Getting to Know You

The best way to get to know about a foreign country is to talk to a foreigner in person. Using Skype Translator, it may soon be possible to have a real time conversation with someone speaking a different language. Microsoft is developing software that can translate a conversation between two people videochatting in these different languages: English, Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin. Actually, a person would say one or two sentences and then stop for a translation. The other person then would respond the same way.

      Until these real time computerized translations or face-to-face meetings can occur, the next best thing is to exchange letters or e-mails with children who live in other countries. An episode on the PBS show, "Arthur," showed how correspondence with a child in Turkey dispelled the notion that children there lived in tents and rode to school on camels. There are a variety of ways to find foreign pals, but, until a real one is located, items in a kit from littlepassports.com help children learn about one country each month, and they can pretend to write letters from foreign countries they have studied. From Russia, a young make-believe correspondent might write:

          Do you like to draw? I do. Yesterday our class visited the Hermitage Museum, where
          we saw a painting of Napoleon. He looked very heroic, but we are learning that his
          army tried unsuccessfully to defeat Russia in winter. Our winters are very cold, and we
          get a lot of snow.

If a Russian pen pal is found, it would be fun for a child to compare a real letter with this pretend one.

     Foreign students are in a good position to help children who are searching for a real pen pal. Classmates could have cousins and other relatives who would like to correspond with someone in the United States. Neighborhood families may be hosting foreign students who are eager to maintain U.S. ties after they return home. Then too, a local college or university is a good source of babysitters. Those from foreign countries may develop a lasting relationship that they want to maintain.

     Aside from relying on personal contacts to find an international pen pal, organizations often have established structures that either can or do facilitate person to person correspondence across borders. Some agencies, such as Pearl S. Buck International (psbi.org), encourage benefactors to write to the children they sponsor. Through translators, the children send return messages to those who support them. Members of international organizations, such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, are in a good position to ask their leaders to find counterparts in other countries. Children also should urge cities and churches with sister cities and parishes to help them contact foreign students. The Peace Corps maintains a website, peacecorps.gov/wws/educators, that enables teachers to locate members willing to correspond with their classes. And ePals.com also helps facilitate joint projects between U.S. teachers and teachers in foreign countries.

     In some areas, children may not have to go far to visit a neighborhood where foreign immigrants maintain much of their culture. A walk through Chinatown of Little Italy is an easy way to visit shops, meet people from foreign countries, and sample native foods. While traveling near and far through the United States, there are many opportunities to seek out communities that have preserved a distinctive foreign lifestyle. In Door County, Wisconsin, for example, children will find descendants of Norwegians and Swedes who settled there in the 19th century. Surrounded by brightly painted Dala horses, they can pour lingonberry syrup on their pancakes and watch goats nibble grass from the roofs of nearby log cabins.

     No doubt, these foreign contacts will lead children to want to visit foreign countries. For some ideas about foreign travel, go to the earlier blog post, "See the World." Also see the blog post, "How Do You Say?"



    

Fashion Forward

Before discounting fashion as a trivial subject, consider how exploring closets and underwear drawers can lead children to a map and to ask questions about why their clothes are made in certain countries. Checking labels and listing where clothes are made can lead to a worldwide map search for all the countries that manufacture a child's outfits and accessories.

     Kelsey Timmerman's interest in the economic conditions, wages, and working conditions in countries that produced his clothes motivated him to travel to Bangladesh, Cambodia, and China to see the factories where his underwear, jeans, and flip-flops were made. The record of his journey, Where Am I Wearing?, is a thoughtful discussion of the people and countries that depend on textile jobs and the options consumers have for buying these goods. In the aftermath of the clothing factory collapse that killed more than 1000 workers in Bangladesh, where 75% of the country's exports are textiles, ecouterre.com reminded customers not to boycott clothing produced in Bangladesh and listed some of the responsible companies operating there. After the April 24, 2013 factory collapse, ecouterre.com also reported that Abercrombie & Fitch and the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands signed an Accord on Fire & Building Safety in Bangladesh. Walmart, which announced it would fund a project to develop labor standards for the country, is among the retailers, including Target and Macy's, that have not signed the Accord.

     There are organizations that are devoted to distributing clothing and accessories produced by workers paid and treated fairly in developing countries. Although there is no third party fair trade certification program for apparel, Fair Indigo has several small shops that sell "sweatshop-free" clothing in the United States. Baby sleepers and baby clothing made of 100% pure organic cotton from a worker-owned cooperative in Lima, Peru, are available through Fair Indigo's catalog (800-520-1806 or fairindigo.com).

     SERRV is an organization that helps artisans in developing countries maximize profits from their crafts. Among the many items featured in the SERRV catalog (serrv.org) are knitted mittens, scarves, and hats from Nepal; headbands from Vietnam; and jewelry from Swaziland, Mali, the Philippines, Indonesia, Chile, and Peru.

     Museum gift shops are good sources of interesting alternatives to heavily advertised mall fashions. Locally, you might find a beaded ponytail band from South Africa, a handstitched story purse from Peru, or a woven backpack from Mexico that is the perfect present for a little girl who likes to start fashion trends.

Go Holiday Globe (S)hopping

Gifts can help kids think globally on holidays, birthdays, graduations, and other special occasions. In this gift-giving season, catalogues, international organizations, and museum, map, and book stores are good sources of presents with meaningful international connections.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year

Christians can purchase a pop-up Advent calendar from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, (unicefusa.org/shop) and help provide for the health and education of the world's children at the same time. SERRV (serrv.org) donates a school notebook to children in Ghana, Africa, for every Advent calendar it sells. Why? Because the chocolate hearts young people find behind the numbers for each day in Advent come from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa cooperative in Ghana. SERRV also sells Kosher certified dark and milk chocolate foil-covered coins for children who celebrate Hanukkah.

     When the Chinese New Year arrives between January 21 and February 19 at the second new moon after the beginning of winter, Chinese children receive money in red envelopes. Children in other countries would approve if their families joined in this tradition. Besides U.S. currency, the American Automobile Association (AAA) could add some foreign currency in the form of a TipPak (registered trademark) of Australian, British, Canadian, Japanese, or European Union money to these red envelopes. In preparation for the Chinese New Year, youngsters also can write their own fortune cookie messages with rub-on Chinese characters in a kit from Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com).

Personalized presents

For children old enough to appreciate personalized presents with a foreign twist, there are cartouche (kar-toosh) necklaces and netsukes. In Egypt, a cartouche, or amulet, was designed to protect each Pharaoh. Nowadays, necklaces sold my Signals (signals.com) or made in Cairo for National Geographic (shopng.org) translate children's names into Egyptian hieroglyphics using eagles, owls, crowns, lions, and other symbols.

     Birthdays are especially good occasions to give Japanese netsukes, little statues once used on cords that closed pouches or baskets. Some are made to symbolize the animal zodiac signs for each year. This is the Year of the Dragon, and 2013 will be the Year of the Snake. Since animal designations occur in 12-year cycles,  kids can find the symbols for their birth years by counting forward or back from an animal known for one year. Children might enjoy seeing if their personalities match the qualities attributed to their birth year animals.

2000/2012 Dragon: A solitary, free-spirited non-conformist who is generous to others.
2001/2013 Snake: A wise, well-organized person who understands others and can wiggle out of
                              trouble.
2002/2014 Horse: A cheerful, popular crowd-pleaser who loves excitement and handles money
                              carefully.
2003/2015 Sheep/goat: A dazzling, elegant dresser and creative thinker with a shy nature.
2004/2016 Monkey: A clever, brilliant thinker with a thirst for knowledge and the ability to solve
                                  difficult problems.
2005/2017 Rooster: A talented, deep thinker who likes to work alone.
2006/2018 Dog: A loyal, somewhat eccentric protector who can keep secrets and inspire
                           confidence.
2007/2019 Pig: A gallant champion or causes who is satisfied with having a few lifelong
                         friends.
2008/2020 Rat: A charming, energetic, imaginative perfectionist who is careful not to hurt others.
2009/2021 Ox: A patient leader who inspires confidence.
2010/2022 Tiger: A warm, courageous, goal-oriented worker with a sparkling personality.
2011/2023 Hare/rabbit: A tactful, ambitious peacemaker who is fortunate in business.

