This week’s current events included two very different topics, but they were equally fascinating to me.
The first topic is not necessarily “new news,” but it was new to us, and my kids found it very interesting. The topic is house cats. According to the articles we read, scientists have studied the movement of house cats and raised the question of their effect on the ecosystem. you can read those articles here:
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/25/1020342850/the-secret-world-of-housecats-what-they-do-when-their-owne
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cat-tracker-shows-where-pets-go?cmpid=int_org=ngp
*this article requires a subscription to NatGeo to read in its entirety. We also looked at Switzerland’s cat walks, which are found all over the cities and towns In this article:
The next event we looked at was a story that has been months, even years, in the making. After much pressure from artists and others in the art community, the Sackler name has been removed from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Sackler family founded Purdue Pharma and played a role in the marketing of OxyContin. Nan Goldin, an artist who overcame addiction, led the charge in pressuring the museum to remove the Sackler name. You can read the full article here:
This event led to some great discussions about how people in positions of power can influence decisions, for good and bad. We discussed our thoughts on the ethics of taking money from individuals and companies that don’t align with our values. We talked about how even those of us without power can use our collective voices to push for change. We also had discussions about the differences in effecting changes in private businesses vs government and how our approach may need to be different in those different realms.