We want to bridge differences to cover everyone.
Surveillance reporters need to do a lot of listening. We do our best; then this work is about gathering opinions and layering context, telling stories accurately and compassionately.
Readers and listeners can also find opportunities to hear the story directly from the source. This is one: today we launched the eight-part audio series that I previewed in this space last month, and at the same time outlined our latest attempts at audio. (Please pay attention to those who have emailed me since then: don't worry, more monitor recording does not mean less monitor writing!)
Since the era of our printed newspapers, "people who make a difference" have been the main content of Monitor. Our new effort is a highly listened extension of this popular franchise. This is a podcast hosted by our engagement editor Dave Scott.
Dave delved into the difference maker, allowing them to describe their epiphanies and origin stories, unravel anecdotes, open their hearts to talk about victories and tripnets, and the joy of having agency rights. In some cases, these interviews are a profound addition to the Monitor story you may have read. Others are fresh introductions.
"We really hope this opens a new window for readers," Dave said. "We hope this will give them the opportunity to hear what we are fortunate to hear, and to be moved by the listening power directly from inspiring people."
In today's episode, we will take you back to Madison, Wisconsin, where we first reported in June that a difference maker used an old sewing machine to improve lives around the world. Her work unfolds in a magnificent way. It highlights empathy and generosity.
Immerse yourself in our full eight-part season and you will be taken to Uganda, where the returning son built a city around the service. Have fun listening.
Monitoring news changes lives because we opened the box that most people think they live in is too small. We believe that news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow traditional expectations.
Without your support, our work is impossible.
Our author describes a key part of the huge story of American infrastructure: Will the President’s signature bill spur the regional compromises and cooperation needed to ultimately advance large-scale projects?
Fifteen years ago, South Carolina Senator Tom Davidston realized it. He realized that the large amount of river dredging in the bends of the Savannah River could become the cornerstone of the state's economy. A $5 billion project called the Jasper Maritime Terminal was born.
Then it stagnated and fell into the quagmire of bureaucracy and regional competition. Now, due to problems in the supply chain, containers like Lego blocks are stacked in American ports. If neighboring Georgia and South Carolina can cooperate, the Jasper Maritime Terminal may move forward.
On Monday, President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill aimed at unlocking supply chain capabilities and bringing jobs to places such as Jasper County, the poorest in South Carolina.
Experts say this is a short-term and long-term investment commitment, mainly for steel and welding rods, bulldozers and routers.
But Mr. Biden's ambitious prospects also involve deeper American issues, including the country's ability to think, dream, and grow bigger. In today's toxic political climate, this is not easy.
Infrastructure experts said that whether federal funds can help break the planning deadlock will be a long-term test of the new direction of US priorities.
"'Why do we need infrastructure?' is a basic question we should ask," said Manish Shirgaokar of the University of Colorado Denver.
Given that the container towers at the Port of Savannah Garden City Wharf are stacked like huge Lego bricks, President Joe Biden's signature on the historic infrastructure spending bill on Monday coincided with Christmas.
There is almost no space in the port, which means that sometimes more than two dozen ships are moored at sea. This is a snapshot of the pandemic economy: supply chains are restricted, prices rise, containers are placed, and five-story forklifts are squeezed into every available gap.
President Biden’s signature opened up the flow of funds, allowing the Georgia Port Authority to obtain five “pop-up container yards” to relieve pressure. This means that by the time the carols begin, the flow of goods may improve.
To be sure, Mr. Biden’s approval ratings are struggling, and his ideas are more important than gifts under the tree. The President stated a few weeks ago that the new $1.2 trillion spending plan will be “different from anything we have seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades ago.”
Experts say this is a short-term and long-term investment commitment, mainly for steel and welding rods, bulldozers and routers.
But Mr. Biden's ambitious prospects also involve deeper American issues, including the country's ability to think, dream, and grow bigger. In today's toxic political climate, this is not easy.
Just downstream of the river in Garden City, Jasper County, South Carolina, plans to build a long-delayed 1,500-acre port terminal may be undecided.
Infrastructure experts say that whether federal funds can help break the deadlock will be a long-term test of a clear new direction of U.S. priorities—not only higher wages and more job opportunities, but also based on class, race, and gender. .
The bill shows the “value of political actors working together for the benefit of the region, because it has a much smaller impact on individuals, regardless of whether it occurs on the side of the national border, as long as it’s on my side,” Illinois Said Joseph Schaeffer, professor emeritus of civil engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, State of Evanston.
The White House stated that the combination of spending and tax credits will result in the reconstruction of 20,000 miles of roads, the restoration of the country’s 10 most economically significant bridges and as many as 10,000 smaller bridges, the removal of lead pipes in the municipal water supply system, and countless Other programs aimed at creating millions of jobs. Democrats say these jobs should narrow the opportunity gap for marginalized Americans and strengthen the country’s future economic strength.
