Recycled Fashion Firsts

Protagonists in  Gone With the Wind, Sound of Music, and Enchanted all knew how to conserve the world's resources by converting draperies into dresses. Ecouterre.com has identified seven of 2014's top designers who have done something similar to these heroines. Their creative ideas are:

• Pleather, leather-looking jewelry and clothes made from inner tubes
• Jewelry made from the fence that imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa
• Jewelry made from Detroit's peeling graffiti
• Leather waste woven into laptop and tablet sleeves
• Denim woven into seats for camper chairs
• Pine needles from discarded Christmas trees made into French designer lingerie
• Rubbish from the United Kingdom made into sneakers. 

All items are on display and described at the ecouterre.com website.

     Just as leather and denim were cut into strips and woven into new products, cut old ties from thrift shops or dad's closet into strips and weave them into squares, sew two together, leave one side open to stuff, sew up that side, and make a pillow. Or make a cat toy by filling a smaller pillow with crunchy wax  paper or aluminum foil. Look around the house to see if you can find a moth damaged sweater you can unravel to make a ball of yarn that an adult can show you how to knit into a dog sweater or a skirt for a Barbie doll.

     See earlier blog posts, "Good Works Multiply Fast" and "I Made This Myself" for other recycling ideas that will conserve the world's resources.

Chocolate's Sweet Deals

In addition to giving boxes of chocolates as gifts this holiday season, consider giving stocks in cocoa processing plants. But keep an eye on the competition, since the growing demand for chocolate among billions of people in emerging markets, which is expected to increase cocoa processing by 15% in the next ten years, can raise prices on the supply of cocoa beans which has suffered from drought conditions, and it will put a squeeze on profits.

     As an example of increased competition, check out how Olam International, headquartered in Singapore, has just become a major competitor with Barry Callebaut AG and Cargill Inc. In addition to shelling out $176 million to a U.S. peanut processor, Olam, which recently purchased the cocoa unit of Archer-Daniels-Midland for $1.3 billion, now has eight cocoa processing plants, including one in the Ivory Coast. The U.S. recently acted to block imports of the UK's Cadbury chocolate which has a higher fat content and creamier taste than Hershey's chocolate. Hershey claimed Cadbury's product names and packaging infringed on their trademark rights and licensing agreements.

     Based on projections of a growing demand for chocolate in emerging markets, there is an opportunity for cocoa bean growers in developing countries, by themselves or in conjunction with major processors, to set up their own plants to satisfy local demand. Further, since chocolate can melt when transported in warm weather, local producers have a major incentive to supply emerging markets with locally-produced chocolate products.

     The Kuapa Kokoo Cocoa Cooperative in Ghana, Africa, is already a working model of how cocoa growers can benefit by developing a relationship with processors and distributors. Before selling to the cooperative, growers were at the mercy of a state cocoa buying company that did not always pay on time and sometimes cheated when weighing their cocoa beans. Now, the cooperative, working with Divine Chocolate and the fair trade company, SERRV, (serrv.org/divine), participates in the profits generated from the production and marketing of a wide variety of gourmet chocolate bars, chocolate mint thins, Kosher certified milk and dark chocolate coins, and a day-by-day, chocolate heart-filled Advent calendar.

     For other ideas of how to make a profit in Africa, see the earlier blog posts, "Never Too Young to Invest in the Future" and "Discover Africa."

 

Changes to US-Cuban Relationships

In June, 2017, Raul Castro announced his intention to step down and President Trump announced new US regulations will change travel and business contacts that applied in President Obama's administration.

     In my earlier blog post, "Hope for the Future," I wrote that some day we would rejoice when a U.S. AID worker held captive in Cuba would be released. Alan Gross is now a free man after five years in a small room with two other prisoners.

      Calling Pope Francis the "real deal" and a source of inspiration, President Obama acknowledged the pontiff's role in restoration of normal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. The countries reopened their embassies in Washington, DC and in Havana on July 20, 2015. Two months later, Pope Francis visited Cuba before he came to the USA. During President Obama's 2-day visit to Cuba in March, 2016, he met Cuban President Raul Castro and anti-Castro activists and attended a baseball game. On November 25, 2016, Cuba announced the death of Fidel Castro, who had led Cuba from 1956 to 2006, which included the Cuban missile crisis during the administration of John Kennedy.

      The US has not appointed an ambassador to Havana, but Jose Cabanas has been appointed Cuba's ambassador to the US.

     Until President Trump's new regulations take effect, individual US travelers to Cuba can still go to the Airbnb website, airbnb.com, to book bed and breakfast accommodations and facilitate cash payments and MasterCard and American Express credit card charges. Airbnb has one million listings of unique accommodations in 190 countries.

   

Introduce Disadvantaged Kids to the World

When Leigh Vierstra, a social studies teacher from Wisconsin. traveled to Kenya, she did more than climb Mount Kilimanjaro. She learned about Pa-Moja, Swahili for "together," and came back to introduce the economically disadvantaged students she teaches to the Canadian not-for-profit organization that connects 33 African schools with schools in North America. Through Pa-Moja exchanges, her students began to look beyond their troubled home lives, gain confidence and motivation, learn about the world, and realize that they weren't the only youngsters struggling to make a new life for themselves.

     The benefits of introducing disadvantaged kids to Pa-Moja seem to be in line with studies that show the same placebo effect that causes belief that medicine can cure to cure can have an impact in the classroom. When students were told that they could improve their IQs, their brain functions responded by improving their IQs, just like bodies respond to sugar pills. Positive beliefs, genuine acceptance, and nonjudgmental coaching produce resiliency in students marked by balance, persistence, and awareness. Find out more at Thom Markhan's website, thommarkham.com.

       Pa-Moja (pamojaeducation.com) fosters this kind of resiliency through the Internet, YouTube, and Skype. Besides an intercultural exchange of educational development and concern for wildlife conservation, Pa-Moja also facilitates an exchange of music, dance, poetry, art, recipes, and life styles. Interestingly, Pa-Moja even provides students with the online option of working toward the prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) high school degree mentioned in the earlier blog post, "See the World."

    Another organization that connects U.S. classrooms with students thousands of miles away is ePals.com, which was described in the earlier blog post, "Getting to Know You."

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                         

Hong Kong Update

 In January, 2016, protesters again took to Hong Kong's streets, when booksellers and publishers of books that often feature sex stories of Communist Party leaders disappeared. Under the Basic Law that has governed Hong Kong ever since the UK returned the island to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong has enjoyed freedoms of speech not granted on the Chinese mainland. The Basic Law governing Hong Kong as one of China's special administrative regions also barred Chinese legal authorities from exercising jurisdiction over Hong Kong's courts, a power that Chinese political pressure seems slowly to be undermining.

     Ten weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations ended in Hong Kong on December 11, 2014, when police cleared the streets and arrested activists in what came to be called the Umbrella Movement. Initially, young activist leaders, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow, were sentenced to community service. On August 17, 2017, an appeals court changed what was considered too light a sentence to up to eight-month prison terms that also bars them from running for office for five years. They were released on bail in October, 2017.
 
      As this 2005 photo shows, democracy protests in Hong Kong are not new, but there's been a
shift from violent confrontations with the police. Proponents of non-violent civil disobedience began calling for a new strategy to maintain the democratic measures they expected in 1997.

     Under the terms of the UK's accord with China, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong was to be elected by universal suffrage. John Tsang was the popular choice for Chief Executive in Hong Kong's April, 2017 election, but the electoral college chose Carrie Lam in order to accommodate China, which had announced it would select acceptable candidates to run in the 2017 election.

     During the peaceful 2014 protest demonstration, Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was among the Occupy Central non-violence supporters who tried to turn themselves into Hong Kong's Central Police Station on December 3, 2014. They were neither charged nor arrested for an illegal protest. The police told them their protest was illegal and asked them to fill out forms providing personal information. The police did not want the Central Station to attract more protesters who wanted to be arrested and, therefore, to become another center for occupation.

      Given heavy censorship and spin on the news, Beijing controls how Hong Kong's protests are portrayed as illegal and influenced by foreigners. It has been said that the mainland Chinese are not sympathetic with Hong Kong protests, because they feel people in Hong Kong already enjoy more freedoms than they do. (For additional information about current affairs in China and Hong Kong, see the earlier blog post, "Let's Visit China.")