     Finally, no present is more personal and infused with international significance than a child's own passport. Students don't need to have a foreign trip planned when they get a passport, they just can start thinking about which countries they would like to visit. Local post offices provide the details about obtaining a passport, and they even take passport photos.

Global gifts

Usually presenting children with educational gifts is like giving them underwear. A number of globes, books, and toys escape that classification, however. The National Geographic website sells a levitating globe, suggested for students 8 and up, that uses electromagnetism to hover in mid-air between the top and bottom of its display stand. Younger children, 3 and up, can use a joystick to circle National Geographic's Fly and Discover Talking Globe to learn about the world's oceans, animals, customs, and fun facts. Young Explorers (YoungExplorers.com) sells the GeoSafari (registered trademark) talking globes that children 6 and up can use to answer 10,000 geographical questions, while MindWare (mindware.com) and National Geographic have interactive globes that students 5 and up can touch with a digital pen to find information about a country's population, weather, currency, and more. With a remote control, children 6 and up also can watch the world's cities go by on a wall "globe" using MindWare's Earth from Orbit Light. In low tech worlds, UNICEF has a Planet Earth Lift-the-Flap book and SERRV's mobile of the world includes children dressed in costumes representing their cultures.

     There is no shortage of fiction and non-fiction books with an international theme. For centuries, classics have taken children through German forests in the stories of Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and many others collected by Jakob and Wilheim Grimm. Children have traveled with Paddington bear from Peru to meet Christopher Robin's Pooh bear and Alice in Wonderland in the gardens of England. Through literature, children have experienced the splendor of the Swiss Alps with Johanna Spyri's Heidi. Ever since the 18th century, when Frenchman Antoine Galland recognized how European and Muslim cultures could share the fascination of The Arabian Nights, kids and adults have shared the Indian and Persian stories of a genie who granted Aladdin's wishes, a girl who saved Ali Baba, Sinbad's adventures, and 998 additional tales.

     Books about Asia, Latin America, and Africa now have joined these familiar stories. Heian publishes a series of Asian folktales, and Raul Colon uses a unique combination of paint, etched lines, and colored pencils to illustrate a book of Latin American folktales. For their illustrations in Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, Leo and Diane Dillon won a Caldecott Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. Just a couple more examples suggest the breadth of books that help children explore their world. Journey to the River Sea takes young people down the Amazon River, while Gena Gorrell, in the context of The Land of the Jaguar, describes every South American country for her young audience. The Children's Atlas of World Wildlife goes around the globe to show children the diversity of nature's creatures, and National Geographic Kids: Animal Creativity Book couples information about the world's animals with games, stencils, stickers, and crafts.

Animals in a healthy environment

Gift givers are on a sure footing, when they tap into a child's love of animals. The World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org) makes it possible to present children with plush animals and, at the same time, introduce them to ways to save animals all over the world from harm and extinction.

     There are both animal gifts that help children play in traditional ways and some that provide a new experience. Besides plush animals, kids 6 and up can construct their own lions, tigers, giraffes, and zebras using puzzle pieces from MindWare. Toys to grow on (ttgo.com) invites kids 3 to 10 years old to go on their own safaris by giving them vinyl jungle huts, an SUV, and 12 animals. Kids also can hide a monkey, elephant, or tiger and launch an adventure using wands from YoungExplorers to find them.

     Toys appeal to children's concern for the world's environment not only its wildlife. To see solar power in action, youngsters can build robots from Young Explorers and MindWare that use the sun to move windmills, boats, helicopters, cars, bulldozers, and a scorpion. Even adults will be excited to learn how MindWare's zero-emission car runs on water converted to hydrogen power. And how does the greenhouse effect, desalination of salt water, or a solar oven work? MindWare has kits to teach those means to a clean environment, too.

Conclusion

From Signals (signals.com) wooden blocks with alphabets, numerals, and animal pictures in Arabic, Chinese, and 14 other languages to a full array of dolls, map puzzles, and books from Multicultural Kids and Latin American rainsticks from Musician's Friend (musiciansfriend.com), the world is ready to help children realize globalization can be fun.

Pizza, Plantains, and Moo Goo Guy Pan

Recognizing that food can reflect a nation's history, such as its immigration patterns and conflicts, the U.S. State Department has been known to send a corps of chefs to practice "gastrodiplomacy" with foreign chefs. These cultural ambassadors use food to foster understanding.

Food also can help children develop an international perspective. Thanks to the proliferation of international travelers, foodies, and immigrants a trip to the supermarket now includes an introduction to a sushi bar, jalapeno chilies, exotic mushrooms, cumin, coriander, turmeric, a wider variety of beans and rice, imported cookies, and bottled foreign water and juice. Small World Toys (smallworldtoys.com) provides hands-on-play with a 6-piece set of pizza slices, a red pepper shaker, and more. Just as adults hold wine tasting events, children can hold a tasting of chocolates from around the world. Those SERRV sells at serrv.org come from Ghana in Africa.

     Books, such as those in the library's 641 section, have a wide variety of international recipes. Global Vegetarian Cooking from SERRV includes over 130 simplified recipes that use readily available ingredients. At tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/passtheplate, children can click on a country to find ways adults can help them prepare international recipes using rice, tomatoes, bananas, and other familiar foods. Vegans concerned about eating the world's animals might like to check out the site of blogger, Kathy Patalsky, at kblog.lunchboxbunch.com and her recipes at findingvegan on Facebook. In Food Journeys of a Lifetime, National Geographic serves up taste tempting reasons why kids can start planning lifelong travel to 500 extraordinary dining experiences around the world.

     Those not inclined to prepare a complete international meal themselves might seek out foreign neighbors, school families, and church members who would like to bring their native dishes to a community, school, or church social. Also, the advertising pages of telephone books list restaurants offering a wide variety of Chinese, Ethiopian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Turkish, and other international cuisine, as well as ethnic fast food fare. Since some restaurants print their entire menus online and in telephone books, children might have fun using a pocket foreign language dictionary to look up translations for unfamiliar items. For children too young to sit still during a meal at a foreign restaurant, there is carryout. Take youngsters along to pick up the food, and they will get a taste of another culture just by seeing the restaurant's decor. They even may see people who have removed their shoes to kneel or sit on floor mats and cushions when they eat.

     About the time children learn to tie their shoes they also can be introduced to the art of eating with chopsticks. The trick is using the middle finger to hold one of the chopsticks steady against the ring and little fingers while manipulating the other chopstick up and down to pick up food with the thumb and forefinger. Servers at local Chinese and Japanese restaurants should be able to provide chopsticks and help children and adults master the technique.There is no better opportunity to try out this new skill than at a Chinese New Year celebration at home or in a local Chinese restaurant. At that time, children also can write their own fortune cookie messages using rub-on Chinese characters in a kit from Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com).

When to Buy/Sell in the World Market

Not only do countries have their own languages, they often have their own currencies. To name just a few, there are: Indian rupees, Mexican pesos, South African rand, Swiss francs, Turkish lira, British pounds, and Chinese yuan. You may see Chinese currency called renminbi (RMB) and wonder why. Just as "pounds" are units within British pound sterling currency, "yuan" are units within the overall renminbi currency of the Chinese Communists People's Republic. Smaller units of the yuan are the jiao (10 jiao = 1 yuan) and the fen (10 fen = 1 jiao). In every day "slang," Chinese people often refer to money as a "kuai" (piece), like the British would say a "quid" or Americans, a "buck."

     Within the European Union, euros have replaced the national currencies of countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Euros also are the official currency of Andorra, Monaco, Slovakia, Vatican City, and several other countries outside the European Union. If students have never seen foreign currency, adults can pick up a TipPak (registered trademark) of coins and currency from Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, or Europe at a local AAA office. Prior to an international trip, AAA is able to provide international travelers with more than 70 varieties of the foreign currency they will need on arrival to pay for taxis, tips, and other situations where credit cards are not accepted. Find out more at aaa.com/TravelMoney.

