"I'm crazy about journalism, as I love being able to open people's eyes to unique events and powerful ideas in the world around them."
"Actions in Spotlight has encouraged me to learn more about why these inequalities exist and how society can resolve them through the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals."
"Actions encourages other young people to learn more and speak out for the causes they support; our voices will be heard."
"Actions in Spotlight has encouraged me to learn more about why these inequalities exist and how society can resolve them through the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals."
"Actions encourages other young people to learn more and speak out for the causes they support; our voices will be heard."
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
May 2019
When I was little, my teachers taught my peers and me skills like adding and subtracting, reading and writing. They also taught us other skills like sharing with each other, talking about our problems, and negotiating solutions. These are basic principles...
By Georgia Bernbaum
May 2019
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
To achieve all 16 goals, the United Nations put forth the 17th goal which encourages collaboration between public and private sector to achieve the goals.Schools, public or private, play an important role to help achieve this 17th goal. They should prepare the future...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction
Nonfiction in response to No Poverty
January 2018
Winter in Maryland. A time of frost, snow, and chilly winds. A time when most people zip up their winter coats and throw on a hat and gloves before heading out the door. A time, for most, of warm crackling fires, steamy hot chocolate, and holiday joy...
By Kelsey Cashman
Nonfiction in response to No Poverty
January 2018
Did you know that approximately 22,000 children die each day because of poverty? Did you also know that one missile costs the same amount it would take to feed a school of hungry children every day for five years?
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to No Poverty
January 2018
Orlando is the Theme Park Capital of the World, literally. Just a year ago, the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. trademarked that slogan in recognition of the fact that the area’s multiple theme parks are the biggest draw...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Nonfiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
At the sprawling Cathedral Kitchen complex in Camden, New Jersey, the floodgates open daily at 4 p.m. sharp; 12 p.m. on the weekends. As the day’s crew of 20-25 volunteers finishes setting the tables with homemade placemats and...
By Ilana Arougheti
Nonfiction in response to No Poverty
January 2018
It often feels like society is progressing at an incredibly fast rate and innovating on an unprecedented level. Yet, the core issues of socioeconomic inequality and poverty that have plagued society for centuries are still far too prevalent in the world today...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
When considering world hunger, it’s important to look at local impacts in addition to more global ones.
While some people believe that world hunger exists because there is not enough food to feed everyone, the world actually produces...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
Food: without it, we cannot live. One important function food has is keeping us energized during the day, so that we can do all the things we need to do, such as going to school. Unfortunately, many people around the world do not have access to this necessity...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
Malnutrition is a problem that people typically think of as belonging to third-world countries. But what if I told you that first-world countries, too, suffer from that problem? “Hidden hunger” is a form of malnutrition where...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
It was a cold but crisp morning when we left our house in Sunnyvale in a dark blue vehicle, in search of another vehicle, a double-wide trailer called This is Hunger, literally an exhibit on wheels...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
March 2018
The disease malaria took about 445,000 lives in 2016 and infected about 216 million people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Malaria is transmitted by female mosquitoes and can eventually be fatal...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
March 2018
Before I listened to Ms. Lisa Dreier’s presentation, I thought that food was never a problem for most people. If you’re an adult, it’s as easy as going to the supermarket for your week’s supply of groceries or even out to a restaurant for lunch, and...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
March 2018
It’s 2018, and there are 844 million people without access to safe water. Many of us take clean water for granted and don’t even consider how easily we have access to safe water. Yet, in certain parts of the world, clean water is not the norm. Unfortunately...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
March 2018
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Imagine you are sitting on your couch, sipping your morning coffee, and skimming through the newspaper when one headline in particular catches your eye. The headline of the article reads: Approximately 25 million people affected by...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Currently, there are far too many children not attending school or having access to acceptable health care in Bangladesh. As seen throughout history, education is the avenue for social mobility, and it is one of the best ways for society to innovate and progress...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Within the wider goal of improving education worldwide, it is imperative that literacy reads as an essential first priority. The primary function of education is to help people successfully navigate and contribute to society...
By Ilana Arougheti
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Education is the premise of progress. Education is what propels societies forward and creates a productive economy. So why is it that according to UNESCO, 263 million children and youth are out of school?
