Extreme Adventure for Everybody: How Moab Is Redefining the Outdoors for Disabled Travelers

Carson Jelinek

By adapting rope swings, rock climbs, 4x4 tours and e-bike trails, Moab demonstrates that extreme adventure can be inclusive of disabled travelers, young children and all visitors.

Elevate Outdoors Tour photo. Courtesy of Faith Dickey.

In the United States, millions of individuals with disabilities enjoy traveling, with over 25 million taking trips in recent years and contributing more than $50 billion annually to the travel economy. However, participation across abilities remains uneven. Research indicates that seven out of 10 individuals with disabilities reduce their travel due to accessibility challenges, and millions rarely leave home. Persistent barriers in transportation, lodging and infrastructure result in a majority of families with disabled members avoiding certain trips entirely. These obstacles are further intensified in adventure travel, where rugged landscapes and limited infrastructure frequently exclude those lacking conventional mobility.

Man riding electric wheelchair. Mikhail Nilov. Pexels.

 Moab, Utah, is one city advancing accessibility through policy initiatives. Starting March 1, the region will officially permit class 1 e-bikes on more than 200 miles of singletrack, including well-known routes such as Amasa Back and Klondike Bluffs. This decision positions Moab among the first major U.S. destinations to allow pedal-assist riders on its trails. Following an environmental assessment by the Bureau of Land Management, this policy represents a significant development in the cycling community. It not only serves experienced riders but also increases access to technical terrain for older visitors, individuals recovering from injuries and some disabled riders who depend on pedal assist to reach trails that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Electric bike in desert. Iztok Franko. Pixabay.

If you're looking for a thrilling off-road adventure that takes you to breathtaking sights across Moab, you can book with Mike Ballard and his company, Big Iron Tour Co. This off-road adventure company is veteran-owned and operated, and they recently installed wheelchair lifts on their 4x4 off-road vehicles so everyone can have fun. The vehicles range from 16-seat off-roaders, called “Man-O-War” and “Dreadnouight” to new-era Jeep Gladiators. Big Iron offers three tour packages: a two-hour tour, a four-hour tour and the most popular, the Sunset Tour. With the Sunset Tour, you scale the red rocks of the Moab and go on trails with several advanced obstacles, ending at a high vantage point to soak in the beautiful sunset. 

Desert road in Moab. J. Pexels.

The Moab Swingers tour offers the longest rope swing in the United States, spanning 500 feet. The attraction has appealed to families and younger visitors, as it is guided by experts, allowing activities previously limited to extreme athletes to be accessible to a wider demographic. The tour is led by cofounders Andy Lewis and Jimmy Peterson, lifelong friends and seasoned extreme-sports professionals. It includes an off-road excursion behind the prominent Moab rock formations, followed by a brief nature hike to the swing, culminating in an unforgettable experience as participants jump from the summit.

Sunset in Moab. Ken Cheung. Unsplash.

Red River Adventures, another tour company located in Moab, is known for its guided rafting, climbing, canyoneering and backcountry trips throughout Utah. To make experiences more accessible for people with disabilities, its guides have adapted rafting launches for wheelchair users and teamed up with groups that support blind, visually impaired and deaf participants. These adaptations demonstrate the Moab outdoor industry’s commitment to making high-risk recreation more accessible while preserving the core experience. Although not every canyon or climb can be changed, the company’s efforts are part of a larger trend in Moab of extreme adventure becoming more inclusive to a wider range of visitors.

Rafting in Utah. Liz Hoffmaster. Pixabay.

Elevate Outdoors, started by professional highliner and guide Faith Dickey, is another company helping make Moab’s outdoor scene more inclusive. The company is known for advanced instruction in slacklining, climbing and canyoneering. Elevate Outdoors focuses on accessibility by offering personalized guiding and adjusting the pace of activities to each person’s needs. Instead of one-size-fits-all trips, they work closely with participants to customize routes, change technical systems and help people build confidence step by step. For disabled travelers or those recovering from injuries, this kind of attention can make challenging terrain feel possible. By combining strong safety standards with a focus on empowerment and helping people manage fear, Elevate Outdoors proves that even Moab’s toughest adventures can be made accessible with the right approach.

TRAVELING THERE:

• Elevate Outdoors is a locally owned guiding service specializing in rock climbing, canyoneering and highlining, led by experienced outdoor professionals who focus on skill-building and personalized trips. Their team emphasizes inclusivity and works closely with clients to adapt experiences to different ability levels.

• Big Iron Tours is a veteran-owned company offering guided off-road tours through Moab’s red rock landscapes. It offers knowledgeable local guides who share both the terrain and history of the area, and tours range from short scenic rides to more immersive backcountry experiences.

• Red River Adventures is one of Moab’s more established outfitters, offering rafting, rock climbing and canyoneering trips guided by seasoned professionals with deep knowledge of the region. Their guides are a central part of the experience, focusing on safety while creating a more personal, small-group environment.

• Moab Swingers is a niche adventure outfitter offering guided rope-swinging excursions, typically operated by a small team that facilitates group-friendly experiences in a more unconventional outdoor setting. The experience is less about technical skill and more about shared thrill and group energy.

The Bureau of Land Management Moab Field Office is staffed by land managers and public servants who oversee recreation in the area, providing essential guidance on trail access, e-bike use and responsible travel across Moab’s public lands.

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Carson Jelinek

Carson is a 22-year-old writer and filmmaker studying film and media productions at Arizona State University. His work explores travel, culture, and the people behind the places, with a focus on stories that encourage curiosity and global understanding.

Raised by the Rainforest: The Story of KSTR

Carson Jelinek

Kids Saving the Rainforest is a Costa Rica-based nonprofit founded by two nine-year-old girls who wanted to protect their local rainforest.

Janine Licare and Aislin Livingstone, founders of KSTR, at 9 years old, with their first volunteer. Courtesy of Kids Saving the Rainforest.

Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) was founded in 1999 by two nine-year-old girls, Janine Licare and Aislin Livingstone. Growing up near the jungle of Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, they saw firsthand the effects of deforestation and wanted to protect the rainforest and its wildlife. Their journey started small, by raising money on the side of the road for saplings to be planted in the nearby forest. Today, their focus is on reforestation and protecting sick, injured and orphaned wild animals, many of which return to the wild through a process of rescue, rehabilitation and release.

Rainforest foliage in Costa Rica. Chris Clementi. Pixabay.

For Licare and Livingstone, the rainforest surrounding their childhood homes served as a playground, classroom, and backyard. As they grew up among towering trees and diverse wildlife, they observed the increasing impact of development and environmental pressures on the forest. Rather than disregarding these challenges, they chose to take action. Hand-painting rocks to sell at their roadside stand, they initiated fundraising efforts through small but mighty creative means.

Chameleon on a branch. Marcel Langthim. Pixabay.

