Preparing for a new school year probably doesn't require the purchase of a harmonica, paint brush, and Thesaurus. Yet Einstein played the violin, Samuel Morse painted portraits, and Galileo wrote poems.
Study after study shows the value of the arts. Playing music asks the brain to coordinate the notes eyes see and two hands play, to listen, and to recognize rhythms. Add dance and the whole body gets involved. In the process of drawing, painting, sculpturing, and writing stories, essays, and poems, students tap into their creative juices, express emotions, and discover their individual identities. Mistakes are made and corrected just as they are in every subject and life.
Music, art, and literature connect students to each other, their communities, and the world. One study, for example, found that children who participated in a dance group for eight weeks were less prone to anxiety and aggression compared to a control group. At the same time, the arts promote the creativity and innovation needed to deal with a rapidly changing global economy.
Consider how one kindergartner used an art project to discover there were two ways to find the total five. While one student had shown five by taking a photo of two red scissors and three blue scissors, another saw five, because the direction of four scissors pointed left and one pointed right. Math and science thrive on the same unexpected discoveries and strategies celebrated in the arts. Is there another way to do something is a question that has produced a Salvador Dali and a Thomas Edison.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
Impact of Corruption on Terrorism
In some respects, you can't blame government leaders for adopting the self-serving, often corrupt, methods of the colonial administrators they followed after their countries became independent. Nonetheless, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pointed out in remarks in Sokoto, Nigeria (8/23/2016), bribery, fraud, inequality, humiliation, and poverty play into the hands of terrorist extremists.
In terms of government interference and corruption, when the World Bank's "Doing Business Index" and the "Corruption Perceptions Index" rank Nigeria as a worse offender than 89% and 82% of the other countries in the world, Nigeria gives a terrorist group like Boko Haram a recruiting argument and an excuse to engage in its own looting, killing, and kidnapping.
Citizens need to feel people in power work for them. Government funds need to be used to provide health care, educate their children, build roads, provide clean water and electricity, support agriculture, and attract investment and business, not head overseas to the secret bank accounts of crooked politicians.
(Also see the earlier posts, "Corruption Has Consequences," "Cheating is Easy, but...," and "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat.")
In terms of government interference and corruption, when the World Bank's "Doing Business Index" and the "Corruption Perceptions Index" rank Nigeria as a worse offender than 89% and 82% of the other countries in the world, Nigeria gives a terrorist group like Boko Haram a recruiting argument and an excuse to engage in its own looting, killing, and kidnapping.
Citizens need to feel people in power work for them. Government funds need to be used to provide health care, educate their children, build roads, provide clean water and electricity, support agriculture, and attract investment and business, not head overseas to the secret bank accounts of crooked politicians.
(Also see the earlier posts, "Corruption Has Consequences," "Cheating is Easy, but...," and "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat.")
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
There's No Business Like Bug Business
Chickens, pigs, and some other animals don't share the same distaste for bugs that people did in the thriller novel and film, Snowpiercer. (Although in parts of the world, people do eat caterpillars, locusts, and termites.)
Some kids keep ant farms and net containers, where caterpillar larvae turn into butterflies. Sean Warner and Patrick Pittaluga kept the larvae of black soldier flies in a laundry room of their apartment building to start their company, Grubby Farms, in Georgia. Other firms, such as Enviro Flight in Ohio, Enterra Feed in Canada, J.M.Green in China, and Agri Protein in South Africa, also are attempting to make a profit by producing animal feed from black soldier fly larvae.
What is the dual objective motivating this effort? Protein from black soldier fly larvae could replace the fish meal animals now eat. About 75% of the fish in fish meal comes from anchovies, herring, sardines, and the other disappearing small fish eaten by commercial seafood catches, whales, sea lions, and other large mammals. Moreover, since black soldier fly larvae live on food and human waste, they could reduce what ends up in landfills.
