justify colonialism itself as a force to civilize non-western bodies and sexualities, and remain as ideas which echo in more contemporary discourses around controlling population and HIV.

States are sometimes overlooked as drivers of climate action, yet some of them have been true leaders that bring significant influence. In Washington State, for instance, a strong coalition has worked to develop a smart, foundational climate policy for decarbonization in all sectors of the state’s economy.

The looming 27^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in Egypt in November 2022 brings with it a moment of truth for many nations. They must intensify decarbonization efforts to meet their share of global commitments agreed upon at the Paris COP. Yet, the already significant challenges also have intensified. Disruptions of oil and gas flows caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are slowing a global green energy transition—at least in the short-term. The depth of the crisis means countries are even scrambling to keep coal-powered plants working.