Motivated by personal passion and a commitment to community, OAG researchers initiated their own projects or jumped on current OAG research in hopes to better understand the social problems facing the United States. They are the heart of OAG, and their publications create a cycle of engagement when young-publication readers apply for research projects of their own. Want to research with OAG? Apply today or check out our current projects.

After reading an article in Seattle Times about an FBI crackdown on local brothels that resulted in a rescue of 69 children, ages 11-18, I became both outraged and frustrated. Despite the stereotypical nature/people – loving image that Seattle is known for, the city is notorious for the number of child prostitutes that make a living off of the exponentially rising demand for their sexual services. I believe that as a member of both the global and Seattle community, I have an obligation to elucidate this egregious human rights violation and raise the awareness to engender active public participation that will help curb the demand and provide the victims with much needed support. The objective of my research is to pull knowledge and information about this issue from different sources, and to create a document that will offer a synoptic snapshot of this dilemma. I am hoping to collaborate with the local expert Dr. Debra Boyer, as well as Deborah Richardson from the Women's Funding Network, a national leader on this issue. I am also planning on discussing various ways for public to engage and make a difference. OAG has offered me a great platform for sharing my work with others and for raising awareness.

I grew up in a small town in Alaska with an excellent school system. I moved to Washington in my junior year and immediately became lost in a sea of thousands of students and lost the momentum I'd built. Ten years later, having finally started my secondary education with a focus on direct service to vulnerable populations, I've come to realize that I have the most opportunity for affecting change on a systemic level. The relationship of our systems and institutions to our societal problems doesn't always translate to the people, and I want to be able to flush out the educational inequalities and economic disparity within our society in order to bring the issues to light.

I've had an interesting route through the public and private school systems in Washington and Oregon... a route which has undoubtedly spawned my passion for equality. As a sociology major and ethnic studies minor at Willamette, I came to believe we can untangle the roots of structural inequality through reforming one of our biggest and most important social institutions: the education system. In my second year at League of Education Voters, I'm hoping to increase the volume at which student voice is heard in statewide politics!

I grew up in Marin County, California and have been living in Seattle since I started to attend the University of Washington. I am currently interested in understanding more about how living things, such as humans, experience and dynamically interact with their environment (both social and environmental). The incorporation of critical thought into fields such as philosophy and science, has helped me to understand not only how to live a more fulfilling life, but it has also helped me to understand why it is important to spread this information. From belief comes behavior. To overcome some of the social and environmental problems we are facing today people must become more active educators of themselves and of others. Through OAG I hope to spread and increase this understanding.

Alden Remington
Subject: Restorative Justice

I’ve been privileged to have been alive on this beautiful blue and green planet for 21 of its orbital rotations around our life-giving Sun. My desire in this life is to travel, at home and abroad, learn, from those young and old, teach, myself and those with very different experiences, share, with the simple beauty of compassion, and collaborate, with the enchanting complexity of nature’s symbiosis. I find real dissent, honest self-reflection, and the taking of the “Right” action far more valuable than the contemporary selecting of the lesser evil. Concordantly, I strive to value the best of where we have come from, like indigenous overstanding and cooperation with the living-world around us, and where we are headed, like the empowering spread of information technology and the brilliance of youth who’ve diverged from the injustices of their forefathers. However, the now, this specific time and space, is all we have. Tell me, have you ever been to tomorrow? I struggle with Mutabaruka, with bees, with Richard Dawkins, with mycelium, with Taiaiake Alfred, with anyone who questions why they, themselves do as they do. I struggle with OAG. Big up the youth, iflect, and be the change.
ONE LOVE

I grew up in Akron, Ohio and ventured out to Seattle in 2008 to attend the University of Washington. Throughout my life I have developed a passion for people and the positive interactions between them that create community. Since moving to Seattle, I have taken an interest in civil society and its interaction with the natural environment. I place importance on the cultivation of self-knowledge through critical thought. By looking at the world through different lenses of many diverse perspectives and sharing our knowledge and experiences with others, I believe we can enrich our own lives and the lives of those in our communities. I hope to use OAG as a resource to spread knowledge and raise awareness about social and environmental issues in order to evoke change.

My current focus is evaluating how language relates to power relations and comes to define the human relationship with nature. On campus I am a member of the Sierra Student Coalition and the UW Farm, and a researcher for Our American Generation with the Environmental Justice research project. In December I will attend the Climate Conference in Copenhagen as a youth delegate with the Cascade Climate Network (CCN).
I aspire to be an environmental journalist and maintain a profound curiosity of the world. “Don’t you believe in life?” is a quote from the Polish film Canal by Andrzej Wajda that highlights my belief in life as a cause, and that she is committed to upholding the dignity of life in its rich diversity. I am motivated by a desire to expand the sphere of knowledge to be more inclusive and transparent. I view my role as an activist writer as rendering visible environmental issues to the public to generate deliberation and hold public officials responsible.
Artists that have touched my soul are the authors Jean-Paul Sartre and Czesław Miłosz, along with musicians Joni Mitchell and Ray LaMontagne. In down time, I enjoy taking long walks along the trails near Lake Washington, connecting with friends and family, reading, singing, and dancing.

I grew up on Bainbridge Island, a small island in the Puget Sound. Despite the superficial purity of the island, environmental problems lurked. We couldn’t harvest shellfish from the beaches because an old creosote mill still seeped chemicals. I tend to be more of a practical environmentalist, removing invasive species, running recycling programs and composting programs. Recently, I’ve dabbled in international environmental politics, traveling to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December. The more I see politicians dither, the more I realize I cannot assume they will save my generation. We have to fix the situation ourselves to bring about the vibrant, healthy and just world we deserve.

My passion lies in looking at how food access effects social inequalities, and dreaming up ways to create sustainable urban landscapes that incorporate urban agriculture. I spend much of my time at the UW student farm, playing with the chickens.