By Nicole Caldwell and Lauren Liebhaber for Stacker
As the Congress and Senate reach an agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus bill amidst the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Stacker looked at news and government reports to provide a by-the-numbers breakdown of how those funds will be allocated. Click through for an explanation of notable inclusions in the historic relief package and updates as they come in.
By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker
U.S. history books are filled with tales of brave heroes who fought and died to stay true to the ideals of a wild, new world order focused on equality and freedom. Those iconic characters you read about—from Harriet Tubman and Crazy Horse to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.—represent revolutionaries with progressive ideals who fought relentlessly for what they hoped to make a more perfect union bolstered by a government that would support each of its people in their individual quests for happiness.
Some of our country’s greatest civil advancements have come at a terrible price; paid for with bloody battles, imperfect leadership, and the scars left behind from racism, sexism, and even genocide. Our history includes the mass killing of Native Americans and the scourge of American slavery as much as it includes the Declaration of Independence and the liberation of people from Nazi camps.
America’s greatness comes in even measure with her complex past, with countless demonstrations of unchecked power and the foolish notion of boundless growth; but it is also borne of great showings of empathy and what is possible when, as a nation, we defer to our “better angels.”
To take a look at the rich history of the United States—from battles won in favor of righteousness and equality to periods of extreme darkness—Stacker used a variety of historical sources and photographs to put together a quiz highlighting key events in American history in every year of the past century. On each slide, you’ll find part of a historic photo that matches a clue about American history from that year. On each subsequent slide will be the answer, along with some background on the significance of that event.
Keep reading to test your knowledge of American history, from the Roaring ‘20s and Mickey Mouse’s debut film to the civil rights movement and Watergate.
By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker
In one of the biggest environmental protests in world history, more than 7.6 million people from 185 countries joined forces between Sept. 20 and 27, 2019, for the Global Climate Strike. That immense civic action is part of a swelling movement, sparked in August 2018 by then-15-year-old activist Greta Thunberg. The Swedish teenager began cutting school to stand outside the parliament building holding a sign that translates in English to "School strike for climate." Her civil disobedience touched off a worldwide effort demanding stronger, more comprehensive climate policies, an end to oil extraction, clean energy options, investments in green infrastructure, and more equitable futures for citizens around the globe.
The movement is coming at the same time politicians in the U.S. push for the banning of plastic bags, the eradication of single-use drinking straws, and the passage of the Green New Deal, a bold plan that envisions drastic measures to curb greenhouse gases. These green efforts come against a backdrop of numerous reports of natural disasters caused by climate change, how weather patterns are expected to shift in the next 50 years, and how climate change is adversely affecting the food systems people rely on.
Other environmental crusaders are pressuring governments and corporations to divest from fossil fuels—and mounting legislation against oil companies who, according to recently surfaced evidence, knowingly disrupted information linking oil drilling to global warming in a way that's reminiscent of how tobacco companies hid evidence linking smoking to cancer in the 20th century.
Stacker scoured data from Apolitical to take a closer look at 20 top environmental crusaders working in local and national governments, international organizations, and nongovernmental groups like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Harvard, Oxford, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and The Climate Action Network.
To determine who was nominated to Apolitical's master list of 100 individuals influencing climate policy, the organization accepted nominations from experts as well as peers of the organization. Hundreds of nominations were counted, followed by research conducted into each nominee and the work he or she is doing on behalf of the climate. Factors considered included the number of nominations received, the potential for affecting change, past achievements affecting change, public perception of influence, seniority beyond expectations for someone of a similar age, significant speaking engagements, social media presence, and feedback from experts.
Finally, Apolitical's list of nominees was reviewed by experts for final decisions and updated in March 2019. This gallery lists the 20 most influential people in climate policy in alphabetical order according to their first names.
Read on to learn more about the world's top environmental crusaders, from long-established leaders like Bill McKibben to more recent crusaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker
Humans’ primal desire to compete can be traced to basic principles of evolution: To survive, all organisms on the planet must constantly outdo each other for resources. But where fellow terrestrials use play to simulate competitive skills like hunting or fighting, human beings have taken their zest for competition many steps further. The world is riddled with odd competitions, from the Air Guitar World Championships held in Finland since 1996 and cow pie bingo to any number of eating competitions, polar dips, and, of course, the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held each year at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif.
Events like lumberjack or woodsmen competitions have been mainstays in American culture, while other events come briefly into the public eye only to fade quickly (and, sometimes, thankfully) back into obscurity. Decades ago, women were subjected to
(in which contestants wore papier-mache masks to hide their faces), “perfect back” contests, cleaning championships, and other archaic competitions that trudged forward through humans’ primordial soup into splendid, utter irrelevancy.
