By Kelsey Clough Published November 6, 2014
Approximately half of Earth's inhabitants are female, of which an estimated 56% are of reproductive age and menstruate monthly. Yet, in societies throughout the world the topic is taboo. Consequently, inattentiveness to menstrual hygiene management significantly impacts the environment.
By Kelsey Clough Published October 20, 2014
Within the past century, the medicalization of society has shaped American society. This conditioned proclivity for pharmaceutical solutions to social problems, has exponentially expanded the production and sale of medical remedies. The explosion of pharmaceutical drug use, however, poses grave threats for the environment.
By Kelsey Clough Published November 8, 2013
I always blamed the deluge of fabrics in my closet on being short. My height, which has remained at a shorter than average five feet and two inches since my eleventh birthday, had always justified my accumulation of clothing and shoes; I never grow, so my clothes simply pile up. Upon unearthing an article citing Elizabeth L. Cline's book Over-Dressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, however, I realized my over-accumulation of frocks and heels may have more to do with increasingly cheap access to clothing. This proliferation of "fast fashion," though, has implications that extend further than my crammed closet. With an increase in the purchase of inexpensive clothing, a correlated increase in clothing disposal exists. Both of these processes, of clothing manufacture and disposal, possess serious environmental consequences.
By Kelsey Clough Published October 4, 2013
Niger, ranking among the poorest nations of the world, often appears to the international community as the fragile child of the playground. With the country's recent resistance to contractual obligations with the powerful China National Petroleum Corporation, however, power dynamics have begun to shift.