     Foreign currency has a different exchange value in relation to the U.S. dollar and other currencies. Since many of these values float, or change, the amount of currency needed to purchase another currency can go up and down within a day. Therefore, experienced travelers keep an eye on currency fluctuations and convert their Travelers Cheques to just enough local currency for a day or two. In order to make quick calculations, travelers also try to learn the value of foreign coins that are similar in size to the coins of their own countries. The website, finance.yahoo.com/currency, provides brief descriptions of foreign currency concepts. This website also is an easy way to keep track of the changing relationships between the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, euro, Canadian dollar, U.K. pound, Australian dollar, and Swiss franc.

     An alumni magazine posed a clever foreign currency problem for its graduates. It said that a professional tennis player wanted to buy a diamond tennis bracelet for his girlfriend that was priced at 100,000 Swiss francs at the airport in Geneva. He was en route to a tournament in Spain, so he called the friend meeting him at the Madrid airport to ask the cost of a diamond tennis bracelet there. The friend said it was 40,000 euros. Rather than go to finance.yahoo.com/currency, the tennis pro saw that a copy of the International Herald Tribune was selling for 4 Swiss francs or 1.5 euros. He bought the tennis bracelet in Geneva, since at a 4 to 1.5 ratio, the bracelet should have cost 37,500 euros in Madrid, not 40,000.

     Ratios are the basis for determining foreign exchange rates. During the first few years after the euro's introduction in 1999, the annual average rate of exchange for one U.S. dollar was about 1.25 euros.
                                                      
                                             $1                                    x
                              _______________     =            _______________
                                        1.25 euros                           1 euro
                                                                             1
                                                       x        =      _________     
                            
                                                                           1.25

                                                       x        =      $0.80
                                                                                                                              
 Consequently, U.S. tourists realized their stronger dollars bought wonderful vacations in Europe and U.S. retailers took advantage of the opportunity to import European luxury goods. When one U.S. dollar purchased 1.25 euros and one euro was worth only $0.80 in 1999, a U.S. tourist paid $160 to purchase the 200 euros needed to stay in a European hotel room priced at 200 euros. By 2008, however, one U.S. dollar purchased only 0.64 euros, less than one euro. At that point, the purchase of European goods and travel to Europe grew prohibitively expensive. A U.S. tourist then had to spend $312 to buy enough euros for the same European hotel room that cost $160 in 1999.

     On the other hand, as the value of the U.S. dollar declined, the United States became an attractive destination for European tourists. U.S. manufacturers also found that the weaker dollar helped them expand their exports. When 1.25 euros were needed to purchase one U.S. dollar in 1999, European consumers paid 25,000 euros to purchase the $20,000 needed to buy a $20,000 U.S. automobile. In 2012, however, when only 0.77 of a euro was needed to buy one U.S. dollar, a $20,000 automobile sold for 15,400 euros. Likewise, European tourists could purchase $400 to stay in a $400 hotel room in New York City for 308 euros, compared to the 500 euros the same room would have cost in 1999.

     Children who track changing monetary relationships online at finance.yahoo.com/currency can become the family's financial advisers. They know when U.S. dollars will buy the most imported goods, international travel, and foreign currency. A family trip to Vancouver, for example, was a very attractive option in 2000, when the U.S. dollar was worth almost $1.50 Canadian dollars. In early October, 2012, however, one U.S. dollar was worth only 0.98 Canadian dollars. Ask youngsters to figure out how much a $100 hotel room in Canada would cost a U.S. tourist in 2012, compared to 2000.
           $1                                x                                          $1                               x
_____________    =     ____________                 ______________    =     _____________

       0.98                      1 Canadian dollar                        1.50                     1 Canadian dollar
       
                     x      =      $1.02                                                     x         =     $   0.67
  
The answer: $102 compared to $67.

     While worldwide economic stability makes planning for personal travel and business much easier, the art of forecasting foreign exchange fluctuations is an attractive career option for students who develop an interest in tracking foreign exchange rates. A company that expects to build a factory in Canada within the next year wants to buy the necessary Canadian dollars, when the U.S. dollar is strongest. Which way is the U.S. dollar moving in relation to the Canadian dollar, and what economic conditions, such as growth in gross domestic product, unemployment, inflation, and weather conditions, are likely to affect foreign exchange rates? It is up to would-be traders in the foreign exchange market (forex) to come up with these answers.

     Finally, girls need not shy away from becoming financial whizzes. The new U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve Board is Dr. Janet Yellen, and Christine Lagarde is Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.

(Also, check out the later post, "Time to Revisit China's and the World's Foreign Exchange Rates.")

Know the Issues

When world leaders speak, it is a good opportunity to remind students that The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" are not their only sources of world news.

     There are at least two ways for students to participate in structured discussions of foreign policy. Model UN conferences held in classrooms, schools, and regional, national, and international venues attract more than 400,000 middle school, high school, and college students annually. Conference participants, who act as country ambassadors to the United Nations, study and discuss global issues. The website, cyberschoolbus.un.org, provides information about Model UN sessions. The website also provides a list of UN publications that describe the UN, its declaration of human rights, environmental programs, and other topics for K-12 students.

     At fpa.org, the Foreign Policy Association's website, students and adults can find full details about a Headline Series and Great Decisions program. Discussions using the Headline Series are limited to a single geographic area or topic, such as nuclear weapons. On the other hand, a Great Decisions briefing book presents nonpartisan information about eight new foreign policy issues every year. In 2016, the discussion topics are: Shifting Alliances in the Middle East, The Rise of ISIS, The Future of Kurdistan, International Migration, Korean Choices, The UN after 2015, Climate Geopolitics, and Cuba and the US. Each topic includes a television episode and a quiz. Students are invited to suggest topics for future discussions.

     In World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements, John Hunter writes about how children have used a World Peace Game to solve world issues. And in his speech to the United Nations in 2012, President Obama quoted South Africa's Nelson Mandela and India's Gandhi. Reading, on their own, the writings of inspiring world leaders can broaden a student's perspective on global issues.

Hope for the Future

When we hear that terrorist groups have attacked tourists in Tunisia, burned a Jordanian pilot to death, or killed journalists in Paris, it is well to remember, not only other losses, but also bright victories.

     Children look forward to their birthdays, trips to the playground, and new pets. When they begin to discover the world, with all its pluses and minuses, they have more to anticipate, and they expand their opportunities for potential happiness. They might make friends with foreign pen pals, save to travel abroad, raise enough walkathon money to buy a cow for a family in Vietnam, rejoice when a political prisoner is set free, or help a nation survive a natural disaster. Some day they even could come up with inventions to improve the lives of impoverished families, just like Marcin Jakubowski and Gabriele Diamanti did. For posting a free tractor design, budget, and instructional video online and designing the Eliodomestico solar powered water distiller, Time magazine credited these inventors with two of the 25 best inventions of 2012.

     There have been many reasons to celebrate in the recent past. What an exciting day it was in 1990, when South Africa's heroic leader, Nelson Mandela, was released from Robben Island after 27 years in prison! Again in 2008, how thrilling it was when a daring rescue freed Ingrid Betancourt, former presidential candidate, from the guerrilla group who had held her captive in Colombia's jungle for six years! And, what rejoicing there was in 2010, when 33 Chilean miners who were thought lost were successfully rescued after spending 69 days underground. Again in 2010, supporters in Burma had reason to cheer when the country's repressive military regime released opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest. In 2015 her party would win the first civilian majority in parliament in 50 years, and, in 2016, her aide, Htin Kyaw, would be elected the first civilian President in over 50 years.  Joy erupted in 2011, when China released Ai Weiwei, the artist/activist who dared to criticize the country's Communist Party on Twitter. Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer China imprisoned for helping women forced to have abortions, was freed in 2012 and is now living in the United States. Malala, the Pakistani girl shot in the head for espousing education for females, not only recovered but won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. By year end, 2014 also saw the release of U.S. AID worker, Alan Gross, in Cuba and the restoration of U.S.-Cuban relations, as well as North Korea's release of Kenneth Bae and two other Americans. Three other Americans were released from North Korea prior to a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump in 2018. In February, 2015, India announced that Taliban captors had released Father Alexis Prem Kumar, who had been serving as director of Jesuit refugee services in Afghanistan when he was abducted. And the Ebola virus stopped spreading in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. Four US citizens were released from prison in Iran in 2016, and, in August, 2016, a cease fire in Colombia marked the beginning of the end of a fifty year battle between government troops and the Marxist guerrillas known as FARC. In Venezuela, the Holts, who were arrested on fabricated weapons charges after an American man married a Venezuelan woman, gained freedom in May, 2018 thanks to the negotiations by a U.S. delegation that included Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee and Senator Orin Hatch from Mr. Holt's home state of Utah.

