Alec Howe

          He always framed it as a positive. “I keep it clean,” he’d say. “I keep it safe.” The others - the ones in the pictures, the movies, the advertisements, the warnings - they were the result of misuse. They were the propaganda of “The System.” He never got around to mentioning what “The System” was, but then again, I never got around to asking. Those who'd suffered, he'd say, they were fiends, phonies, fakes. He told me he'd never had any issues - never got addicted never sat for hours scratching at the demons that lay just below his skin, never been spit on or ostracized or exiled from the family tree. But it was clear to me that his mental health had taken a turn for the stranger. Like one too many sleepless nights spent screaming at the antichrist had forced him into this reality - this constant state of confusion.           He was simultaneously one of the most focused and one of the most distracted men I had ever met. He’d...

Environmental activists are losing a fight they cannot afford to lose. Neither can their critics, for that matter. Mother Nature doesn’t care if what side of the aisle you’re on – if the world tips bottom side up we’ll all be screwed. First, some stats. According to NASA, sixteen of the seventeen warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. Surface ocean water acidity has increased by 30% since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Global sea levels have risen by 20 centimeters in the last century. Planetary forestation is at 62% of pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric carbon dioxide sits at around 400 parts per million – a 32% rise in just the last century. The earth’s average global temperature has increased by about 0.8° Celsius since 1880. More worryingly still, two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20°C per decade. It’s getting pretty bad. We may have already reached a significant turning point. In recent years, scientist...

             Too often do environmental policy proposals argue for sacrifice on the grounds of the moral imperative. This does a disservice to real world solutions by implying that environmentalism necessitates sacrifice. The following is an excerpt from an email that I sent to Principal MacFarlane earlier this year, outlining a plan for a million dollar subsidized loan fund for environmentally friendly local businesses. We will only be able to affect real change in this area and in others if we can come up with realistic, pragmatic solutions that provide benefits outside of morality or good citizenship.            "Exeter should establish a $1 million fund in order to give subsidized loans to local business in our area that reach some “environmental stewardship” benchmark. These loans would not only be made out to companies that have environmentalism at the heart of their mission – they could also help to encourage r...

At the heart of Exeter’s core mission is a belief that Exeter ought to endow students with both strong virtues and strong analytical skills. As John Phillips himself stated, “goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind." Now, more than ever, it’s critical for Exeter to stay true to her mission. Today’s world is more interconnected than ever before, and today’s problems are increasingly intractable. These challenges call for leaders with both the empathy to relate to the opposition as well as the intelligence to devise multifaceted solutions. The good news first - Exeter is doing very well on the knowledge building front. The curriculum is challenging. Our students continue to win prestigious awards. And applications were up 7% this year alone, reflecting Exeter’s high standing amongst peer schools. But Exeter needs to realize th...