Food Photo: Memorable or Meager?

A local newspaper just ran a contest inviting readers to send in pictures of food in order to win tickets to shows and restaurants. An organization in Colombia had a related, but different, idea. To inspire people to give to its "Meal For Share" campaign, the group posted photos of frugal, often disgusting, meals that poor people eat to survive.

     Incidentally, hunger is not limited to any one place in the world. In the past month, 9% of the 11,979 U.S. adults who responded to an online survey (which missed those too poor to have online access at home) by Zogby Analytics (zogbyanalytics.com) said they had gone without food for 24 hours because of lack of money.

     Once you see someone digging through a dumpster or dump to make a meal out of scraps, carefully styled and lighted food photos become a reminder to make a contribution to organizations that feed the world's hungry. One food blogger reports that she uses salad forks and dainty appetizer spoons in her pictures, because she doesn't want regular-sized flatware to overpower the colorful servings shown on her tasteful aqua plates. Poor people are just happy to grow what they need or earn enough money to feed their families.

An Example Helps Understand the World Economy

For dairy farmers in the United States, 2014 is an excellent year. Revenue from good prices for milk and milk products is up, and feed costs are down. Farmers can pay off debts and buy new equipment. Profits in 2015 are not expected to be as good. Why? Not because milk prices are expected to go down, and feed costs up, but because exports of cheese, whey, milk powder, and other dairy products are expected to decline.

     The U.S. dollar is strengthening in relation to foreign currencies. You  can check the value of the dollar against the Japanese yen, Russian ruble, and other foreign money at finance.yahoo.com/currency. On October 31, 2014, for example, one U.S. dollar only bought 109.21
Japanese yen or 41.01 Russian rubles. Today, a dollar can purchase 118.32 Japanese yen or 44.97 Russian rubles.

     How does the greater purchasing power of the dollar affect U.S. exports? People in foreign countries need to buy U.S. dollars before they can buy U.S. goods, such as cheese and whey. When their money can buy less expensive foreign currencies, they will buy less expensive products from U.S. competitors, and U.S. dairy product and other exports will decline.

     On the other hand, if a U.S. farm family always wanted to visit a foreign country, 2015 might be a good time to plan a trip. It could take fewer U.S. dollars to pay for foreign hotel rooms, food, and souvenirs, if foreign currencies are weaker in relation to U.S. dollars. (Learn more about foreign currencies at the earlier blog post, "When to Buy/Sell in the World Market.")

   

Don't Study by the Fire

Legend tells us Abe Lincoln studied by fire light, with a candle or in front of his fireplace. That's no longer necessary, even in poor countries and rural areas with no electric lights.

Female-owned Rethaka, a South African innovator of eco-friendly goods, now offers 100% recycled, solar-powered backpacks that double as study lamps at night. Read more about African ideas that break up big jobs to give smaller companies a chance to provide employment, ways to involve the public in the fight against corruption, new forms of conveying the news, and more at trendwatching.com (10 African Trends).

Problems Present Career Opportunities

Mobile phones, apps, and computer access are causing a boom in online shopping around the world. Where's the problem? Supply chain logistics. No wonder Amazon is experimenting with the use of drones to deliver goods. Could this system work in India?

E-commerce depends on logistics as India realized when its shipping and delivery network failed to handle the high volume of online purchases during this year's peak shopping season of Diwali, the festival of lights. With a warehouse shortage, only six dedicated cargo planes, and an average truck speed of 23 km per hour in intercity traffic, it was impossible to insure on-time delivery, especially in outlying smaller cities and towns where demand for goods not available locally was greatest. Further complicating the e-commerce business in India is the fact that credit cards are relatively new and as much as 70% of online purchases pay cash on delivery.

With online shopping expected to reach $10 billion in the next three years, India's e-commerce sector, like similar sectors around the world, presents a number of growth opportunities. Big Basket, an online grocery service in India now has operations in 15 major cities and 50 smaller towns. It also has competition from rapidly expanding Grofers and Pepper Tap, which deliver food from local stores rather than from their own inventories. Big Basket maintains its own inventory of fruits, vegetables, and packaged goods and also has added "Blue Apron" pre-packaged ingredients for ready-to-cook meals.

 Job estimates suggest India's e-commerce industry will need 100,000 to 150,000 employees compared to 25,000 today. Along with established logistics companies, such as GATI and DHL, GoJavas, Ecom Express, Delhivery, and other local and foreign start-ups see opportunity for expansion and growth. Instead of today's short term relationships that retailers have with carriers that offer the lowest bids, long term partnerships will enable carriers to stabilize prices at a higher level. Then, there is the opportunity for credit card companies to educate customers about the way they can facilitate merchandise purchases and returns. Judging from recent plans by mega online US retailer, Amazon, the price of e-commerce goods will be going up as costs for picking, packing, and transporting items increases.

(See additional information about careers in logistics at the earlier blog post, "What Do You Want to Be?")

Reasons to Celebrate Global Victories

Kim Jong-un's North Korea has released Kenneth Bae and two other U.S. citizens; Cuba has released the U.S. AID worker, Alan Gross, who has been in prison there for five years (See the later blog post, "Good News from Cuba.")

With Ebola and ISIS uncontained, it is well to look around the world and derive hope from other difficult situations that have been resolved in the past. For a reminder of some of these past victories, see the earlier blog post, "Hope for the Future."

Girl Power?

Lured by the romance of joining the "jihadi girl power subculture," young tech-savvy Western women are developing contacts with ISIS terrorists, just like the Latin Queens who have been drawn to the gang of Latin Kings. The question is: Are women who join terrorist groups and gangs exhibiting girl power or their willingness to become tools of male power? Are terrorist groups grooming women to use their quick reflexes to detonate car bombs, their devotion to become suicide bombers, or their feminine wiles to return to their home countries to attack targets determined by men?

      Female Kurdish soldiers also have taken up arms against ISIS. Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Marxist leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has long fought a war for independence from Turkey, recognized how his support for gender equality would help enlist women who understand ISIS's intention to restrict the rights of women.

 Girl power is seen in other forms by the following women:

• Malala Yousafzai The Pakistani girl who recovered from being shot in the head by the Taliban and went onto win a Nobel Peace Prize for supporting the education of women throughout the world  In 2015, Time magazine named her one of the "100 Most Influential People." Her story is told in the book, I Am Malala.
• Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe This nun from the order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, recognized as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2014,  ministers to the girls abducted and raped by soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army in Southern Sudan and Uganda. At the Saint Monica Vocational School in Gulu, Uganda, these girls learn to grow their own food, make their own clothes, tenderly care for their children, and sew the purses and other items they sell to support themselves and their families. Profits from the book, Sewing Hope, the story of Sister Rosemary, support her work.

Also, consider the three women that National Geographic has identified as "Emerging Explorers."

• Mantza Morales Casanova When this Mexican woman saw children harming animals and plants, she decided to form Humanity United to Nature in Harmony for Beauty (HUNAB), an organization determined: 1) to put education about the environment into schools, 2) create Ceiba Petandra Park, a free area where 64,000 children can have an interactive learning experience about climate change, wetland conservation, wildlife protection, and pollution, and 3) to provide the education that children need to become environmental leaders who change the world.
• Shivani Bhalla Determined to save Kenya's lions, she founded: 1) Lions Kids Camp, where children often see lions in the wild for the first time, and 2) Ewaso Lions, a community outreach program designed to give tribal warriors, women, and children reasons to embrace conservation and to respect and coexist with lions.
• Shabana Basij-Rasikh At a risk to her own life and theirs, her parents sent her to a school in Afghanistan, where she excelled and went on to earn a degree from Middlebury College in the United States. To prepare other girls to attend universities abroad, she co-founded the School of Leadership, Afghanistan, a boarding school for girls. She has said, "The most effective antidote to the Taliban is to create the best educated leadership generation in Afghanistan's history. Our girls of today - the women of tomorrow - will make it happen."

Sporting Violence

Clashing helmets and competitors who bite remind sports fans around the world that violence occurs on the field. But, when a fan threw out the first pitch from his wheelchair at this year's World Series baseball game, he reminded everyone that violence also occurs at sporting events off the field. How did his injury happen? He was attacked in the parking lot after a game.