By Georgia Bernbaum
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Over the years, the United States has gradually created the public school system, which allows even children from indigent families to receive education. But now it’s time to take another step forward by making college more accessible...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Weekends, breaks, snow days—most students in America live for them. Texting and Snapchatting through class, whispering to your friends while the teacher is lecturing—we’ve all been there. How about...
By Kelsey Cashman
May 2018
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
Within the wider goal of improving education worldwide, it is imperative that literacy reads as an essential first priority.
The primary function of education is to help people successfully navigate and contribute to society...
By Kelsey Cashman
Nonfiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
What is quality education, and why is it important? The United Nations defines quality education as the key to break from the cycle of poverty, and to empower children to live healthier and more sustainable lives...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
Did you know that only 6.4% of the Fortune 500 companies in 2017 had female CEOs? Did you also know most women make only 79% of what their male colleagues do? This is what a report by the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee found...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
Women comprise about 49.6% of the current population, yet hold only 24% of STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) jobs. In today’s fast-paced industrial climate, this percentage is disconcertingly low. As the the next wave of career professionals...
By Ilana Arougheti
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
A diverse workplace is where people from different cultures and countries, or with a different race or gender work together. A diverse workplace is the key in every company to a strong, inclusive, and sustainable business. Having diversity in...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
In this day and age, you’d think that there would be equal representation for women in most occupations. Unfortunately, studies are finding that female representation in certain occupations are dropping. More and more girls should be...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
What does STEM stand for? The answer is science, technology, engineering and mathematics. A new initiative, steam, aims to use art and design in STEM education as well. Unfortunately, there is a clear lack of representation for women like us in these fields...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Clean Water & Sanitation
June 2018
Water - a necessity of life. When you are thirsty, you might go to into your kitchen and grab a cold bottle of water from the fridge. However, not everyone has this privilege. In fact, over 10% of the people in the world do not. On the other side of the world, in...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Nonfiction in response to Clean Water & Sanitation
June 2018
Two years ago, I took a trip to India to visit my relatives. Driving past the slums of India, I was surprised to see television antennas sticking out of the tops of makeshift house. In fact, the World Bank reports that...
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Clean Water & Sanitation
June 2018
Water. It’s one of our basic necessities and one of the things that makes our planet habitable. It seems incomprehensible that we would go even one day without interacting with water in some way. Maybe the amount of water is just right. Even...
By Jason Sharer
Nonfiction in response to Clean Water & Sanitation
June 2018
By Grace Muresan
Everybody knows that water is important. We need it to live, and use it for lots of things including eating, drinking, hygiene, and recreation. But after you brush your teeth or drain the bathtub, where does that dirty water go?
Nonfiction in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
Everybody needs electricity. It turns on lights, keeps the fridge cool, runs central heating for warmth, runs the stove and oven, and lots of other things we all need. But before you plug in your computer, where does all that energy come from?
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
What is Energy?
Energy is defined as the ability to do work, to make things happen, and to cause changes. There is energy in everything, and we need energy to do everything...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
In a time where our society is progressing at such a fast rate, it is critical to consider the level of innovation in the rest of the world. Indeed, something as straightforward to you and me as flicking a light switch before bed is not as simple for others.
By Amrita Bhasin
May 2018
Nonfiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
August 2018
“Why don’t they just get a job?” is one of the main questions circling around the homeless. After all, if they got a job, they could improve their lives. So why don’t they have one? Some may assume the homeless are simply lazy, but that’s far from the truth...
By Karen Wu
Nonfiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
August 2018
Every time I visit my grandfather’s house in Indonesia, there is always one servant there. I call her Mak Sul. As other servants came and went, she stayed. I asked my mother why, and she told me the following story...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
August 2018
America is currently seeing increasingly beneficial job and GDP growth. The country is facing a national labor shortage, and the unemployment rate is lower than it has been in a long time.However, if you look at unemployment and job growth...
