Where is the global outrage? — What if I told you there is a city, a world famous city, with a police force that kills more people in a month than Minnesota police has killed in 20 years? What if I told you there is a country, not some backwater state, but a major economic and…

Beneath our dependency on smartphones lies a seething resentment at what our devices are turning us into — For Christmas 2018, I booked a trip to Thailand on a whim — keen to escape work and the annual family gathering. Nothing good tends to comes from hasty decisions. Jetting off to the other side of the world because I couldn’t deal with real life would come at a…

At a London CCTV center, operatives monitor thousands of citizens every day. But does the public realize how surveilled they are? And do they care? — Eleven years ago, a giant mural appeared in Newman Street, central London, of a boy in a red jacket painting the slogan, “One Nation Under CCTV” in stark white capitals. His actions are filmed by a painted policeman next to a barking dog. Right above the mural was a real…

Half my twenties were spent in fear and constant paranoia — Life in Britain was never meant to start with a lie. It was summer 2004, and I was standing in line at the university enrollment office. I handed my application to the administrator and told her I was raised in Portugal. I expected her to ask for my ID, which…

A simpler life might be trendy now, but the Hare Krishna have been doing it for centuries…with a few quirks — James Edwards was 16 and partying at Lollapalooza when a Hare Krishna devotee handed him a book called Easy Journeys to Other Planets. Intrigued by its descriptions of meditation and yoga and how our spirits can transcend our material body, he says the encounter made an impression him as a…

Carnival belongs to black Brazilians — and they are learning to use it to their advantage — As a black Brazilian who grew up abroad, I never quite understood the meaning of Carnival. Sure, I knew it was a time to party and do away with the inhibitions of everyday life. But up until very recently, I couldn’t grasp the almost religious importance my fellow countrymen and…

It is known as Africa’s biggest e-waste dumping site, a place where the outdated, discarded electronics from the West come to die. Locals dissect their components and sell them on to third parties, mainly from China and Nigeria. Yet Agbogbloshie, a sprawling slum in the center of the Ghanaian capital…

Customers can get anything they need to survive a major catastrophe—and business is booming — On a remote farm a two-hour drive from London, 24-year-old Lincoln Miles prepares for the apocalypse. “Oh yes, it is coming in some shape,” he tells me without hesitation. “The tensions with Russia at the minute, the tensions in Europe — we are on the brink of war.” It was…

But are sustainability, simplicity, and spirit enough to live in a 21st century world? — I arrived at Brithdir Mawr on a gray Tuesday afternoon in autumn. I am deep in West Wales on the slopes of the beautiful Pembrokeshire National Coast Park, green hills stretching out as far as the eye can see. The air is sweet with the scent of wet grass. One…