Foreign Experiences Teach Students Hard Lessons

Otto Warmbier's plight is a sad reminder that international travel subjects students to the laws of foreign countries. In North Korea, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for, what the local government considered, illegally removing a propaganda poster. He was returned to the United States in a coma and died.

     No matter how sympathetic students are with the causes that bring protesters to the streets in Moscow, Cairo, or Beijing, they need to remember that by joining a march they risk testing the limited power of diplomacy to release them from arrest or detention. When local governments have strict drug laws and penalties for photographing military guards and installations, ignorance is no defense from local prosecution. The time to write an article, give a speech, or take any other action about international injustices and harsh penalties is when a student is safely home.

     Without offering international opportunities, colleges and universities realize they would fail to prepare students for their future careers. In response to increased study abroad, the U.S. State Department has a one-stop information destination: studentsabroad.state.gov. One of the most important programs offered is STEP, the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. By enrolling with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the country a student plans to visit, the Embassy/Consulate knows where to issue a warning to leave the country if a coup or civil war is imminent and where to send news of a family emergency.

     At the State Department's general site for international travel, travel.state.gov, students will find information about:

• passports and visas,
• worldwide alerts and travel warnings for particular countries
• what to do in all sorts of emergencies, including lost passports, arrests & detentions, medical problems, and natural disasters.

Parents and students alike are well advised to go to travel.state.gov to learn ahead of time: The State Department's Role in a Crisis.


   

Lots of Summer Fun

National Geographic magazine has put together a collection of ideas that kids can enjoy for 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or a half hour. You can find all this fun by going to "national geographic family field guide" and entering "6 ways to turn your kids into geniuses" in the search box.

I especially liked taking the personality quiz to find out what genius I am most like. A reporter who likes to ask questions to find the truth. There's a chance to win $25,000 for an idea.

You also are invited to join the National Geographic Kids and Family Panel.

Hands-on Activity Shows Why Some Countries Are Poor

Haiti is poor and Germany is rich. Why? Have students each wad up a piece of paper. A BuzzFeed video shows a wastebasket being moved to the front of the room. The contest begins when students try to throw their paper wads into the basket.

     What will students in the back of the room say? They'll claim they are at a disadvantage.

The discussion begins. What are some of the disadvantages poor countries face? How can these countries help themselves improve their situations? What would be comparable to adding a wastebasket to the back of the room? What are some of the ways privileged countries could help poor countries? What would be similar to students in the front of the room sharing their chairs with students from the back of the room?

   

Babies Helped with Unused Vojta Therapy

Using the Vojta (YOY-tuh) method, developed by the Czech neurologist, Vaclav Vojta, in the early 1950s, pressure applied to nine zones of a baby's body can activate muscles, mental activity, and proper breathing in those born with the motor disabilities associated with cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome.

     One medical book describes Down's syndrome as a birth defect of Mongoloid children who have "stubby fingers and hands, a flat face, slanted eyes and a sweet disposition." The book goes on to say, "Mongolism can usually be detected by sampling the amniotic fluid so that an abortion can be performed if the fetus is affected."

     Why would doctors skip to an abortion, when the development of a baby with a sweet disposition could be helped by the Vojta method, used, not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, India, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Syria?

     A Vojta therapist at the Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute in Thrissur, India,
suggests the therapy is not widely used, because there is no profit payoff. Once parents are trained, they perform the pressure therapy regularly at home with no equipment or drugs. Perhaps, there also is another answer. As in the case of blue light phototherapy found to destroy the superbugs that resist the antibiotics used to kill staph infections, Western doctors discounted research on the Vojta method conducted in a country behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War (See the earlier post, "Medical Profession Suffers from International Conflict.")

     Since the successful reduction of motor problems depends on how early the Vojta treatment begins and how efficiently it is applied, there should be no delay in trying this therapy in every country. After undergoing treatment before a baby turns 1 year old, although there is no cure for the underlying medical defects, speech problems and a delay in crawling and walking can be overcome. Most Vojta-treated children can learn to speak and walk.

   

Troubled Northwest Passage Found

Even before the US decided it would be one of only three countries not bound by the goals for green- house gas emissions established in the 2015 Paris climate accord, the planet warmed to open a Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean. For example, cruise ships now travel from Alaska to New York without icebreaker assistance.

     Still, there is no guarantee that ships won't be grounded in a storm or that oil, natural gas, and mineral exploration in newly accessible waters won't accidentally endanger whales and migrating birds. Clean up in the cold Arctic where it is dark much of the year is an impossible task. Even without an incident, increased shipping activity introduces the new and unknown impact of underwater noise, dirty water, sewage discharge, and invasive species in the Arctic. With Russia now training military troops in Siberia, there also is a chance of aggression from the far North.