Very quickly, the scale of donations grew beyond what a casual family project could manage, and that is when local adults, including the kids' parents and community members, stepped in to help formalize the operation so that the money could be properly tracked and used for conservation. Over the next few years, KSTR transitioned from a hand-painted roadside stand into a formally registered nonprofit with a board of directors, a bank account and permission to work on conservation projects around Manuel Antonio.

Hand-painted rocks. Petra Nesti. Pexels.

KSTR has since expanded their wildlife initiatives. Though they aim to eventually release rescued animals back into the wild, those that can’t return are given sanctuary for life on the property. Another project KSTR has prioritized is building wildlife bridges, which are designed to protect arboreal animals, such as squirrel monkeys, from environmental dangers, like power lines, car collisions and attacks by other species. Over 130 bridges have been built, and since their efforts began, the squirrel monkey population has more than doubled. This has now become a prime model for similar conservation efforts in other regions.

Squirrel monkey on a wildlife bridge. Flobrc.  Pixabay.

Volunteers are what KSTR relies on to run its facilities and care for the wildlife in the area; in fact, the organization is completely funded by donations. People from around the world come to volunteer and help with all aspects of their work. A volunteer can expect to help with cleaning, building cages, working on trails, preparing food for the animals and observing behavior. As well, a key element of KSTR is education on biodiversity conservation, so all visitors and volunteers can learn more about the rainforest and how they can help.  

Iguana in Costa Rica. Steve Jurvetson. CC BY 2.0.

For many volunteers, the experience is more than just helping the animals. Time spent in the rainforest helps them see how wildlife, ecosystems and human development are all connected. Many people finish the program with a stronger appreciation for conservation and feel inspired to support environmental protection in their own communities.

GET INVOLVED:

You can get involved with KSTR by looking into their volunteer opportunities. Visitors can sign up to be full-day volunteers, where they will tour the facility and work directly with an animal caretaker. Another way to get involved is by being a long-term volunteer, and that ranges from a few days to a few months, depending on what you want to do. Typical daily duties include preparing food and distributing it to the animals, cleaning enclosures, offering enrichment, foraging for wild food and ultimately improving the animals’ quality of life. Along with this, the nonprofit offers internship positions as a zookeeper, in veterinary clinics and in media and marketing.

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Carson Jelinek

Carson is a 22-year-old writer and filmmaker studying film and media productions at Arizona State University. His work explores travel, culture, and the people behind the places, with a focus on stories that encourage curiosity and global understanding.

The Victims of Agent Orange Making a Living Crafting Art

Ryan Yianni

On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, victims of American bombing achieve financial independence through their unique artwork.

Artists working at Lang Viet Lacquers. Ryan Yianni.

If you ever find yourself in Ho Chi Minh City, it is almost a given that, at some point in your journey, you will travel to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Located just under 30 miles north of the country’s largest city, this famous spot along the Vietnam War-era network of underground tunnels has become a must-see attraction. There are a myriad of tour operators running daily trips to the tunnels, no doubt with some stops along the way. On my tour, our first visit was Lang Viet Lacquers, a small art factory on the outskirts of the city with a unique story.

Lang Viet Lacquers, situated in the city’s northwest, is a government-supported enterprise allowing victims of America’s brutal Agent Orange bombing campaign to achieve financial independence through lacquer painting, an art form that has existed in Vietnam and Southeast Asia for over 2,000 years. The stunning artwork consists of rich, almost reflective colors, with the addition of eggshell and mother-of-pearl to create bright, contrasting sparkles against the background.

My two purchases from Lang Viet Lacquers. Ryan Yianni.

Arriving in the intense heat of the Vietnamese sun, we stepped off the coach and were ushered into the workshop, where we saw firsthand the artwork being created with painstaking care and detail. We were told how all the artists are victims of Agent Orange, the herbicide sprayed in large quantities over Vietnam by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. These victims are not just war veterans; the devastating effects of Agent Orange were passed down to descendants of those affected, and the succeeding generations have suffered greatly in turn. For each work of art sold, the proceeds go directly to the artists, helping them achieve financial independence. Many of the injuries and conditions they suffer from mean they cannot work in the traditional sense, predominantly due to mobility or developmental issues, so this outlet allows them to maintain their freedom. In their shop, you are able to purchase a wide variety of items, from small souvenirs to large, wall-hung art, so there is something for everyone’s budget and luggage space.

Artist adding finishing touches to painting. Ryan Yianni.

The actors behind Agent Orange initially claimed their intent to destroy the Vietnamese jungle and root out guerrilla forces deep in the overgrown countryside, but the effects were much more serious and long-lasting. Being sprayed across almost 3 million hectares, over 4 million Vietnamese were exposed to the chemical, and while those directly exposed suffered from health issues, such as multiple neurological disorders, increased cancer rates, heart disease and serious skin rashes and scarring, the effects of Agent Orange were also passed onto their children and grandchildren. Later generations of Vietnamese citizens whose parents and grandparents were victims of Agent Orange have suffered from cleft lip, heart defects, birth disorders leading to lack of limbs, increased cancer rates, congenital heart diseases and severe learning disabilities, to name a few. Studies have shown that Vietnamese exposed to Agent Orange also have a higher rate of dioxins in their bodies, which are highly toxic pollutants that can cause issues like chloracne, cancer, immune and reproductive problems, developmental issues and chronic illnesses.

One of the reasons for the continued effects of Agent Orange on the younger generations is the fact that these dioxins are still found in Vietnamese soil, water and food chain. It is consumed through contaminated crops and livestock, breathed in via dust and absorbed through the skin, meaning that Agent Orange has continued to plague Vietnamese civilians for decades after the last of the chemical was dropped on the country. Additionally, dioxins have a half-life of 7 to 11 years, meaning that the strength of the chemicals did not decrease until approximately 1980 and is still present today, although in lower quantities and intensity

Agent Orange also had a strong impact on Vietnamese wildlife: A post-war study found 24 species of birds and 5 species of mammals in an area of forest that had been heavily sprayed, compared to two non-sprayed forest areas that each had over 100 bird species and at least 30 mammal species. Studies have found that the rate of miscarriages and birth defects was significantly higher in women who had been exposed to Agent Orange. Research has also shown that U.S and Australian soldiers who were exposed to Agent Orange have a much higher risk of elevated blood pressure and tumors, among other health issues, while those soldiers exposed to the dioxins had a higher rate of soft-tissue sarcoma, a rare type of cancer found in muscle tissue. A 2021 study also found that American veterans exposed to the herbicide were almost twice as likely to develop dementia.

The United States began to deploy herbicidal agents in Vietnam in January 1962, with the launch of Operation Ranch Hand, although the first major operations did not begin until September, when mangrove forests on the Mekong River were targeted. The majority of Agent Orange usage was between 1966 and 1969, with an estimated 170 kilograms of dioxin dropped on Vietnam and even more sprayed onto the border areas of Laos and Cambodia. By 1971, the evidence of the harmful effects was beginning to be known, and the U.S. government halted all herbicidal spraying operations in Vietnam, with the remaining stock destroyed by 1977.

