While writing for 50 States of Blue, I posted a piece about the Kansas sales tax on groceries. Here is an update on that piece via a recent press release: Senate Bill 444 passed unanimously out of the Kansas Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee last night. The bill would lower…
Globally, 1 in 3 women will be impacted by violence in their lifetimes. That’s a scary statistic. For a family with two daughters, statistically speaking, either the mother or one of the two daughters will experience violence solely because she is a woman (rape, domestic violence, etc.). While a…
If you’ve been paying attention to literacy activism for the past couple of years, then you’re probably already quite familiar with the notion of the Little Free Library. The idea there is that you post the little free library on your property, fill it with books, and others can…
According to an article by Eva Botkin-Kowacki in the March 10, 2016 issue of The Christian Science Monitor, it appears that there was a bacterium that consumes plastic discovered inside a recycling plant. The article, “Researchers Find Plastic-Loving Bacteria in Recycling Plant,” mentions that more than “311 million tons of plastic…
I became aware of the need to protect our frogs when I read about how pesticides have been traveling from 50 to 100 miles to cause problems when they are ingested by frogs. I first came across this problem on the Care2 Causes site. The article, “Pesticides Travel 100 Miles…
In the article, “The Diaper Divide” by Cecelia Muñoz, there is a serious discussion about the cost of diapers creating an interesting dilemma for parents. While many parents are enjoying the conveniences of having diapers delivered directly to their doorsteps, many more parents are unable to afford this basic necessity for…
What is the cycle of poverty? In general, it is the trend where a family becomes impoverished for at least three generations. There have been many different approaches to trying to break the cycle of poverty, and the efforts to free families from being trapped by poverty are noble. but…
What happens when you have a vacant lot in a city? Rather than leave the space empty, North Chicago is turning vacant lots into pop-up gardens. According to a Nation Swell article by Kathleen O’Brian, “North Chicago Vacant Lots Turn Into Pop-Up Gardens,” a local resident, Lamonda Joy, has taken…
On NationSwell a couple of years ago, they posed the question, “Why are Tons of Oyster Shells Being Dumped Onto Louisiana’s Coast?” Little did I know, oyster shells are being recycled in an attempt to restore the shoreline in Louisiana. According to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, since the…
The Dress a Girl Around the World program is sponsored by the organization Hope 4 Women International. The program has provided over 300,000 dresses for girls around the world. Participants sew a dress out of cotton fabric for a young girl to wear. Often, these are the only new dresses that…