Violence is so prevalent at soccer games that Franklin Foer, in his book, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, delved into the psychology of fans who attack each other.

Spotters for trendwatching.com report that Ecuador has responded to the threat of fan violence by keeping two white seats empty at its Club Sport Emelec Stadium in honor of two fans killed at games. The venue also sponsors a website, where fans can sign a pledge to avoid violence at soccer matches.

Never Too Young to Invest in the Future

Small and large scale investments offer money-making opportunities throughout the world. Check out $25 gift-giving ideas for kiva and other organizations at the blog post, "Gifts for Happy Holidays."

     A Special Report in the Financial Times (October 6, 2014) is cause to consider major money-making opportunities in Africa. Javier Blas wrote that high commodity prices, cheap Chinese loans, and improved governance have led to Africa's currently healthy growth. (Go to the later blog post, "Chocolate's Sweet Deals," to see how cocoa growers and investors can cooperate to benefit from the growing demand for chocolate in emerging markets.)

     The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association estimates there is now $25 billion worth of private investment in Africa. It is in basic household goods, power, telecom transmission and pipeline projects, not just commodities, oil, diamonds, gold, and other minerals. When the US Carlyle Group launched its maiden African fund with a $500 million target, it closed at $700 million. It's first African investment, $150 million in Nigeria's Diamond Bank, was followed by an investment in a tire and parts retailer in Johannesburg, South Africa. Runa Alam, chief executive of London-based Development Partners International (DPI), a private equity fund that invests in African businesses, observed that top business schools are producing investors with skill sets that include global and local networks that can sniff out investment worthy companies in Africa, not only in China and Latin America.

     Indeed, private investment continues to find opportunities in Africa. In February, 2015, Actis Capital (a London-based private equity firm that concentrates its investments in emerging markets) and Mainstream Renewable Power (a Dublin-based clean energy developer) teamed up to invest $1.9 billion in a new Lekela Power venture that will operate solar and wind power projects in South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt.

     That is not to say Africa is problem free. Economic conditions have not improved across the board. Potential unemployment hovers over large chunks of the new middle class. The young population of one billion, on its way to four billion by 2100, is disillusioned and under-educated. (See the later blog post, "Recess Differs Around the World," to get a glimpse of Africa's under funded schools.) Compared to Asia, Africa's young people are unqualified for manufacturing jobs. (The earlier blog post, "Discover Africa," however, tells how young Africans take advantage of entering and winning contests and are starting their own businesses.)

     The Ebola crisis showed that disease can still devastate some parts of Africa; the abduction of over 200 teenage girls in Nigeria shows how religious and ethnic divisions persist; and corruption and greed continue to infest government and motivate leaders, except in Nigeria (See the later blog post, "Nigeria's New Beginning."), to cling to their positions after their constitutional terms of office end. With mobile phones and social media, however, young people have the means to voice their demands and frustrations and to receive solicitations from Islamic extremists. Nonetheless, young voters can be a powerful bloc capable of making their call for change heard. In the end, Africa is an investment opportunity that should not be overlooked.

Sleep Deprived Test Scores

When do students in Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan take key standardized tests, such as those in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)? Of the 15-year-olds who took these tests in 65 countries, students in these four countries came out on top in the latest (Dec. 3, 2013) PISA. Could timing contribute to testing success?

     After a Friday night when high school students hang out with friends at football games and movies or stay up playing video games, my granddaughter was among classmates who had to turn up at her high school at 7:45 am on Saturday to take the standardized PSAT exam that determines National Merit Scholarships and has a big impact on which colleges students attend. A policy statement, published online by the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics on August 25, 2014, challenges the timing of such an important test.

    According to the findings of the Academy's Adolescent Sleep Working Group and Committee on Adolescence and the Council on School Health, "making middle and high schoolers start classes before 8:30 am threatens children's health, safety, and academic performance." Lack of sleep contributes to a teen's risk of traffic accidents, depression, and obesity. Since biology determines a shift in a teenager's sleep-wake cycle, these students find it difficult, if not impossible, to go to sleep before 10:30 pm. Studies show the average teenager can't even fall asleep at 11 pm. (Incidentally, on the "Dr. Oz" television show October 21, 2014, a woman who couldn't fall asleep when she went to bed at 9 pm was advised to go to bed much later when she was really tired.)

     Based on these findings, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on school districts to move start times to 8:30 am or later so that teenagers who are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night can get at least 8 1/2 to 10 hours of sleep. Those who do get enough sleep do better academically, have better standardized test scores, and enjoy a better quality of life. Nonetheless, at present, research shows only about 15% of high schools begin at 8:30 am or later and 40% start before 8 am. But Stacy Simera, the outreach director for Start School Later Inc., reports "the number of schools opening later has grown exponentially," with positive results, such as those reported by researchers at the University of Minnesota. In the eight Minnesota high schools that began using later start times, grades, attendance, and punctuality all improved, and there was a 70% reduction in teen-aged auto accidents.

    Simera acknowledges that there are critics of starting high schools later who complain that parents can't get their students off to class that late because they have to leave earlier to get themselves to work. Then, there are the problems of school bus schedules that have to change two shifts that accommodate elementary and high schools, problems scheduling after-school activities, the needs of older siblings who need to get home before the younger ones they care for, and the time when after-school jobs begin. Sumera has found, however, that despite these concerns, schools have been able to adjust.

   Even if criticisms continue to block changes in some school week day schedules, they do not apply to important tests given on weekends. It would be worthwhile to see if beginning tests at a later start time could improve the lagging performance of U.S. students on the PISA. When administering tests of the new Common Core State Standards to teenagers in the United States, it also would be worthwhile to compare performances on tests that began at various times.



     

 

Gifts for Happy Holidays

Halloween is about to usher in the holiday season of Hanukkah, St. Nicolas Day, Christmas, New Year's, and the Epiphany. This season not only presents an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends, but it also offers an opportunity to give children gifts that open their eyes to what the world has to offer.

     Foil-covered milk and dark chocolate, Kosher certified, coins that children love can be ordered from SERRV (serrv.org), a nonprofit organization that makes sure gifts are made around the world by poor artisans and farmers who receive a living wage and work in safe, healthy conditions. SERRV also sells an Advent Calendar that hides a milk chocolate heart behind each day leading up to the nativity scene. For each Advent Calendar sold, a school notebook is donated to a child in the schools of Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana, where the cooperative that raises the cocoa beans for these chocolates is located.

     Since museums feature exhibits from around the world, their shops are an excellent source of global gifts. In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store (store.metmuseum.org) is known for putting together a collection of items that cater to kids. One of its most interesting offerings is a Global Glowball that entertains and educates children six months and older. There are 39 sections on the globe that each light up and play a song, such as Bollywood pop, a tango, or jazz, from the area of the world a child pushes. Youngsters can roll the globe, learn geography, and use it as a night light; the Global Glowball does it all.
     Children 8 and older also can get hands-on experience writing with Egyptian hieroglyphs and making Japanese origami projects with kits and instruction books from the Metropolitan Museum. Or they can assemble a 252-piece floor map puzzle of the world from the museum.

     Some gifts last all year. Just as adults might exchange magazine gift subscriptions and memberships in a fruit-of-the-month club, children aged six and up would love to receive a gift subscription that brings the prize winning collection of fascinating facts of the world in National Geographic Kids (kids.nationalgeographic.com) to them ten times a year. For kids aged 3 to 6,  National Geographic Little Kids comes out six time a year. Preschoolers enjoy its read-aloud stories and colorful animal photos, games, puzzles, and other activities
     To introduce its program that sends 5 to 10 year olds a monthly package of items related to a particular country, for a small fee, Little Passports (littlepassports.com) sends a child a travel suitcase with a world map, stickers, an activity sheet, and access to online games and activities.

     Nothing is more welcome after all the gifts are unwrapped than seeing a child settle down to relax and enjoy one of his or her presents. Like any child in the world might do, my granddaughter would start to work out some of the logic or number puzzles in a Perplexor workbook from Mindware
(mindware.com).
 My daughter used to start to read one of her new books. This year, children might like to read:
     The Last King of Angkor Wat by Graeme Base. He tells 6 to 8 year olds the history of Cambodia's
famous temple by using detailed illustrations of the tiger, elephant, monkey, water buffalo and gecko that reveal their strengths and weaknesses as they compete to be king.

