Defying censorship, these artists are transforming the face of art in Vietnam, opening up conversations long seen as taboo.

In a 10-minute video titled Dream II, multimedia artist Pham Hong, dressed in a white wedding gown, chews betel leaves, an essential part of every Vietnamese wedding. Slowly, red juice from the leaves starts flowing down her chin, and her white dress turns red. “Betel leaves signify tradition,” says the 34-year-old, as she fiddles with her copper and jute bracelets, before delivering the punch line: “Eating the betel leaves to the point of self-pain is symbolic of how marriage can become a cause of suffering.”

It’s a bold statement in a country where public discussions on women’s identity, empowerment and sexual rights are rare. But Hong’s work isn’t a one-off.It’s a bold statement in a country where public discussions on women’s identity, empowerment and sexual rights are rare. But Hong’s work isn’t a one-off. She’s among a growing band of independent female artists in Vietnam using art in all of its forms — performance, sculpture, painting, installation and multimedia — to reshape conversations long seen as taboo in this communist-ruled country where President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un notably are meeting today.

Roger Gordon’s plans for ammonia could be a central component of a carbon-free future.

Advocates of America’s Green New Deal or other radical efforts to decarbonize the world economy in the face of a looming climate crisis may well have one of their greatest champions in a rumpled 65-year-old who lives in the Toronto suburbs.

Roger Gordon wears a navy wool coat that extends well past the bottom of his green knit sweater on a chilly day in February. He talks with a quintessentially Canadian politeness as he rails against what he sees as a massive conspiracy to suppress his life’s work — which could amount to a fuel revolution.

Ammonia has been used as both an alternative fuel source and a surplus energy storage mechanism since the 1800s, and while its production is far less damaging to the environment than traditional oil and gas, it’s not without its pollutants. In order to create NH3, the ammonia-based fuel, one would have to build a massive production facility that still burns large quantities of fossil fuels and releases significant amounts of carbon in the production process.

Consumers of cheap clothes are waking up to the fact that their dollars could give them power over the industry.

In August 2018, YouTuber Sarah Hawkinson uploaded a video she had been putting off posting for a long time. Subscribers to her channel were used to seeing the vlogger’s haul videos, in which she talked about the items she’d bought from any number of ”fast fashion” outlets. And she was well aware of the elephant in the room, with viewers sometimes commenting on the harm fast-fashion companies cause and asking her outright why she supported them.

“I feel like I can’t even make eye contact with you guys,” said Hawkinson in the video, her eyes darting from her lap to the wall. She admitted that she had read the comments and decided to “willfully ignore” them and the harm done by fast fashion. Now, she said, it was important to look at the consumers’ role in supporting the big corporations — a sentiment to which many European consumers apparently can relate.