However, despite the cost of the measure in the trillions of dollars, some infrastructure experts are still reluctant to call it transformative.
According to a September paper by Yale University economist Refer, this is because U.S. infrastructure spending-unique among large developed countries-began a "monotonous decline" 50 years ago. Recovering the average expenditure by then will require approximately US$2.4 trillion in new expenditures. (The U.S. Treasury Department will spend $550 billion in new U.S. dollars. The remaining infrastructure funding comes from reusing unused pandemic funds and planned expenditures.)
Professor Fair writes that the results of the survey "showed that since around 1970, the United States has become less...caring about future generations." "[Why the United States cuts spending for the future] The question may be too big, but the facts are very interesting."
Perhaps some clues can be found in the current polarized politics-and whether it is really shifting to a more common national goal rooted in economic and social justice.
The process by which legislators bring federal funds back to their country has always been a bipartisan tradition in the United States. Although Republican representatives received death threats for voting for bridges, roads, and jobs, the infrastructure bill was passed with the support of both parties.
"This bill was enacted in the Senate. 19 Republicans voted in favor. I am one of them. I think it is good for the country. I am very happy that it passed," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Louisville told WHAS Radio, Kentucky.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also voted for the bill. On the other side of the Savannah River, Republican Representative Buddy Carter, who represents coastal Georgia, voted against it, but praised its regulations on the Port of Savannah last week.
For a long time, one of the poorest states in the United States, the pure red state of South Carolina, has seen an annual median salary increase of more than $10,000 since 2014, surpassing most other states. It has successfully attracted large companies such as BMW, Volvo and Boeing. To be sure, climate and geography are at work. According to Joseph Von Nessen, an economist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, another key is a solid technical college system. But the willingness to accept federal infrastructure funding is part of a broader focus on advanced manufacturing.
In Jasper County and its surrounding areas, suburban development projects are emerging from low-lying areas. The Yankees and Midwesterners came to live and work in the oak grove in droves.
Hardyville, South Carolina, has long been a struggling timber town. Today, between the rumbling logging yard and the roaring freight train, there is a brand new sports venue with some of the most competitive U-16 women’s travel teams in the country. What followed were parents and family members and their dining and shopping.
Those first-line opportunities emphasize support for more federal infrastructure funding.
Dr. Von Nessen said: "Now is the time to focus on ways to enhance the infrastructure to meet this need." "There are a lot of consistent incentives."
Unlike President Barack Obama’s infrastructure package aimed at alleviating the economic pain caused by the Great Recession, Mr. Biden’s bill will not just focus on so-called ready projects. In eight years, it will release about 42 billion U.S. dollars to ports and airports to build the future.
Fifteen years ago, State Senator Tom Davidston, who represented the town of Beaufort Lowlands, South Carolina, realized it. He realized that the large amount of river dredging in the bends of the Savannah River could become the cornerstone of the state's economy. A $5 billion project called the Jasper Maritime Terminal was born.
However, the early enthusiasm for the project plunged into the development plan for the Port of Charleston, which is only two hours from the north. Long-term rivals Georgia and South Carolina cannot meet in the middle. Where does the money come from? Who will get the income? Lawsuits come and go.
As a result, the plan fell into a swamp quagmire. In January of this year, after years of litigation, the South Carolina Port Authority cleaned the Jasper Wharf. Now it is up to the Georgia Port Authority to decide whether to cooperate with Jasper County.
Whether the potential of new funds will reawaken negotiations has become a sudden and serious issue, with a huge impact on the future of the lowlands.
"They could have built this thing 15 years ago. But you are dealing with money, dealing with ideas, dealing with competition," said John Camp, a member of the Jasper County Republican County Council.
At the same time, he said, “This is what you call hardcore hot spots because everyone is thinking about new ports and new infrastructure. There is a lot of pressure to bring us into the 21st century. Everyone is looking towards Port. At least so far, everyone wants to win and no one wants to compromise. But this is what the government does: compromise."
Rich Rodman retired to a corner of rural Jasper County a few years ago, thinking about infrastructure almost every day.
The road to his home took 10 years to be paved in the county. The drain was blocked, causing the block behind his house to be flooded in almost every major storm.
"It's as if they don't care about the people," he said. He is totally in favor of spending money on the new port and the road leading there.
Although Beaufort is thriving in the north and Savannah, Georgia is bustling in the south, Mr. Rodman said, "In Jasper County, we are trapped between rocks and hard places."
Even if large-scale projects are approved, the arduous permitting process can make the work difficult. As a result, the United States, a country that once dreamed of seemingly no boundaries—think of the 1969 moon landing program—was caught in the committee’s dilemma.