     Animals also are the focus of two non-fiction books for 6 to 8 year olds: National Geographic Kids Animal Heartwarming True Tales from the Animal Kingdom by Jane Yolen and Heidi and Adam Stemple, which tells about the geese that saved the Roman Empire and much more. And Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge, a book that uses illustrations and text to show and tell how little animals all over the world live and grow.

     The Copernicus Legacy by Tony Abbott uses puzzles, intrigue, and adventure to take readers 9 to 12 around the world on a hunt for pieces of the past.

     Winners of a South Asia book award also involve young readers in what's happening in the world.
Jennifer Bradbury's A Moment Comes follows the struggles of three students in 1947 India, before the country was divided into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.
     In Elizabeth Suneby's Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education, Razia has to convince her family that her education at Afghanistan's Zabuli Education Center for Girls just outside Kabul would benefit not only her and her family but even the whole community.
     Two Muslim girls have the dual problem of practicing their religion and fitting in at school in The Garden of My Imaan by Farhana Zia.

     Really young kids might like to have someone read them a new kind of alphabet book. Oliver Jeffers, the Australian author who grew up in Northern Ireland and now lives in Brooklyn, NY, has created a122-page gift, Once Upon an Alphabet, that goes beyond "A is for apple" to illustrate and write stories for all 26 letters of the alphabet.

    Finally, there are several very unusual presents.

•  Young people who receive a $25 Kiva gift card can go to the Kiva website (kiva.org) and scroll through a list to decide which of the small businesses around the world they would like to support. They could return to the site again and again for progress reports and to receive a borrower's repayment in their Kiva Credit Account.
•   The World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org) helps animal-loving kids make a symbolic adoption of a tiger, panda, fennec fox, African black-footed penguin, or African elephant. World Wildlife also offers a "Sniffer Dog: Labrador Retriever Adoption Kit" that comes with a plush dog, like the ones that work at airports to sniff out illegal wildlife being transported by smugglers.
•   Through Heifer International (heifer.org/gift), a young person who receives an Honor Card worth $10 or more learns he or she has helped end hunger in the poorest parts of the world. Contributions go to purchase cows, goats, sheep, water buffalo, pigs, donkeys, llamas, rabbits, honeybees, chicks, ducks, trees, water pumps for irrigation, and biogas stoves. Since families who receive animals give one or more of their animal offspring to other needy families, one contribution has a multiplying effect throughout a community.

     Wishing the whole world peace and happiness this holiday season!

(Find ideas for making holiday cards and gift wrap at the earlier blog post, "Arts and Crafts for Christmas in July.")

Let's Visit China

While the world is focused on Scotland's vote to remain in the United Kingdom, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and ways to contain the ISIS menace, a  number of Chinese developments merit attention.


China's e-commerce platform, Alibaba, raised $25  billion when its shares went on sale September 19, 2014. As with other e-commerce firms, there are charges pending about the lack of sales tax paid on Alibaba purchases, and there is concern about e-commerce sales of counterfeit items. Also, there has been no news about how well China's shipping and delivery network is handling online purchases, a problem that has adversely affected India's e-commerce boom (See the later blog post,"Problems Present Career Opportunities.").

Alibaba was not the only company to enjoy a strong response to its initial stock offering. China's CGN nuclear power group received a similar response when its shares went on sale for the first time in Hong Kong. Yet, in January, 2015, the Chinese residential real estate developer, Kaisa Group Holdings, defaulted on a $128 million payment to foreign investors holding $500 million in bonds promising a 10.25% yield.

Urbanization and higher incomes in China are raising demand for locally produced goods, baby formula, disposable diapers, Western foods (such as cheese and Starbuck's and Costa coffee) and movies. Aiming to expand into the film business, Dalian Wanda, China's fourth richest man, who operates China's largest cinema chain and luxury hotels, is expected to open a major office in Hollywood, where he  has shown interest in buying shares in and film collaboration with Hollywood's Lionsgate studio. Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, also has had discussions with Lionsgate. In 2017, movie box office revenue in China will be $8.6 billion. By then, film studios and movie stars will begin to stash revenue in the Khorgos tax haven on China's far northwestern border with Kazakhstan.

Local governments continue to prop up failing heavy industrial plants, and China's manufacturing sector does not turn down opportunities to produce religious items. Though an atheist country, a Chinese factory has published over 125 million Bibles. Unfettered industrialization continues to cause China problems with pollution. Recent studies show China's population produces more carbon dioxide (CO2) per head than the European Union and U.S. Therefore, it was great news November 12, 2014 to learn that China and the U.S. have signed a pact, however symbolic, to limit carbon emissions. At a dinner and meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People during the November 11-12, 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, both President Obama and President/General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, stressed peace, prosperity, stability, and a partnership that fosters security in a Pacific Ocean "broad enough to accommodate the development of both China and the United States."

At the end of the APEC summit, after Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and China's President met on November 10, 2014, Abe said he hoped the two countries would talk again and again (a hotline to prevent their vessels from conflict in the East China Sea has been proposed) and that they would work toward a mutually beneficial relationship. Earlier, a Chinese diplomat in Iceland was arrested as a spy for Japan.

Hong Kong tycoons are spending freely. The Chan brothers have donated $350 million to Harvard and expect to make another sizable donation to the University of Southern California. Stephen Hung ordered $20 million worth of Rolls Royces to transport gamblers at his Louis XIII resort in Macao. Nonetheless, Chinese gamblers, who have been staying away from Macao's casinos for fear of being targeted in China's crack down on corruption, have put a big dent in the island's revenue as they try to stay clear of China's anti-graft investigations into the origin of their wealth. Casinos in Cambodia have benefited from this exodus of Chinese gamblers trying to stay under the radar. Macau's investors, on the other hand, are trying to regain visitors by following the Las Vegas model and giving the island a more family-friendly image by adding a $2.3 billion theme park to a new casino.

Despite the use of tear gas and the arrest of a leader of the pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, which has an almost country-to-country border crossing procedure with mainland China, protests continue to oppose Beijing's attempt to dictate which candidates can run for election in 2017. (See the later blog post, "Hong Kong Update.") Though not secure from authorities, Hong Kong protesters are using the smartphone mobile app, FireChat, to communicate with each other without relying on Internet connections. President Xi believes foreign countries are involved in the protests.

The number of Chinese students, who once made up 33% of international grad students in the U.S., is decreasing. French speaking Chinese students are on their way to former French African countries to work for Chinese companies there. In English-speaking Africa, China is building a $12 billion, 1,400 km railway in Nigeria.

(For more about China, see the earlier blog post, "See the World.")

On War

War is scary for everyone, but especially for children who grow up scurrying for shelter when they hear air raid sirens, seeing buildings collapse, and suffering the loss of their own legs or parents. It also is scary when children can't walk or take a bus to school, walk through their neighborhoods, use a washroom, take an elevator, or check the Internet without worrying that a bully will block their way, punch them, steal their possessions, abuse them in social media, or shoot them. As General Sherman observed during the War between the States, "War is hell."

Would that everyone would take to heart the line of a song that says, "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."

The Society of Friends, known as Quakers, does take this line seriously and members refuse to fight in any war. Others recognize a variety of motivations that justify war as a proportional response to injustice. A country invaded by another country needs to defend itself and protect its citizens. A race of people threatened with extinction should fight to survive. Less justifiable, a strongman decides to take what he wants from the weak. Believers in one religion or way of life seek converts by force.

The spectrum of conflict stretches from diplomacy to economic sanctions to nuclear war. Luke writes in the New Testament about a king who, before going to war against another king, sits down with his counselors and decides if he can defeat twenty thousand with his force of ten thousand. Deciding he can't, he sends a diplomat to offer terms of peace, while the enemy is "a great way off." Other strategists suggest offering an enemy a "golden bridge," a way to save face without going to war. Between World War I and World War II, some believed the pressure of public opinion could keep warmongers in check. Others argue that weakness creates a vacuum that the strong are eager to exploit. And still others observe that an arms race can set off a war not only by choice but even by chance.

We've seen a variety of conflict methods used against and by the United States in recent years.
There was the surprise attack on the Twin Towers in New York City. A diversion enabled troops to enter Osama bin Laden's compound and kill him. Informers were paid to lead the Special Forces that captured Saddam Hussein. Bombs have been carried on and brought down civil aircrafts. New weapons, drones, have been developed to target enemies.