      Indeed, it took eight years, but in 2014 five men finally were convicted in Russia for killing outspoken human rights activist and journalist, Anna Politkovskaya (See more details about those charged with her murder at the later blog post, "Hearing Voices from Mexico and Russia."). Nine years after two assassins used Polonium-210 to kill Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB is a successor to the KGB) officer turned critic of Putin's corruption and MI6 source after he escaped to Britain in 2000, London's high court laid out the details of its Metropolitan police investigation. Results of an inquiry will be disclosed by the end of 2015. Since about 97% of all polonium, which is a silent, invisible, normally unidentifiable agent of death, is produced at a Russian nuclear site, Litvinenko's murder appears linked to Russia, and possibly Putin's connection to Russia's biggest organized crime syndicate. Two later Russian attempts to poison enemies failed. Former military spy, Sergei Skripal, left the hospital in late May, 2018. Finally, it has taken three decades, but Pyongyang agreed in July, 2014, to investigate the disappearance of Japanese nationals missing in North Korea.

      There is hope that joy will erupt again some day, when all of the 276 female students Boko Haram kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014 are released (82 were exchanged for six of the terrorist group's imprisoned members in May, 2017, and more were released in 2018.). There will be other causes for joy when  Russia overturns the three and a half year sentence of Oleg Navalny, the younger brother of anti-government blogger, Alexei, who was given house arrest after his three and a half year prison term for fraud was suspended (Alexei removed his ankle monitoring device, continues to walk around Moscow like a free man, and inspired an anti-corruption protest march on March 26, 2017; he again was arrested and released after another rally in July.); Syria and the ISIS terrorist group send captives home alive; Hamas and Israel reach an agreement that frees an Israeli soldier; North Korea ends its threats of a nuclear missile attack on the U.S. and overturns the ruling that sentenced US college student, Otto Warmbler, to 15 years of hard labor (Warmbler was sent home in a coma and died in June, 2017). China has yet to release human rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, or cancel the prison sentences of dissidents, Xu Zhiyong and Liu Xiaobo (diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and died in July, 2017), a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement and winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Liu Xiaobo's widow, Liu Xia, was released from house arrest in 2018 and allowed to go into exile in Germany. Some day peace will come to Syria, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen the way it emerged from conflict in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. To prevent future tragedies, we also can hope that much will be learned from the U.S. drone attack on an al-Qaeda compound in January, 2015 that inadvertently killed Italian humanitarian worker, Giovanni Lo Porto, and Dr. Warren Weinstein, a U.S. A.I.D. contractor captured when his guards were overcome while they were eating breakfast in Pakistan.

     Speaking at a 2008 conference on health and national development sponsored by the Association on Third World Affairs, Albert Santoli, president of the nongovernmental organization (NGO), Asia America Initiative, told how he, as a non-Muslim working among an almost completely Muslim population in the Sulu Archipelago, the tri-border area of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, was adopted by the largest guerrilla band. The medicine his organization provided cured the leader's daughter of malaria. When Muslims heard that help was coming from people who did not know them, including Christian colleges, they were shocked, said Santoli. "Whoever needs help gets help and that opens up doors and it builds bridges," he said.

Children can help

In her book, How to be an Everyday Philanthropist: 330 Ways to Make a Difference in Your Home, Community, and World--At No Cost, Nicole Bouchard Boles seized on the notion that those who want to help need to find small ways to start. Since nongovernmental organizations already have begun to unravel world problems, either individually or collectively as students in school, scouting, and other youth groups, children can participate in ongoing NGO projects. Local Rotary Clubs, for example, may need help packing the ShelterBoxes Tom Henderson developed to provide the supplies people need after floods, earthquakes, and other international disasters. The website, charitynavigator.org, is among those that help identify organizations most worthy of support.

     By now, many youngsters have gone Trick-or-Treating for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), while they collected Halloween candy for themselves. What they may not know is that they can take credit for raising funds that have provided immunizations, vitamins, antibiotics, food, clean water, and education to help the world's poorest children get a good start in life in 190 countries and territories. Information about where to pick up and return UNICEF collection boxes is available at the website, trickortreatforunicef.org, or by calling 1-800-FOR-KIDS. Should schools and organizations be looking worthy projects, they might consider raising funds to buy mosquito nets, blankets, or water wells through UNICEF's "Inspired Gifts Program." Information about this program is available by calling 1-866-237-2224 or by visiting inspiredgifts.org.

     Operation International Children, launched originally as Operation Iraqi Children in 2004, is another project directly related to students. Promoted by actor Gary Sinise, the organization was founded by U.S. soldiers who distribute kits containing pencils, rulers, crayons, notebook paper, and other school supplies in war torn areas. Information about how to get involved with this program is available at the operationinternationalchildren.com website.

     Learning that a Ugandan coffee farmer earns 66 cents for every $100 a coffee consumer spends in a developed country's grocery store could inspire a student to facilitate direct distribution to consumers. If students can arrange to have their schools or other community groups host a sale, the nonprofit organization, SERRV, can supply coffee and chocolate from their farmer partners, as well as individually made, handcrafted items from artisans, around the world. To obtain an information packet, visit serrv.org/SERRVOurWorld or call 1-800-423-0071.

     Heifer International taps into children's love of animals. Instead of bringing gifts to a birthday party, one mother asked young partygoers to bring donations for Heifer International that would provide impoverished families with dairy cows, pigs, chicks, ducks, goats, sheep, and bees. To raise money for Heifer, one 13-year-old girl in North Carolina makes jewelry and sells her creations at craft fairs, the public library, churches, and other venues. Her efforts have raised over $10,000. The Heifer International brochures and heifer.org website picture the happy young recipients who have received and are learning to care for the animal gifts funds provide. Since aided families pass on each animal's offspring to other families, children who make donations to Heifer International are part of an endless chain devoted to eliminating world hunger and poverty.

     For over 50 years, Amnesty International has made sure the names of political prisoners, such as those mentioned above, are not forgotten. The Chinese proverb, "It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness" inspires the letter writing campaigns and human rights defenders that provide hope that freedom of speech can become a universal human right. When learning that someone has been imprisoned for speaking out, adults can help students write to their government leaders to ask them to initiate diplomatic contact that will help free these victims. In the US, students also can find the addresses of the US Embassies of foreign countries in A World Almanac and send letters over and over again to the offending country asking for the prisoner's freedom.

     Entrepreneurial children who line up neighbors willing to pay for lawn mowing, snow shoveling, baby sitting, and dog walking are the perfect prospects to develop the creative ideas and activities needed to remedy festering global ills. Proactive youngsters will find outlets for their energy in sister city events related to international issues. In Madison, Wisconsin, for example, young people learned that after East Timor (now Timor-Leste) gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, it lost much, when the departing military and militias burnt homes, schools, and hospitals. these young people then rode their bikes in "Tour de Timor," which publicized the plight of sister city, Ainaro.

     Like cities with sister cities, churches often send youth delegations to help with projects in sister parishes. When the young travelers return, they multiply the effect of their visits by inviting congregations to hear their informative presentations. Since religions cross national boundaries, churches often are active on the international scene in other ways. Their affiliated youth groups can participate in good works, such as those performed by the Quakers Friends' Service Committee and the Lutheran World Relief program that provides quilts and layettes to babies in Africa.