"Projects that require collaboration will end up causing people to sit at a long table and transfer responsibility for tricky things to someone on the other side," said Professor Schofer of Northwestern University. "What makes this all different-I hope to make it different-is that there is a large sum of money on that table now. That... reduces the size of that key obstacle."
He said this also means that "everyone in this game now has the motivation to act quickly."
In theory, infrastructure improvements are just a way to simplify public utilities and more effectively transfer goods and services from factories and farms to consumers, whether in Dubuque or Dubai.
But Manish Shirgaokar, a planning professor at the University of Colorado Denver, said that social justice turmoil, stubborn opportunity gaps, and people's large-scale infrastructure movements such as urban renewal have actually been marginalized. The increased awareness of some Americans may change the equation. .
"'Why do we need infrastructure?' is a basic question we should ask," Mr. Shirgaokar said.
"We finally have the money to build it, but where is the real need? What is the nature of the need? [It makes us] ... think seriously, how do we connect people to opportunities? The lesson of the past is that we must modesty."
The results of COP26 were unremarkable, reflecting the difficulties faced by the world today in calling on nations to work together. Nevertheless, there are still some kinetic energy boosters on the sidelines.
The COP26 climate summit that ended last weekend may be remembered for its setbacks because of its success in planning mankind’s path to avoid catastrophic global warming later in the century.
The negotiations hardly allowed the world to make progress from the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. The Glasgow Agreement this weekend calls on governments to set more ambitious targets for decarbonization of the economy next year.
But in the margins of the meeting, governments, companies and banks did launch a series of green initiatives-such as reducing methane emissions, combating deforestation, and focusing more investment on climate-friendly projects.
Harjeet Singh of the Climate Action Network said that these commitments "can boost momentum," although he believes that "COP26 has failed to respond to the urgency of taking action on climate change."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was also disappointed with the results of the summit. In the end, he said, they only reflect "the interests, contradictions, and state of political will in the world today."
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, may be remembered for its successful setbacks in charting a course for mankind to avoid catastrophic global warming later in the century.
The quarrel over the compromise agreement reached in Glasgow on Saturday night is often painful. It makes some representatives of poor and fragile countries angry at the stubbornness of the rich countries in compensating for unstable climate damage. The last hour of hustle and bustle about the future of coal will only increase people's anxiety.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres regrets that no more results have been achieved, acknowledging that the final agreement "reflects the interests, contradictions and state of political will in the world today."
But COP26 is also worth noting the unprecedented series of green initiatives during the major negotiations in this city that was once synonymous with heavy industry and pollution.
The promises of governments, companies and banks to reduce methane emissions, combat deforestation, stay away from coal, and make more environmentally friendly investments provide potential models to learn from; if they are indeed met, they should help slow atmospheric warming. More countries have also set 2050 as the target date for achieving net zero carbon, which means that any emissions after that date will be offset by technology.
Climate activists remain vigilant about compelling commitments made outside of the consensus-based UN procedures, and the UN actually monitors actions. Some announcements at COP26 depend on progress made on issues that plague official negotiations, such as climate finance for adaptation. But analysts say they have had a positive impact on countries that have formed alliances to clean up industries.
Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics, said these commitments are "a supplement to multilateral negotiations, not a substitute."
Mr. Ward said these sideline initiatives may help point the way forward for countries that are again required to set more ambitious economic decarbonization targets under the Glasgow Agreement next year. Voluntary national commitments "are the bottom line for people to take action. Once they start to take action, they will realize that they are not as difficult or expensive as they seem."
However, when climate scientists carefully study the commitments made in Glasgow, people still doubt whether the United States, the second largest emitter after China, will fulfill it. President Joe Biden came to COP26 and pledged to take decisive action, while at the same time engaged in a protracted struggle in the country to pass legislation to support his climate agenda.
"In order for the United States to regain the trust of the world on climate issues and persuade other countries to follow suit, President Biden and Congress must build on the important but initial down payment in the Infrastructure Investment and Employment Act, and show that we are committed to fulfilling our Commitment," Nathaniel Keohane, chairman of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a US think tank, said in a statement.
As the host of the climate conference, the British government issued important announcements in the first week of the talks. These include the methane emission reduction commitments of more than 100 countries led by the United States and the European Union, aiming to reduce the emissions of this powerful heat-absorbing gas by 30% by 2030.
However, the United States has not signed a statement that more than 40 countries led by the United Kingdom pledged to stop building new coal-fired power plants and phase out coal-fired power generation in the next few decades, and the transition speed of developing countries has been slower. A separate agreement will direct aid from the United States and European countries to South Africa’s power sector so that it can replace polluting coal-fired power plants with renewable energy.
Daniel Leal/Reuters, British COP26 Chairman and Conservative Cabinet Secretary Alok Sharma (left podium) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right) hold a press conference in the Downing Street briefing room in central London after the United Nations Climate Change Conference, November. January 14, 2021.