Children think about war, as we know, when we ask them to draw pictures about their feelings. It's always time to talk to youngsters about the importance of respecting others the way they want to be respected, the importance of standing up for themselves, and the importance of praying for peace.

Good Works Multiply Fast

Ebola and terrorism can spread from country to country, but good works can, too.

We've seen people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads or those of others to raise awareness for the ALS condition, or Lou Gehrig's disese, suffered by a graduate of Boston College. Initially spread by 60,000 email messages, the Ice Bucket Challenge has reached 1.9 million donors and raised $94 million for ALS.

That's not all. Responding to the Ice Bucket Challenge by Ben Affleck and Jimmy Kimmel, Matt Damon dumped water from the toilet over his head. Why? As an advocate for clean water (See Water.org), he wanted to highlight the fact that water in the toilets of Western nations often is cleaner than drinking water in less developed countries, where 2.4 billion people lack adequate sanitation. Damon, a supporter of the nonprofit, Water Is Life, challenged other celebrities to follow his lead. Incidentally, 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.

Seamstresses (and men) in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, and Australia have followed the lead of Rachel O'Neill, who founded the not-for-profit organization, Little Dresses for Africa. She came up with a way to turn pillowcases into sundresses for African girls in orphanages, churches, and schools. Mission trips began carrying these dresses not only to African countries but also to Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

When publicity by ecouterre.com and other media outlets told how a 99-year-old Iowa woman, Lillian Weber, makes a dress a day for Little Dresses for Africa, donations were sought to pay for shipping what has become an outpouring of 2.5 million dresses.

Free downloadable instructions for making pillowcase dresses and mailing information are available at littledressesforafrica.org.

Boys couldn't be ignored. A Lutheran quilting group in Wisconsin developed a pattern for turning T-shirts into shorts for boys. A pattern for making these Britiches for Boys, a 60 minute per pair project, is available at nancyzieman.com/blog/nancys-corner/britches-for-boys-in-africa/ Nancy Zieman also can furnish a kit with all the supplies for making three pairs of shorts.

Other ideas for doing good around the world are in earlier posts: "Help Wanted" and "Hope for the Future."

Idea Transfer

French artist, Junior Fritz Jacquet, used Japanese origami-like folds to create expressive faces out of toilet paper rolls, according to a report in thisiscolossal.com. Despite criticism, globalization presents the opportunity to discover something, like a new art form, in one country that can be duplicated in another by an artist or

a school's art teachers. (See similar ideas in the earlier blog post, "It Takes A World to Raise a Child.")

Globalization fosters what Baptiste Barbot, a researcher at Yale's Child Study Center, calls the "synergistic interaction" of factors that permit a person to spot associations, take risks, and entertain alternative thoughts. In short, globalization might be considered a creative shortcut that enables people around the world to think outside the box.The German company, ThyssenKrupp, for example, adapted the Japanese idea of propelling trains over tracks by magnets to propel multiple elevators up and down in magnet propelled, cable-free shafts.

By signing up for free at trendwatching.com, subscribers, without leaving home, can scan the world for ideas that can be used where they live. The following examples from recent trendwatching reports provide an idea of the valuable information this site provides:

• Seeing how consumers respond to tender loving care, a French cafe began giving polite patrons a discount
• Ready made, microwavable food is as popular in Malaysia as in Manhattan
• Indonesian temporary tatoos are printed in eco-friendly ink and last three to four days
• Japan's solar lanterns in a variety of designs can light up the darkness where there is no electricity, such as on a camping trip
• Korea's Samsung NX Mini camera and a metal clamp that holds a mobile phone are innovations that facilitate group selfies, called "wefies" or "massfies"
• In Romania, people could submit a photo of racist graffiti on a building and Unilever would send a team that used its Cif brand of cleaning products to remove it
• By using an app to rate the temperature in a building or on a public vehicle, occupants and passengers can create an aggregate measure that enables CrowdComfort to adjust the thermostat to please the majority
• In Singapore, customers can set a smartphone app for a McDonald's Surprise Alarm that gives them a special deal every time their alarm goes off
•  A Brazilian publisher prints stories and poems in the pockets of jeans sold by FreeSurf
• No matter where someone is in Mexico, he or she can receive a government warning of an earthquake on a small Alerta Sismica Grillo, crowdfunded by the Fondeadora platform
• In India, The Good Road campaign developed a smart helmet with sensors that tell your motorcycle to start. Take off your helmet and your motorcycle's engine turns off.
• Plastic Coca-Cola bottles in Vietnam reduce pollution, because they come with 16 different caps that convert empties into new uses, such as squirt guns, pencil sharpeners, and soap dispensers.

Teachers also have an opportunity to go to the site, ePals.com, to find a classroom somewhere in the world that would like to participate in a group project that could create something neither classroom would have created working alone.

Help Wanted

Just as interests in finance, fashion, sports, and other subjects can lead to international career options, an interest in helping others also can cause students to find work beyond their borders. In fact, a handout from the American Academy of Pediatrics encourages early adolescents to "try activities that help others." The earlier post, "Hope for the Future," suggests ways, even at a younger age, children can begin to alleviate some of the world's suffering.

It is interesting to see how often young people are in the news for helping others. A child has her head shaved to show a classmate with cancer that she is not the only one who looks different. An Olympic athlete bonds with a brother with special needs. College students spend their spring breaks, not drinking and tanning in Florida, but building a senior citizen home in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. To test out how well a student is suited to help people in a foreign country, the earlier post, "See the World," has information about educational experiences that young people can try overseas while they are in school.

An early commitment to helping others can continue into a life's work, even to the point of extreme personal sacrifice. Missionaries Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol contracted the deadly Ebola virus at medical facilities in Liberia. Father Alexis Prem Kumar, the director of Jesuit refugee services in Afghanistan, has been kidnapped by terrorists, and U.S. AID workers are imprisoned in Pakistan and Cuba.

While helping others in a foreign country entails a certain amount of risk, the abundance of positions available is worth exploring. Start by going to directories for development organizations (devdir.org) and the individual websites of Care (care.org) that fights poverty around the world, the Red Cross (redcross.org) that goes where foreign disasters strike, Unicef (unicef.org) that concentrates on the needs of the world's poorest children, Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org) who are now fighting Ebola in West Africa, and Operation Smile (operationsmile.org) that performs surgery to correct cleft lips and palates on children in foreign countries. Almost every year a nurse friend of mine spends her vacations assisting the doctors at Operation Smile.

Short-term, overseas assignments also are available at organizations such as: Cross-Cultural Solutions, Global Volunteers, Habitat for Humanity's Global Village Program, Projects Abroad, and United Planet. Volunteers in these programs find themselves caring for children in foreign orphanages, rescuing endangered animals, teaching English, digging wells, painting classrooms, and unearthing archaeological treasures.

As a marketer, I have been especially pleased to find organizations like SERRV (serrv.org) that send experienced marketers to help foreign artisans design products that consumers in developed countries want to buy. Father James Martin, in his book The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything, writes about how he used the corporate experience he had before becoming a priest to help a seamstress in Nairobi, Kenya, gain an income by turning fabric remnants into religious goods for tourists. Artist Iris Shiloh's visit to India and Swaziland inspired her to found Kids for Kids (kidsforkidsfashion.com). She prints designs created by orphans and poor children in lesser developed countries on T-shirts and then donates a portion of the sales revenue back to the organizations that sponsored the little artists.

Hawaiians say missionaries came to do good and did very well (buying land and establishing plantations and businesses). Even if it's not motivated by altruism, going overseas to help others can have benefits. Colleges and corporations look for students and employees who have international experience.
(Additional information about international careers also is available in the earlier post, "What Do You Want to Be?")

International Fashion Designers Find Consumer Niches

On "Project Runway" (Lifetime channel at 9 pm ET Thursdays), this season's televised competition is showcasing the influence of international designers. Sandhya channeled her heritage from India to turn a dip-dyed flowered print into an original summer frock that won the show's first challenge and puzzled her U.S. competitors.