Models and motivation

Technology savvy youngsters can find models among the experts who saw natural disasters, medical emergencies, poor educational opportunities, dangerous kerosene lamps, and a lack of information about product markets as problems that could be solved by computers, satellite access, solar panels, and cell phones. Engineers already have come up with ways to aid farmers in lesser developed countries with low-tech, hand-cranked, foot-pedaled, and bicycle-powered radios, water pumps, oil seed presses, and laptop computers. For example, an African entrepreneur invented a playground merry-go-round that South African students turn to pump clean water for Boikarabelo, their village outside Johannesburg.

      To encourage students to create technological solutions to the world's toughest problems, Microsoft sponsors the Imagine Cup for high school and college students 16 years and older. Find details at imaginecup.com, and aim to compete in the World Wide Finals. One Billion Minds, a program similar to the Imagine Cup, was founded in 2007 by Sanjukt K. Saha. He plans to motivate a billion minds to use science, technology, design, and social innovation to solve problems in the emerging world. To date, graduates from 180 universities in 103 countries have gone to the onebillionminds.com website to find out how they can participate in this program as Challengers or Solvers. Each year, Hult International Business School, with five campuses in the U.S., U.K.,China, and the UAE, challenges teams of university students to solve global social problems posed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The winning team and NGO partners then receive $1 million to launch their solution. Find competition details at hultglobalcasechallenge.com.

     Nobel Prize winners listed on the nobelpeaceprize.org website also can inspire children to serve the global community in other ways. Young girls can derive inspiration from women such as Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who won the prize in 2004 for mobilizing a campaign to fight global warming by planting trees. Like the three women who were honored in 2011 for their efforts on behalf of women's rights, they too can identify and work to correct discrimination against women. Tawakkui Karman, the first Arab woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, exemplifies how anti-government protests, like the Arab Spring revolution she helped lead in Yemen, are only democratic when they recognize women's equality. The two Liberian honorees, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, showed how women, including Christian and Muslim women, can work together to end wars and attacks on them by men.

     Nobel Prize winners also can start young people thinking about ways to alleviate the world's physical and economic suffering. Frenchman Bernard Kouchner saw the need to minister to those injured in war torn areas and pulled together the international group of medical volunteers who won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize for "Doctors Without Borders." In 2006, Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was honored for founding the Grameen Bank, a financial institution that provides microsized loans to small businesses, often owned by women, in less developed countries. Following in his footsteps, Nancy Barry, president of Women's World Banking, has loaned 18 million poor women $10 to $10,000 each to start their own businesses. Through kiva.org, students can make their own $25 microloans to small overseas entrepreneurs, farmers, or students who lack tuition funds. In The International Book of Bob, you can read about Bob Harris' visits with those who run Kiva-financed projects.

      Since 2003, every year TIME magazine has published an issue devoted to "The 100 Most Influential People in the World." Students can read through the short biographies of titans, leaders, artists, pioneers, and icons to find a place in the world where they could do the most good.

     Those who have witnessed world suffering can inspire young people to action. For Nathaniel Wright, the talk Sudanese Catholic Bishop Macram Max Gassis gave on genocide in the Darfur area of the Sudan was more than another class lecture. It motivated him to form STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur), a national student movement designed to raise awareness of the refugees suffering in Darfur, Sudan, and to provide the education and rehabilitation needed to improve their lives. His website, standnow.org, joins savedarfur.org as a resource children can check to find information about benefit events for Darfur as well as dates for fasts and protests. Recognized by Reebok as the first recipient of its Human Rights Young Activist Award, Wright has gone on to become an analyst in the Office of Congressional Ethics at the U.S. House of Representatives.

     Although many global problems remain, there have been successes besides those already mentioned: apartheid has ended in South Africa, the Berlin Wall no longer exists, and Germany has been reunited. Some of those who thought they could get away with committing human atrocities have been indicted and prosecuted by international and domestic courts. There is hope and happiness in the future. Both fill the hearts of the children who will become future world leaders.

How Do You Say?

Foreign languages complicate the simplest international conversation. Students need to remember konichiwa  is a greeting in Japanese and that por favor is the way to say "Please" in Spanish. When children in non-English speaking countries study a foreign language, they tend to learn English. Children whose native tongue is English lack this kind of focus. They have less incentive to learn a foreign language, because international business is said to be conducted in "broken English," and more than half of online Internet traffic is transmitted in English.

     Even though 2500 of the world's 6000 languages are in danger of becoming extinct, an English speaker needs to decide which of the remaining 3500 to learn. Perhaps, one of the other five official languages of the U.N.: French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic. Usually U.S. students are limited to the Spanish, French, German, and possibly Latin taught in their elementary, middle, and high schools. In college, students often are reluctant to take advantage of the opportunity to study a wider variety of foreign languages. TIME magazine (July 29, 2013) reported that the prime time to learn a second language is the brief period from three months before birth to six years of age. During that period, the agile brain readily picks up the pitches and rhythms of language (a talent that also can signal a student's musical potential). Since research indicates that learning a new language is easier for a child than an adult, those intent on graduating from college with high GPAs shy away from the challenge of learning Urdu, Farsi, or Swahili.

Eliminate language anxiety

People in different countries often do speak unfamiliar languages. Even English-speaking Australians call sheep, jumbuck, and food, tucker. But foreign languages are part of the U.S. heritage and current culture. Immigrant grandmothers sing babies Italian lullabies or ask children, "Ist das nicht eine Schnitzelbank?" At school, youngsters learn the round, Frere Jacques, before they can translate the words to "Brother John, Brother John, Are you sleeping?" In holiday pageants, they sing "The First Noel" and "O Tannenbaum." Youngsters aged 5 to 10 learn to sing songs in Spanish and German at DreamBank, a center created by American Family Insurance to host community events in Madison, Wisconsin.

     Without knowing the meanings,kids hear adults talking about: the hoi polloi, going mano a mano, the need for an ombudsman, schlepping over to a neighbor's to watch a football game, enjoying al fresco dining, and the enfant terrible. Expressions to avoid around kids: those found in How to Swear Around the World by Jason Sacher.

     Some expressions are easy to learn in Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

Hello: Hola, Allo, Guten Tag, Ciao

Good-bye: Adios, Adieu, auf Wiedersehen, Addio

Thank you: Gracias, Merci, Danke, Grazie

Yes: Si, Oui, Ja, Si

No: No, Non, Nein, No

At the end of their school days, children could surprise their teachers by bidding them, Adieu. At home they could respond, Danke, when their parents compliment their report cards.

     These days children have become accustomed to seeing the English words they understand alongside other languages on toys, puzzles, promotional give-aways from fast food restaurants, and instructions. Thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that applies to Canada, the United States, and Mexico, nearly every household item is like a Rosetta Stone that now carries the official languages of Canada (English and French which is spoken in Quebec province); the United States, English; and Mexico, Spanish. When a child is using a crayon, adults can point out the name of a color, such as yellow, is written in English; Spanish, amarillo; and French, jaune. Words like warning, precaucion and advertencia obviously have the same meaning as do guarantee, garantia, and garantie. By cutting copy into the three NAFTA languages on a tissue box, for example, and studying copy blocks side by side, children can begin to spot other words that might have the same meanings. They also can to to a website, such as babelfish.yahoo.com, to translate their own copy into 12 other languages.

     Along with product packaging, children are exposed to foreign words in other ways. They might see a foreign language newspaper or hear a foreign language spoken in a movie and on television programs on foreign language stations. Some children's television shows, such as "Sesame Street," "Dragon Tales," and "Maya and Miguel" on PBS and Nick's "Dora, the Explorer," have made learning Spanish words an integral part of their programs just as teaching some Chinese words were part of "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" on Nick jr. By logging on to the activities associated with these shows, children can further their foreign language learning experience.

