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I’ve written about the “ugly American” syndrome.  I’ve written about the value of going abroad to learn about your host country and yourself.  And today, I’m apologizing for what I expect will be nothing by an “ugly American explosion” in the country that gave the world Michelangelo, DaVinci and Botticelli.

This spring, we are sending Italy some of the least cultured media/pop culture that the United States has to offer, a show called the Jersey Shore. One of the more notable characters we are sharing is “Snooki.” (This young woman was arrested for public intoxication in the stateside version of the reality show she is on – called “The Jersey Shore.” I wonder if MTV cares that it is sending her to a country where public intoxication is not well tolerated. Then again, I wonder if the Italian government cares – they apparently are granting her a visa!)

Yes, you heard me correctly.  MTV is sending the cast of its popular TV “reality” show, “Jersey Shore” to Italy.  Why?  Because the cast is of Italian descent and ratings are high, so why not exploit them further?  Chris Linn, MTV’s Executive Vice President of Programing and Head of Production for MTV said, “The cast is headed to the birthplace of the culture they love and live by. We can’t wait to see what erupts as a result,” he added.

Erupts.  Interesting choice of words.

I will echo the words of a wise Italian American friend, who, when she heard about Jersey Shore abroad, eloquently stated:   “Che schifo!” (“How gross!” in Italian.) She went on to add, “It is bad enough these young people represent… the shore, (in the US) …. And now Italy? Horrible.” 

UNICO, an Italian American organization in the US promptly responded to the news by saying, “It will not only hurt Italians but all Americans … their outrageous, reprehensible behavior will make us look like buffoons and bimbos.”

My only hope is that MTV attempts to educate these twenty-somethings about the local laws and culture.  And I can only hope that the “cast” of this show will understand what is means to respect their host country. Perhaps they’ll learn something about themselves and their home country along the way. However, based on their interviews, it sounds like most of what they do each summer is sleep until noon, drink alcohol, dance all night and stumble home.

One can only hope that they manage to identify the differences between their own representation of Italian Americans and Italians.

Stay tuned.  Or not.  It might be too difficult to watch.

If you haven’t experienced Snooki yet, here is her interview with David Letterman:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Have you been wishing that you could share a Melibee Global blog posting with your colleagues in Shanghai or St. Petersburg and that they could read it in their local language?  NOW YOU CAN!

Thanks to some very cool technology (and a very smart webmaster), Melibee Global can now be translated to more than 50 languages!

Simply visit the Translate toolbar on the right hand side of the site and use the drop down menu to select your language:

Feel free to forward this post to your friends, family and colleagues abroad so that they can explore Melibee posts!

If you’d like to subscribe to this site, simply enter your details in the “Subscribe2″ box, also on the right hand side of the site:

If you like this blog, the biggest complement that you can offer is to share it with someone else!  I am truly grateful for all of the readers and contributors.  Thank you!

Missy

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We are educators.  We want to share our wisdom, our experience, our hard earned life lessons.

We are also aging.  Each year, my students appear younger and younger.  And then I realize that students are always going to be young.  It is me that is becoming older….or as I like to say, “increasingly wise.” 

Over the years, I have heard students talking in the halls, in campus dining rooms, and on the quad. And on many occasions I’ve had to rely on the online Urban Dictionary to have the slightest clue what they’re chatting about. Urban Dictionary is a website that houses over 5 million slang terms that are written by the site’s users. For example, when one of your students says “I got my ears lowered today,” it is slang for “I got a hair cut.”  Cute, right?

I decided to look up “study abroad” on the Urban Dictionary site and wow, was I surprised.  This is what comes up first:

Hmmmmm.  Apparently I am more out of touch than I realized.  Slutty abroad?  Really?  Is that the clever slang students have come up with for their time abroad?  Note to self:  Revisit the section of pre-departure orientation that covers health (physical and mental), safe sex and access to condoms and clinics abroad.

Here is #8:

I have to admit, I have heard many heartbreaking stories over the years of students who have been “Europed.”  Ok, I said it, Europed.  I have used a word from the Urban Dictionary.  My students would think I’m hip.  Somehow, it just doesn’t feel quite right.

Another note to self:  Revisit the section of pre-departure orientation that covers alcohol policy, alcohol abuse, AA and defining healthy relationships.