The use of Agent Orange was incredibly controversial at the time. The Federation of American Scientists urged the U.S. government not to use chemical and biological weapons unless used by the enemy first in 1964, concerned that the government was not discriminating between military and civilian targets. In 1966, a group of scientists led by John Edsall of Harvard University appealed to President Lyndon B. Johnson to ban the use of such weapons. The statement reads, “such tactics are barbarous because they are indiscriminate; they represent an attack on the entire population of the region where the crops are destroyed, combatants and non-combatants alike." Similar protests continued for the remainder of the war. 

If you are able to visit Lang Viet Lacquers, it is well worth the trip. Being able to purchase some great souvenirs, along with helping those who have suffered the consequences of America’s brutal war, is a worthy highlight of a trip to Vietnam. I’m a big believer in leaving somewhere better than I found it, embracing local cultures and giving back to the communities I have discovered through my travels, and this is a great way to do all three. 

GETTING THERE:

Lang Viet’s is located just nine miles north of the airport. You can book a Grab Bike from the center of Ho Chi Minh City near Ben Thanh Market, Saigon Central Post Office, Independence Palace or the Cathedral for about four dollars. It is also served by buses 13, 24, 74 and 94, which stop just outside the shop.

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Ryan Yianni

Ryan is a lover of all things travel. After undertaking his first solo adventure in 2025, he has relocated to Australia from the UK. A history graduate from the University of the West of England, Ryan’s writing focuses on the historical issues faced by the places he has explored, looking at how the hardships of the past have been overcome and remembered.

Haiti’s Gangs and the Disappearing Childhood

Carol Khorramchahi

In Port-au-Prince, childhood is being replaced by survival as gangs shrink the space for school, safety and ordinary life.

Haitian school children in Port-au-Prince. Heather Suggitt. Unsplash.

In Port-au-Prince, childhood does not end in one dramatic moment. Instead, it disappears in small, relentless ways: a school day that never starts because the road is unsafe; a playground that goes quiet as armed men control the neighborhood; a parent who learns to read the city by sound and timing, measuring risk in the distance between a home and a classroom.

Haiti’s gang violence has become a crisis for children, not only because kids are caught in the crossfire but because they are being absorbed into gang control itself. UNICEF says child recruitment in Haiti rose sharply in 2025, warning that armed groups increasingly rely on children to expand their reach. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell described children’s rights as “non-negotiable,” calling for children recruited by gangs to be released and supported so they can return to learning and rebuild their futures.

The word recruitment can sound distant until you understand what it entails: a child is made to deliver messages; a boy is used as a lookout; a teenager is sent to collect extortion payments; a girl is trapped in exploitation because protection is offered as a bargain. A joint report from the U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. mission in Haiti describes child trafficking and exploitation as part of how gangs operate, not an exception. The report says most of Haiti’s active gangs are involved in child trafficking and outlines how children are lured with threats, hunger, drugs or the promise of safety.

For girls, the danger often includes sexual violence and coercion, which is widespread in areas under gang control. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, warned that children in Haiti are being robbed of their childhoods and futures. He was not speaking only about trauma but also about the slow destruction of a society’s future workforce, caregivers and leaders.

Displacement has become the backdrop to this entire crisis. UNICEF reports the internal displacement of over 1.4 million people, more than half of whom are children. In displacement sites, privacy disappears, supervision becomes stricter and children are easier to target and harder to protect. Even when families escape immediate violence, instability follows them, and childhood narrows again.

School should be the strongest shield a child has, but in Haiti, it has been one of the first things to fall. UNICEF has warned that education is under attack, reporting that hundreds of schools have been destroyed or closed as violence spreads. When schools shut down, children do not simply lose lessons. They lose structure, meals, a safe space and a daily routine that keeps them visible to adults outside their household; gangs often fill the gap that is left behind.

Haiti’s crisis is typically described in the language of security and politics. Those words matter, but they can blur the most urgent reality. The stakes are not only territorial control or government capacity; they are a generation. When childhood becomes survival, the damage does not end when the shooting stops. It lives on in missed years of education, in trauma carried into adulthood and in a society that has been forced to raise its children in fear.

GET INVOLVED:
Support child protection and education work through UNICEF Haiti and Save the Children. For humanitarian updates and verified needs on the ground, follow ReliefWeb Haiti and the International Rescue Committee.

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Carol Khorramchahi

Carol Khorramchahi is a student at Boston University, where she studies English and Psychology and minors in Journalism. She enjoys writing and reporting on stories that bring together culture, identity, and community, and has experience in both newsroom reporting and digital media. She is especially interested in thoughtful storytelling with a global lens.

Observe “Re-wilded” Asian Elephants in their Natural Habitat in Thailand

Salome Liptak

The Mahouts Elephant Foundation offers a unique opportunity for sustainable tourism while also contributing to Asian elephant conservation and Indigenous livelihoods.

Asian elephant in cloud forest. Salome Liptak.

Deep in Thailand’s mountainous Western Forest Complex, a group of travelers observes Asian elephants as they sleep, forage and socialize in the lush cloud forest that is their natural home. Between the visitors and elephants stand the mahouts, or caretakers, who trek out to check on the animals anywhere from once a week to once a day, depending on their individual needs. The mahouts also act as expert guides for the travelers, tracking the elephants’ courses by the plants they crush in their wake and maintaining the safety of both the humans and animals present. Speaking in their Indigenous Karen language to translators, they can tell where the elephants will want to pass, instructing the visitors on where to move next.

This unique experience has been made possible by the Mahouts Elephant Foundation, a non-profit focusing on Asian elephant conservation and sustainable tourism, founded by Sarah Blaine and her family. Offering different trips with outdoor adventure, conservation education and volunteer focuses, the foundation prioritizes cultural immersion in the Karen community through host families sharing language, food and Indigenous craftsmanship. As a sustainable tourism organization, they utilize a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach to fill the gap in elephant conservation efforts in Thailand.

Elephants have made up a large portion of Thailand’s tourism sector since 1989, when the government imposed a logging ban that left thousands of elephants and their mahouts unemployed. Taking care of an elephant is expensive, and mahouts and their families, who were suddenly destabilized by the economic crisis, were often unable to find new livelihoods that provided enough for them to continue caring for the animals. The majority of these mahouts belong to ethnic minorities, including refugees from Myanmar, and they were therefore especially economically vulnerable. Mahouts consider their elephants as members of their family, which makes the prospect of needing to sell one inconceivable. Despite this, many were forced to lease their elephants into the tourism industry, creating ethical concerns for the well-being of the animals and caretakers alike. The subsequent move to larger cities left mahouts separated from family members as they worked in unfamiliar and dangerous conditions.