At present, the industrial scale production technology needed to make this waste mass into biomass process profitable is still developing. The operation requires heavy machinery to move waste tonnage to a processing plant where heavy buckets of waste are carried to the shallow bins where larvae feed. After oil and protein powder are produced, markets need to be found. Government approvals present other obstacles. A blog developed by dipterra.com does an excellent job of presenting the many challenges confronting this business.
Since the technology involved in the bug business is still in its infancy, African investors and entrepreneurs have a good opportunity to become players in the field. Africans might find insects other than black soldier flies that could become a new protein source, and Africa, with its growing under-35 years of age population, also has the right innovators to take advantage of new opportunities. As Bill Gates noted in his speech at the University of Pretoria on July 18, 2016, he and Mark Zuckerberg were college-aged, when they made their innovative contributions to society.
(Also see the earlier posts, "Why Will Africa Overcome Poverty?" "Invest in Africa's Agricultural Future," "Want An Exciting Career?" and "Look Beyond Africa's Current Woes.")
Some kids keep ant farms and net containers, where caterpillar larvae turn into butterflies. Sean Warner and Patrick Pittaluga kept the larvae of black soldier flies in a laundry room of their apartment building to start their company, Grubby Farms, in Georgia. Other firms, such as Enviro Flight in Ohio, Enterra Feed in Canada, J.M.Green in China, and Agri Protein in South Africa, also are attempting to make a profit by producing animal feed from black soldier fly larvae.
What is the dual objective motivating this effort? Protein from black soldier fly larvae could replace the fish meal animals now eat. About 75% of the fish in fish meal comes from anchovies, herring, sardines, and the other disappearing small fish eaten by commercial seafood catches, whales, sea lions, and other large mammals. Moreover, since black soldier fly larvae live on food and human waste, they could reduce what ends up in landfills.
At present, the industrial scale production technology needed to make this waste mass into biomass process profitable is still developing. The operation requires heavy machinery to move waste tonnage to a processing plant where heavy buckets of waste are carried to the shallow bins where larvae feed. After oil and protein powder are produced, markets need to be found. Government approvals present other obstacles. A blog developed by dipterra.com does an excellent job of presenting the many challenges confronting this business.
Since the technology involved in the bug business is still in its infancy, African investors and entrepreneurs have a good opportunity to become players in the field. Africans might find insects other than black soldier flies that could become a new protein source, and Africa, with its growing under-35 years of age population, also has the right innovators to take advantage of new opportunities. As Bill Gates noted in his speech at the University of Pretoria on July 18, 2016, he and Mark Zuckerberg were college-aged, when they made their innovative contributions to society.
(Also see the earlier posts, "Why Will Africa Overcome Poverty?" "Invest in Africa's Agricultural Future," "Want An Exciting Career?" and "Look Beyond Africa's Current Woes.")
Friday, August 19, 2016
African Aquifers Tested
The International Water Management Institute is seeking to implement the goals of the Goundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) by accessing sub-Sahara Africa's subterranean aquifers, especially for farming irrigation. Although more reliable than rain, aquifers require policies that make them sustainable or else they can be exploited and depleted as they have been in north Africa. Since sustainable use of aquifers requires community cooperation, a pilot project in China offers promise. Farmers have access to a set amount of water from the state pumping system by using their pre-paid smartcards.
Africa also needs investment in aquifer mapping to determine the amount of groundwater available and investment in rural electrification for pumping.
Africa also needs investment in aquifer mapping to determine the amount of groundwater available and investment in rural electrification for pumping.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels
The old saying reminding us to be cautious and know what we're buying applies in the global timber trade. Some woods are much more valuable than others. Shipping a load of Brazil's big leaf mahogany into a country labeled as $9000 worth of less expensive timber can make a huge profit even if it is relabeled correctly and sold below real market prices. The American Forest and Paper Association estimates U.S. firms that use legally harvested domestic wood lose up to $460 million a year competing with this kind of undervalued, illegally logged timber. Globally, illegal logging makes up to 30% of the $150 billion a year trade in forest products.