What designers such as Sandhya are doing is satisfying consumers who search for fashions and accessories that express their individuality. They may be motivated to wear T-shirts that support a cause as Vivienne Westwood's "Save the Arctic" one does (See the earlier post, "North Pole Flag."). Or they look for the environmentally, sustainable clothes mentioned in the earlier posts, "The World of Fashion" and "Fashion Forward." Mumbai-based fashion designer, Rahul Mishra, for example, espouses "slow fashion." His garments draw on the craftsmanship of India's embroidery experts and weavers to involve many talented village hands in the process of making his clothes. Why? He sees fashion as an opportunity for participation, not just consumption.

 Some fashion consumers also want to be the first to go upscale to provide employment to those manufacturing luxury brands "Made in Africa." One designer who caters to this upscale consumer is Hanneli Rupert, daughter of Johann Rupert, chairman of the Richemont group that includes Cartier, Van Cleef, and other luxury goods. In 2009, she first introduced her Okapi brand, named for the "zebra giraffe" from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At her Okapi website (okapi.com) and at her Merchants on Long store in Cape Town, South Africa, Ms. Rupert sells bags, card cases, and other African-sourced leather goods. This fall the Okapi brand also will be available online at the luxury fashion Net-a-Porter website (net-a-porter.com).

The New York Times (July 31, 2014, page E5) observed that consumers looking for hard-to-find, unusual products are willing to pay top dollar to artisans with incredible fashion, furniture, and textile skills whether they live in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Peru, or Kenya. This season's "Project Runway" contestants are on the brink of exciting careers.

Learning Can Be Fun

Do longer school days and longer school years promote learning? Only, if they include time for play (and the playground is not an asphalt parking lot).

A growing body of research suggests play provides an important learning experience at any stage of a student's life. Besides, moving develops a body's core strength which enables children to pay attention and learn, and research also finds kids can develop language, math, and social skills while interacting with each other. In Finnish kindergartens, something new happens every day: Monday might have a field trip, ball game, or running activity; Friday, songs and stations of choice, such as making forts with sheets, selling ice cream (paper scoops pasted on a stick and plastic coins used for change), or doing arts and crafts.  You have to wonder about China's academic schools that do not set aside any time for gym or exercise classes. Promising Olympic athletes go to separate schools.

Finland has a saying, "Those things you learn without joy you will forget easily." When it rains a bit, Finnish kindergarteners put on their rubber boots, grab shovels, and make dams in the mud. Before entering first grade, at Swiss Waldkindergartens, Canada's all-day kindergartens, and at some schools in Washington state, Vermont, and Brooklyn, four to seven year olds have child-directed free play outdoors in all kinds of weather. In  contrast, a survey found 7 out of 10 children in the UK spend less time outside than prisoners.

Play at the Nordahl Grieg Upper Secondary School takes a different form, video games. At Mind/Shift on July 21, 2014, Tina Barseghian called attention to Paul Darvasi's article about this Norwegian high school, where Tobias Staaby uses the video game, The Walking Dead, to pose an ethical question. Of 10 survivors, who should receive the last four pieces of food? Students were asked to use what they had learned about situational ethics, utilitarianism, or consequentialism to justify their choices.

 At the same school, the history simulation video game, Civilization IV, which gives students an opportunity to make decisions that leaders have to make about setting up a government, legal system, labor laws, economy, and religious options, has been used to teach English and Social Studies. Those who were unfamiliar with the game's complexities learned from students who were pros. Lin Holvik, principal of the school, always has viewed video games as a tool to foster collaboration and an appreciation for the "art of failure."

Common Sense Graphite, a company that evaluates the learning content of computer games, gives high praise to the following:
Elegy for a Dead World
Better than other English lessons, students visit alien planets inspired by romance poets, write prose and poetry about the lost civilizations they find there, and share their literary works with other students.
Never Alone
A cultural game that incorporates stories from the Inupiat people of Alaska that demonstrate how students need to cooperate with nature to win.
Valiant Hearts
Invites students to apply facts from the history of World War I to critique war in general.

Other video games and their subject applications include:

     Portal 2: Physics
     The Last of Us: Literature
     Republia Times: Writing, Journalism, Social Studies
     Minecraft EDU: Virtual building blocks to construct a landmark or environment (Also see the earlier post, "Build a Global Icon.")

Another type of play to consider is the role playing used in the Model UN game mentioned in the earlier blog post, "Know the Issues." Also see the later blog post, "Convert Stories into Foreign Language Games."

Communicate without Words

It started with iconic computer symbols and emoticon faces made out of punctuation marks, like :-). Then, Japanese emoji (e for picture; moji for character) were used to communicate on social networks, write books, and create digital dictionaries. Now, artist Yung Jake has used emojis from emoji.ink to "draw" portraits of celebrities.

      According to trendwatching.com, Mauritius-based app company, Oju Africa, has created 56 African emojis for Android users that also can be used with apps, such as WhatsApp and Twitter. For cat lovers, free cat emojis are said to be available from free.motitags.com. One caution, sometimes viruses are in free emojis.

     Even before computers, however, people around world have been communicating with music. (See the earlier blog post, "Music of the Sphere.") In any language, the slightest musical mistake sounds awful. Across borders, music has been shown to have the ability to identify children who are in danger of falling behind in key language and math skills. Neuroscientists and neuropsychologists, such as Ani Patel and Nadine Gaab, have found that the mental demands required to play a musical instrument condition the brain to perform well in other areas: language comprehension, memory, attention, precision, switching between tasks, emotional maturity, and persistence. Maybe all diplomats should be required to study music, which seems to enhance the brain's networks for performing other tasks, like listening to each other in any language.

Map Gazing

Before the internet, classrooms often had a set of encyclopedias. One of my fifth grade classmates decided he would read all 15 volumes of the Britannica Jr. that our room had. He started at the end. Not only did the last volume cover subjects that began with "WXYZ," but it also contained an atlas. He started looking at maps and never got any further.

     I was reminded of how interesting he found maps, when I read about a new book, Mapping It Out. One of the maps included in this book is a map of Africa that I used to hang in my classroom. To illustrate the size of Africa, this map fits China, the United States, Europe, India, and Japan inside the continent. This kind of presentation is very useful, since transferring a global world to a flat page distorts the size of countries north and south of the equator (See the earlier post, "You Are Here.").

     Having an Atlas, or a shower curtain with a map printed on it, is especially helpful when countries, islands, cities, mountains, and bodies of water are in the news. Hearing that Narendra Modi from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became India's Prime Minister sent me to an Atlas, when I heard he was born in Ahmedabad, a coastal city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, south of Pakistan. As host to some World Cup soccer games in 2014, the city of Recife shifted our focus from the Amazon in the west to Brazil's eastern tip on the Atlantic Ocean. When hearing that Stephen Hung ordered $20 million dollars worth of Rolls Royces (30 cars) to transport visitors staying at his Louis XIII resort in Macau, the question arose: Where is Macau? Unfortunately, invasions, such as Russia's into Ukraine, and disasters, such as the downing of Malaysian Flight MH17 and the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 and the finding of its wreckage on the island of Reunion (See the earlier post, "Who Needs International Expertise?"), cause us to visit the border of Ukraine and Russia and to contemplate the vastness of the Indian Ocean.

     Children can look at maps to pick out shapes (See the earlier post, "How the World Shapes Up."), to find where people practice different religions (See the earlier post, "Respect the Faith."), to have an international scavenger hunt (See the earlier post, "Games Children Play."), and to study currents, mountain elevations, count time zones, and plan where they want to visit and work (See the earlier posts, "See the World" and "What Do You Want to Be?"). Also, check out Maps4Kids.com, which has a wide variety of activities associated with maps.
 

I Made This Myself

"Don't you love it when a plan comes together?" That saying John "Hannibal" Smith used to use on the "A Team" television show expresses the feeling I got when I read about the MakerMovement that encourages children to build what they imagine and crowdfunding by a Kickstarter, RocketHub, or Kiva. Since there is a way for anyone to find investors, anyone in the world who has an idea for a new app, 3D printer creation, programmable device, or, what one visionary has proposed, an automated factory on the moon, now has an opportunity to raise the money needed to make an innovation a reality.


     In an interview conducted by station KQED (kqed.org) in Northern California, Dale Dougherty, CEO of MakerMedia and editor of MAKE magazine, told how he began promoting hands-on learning at a Maker Faire in 2006 and later at MakerCon conferences. He is devoted to the idea that tinkering with the tools and materials for making things can be fun.

