Last Tuesday, I went to York for my weekly salsa dancing class, with 2.5 hours to kill beforehand. I decided to go for a wander, the kind with no fixed destination in mind. In true flâneur style, I dropped my phone in my bag, put one foot in front of the other, and took whichever street I liked the look of.
And that’s how I found out about Elizabeth Montagu.
Spain’s blackout lasted for less than a day, and its people’s lives came to a standstill. It made me realise how much of our modern life relies on electricity, and I wondered what we would do without it. But some people don’t have to.
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Towards the Savannah, In the heart of Ghana, Lives a majestic willow Perched by rivers shallow Her morose drooping leaves Waving solemnly in the breeze Her roots reach far and wide Searching for ways to survive Desperate for hydration Yet surrounded by contamination Illegal mining, “galamsey”, Drowns her in lead, mercury Why does the willow weep? For the clean water she seeks.
We have been told that going electric will help save the planet by reducing emissions, but can we be so sure that mining rare minerals is better?
On Sunday 10th November, I was having a café con leche in the main square of Cáceres, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Extremadura, when I witnessed the protest against the proposed lithium mine. Impassioned roars of ‘NO A LA MINA’ could be heard amid the violent beating of drums, whilst hundreds of the city’s locals contested, what they feel, could be an environmental catastrophe. I ditched my coffee to get closer to the action and was approached by a creepy gas-mask-clad Cacereño. They handed me a flyer listing as many as nine reasons against the site, said to be only 600m from the city’s residential area. I just wanted to know what the lithium would be used for.
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Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote that the court should reconsider other cases, such as Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the constitutional right of married couples to access birth control. Contraception is a reproductive right; it is significant for the empowerment of women, and such a statement exposes its vulnerability.
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Folk & Fauna 