There are ten things you can do to limit your contribution to global warming, according to the Sierra Club. Though many items on the list involve newer technologies (like energy-efficient refrigerators and compact fluorescent light bulbs), old standards like planting a tree and following the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) are as important as they ever were.


“A House Divided”
Jonathan Garfinkel
pp. 49-56

There are as many books chronicling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as there are opinions about how to end it. Mark Tessler’s A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994) and James L. Gelvin’s The Israel-Palestine Conflict: 100 Years of War (Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2005) are two excellent places to start. In the graphic novel, Palestine (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2001), cartoonist Joe Sacco reports from the Occupied Territories during the first intifada, telling the stories of the Palestinian families he meets there.


“Snail Males”
Ken Coates and Clive Keen
pp. 58-63

The Boys Project, Judith Kleinfeld’s initiative to “help young males develop their capabilities and reach the potential that their families and teachers know they have,” provides an extensive list of resources on its website, including links to articles on neuroscience and the psychological life of boys. Visitors can also learn about individuals and institutions working to close the “achievement gap.”

The Australians seem to be working the hardest to combat male underachievement. Tasmania-based psychologist Steve Biddulph’s book, Raising Boys: Why Boys are Different and How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men (Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed, 1998), has done much to raise public awareness of the issue. The government of Australia has tackled the issue of male underachievement head-on, allocating around $27 million over 2003-2008 to improving boys’ educational and social outcomes. The Department of Education, Science and Training has compiled links to a variety of research reports and conference papers and provides a link to the website for Australia’s Success for Boys Initiative.

While Canada lags behind Australia in the recognition of this issue, there has been some media coverage here, including the CBC’s InDepth piece on the literacy challenges young boys face in elementary school, titled “Gender Gap.”