I will be thinking about my virtual stop at the study abroad section of the Urban Dictionary for some time.  It makes me think that there is a strong need for some innovative pre-departure dialogue.  And an aspirin.

There are other “gems” in the Urban Dictionary.  I won’t repeat all of the study abroad “terms.”  Some are simply references to organizations that host study abroad programs (take note marketing gurus.)  Others are the lingo of our youth that will make you gasp. And frankly, some will make you laugh out loud.

I just hope that our potential study abroad students won’t be ‘ants on a log’ this year due to the economy.  Yup, you’ll have to look that one up. It is # 29 on the urban dictionary study abroad list!

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If you read Melibee regularly, you know I’m a big fan of documentaries. I have written extensively about Crossing Borders, a film that I think should be screened everywhere!  This weekend, I watched a terrific documentary from China entitled “Please Vote for Me.” Here is the trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This film chronicles 3 adorable eight year old children (Xu Xiaofei, Cheng Cheng and Luo Lei) vying for the title of “classroom monitor.”  The film, directed by Weijun Chen, claims to have documented the first democratically elected elementary school classroom monitor in the city of Wuhan (in central China.)

This film is an outstanding educational tool on many different levels.  First, I found it hysterical (and sad) that these kids were so competitive that they manipulated, bribed and tortured their competitors.  They engaged in political strategy and debates that make some very seasoned politicians look amateurish!  Perhaps most disturbing was how incredibly overly involved their parents were in the coaching of their political “campaigns.”  You had to wonder at times who was running for the position.

This film gives a bird’s eye view of a Chinese elementary school in a large city.  We see some of the opening school ceremonies, the classroom spaces and learning tools, the food eaten at lunch (which certainly looks a heck of a lot healthier than the average American classroom school lunch!) and the type of dialogue between students and their teachers.  We also see 3 different homes:  one of a married couple, one of a single mother, and one of a mother who has remarried.  Finally, we get a sense of life in a country with a one-child policy.

This film creates an excellent opportunity to explore politics, human nature (are we naturally competitive?  is feeling guilty when we wrong someone a universal feeling? etc), education and family dynamics.

The film is only an hour long and is an easy, funny and enjoyable film to watch.  (Subtitles are in English.)  You may purchase the film here:

See larger image Please Vote for Me (DVD) Director: Wiejun Chen Starring: Luo Lei, Cheng Cheng, Xu Xiaofei Rating: NR (Not Rated) List Price: $24.95 USD New From: $13.62 In Stock Used from: $13.62 In Stock Release date August 19, 2008.

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I read the New York Times online every morning and was delighted to learn about the “Win a Trip with Nicholas Kristof” contest.  For those of you who don’t know, Nicholas Kristof is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who focuses on human rights issues, primarily in Africa and Asia. The 2010 winner of this contest, 19 year old Mitchell Smith from the University of Nebraska, accompanied Mr. Kristoff to Gabon, The Congo Republic, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa.  This was Mr. Smith’s first time abroad.

Mr. Kristof’s goal is to encourage young people to read about the human rights issues in Africa and Asia; his hope is that by having a young and fresh perspective report on the issues abroad, young readership will expand.

Please enjoy this video of Mr. Smith’s reflections on his experience traveling and learning with one of America’s finest journalists.  (Be prepared for a short ad – sorry, I have no control over this – but the video is worth watching!)

If you’d like to learn more about the “Win a Trip Abroad with Nicolas Kristof” contest, please play this video which explains last year’s contest.  (The 2011 application is not available yet.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Michael Despines, Guest Blogger

Today’s guest post is by the very talented Michael Despines, Sustainability Advocate. I had the pleasure of meeting Michael at the School for International Training in the early 90s. This past year, Michael served as the keynote speaker at the Connecticut State University System’s International Education Conference. His multimedia presentation was talked about for weeks!  He was incredibly effective at breaking down very complicated issues (climate change/sustainability and how it impacts the global community) into digestible morsels, while relaying individual action plans for participants.

For today’s guest blog, I asked Michael about how the crisis facing our planet is impacting communities around the world. Please enjoy his thought provoking responses and be sure to check out his incredible bio below. Michael is available to presentation on your organization.  Click here for more information.

Melibee Global (MG): Michael, what prompted you to shift your career and personal focus from international relief work to environmental sustainability ?

