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The 2016 GOOD 100

Editorial director Caroline Pham interrogates what it means to truly do “good” today.

An interesting debate arose in the course of making this issue: the merits of doing “right” versus the merits of doing “good.” In the third iteration of The GOOD Dinnertime Conversation—this time gathering nine individuals working on refugee issues in Berlin—our guests deliberate: What is the difference? Which should we strive for? The group comes to the consensus that one should generally aim to do what is right—but with the understanding that this isn’t always black and white, that what seems right in the moment can sour down the road. Still, this possibility, this uncertainty, should not prevent us from taking action.

Asked why she started assisting refugees with emergency relief organization Moabit hilft, Mareike Wenzel’s answer is simple—she saw a need so she did something about it. It’s this impressive sense of urgency that we’re celebrating in our fifth installment of the GOOD 100, which honors people who are acting right now, tackling pressing global issues in extraordinary and innovative ways.

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Traces of Terror in Paris

Photographer Guillaume Herbaut captures scarred scenes in the French capital.

Last Friday, mass hysteria followed by overwhelming grief descended upon Paris, as ISIS-backed terrorists set off a string of coordinated attacks around the French capital. At least 132 people were senselessly killed, and hundreds more remain injured and hospitalized. Internationally, the reaction was pure horror and sadness. An outpouring of prayers and well wishes flooded social media as Paris reeled in the deadliest terror attack France has ever seen. But amidst the darkness, the French banded together, offering their homes as refuge to those stranded, waiting for hours to donate blood at their local hospitals, and even driving away Islamophobic protestors at a silent vigil for those lost.

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Meet the Trans Icons Making a Huge Impact on the World

Zackary Drucker and Hari Nef on getting beyond the gender binary

As a society, we’re waking up to the idea that gender identity doesn’t fit into two neat, blue and pink boxes, but rather exists on a spectrum that might not always mirror the biological body. Perhaps nowhere is the notion of gender fluidity being more tangibly explored than in the fashion industry, where designers are increasingly creating collections that blur the boundaries between boys and girls. There’s a growing curiosity, but this space is fraught, and though it’s in the zeitgeist today, trans is most certainly not just a trend. We’re parsing out the complexities of identity and diving headfirst into a new frontier.

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A Case for the Workplace Cocoon

Yet another covetable anti-open office format invention

Meet Brody. Image courtesy Steelcase.

There aren’t enough impassioned op-eds nor time in the day to accurately convey how much I loathe the open office format. It sabotages productivity and privacy, enabling free roaming coworkers to ensnare you in long-winded stories and paranoid bosses to butt into whatever is or isn’t on your screen. And despite being proven largely ineffective and distracting, companies keep eagerly knocking down the walls, clumping workers together often with little thought given to what individual workers need to succeed and touting “transparency” and “collaboration” above all.

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Legislators Are Attempting to Nix Abortions From Med School Education

North Carolina Republicans try to strong arm their way into a woman’s right to choose.

If legislators have their way, your next crop of doctors in North Carolina may not know how to perform an abortion. Photo via Flickr user Sage Ross

As if healthcare wasn’t haywire enough, Republican legislators out of North Carolina are attempting to strong arm their way into a woman’s right to choose with a bill proposed this month that would prohibit abortions from being performed or even observed in medical school departments in their state. Because of course we should limit the medical know-how of our future doctors, right?

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CEO Ellen Pao Eliminates Biased Salary Negotiations For Newbies at Reddit

The gender equality champion aims to level the playing field a little more with her latest policy.

Photo via Flickr user Martin Lafrance.

Much talked about Ellen Pao, who recently lost her contentious gender discrimination case against venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is making waves yet again for banning salary negotiations entirely from the hiring process at Reddit, where she is interim CEO. Citing years of studies, and not to mention experience, that proves women are loath to engage in haggling over compensation not only because they struggle with it, but also that they’re likely to be punished if they do, as opposed to their male counterparts, Pao concluded elimination was the best course of action.

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