     Project Zero, a research study developed by Harvard's Graduate School of Education and tested by classroom teachers in Oakland, California, aims to inspire students to be curious about the designs that make things and nature work. When students looked at a pencil and a snail, they began to ask questions, not only about how they worked, but also what kind of designs could help them do a better job. Some youngsters even suggested ways to make life better for the snail. And there was a crossover to discover the new words needed to describe a design process and to defend ideas of how things are made.

     Since schools can't do everything, there is a greater role for parents, childcare, Boys and Girls Clubs, 4H, community centers, church youth groups, and scouting programs. They can provide the things kids need to help them create, perform, and learn: blocks, LEGOs, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, computers, 3D printers, pottery wheels, found objects, cameras, watercolors, easels, musical instruments, a stage, and garden plots. It's rather expensive, but, for $16.95 per month, tinker.kiwicrate,com/inside-a-crate will send students, 9 to 16+, a hands-on STEM (science, engineering, technology) inspired maker project.

    Making all kinds of materials available to students helps them discover new possibilities. That's reason enough to provide a place to cook, bake, sew, make jewelry, and knit. Inspired by puffy sourdough and flatter pizza dough an artist combined them and twisted, carved, and painted them into what became an octopus sculpture. A businessman inspired children to create sculptures out of the shredded documents he dumped into a pail of water.

     According to experiments at Hanyang Cyber University in South Korea, involving the body in learning also helps improve memory needed in any subject. When hands manipulate objects, for example, the brain has more cues to remember what was learned. When my mother was a math consultant for the Chicago Public School System, the first thing she did when she visited a school was observe what manipulative devices were in use. If she saw few or none, her next step was to try to find the supply room or closet where they were kept, because she knew that after the Russians sent up Sputnik, the federal government funded purchases of many such devices to aid learning math. I remember seeing one of my favorites, a scale that allowed kids to balance numbers on one side with those on the other. A big "5", for example, would equal a little "2" and "3" on the other side.

      Earlier blog posts have related ideas. See "Transform Spaces into Creative Places," "Back to the Land," "Tin Can Art," and "Global Drawing Power."

Newly-discovered German Fairytales Teach and Challenge

Although the stories of Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin are best known because of Walt Disney and the brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, different versions of these tales were told throughout Europe. What makes the 500 newly found fairytales collected by 19th century historian, Franz Xaver von Schonwerth, different from the way they are interpreted today is his faithful recording of the way stories farmers, servants, and other country folk passed them on by word of mouth.

     In Oberpfalz, Bavaria, where von Schonwerth collected and published local myths, legends, and fairytales in 1857-1859, cultural curator Erika Eichenseer has published a collection of his works. In Munich, Dan Szabo is now translating them into English.

     Eichenseer sees fairytales as a treasure of ancient knowledge and wisdom, a way of helping youngsters understand how virtue, prudence, and courage can overcome dangers and challenges. We might see tales involving evil witches, magic animals, spells, and brave princes as helping children think outside the box. When a maiden is threatened by a witch, for example, she transforms herself into a pond. The witch drinks the pond dry, and the girl kills the witch by cutting herself out of the witch's stomach.

     Using a prince, a bear, and a witch, The Turnip Princess seems to stress the importance of following instructions. When the prince did as the bear directed, pulled a rusty nail out of a cave's wall, and placed it under a turnip, the witch turned into a beautiful, kind girl who married the prince.

     When Szabo's English translations are completed, kids and Disney will have new material to interpret. Meanwhile, children can ask grandparents to tell them the stories they heard when they were youngsters.When I taught, I was surprised to learn that many students had not heard of a Greek slave's Aesop's Fables,  recorded by the 14th century monk, Maximus Planudes. Maybe grandparents will introduce their grandchildren to "The Fox and the Grapes" and "The Lion and the Mouse."

 

Arts and Crafts for Christmas in July

Instead of waiting until December, when the idea of making gifts for friends and relatives competes for time, often unsuccessfully, with holiday recitals, shopping for presents, cookie baking, and parties, now is the time when kids on vacation are looking for things to do. Besides, if a project is messy, this is the season when it can be done outside. Last weekend, for example, my granddaughter and I went to a neighbor's home to do some tie dying in their driveway.

Potato Prints

Potato printing is one project that can produce holiday wrapping paper, gift tags, and cards. When my daughter was only three, I helped her use a big potato, a star cookie cutter, and yellow poster paint in July to turn white tissue paper and blue construction paper into all the items we needed to wrap gifts in December.

     Begin by cutting a potato in half. If you are going to use a cookie cutter for a design, the potato has to be big enough for the cookie cutter to fit on the potato's cross-section. Original designs can be made to fit on any sized potato. For example, you can cut a fir tree out of cardboard to any size. Place it on the exposed half of the potato and cut around it with a knife. A cookie cutter can just be pressed into the potato to make a design.

     The purpose of printing is to be able to repeat a design. Relief-printing uses the raised part of the design, while the area around the design remains white. Consequently, it usually is necessary for an adult to cut away all the potato that is next to the design. Put some paint in a saucer or dish. Carefully dip just the raised part of the potato design into the paint. Stamp it on white paper or another light color. You also can use white paint to create a potato print that will show up on dark paper.

     Hobby stores often sell linoleum blocks, knives, and folded card stock that older children can use to make more intricate designs for holiday cards. Again, the area around the design is removed. Instead of dipping the block into paint or ink, a roller applies paint/ink to the raised design. The card is placed on top of the painted/inked surface and the back of the card is rubbed to transfer the design.

     Kids who learn how to make and use prints, or a master plate known as a matrix, are following a long tradition of those in China, Tibet, and India who first printed multiple copies of Buddhist texts.

Family Tree Scrapbooks

Any relative would appreciate a scrapbook that presented a well-researched, attractive family tree. Begin by collecting pictures of relatives and finding ancestry information from genealogy websites. You might to go to ancestry.com for a free trial to see how much you can discover about your family's background. Once you identify the countries from which relatives emigrated and where relatives live now, you can combine flags, maps, ethnic clothes, and pictures of cities and geographical areas (mountains, rivers, lakes) with photos of relatives and the information learned about births, marriages, children, military service, etc. (The earlier blog posts, "Picture the World," "You Are Here," and "A Salute to Flags," may give you some additional ideas of what to include in a Family Tree Scrapbook.)

Pollution Update

Look around when you attend a music festival, 4th of July celebration, or state fair this summer. Recycling bins, found in schools and at the exits of Target and other stores, have moved outside.

     Paul Abramson, who founded Paolo Verde Consulting, observed that keeping an area clean, especially at potential littering hot spots, during an event eliminates the need for picking up the mess at the end, when everyone is exhausted. He recommends having people (I would suggest cute, smiling teenagers) at bins "making gentle suggestions," such as "You know, that paper plate is recyclable, and we're collecting compost (food scraps) here."

     Abramson also notes that keeping an event site neat appeals to everyone who likes to see immediate results rather than the invisible good their contributions are doing, when they give to the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, or Greenpeace.

     On a larger scale, TIME magazine (June 16, 2014), in an article entitled, "Green Revolution," shows the United States's amazing shift to clean energy in the 21st century. Renewable (water, wind, and solar) power plants went from 682 in 2002 to 1,956 in 2012. While coal plants still provided 39% of U.S. electricity and 75% of emissions from electricity in 2013, cleaner natural gas generated 51% of the electricity added by new plants opened in 2013. Estimates suggest one-fifth of all coal-fired plants have been closed or are scheduled to retire. Although solar and wind power produced only a little more than 5% of U.S. electricity in 2013, they produced 30% of new power added that year and 90% of new power capacity installed in the first quarter of 2014. What is impressive about this added power from wind is the amount by which it decreased carbon emissions, the same effect as taking 20 million cars off the road.

     Even children 6 to 8 years old can learn about the fossil fuel energy cycle from sun to transportation use in Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm.

     Solar panels, once an exotic that cost $75 per watt generated in 1975, are now available to produce a watt of electricity on home and business rooftops for less than 75 cents. Technology also is meeting the conservation challenge. Products now keep track of individual energy usage and suggest ways to reduce it. Energy efficient LED lightbulbs, compared to incandescent ones, last longer and reduce consumer cost over their lifetimes. It is interesting to note that combined jobs in the solar industry (150,000) and wind industry (50,000) now match the 200,000 in the coal industry.