Charlie Chaplin once entered a
(he came in 20th place), and we’ve since seen the same from Adele. Then there are the now-defunct ,
, and even the Extreme Ironing World Championships (which is just what it sounds like). Still (surprisingly) in operation, however, are contests for lawnmower racing, baby crying, rock-paper-scissors, black pudding throwing, Punkin Chunkin, tree climbing, shovel racing, and even the Cold Water Swimming Olympics.
Mining various news reports, organization and town websites, and championships data yielded 25 of the most unusual competitions from around the world. It seems there’s a contest for every imaginable skill, from belly-flopping to swimming in grits.
Keep reading to find out where you can compete to be the best Santa Claus or find your way to self-transcendence in a 3,100-mile race.
By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker
Children around the world live vastly different lives, from places where child labor is legal and common (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Myanmar), to countries where education is compulsory and lengthy (Norway, the United Kingdom, and South Korea). Some nations, such as Italy, even require children to attend preschool. On other fronts, marriage and motherhood among teenage girls are still widespread (even in developed countries), and both are often viewed by international organizations and human rights groups as inhibitors to economic and social growth.
To find out which countries in the world are best for children, Stacker looked to a 2018 report from international NGO Save the Children, a group working to promote the welfare and rights of young people everywhere. Save the Children’s report is the result of data the group compiled on the livelihoods of children worldwide from 2012 to 2017. Save the Children created an index score on a scale from 1 to 1,000 that reflects the average level of performance across a set of indicators related to child health, education, labor, marriage, childbirth, and violence. Countries with higher scores are better at protecting and providing for children. Data points specifically look at under-5 mortality rates (deaths per 1,000 live births); percent of primary and secondary school age children not in school; percent of girls aged 15 to 19 currently married or in union; and births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19.
Findings reveal that Niger comes in last internationally for children, with an index score of just 388; while the United States ranks at a middling #36 with a score of 945 in between Russia and Belarus. Singapore and Slovenia are tied for first place with an index score of 987.
Stacker broke this listing out into the top-50 countries for children internationally and included the percent of a country’s population that is 0 to 14 years old for reference, provided by the CIA World Factbook.
Read on to discover the 50 best countries in the world for children.
Eco-friendly initiatives, from zero-waste living to reducing meat consumption, are no longer concepts relegated to cities, progressive coastal communities, or the tired trope of yesterday’s “hippie.” With growing scientific evidence of the roles we all play in polluting our waterways, affecting climate change, and harming fragile eco systems all over the world, choosing to “live green” and tread more lightly aren’t fringe ideas at all—nor are they new in the north country.
The opioid crisis has hit home with a vengeance.
Opioids in 2016 were the cause of 42,249 deaths nationally—five times the amount in 1999. Between 2005 and 2014, opioid-related emergency room visits and inpatient stays skyrocketed by 200 percent across the United States. Around half of these incidents involve drugs prescribed by doctors.
The Contemporary Art and Architecture Triennial has returned with a splash to the northwest Belgium city of Bruges, featuring poignant works of art and architecture exploring this year’s “Liquid City” theme.
Peppered among the city’s famous canals, medieval buildings and beloved cobblestone streets rises a trail of installations by artists and architects from around the world that will be on display through Sept. 16. At one poignant spot—where the canal dips underground and disappears—rises a particularly noteworthy installation: a breaching, four-story tall whale called “Skyscraper,” made entirely of plastic plucked from the ocean.
The healthiest, most economically advantaged and sustainable cities on the planet share one trait: their walkability.
Walkable cities are better for the environment, people’s overall wellness, and positively impact levels of wealth. Unfortunately for those of us in the United States, a lot of our cities were built around cars — not feet. For as much as folks love the walkability of New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and Savannah, they dislike in equal measure the sprawl of other beloved cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Dallas.
A charitable grant from the Ford Motor Co. has made possible a "mobile farm" partnership between the automaker and a Detroit charity that promises to educate children on healthy eating, provide food for the hungry, and teach people to be more self-sufficient by growing their own food.
Two essential (if unlikely) pieces required to make this project happen? A 40-foot-long shipping container and an F-150 pickup truck.
Green Matters teamed up with WeWork for the month of April to celebrate Earth Day 2018 with a #workgreen challenge and Q&A series spotlighting sustainability-minded WeWork member companies. In this installment, we’re sitting down with Dr. Lisa Dyson, CEO of Kiverdi.
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