There are sustainable, legal ways to harvest timber, but logging companies have taken advantage of poor oversight in some countries by just putting roads in tropical forests and harvesting and exporting endangered, heavily regulated species of wood, like West African kosso. On the world market, those involved in the illegal timber trade also smuggle endangered species, illegal drugs, weapons, and slaves. Harvests of protected rosewood and ebony in Madagascar invite captures of rare wildlife, while orangutan in Indonesia are endangered along with the country's valuable tropical forests. Like the diamond and jade trade, illegal timber sales have been known to finance armed conflicts in the form of genocide, coups, and civil wars.
Efforts to combat the illegal timber trade and its damaging side effects include government regulations and laws and consumer awareness. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) provides regulations authorizing country customs officials to confiscate illegally harvested logs being shipped through the world's ports. In the U.S. the 1900 Lacey Act and its 2008 amendment ban trafficking in illegal wildlife and illegally harvested timber and require seizure of such products and fines. Since the Lacey Amendment also makes it illegal to sell a wood product in the U.S. that contains wood that has been illegally harvested in the country of origin, U.S. retailers and other companies that sell wood products need to be sure to buy from legal sources.
Celso Correia, Mozambique's new minister for land, environment and rural development, is an African who has learned to play the game illegal loggers used to win by relying on weak law enforcement and corruption. As few as three years ago, a report from the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency stated 93% of timber in Mozambique was cut and exported illegally, mainly to China, the world's largest log importer. China's illegal timber imports deprived Mozambique of at least $400 million plus taxes. Mozambique now seizes more illegally cut timber exports, but the country is competing with an insatiable Chinese demand for raw timber. In The House of Unexpected Sisters, which is set in Botswana, Africa, the author writes about a store that sells furniture made from Zambezi teak and mukwa wood, "none of this Chinese rubbish."
Mozambique and other African countries are facing long odds when they try to replace deforestation with sustainable forest conservation methods that protect woods, such as the desirable Pau Ferro, and when they try to attract responsible Chinese companies willing to process logs into more valuable planks and furniture within Africa.
Consumers do have a way to be sure they are buying legally sourced wood and paper products. Just as kids can help adults check for an ENERGY STAR on appliances that save money by using energy efficiently, they can look for the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) logo of a check mark and tree on wood and paper products. When items like toilet paper, bookcases, doors, and picture frames come from forests that meet environmental, social, legal, and economic standards, they carry the FSC logo. Learn more at fsc.org.
(Also see the earlier post, "Uncover the Economic Value of Wood.")
There are sustainable, legal ways to harvest timber, but logging companies have taken advantage of poor oversight in some countries by just putting roads in tropical forests and harvesting and exporting endangered, heavily regulated species of wood, like West African kosso. On the world market, those involved in the illegal timber trade also smuggle endangered species, illegal drugs, weapons, and slaves. Harvests of protected rosewood and ebony in Madagascar invite captures of rare wildlife, while orangutan in Indonesia are endangered along with the country's valuable tropical forests. Like the diamond and jade trade, illegal timber sales have been known to finance armed conflicts in the form of genocide, coups, and civil wars.
Efforts to combat the illegal timber trade and its damaging side effects include government regulations and laws and consumer awareness. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) provides regulations authorizing country customs officials to confiscate illegally harvested logs being shipped through the world's ports. In the U.S. the 1900 Lacey Act and its 2008 amendment ban trafficking in illegal wildlife and illegally harvested timber and require seizure of such products and fines. Since the Lacey Amendment also makes it illegal to sell a wood product in the U.S. that contains wood that has been illegally harvested in the country of origin, U.S. retailers and other companies that sell wood products need to be sure to buy from legal sources.
