Take your shoes off, cover your head, wash your hands and step down into the flowing stream to cleanse your feet of an impurity they may carry. Once you have prepared yourself, follow the white marble steps to a gold garnished temple that has enchanting music drawing you to its doors. After three months in India, I finally stepped foot into my first Sikh temple, Gurudwara ...
Environmental Injustice: A World In Crisis
You are woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of screams. When you go outside you find chaos, people are running from a thick white cloud, one that quickly engulfs you leaving you gasping for air. You try to run, but cannot escape. You are clinging to life. One by one you watch the life disappear from the eyes of your neighbors, your family, and your friends. Their ...
Population Control Policy in India: A Dark History Uncovered
Today, India is the world’s second most populated country, second only to China by a gap that is shrinking each year. Looking back a century to the early 1900’s, India was a very different place. The population was unstable due to intense famine, influenza outbreaks, plague, and malaria. Individually, these outbreaks took major tolls on the country, but the combination of all ...
How Tribal Conservation Saves More than Just Humans
National Park’s Fatal Flaw When thinking about wildlife conservation, most people think of humans as playing the role of observer (except for your park ranger). They see humans’ role in the environment as something that should be kept to a minimum. When looking at protected land around the world such as national parks or wildlife sanctuaries, it is rare to find humans living ...
A Fruit Stand or Two on Every Corner
Back home in the US, I work at one of Greenville's local juice shops. A whole slew of customers walk through our doors everyday; some come in to check out the newest trend in the restaurant scene while most come in because they are health conscious consumers looking for the rare fresh healthy meal. Although healthy eating is on the rise in the US and my generation (the ...
More than what MEATS the Eye
India to many is known as the vegetarian's paradise. In a country where over 80% of the population follow a religion that supports vegetarianism, finding veg-friendly food here is not a problem. In fact, in India it is now illegal to consume beef. At first the vegan inside of me celebrated this small victory for cows, but I quickly came to learn that there was more to this ban ...
Polluted to Death: Why India’s Rivers are Dying
Coming to India I knew I would be met by a country with immense public health issues. Now having walked her streets for three weeks, I look back and am stunned at how a country with so many natural resources can have so many problems with one of life’s most basic necessities: water. Walking down the street, I have to watch where I step as many roads are lined with open ...
What Keeps Me Up At Night
India is surreal. It took days of being here, eating Indian food three times a day, and exploring the city outside of our college walls for it to feel real. This is a country I have dreamt of coming to for years. My fascination with this place started at a young age when one of my mom’s closest friends would tell stories of her travels across India. As the years passed, I ...
