Between 100 and 127 AD, the ancient Roman satirical poet Juvenal wrote a collection of five books comprising 16 satirical poems, each a scathing critique of the rampant corruption within the Roman Empire, known as “The Satires”. In Satire X, Juvenal wrote: “Long ago, when they lost their votes, and the/ bribes; the mob/ That used to grant power, high office, the/ legions, everything/ Curtails its desires, and reveals its anxiety for/ two things only, Bread and circuses.” Juvenal’s writing evokes nostalgia for days when Romans upheld an imperfect democracy. Before the reign of Rome’s emperors, citizens elected representatives. He…

Real World Problems In the summer of 2023, 71-year-old Robert Wooley stood by his pool in Phoenix, Arizona. It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit that day. Mr. Wooley decided to head back inside, but tripped and fell. The rocks he landed on had become blisteringly hot after baking in the Arizona sun. He found himself unable to get back up as his skin slowly burned. Mr. Wooly began “wiggling across the hot rocks like a sidewinder rattlesnake,” and the pain was so excruciating that he “just about surrendered.” His wife saved him. At the Arizona Burn Center in central Phoenix,…

On April 15th, 2010, the CEO of the global oil conglomerate BP (formerly known as British Petroleum), Tony Hayward, spoke to company shareholders at the Annual General Meeting in London. “For a long time, BP has advocated a proactive approach to climate change and supported action to curb carbon emissions.” Five days later, disaster struck in the Gulf of Mexico. The 52,587 ton semisubmersible oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank into the Atlantic. A total of 134 million gallons of oil leaked into the Gulf, becoming one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. Mike Williams, an…

The Third Conference of the Parties (COP) took place on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, where representatives of 160 nations convened to do something unprecedented: they agreed to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions as part of an international agreement titled the Kyoto Protocol. Eighty-four nations signed the Protocol, but one key participant did not become a party to it: The United States. Despite President Bill Clinton’s words that the Protocol was “environmentally strong and economically sound,” he never attempted to persuade Congress to approve the ratification of the Protocol. Thirty-seven developed nations — the most significant historical emitters —…

University lecture halls, newsrooms, the halls of Congress, and the boardrooms of large companies are places where climate change is frequently discussed. The physical effects of the climate disaster, however, do not pose the greatest threat in these places. Low-income populations will experience the most extraordinary hardship, despite studies concluding that the wealthiest ten percent in the United States and China emitted enough greenhouse gases to increase heat extremes in vulnerable regions — the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa — by a factor of three. To build awareness of the hardships faced by those at the forefront of the…

On Monday, September 22nd, President Donald Trump stood at the pulpit in the Roosevelt Room to deliver a speech about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition affecting roughly 61 million people globally. Seconds into his speech, Trump referred to the rise in autism diagnoses, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), spiked from one in 150 children in 2000 to one in 36 children in 2020, as a “horrible, horrible crisis.” Then, minutes later, he claimed that “there are certain groups of people that don’t have vaccines, and don’t take any pills, that have no autism.” He…

Despite the appalling atrocities committed by merciless leaders throughout history, today, a disturbingly significant number of politicians display a concerted lack of empathy and yet remain in office. Political scientist Brian Klaas has written extensively about how individuals who consider themselves entitled to power and justified in maintaining it at any cost are particularly drawn to political positions that offer them the opportunity to acquire power, control, and a prestigious reputation. Andrew Lobaczewski, a Polish psychiatrist who spent the early years of his life fighting against the Nazi occupation of Poland, coined the term “pathocracy” to describe a government in…

Climate change is frequently discussed in university lecture halls, newsrooms, the halls of Congress and the boardrooms of large companies. But, the physical effects of the climate disaster are actually displayed in low-income populations. These people are on the frontlines of the most extraordinary hardship, yet they are not the guilty ones. Studies show that the wealthiest 10 percent in the U.S. and China emit enough greenhouse gases to increase heat extremes in vulnerable regions — the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa — by a factor of three. To build awareness of the hardships faced by those at the…

The Third Conference of the Parties (COP) took place on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, where representatives of 160 nations convened to do something unprecedented: they agreed to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions as part of an international agreement titled the Kyoto Protocol. Eighty-four nations signed the Protocol, but one key participant did not become a party to it: The United States. Despite President Bill Clinton’s words that the Protocol was “environmentally strong and economically sound,” he never attempted to persuade Congress to approve the ratification of the Protocol. Thirty-seven developed nations — the most significant historical emitters —…