Tourist camp practices range from the seemingly benign acts of elephant feeding and bathing to the more obviously unnatural training of elephants to paint, walk on their two hind legs and carry people. While these practices are on a spectrum of severity, all of them require a form of behavioral subjugation, wherein an elephant is trained to do what it would not do naturally. At its most violent, this process is referred to as “crushing” an elephant and involves separating young calves from their families, chaining them in small cells and systematically prodding and hitting them with sharp tools until they follow commands. Elephants are large, powerful animals that can be dangerous to humans, especially in these abusive conditions.

The mahouts, as the legal owners of the elephants, are essentially indentured in the tourist camps. They endure immense levels of stress from the responsibility of keeping the elephants from revolting and hurting tourists. Poverty, the separation from family and the trauma of facilitating or witnessing the crush have contributed to the mental health struggles of mahouts working in tourist camps. These ethical issues have called for reforms in the industry and caused a surge of elephant sanctuaries to open in Thailand, with various approaches and visions of what conservation looks like. Still, today, wild elephants are greatly outnumbered by captive ones, 75% of which are being used in the tourism entertainment industry in some form. 

In the foundation’s own words, their mission to combine conservation and community collaboration “cuts off the supply of elephants to the tourism industry, stops the demand of tourists by offering ethical alternatives, brings a sustainable source of income to impoverished communities, and provides science-based evidence showing good elephant welfare.” Their model is unique in its integration of the humanitarian issues of the tourism industry with strict policies on ethical interactions with the elephants.

Elephants brought onto their projects are referred to as “re-wilded,” meaning that while the organization has legal and financial ownership, the animals continue to be looked after by their mahouts and live in the forest as they would naturally. There is no immediate contact between visitors and elephants, including feeding or bathing, with visitors always kept at a distance. The foundation’s conservation and behavioral research contributions are also unique, stemming from research director Liv Baker’s approach, which focuses on individual animal well-being beyond overall population statistics. This informs their trip policies, prohibiting behaviors that many other elephant sanctuaries in Thailand allow and questioning the right of human visitors to interact with the animals.

By fully collaborating with the Indigenous community, Mahouts Elephant Foundation has created a unique environment where conservation research exists alongside an ethical tourism experience. While guests are welcomed and thoughtfully cared for, they must remain conscientious of their role as visitors, staying mindful of the locals, elephants and landscape without thinking of themselves as an audience to be entertained. 

GET INVOLVED:

Mahouts Elephant Foundation lets students, volunteers and adventurers hike through the cloud forest in Northern Thailand to observe re-wilded elephants in their natural habitat. For those looking to support the Karen people’s work to foster peace and security in their communities, visit the Karen Organization of Minnesota or check out the Karen cultural crafts for sale at Borderline Collective. Those interested in digging further into animal ethics and wellbeing can visit PAN Works for their extensive work with Asian elephants, as well as other members of the more-than-human community.

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Salome Liptak

Salomé is a student at Sarah Lawrence College studying literature and writing. She is passionate about storytelling (both true and fictional) and its power to reflect the world as it is, or imagine what could be.

The Gray Area Between Animal Rides and Animal Rights

Nick Dauk

Camel rides and horse-drawn carriages in the tourism industry create moral dilemmas for travelers.

Camels used for tourist rides at the Pyramids of Giza. Nick Dauk.   

Seven men stand above a dead horse, discussing the easiest way to move its carcass into a truck bed. This is the second expired equine my tour group has encountered in Egypt; the first, an unfortunate foal, was discarded like trash on the streets of Cairo. Sadly, this is a common sight for many international travelers and is the reason Luxor’s Animal Care in Egypt (ACE) charity veterinary hospital exists. The organization was founded by U.K. traveler Kim Taylor 25 years ago, after she observed the mistreatment of working horses and donkeys in Luxor. 

Luxor’s ACE veterinary staff loading a deceased horse into a pick-up truck. Nick Dauk.

In 2023, while I am on tour with Exodus Adventure Travels, I see horses pulling carriages through Luxor that get whipped, kicked and treated like machinery. The reality is that many of the animals working in Egypt’s tourism sector are irresponsibly cared for at best and grossly abused at worst. The issue is not unique to Egypt; elsewhere in the world, equines, elephants and other animals are also subject to mistreatment within a tourism context.  

The ethics of animal welfare seem black and white in principle, but both the tourist and the tourism company are often guilty of harboring, even subconsciously, a murky gray scale. Listening to the voices of tourism companies, veterinarians and animal welfare advocates can help travelers draw the line in making ethically educated decisions when encountering animals in the tourism industry. “Animal advocacy is absolutely central to how responsible wildlife tourism should operate,” Head of Positive Impact at Jacada Travel, Natalie Lyall-Grant, tells me. In 2025, Jacada performed an audit of its wildlife-related activities and subsequently removed more than 40 animal experiences from its portfolio of tours. “We prohibit physical interactions with wild animals, refusing to sell attractions that exploit them for profit or forced performance,” Lyall-Grant adds.

Jacada is far from the only tour company to reassess animal encounters; a decade ago, companies like G Adventures and Intrepid Travel banned elephant rides on their tours. The Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) in Laos claims that traveler expectations have also shifted: more travelers are actively seeking out ethical wildlife experiences and pointedly rejecting activities like elephant rides. But even so, the fact is that animal mistreatment is often made less obvious to travelers.

Abuse and Mistreatment Are Often Hidden From Tourists

“Travelers increasingly want to do the right thing, but they’re rarely given the full picture,” says Emily Guice, Corporate Responsibility Officer for PETA. “They don’t see the open sores hidden under saddles, the stables saturated with urine and waste, or animals that are forced to work for hours without proper shade, food or water.”

A group of camels used for tourism at the Giza Necropolis. Nick Dauk.

In 2019, PETA uncovered widespread abuse of both horses and camels in Egypt that continued through 2025. The animals were covered in wounds and emaciated, then dumped daily in a hidden graveyard near the pyramids when they expired. I hear these same claims when I visit Luxor’s ACE veterinary hospital. Jana, a German volunteer equine veterinarian, tells me that she regularly sees severe wounds and diseases that she typically doesn’t encounter in Europe. Speaking from a medical perspective, she believes that tourists should not purchase Luxor’s horse-drawn carriage rides, but she also doesn’t think that opting out instantly saves the animals’ lives. “You see a really skinny horse and assume the owners are so cruel, but they’re often just as skinny,” Jana says. “It’s not as easy of a decision as it seems, and I haven’t found a solution for myself yet.”

Jana, a German equine veterinarian at ACE in Luxor. Nick Dauk. 

A spokesperson from Brooke, an international charity focused on the protection and welfare of working equines, agrees that the issue is complicated for the animal operators. “Most do the best they can within their resources, even if they lack the capacity, opportunity or motivation to make changes.” Yet, while purchasing these services may contribute to the animal’s care, the traveler still needs to understand their responsibility. “Demand drives practice, so ethical choices support better care. Consider if use of the animal is necessary, and how operators support their welfare during and outside of work.”

