--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 12 description: Trains for the climate, engagement abroad to solve the border crisis, hashtag media criticism, and the case for a 1-term presidency. canonical: https://time.com/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T16:36:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:43:06.495Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day og:description: Learn about: Trains for the climate, engagement abroad to solve the border crisis, hashtag media criticism, and the case for a 1-term presidency. og:url: https://time.com/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/ 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 the Five Best Ideas of the Day twitter:description: Learn about: Trains for the climate, engagement abroad to solve the border crisis, hashtag media criticism, and the case for a 1-term presidency. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 12 by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 12, 2014 4:36 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Aug 12, 2014 4:36 PM UTC **1\.** [**Forty lost years: the case for one six-year term for U.S. presidents.**](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/74dacab2-1e3e-11e4-ab52-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3A41k2OTl) By Lawrence Summers in the Financial Times **2\.** [**Hashtag activism may not change the world, but #Iftheygunnedmedown highlights its power as media criticism.**](http://time.com/3101550/iftheygunnedmedown-hashtag-activism-michael-brown-twitter/) By James Poniewozik in Time **3\.** [**Decoding the malaria parasite – at the genetic level – could give us a shot at beating the disease.**](http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/better-malaria-drug-targets-0810) By Anne Trafton at MIT News Service **4\.** [**Trade short-haul air for high-speed rail and help the climate.**](http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/08/10/Trade-Short-Haul-Air-High-Speed-Rail-and-Help-Climate) By Jacob Anbinder and Neil Bhatiya in the Fiscal Times **5\.** [**We must deepen our investment in development and diplomacy to address the roots of the crisis at our border.**](http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2014/08/11/solving-border-crisis-calls-us-engagement-abroad/13877987/) By Lt. Gen. Norman R. Seip (Ret.) in the Tennessean  [_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/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 12","datePublished":"2014-08-12T16:36:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:06.495Z","description":"Trains for the climate, engagement abroad to solve the border crisis, hashtag media criticism, and the case for a 1-term presidency.","url":"https://time.com/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/","keywords":["Innovation","Trains","presidency","Malaria"],"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":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3103681/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-august-12/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: August 12"}}]}] ```