Michael Despines (MD): Early on in my career overseas I realized that our work was to help poor countries become economic replicates of the United States or Europe.  Intuitively, I sensed that our society was not sustainable and I began a lifelong study on issues related to sustainability.  The more I learned, the more my sense of concern and urgency grew.  Over time, I decided to return to the U.S. and work on educating people about these issues and promoting a prosperous and sustainable society.

MG: Melibee Global is a blog that focuses on international education. In this field, there has been a lot of buzz about the “Green Passport” program. Are we moving in the right direction with this program?  How can those of us who plan programs around the world (study/internships/volunteer abroad) be more effective in minimizing or offsetting the carbon footprint?

MD: Your question is a profound one.  I am a passionate believer in the value of travel abroad – my overseas experience completely transformed me and opened untold worlds of intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth.  That being said, international travel has a tremendous cost and recreational air travel will soon be an anachronism.  The Green Passport program is right on – it places travel in proper perspective.  Travel must be revered and respected for the extreme privilege that it is.  The traveler must understand the high cost to the planet of such an experience and be committed to making the changes needed to live his or her life, day in and day out, in balance with nature.  Carbon offset projects rarely produce the promised reductions – do not rely on them.

MG: As individual travelers, what are the changes we should be making to impact sustainability positively?

MD: Use public transportation as much as you can.  Drive as little as possible.  Support local business and local food suppliers.  Carry your own water.  Avoid plastic.  Be aware of your choices and their impacts.  Take your time.  Much of the worst damage we do to the planet takes place when we rush or when we are short on time (eating fast food, buying bottled water, using throw away goods, etc.)

MG: How do you address those who say that climate change is a fairy tale?

MD: The debate was over 20 years ago.  Every, and I mean every, credible scientific body in the world has signed on in support. Every government in the world, including the United States under George Bush, has publicly acknowledged that man-made climate change is a fact.  Get over it.  Climate change deniers now fall among those who believe that world is flat, or that man did not go to the moon.

MG: Can you recommend any books for our readers?

MD: Hmmm, so many.  “The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability” by James Gustave Speth. Read this book and you will understand all the key environmental, social, political, and economic issues, problems and solutions related to creating a sustainable society.  “An Agenda for a New Economy” by David Korten.  A thin book that changed how I live my life.  Here is a longer list.

MG: You spent many years working with the International Rescue Committee in Africa.  How are issues with climate change specifically impacting this region of the world?

MD: The poorest people in the world in both Africa and Asia are being hit hardest by the impacts of climate change.  Developing countries are heavily reliant on agriculture – the dramatic shift in climate is causing more frequent floods in some areas and extreme droughts in others.  Either way yields are dropping.  Hunger is rising.  Each year there are an additional 150,000 deaths from malaria as the rising temperatures are allowing malaria laden mosquitoes to move into new areas.  Women are particularly vulnerable –  they have the least access to education and information about how to respond to climate change.  Most farmers are actually women so they suffer most when crops fail.  Women also take care of the children and the household so they are least able to flee the rising number of extreme weather events caused by climate change.

MG: Is it too late for us to change to deal with climate change?  Is it too late to create a sustainable society?

MD: The way we live our life right now in America is taking us on a path to societal suicide.  Our demands on the planet are overwhelming the planet’s life support systems.  The signs are everywhere.  Temperatures rising.  Fish stocks collapsing.  Forests disappearing.  Water tables dropping.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that all the solutions are here, right now, today.  We don’t need any new technology to create a world that is prosperous and in balance with nature.  We simply have to make different choices.  The future can be astounding.  Really.  In my talks I help map out both the bad and the good and the potential that awaits us.  But the clock is ticking, and we must start making these changes NOW.  Mother Nature will not wait much longer before she takes corrective action.

MG: Before we wrap up, I’d like to switch gears for a moment. You are an accomplished photographer. Tell our readers about how you got started with this hobby.

MD: As a child I was always crazy about animals: my room was full of stuffed toy animals and animal picture books.  Every Sunday night I would anxiously await the next episode of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.  I had seen every animal documentary made.  So, when I went to Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer I bought my first cheap Nikon camera.  Over the years I gradually taught myself how to take a decent photo and I went on safari every chance I could.  Connecting with nature is essential.  Nature nutures.

MG: Thank you, Michael, for sharing your wisdom with our readers.