Another cooperation agreement was announced to prevent the destruction of forests and peatlands that store large amounts of carbon. Brazil and Indonesia are among the signatories, and rich countries pledged to provide funds to deal with wildfires and support indigenous communities. However, critics pointed out that similar measures at the previous climate summit failed to stop deforestation.
"You get these promises over and over again. But emissions are still rising," said Kevin Conrad, Papua New Guinea's negotiator.
By the second week, the COP26 negotiations were caught in a dispute over emissions trading, climate finance, and the world’s failure to reduce carbon emissions sufficiently to control global warming this century to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius before industrialization. The duel text with language changes was passed between the negotiation rooms, which delayed the negotiation to an extra day.
The delegates finally agreed on a roadmap for the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which reflects scientists’ increasing determination of the terrible risk of more than 1.5 degrees, and focuses on the main human activity that increases this risk: burning fossil fuels.
For the first time, the United Nations climate agreement calls on governments to "gradually reduce" coal power and fossil fuel subsidies. After India and China rejected calls to "phase out" coal, the wording played down an earlier draft, and their growth economies currently rely on coal. But this signifies that the past reluctance to single out an industry with huge economic and political power (including in the United States) has broken.
Rich countries have also agreed to raise more climate funding and use a larger proportion to help developing countries adapt to a hotter world. As the agreement recognizes, they violated their 2009 commitment to provide US$100 billion in loans and grants each year by 2020, and set a new target date of 2023.
However, countries such as Bangladesh have repeatedly demanded compensation from the largest carbon emitter in history-a form of compensation-which has been strongly resisted, including the United States, and there is little in terms of how this might work or how to assess any responsibilities. Make any progress.
Harjeet Singh, a senior adviser to the campaign organization International Climate Action Network, said that this represented a failure of a meeting that repeatedly verbally supported fairness and justice, but left severely affected communities with nowhere. go. "COP26 failed to respond to the urgency of taking action on climate change and helping people rebuild their damaged homes and farms," he complained.
Other activists criticized the Glasgow agreement as a betrayal of oil companies and other companies that have profited from the past. Adrien Salazar, policy director of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, said in a statement: "What we are witnessing here is another trade show where companies and governments plan to circumvent real solutions to reduce emissions at the source, and they refuse to reduce fossil fuels. use." .
However, Mr. Singh said that while some of Glasgow’s sideline announcements were not convincing, others seemed encouraging, including the initiative to phase out oil and gas production led by Denmark and Costa Rica. "I will call these boosters. They can increase motivation," he said.
The challenge will be to put these boosters and the formal COP26 agreement into action at a speed that reflects the urgency of the crisis.
Before the 1.5 degree target becomes impossible, the planet can only adopt its current carbon dioxide emission rate in about 10 years. Climate scientists warn that exhausting our carbon budget will both exacerbate future warming and make the road to zero emissions steeper.
The Glasgow Agreement expressed “shocking and extreme concern” that every region has seen the impact of the 1.1 degree warming caused by human activities, and added that “the carbon budget consistent with achieving the temperature target of the Paris Agreement is now very important. Less, and it’s running out quickly."
Mr. Guterres warned the meeting that the road ahead for the world is difficult. "Success or failure is not a natural behavior. It is in our hands," he said in the recorded closing speech. However, he added, "The path of progress is not always a straight line."
Diligence is the backbone of China's value system. But now the young people there question the importance of diligence and rethink in a subtle way how success is defined.
China's competition is so legendary that it has a name. China's "996" work culture means that employees are expected to work six days a week, from 9 am to 9 pm. But in recent months, young people on social media have seen a surge in their resistance to China's super competitive culture, mainly focusing on the Internet calling for people to "lay down" or "make troubles" and minimize them.
This phenomenon has caught the attention of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has taken active actions in recent months to reduce the pressure on young people by restricting homework, banning profit-making cram schools, strengthening worker protection, and curbing out-of-control housing prices. But this resistance may be more serious than any simple policy can solve.
Experts say that more and more millennials are beginning to question why they want to live this way. "People know that this is not the meaning of life," said Xiang Biao, a professor of social anthropology at Oxford University. "But they can't find a way out."
In the glamorous advertising office in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Cao Sheng reflected on the pinnacle of his career—and his Sisyphic struggle to stay there.
Mr. Cao was an account director who handled advertising for a large automobile company. He thoughtfully recalled the easy profitability and weekend holidays of the early years, when he liked jogging and swimming. Today, with a lot of new competition and young talents pouring into this industry, his team has been working harder and longer to earn meager returns.
"We are too tired," Mr. Cao called from the office at midnight. "This is a kind of involution," he said, using the popular Chinese term involution to describe the feeling of being stuck on an accelerating treadmill and having nowhere to go.
