We take a look at lawns. In the past several years a debate around lawns and their importance, as well as their environmental impact, has increased in the US. Today we take a look at the argument in favor of lawns and look at some of the reasons why they hold such an important space in our culture.

We look at the history of lawns, and how they relate to the American Dream. We also look at some scientific studies that investigate how lawns and heavily vegetated areas can cool an environment and can impact the livability of a neighborhood.

We continue our conversation around the War on Drugs and its relationship with the United States' increase in its prison population through the last quarter of the 20th century. This week we look at the argument that the it was policy decisions that drove the US to increase its number of inmates, rather than it being a direct result of more crime.

We look at the correlation between arrest rates and policy changes as well as incarceration rates to similar countries to the US as we explore this point of view.

We take a deeper look at the US prison population and its dramatic increase during the last quarter of the 20th century, and we ask the question "How did this happen?" Many experts argue that the rise in US incarceration rates is closely correlated with the War on Drugs.

We take a brief look at the War on Drugs, and what led to it, as well as some data and statistics around drug use and crime rates during the 1970s and 80s.

We continue our conversation around the privatization of prisons. This week we take a look at the argument in favor of privatized prisons. The first modern private prisons emerged in the US in the 1980s, and the industry has grown rapidly since then.

Supporters of privatized prisons argue that they offer the opportunity for better innovation and flexibility than government facilities. We look at some examples of this, such as tablets and online education and training opportunities for inmates, as well as GEO Group's Continuum of Care program, which aims at assisting and aiding inmates with training, education, therapy, both while they serve their sentence and after.

Today we begin a conversation around the topic of private prisons. Private prisons are facilities that are privately owned and/or contracted out by the US government for housing incarcerated people.

Critics of private prisons argue that when a prison is run for profit, that it can create incentives to increase incarcerations and extend sentences in the name of increasing revenue. They also argue that private prisons can reduce costs by employing less staff and cutting costs in training, leading to unsafe environments for both the prisoner and the employee.

We're doing another rant today. Today we're talking about the importance of taking a break and stepping away from social media and the constant noise and endless feeds they provide us. People spend hours everyday on social media, and it can suck us in and we can get stuck spiraling through an constant stream of videos, posts, and memes.

Today, we are encouraging you to take a break, and step away and to go outside and touch some grass, for your mental and emotional well-being.

This week we look at the argument in favor of term limits for congressional reps and presidents. Those who support term limits often raise the argument that term limits can help prevent career politicians, or those who remain in office for a very long time.

The concern that many of these supporters raise is that career politicians can become more concerned with retaining their position than they are with serving their constituents. The argument is that by enacting a set time limit for service, this will remove the incentives to embed themselves in the political system, and help them focus on serving the American people.

Today we start a conversation around term limits and the arguments that those who oppose term limits raise in the discussion. Today, congressional representatives do not have term limits, but the president does. We look at the history of how that came to be, with the tradition that George Washington set where no president served more than two terms until FDR, who is the only president in history to serve more than two terms.

We look at some of the arguments that critics of term limits raise, specifically that they limit the voice of the people, and that they could inadvertently force experienced lawmakers out of office just when we need them most.