Michael Despines' safari photo: Zebras

About the Author: Michael’s 17 years of experience with the International Rescue Committee in Africa inspired him to act on behalf of some of the people who are most negatively impacted by decisions made in the west. Michael worked as a senior manager, strategist, and advocate for several international relief and development organizations.  As Regional Director for the International Rescue Committee, he supervised programs in Rwanda, Burundi, The Republic of Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Tanzania.  As the Asia Regional Director for CHF International Michael supervised community development programs in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Mongolia.  Michael spent six years in eastern DRC as the country director overseeing a broad range of humanitarian and development programs.  He has also worked for the International Medical Corps in Angola, and Action against Hunger-USA in Rwanda.  He began his overseas work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon. Over the last several years Michael has focused on promoting sustainable development in the United States.  He has worked with Environment America, Clean Air-Cool Planet, and spent a year with Friends of the Earth advocating for sound US policy to address the impacts of climate change and he co-authored a report on the risks associated with the use of carbon offsets.  He is currently the Vice President of International Programs at the Institute for Sustainable Communities,  Michael has conducted extensive reading and research on environmental science, climate science, energy technology, consumption, economics, and other topics related to sustainability.  Based on this research and life experience, Michael created “The American Dream – The World’s Nightmare,” a powerful presentation that he offers to high schools, colleges, universities, churches and other public venues to increase public awareness and action on these issues.  Michael also writes a blog called Sustainable Thoughts. Michael holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering, a B.A. in General Arts and Science, and a Masters in International Management. He is fluent in French and English.

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Sarah DeHayes, Guest Blogger

Today’s guest blog is written by Ms. Sarah DeHayes.  I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Sarah when we both worked in the International Assignment Services division at Cartus.  Sarah is an immensely talented woman – one of the well traveled that I know (she recently returned from Bhutan!) and truly an authentic soul.  She has been a huge inspiration on my journey and I hope that you will enjoy her guest blog.

The expatriation process brings the agony and ecstasy of life.  Why does it seem to strike so many notes in our psychological and emotional spectrum? From the stints abroad I have happily and consciously undertaken, each sparked a wide range of responses such as: culture shock, being a minority, feeling boxed in by labels – single, white, female, traveling alone.  I was a foregone conclusion shut out from complete immersion in my host culture and language.  Some people stay in that space of anger, resentment and isolation and blame others for their unhappiness.

Given this prospect, why would anyone choose to live, work, love, dream, play or create outside of that place which one identifies as ‘home’? Wouldn’t it be infinitely easier to stay in that comfort zone of predictability, a perceived sense of security, the familiar? Quite simply, crafting a life abroad can be the most supreme high a person can find – forget the artificial stimulants and diversions that mask bliss and just book a ticket for Destination Unknown!

My career in the global mobility field focuses on strategically moving talent (read: people like you and me) around the world equitably, compliantly, productively, empathetically and, we hope, successfully.  How can success of this emotional journey of expatriation even be measured, defined and judged?  I would suggest this is achievable through a holistic Talent Management system spanning recruitment, candidate selection, goal-setting, support, skills recognition and reintegration.  Underpinning this process is the powerful discipline of coaching.

Distinct from other modalities such as therapy, counseling, consulting and mentoring, coaching is a partnership focused on moving a “coachee” forward to achieve specific goals and sustainable results.  Clients are drawn to coaching when they may feel overwhelmed, are in a state of transition and/ or when they have goals they are committed to act on but don’t know where to start.  Sounds like a typical state of affairs for an expatriate!

There may be several pain points for expatriates – here are just a couple: an executive who has enjoyed proven success in his/ her market but is lost to adjust to a new one, an employee who missed signs of maladjustment of his/ her family in the host location and is now at a crossroads to decide if the assignment should be cut short.  Coaching allows us to confront and challenge our conditioned beliefs and programming, identify our values that manifest as our ‘hot buttons’ and laser in on the root cause of what is blocking us from forwarding the action and accomplishing our ambitions.  The vulnerability and self-inquiry inherent in expatriation make it an incredibly ripe moment to reconnect with our truth, passion and core desires.  Without bold and courageous expatriates, this world may have stopped turning on its axis long ago.