"I want to escape," he admitted, concealing his real name in order to protect his identity.
He is far more than he who wants to press the close button. In today's China, especially among urban millennials and Generation Z, people's anxiety about daily life and extreme competition is increasing. They call it "involute", which literally means coiling tightly inward, like a thread on a shell. It has led to widespread sympathy, from office suites to university cafeterias to chat rooms-and sparked backlash.
In recent months, young people on social media have become increasingly resistant to China’s super-competitive culture, mainly by calling people online to "lie down" or "lie down" and do the least things. Other young people are experimenting with alternative lifestyles, such as co-living communities that have sprung up across the country, in search of a more tolerant and more laid-back life-breaking the boundaries of social acceptance in this hardworking country.
Experts say that more and more millennials are beginning to question why they want to live this way. "People know that this is not the meaning of life," said Xiang Biao, a professor of social anthropology at Oxford University. "But they can't find a way out."
China's competition is so legendary that it has a name. China's "996" work culture means that employees are expected to work six days a week, from 9 am to 9 pm. China's labor law stipulates that workers who work more than 44 hours a week should pay overtime, but it has been lacking in enforcement.
The pressure started as early as kindergarten, because the children were nurtured by their parents to strive for high scores. According to the 2019-2020 National Mental Health Report cited by the official China Youth Daily, stress can cause mental health problems, and a quarter of Chinese teenagers suffer from depression.
Unlike their parents, today's young workers in China believe that they are not rewarded by improving their living standards for working long hours, especially when economic growth is slowing. "My parents'experienced hardship' and we are the same," Mr. Cao said, expressing hard work in Chinese. "But we don't make money!"
Because of this, a young Chinese man in shorts, a sleeveless shirt and a baseball cap has recently attracted attention online. He was lying on the sofa playing the guitar and singing the joys of leisurely life. "Overworked 996. Hair is gone. Lying flat is the antidote," the man who turned from office worker to musician whispered in a video released under the nickname Zhang Fusan. "It's great to lie flat; it's great to lie flat."
"Lying down" has resonated with many people on social media. "All efforts are in vain. Lying down is the right way," wrote a typical post on the popular social media platform Sina Weibo.
This phenomenon has caught the attention of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has taken active actions in recent months to reduce the pressure on young people by restricting homework, banning profit-making cram schools, strengthening worker protection, and curbing out-of-control housing prices.
These measures are part of an extensive regulatory campaign aimed at controlling large Chinese private companies—both to curb capitalist excesses and to consolidate Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s control of power. Experts say young people’s complaints about overwork have helped legitimize Xi Jinping’s repression.
"The government needs a new coalition to control the power of these big companies," Professor Xiang said.
In a speech delivered at the end of last month, Xi Jinping stated that China must avoid being "entangled" and "laying down" because it broadly promotes "common prosperity." He said that China should "create opportunities for more people to get rich," but he also emphasized that hard work is a necessary condition and key to a happy life.
In fact, the government seems to be nervous about the possibility of young people choosing to withdraw from the labor market, because China's rapidly aging population desperately needs more labor. The censorship banned some social media posts praising "lay down", including songs by Zhang Fusan.
Some Chinese business leaders support Xi Jinping by accepting new regulations aimed at reducing the pressure on students and workers, and joining his call for young people to avoid "laying down."
Yu Minhong, the billionaire and founder of New Oriental Education Technology Group, said in a video posted online this month: "I recommend my friends who are lying on their backs get up again and bravely... keep going." The company was hit by Xi Jinping. For-profit tutoring has been hit particularly hard.
But for many young people, trying a more leisurely life has a strong appeal.
Jia Hong, a graduate student in electrical engineering at South China University of Technology, is thinking about his future and how to maintain a work-life balance. He admits that it is not easy.
"I'm a relatively'flat' person," he said, asking for his surname to be concealed for privacy. "I have many hobbies in my spare time. My classmates spend most of their time studying or doing research."
In his free time, he teaches himself computer programming, and he is applying for jobs in large technology companies such as the telecommunications giant Huawei. But he said he avoided competition that he thought was meaningless, such as writing a 30-page essay, while his teacher only asked for 5 pages.
He also took time to act as a talk show comedian. "I'm not very good. I'm just an amateur," he said.
Jiahong's main concern? "If I join a company like Huawei, my own personal time will be squeezed a lot. I can no longer control my spare time."
Professor Xiang said that although this balancing act may be effective for some people, the more fundamental solution to alleviate the pressure on Chinese society is to increase diversity.
After the communist revolution in China in 1949, China developed a strong egalitarianism under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Compared with societies with more social stratification such as India and Brazil, the Chinese believe that they have more opportunities for promotion. However, China's homogeneity also means that people meet a narrow definition of success, he said.
