The river has become so polluted that the water has literally turned black and has a glue-like consistency. With failing infrastructure and little investment in systems, thousands of people living on the bank of the river have little or no choice but to continue to use this highly contaminated water to wash, bath and even to drink.

Thousands of children are being sold or trafficked within and across national borders in South Asia. According to United Nations, more than one million children are subject to sexual exploitation in Asia alone.

Horrible as all this may sound, it is important to understand that for many children, earning a living or supplementing their family’s income is a matter of survival. Slogans like “Stop Child Labor” embody romantic and ultimately impractical notions when it comes to places like Bangladesh.

Recently, online maps have begun growing in popularity and effectiveness. These maps provide a method for information sharing on a visual and contextual level.

Almost half of the world lives on just $2 per day, and rice prices have increased almost threefold since the beginning of 2008. In modern countries we may complain about having to dig deeper into our wallets to pay a few dollars more for food and fuel, but in the rest of the world, these price increases are deadly.

There is an ongoing debate over the influence the media has on our perception of news. Two articles featured on CNN.com on Friday epitomize two ends of this spectrum, but ultimately, it was the comments provided by the readers I found the most educating.

It is estimated that there are over 100 million orphans and street children in today’s world and this enormous figure continues to grow rapidly.

Chan Bros
As a child, Chan Bros was stricken with polio, and his legs were left too weak to support him. Unfortunately, in his home country of Cambodia about 50,000 people have been left disabled by polio or similar diseases as a result of the destruction of the health care system during the Khmer Rouge regime. [...]

Anyone involved in micro-credit development will tell you that it really is a simple concept: the poor are credit-worthy.

For many photographers, traveling offers not just a vacation, but an opportunity to expand one’s photographic knowledge, experience, and portfolio.