Other advocates like PETA take a different stance, noting that the need for change lies at a deeper level. “Jobs tied to animal exploitation are precarious by design,” Guice says. “When companies stop promoting animal rides, tourism doesn’t disappear; it shifts to ethical alternatives and opens the door to more sustainable tourism work.”

The Gray Area Between Animal Rides and Animal Rights

At no point did our Exodus tour guide offer or encourage us to ride any animal in Egypt, opting instead to include an ATV ride near Giza’s pyramids and free time to stroll Luxor’s markets on foot. However, Exodus, along with G Adventures, Intrepid Travel and Jacada Travel, does currently offer horseback riding on some Latin America tours. Travelers may find themselves in unfamiliar, sometimes uncomfortable positions where they’re encouraged to make a decision without knowing all of the details. “It really shouldn’t fall on the traveler to figure this out on their own. That’s our responsibility,” said Intrepid’s Leigh Barnes.

Horse cart and owner near the Great Pyramid of Giza. Nick Dauk.

Thankfully, those looking for alternatives to riding an animal can still achieve a memorable experience at many unforgettable destinations. In Giza, for instance, tourists have the option of riding the new electric buses to the pyramids. Ultimately, the responsibility does fall on both the tour company and the tourist. It’s the operator’s choice on who and how to partner with animal-focused activities, and it’s the traveler’s decision of how they choose to financially support these operators. “The future of animal-friendly tourism isn’t about finding the least harmful ride,” Guice says. “It’s about choosing experiences that let animals be animals, not attractions.” 

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Nick Dauk

Based in Florida, Nick Dauk is a travel writer primarily focusing on tourism sustainability initialives, endangered wildlife, and vulnerable populations. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Afar, The National Post, and Euronews. When he's not photographing the wonders of the Arctic, the Amazon, or Africa, he's usually seeking out cultural, cuisine, and community-based stories across the Americas and Europe.

Iran at War: A Day in Tehran

Carol Khorramchahi

For civilians in Tehran, war isn’t a headline; it’s the sound of strikes at night, the scramble for safety and the fear of what comes next.

War in Tehran. Muhammad Ali Burno. CC BY 4.0.

For people in Tehran, war is not experienced through maps or military briefings. Instead, it’s felt in nights that don’t feel safe to sleep through, in the sudden rush to a hallway or bathroom when blasts shake the building, in the moment the lights flicker, and you don’t know if it’s a blackout or something worse.

In recent days, the scale of loss has been staggering. Iran’s U.N. ambassador said at least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed so far in the conflict, with thousands more injured. And while numbers can’t capture fear, they do show what Tehran residents already know: This is not a distant front line. This is a war reaching into neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and daily routines.

Iran’s Red Crescent reported that about 20,000 civilian buildings have been affected, along with over 70 healthcare facilities. In Tehran, that’s not just damage on paper; it’s what determines whether families can return home, whether clinics can operate and whether ambulances can move quickly when streets are congested or unsafe.

Some of the clearest snapshots of war in Tehran come from the voices of residents themselves. In one report, several Tehran residents described bright flashes turning night “into day,” and one woman told Al Jazeera that “the ground and the windows and our hearts were shaking,” adding that her family sheltered in the bathroom and asked not to be named for security reasons.

Hospitals are still running, but they are under strain. Tehran’s Gandhi Hospital was damaged after strikes hit nearby, and officials said medical facilities and schools had been impacted in multiple places. When healthcare sites are hit or even shaken by nearby blasts, the ripple effects are immediate: Patients get moved, surgeries are delayed and staff are forced to work in uncertainty.

Schools, too, have become part of the story. Reports described strikes that hit schools near Tehran and a wider pattern of attacks affecting education sites. Many parents now face a question that shouldn’t exist: Do you send your child to class when the situation can change overnight?

Even communication, something people rely on to find family, confirm safety and understand what’s happening, has become unreliable. NetBlocks has posted repeated social media updates showing Iran’s wartime internet blackout reaching extreme levels, with connectivity around 1% of ordinary levels during parts of the shutdown. When the internet collapses, it not only silences communities but also cuts off payment systems, disrupts work and makes it harder for people inside and outside Iran to reach each other.

As the threat grows, displacement has become another measure of fear. A U.N. estimate said 3.2 million Iranians have been displaced since the war began, alongside wrenching decisions families face, like whether to flee, where to go and whether leaving might mean not being able to return.

Underneath all of it is a question Iranians are likely arguing about quietly, even when they can’t say it publicly: What comes after this? Some will hope war brings political change. Others will fear that it brings only deeper repression and instability. Some will rally around the state. Others will blame it. Those divisions are visible in glimpses, like demonstrations framed as “defiance and resilience,” even as fear and exhaustion spread.

What’s certain is that for Tehran, war is no longer something “out there.” It is an atmosphere, felt in the noise overhead, the tension in ordinary errands, the uncertainty of school and hospital access and the desperate need to stay connected to the people you love.

GET INVOLVED:
Follow humanitarian updates through ReliefWeb and civilian protection statements from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Track internet shutdown reporting via NetBlocks and digital rights advocacy through Access Now. For human rights documentation, see the U.N. Human Rights Office and Amnesty International.

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Carol Khorramchahi

Carol Khorramchahi is a student at Boston University, where she studies English and Psychology and minors in Journalism. She enjoys writing and reporting on stories that bring together culture, identity, and community, and has experience in both newsroom reporting and digital media. She is especially interested in thoughtful storytelling with a global lens.

How Drones are Protecting the Amazon

Carson Jelinek

With the Amazon nearing a critical ecological threshold, drones have emerged as innovative forest guardians.

Amazon River. Nando Freitas. Pexels.

For 50 years, the Amazon Rainforest has experienced extensive deforestation due to illegal land grabbing, cattle ranching and agricultural expansion, particularly soy cultivation. There have been some signs of improvement, such as deforestation falling 30% at the end of 2024, but ultimately, activities have pushed the ecosystem to a critical tipping point. Illegal forest fires, for instance, increased in 2025, having been set to clear land and thus leaving the forest more vulnerable to future damage.

Aftermath of forest fire. Engin Akyurt. Pexels.

MORFO is a French-Brazilian climate tech startup working to restore ecosystems like the Amazon. The company operates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Montpellier, France, where they focus on science-based, nature-oriented solutions and reforestation led by drone imagery. The mission at MORFO is more than just planting trees; it is about making tropical forest restoration reliable, measurable and investible. The company currently has 24 ongoing projects and 2,000 hectares under active restoration with long-term monitoring and compliance.

DJI drone. ClickerHappy. CC0.

One of MORFO’s projects was an old gold mining site in the Amazon that had less than 1% vegetation cover at the start of their involvement. Local environmental authorities gave MORFO permission to help reforest the area, and now the site has reached 81% vegetation cover. The project, which started at about 10 hectares and has grown to nearly 100 hectares,  has demonstrated how technology can accelerate forest recovery alongside regulatory approval.

Woodpile. Pok Rie. Pexels.