"You have a very standard judge's standard: you must be married. You must have a car. You must have a three-bedroom apartment in the city. So everyone's life goals are very consistent," Professor Xiang said. "It basically means that the whole Chinese people are fighting for the same thing."
He said that what is needed is "diversified life choices."
Last year, when Mr. Ren, a technical worker, traveled from abroad and returned to his hometown in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, it was not the high-rises and concrete that alienated him, but the feeling of programmatic dialogue with friends.
"They are all talking about the same thing.'Well, I have a nice car. I got a nice house,'" said Mr. Ren, who asked to hide his name to protect privacy.
Mr. Ren doesn't want to "lie flat"-but he wants to stay in a place where he and others can be themselves. After some research, he moved into a small youth community in Dali, a picturesque lakeside city in southern Yunnan Province, in November 2020, known for attracting the spirit of freedom.
There, Mr. Ren joined a small group of Chinese in their 20s and 30s who are bolder in experimenting with alternative lifestyles. If these lifestyles are allowed to flourish, they may bring greater diversity.
"The people here are very cold, and many people are living in the present," he said in a video call in Dali. "No one really cares about who you are or your status, or whether you work today."
Mr. Ren said that the diverse tribes in Dali include New Era believers, hippies, artists, hikers and digital nomads like him.
Mr. Ren currently lives on his savings. He usually gets up in the morning and walks around the community to say hello. He spends most of the day reading or writing in the cafe.
"We talk about interesting things," he said. "We are trying to return to the natural state of human beings, just being human, connecting with people, and finding people we trust."
Providing parenting services for parents is an idea used by some service industry groups to attract women to join them. Advocates want to know whether this approach also applies to other American industries facing labor shortages.
Mother Brianna Crusoe from D'Iberville, Mississippi, set her sights on becoming an electrician after a union leader visited the Women in Construction Initiative she was participating in. During her training and entering the industry, the program provided her with six months of childcare services.
"They know how difficult it is to have children and work without children," she said of WinC, who graduated in 2018. She is now an electrical apprentice and likes to have a 401(k) and health insurance.
When employers try to solve the problem of labor shortage, childcare is an important problem. In the technology industry, job vacancies and an aging workforce have prompted some groups, both before the pandemic and now, to focus on recruiting women and assisting in the care of children. Organizers said such measures are vital, but they are difficult and expensive to implement. If the Biden administration's "rebuild better" clause is passed, they welcome federal assistance. But even without this funding, the increasing emphasis on childcare shows that, like other industries, these industries are trying to fill vacant positions by attracting and supporting parent workers.
"I love my job," Ms. Crusoe said. "It feels good to tell someone that I have experience repairing electricity."
After Brianna Crusoe moved from a low-paying casino job to a well-paid electrical apprentice in the union, she no longer worried about how she would support herself and her two young children.
Ms. Crusoe is from De Iberville, Mississippi. She graduated from the Women in Construction (WinC) program sponsored by the non-profit organization Moore Community House. During her training and entering the technology industry, the program paid six months of trusteeship. Child expenses.
Ms. Crusoe said of WinC, who graduated in 2018: “They know how difficult it is to have children and not have childcare services.” She is now an electrical apprentice and likes to have 401(k) health insurance, and A job that is higher than the state average salary.
In the United States, other trade groups are following plans like WinC, trying to add more women to their ranks. In Boston, the Union of Labor and Community Groups launched a pilot program in September 2020 to help trade workers find childcare services during non-traditional hours. A program in Oregon provides childcare subsidies for students participating in the pre-apprenticeship program.
When employers are trying to understand the current labor shortage, childcare is an important problem. Since March 2020, the rate of women leaving the labor market is higher than that of men. The recovery of the childcare industry lags behind other industries. The childcare clause in President Joe Biden’s "Rebuild for Better Plan" has been popular in opinion polls, although the Democratic Party’s ability to pass spending bills remains questionable.
In the technology industry, labor shortages and an aging labor force have prompted some groups, both before the pandemic and now, to focus on recruiting women and assisting in childcare. Organizers said such measures are vital, but they are difficult and expensive to implement. If the "rebuild better" clause is passed, they welcome federal investment in childcare. Even without this funding, the increasing emphasis on childcare shows that these industries, like other industries, are trying to fill vacant positions by attracting and supporting parent workers.
“Parenting has always been a special barrier for women, especially for single mothers entering this industry, so we hope to make it easy for them to overcome this barrier,” said Mary Vogel, executive director of Building Pathways, a pre-apprenticeship program in Boston, and is One of the founding members of the city’s new childcare alliance.
Researchers are arguing how much the lack of childcare services affects the current labor shortage in the overall economy, and other factors such as early retirement are also at play. However, for mothers who wish to participate in the labor market, the lack of affordable and quality childcare has been a long-term obstacle.
