Mountaintop removal can be defined as an invasive form of coal mining in which the soil, rock and plant life of a mountain is destroyed and removed through the use of explosives in order to mine the coal seams underneath.

With election season just behind us and Obama re-elected for a second term, change is in the air. One change has the potential to affect more than 1.4 million people living in the United States. This group of individuals is the US population of undocumented persons, often incorrectly referred to as “illegal immigrants.” Laws, acts, bills, and amendments to change the situation of these persons have been discussed for decades, but there is one that might actually stick. Pitched to Congress in 2001, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) act gave immigrants hope for a better life.

For years feminists have been fi ghting for equal rights among women and minorities. Although many of these battles have been won, equal pay in the workplace continues to cause problems regardless of the legisla- tion in place to counter it.

Tiffani Nguyễn has spent most of her life living in the United States. Her parents immigrated with their family to the US in 1994 in hopes to give their children more opportunities than they would have had back in Vietnam. When asked what social justice issues are most important to her, Nguyễn answers, “I think that’s something that I’m still trying to figure out.

In the face of a suppressive government and the Russian Orthodox Church, the band Pussy Riot has managed to become an iconoclastic beacon of free expression.