Additionally, Indigenous groups are increasingly employing drones to monitor their territories and detect illegal logging or other potential threats. Members of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe, for instance, have utilized drone technology to identify the deforestation of 200 hectares of their land. As a result of this surveillance, they successfully intervened to halt further deforestation. The implementation of drones within tribal communities has facilitated the development of technological skills among village members, with each village seeking to train at least seven individuals in drone operation.

GET INVOLVED:

WWF Brazil and the Kaninde Association of Ethno-Environmental Protection: WWF has helped train Indigenous youth, including the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe, to use drones for patrolling. 

Rainforest Foundation US: Donate to support Rainforest US and their working directly with Indigenous peoples, where technicians analyze high-resolution aerial images, GPS data and videos to detect illegal land clearing.
MORFO: Check out MORFO’s website to learn more about their organization, as well as other activities they do.

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Carson Jelinek

Carson is a 22 year old writer and filmmaker studying film and media productions at Arizona State University. His work explores travel, culture, and the people behind the places, with a focus on stories that encourage curiosity and global understanding.

Do Greenlanders Really Need Saving?

Salome Liptak

Trump's continued pursuit of annexing Greenland has complicated international discussions of the territory's relationship with Denmark.

Protester holding Greenland’s flag. Peter Platou. Pexels.

Greenland, the autonomous territory of Denmark that is home to about 56,000 people, has been the subject of international debate during the second Trump administration. Trump first expressed interest in purchasing Greenland from Denmark in 2019, but now he has escalated to threats of tariffs against Denmark and its European allies, as well as military action against Greenland. 

Greenland has had its own parliament for domestic governance since the 1979 Home Rule Act, and it achieved self-rule in 2009, when legislation outlining Denmark’s legal pathway to voluntary independence was passed. Current polls show that Greenlanders hope to utilize this pathway to complete independence from Denmark, but Greenland’s vast, remote landscape and low population make economic independence presently impossible. This is also a major factor for the healthcare access issues that concern Greenlanders of all viewpoints, since the most remote community clinics are typically understaffed and underresourced.

Several European leaders have expressed their disapproval of Trump’s threats and emphasized their solidarity with Greenland against foreign intervention. Greenland’s unique status as a territory has required careful wording when defending the island’s right to self-determination, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s affirmation that “the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.” French President Emmanuel Macron made a similar statement, choosing to affirm Greenlanders’ sovereignty while speaking in Indigenous Greenlandic.

Greenland’s post-colonial relationship with Denmark, as is true for many Indigenous groups around the world, remains complicated. Greenland, whose population is majority Inuit, bears several national wounds from Danish colonial rule, which only ended in 1953. These include social experiments that separated Inuit children from their families and put them in Danish foster families to assimilate in 1951, as well as the forced sterilization of Inuit women throughout the 1960s. While Denmark has made strides toward reparations with public apologies and payouts for those involved, this painful history has left its mark, and systemic discrimination continues to be an issue in Greenland’s healthcare, education and social services, all of which are funded by Denmark.

Trump’s current push to annex Greenland has taken a different tone than that of his first term, utilizing the Kingdom of Denmark's present sovereignty over Greenland to justify U.S. intervention. On Truth Social, he announced his plan to send the U.S. hospital ship USNS Mercy to Greenland “to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.” The post’s unsubstantiated claim, along with its AI-generated image of the Mercy, caused widespread confusion. It appears this plan may have originated with Jorgen Boassen, a Greenlandic Trump supporter who has been vocal about issues of healthcare access in Greenland’s rural clinics. In response, Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, noted that Greenland currently has a “public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens,” providing more access to services than the current U.S. healthcare system, despite being flawed.

This new attempt at a humanitarian claim to Greenland only further complicates international discourse on Greenland’s sovereignty. For the majority of Greenlanders who oppose American acquisition of Greenland, Trump's threats of intervention on their behalf have only increased the obstacles they face in establishing independence, as they are reliant on Denmark for defense; if Greenland were to leave the realm of Denmark, it would likely be unable to defend itself from unwanted intervention. Many Greenlanders have expressed humor at the ironic effect Trump’s actions have taken, such as one viral video from the Danish public broadcast DRP3, where a man tells the camera, “Yes, Mr. President! You are a true peacemaker. Because your threats have actually brought Denmark and Greenland closer together than ever!”

While Denmark’s control leaves much to be desired for many Greenlanders and complete sovereignty remains a political goal, it is clear that intervention from Trump is both unwarranted under international legal norms and unwanted by the majority of Greenlanders.

Salomé Liptak

Salomé is a student at Sarah Lawrence College studying literature and writing. She is passionate about storytelling (both true and fictional) and its power to reflect the world as it is, or imagine what could be.

The Unflattering Truth of Asian Women’s Fetishization

Claire Park

The fetishization of Asian women is a reinforcement of the late 19th century’s imperialistic practices and mindsets, stripping them of their individuality and complexity.

Asian woman in traditional Vietnamese dress. Anna Tarazevich. Pexels.

During the early to mid-20th century, in the midst of Western imperialism, the United States’ formal occupations of Asia left many soldiers leveraging their domination of a more specific subject: Asian women. When white soldiers arrived in countries like Japan and Vietnam with Western beliefs of supremacy, they viewed the local women as weak, submissive and demure individuals who could easily be controlled. With the plight, despair and poverty of the wars, namely World War II and the Vietnam War, this representation materialized in the form of sex and prostitution, with Asian women’s “submissiveness” catering to soldiers’ needs for outlets of rest and recreation. The rape and degradation of these women birthed the symbol of Asian women being hypersexual, docile playthings, subservient to white superiority. 

As soldiers made their way back to America, they brought this fantasized Orientalism with them. These characterizations of Asian women as sexually compliant have since been reinforced through contemporary arts, literature and media. Novels like “Madame Chrysantheme” and stage productions such as “M. Butterfly” and “Miss Saigon” have perpetuated the stereotype of Asian women as mere objects dependent on white males for validation and existing only for sex. These “love” stories have romanticized the idea of forced prostitution, the struggle of Asian people during times of war and the white-savior story. Alternatively, other media, such as the film “Kill Bill,” have used Asian women’s alluring foreignness to establish the Dragon Lady stereotype, portraying them as mysterious and dangerous figures who tempt men for their own gain.

The recent popularity of anime in the West often appeals to large male audiences by combining both of these racialized stereotypes of meekness and enticement. While some female anime characters may be powerful heroines, a good portion of them are scantily clad with youthful, childlike features, which undermines those more optimal portrayals and exalts the objectification, hypersexuality and infantilization of Asian women. This depiction is not only harmful to Asian women and their perceptions of self but also completely disrespects Japanese and Asian culture by bastardizing it.

The misrepresentation of Asian women, their racial characteristics and their stories crafted through the Western gaze has conditioned people to view them as a type of fantasy rather than as individuals. While it may initially feel flattering to be desired for certain attributes one possesses, this fetishized attraction is rooted in a longstanding power imbalance, denying Asian women complexity and respect. The development and promotion of the acquiescent yet provocative racial label for Asian women has not only created external harm through harassment but has also fostered an internal pressure to perform a certain kind of sexuality or look a certain way. 