"It's fair to say that you can't put childcare services on the whole issue of economic recovery, but... high childcare prices have been an obstacle for those who want to work outside for decades," Sam said Abbott is Washington Fair Growth The Center’s Family Economic Security Policy Analyst.
In the industry, efforts to help care for children have achieved some success.
“This plan has prompted employers in our region to pay more attention to gender equality and are more willing to hire women,” said Carol Burnett, executive director of the Moore Community House, which runs the WinC program.
Since its establishment in 2008, WinC has graduated more than 700 women. Most of the participants are low-income single mothers of color, and 74% of project graduates have found industry jobs.
According to research conducted by the Washington Institute for Women’s Policy (IWPR) think tank, there are more women in the technology industry than ever before, but only a small percentage of workers in the industry. In 2020, women accounted for 4% of workers in the construction industry, and approximately 300,000 women were employed in the industry. An IWPR survey of women in the current industry in 2021 found that 63% of respondents are mothers.
Women will not compete with men for scarce trade jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 344,000 job vacancies in the U.S. construction industry in August 2021, compared with 250,000 the year before. An Angi report in 2021 (formerly Angie's List) found that 77% of businessmen considered labor shortages, compared with 71% the previous year.
“Due to demographic changes, skilled workers need to be replaced, and in the past five years or so, the industry has become more diverse,” including more women from different races and ethnic backgrounds, Ariane said of the IWPR Employment and Income Project Supervisor Hegewisch.
In Boston, a group of labor and community groups launched a pilot childcare program called "Care That Works" for trade workers in September 2020. They established a network of childcare providers and agreed to provide non-traditional childcare time in exchange for monthly stipends.
The provider opens as early as 5 a.m. to accommodate trading parents. In exchange, the supplier receives a monthly allowance of US$700 from the alliance. Parents will not receive funding for childcare expenses, but they can help find a childcare provider.
The pilot project is planned to last for three years, and in September received a grant of US$300,000 from the Boston Children's Community Health Cooperative, a charity of Boston Children's Hospital. Funding also comes from alliance partners and the City of Boston. In the first year, 10 childcare providers and five families participated in the program.
Men also benefit from aid. Two of the top five parents who participated in the Boston Trade Childcare Pilot were single fathers.
Ajay Chaudry, a research scholar at New York University and co-author of "From Cradle to Kindergarten", said that the national childcare policy has not caught up with the general labor model, but if childcare subsidies and universal preschools are passed by Congress. Both aim to reduce the cost of family childcare and increase the wages of childcare workers.
"Although we want to say that [child care] is a family responsibility, we have encountered an untenable situation that cannot support our modern economy and modern labor force, as well as those families who have the ability to invest in their children. Those that can't have become more obvious," Dr. Chaudy said.
Rachel Greszler of the Conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington disagrees with the impact of President Biden’s proposed childcare policy. She wrote in an October report that subsidies “prefer to most Families with family-based childcare will not help, and may limit the choice to exclude smaller, faith-based, and more helpful childcare providers."
Ms. Burnett of Moore Community House said that Biloxi’s WinC program specifically targets single mothers in Mississippi, 75% of whom are in the workforce but often work in low-income jobs. She sees the construction industry with its stable salaries and benefits as a solution to break the cycle of poverty for some single mothers and their families.
Ms. Burnett said that single mothers need more than just taking care of their children. "They also need to earn a decent wage. If they receive childcare services just to do minimum wage work, it will only give them financial security."
Ms. Crusoe is an electrician apprentice in Mississippi, and she described her WinC training course as “sweatable, challenging, and fun”. After a leader of the local electrical union visited her project, she began to work in electrical engineering.
Even so, life in trading is not always easy. Ms. Crusoe said she faces gender discrimination at work, and the issue of caring for children is still tricky. She said she was fired for picking up her sick son from get off work and took apprentice leave to take care of her child during the pandemic.
She told her union in September that her son is now in kindergarten and she is ready for a new job. She hopes to complete the apprenticeship in the spring of 2023.
"I love what I do. It feels good to tell someone that I have experience repairing electricity," she said. But she hopes that trade leaders will pay more attention to equality and provide flexibility when women need to take care of their children. "They need to better understand that people are full-time [workers], but sometimes people need to be mothers."
Many people worry that urbanization will crowd out wild animals. Lisa Bates' love of all animals (from rabbits to javelins) guides her daily work. (Check out our Tucson Wildlife Center photo tour in the viewfinder below.)
Most people have never heard of Javelin. But for Lisa Bates, this beloved, boar-like animal that uses Arizona as her home is a familiar friend—about 5,000 animals come from the gate of her Tucson Wildlife Center every year. to here. Jack rabbits, bats, eagles, and coyotes all call it home temporarily, and their wounds—usually the result of contact with humans or our speeding cars—are often injured.
