Intricate ecosystems, such as the Chesapeake Bay Estuary or the Great Maya Reef, offer an opportunity for people to become aware of the importance of the interdependent functional and ecological roles that provide social security to a community. One can gain insight into the complex web of interactions that structure human life by looking at […]
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Rethinking street prostitution
Monday, March 24, 2008It seems as if age-old stereotypes and beliefs cloud our collective judgment when it come to dealing with street prostitution. Media coverage triggers our curiosity, pity, or disdain but does little to encourage a common sense approach to address a common “problem” – street prostitution in Baltimore. Over the years, I have talked to thousands […]
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Transforming the urban ecosystem
Monday, March 17, 2008Is urban ecology an oxymoron? Not at all. The sooner we recognize that cities, people, and nature are inextricably linked, the better off we will all be. In order to broaden our focus from fixing what’s broken, we can treat this city as a design problem, as a system of interrelated parts, and begin to […]
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Keeping people out of prison and embracing them in our communities
Monday, March 10, 2008One in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 incarcerated in the United States?1 “Yet you have turned into venom the process of law and justice itself into poison.”2 As the Pew Center for the States released its report at the end of February, the numbers sent me reeling. Again. The astounding […]
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What if we let anyone who is smart enough to go to college…actually go to college?
Monday, March 03, 2008For some reason, the immigration debate is faceless. It’s easier to say “those illegal aliens” instead of “Juan, my nephew’s best friend.” We say we have no moral responsibility to “those that broke the law coming illegally to this country,” but things change when we think of Ana Maria, our neighbor’s housekeeper. For some reason, we […]