 Many Asian women feel othered with this emphasis on their “exotic” qualities. The constant questioning of how they’re perceived and the historical and media evidence confirming that they’re valued for certain racial traits rather than who they are as a whole person can deeply affect how they understand their self-worth. Moreover, Asian women’s racial and sexual objectification has been linked to health issues related to body image and eating disorders in pursuit of fitting the petite litheness associated with the idealized Asian woman. These uncertainties and pressures are not only harmful to Asian women’s self-esteem but also inhibit the development of their sense of self, at times making them resort to alignment with the fetishization in order to feel safe and accepted. 

While the fetishization of Asian women has persisted and evolved, actively working toward dismantling its enablement starts with education. Rather than accepting racial misrepresentations as something entrenched in society, media portrayals and their origins should be questioned, individuals should examine personal biases and Asian voices should be central in storytelling. In doing so, the authenticity and individuality of Asian women as people can finally be championed.

Claire Park

Claire Park is a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, studying English and Media Studies with a minor in Music. Her experience writing lifestyle content for UC Berkeley's The Daily Californian newspaper has inspired her to expand her scope to the realm of travel, pursuing her aspirations of becoming a travel journalist. When not writing, Claire can be found singing, reading romance books, journaling at the beach, or acquiring a sweet, caffeinated beverage.

4B: Why are American Women Swearing Off Men?

American women are participating in the 4B Movement which originated in South Korea, swearing off dating, marriage and sex.

Women in South Korea at a 4B protest. Free Malaysia Today. CC BY 4.0. 

In the wake of Donald Trump winning the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, social media flooded with thousands of posts from women announcing that they were swearing off men as part of the 4B Movement. But what exactly is the 4B Movement, and what does it hope to accomplish? 

Originating in South Korea, the feminist 4B Movement derives its name from its four tenets, which all start with the Korean prefix “bi” (or “no”) and denote a denial of something. Indeed, these four “Bs” are: don’t have children (bichulsan), don’t have sex with men (bisekseu), don’t date men (biyeonae) and don’t marry them either (bihon). The movement began in the mid-to-late 2010s as a protest against rising anti-woman sentiments among the nation’s men — especially following the hate-motivated stabbing of a young woman in Seoul in 2016. By withholding heterosexual attachments and exacerbating the nation’s flagging birth rates, South Korean women hope that the movement will provoke the nation’s leadership and male population into caring more about women’s rights. “I think a lot of women, through not participating in marriage and childbearing or relationships with men see a value in dropping the numbers to show through these statistics that women are not going to participate in [any] national agenda unless you listen to where women are coming from,” as Yale sociologist Meera Choi told The Times.  

In South Korea, 4B is primarily a fringe movement. Its practices are so elusive and decentralized that the best estimate we have for its total number of participants is anywhere between 5,000 and 50,000, a wide range that highlights researchers’ uncertainty. However,  since Nov. 5, 2024, some women in the United States have expressed a desire to introduce the movement mainstream in the West. Immediately following the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, many expressed shock and fear that Donald Trump — a figure with a well-documented history of sexual misconduct — had again achieved the highest office in the country. Particularly, some were distressed by the sheer number of men that had turned out for Trump, believing their votes to represent endorsements of or even apathy toward Trump’s misogynistic behaviors (“Among men, who made up 47% of the electorate,” NBC News reported, “Trump won 55%”). 

Trump supporters at one of his rallies in August 2024. Greg Skidmore. CC BY 2.0. 

For these women, 4B’s appeal of sticking it to the government and an indifferent, if not overtly hostile, male population was immediate. “Young men expect sex, but they also want us to not be able to have access to abortion. They can’t have both,” Michaela Thomas told The Washington Post, referring to Trump’s first-term Supreme Court nominations who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. “Young women don’t want to be intimate with men who don’t fight for women’s rights; it’s showing they don’t respect us.” 

4B’s popularity quickly caught on across social media. “Good luck getting laid, especially in Florida! [...] Me and my girlies are participating in the 4B Movement,” user @brielleybelly123 posted to TikTok. User @rabbitsandtea also posted on the platform: “Doing my part as an American woman by breaking up with my [R]epublican boyfriend last night and officially joining the 4B [M]ovement this morning.” Some liberal men have also expressed support for 4B. “The best way to show the importance of taking away women’s rights is to make sure men are affected as much as possible alongside them,” a  Buzzfeed commenter wrote. As Instagram user @nosybystanders told her female fanbase: “Why exactly are you going to keep be[ing] subservient to a nation that [literally doesn’t] care about you?” 

An anti-Trump women’s march following his election in 2016. Fabrice Florin. CC BY 2.0.

4B finds footing in an America currently experiencing a widening political gender gap. Young women are becoming more liberal as men drift further to the right and deeper into conservatism. In October 2024, a New York Times/Siena College poll found that “young women — those ages 18 to 29 — favored Vice President Kamala Harris for president by 38 points. And men in the same age group favored former President Donald J. Trump by 13 points. That is a whopping 51-point divide along gender lines, larger than in any other generation.” As Claire Cain Miller reported, this is partly because young women have been “politically galvanized” by “tthe triple punch of Hillary Clinton’s loss to Mr. Trump, the #MeToo movement and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.” On the other hand, young men feel increasingly “unvalued” by young women and “see former President Donald J. Trump as a champion of traditional manhood.” In terms of the 4B Movement, participants know firsthand how this male-harbored resentment can manifest in internet trolls’ hate comments.

Under @brielleybelly123’s video, @user813858060727 commented, “Thanks for not reproducing. You’re doing us all a favor.” Elsewhere, beneath a separate post under the 4B Movement hashtag, TikTok user @feronity commented, “Took a fu—kin new president just to stop being wh—res.” In the context of this vitriolic pushback — coupled with increased threats of “Your Body, My Choice” among young right-wing men — it becomes less surprising that women are joining the 4B Movement. 

A protestor carrying an anti-Trump sign at the 2017 Women’s March. CC0.

Some of the online discourses surrounding women’s participation in the 4B movement are likely exaggerations: not every woman who posts about partaking in 4B is likely to completely follow through with its tenets, especially in the long term. For all of the buzz that it’s created in the U.S., 4B has never been among the top 100 trending hashtags on TikTok, signaling that hype for the movement has been largely sensationalized. But so long as Trump continues to campaign on misogynistic rhetoric and policies — and men continue to listen — the underlying sentiments of 4B will remain real, and so will their implications for increasingly fed-up women. 

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Bella Liu

Bella is a student at UC Berkeley studying English, Media Studies and Journalism. When she’s not writing or working through the books on her nightstand, you can find her painting her nails red, taking digicam photos with her friends or yelling at the TV to make the Dodgers play better. Bella is a student at UC Berkeley studying English, Media Studies, and Journalism. When she’s not writing or working through the books on her nightstand, you can find her painting her nails red, taking digicam photos with her friends or yelling at the TV to make the Dodgers play better.

