The Top 5: The last lighthouse keeper, Georgists, bug farms, is college worth it?
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Welcome to the latest edition of the Top 5 articles we’ve read this week. Each week, we read dozens of articles in the hope we find essays and reporting that speak to big ideas, trends, future looks, and incredible human stories. We hope you enjoy our list, and do always let us know if you have a suggestion or a recommendation!
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The Top 5 articles for your week:
“The ‘Georgists’ Are Out There, and They Want to Tax Your Land” (NYT)
Because in Detroit, journalist Conor Dougherty looks at the problem of affordable housing: “The notion that land is an undertaxed resource — and that this distorts markets in destructive ways — unites libertarians and socialists, has brought business owners together with labor groups and is lauded by economists as a “perfect tax.” And yet despite all that agreement, there are just a handful of examples of this policy in action, and none in America that match the Detroit proposal in scale. This is at least in part because the land-value tax has historically been associated with Georgism, an ideology whose adherents are regarded as the tinfoil-hat-wearers of economics. Strict Georgists don’t just believe land-value taxes are a good idea; they believe that if America were to throw out all taxes, then replace them with a single land-value tax, it would end poverty and recessions for good.”
"The False Binary in Higher Ed” (The Atlantic)
Because Ben Wildavsky argues, “…the push to replace a liberal education with practical training is deeply misguided. The two approaches are complements, not substitutes; the best careers require both. Perhaps that’s why practical education already pervades the college system. And when the push extends to economically disadvantaged students, who are disproportionately steered toward nondegree programs that don’t have strong records of fostering economic and career advancement, it’s particularly dangerous. Despite the claims that “the degree is dead,” the job market itself is sending an unambiguous signal: College is still worth it.”
“Why companies are racing to build the world’s biggest bug farm” (Washington Post)
Because Nicolás Rivero investigates the bug industry boom that’s taking place to replace traditional farm feed, which produces greenhouse emissions.
“The Last Lighthouse Keeper in America” (New Yorker)
Because Dorothy Wickendon interviews and explores the lifestyle of Sally Snowman, the last lighthouse keeper in the US, and also gives a history of the profession. Snowman will return at the end of December and her profession will be obsolete.
“Two thousand miles from home” (Atavist Magazine)
Because this is a gorgeous account from Lily Hyde of one family who in 2022 found themselves in a newly Russian-occupied area of Ukraine with three members of the family newly pregnant. This long-form essay describes what it is like to endure pregnancy, birth, and raising a baby during modern war.
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