By Amrita Bhasin
August 2018
Nonfiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
On June 29, I took a trip to Indonesia to visit my mother’s family. They live in Malang, the second most populated city in East Java1. As we drove through the motorcycle-clogged streets I noticed hundreds of tiny restaurants, street peddlers, people...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
Nonfiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nonfiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nonfiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
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Sep 2018
Nonfiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
For most of you currently reading this article on your web browser, it’s probably hard to imagine daily life without the Internet. According to the World Economic Forum, more than 50 million Wi-Fi networks are currently hosted in the United States.
Back in 1992 when the first smartphone/flip phone was invented by IBM, people must have believed that the future was happening right at the moment. It must have been revolutionary for them, to know that they could communicate with people from miles...
By Ilana Arougheti
By Grace Muresan
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Nonfiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
Around the United States, there are 326 Native American reservations. One of these reservations is home to the Navajo tribe, also known as the code talkers that greatly contributed to the American efforts during World War II...
By Kelsey Cashman
Infrastructure is an important component to a functioning society--according to the UN, good infrastructure can help people achieve social and economic success. However, the infrastructure we build must be efficient and built to meet people’s needs.
By Karen Wu
Nov 2018
With growing urbanization, city boundaries expand, blurring municipal lines across a larger region. Ultimately, some regions grow so large that they become megacities with populations exceeding 10 million. No matter how large the cities become...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Nov 2018
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Nov 2018
I live in the city of Sunnyvale. We moved to this city in 2017 when my father changed jobs, and I grew to appreciate this place for its actions in making its residents’ way of life sustainable. There are several ways that they are working to save the environment...
By Grace Muresan
When I visit India, the first thing that always strikes me from the moment I set foot outside the airport is the humidity and pollution in the air. However, as the air pollution and air quality only continues to worsen year after year, the government has...
By Amrita Bhasin
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Nonfiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nov 2018
Nonfiction in response to Responsible Consumption and Production
Dec 2018
About 91% of the world’s populations lives where the air quality doesn’t pass WHO guidelines. This can cause irritation to the eyes and damage to the lungs. For people who have asthma or allergies, pollutants in the air can worsen their symptoms...
By Karen Wu
On Wednesday, September 26, 2018, I went to a talk called “The Power of Stuff” by the executive director of Greenpeace, Annie Leonard. In her talk, she asked three key questions and explained what we could do to fix them.
By Grace Muresan
Dec 2018
Nonfiction in response to Responsible Consumption and Production
Nov 2018
Nonfiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Imagine piles and piles of leftover food, stretching out as far as you can see. Uneaten food, food from restaurants and cafeterias, or from a family making a little too much for dinner. Food gone rotten on the way to the store and thrown out upon arrival.
I work at a big tech company in the heart of the Tech industry, Silicon Valley. But I am not a software engineer or any of the other prestigious high-paying jobs you’re thinking of. In most of these companies, workers are given free breakfast, lunch, and...
By Kelsey Cashman
By Amrita Bhasin
Dec 2018
Nonfiction in response to Responsible Consumption and Production
Nonfiction in response to Climate Action
Jan 2019
Did you know that, according to environmental protection organizations such as Animals Australia and Ocean Crusaders, there are over 100,000 marine animal deaths each year due to plastic bags in the ocean? Animals Australia also states that the...
Earth, on average, is one degree Celsius warmer today than it was in 1880. In 2015, representatives from 195 countries and the European Union attended the 21st annual United Nations’ Climate Change Conference where established a framework to limit...
By Georgia Bernbaum
By Caroline Sun
Jan 2019
Nonfiction in response to Climate Action
Nonfiction in response to Climate Action
Jan 2019
Schools are generally seen as responsible for providing kids with formative experiences, life skills, global viewpoints and preparations for adulthood. Given the growing immediacy of climate change as a defining issue and clear danger, youth...
At school, I was taught that climate change is defined as a change in global or regional climate patterns. As I grew up, I learned that the phrase ‘climate change’ refers to the insidious, long-term impact of actions by humans to the one place in the...
By Kelsey Cashman
By Grace Muresan
Jan 2019
Nonfiction in response to Climate Action
Jan 2019
Nonfiction in response to Climate Action
How do we stop global warming? Some places have instituted the carbon price, but placing a higher price on beef will help too.
Making space to raise cattle causes deforestation. The factories that they are processed in emit greenhouse gasses. According to...