     Museums, monuments, theme parks, and transportation centers that international visitors frequent often designate wash rooms and telephones in foreign languages, Attractions, such as Longwood Gardens outside Philadelphia and the Jelly Belly factory tour in Wisconsin, publish brochures in foreign languages that enable children to compare terms in English and those in another tongue. These foreign language brochures are also a good addition to a child's foreign city/country scrapbook. Without visiting another country, shops in communities where immigrants concentrate may give children practice guessing the meaning of the Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese words on neighborhood signs. At the same time, seeing at a young age that there are Greek and Russian letters and Chinese and Japanese characters that they do not understand may protect them in later years from naively getting a tattoo that says something they did not intend.

Learning a language

According to the same TIME magazine (July 29, 2013) article and other research, there is a life long advantage to learning a second language. The flexible, resourceful brain of bilinguals used to choosing between multiple words for objects and ideas seems to develop an ability to reason, maintain self control, multitask, resist distraction, deal with conflicting ideas, and delay the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

     Consequently, there is incentive to look for toys that involve foreign languages. Wooden blocks sold by Signals (signals.com) label their sides with alphabets, numbers, and animal names in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese, and Korean. In English, French, Spanish, German, and Latin, a book from The White House Historical Association (whitehousehistory.org) uses the names of U.S. presidents and words associated with the White House to illustrate the alphabet. Children are able to write their own fortune cookie messages using rub-on Chinese characters in a kit from Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com/shop). Multicultural Kids also has sold dolls dressed in clothes children would wear in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, China, and Korea. These dolls were programmed to recite greetings, numbers, colors, days of the week, and other words and phrases in the languages of the country clothes they wore.

     When it comes to teaching foreign languages, in general, humans have been more effective than DVDs and CDs. One experiment compared a group of babies who played with a woman who spoke Mandarin Chinese, another group who watched a video of the Chinese-speaking woman playing with the children, and the third group who listened to a Chinese audio recording. Only the babies who actually interacted with the human woman could recognize Mandarin sounds. Language development seems to go hand and hand with the ability to look into eyes, follow their gaze, and figure out what someone is thinking. Instead of going through stores and telling a child the English names of every item they place in their carts, adults need to begin interacting by identifying fruits, vegetables, clothing, and household items in foreign language words. To help adults refresh old and learn new language skills, book and map stores carry an astounding array of phrase books, pocket dictionaries, CDs, CD-ROM programs, videotapes, audiocassettes, and workbooks. These stores also carry foreign language coloring books and other items targeted toward children.

    Online, foreign languages are taught at openculture.com and at learnalanguage.com. Foreign language audio tapes prepared by the Foreign Service Institute are available at fsi-languages.yojik.eu and at fsi.antibozo.net. Museumtour.com offers those 7 years and up two methods of learning a foreign language. "Instant Immersion" uses association techniques on DVD-ROMs and CD speech recordings to teach Spanish, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. Or, for the basics in 25 languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, and Urdu, try "Talk Now!" In the future, we could be able to talk with each other in real time using Skype Translator. This Microsoft software is being developed to translate a conversation between two people videochatting in different languages using English, Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin.

     Ultimately, language is more than words. It influences how people interact. Some languages, such as German and English, are precise. Meaning resides in the words, and there is a directness in the way people ask and answer questions. In Japanese, Arabic, and Spanish, however, meaning depends on the context in which a word is used. Until people get to know and trust each other, they may offer vague responses. Since they cannot rely solely on the words they have heard, they are reluctant to commit themselves. In cultures where understanding requires a feeling for what people actually mean by what they say, personal and business relationships may be limited to family and well-known friends. New associations are slow to develop. Only when children understand how differences in languages determine how responses differ and how fast friendships develop in a culture, will they appreciate why a foreign student's behavior is not always the same as theirs.

(Also see the blog post, "Getting to Know You.")

A Healthy Environment

Children are growing up with a concern for the environment. Their textbooks cover subjects like acid rain and pollution. School receptacles help them take recycling for granted. From the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 to the report from the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on April 6, 2007, young people have seen the environment make news. During their lifetimes, in 2007, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore shared a Nobel Prize for Peace for his contribution to global warming awareness. Some students probably have seen "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore's Oscar-winning documentary film on the subject.

     Carbon dioxide and other gases, such as methane, have the shorthand name, greenhouse gases. The IPCC report, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, said there was unequivocal evidence that human activities generate the greenhouse gases that trap energy from the sun and cause global warming. Children who know they cannot leave pets alone in a car in the summer are well aware of the dangerous result when glass lets in the heat of the sun without reflecting it back out.

     Greenhouse gases are generated in a number of ways. Garbage dumped in landfills and cattle during their digestive process emit methane. Oil and coal produce needed electricity, but burning these fossil fuels produces trapped heat. Yet, more than a third of the energy consumed in the U.S. comes from oil, and coal generates nearly half of all U.S. electricity. The military requires these reliable sources of power for national security. Throughout the world, the growing industrial and transportation demand for oil, including increased domestic demand in countries that currently export oil, adds pressure to continue an aggressive search for oil shale and other limited oil reserves here and abroad.

     With the growth of world economies fueled by coal and oil, air pollution increases and the greenhouse gases that are heating the earth will continue to melt the polar ice cap and glaciers that reflect heat away from the planet. In 2012, the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, 1.58 million square miles, was at a record low. Storms build in warm water, and, since the Atlantic Ocean is now warmer than it was in the early 20th century, storms can become more violent. Also, melting ice has caused water to rise, thereby leading to more coastal flooding from storms. As a result of the rising sea level off the coast of India and Bangladesh, New Moore Island disappeared in 2010.

     Glacier melt high up in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau affects the water supply of three billion people in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan. Increased melting can cause flash floods to overwhelm villages in Nepal and Bhutan. Flooding from Kashmir's record rainfall, the heaviest in 50 years, killed 400 people in 2014. Ultimately, vanishing glaciers could cause competition for limited melt, especially to grow food, among three nuclear powers: India, Pakistan, and China. On March 31, 2017, a court in India granted Himalayan glaciers the status of "legal persons" to give legal representatives a way to protect them. Water shortages are already a fact of life in China, where drought and a dam on the Yangtze River caused the country's largest freshwater lake to drop to 5% of its usual capacity. With China now planning to construct three dams on rivers flowing from the Tibetan plateau, the area's future water shortage could be even more dire. A plan to build a dam on the Irrawaddy River was blocked, because it was expected to produce electricity for China, but flood villages in Myanmar.

    Every year, World Water Day on March 22 calls attention to the fact that the U.N. already estimates over one-sixth of the world's population lacks fresh water for drinking, washing, and cooking. The Water.org website provides information about efforts to come up with solutions to the need for water in developing countries. In a limited way, according to trendwatching.com, a billboard in Peru collects water from humidity in the air. Trendwatching.com also reports that the nonprofit, Water Is Life, is distributing a "Drinkable Book" in Africa, China, and India. The pages not only provide basic health information, but they also act as water filters. Coated with silver nanoparticles, the pages remove 99% of harmful bacteria, when water passes through them.

     All in all, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected the following results from an anticipated three to seven degree Fahrenheit temperature increase. Oceans would rise over islands and coastal areas, and already dry desert countries would suffer greater water shortages. There would be lower crop yields, diseases, extinction of up to 30% of plant and animal species, and intense natural disasters. Some 50 million people could become what the IPCC termed environmental refugees.

     The impact of drought on food production is leading to some solutions. Scientists are developing drought-resistant crops with longer roots to reach water and with genes, such as those from ferns and mosses, that enable crops to recover from dry periods. The Swiss firm, PlantCare Ltd, has developed a system to reduce water used to irrigate fields. Soil sensors monitor the water needs for plants at various growth stages, seasonal temperatures, and time of day before a central computer determines the amount of irrigation to deliver to a field as large as one with a 18.6 mile radius. The company also can deliver mobile irrigation systems to fields that do not have permanent ones. Another promising development is the cross-breeding process that mates animals with breeds from Africa and India that already have developed a tolerance to heat and drought. Trendwatching.com reports a truly innovative idea Korean designer, Gyeongwan Kooz, has for turning chopsticks into plants. He would put a seed under a starch cap on each chopstick. After use, the sticks would be placed tip first into soil.

