By Isaiah Menning ’24 We live in an age of extinction. At 1,000 times the average historical rate, the current biological extinction crisis places the present moment on par with the event that killed the dinosaurs.1 With atmospheric carbon dioxide levels higher than any point in the past 800,000 years and the world expected to…

First coined by President Herbert Hoover in a 1928 campaign speech, the term “rugged individualism” describes the uniquely American philosophy of hard work, self-reliance, and just desserts. This ideology developed under Hoover’s presidency, where his policies responding to the Great Depression placed the onus on the individual’s ability to work hard and “pull themselves up…