By Karen Wu
From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. As many of us around the country have experienced from the recent fires and hurricanes, climate change is affecting everyone. Living in Northern California, the smoke caused our school and...
By Amrita Bhasin
Feb 2019
Nonfiction in response to Life Below Water
Feb 2019
Nonfiction in response to Life Below Water
In the recent superhero movie Aquaman, the main villain throws all the trash in the ocean back to land in a titanic tsunami wave. Unfortunately for the fictional beaches, just the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is double the size of Texas. Unfortunately for us...
By Karen Wu
7 cities. 4 countries. 4 continents. 7 problems. And 1 world, from 11 year old perspective. Through my travels, I learned a lot about the different places and how, even though they all have their unique climates, cultures, people, and water sources, their water and...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Life On Land
Mar 2019
Nonfiction in response to Life On Land
Mar 2019
I’m sure you have all heard about poaching animals. Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals. The most prominent example of this is elephant poaching. People will illegally hunt and kill elephants in order to profit from their ivory...
By Georgia Bernbaum
They say it isn’t easy being green. But for Henry Nolan, 17, an Eagle Scout project became the perfect opportunity to take on such a challenge. Only four percent of all Boy Scouts ultimately earn the rank of Eagle; one of the most important requirements for...
By Ilana Arougheti
Mar 2019
Nonfiction in response to Life On Land
Mar 2019
Nonfiction in response to Life On Land
In some parts of the world, deforestation is an integral part of the economy, particularly for rural development. For example, in Uganda, according to Popular Science, you “can cut down three trees for $30 and pay school fees for the year, or leave the trees...
By Amrita Bhasin
The United Nations designates Life on Land the15th Sustainable Development goal because, according to their website, "Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to...
By Grace Muresan
Nonfiction in response to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Apr 2019
Nonfiction in response to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Apr 2019
News used to be my safe place. The fabric of my childhood was set to NPR: pancakes and Fresh Air on Saturday mornings, novels and This American Life on Saturday afternoons, bagels and the Wait, Wait! news quiz with Sunday brunch. The first time I walked...
By Ilana Arougheti
In its 16th goal, The United Nations promotes the idea of peaceful and inclusive societies as the foundation to achieve sustainable development for humanity and its livelihood worldwide. One way to achieve such inclusivity is by realizing that we live as a community...
By Grace Muresan
Apr 2019
Nonfiction in response to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Apr 2019
Nonfiction in response to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
There are about 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally, according to The International Labour Organization (ILO). The human trafficking industry is very lucrative, with the ILO estimating it makes $150.2 billion each year. According to Psychology Today...
By Karen Wu
Corruption is a problem that plagues countries all over the world in many different ways. Corruption disproportionately hurts the poor. According to the Guardian, in Eastern Europe, “people often have to bribe teachers and doctors to get services which are supposed...
By Amrita Bhasin
Apr 2019
Nonfiction in response to Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
May 2019
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
Georgia:
It was hours and hours before anything at all happened. The winds died down a little, so the teachers went and brought food. But Mrs. White said that it was calm only because the eye of the hurricane...
By Grace Muresan
To achieve all 16 goals, the United Nations put forth the 17th goal which encourages collaboration between public and private sector to achieve the goals.Schools, public or private, play an important role to help achieve this 17th goal. They should prepare the future...
By Grace Muresan
May 2019
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
May 2019
The Internet has been around for less than 30 years, but in that short time, it has transformed humanity. Not only can we chat with our friends and play fun games on it, but the Internet can also help developing countries through connecting the world. One benefit...
Karen Wu
According to World Economic Forum, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are the countries that have made the most progress on achieving the Sustainable Development goals, and Sweden is “84.5% of the way to achieving the targets envisaged for 2030.”
By Amrita Bhasin
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
May 2019
When I was little, my teachers taught my peers and me skills like adding and subtracting, reading and writing. They also taught us other skills like sharing with each other, talking about our problems, and negotiating solutions. These are basic principles...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Whenever I visit India, I am always surprised to see mansions owned by Bollywood film stars located next to dilapidated houses. Not far, I can see the slums of India filled with makeshift houses so poorly constructed that look like...