     Unfortunately, new items, such as plastic bottles and drones, keep multiplying and requiring additional ideas for recycling. According to trendwatching,com, plastic Coca-Cola bottles in Vietnam, and later in Thailand and Indonesia, come with 16 different caps that convert empties into new uses, such as squirt guns, pencil sharpeners, and soap dispensers. Drones also are a new pollution problem. Some have biodegradable wings, but when they crash, their metal pieces and batteries litter the land and oceans.

     Students looking for ways to eliminate pollution and stem climate change can also find a wide variety of suggestions, including the development of bladeless wind turbines, in the earlier blog post, "A Healthy Environment."

   

The Lure of Shale Oil Independence

With oil trading at over $70 a barrel, demand up, and questions about supply from Iran and elsewhere, interest in fracking has rebounded in September, 2018. Soft oil and gas prices in 2015 and 2016 had dampened enthusiasm for investments in shale oil. BHP Billiton, the Australian-based metals and energy company, took a $4.9 billion write-off in January, 2016, on its shale oil investment in the United States. In the short and medium term, BHP saw shale too expensive to compete with traditional oil and gas production.  BHP expected its shale investments to be profitable in the long run, however. As soon as crude edged toward $70 a barrel in early August, 2018, BHP sold its US shale holdings to BP for $10.5 billion.

     What if there is a shale oil deposit under your home? Fracking, which blasts oil and natural gas out of shale rock, has caused countries to ignore serious consequences. (See the earlier post, "North Pole Flag.")

      President Obama favored energy renewables over fracking. At the moment, wind and solar technologies need fossil fuel backups for windless, cloudy days and nighttime, but Bill Gates, who just announced his intention to invest a billion dollars in clean energy, said government investment in innovations research will lead to even more private investment in technologies that will overcome the need for fuels that contribute to greenhouse gases.

     While ignoring private property rights is just one of the problems associated with fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, protesters in England drew attention to the need to consider this fracking drawback by erecting a satiric sign outside the country home of British Prime Minister, David Cameron, this month. The sign apologized for the inconvenience caused by setting up fracking operations under his home without permission.

     With its economy dependent on income from oil and natural gas, Russia is said to be funding anti-fracking groups. While this may or may not be true, there are legitimate reasons for concern about the fracking process. To  release trapped oil and natural gas, at high pressure, companies pump fluid composed of 99% water and sand and 1% chemicals into dense rock formations thousands of feet below ground. Companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, which has a contract with China's Sinopec Corp. to exploit shale gas deposits in the Sechuan Basin and Ordos, try to reassure people that the wells they drill are far below drinking water supplies and that they isolate water supplies from fracking fluids by inserting concrete and steel barriers into their wells. Considering the shortage of clean water in eight of the 20 countries with the largest shale gas resources, it does not seem wise to base the safety of water supplies on company assurances.

     Although Algeria, for example, is believed to have the world's third or fourth largest recoverable shale gas reserves, protesters are more concerned about potential damage to the delicate aquifer system that furnishes water for people, animals, and crops not only in Algeria, but also in Libya and Tunisia. Fear that Halliburton's $70 billion hydraulic fracking project would pollute ground water and disturb the environment set off a violent protest in Ain Salah, a rural Algerian town in the Sahara Desert. Early in 2015, demonstrations spread to at least three other towns and Algiers. Deep well drilling to increase the amount of water needed for fracking can have an impact on local water sources and a cumulative effect that causes water levels to drop in lakes farther away. Flowback of the water and chemicals used in fracking plus the radioactive materials picked up deep in the earth is stored in plastic-lined open pits at drilling sites. While some of this toxic stew is trucked away and treated to remove toxins, the rest is released into streams and rivers that pollute drinkable water.

    Since companies are not required to disclose what chemicals they are using, there is no way to test the effect they have underground. I am reminded of the birds on an island in the North Pacific Ocean who are dying because of eating debris from humans over 1,250 miles away. Although bottle caps, cigarette lighters, and razor blades thrown into the ocean disappear, they can do plenty of harm.

     The sand drilling companies blast into shale helps hold cracks open to let oil and natural gas flow to the wellhead. Mining this sand brings noise, truck and rail traffic, and fine silica dust pollution to the population in areas where often there are no nonmetallic mining laws to regulate the hours, trucking routes, and other aspects of sand mining operations. People living near (a half mile away or closer) a sand mine have developed asthma and needed to use an inhaler. They cannot open their windows and have to install air filtration systems in their homes. Since signing a contract with a sand mining company can make a landowner wealthy, individuals have an incentive to ignore the disappearing hills, lung damage, and other consequences that can come with sand mining. Product manufacturers and commodity producers, however, that are having shipping delay problems because they are competing for rail capacity with frac sand are beginning to complain.

    Also, sand mines can use between 420,000 and two million gallons of water a day. To remove impurities from the sand, the chemical, polyacrylamide, which has traces of a known carcinogen, can enter surface and ground water at a mine site from wastewater ponds.

     The Food and Water Watch organization, which began sponsoring a Global Frackdown three years ago, opposes UN efforts to include fracking in its Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. The many problems associated with fracking do not justify including the process in the same category as renewable wind and solar energy sources. The organization, Americans Against Fracking, which pulls together groups working to ban fracking helped New York ban the process after a two-year investigation concluded that fracking could not be done safely. A bill now pending in the U.S. Congress would ban fracking on public lands, where it already has begun in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest, and Virginia has agreed to allow it in the George Washington National Forest.

     Finally, there is concern about the possibility that fracking can cause earthquakes, such as the small ones geologists discovered in Ohio in April, 2014. Clearly, there is a need for tough permit requirements, when a fault already exists near drilling operations.

     As more and more people around the world rely on industrial jobs and demand heat, air conditioning, and cars, care for the environment will come up against pressure to find new sources of oil and natural gas. What projects will students develop to help adults see the unseen effects of dangerous extraction methods?

Productive Summer Projects

One of the many nice things about summer is the free time it gives kids to read about other lands and to broaden their interests. Younger children, 3 to 8 years old might like the following books:

• Brush of the Gods by Lenore Look introduces Wu Daozi, a 7th century Chinese artist
• Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges tells about a Chinese girl who wanted to go to a university
• The Fortune Tellers by Lloyd Alexander takes children to Cameroon to hear about a poor carpenter who tried unsuccessfully to be a fortune teller. Kids will really like the illustrations, too
• Bravo, Chico Canta! Bravo! by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez shows how it helps to know more that one language, when a multilingual mouse saves his family that lives in a theatre

An elementary schooler may enjoy The Year of the Fortune Cookie by Andrea Cheng, a Chinese-American girl who visits China and sees the country from her perspective. Teens and young adults can be introduced to Russian history by reading The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming. Using pictures and text, she describes the country's last royal family. 

To find an extensive list of science-related books for various age groups, sample the collection compiled by the iINK Think Tank at inkthinktank.com.

     Kids can escape the fate of some high school students in Wisconsin who didn't graduate with their classes, because they failed to fulfill their community service requirements by learning to help people and animals who are hungry, lonely, have a disease, or are suffering in some other way. Sometimes bringing a flower from the garden or cookies they helped bake on a visit will cheer a grandparent, neighbor, or nursing home resident. To reach beyond their communities to buy mosquito nets, school books, or vaccines, students can raise money for donations from a yard sale, lemonade or produce stand, or sales of jewelry or other crafts they have made. (See other suggestions in the earlier post, "Hope for the Future.)

     The following ideas for helping animals came from the World Wildlife Fund:

1) Young people with a summer birthday can ask guests, instead of presents, to contribute an amount equivalent to their ages to an animal cause.

2) If youngsters are competing in running, swimming, or cycling races this summer, they can ask friends and family members to donate a $1 per mile or lap to an animal cause.

3) Students can start writing a free blog (on blogspot.com, for example) about favorite animals: such as dolphins, sharks, tigers, wolves, monkeys, pandas, and ask blog viewers to contribute to an animal rescue or conservation organization (Some of these organizations are mentioned on the earlier blog post, "Talk with the Animals.)