About the Author:

Sarah De Hayes is a Project Manager at Crown Relocations and founder of Insights Coaching. She has had proven success in managing global virtual teams, key account management, implementation and operational effectiveness in several capacities in the global mobility arena. Sarah is also a certified Expat Coach helping individuals connect with their passion and purpose and shift deeply-held perceptions. She specializes in helping expatriates/repatriates craft the lives they want. Sarah has lived abroad and travels extensively internationally. She holds an MA in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University, TEFL Certificate, Project Management Certification and is a Six Sigma black belt.  She is a proud member of the Expat Coach Association.  You can reach Sarah at sdehayes@crownrelo.com.

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The New York Times recently printed this article about the increasing number of US universities that opened in Dubai, UAE and are struggling as a result of the financial crisis.

Readers, how is the economy impacting international education in your region?  Please comment with specific examples of what is not being covered in mainstream media.

December 28, 2009

University Branches in Dubai Are Struggling

By TAMAR LEWIN

The collapse of Dubai’s overheated economy has left the outposts of Michigan State University and the Rochester Institute of Technology in the United Arab Emirates struggling to attract enough qualified students to survive.

In the last five years, many American universities have rushed to open branches in the Persian Gulf, attracted by the combination of oil wealth and the area’s strong desire for help in creating a higher-education infrastructure. Education City in Qatar has brought in Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth.

Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates that make up the U.A.E. and the one that controls most of its oil, is still flourishing. And it is still generous in its support for the most ambitious American educational effort in the area, New York University’s liberal-arts college, which is scheduled to open there next fall with a highly selective class of 100 young students from around the world.

In Dubai, however, the timing for Michigan State and the Rochester Institute of Technology could hardly have been worse. Both started classes in August 2008, just before Dubai’s economy began to crumble. By this month, Dubai’s debt problems were so serious that Dubai World, a government-owned investment company, avoided a bond default only with a $10 billion bailout from Abu Dhabi.

Because most Dubai residents are expatriates, thousands of them left when their jobs disappeared, and the prospective college-student pool in the area has shrunk substantially. “Nobody could have anticipated the global meltdown, which has certainly had a negative effect on our student marketing,” said Brendan Mullan, executive director of Michigan State Dubai.

Michigan State, with only 85 undergraduates, is seeking to raise that figure with a scholarship offering half-price tuition to the first 100 qualified transfer applicants for the semester that starts next month.

“We’ve had close to 200 transfer applications, some from other universities in the U.A.E., but others from India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Oman,” Dr. Mullan said. “We are not compromising on quality, even if that means it takes us longer to gain traction here. We actually turned down 30 percent of our applicants last fall.”

Dr. Mullan said that while the break-even point for the campus was now expected to be five years, up from the original goal of three years, Michigan State was determined to remain in the Gulf.

“We still believe this is viable and valuable,” he said. “We’re not just going to be a teaching storefront here; we’re going to have significant research capacity, and our commitment to Dubai is unyielding.”

Rochester, which began only with graduate programs, accepted almost 100 students for this academic year. But Mustafa Abushagur, president of the Dubai campus, said it ended up with only about 50, spread among electrical engineering, computer networking, finance, and service and leadership studies. Rochester plans to start an undergraduate program next year, Dr. Abushagur said.

“Our plan for next year is 100 to 120 students,” he said, “which we think we can get, because we’ve studied the market very closely and we believe that as an institution, we can distinguish ourselves in certain programs that are in demand here.”

George Mason, one of the first American universities to open a branch in the United Arab Emirates, closed its Ras al Khaymah temporary campus in May, having never graduated a single student.

While the higher-education projects in Dubai face serious challenges, New York University’s plans in Abu Dhabi are moving ahead smoothly, with Abu Dhabi even going so far as to fly in top high school seniors from around the world for two days of meetings with those at the university.

“We’ve had a worldwide recruiting effort, identifying top candidates at high schools around the world,” said Linda Mills, the N.Y.U. senior vice provost overseeing the Abu Dhabi admissions process.

The cost of attending for a year, with tuition and travel and living expenses, is about $63,000, but Ms. Mills said students would get enough financial aid that no student would have to graduate with debt.

“We looked at the leading universities around the world,” Ms. Mills said, “and what we’re offering is on a par with Swarthmore, which I think offers the most generous financial aid.”

In fact, the head of the new Abu Dhabi campus is Alfred H. Bloom, the former president of Swarthmore, which has need-blind admissions, meets full financial need and, as of last year, replaced the loans in financial-aid packages with larger scholarships.

