Greetings Pine Tree Republic readers! This past week, I had the good fortune to attend a conference of the National Academy of Sciences called the Sackler Colloquium. This particular conference convened economists and ecologists to discuss how the disciplines could combine forces to attack some of our most pressing global sustainability challenges, including climate change,…
This past March was National Engineering Month in Canada, and an organization that I volunteer with, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada, invited me to write a guest blog post on the importance of diversity in engineering. After some reflection, I decided to focus on how learning from indigenous cultures has affected how I view engineering…
Travels in a Polarized Country In the lead-up to the U.S. election, I had the opportunity to travel through several states along the East Coast, visiting friends and university campuses. Even before the final, surprising twist on election night, the polarization amongst Americans was palpable. In Boston – perhaps America’s most educated city – I tuned into the…
Coffee and Politics As I was sitting across the table from my university friend, nearly 10 years later, I couldn’t help noticing the salt and pepper that started sprinkling his hair. We had been roommates for two years while going to school in Los Angeles. Shortly after graduation, he left for graduate studies on the…
A Cuban Conundrum On a sunny day in early February 2014, my partner and I stood at the end of a stone walkway at the entrance of Havana’s Castillo de los tres reyes magos del morro, or “El Morro” for short. We were on a two-week vacation in Cuba, and wrapping up a satisfying afternoon visit of the…
One of the first things I look forward to in every new year is the latest installment of international development conferences hosted by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to addressing global poverty through systems change. Every January, EWB convenes roughly 700 student and professional delegates from across Canada (and increasingly, around…
In a previous post, I examined three trends in global terrorism statistics that should give pause to policymakers proposing the typical policy package in response to terrorist incidents, including more bombing of terrorist groups, restricted immigration, and increased government surveillance. Specifically, these statistics demonstrated that (1) terrorist incidents in Western countries have actually declined since the…
The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris have prompted world leaders to focus on defeating the Islamic State, or Daesh (referred to in this post as ISIS), to a level of determination rarely seen on global issues. The Group of 20 (G20) summit held in Turkey just a week after the events, in which leaders from 20…
Ed. Note: With this post, I am introducing a new feature to Pine Tree Republic called “Viewpoints”. This monthly series will present a distinct opinion and set of policy recommendations on a recent political or international relations issue, complementing our “Front Page News” features, which will remain as objective as possible in analyzing the wider…
Pine Tree Republic 