Author: Haleigh Collins

Divestment: Efficacy and Impact

The fossil fuel divestment movement emerged at Swarthmore College in 2012. In three short years, divestment has evolved from a small campaign among student activists into a mainstream movement with commitments from universities to churches to the $860 million Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Currently, over $50 billion has been divested from fossil fuels. The movement urges… Read more »

Seeing the Light: Solar Power’s Bright Future

Consumers and industries around the world are using increasingly creative ways to capture solar power. The International Energy Agency predicted that solar energy could be the world’s largest source of electricity by mid-century. However, the US lags far behind other countries in the race for solar energy. Studies have suggested that solar power will account… Read more »

Reforming Maine’s Human Trafficking Laws

Although many are familiar with the devastating affects of the sex trafficking industry, it is easy to disassociate ourselves from the issue, and see it as an international problem on which we can have little impact. Sex trafficking is the international, national, and local trade in humans for the purpose of sexual slavery. The victims… Read more »

Cosmic Bombs: Defending the Earth from the Asteroid Threat

Last February, a meteor exploded 28 miles above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, producing a devastating shockwave that knocked people off their feet and shattered windows throughout the city. Traveling at 12 miles per second, the 20-meter wide space rock exploded with the energy of around 500 kilotons. At its peak, the streaking fireball glowed… Read more »

Blinded by the Light

On a semi-clear night, an observer with fairly good vision should be able to see over 7,000 stars. But that spectacular sight requires darkness, an increasingly rare condition in our modern society. A cloud of light hovers above most of the United States, nearly all of Europe, and all of Japan. Light pollution is said… Read more »