--- title: These Are Today's Best Ideas: Dec. 5, 2014 description: Revising natural gas forecasts, Nigeria's Muslims, addressing climate change by helping coal workers, fighting child marriage and more. canonical: https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-05T17:04:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:48.352Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas og:description: Learn about: revising natural gas forecasts, addressing the concerns of Nigeria's Muslims, protecting coal workers as we fight global warming and more. og:url: https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas twitter:description: Learn about: revising natural gas forecasts, addressing the concerns of Nigeria's Muslims, protecting coal workers as we fight global warming and more. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 5 > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ecc7458c-d839-4df7-9eae-11bf072628af&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 5, 2014 5:04 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 5, 2014 5:04 PM UTC **1\.** [**Peak gas: According to some forecasts, the fracking boom could be a bust.**](http://www.nature.com/news/natural-gas-the-fracking-fallacy-1.16430) By Mason Inman in Nature **2\.** [**To end the conflict with Boko Haram, Nigeria needs to address the alienation of its Muslims.**](http://www.cfr.org/nigeria/us-policy-counter-nigerias-boko-haram/p33806) By John Campbell at the Council on Foreign Relations **3\.** [**“Protecting our coal workers is critical to successfully solving the climate problem.”**](http://blog.ucsusa.org/an-honest-conversation-about-hardworking-coal-miners-684) By Jeremy Richardson in the Union of Concerned Scientists **4\.** [**Tanzania can fight child marriage and protect the next generation of women by keeping girls in schools.**](http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/10/keeping-all-girls-school-one-way-curb-child-marriage-tanzania) By Agnes Odhiambo in Human Rights Watch **5\.** [**When the last baby boomers move into retirement around 2030, today’s youth will carry the weight of our economy. They need support now.**](http://forumblog.org/2014/12/why-americas-youth-are-the-key-to-boosting-growth/) By Melody Barnes in the World Economic Forum Blog  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 5","datePublished":"2014-12-05T17:04:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:48.352Z","description":"Revising natural gas forecasts, Nigeria's Muslims, addressing climate change by helping coal workers, fighting child marriage and more.","url":"https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/","keywords":["Innovation","women","West Virginia","climate change","climate","coal","School","Education","Youth","Retirement","Natural gas","fracking","Islam","Nigeria","Boko Haram","Baby Boomers","tanzania"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3620021/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-5/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 5"}}]}] ```