Celso Correia, Mozambique's new minister for land, environment and rural development, is an African who has learned to play the game illegal loggers used to win by relying on weak law enforcement and corruption. As few as three years ago, a report from the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency stated 93% of timber in Mozambique was cut and exported illegally, mainly to China, the world's largest log importer. China's illegal timber imports deprived Mozambique of at least $400 million plus taxes. Mozambique now seizes more illegally cut timber exports, but the country is competing with an insatiable Chinese demand for raw timber. In The House of Unexpected Sisters, which is set in Botswana, Africa, the author writes about a store that sells furniture made from Zambezi teak and mukwa wood, "none of this Chinese rubbish."
Mozambique and other African countries are facing long odds when they try to replace deforestation with sustainable forest conservation methods that protect woods, such as the desirable Pau Ferro, and when they try to attract responsible Chinese companies willing to process logs into more valuable planks and furniture within Africa.
Consumers do have a way to be sure they are buying legally sourced wood and paper products. Just as kids can help adults check for an ENERGY STAR on appliances that save money by using energy efficiently, they can look for the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) logo of a check mark and tree on wood and paper products. When items like toilet paper, bookcases, doors, and picture frames come from forests that meet environmental, social, legal, and economic standards, they carry the FSC logo. Learn more at fsc.org.
(Also see the earlier post, "Uncover the Economic Value of Wood.")
Friday, August 12, 2016
Empower Yourself: Know Your Enemy
When facing a bully, an unfair teacher or police officer, an angry parent or one who ignores you, a potential employer, or a terrorist group, what is the natural reaction? Cower in a corner, plot revenge, accept the enemy's position and join the opposition?
Only by understanding an enemy can you gain confidence in tailoring an effective approach to each situation. Bill Gates was said to know more about his competitors' products than his competitors did. One size does not fit all, when dealing with enemies.
In his book, Playing to the Edge, Michael V. Hayden, who headed two U.S. intelligence agencies, explained the MICE system for recruiting spies. Those close to enemy leaders who are willing to betray their countries are not motivated by one thing. Some want Money; some share your Ideology; some are Compromised because they are about to be exposed for something they did; and some who have a huge Ego feel they aren't appreciated. Different motivations require different approaches.
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson knew exactly what each member of the U.S. Senate wanted (a bridge in his home state, a trip to Europe with his wife, a certain committee assignment), when he was Senate majority leader. On the other hand, his failure to understand the motivation of Vietnam's revolutionary leader had dire consequences,
Wednesday Marten gained the results she wanted, when she decided to study the social elite who were ignoring her on New York City's upper East Side. She wrote in Primates of Park Avenue how her study enabled her to join Manhattan's high society. Victims of bullying might benefit by studying popular kids.
Without an understanding of an enemy's culture, however, Michael Morell, a former director at the Central Intelligence Agency, pointed out in the New York Times Opinion section (August 5, 2016) how easy it is to fall into an enemy's trap. Those ignorant of the point of view of Muslim extremists who see themselves engaged in a holy religious war against the secular West live up to this enemy stereotype with every anti-Muslim position they take and every anti-Muslim statement they make. If the enemy likes what you are doing, he may compliment you and you will keep on doing his bidding. What does a young man do, if a gang leader compliments him for killing a rival gang member?
By putting together bits and pieces of the present, it even is possible to understand good and bad futures before they occur. In his book, Submission, Michel Houellebecq anticipates how an Islamic party would go about winning an election and imposing Islamic law in France. Such knowledge, actually any knowledge about an enemy, really is power.
(The idea of understanding an enemy also is discussed in the earlier blog post, "Fight, Flight, or Something Else.")
Only by understanding an enemy can you gain confidence in tailoring an effective approach to each situation. Bill Gates was said to know more about his competitors' products than his competitors did. One size does not fit all, when dealing with enemies.
In his book, Playing to the Edge, Michael V. Hayden, who headed two U.S. intelligence agencies, explained the MICE system for recruiting spies. Those close to enemy leaders who are willing to betray their countries are not motivated by one thing. Some want Money; some share your Ideology; some are Compromised because they are about to be exposed for something they did; and some who have a huge Ego feel they aren't appreciated. Different motivations require different approaches.
