How maps confirm anti-migrant bias

'Battlefield maps' show continent under attack from hostile invaders.

Image: De Correspondent, reproduced with kind permission.
  • Maps aren't objective. And migration maps aren't innocent.
  • Consciously or not, their content and form can confirm anti-migrant prejudices.
  • Alternative mapping options are available – but perhaps the answer isn't a map at all.
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'A world with no ice': Confronting the horrors of climate change

The complacent majority needs to step up and call for action on climate change.

  • Climate change is often framed as a debate that has split society down the middle and that requires more evidence before we can act. In reality, 97 percent of scientists agree that it is real and only 3 percent are skeptical. A sticking point for some is the estimated timeline, but as Columbia University professor Philip Kitcher points out, a 4-5 Celsius temperature increase that makes the planet uninhabitable is a disaster no matter when it happens.
  • In this video, 9 experts (including professors, astronomers, authors, and historians) explain what climate change looks like, how humans have already and are continuing to contribute to it, how and why it has become politicized, and what needs to happen moving forward for real progress to be made.
  • David Wallace-Wells, journalist and New America Foundation National Fellow, says that the main goal of climate action is not to win over the skeptical minority, but to "make those people who are concerned but still fundamentally complacent about the issue to be really engaged in a way that they prioritize climate change in their politics and their voting and make sure that our leaders think of climate change as a first-order political priority."
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What 11 emerging countries think about increased diversity

Pew Research Center data shows that most people think diversity improves lives in their countries.

(Photo: Cate Gillon/Getty Images)
  • Pew Research Center surveyed more than 28,000 people across 11 emerging countries.
  • Their data shows that most people believe different racial, national, and religious groups have improved the lives of people in their country.
  • Young people were more likely to see diversity in a positive light, as well as those with higher levels of education.
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    What authority should government have over our actions?

    The ability to interact peacefully and voluntarily provides individuals a better quality of life.

    • In classical liberal philosophy, voluntary action says the scope of legitimate government authority is extremely narrow.
    • While not all classical liberals agree on immigration policy, the question remains: What right does a government have to stop someone from moving to another country should they so choose?
    • As an immigrant, himself, Georgetown University professor Peter Jaworski invites us to consider the freest countries in the world and examine the economic freedom and civil liberties their citizens enjoy.
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    #3: Earth at 2° hotter will be horrific. Now here’s what 4° will look like. | Top 10 2019

    Third on the Big Think 2019 countdown reveals this is what the world will be like if we do not act on climate change.

    • The third most popular video of 2019 presents a frightening truth: The best-case scenario of climate change is that world gets just 2°C hotter, which scientists call the "threshold of catastrophe".
    • Why is that the good news? Because if humans don't change course now, the planet is on a trajectory to reach 4°C at the end of this century, which would bring $600 trillion in global climate damages, double the warfare, and a refugee crisis 100x worse than the Syrian exodus.
    • David Wallace-Wells explains what would happen at an 8°C and even 13°C increase. These predictions are horrifying, but should not scare us into complacency. "It should make us focus on them more intently," he says.
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