Coming soon: Spring 2011
No, not the season (although that would be nice): the next issue of SCOPE, in which are to be found essays on topics like the UN Security Council’s troubling policy conflict with the principles of human rights, the future of…
Snapshots of the splashy stuff
Guest post by Kristen Marano It’s destructive and it’s peaceful. From turbulent flooding to still emerald lakes, water has a powerful effect on our well-being and on the stunning landscapes around us, yet in our fast-paced society, people can easily…
Footsteps of failed explorers
Retracing the steps of long-dead explorers has much to recommend it, both for those who take on the physical challenge of doing so in person and for those who choose the less exhausting route of reading such accounts: familiar territory…
The other civil war
Applied to film, the phrase “a civil war romance” immediately conjures up images of Gone with the Wind, so I was pleasantly surprised — then delighted — to realize that in the case of The Princess of Montpensier, the civil…
From republic to reconciliation
In most states the concept of land ownership is a multi-layered one. Private citizens or corporations may own a property outright, though governments may typically expropriate such property for public purposes if the owner is compensated fairly. Governments may (or…
Didgeridoo and friends
Japanese jam-band Dachambo pulls off the rather unlikely feat of using a six-person ensemble and a range of instruments that includes a didgeridoo (along with a more typical guitar/drum mix) to produce an intense live sound incorporating elements from psychedelia,…
After Fukushima, India takes stock
225 million years ago the Indian subcontinent was an island off Australia; the inexorable movement of tectonic plates since that time has smashed it (slowly) into Asia, the crumpling from which collision created the 2900-kilometer Himalayan mountain range. Tectonics has…
Over-paid consultant makes good
An Australian professional photographer based in Accra, Ghana, Nyani Quarmyne has worked for clients like the African Women’s Development Fund, AngloGold Ashanti, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — according to his Facebook page, he is a former “guitarist,…
More important than a better shell
Alaskan journalist (and contributor to SCOPE‘s inaugural issue) Charles Wohlforth’s most recent book, The Fate of Nature, is now out in paperback. An extended and deeply thoughtful reflection on human nature and on our collective ability to solve our global…
From macro to metro
Projections show that 75% of the world’s population will be living in cities in the next couple of decades: right now, 40 people per hour are moving into the city of Lagos, Nigeria. This unprecedentedly urbanized world will bring both…
Remembering el payador perseguido
The picture above is a striking and beautiful tribute to Atahualpa Yupanqui, one of the most prominent Argentinian folk musicians of the 20th century. Yupanqui was persecuted by the government of Juan Perón for his Communist Party membership–his 1972 book…
