Activism, Meet Impact.

The Trump Administration’s “Ban” on Cotton from China Won’t Solve the Human Rights Crisis. Here’s Why. // Today on Handful, Alexa explains why the Trump Administration's ban on cotton imports from China, while significant, is a first step rather than a solution to the ongoing exploitation of Uighur Muslism in Xinjiang.

Learn more: https://novelhand.com/trump-administration-ban-on-cotton-china/

The U.S. looks ready to re-establish itself as a leader on the global stage as the world faces critical challenges and must do so by restoring its credibility and transforming international aid policies, according to Dr. Edward Carr of Clark University.

After reading his recent piece for The Conversation on the topic, David followed up with Dr. Carr to discuss U.S. credibility as a global leader, his experience working with farmers in West Africa, how aid money flows and what all these topics mean for the future of U.S. foreign aid.

Read more here: https://novelhand.com/future-of-us-foreign-aid/

With a switch to vehicles powered by electric batteries comes the need for the raw materials needed to produce them. The uptick in mining of lithium, cobalt and nickel, the three main materials needed to meet the demand for electric vehicles, presents increased environmental and social problems.

Today on Handful, Delia explores these potential problems and describes how we can act as consumers. 

Read more here: https://novelhand.com/electric-vehicle-costs/

Have you ever felt like you could be doing more good?

As a community of activists working together to positively impact the world, this is a question that we at Novel Hand ask often. Our new Novel Hand book club  tackled this question.

Peter Singer’s The Most Good You Can Do sparked a vibrant discussion about philanthropic giving, ethical careers, and the effective altruism movement. On today's episode, Grace and Alexa review highlights of our discussion, including some of the questions that motivated our conversation.

Read more about the book and our conversation here: https://novelhand.com/book-club-recap-the-most-good/

How can you drink coffee more sustainably? Regan explores the humanitarian side of the coffee industry-- from farmers to your cup. Read more about impact and coffee here: https://novelhand.com/humanitarian-issues-impact-coffee-industry/

Today on Handful, Brylie shares about her experience volunteering with IHELP – the Immigrant Home English Learning Program.

IHELP, formerly known as the Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Program, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing English lessons and developing life skills for the immigrant and refugee population of St. Louis.

Read more about Brylie's experience here: https://novelhand.com/helping-the-immigrant-community-in-st-louis/

Public health has been at the forefront of society over the past year-- but what is it? Alexa talks with Maria Valdez, co-host of the "What's Up Public Health" podcast and a public health professional. Alexa and Maria talk about what public health is, why Maria chose to go into public health rather than medicine, and the role of social determinants of health.

Check out Maria's podcast here: https://anchor.fm/whats-up-public-health

During my treadmill run on Sunday afternoon, I watched a few episodes of The Office. Between scenes, I saw a commercial that boldly claimed that Amazon has given 5.4 million items to victims of natural disasters.

I’m not an expert on humanitarian aid– but something about measuring your impact by  number of items given feels random at best.

Read the full article here: https://novelhand.com/amazon-your-disaster-response-philanthropy-isnt-fooling-me/

On World Day of Social Justice, we're focusing on equity in the digital economy. Grace, Shareen and Valerie discuss a framework for thinking about the visibility of social justice concerns. They also discuss a few important social justice issues in the context of the digital economy and reflect on the visibility of social justice issues in our personal lives.

Read their full article here: https://novelhand.com/world-day-of-social-justice/

On Jan. 27, President Joe Biden signed an executive order which prevents the Department of Justice from renewing its contracts with federal private prisons. He stated that this order, which also targets discriminatory housing policies, was an effort on his part to prevent large corporations from profiting off of incarcerated people and to set an example for the US government to change its whole approach on the issue of racial equity. 

Though this order does not directly end governmental use of private prisons, as immigration detention facilities are still utilizing them, it will curb the industry. Only the 10 percent of all US prisoners who are held in federal custody are affected by this order, but the largest single customer of the privatized prison companies is the federal government, as state governments are the second largest. As the industry loses this support, the system will slowly start to falter. This will not happen immediately after the passing of this order, because the privatized prison system is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it does enact a serious obstacle that could become fatal to it.

Read more: https://novelhand.com/the-outsized-role-of-private-prisons/