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson knew exactly what each member of the U.S. Senate wanted (a bridge in his home state, a trip to Europe with his wife, a certain committee assignment), when he was Senate majority leader. On the other hand, his failure to understand the motivation of Vietnam's revolutionary leader had dire consequences,
Wednesday Marten gained the results she wanted, when she decided to study the social elite who were ignoring her on New York City's upper East Side. She wrote in Primates of Park Avenue how her study enabled her to join Manhattan's high society. Victims of bullying might benefit by studying popular kids.
Without an understanding of an enemy's culture, however, Michael Morell, a former director at the Central Intelligence Agency, pointed out in the New York Times Opinion section (August 5, 2016) how easy it is to fall into an enemy's trap. Those ignorant of the point of view of Muslim extremists who see themselves engaged in a holy religious war against the secular West live up to this enemy stereotype with every anti-Muslim position they take and every anti-Muslim statement they make. If the enemy likes what you are doing, he may compliment you and you will keep on doing his bidding. What does a young man do, if a gang leader compliments him for killing a rival gang member?
By putting together bits and pieces of the present, it even is possible to understand good and bad futures before they occur. In his book, Submission, Michel Houellebecq anticipates how an Islamic party would go about winning an election and imposing Islamic law in France. Such knowledge, actually any knowledge about an enemy, really is power.
(The idea of understanding an enemy also is discussed in the earlier blog post, "Fight, Flight, or Something Else.")
Sunday, August 7, 2016
"Let There Be Peace on Earth
...and let it begin with me," advises a song's lyrics. I was reminded of this message, when I saw a suggestion Belgium newspapers had for restaurant goers after terrorist attacks. DeTijd and L'Echo urged diners to finish their meals by arranging cutlery on plates in a peace sign and then sharing their peace message in a hashtagged image of their plates on social media.
Trendwatching.com went on to list the following ways companies promoted reconciliation among different genders, races, countries, religions and those with different economic advantages.
Trendwatching.com went on to list the following ways companies promoted reconciliation among different genders, races, countries, religions and those with different economic advantages.
- In its "Share the Load" commercials, Procter & Gamble's Ariel India laundry brand dispelled the cultural assumption that there is such a thing as women's work and men's work.
- To emphasize the soul-destroying damage bullying does to kids perceived as different, Argentina's Bagley brand turned the smile on its Sonrisa cookies upside down.
- Attacking the distinction some stores make between beauty brands and ethnic brands for Afro-American women, Shea Moisture hair care brand's commercial noted its products are in the beauty aisle "where we all belong."
- Starbucks is helping overcome unemployment among teens and young adults in disadvantaged areas by providing in-store retail and customer service training in New York's Jamaica Queens neighborhood. The program is slated to roll out in 14 additional locations in the U.S.
- In connection with Mother's Day, HSBC, a bank in the UAE, not only provided a series of free workshops on resume writing and interviewing skills to help mothers return to work, the bank also helped kids make videos telling about the skills their mothers offered employers.
- JetBlue thought people could agree, if they had the right motivation. If passengers on a flight reached a unanimous agreement about where they wanted to go, they received free tickets to that destination on any US airline. Their choice and reward: a round trip to Costa Rica.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Share the Olympic Experience
Teams coming from around the world to begin competing in the Olympic Games Friday will experience new people, products and sights in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To help us share their experiences, I checked the innovations trendwatching.com now sees in Central and South America.
In Brazil, Olympians might pick up a new smartphone and learn Twizer provides help choosing apps, making the most of apps, and incorporating a new phone into daily lives. The Twizer service is free for everyone.
Other interesting things Olympians might hear about in Brazil include: the fact that for six hours on one day, Uber drivers picked up clothes, bedding, personal hygiene items, non-perishable food, and pet products for free to help Porto Alegre Prefecture's vulnerable people during the winter. Olympians might see the Ben & Jerry's inspired social media campaign, #amoreprogresso, disagree with love. Last spring Ben & Jerry's opened its store in Sao Paolo to let people discuss, over ice cream, contentious issues about corruption and politics.