The Essential Palestine Reading List

Dive into this collection that illuminates the rich tapestry of Palestinian history and culture.

An aerial view of Palestine. CC0

Curated with a respect for the multifaceted narratives of the region, this collection encapsulates an array of perspectives, histories and lived experiences. Each title delves deep into the heart of Palestinian identity, the intricacies of the conflict and the resilient spirit of a people striving for justice and peace.

NON-FICTION

1. They Called Me a Lioness 

by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri

Ahed Tamimi, an iconic Palestinian activist, garnered global attention for her fearless activism against the Israeli occupation. Her imprisonment as a teenager after confronting an Israeli soldier in her village of Nabi Saleh turned her into a symbol of Palestinian resistance. This compelling memoir offers a firsthand account of Tamini’s experiences and the ongoing struggle for justice in Palestine, providing profound insight into the realities Palestinians face under occupation.

2. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine 

by Ilan Pappé

In this seminal work, Ilan Pappé meticulously traces the events of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, revealing the hidden reality of forced displacement and the establishment of Israel. With unflinching detail, Pappé unearths harrowing stories of dispossession and illuminates the profound impact of this historical upheaval on the Palestinian people.

3. Love Is an Ex-Country 

by Randa Jarrar

In her memoir, Randa Jarrar fearlessly challenges stereotypes about Muslims and Palestinians. Embarking on a cross-country journey, Jarrar proudly embraces her queer, Muslim, Palestinian and unapologetically confident identity, offering a raw, authentic exploration of the intricacies of life.

4. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood 

by Rashid Khalidi

Historian Rashid Khalidi masterfully dissects the intricate history of Palestinian nationalism and aspirations for statehood. With scholarly precision, Khalidi navigates through decades of political intrigue, chronicling the challenges, setbacks and enduring resilience of a people bent on self-determination and recognition on the world stage.

5. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine 

by Rashid Khalidi

Rashid Khalidi's meticulously researched book paints a vivid historical tapestry from the 1800s to the present in this unshrinking account of the assault on Palestinian society.

6. We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders 

by Linda Sarsour

Linda Sarsour's memoir portrays her journey from Brooklyn to becoming a powerhouse in activism, stirring profound reflections on solidarity and advocacy.

7. Except for Palestine 

by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick

Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick's critique navigates the inconsistencies within progressive circles, urging universal consistency in advocating for all oppressed communities.

FICTION

1. Mornings in Jenin 

by Susan Abulhawa

Susan Abulhawa crafts a poignant, multigenerational narrative that traverses the emotional terrain of a Palestinian family's journey through displacement and loss. Through exquisite storytelling, Abulhawa offers a deeply moving portrayal of resilience amid a tumultuous landscape of conflict and highlights the enduring spirit of the Palestinian people.

2. The Tiny Journalist: Poems 

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye, the esteemed Palestinian-American poet, weaves poetic wonders inspired by Janna Jihad Ayyad, Palestine's youngest journalist. Ayyad, capturing anti-occupation protests at the age of seven using her mom's smartphone, becomes Nye's muse in this must-read collection.

3. You Exist Too Much 

by Zaina Arafat

Zaina Arafat's debut novel is a transcontinental tale which oscillates between the United States and the Middle East. A fresh voice in Palestinian-American literature, Arafat artfully dismantles Israel’s pinkwashing while unraveling the complexities of Palestinian society for diverse readers.

4. Enter Ghost 

by Isabella Hammad

Isabella Hammad's evocative narrative navigates modern-day Palestine, delving into the artist's struggles amid diaspora, displacement, and the shadow of occupation.

5. Evil Eye 

by Etaf Rum

Etaf Rum's exploration of womanhood as a Palestinian American is a profound journey through intergenerational trauma, clashes of culture and labyrinthian family dynamics.

6. Salt House

by Hala Alyan

Set in the aftermath of Israel’s conquest of the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, "Salt Houses" chronicles a Palestinian family's odyssey from their homeland to Kuwait, painting a poignant legacy of longing and displacement passed through generations.

7. Mother of Strangers 
by Suad Amiry

"Mother of Strangers" presents a cinematic love story against the backdrop of the Nakba in Jaffa, weaving themes of love, loss, and a nation's upheaval.

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Raeann Mason

Raeann is a traveler, digital storyteller, and guide writer, with a degree in Mass Communication & Media from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She is passionate about a/effective journalism and cultural exchange, and is an advocate of international solidarity and people's liberation. Her work at CATALYST PLANET focuses on reshaping the culture of travel and hospitality to be more ethically sound and sustainable

The Eco-Friendly Genius of 'Earthships' | That's Amazing

The New Mexico desert is a landscape of harsh extremes: brutally hot in the summer, frigid in the winter. It was the perfect testing ground for architect Mike Reynolds' "earthships"—houses of unconventional design material and utility that are completely self-sustained. They're built with used tires and empty glass bottles and produce their own electricity, water and food. For Reynolds, sustainable houses are the key to making a home in a better future—and now, the rest of the world is catching on to Reynolds' eco-friendly designs.

How This Women's Biker Club is Helping Babies in Need

The Sirens Women's Motorcycle Club in New York City is more than a group of women riding choppers. And that's a really good thing for nursing babies who need donated breast milk to survive. The club, which focuses on women's health issues, teamed up with The New York Milk Bank to deliver donor milk to mothers and babies who need it — all for free.

VIDEO: The 12-Year-Old Scientist Taking On Flint's Water Crisis

When Gitanjali Rao first heard about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, she wanted to help in any way she could. Now, at only 12 years old, Gitanjali is the proud inventor of “Tethys,” a portable device that detects lead in water. Named “America’s Top Young Scienist,” Gitanjali hopes to inspire other kids to get moving and make a difference in their own communities.

VIDEO: Who's Developing Who?

The common assumption is that the rich countries of the global north, through foreign aid programs and by participating in projects like the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), are helping the less wealthy countries of the global south develop. But how true is this? 

Right now, for every $1 that is given in foreign aid to the global south, around $18 is taken out by other means, most notably rigged trade deals than benefit the most powerful countries and corporations, debt repayment on debts already paid off many times over, and massive tax evasion and other forms of corruption, committed by political and business elites north and south, and facilitated by the large and growing web of tax havens. So in the grand scheme of things, who’s actually developing who?

The answer to this question will also affect your opinion of the SDGs. They don’t have a lot to say about this dynamic, and in fact riff pretty heavily on the basic idea that it’s the north that is the generous party. They do acknowledge both the vast level of illicit finance, and that the global financial system is relevant to their project, but capture their level of concern in vague statements about the need to “enhance global macroeconomic stability” through “policy coordination”. There are no specific responsibilities for anyone, or any actual targets.