Student action

From two directions, students can take action to reduce global warming and contribute to a healthy environment for the world's population. They can reduce activities that produce greenhouse gases by consuming less electricity for light, heat, air conditioning, transportation, manufacturing, pumping and purifying water, and running appliances. Secondly, they can reduce the amount of refuse that ends up in methane-producing landfills, explore ways to sop up greenhouse gases before they go into the atmosphere, and identify energy alternatives for oil and coal. The book, Green Is Good by Brian F. Keane, might even give them an idea for a career in which they can take advantage of money-making, responsible environmental opportunities.

     Summer offers students an opportunity, not only to read about ways to implement clean energy solutions, but also the chance to make a healthy contribution to the planet by drinking tap water instead of water from plastic bottles that last forever in landfills. Summer also presents an opportunity to plant a rain garden of flowers at the curb to stop dirty water from running into the street and ultimately into streams and lakes. By planting a vegetable garden, youngsters can eliminate the fossil fuel burnt carrying some foods to market. Raising vegetables and herbs can be a major undertaking (See "How Does Your Garden Grow?" at the end of this post.), but planting seeds or tomato plants in any available plot of ground still helps children learn how to care for the earth by watering their "crop," seeing it grow, removing weeds, and harvesting their own food. Young Explorers (YoungExplorers.com) and MindWare (mindware.com) both provide kits that enable children to watch a few carrots, onions, and radishes grow in a Root-Vue Farm year round. In grocery and other stores, kids might find herb plants or seeds and soil to grow rosemary, oregano, thyme, and mint in containers on sunny window sills.  

      Several science kits from MindWare (mindware.com) and Young Explorers (YoungExplorers.com) also enable young people to gain  hands-on-experience with solar power during the sunny days of summer. They will  see how solar panels can power models, including robots, a windmill and airboat. Another MindWare science kit shows how to make an oven that can cook an egg using sun power, and MindWare's Weather Station kit provides experiments that demonstrate the greenhouse effect, while its Clean Water Science kit helps kids understand the process of desalination. Free Spirit Publishing in Minneapolis offers two books that describe water-related projects for children in elementary school (Make a Splash) and those in high school (Going Blue). The company also publishes A Kids' Guide to Climate Change and Global Warming.

     When it's time to go back-to-school, the Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov) reminds students to purchase notebooks made from recycled paper. The carbonrally.com website challenges students to strive for waste free lunches by carrying a reusable lunch box/bag and putting lunch items in washable, recycled "butter," sour cream, and cottage cheese containers. Carbonrally also suggests substituting reusable, insulated stainless steel bottles for disposable juice boxes and plastic water bottles that require energy for production and emit gases in landfills. If a school does not elect a Commissioner of Environment to student council, students should suggest the need to add this office. At my granddaughter's school, the Commissioner collects and properly disposes of recycled items from each classroom, suggests projects (planting a tree), and finds ways to participate in energy saving and other contests for students.

     Year round, children can recycle their outgrown toys and clothing at a garage sale or thrift store to eliminate the need to use electricity to manufacture new ones. They can save energy as often as they walk or run outside instead of on an electric-powered treadmill and when they walk, bike, or take public transportation rather than ask to be driven to school, activities, or the mall. Finally, they can help save water by sweeping decks, walks, and driveways rather than hosing them down.

     The same beguiling ways children use to persuade parents to buy a new cereal and scouts use to sell cookies can urge adults to:

• Replace incandescent bulbs that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere with compact fluorescent lights. Turn off lights (and computers), when no one is using them.
• Buy ENERGY STAR (registered trademark) efficient appliances.
• When information is available on clothing tags, company websites, and apps, buy clothing that has received a high Higg Index score from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition for reducing energy costs, use of water and harmful chemicals, and unrecycled landfill fabric. 
• Buy hybrid cars that burn less fossil fuel and electric cars that run on lithium-ion battery packs.
• Paint roofs white to absorb less heat and weatherize windows and attics to prevent heat loss.
• Cut down on the use of fuel to generate electricity for air conditioning by setting summer thermostats at 78 degrees. Keep warm in winter by wearing a heavy sweater or robe rather than turning up the heat past 68 degrees.
• In hot weather, reduce the need for air conditioning by cooking in the cooler mornings and evenings.
• Rediscover awnings. Investigate and use other ways people kept buildings cool before air conditioning.
• Buy produce a a local farmers' market to reduce the fuel needed for transport, and remind them to carry a reusable sack to market and to store leftovers in glass rather than disposable plastic bags and containers.
• Urge parents to buy a mulching mower that leaves grass clippings on the lawn to decompose and   provide moisture to shade roots and reduce watering needs.
• Conserve water by fixing dripping faucets; taking shorter showers; and wetting hands or toothbrush and turning off water while applying soap or toothpaste before turning the water back on again. 
• Pave walkways, drives, and parking lots with porous concrete that enables storm water to flow back into the ground.
• Start petitions to establish recycling centers for electronic goods and to pad playgrounds with recycled, shredded tires.
• Remind adults to recycle ink cartridges at stores where they were purchased.
• Reduce landfill waste that releases methane emissions and pollutes the soil by recycling glass, paper, cans, and plastic and reusing padded mailing envelopes, plastic bags, and other items. Not only do plastic bags last forever in landfills, but they also end up in water where they kill over 100,000 whales, seals, turtles, and birds every yearSa.
• Save trees by getting off mailing lists for unwanted catalogs and viewing brochures and other information that is available online.
• Keep from contaminating soil and water by using safe community disposal methods for used batteries, oil, computers, and energy efficient light bulbs that contain mercury.
• Visit the website, smartpower.org, to learn about the Neighbor to Neighbor Challenge.

 Absorb less heat

Scientists in the field of geoengineering are discovering ways to control global warming by helping the planet absorb less heat. To counteract the loss of reflective ice from shrinking polar ice caps, they would force the ocean's dark open water to absorb more carbon dioxide by fertilizing plankton with iron and phosphorus. Other geoengineering proposals worthy of pro and con study include: sending giant mirrors into space, injecting reflective sulfate particles into the stratosphere, pumping seawater into clouds to help them block more sun, covering the deserts with reflective sheets, and engineering trees to absorb more carbon dioxide.

     As is, one mature tree already absorbs 48 pounds of carbon dioxide according to the website, planetgreen. discovery.com. The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai, founded a program to plant a billion trees. The United Nations Environmental Programme reports her idea has resulted in 12 billion trees being planted in 193 countries. At school and at home, students can join this effort by planting trees and going to unep.org/billiontreecampaign to record the number of trees they planted.

     Trees have the added benefit of cutting down on electricity consumption. The Department of Energy reports as few as three leafy deciduous trees placed on the south and west sides of a building block sunlight and prevent summer heat buildup indoors. Once these same trees lose their leaves in fall, they let in sunlight to warm buildings in the winter. Evergreen trees on the north and west sides of a building block wintry winds.

    Another idea to keep an eye on is a light-colored coating for black asphalt pavements. Several colors are being tested. They show promise for reflecting up to 40% of energy.

    

Energy alternatives

The need to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases has set off a race to find quick fix solutions and alternatives for fossil fuels. Much like foods that stress their low fat and high fiber content, but fail to mention they contain lots of salt and sugar, remedies proposed as renewable resources, solutions for a clean environment, and the cure for global warming gloss over drawbacks. The Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy website (eere.energy.gov) provides information about alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind, water, biomass, geothermal, and hydrogen and fuel cells.

        Students challenged to develop science fair, scouting, or research projects might want to learn more about the peel-and-stick solar panels developed by Chi Hwan Lee and Xiaolin Zheng at Stanford. Unlike the heavy, rigid fixed panels that now collect solar energy, their process creates a flexible film of solar cells. Students should be able to find many uses for this low cost, peel-and-stick solar cell film that can adhere to irregular surfaces and to paper, plastic, window glass, and other materials.