Olympians coming from countries with a corruption problem also might look into Peruleaks, an independent, secure platform that enables citizens anonymously to provide encrypted information about crimes and corruption to journalists who check accuracy before publishing a whistleblower's observations. Peru's Peruleaks is part of the Associated Whistleblowing Press (AWP), a Belgium-based nonprofit, that combats corruption.
Venezuela is trying out a new crime fighting measure of interest to Olympians from almost any country. In the El Hatillo district of Venezuela, empty out-of-service police cars park in the city's most dangerous areas to serve as a security presence criminals are loath to ignore.
Olympians from countries writing a new constitution, such as Thailand, might ask competitors from Mexico to tell them about the system in Mexico City that invites citizens: 1) to submit proposals for a new constitution at Change.org and 2) to vote on proposed changes. Ideas that receive more than 10,000 signatures are submitted for consideration by a government panel.
Athletes determined to keep fit by eating healthy foods with no added hormones would be interested in the Chilean company called the NotCompany, which relies on the artificial intelligence (AI) expertise of the Giuseppe startup to make meats, cheeses, and milk out of nuts, peas, grains, and other plant-based crops.
Female Olympians thinking about life after competition could check out Peru's Laboratoria program for training women with little to no computer science knowledge and no college education. After graduating from a 5-month coding course, women receive job placement services in Peru, Chile, and Mexico.
And, finally, what can Olympians do with plastic bottles after they finish drinking their water? If they pass through Panama, they might see the Plastic Bottle Village being built by a Canadian entrepreneur. Once steel mesh frames are filled with up to 10,000 plastic bottles for insulation, concrete covers the frames to make walls.
In Brazil, Olympians might pick up a new smartphone and learn Twizer provides help choosing apps, making the most of apps, and incorporating a new phone into daily lives. The Twizer service is free for everyone.
Other interesting things Olympians might hear about in Brazil include: the fact that for six hours on one day, Uber drivers picked up clothes, bedding, personal hygiene items, non-perishable food, and pet products for free to help Porto Alegre Prefecture's vulnerable people during the winter. Olympians might see the Ben & Jerry's inspired social media campaign, #amoreprogresso, disagree with love. Last spring Ben & Jerry's opened its store in Sao Paolo to let people discuss, over ice cream, contentious issues about corruption and politics.
Olympians coming from countries with a corruption problem also might look into Peruleaks, an independent, secure platform that enables citizens anonymously to provide encrypted information about crimes and corruption to journalists who check accuracy before publishing a whistleblower's observations. Peru's Peruleaks is part of the Associated Whistleblowing Press (AWP), a Belgium-based nonprofit, that combats corruption.
Venezuela is trying out a new crime fighting measure of interest to Olympians from almost any country. In the El Hatillo district of Venezuela, empty out-of-service police cars park in the city's most dangerous areas to serve as a security presence criminals are loath to ignore.
Olympians from countries writing a new constitution, such as Thailand, might ask competitors from Mexico to tell them about the system in Mexico City that invites citizens: 1) to submit proposals for a new constitution at Change.org and 2) to vote on proposed changes. Ideas that receive more than 10,000 signatures are submitted for consideration by a government panel.
Athletes determined to keep fit by eating healthy foods with no added hormones would be interested in the Chilean company called the NotCompany, which relies on the artificial intelligence (AI) expertise of the Giuseppe startup to make meats, cheeses, and milk out of nuts, peas, grains, and other plant-based crops.
Female Olympians thinking about life after competition could check out Peru's Laboratoria program for training women with little to no computer science knowledge and no college education. After graduating from a 5-month coding course, women receive job placement services in Peru, Chile, and Mexico.
And, finally, what can Olympians do with plastic bottles after they finish drinking their water? If they pass through Panama, they might see the Plastic Bottle Village being built by a Canadian entrepreneur. Once steel mesh frames are filled with up to 10,000 plastic bottles for insulation, concrete covers the frames to make walls.
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