This article focuses on aspects of intragenerational and intergenerational equity in the context of a unique policy experiment: the effort of the U.S. government to site a monitored, retrievable storage (MRS) facility for high-level civilian nuclear waste. This process and its outcomes are examined from both normative and subjective perspectives. While the MRS siting process was designed to be equitable, its eventual focus on Native American communities raises profound questions about environmental justice, as well as procedural, outcome, and intergenerational equity in cross-cultural contexts. The diverse reactions among Native American tribes demonstrate that translating theoretical concepts of equity into practice is an extraordinarily complex exercise. The MRS siting process, instead of being a bold policy experiment that promoted equity, emerges substantially flawed after its implementation in the Native American context.

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Competitive political parties and election campaigns are central to the health of democracies. Parties and campaigns require significant resources to be effective. India has developed complex election expenditure, political party funding, and reporting and disclosure laws. We suggest that these laws may have perverse impacts on the electoral system: they tend to drive campaign expenditure underground and foster a reliance on unaccounted funds or ''black money.'' This tends to lead to an adverse selection system, in which those willing and able to work with black money dominate politics. We conclude with some possible remedies, including partial state financing of political parties, that might restore the health of India's electoral system.

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Teachers and meteorologists are among the most respected purveyors of scientific information to the public. As such, they can play an influential role in educating the public about basic atmosphere-related phenomena. To better fulfill this educational role, it is necessary to (i) identify and (ii) correct people's major misconceptions about climatic and atmospheric issues, including global climate change. This paper reports the results of a survey of high school students' knowledge and attitudes about climate change.The authors use open-ended survey questions to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the range of "mistakes" that are made. The results show misconceptions including inflated estimates of temperature change, confusion between ozone depletion and global warming, the perception of warmer weather and a belief that all environmentally harmful acts cause climate change. Also discussed is the origin of these mistakes from the perspective of current social scientific literature. It is suggested that these misconceptions arise from low levels of information, reliance on the televised news media, use of judgmental heuristics, confusion between weather and climate, and "fuzzy environmentalism," wherein students perceive disparate environmental harms as significantly interrelated. The study also reveals that students have a very high level of trust in scientists and teachers. This suggests a role for scientists and educators through which they help correct misconceptions about climate change and ensure that people adopt effective environmentally protective measures.

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India has seen substantial improvement in access to education nationwide, but there are concerns about the quality of education and consequently, the employability of school and college graduates. Large numbers of India’s youth also face the problem of inequality of opportunity. Families and communities that do not have ‘cultural capital’ (years of schooling, access to resources and information networks) find it a challenge to nurture talent in their children. In this article we discuss one intervention—mentoring—that has the potential to address these two challenges simultaneously. This article reports on an experimental year-long mentoring programme for 20 destitute girls, living in a government institution in south India. Participant experience shows that there is little knowledge of the formal mentoring function in India, and a sense of fear associated with adult–youth relationships. In the mentoring programme, these notions were dispelled as the relationships developed. Mentees recorded a change of attitude in learning English. The life skill exercises helped mentees plan for their future, and in some cases thwart early-marriage pressures. Mentoring functions like providing emotional regulation and collaborative skill-building were demonstrated in mentors helping mentees overcome fear in public speaking, examinations, speech defects, etc. Mentees recorded a change in their identity—they saw themselves as more capable. The relationship offered avenues for authentic companionship and several mentees saw their mentors as role models. These results show potential for formal youth mentoring programmes to have considerable positive impact on India’s youth and enable them to become capable, confident and empowered.