Mark A. Bonta
Cultural geographer and educator Mark A. Bonta covers ecology, democracy, local self-reliance and community-based solutions to global problems.
Thanks to the pandemic, Americans are rediscovering birds at time that birds need to be noticed more than ever. Although a recent Audubon Society report shows that bird numbers have plummeted in North America over the last 50 years, millions of the feathered flyers are still migrating north to their seasonal breeding grounds. America’s newest […]
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As of May 2020, the Baltic nation of Lithuania has 2.9 million citizens, less than 1,500 coronavirus cases, around 50 deaths — and an excess of style, culture and good eating. The country has distinguished itself by being able to combine the best practices of pandemic mitigation — social distancing, for example — with innovative […]
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Public libraries are community institutions essential to the free flow of information in American society — and they were shuttered abruptly at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, however, libraries across the country have become more essential than ever thanks to the multitude of online services they offer. Yet in most cases, they’re struggling. In […]
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The complex supply chains of our food system have been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Farmers and consumers alike have been caught off-guard by price collapses and shifting demand; by government food policies that are less than helpful; and by hunger and malnutrition already extant across the country. It all adds up to a […]
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Thanks to the confluence of culture, politics and history, the indigenous peoples of North America are uniquely vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. And, they are uniquely positioned to protect themselves from its worst effects. Ignored in the data, and historically unequal Native Americans, like other minority groups in the United States, suffer from unequal access […]
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From Manila to New Delhi to Los Angeles, residents are feeling some ironically positive effects from weeks of sharply reduced vehicle traffic due to coronavirus lockdowns, quarantines, and shelter-in-place orders. Millions of urban dwellers are for the first time learning what it is like to breathe air largely free of pollutants. And for those who […]
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