Vanessa Nakate named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
25-year-old climate activist Vanessa Nakate was recently appointed as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador. This recognition comes after a 3-year climate change campaign that saw her address world leaders both at COP25 and COP26 summits. Vanessa is a well-known East African climate activist from Kampala, Uganda. She was inspired...
Current in News
Opinion – Puerto Rico’s hurricane deserves more coverage
Last week, Puerto Rico was without safe drinking water or electricity, but blanket news coverage of Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral has raised questions about how networks should prioritise their content. On Monday last week, hurricane Fiona left Puerto Rico without drinking water or power. By the early hours of Tuesday,...
Cost of living crisis fuelling a rise in eating disorders
A charity has warned that the number of people struggling with a ‘morbid preoccupation with food’ is likely to soar as basic necessities become increasingly unaffordable across the country. According to Beat, the UK’s leading eating disorder charity, around 1.25 million British citizens are suffering from anorexia, bulimia, or avoidant...
VeryNile builds plastic pyramid to highlight river pollution
Last weekend, to observe the World Cleanup Day, volunteers from Egypt built a pyramid made from plastic collected at the banks of River Nile to highlight environmental conservation. A group of volunteers in Egypt have taken part in a cleaning exercise along the River Nile to highlight how important protecting...
Sierra Leone gives citizens veto power over large-scale projects
Under new laws, the West African nation will allow local communities to have a direct say in whether environmentally destructive mining, farming, and industrial projects get to move forward. In what’s being referred to as a ‘globally unprecedented’ move to protect the environment, Sierra Leone is giving local communities veto...
New report shows drastic decline in global wildlife
According to a leading scientific assessment warning that humanity is ‘losing the war’ to save nature, wild species populations have shrunk on average by 69 per cent since the 1970s. A bleak new report from WWF in collaboration with the Zoological Society London on biodiversity loss has revealed that the...
Something is making the Earth spin faster
Scientists just recorded the planet’s shortest day since records began. Now they’re considering dropping a second off their atomic clocks to keep them aligned with rotation. If you’ve been reading my articles this week, then you may have developed something of a sense of dread towards the state of things at present. That is if you weren’t already being kept awake at night by the bleak reality that climate change is...
Biden pardons all federal offences of simple marijuana possession
In a surprise move just a month before midterm elections, the President announced on Thursday that he’s taking considerable steps to overhaul America’s cannabis laws. On Thursday, President Biden took steps to overhaul US policy on marijuana by pardoning thousands of people with federal offenses for simple cannabis possession. Initiating a review of how the drug is classified, he hopes that his executive action will relieve the ‘collateral’ consequences of prior...
How is the ongoing crisis in Burundi affecting Gen Z?
The ongoing political crisis in Burundi is weaking the country’s economy and negatively impacting the lives of young people. Child labour, trafficking, high illiteracy, early pregnancy, and teenage marriage are all major problems in an already unstable climate. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. The humanitarian and political crisis that continues to unfold has taken a toll on its people and deepened societal struggles. Landlocked in...
Nigeria bans use of foreign models in advertising
Despite a population of 200 million, Nigeria has historically relied on foreign faces in advertising. A new ban on white and non-Nigerian models is a big step in representation, but will it work? When you think of Nigeria, you don’t tend to imagine white models and actors with British accents. But in a large portion of Nigerian pop culture, foreign faces take centre stage. Cultural assassination in Hollywood has driven the...