     Students interested in designing a full scale green city of the future will want to keep an eye on Chengdu, the city in southwestern China that is designed to accommodate 80,000 residents in a central core surrounded by green areas and parks. This city aims to develop solar, water, and waste systems that use 48% less energy and 58% less water than towns of a comparable size.

     Students also need to think about tackling some of the problems associated with the following "solutions."

     Although hybrid and electric automobiles reduce carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel, expansion of the electric power grid needed to supply these cars requires additional fuel. Moreover, these cars are too expensive for most buyers, and more battery exchange or electric charging stations are needed to service hybrid and electric autos. According to the website, trendwatching.com, a company in Italy has come up with a solar powered charger for electric vehicles.

     Without any changes, all automobiles can reduce gasoline consumption by substituting a 10% ethanol additive. However, land needed to grow ethanol crops, such as corn and soybeans, has led to food and animal feed shortages, the destruction of rain forests that sop up greenhouse gases, and reduced animal habitats.

     Biodiesel fuel can be extracted from algae that is fertilized by municipal and agricultural wastewater and even saltwater. The carbon dioxide released from burning algae-based biodiesel fuel is less than the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during the algae growing process. But the cost of establishing a one acre algae pond mixed by motorized paddle wheels is higher than planting corn for ethanol. Bioreactors that prevent microorganisms from invading ponds increase costs even more. Algae ponds also absorb less carbon dioxide in winter and none at night. At the moment, the cost of extracting and refining biodiesel from algae is too high to be economically feasible.

     Homes and businesses can tap into the Earth's underground heat (geothermal energy) to reduce carbon emissions, but front-end installation costs, including small bore drilling to reach the heat source target, can be expensive. Underground lakes of heated water, not available everywhere, are the best sources of geothermal power. However, the permits and other hurdles involved can delay a geothermal power plant from being built for 5 to 10 years.

     A close look at wind power also reveals drawbacks as well as benefits. At best, one estimate suggests wind could generate only 20% of the energy used in the U.S. by 2030. A less reported problem is the number of wind turbines that have caught on fire. Touted as a non-polluting and renewable source of electricity, wind power proponents also stress the industry's potential for job creation. What has been downplayed is the need to spend billions for new transmission lines to connect remote wind farms to urban areas and the need to develop storage capacity to save wind energy for calm days, since wind speed (and sun for solar power) does not ebb and flow with the demand for electricity.

      Apple is seeking a  patent on a process that addresses the problem of storing wind power energy by enabling the heat generated by rotating wind turbines to be stored in fluid. This concept of turning wind power into heated fluid also is being used to generate electricity by turning solar power provided by mirrors into superheated water that becomes the steam that turns turbines. While solar-thermal plants can generate electricity without the pollution and carbon emissions of fossil fuels, they are more costly than coal and natural gas furnaces. Government guaranteed loans were needed to help finance Ivanpah, the solar-thermal plant on the California-Nevada border in the Mojave Desert. Nonetheless, this plant, which also enjoys the guaranteed purchase of its electricity at above market prices from California's utilities, is a model for interested Middle Eastern desert countries, such as Saudi Arabia.

     Further, besides the problems of transmitting and storing wind power, some are concerned about the effect wind farms have on people, especially those living in wide open spaces where the wind power industry pressures local governments to grant noise control exemptions. Noise from wind turbines is described either as a jet engine or a rhythmic hum. In either case, the sound cannot be ignored while watching TV or trying to sleep. One study at a home 1,280 feet from a wind farm in Brown County, Wisconsin, found that even almost inaudible, low-frequency sound coming from outside caused homeowners nausea, dizziness, headaches, and ear pressure similar to motion sickness. According to a report in the "Wisconsin State Journal" (January 4, 2013), Clean Wisconsin, an environmental group that arranged the test and favors renewable energy, contended the study did not conclude that low-frequency sound caused the health problems, because no peer-reviewed studies found health problems related to inaudible sounds. Headaches, dizziness, and nausea also have been claimed by some people affected by the flicker effect of alternating shadows and sunlight caused by the spinning blades.

     Four years from now, wind turbines developed by the Spanish firm, Vortex Bladeless, could overcome some of the criticisms that have prevented windfarms from serving as an alternate source of energy, especially near homes in urban areas. A smaller version of the Vortex bladeless wind turbine, coupled with a solar panel and small battery, could be available to run three lights, a TV, and a refrigerator in homes in Africa and India in 18 months.

     By eliminating moving parts, bladeless wind turbines don't cause the flicker effect, and they are less visually intrusive, almost noiseless, and safer for birds. Yet they are able to collect close to 40% of energy from the wind (less than the 50% some conventional wind turbines collect and generate). Positioned on a magnetic base, the bladeless mast amplifies the oscillation caused by the swirling air passing by the 150-meter tall turbine. Since there is no friction, there is no need for lubricating oils. The lack of mechanical parts also reduces manufacturing and maintenance costs.

     Like Vortex Bladeless, students might focus on the questions about wind power that need answers. Are people making health claims because they do not like the look of wind turbines and the view they obstruct? Could strategically placed trees muffle sound and prevent flickering light and shadows? In terms of zoning, how close should turbines be to homes? What are acceptable low-frequency and high-frequency decibel sound levels? At what noise level do conventional wind turbines constitute a nuisance? What percentage of the nearby population has to be disturbed in order for a community to get an injunction stopping windfarm construction? Should state and/or federal governments prohibit local authorities from imposing regulations that block or ban wind energy projects?

Conclusion

Books and toys are beginning to tap into the concern children show for the planet. A Child's Introduction to the Environment, which comes with a reusable lunch sack, explains the need to protect the air, earth, and sea and lists 15 easy things to do to help the environment. It also includes instructions for conducting experiments, such as detecting smog. Catalogues from MindWare (mindware.com) and Young Explorers (YoungExplorers.com) come with more and more toys that demonstrate how new power sources work.

     Focusing on the environment means focusing on an interrelated system that includes the natural world and all the peoples that inhabit the Earth. Sometime in a child's future there may be no magazine articles, talk shows, television segments, websites, or documentary films devoted to reducing carbon footprints, water conservation, and recycling. These activities could become such a normal part of life that they would merit no more public discussion that how to order fast food, use an ATM, or wear contact lenses do today. If that day comes, kids can congratulate themselves for the healthy world they helped create.


                                                How Does Your Garden Grow?

Different soils have different needs Get a soil test by the state's cooperative extension service or buy a soil test kit at a garden center. Heavy clay soil, for example, requires added sand and nutrients from peat moss, manure, or compost. Acidic soil may need lime; alkaline soil, sulfur.

Dig up and turn over the top layer of soil before planting Remove weeds, rocks, and other debris from garden plot. Add compost or manure fertilizer. Make organic compost from lawn clippings, leaves, kitchen vegetable scraps, and egg shells. Go to the websites, birdsandblooms.com/mag and planetgreen.discovery.com, for additional composting ideas.

Fence out predators, including rabbits and pets Marigolds may deter rabbits, but, to really deter burrowers, a fine mesh fence needs to extend below ground level. Keeping deer out will require a six-foot fence. Pest control may require treatments matched to specific bugs.

Grow vegetables and herbs Check seed packets for advice about when to plant, how deep to plant, and how far apart to space plants. On little sticks, label which vegetables have been planted where. Tall plants, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, require support by tall stakes or small branches, and they should be planted on the north side of the garden to keep from shading lower plants. Vegetables might include: beets, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peppers, radishes, scallions, snap peas, squash,  and Swiss chard. Plant herbs, such as basil, chives, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme.

Maintain the garden by watering, weeding, and removing withered growths When possible, water with rainwater collected in buckets. Sandy soil needs more frequent watering than clay. Weeds will take over the garden if not pulled out by the root.

A mini-greenhouse provides a year round growing season. The website, fourseasonfarm.com, lists sources for glass greenhouses.