The admissions timetable has been somewhat different for the Abu Dhabi campus than the Greenwich Village one, with early-decision candidates having until Jan. 15 to accept a spot in the Gulf, and not expected to commit to Abu Dhabi without a visit.

Already, N.Y.U. has had more than 500 early-decision applicants for next year’s inaugural class, and has admitted students from Australia, Brazil, Britain, China, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Russia and Taiwan. About 100 have already been flown to Abu Dhabi for a visit.

“Everyone introduced themselves, in English and whatever language they wanted,” Ms. Mills said. “From French to Russian to Arabic to Hungarian, they’d say things like ‘I traveled 30 hours to get here,’ or ‘I’ve never been on a plane before.’ It was kind of a goose-bump moment.”

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Dr. Vandana Shiva

Living near New York City (NYC) has its perks. I had the pleasure of attending the NYC Food & Climate Summit this past weekend.  My interest in doing so was to better understand the relationship between food and the climate, especially in light of the talks in Copenhagen this past week.

This summit introduced me to my new hero – Dr. Vandana Shiva.   Her bio,  according to the conference materials states:  ”Dr. Shiva has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of the ordinary people of India. Born in India in 1952, Dr. Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader and thinker. Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of many books, including Water Wars: Pollution, Profits and Privatization (2001)…”  I’d prefer to describe her as an activist who observed the negative impact of globalization on her local community and therefore stood up, said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, and did something that empowered me to write this post today.

Dr. Shiva spoke via video and floored me with the statistics:

- the world is producing only 1/2 of the food/nutrition that it could be

- 40% of greenhouse gases come from HOW we make and deliver our food

- A Danish study (approximately 10 years old) verified that 1 kg of food that is produced equals 10 kgs of carbon dioxide being thrust into our atmosphere

- the US spends $400 billion on farm subsidies

- perhaps the most horrific metric of all:  400,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide, in areas where Monsanto has pushed the sale of seeds onto them.

I sat, frozen and helpless, hearing this last data bite.  Having seen the film “Food Inc”, I had heard about the patent on seeds, but did not realize that patent extended to developing countries.

Dr. Shiva emphatically claimed that the agri-business system is broken and that we must take back the power to fight for the world’s right to affordable and clean food. (I encourage you to watch this video interview of Dr. Shiva’s fight for Earth Democracy below.) Thankfully, Dr. Shiva has dedicated her life to fighting to protecting the seeds in India so that people there can be assured the human right of diversity in their food.

Her carefully prepared presentation left me pondering how we handle such information as educators? How are we teaching the impact of globalization to college students as they travel abroad?  Do our students understand the effects of globalization, particularly when they take courses in business abroad?  Do we require that they know the pros AND the cons of global branding, trade agreements and big business?

How are we addressing how globalization impacts culture?  Are we watering down individual national culture so much that when you travel abroad, you’re seeing the Starbucks and McDonald’s shops in all of the airports to the point that you cannot figure out WHICH country you’re in because all of the airports start to look the same? (Those of us that are old enough will remember the days when you got to an airport abroad and it felt like you were entering a different place – the shops gave us a hint of what was to come. Can we say the same today? I think not.) Worse yet, are we globalizing to the point that patents on seeds can push farmers in India to kill themselves rather than be faced with another year of horrible crops and loans that they cannot afford to pay? And doing so in a way that damages our precious earth, all in the name of revenue?

Today’s blog doesn’t have answers to these issues.  Today, I am still digesting (pun intended) the web of information that I learned at this incredible meeting on Saturday.  I’m also thinking about a comment that a friend made recently when we were discussing how some schools and some individual courses abroad still don’t have a required pre-departure orientation that attempts to prepare students for these realities.  My friend commented, “Well Missy, we require young people in this country to take a driver’s education course before they can obtain a license – why aren’t they required to sit through a lecture on the country they’re traveling to so that they understand what an ugly American is, or what happens when you get arrested abroad?”  Hmmmm, not a bad question.  And now, reflecting upon Dr. Shiva’s lecture, I wonder why we aren’t required to read something about the impact of globalization when we obtain our first passport? Or for that matter, when we mindlessly enter our local grocery store, grab a cart and pick up what appears to be a lush green avocado that was grown in Mexico and flown to the US.  Where did those seeds come from and who had to suffer for me, in the North, to have the luxury of eating that avocado in wintertime?

Click here to view the embedded video.