By Anna-Sophie Maass, Lancaster University | – Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine two months ago, the world has grown used to the sight of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky’s diplomatic initiatives, initially from hiding in the besieged capital, Kyiv, and more recently in open meetings with a range of world leaders, have made […]
Climate Emergency: Extreme Heat devastates Male Honeybees and threatens Fertilization of Crops
By Alison McAfee, University of British Columbia | – Temperatures soared above 42 C for days in Western Canada in June 2021, with Lytton, B.C., registering 49.6 C, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada. Wildfires scorched the province, sparking a 56-day state of emergency and nearly 600 additional sudden deaths compared to the same […]
American Muslim women are finding a unique religious Space at a women-only Mosque in Los Angeles
By Tazeen M. Ali, Washington University in St Louis | – As Ramadan draws to a close, Muslims around the world prepare to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of a month of fasting from dusk till dawn and additional acts of worship. On Eid, as in Ramadan, community is an […]
Russia’s Weaponization of Natural Gas could backfire by Destroying Demand for It
By Michael E. Webber, University of Texas at Austin | – In December 2006, The Economist magazine published a cover drawing of Russian president Vladimir Putin, dressed like a 1930s gangster in a dark suit and fedora hat, under the headline “Don’t Mess with Russia.” Putin held a gasoline nozzle, gripping it like a machine […]
Extinction Rebellion Climate Scientists: why we glued Ourselves to a Government Building
By Charlie Gardner, University of Kent; Emily Cox, Cardiff University: and Stuart Capstick, Cardiff University | – One recent Wednesday, while most scientists around the world were carrying out their research, we stepped away from our day jobs to engage in a more direct form of communication. Along with more than 20 others from Scientists […]
How Big Oil fuels both Rising Authoritarianism and worsening Climate Crisis
By Eve Darian-Smith, University of California, Irvine | – Around the world, many countries are becoming less democratic. This backsliding on democracy and “creeping authoritarianism,” as the U.S. State Department puts it, is often supported by the same industries that are escalating climate change. In my new book, “Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate […]
A year of Hunger: How the Russia-Ukraine War is worsening climate-linked Food Crises
By Ro McFarlane, University of Canberra; Nenad Naumovski, University of Canberra; and Shawn Somerset, University of Canberra | – Global wheat prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The two nations account for 30%of the world’s wheat exports. That means many low-income nations who are net food importers are bracing for a year […]
Colonialism: why leading Climate Scientists have finally acknowledged its Link with Climate Change
By Harriet Mercer, University of Cambridge | – The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)‘s sixth and latest report on the impact of global warming on our planet, published earlier this month, reiterates many of its predecessors’ warnings: chiefly that climate change threatens global disaster if we do not act to avert it. Yet it […]
Contemporary Muslim Artists continue to adapt Islamic Patterns to challenge Ideas about fixed Culture
By Soheila Kolahdouz Esfahani, Western University | – What is culture? In today’s globalized world, we are familiar with seeing various cultural objects and ornamentation outside of their original location or context. If culture is not fixed and bound to a particular location, how does culture move and transform? Ornamentation in Islamic art — patterned […]