     Sunlight that the Arctic's ice used to reflect now helps quicken sea ice melt, at the rate of 10% per decade, and raises sea levels to threaten inhabitants of islands and coastal cities worldwide. As the disappearance of sea ice forced polar bears onto land, villagers along the Bering Straight needed to form polar bear patrols to protect students walking to school. Residents in the entire Alaskan village of Shishmaret had to relocate when their home began falling into the water. They will not be the only ones faced with the need to move to new homes.

     The reduced difference between temperatures in the Arctic and those in more temperate southern zones causes the fast moving air current, known as the jet stream, to weaken and make extreme weather changes of drought, heat, snow, and floods more likely in North America, Europe, and Asia.

     In 1996, representatives of Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Russia, and the United States formed an Arctic Council for scientific and environmental study of the Arctic. This advisory body has not shown the leadership needed to outline a vision for the Arctic. Instead, the UN's International Maritime Organization stepped up to provide a Polar Code of environmental regulations for polar shipping. And under President Obama, the US on its own initiative prohibited oil and gas drilling in the Chukchi Sea and most of the Beaufort Sea. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared a five year moratorium on offshore oil development in Canada's Arctic waters.

     Private companies are developing their own polar vision to generate geothermal steam energy from water heated in pipes by molten magma from Iceland's volcanoes. Buying into the possibilities of an expensive 20-year project to send clean, renewable volcanic energy from the Krafla Magma Testbed through North Atlantic underwater cables to power turbines in the UK, Netherlands, and/or Denmark are Iceland's Landsvirkjun, Norway's Statoil, Canada's Falco Resources, and US-based Sandia National Laboratories. Iceland's residents have received reassurances that drilling in the Krafla site will not trigger a volcanic eruption.

(For an earlier discussion of developments in the Arctic, go to the post, "North Pole Flag.")

   

   

Don't Take Food for Granted

We all agree we need food to live. Drought in Africa and hurricanes in Haiti endanger lives. When the sunny, warm weather of June replaced May's surplus rainfall, Wisconsin't "Fabulous Farm Babe," Pam Jahnke, had good news for her radio audience: corn planting was 91% complete; soybean planting, 73% complete; and oats planting, 96% complete. Potato, pasture, alfalfa, and hay conditions also were coming along well.

     Besides the right amount of sun and rain, food crops require pollination and freedom from damaging pests and disease. The trouble is the neonicotinoid pesticide and glyphosate herbicide that crops, such as corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, have been genetically modified to survive cause bee pollinators and the milkweed wildflowers butterfly pollinators eat to die. Research indicates almonds, strawberries, peaches, avocados, and up to 140 crops depend on pollination. The cross-purpose of treating crops to resist pests and disease by killing the bee and butterfly pollinators many crops need to survive requires a major research solution.

     Monsanto, the seed and chemical company criticized for playing a role in every study that claims genetically modified crops are safe, donated a $10 million biotech lab facility to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in January, 2017. The installation's 28,000 square foot space accommodates 20 greenhouses and controlled environments in shade houses and light rooms that enable the university to do research on a scale with major companies. Although there has been no mention of studying the impact on bees of treating Monsanto's corn and soybean seeds with neonicotinoids or of creating plants that do not attract the insects that can destroy them, these would be excellent projects for what has been named the university's new Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center.

     Meanwhile, small scale farmers are in a position to plant crop seeds, untreated by neonicotinoid insecticide; to grow bee- and butterfly-friendly flowers (colorful zinnias, cosmos, and lavender), milkweed, and herbs; to leave woody debris and leaf litter undisturbed for bee breeding areas; and to avoid applying pesticides and herbicides to blooming flowers, weeds, and possible bee nesting areas.

      Finally, research suggests gardeners who want to discourage mosquitoes from ruining their outdoor activities should plant marigolds, citronella, lavender, basil, and catnip (mint).

Do World Religions Employ the Antitrust Wink?

It would be a rare religious leader who at one time or another failed to express a desire to make the world a better place. As a Benedictine wrote, "That which each of us does to proclaim God's love makes a wonderful difference in our world."

     Are statements like this said with the winks John Brooks describes in a chapter on antitrust price fixing in his book Business Adventures? He tells how executives of competing companies would wink to cancel the following advice: Avoid any agreements, expressed or implied, that could be viewed as violating the 1890 Sherman Act and the 1914 Clayton Act that make setting noncompetitive price levels illegal.

     When Pope Francis could not visit the pyramids last April, because Muslim extremists vow to attack Egypt's Christians, it does seem some who claim to lead the world's religions give their followers confusing signals. And again and again from the hatred turned against Judaism in the Holocaust to the 24 Coptic Christians killed while riding a bus to a monastery south of Cairo and the two men killed when they tried to defend Muslim girls in Portland, Oregon, last month, religious followers get the winked messages.

     But can't signals, such as peace symbols, also be forged to unite members of all religions?