In the field of wildlife protection, there are often disputes about how much humans should intervene—whether nature should simply "let it go".
Ms. Bates said that the problem with this idea is that it assumes a "natural" ecosystem-a place where humans do not squeeze animal habitats, we do not drive through hunting grounds, and we do not remove toxins and air from the land. In excess of carbon. Tucson is a real-life course of human expansion into the natural environment and the collisions it brings.
In a primitive environment, maybe she can avoid injured owls or rabbits. maybe. But this is not what we have, she said. Our land and ecosystem have been dramatically changed by humans. So humans need help.
"It's our nature to save babies," she said. Including the javelin.
The call came on Friday morning. A javelin, a beloved wild boar animal that often appears in this desert area, lies in the front yard of Vi Conaty. It had been there the night before, nestled between a boulder and the sculpture in the garden of St. Francis, and it still hasn't moved.
"This is downtown," said Lisa Bates, founder and executive director of the Tucson Wildlife Center. Thanks to the advice of the 9/11 dispatcher, Ms. Konati asked the organization for help. "The javelin should not be in the city center."
Ms. Bates squinted at the iPhone picture sent by Ms. Connery. "It's hard to know if it's snoozing. Or anything," she said. "Maybe it was hit by a car."
Wildlife veterinarian Sara Wyckoff and veterinary technician Mariah Spicer seized the keys to their truck. "We need to find her," Dr. Wyckoff announced.
"Let me know," she said.
Ms. Bates founded the Tucson Wildlife Center more than 20 years ago to help animals in need, especially those injured by encounters with Tucson’s expanding population.
At the time, she had recently retired from a career in plant science and wanted to work in wildlife rehabilitation-a job that became more and more specialized in the 1980s and 1990s. She explained that she has always liked the creatures in the desert. The first animal she rescued when she was a child was an orphan raccoon. She will eventually raise coyotes, javelins, and bobcats—any animals she finds struggling. "I like every species," she said. "From the small javelin and the big javelin to the skunk."
She opened her non-profit organization in 2000, mainly receiving large animals that other wildlife centers in the area cannot handle, such as bobcats and coyotes. But she said that other wildlife rehabilitation centers were closed one by one. The people who ran them retired, or they moved to another area. By 2015, she was the only remaining wildlife facility in southern Arizona, and she decided to build a wildlife hospital. She also agreed to take away about 1,500 small animals in the care of other rehabilitation centers—from young birds to orphaned bats to wounded long-eared hares.
She made up her mind that the Tucson Wildlife Center will help all creatures. "We respect all lives," she said. "Whether it is a lizard or an elephant. If it needs help, we are here."
Today, this means that non-profit organizations receive 5,000 animals each year. From the animal intensive care unit to the flight rehabilitation room, about 200 people are on the scene at any time. The few animals that were unable to return to their natural habitats, either because of injuries or because of adaptation to humans, stayed in the center; the resident lynx acts as the "nurturing mother" for orphans and cubs.
Usually, the first step for Tucson Wildlife Center staff is to retrieve the animal in distress. After all, as Ms. Bates said, “We don’t think it’s a good idea for the public to put full-size javelins in their cars.”
That's why Dr. Wyckoff and Ms. Spicer drove to downtown Tucson that Friday morning.
Unlike domestic pigs, the javelin weighs 60 to 90 pounds and has sharp canine teeth that make it easy to charge if attacked. In order to fully examine the animal in Ms. Conaty's front yard, Dr. Wyckoff knew she might need to anesthetize it and take it back to the wildlife center. "We will assess the situation," Ms. Spicer said from the passenger seat as she drove to town.
When they arrived, the animal was a few feet away from Ms. Connery's porch. When Dr. Wyckoff approached, it did not run, but gritted its teeth gently—a weak warning. Dr. Wyckoff decided to calm the animal with a blow dart.
The veterinarians and technicians of the center meet with their patients in various ways. A crow flew into the window; a motorist hit a coyote; a long-eared hare was found in the trap. Sometimes people bring animals to the Tucson Wildlife Center, which is located on the eastern edge of the town in a pasture next to the Cactus Mountains. Ms. Bates met some people, because they did not have a car, so they took the injured animals to the bus, and then walked to the center; she knew those who drove for a few hours, hoping to help a suffering rabbit, one A fallen starling.
The center has a 24-hour emergency hotline. Two full-time wildlife veterinarians took the lead in the rescue, but Ms. Spicer often went out to rescue.
"One day, when I went to rescue a woodpecker through town, I ran into this situation," Ms. Spicer recalled. "Then there was a call-there was a rabbit. So I thought, I would stop to get the rabbit. Then I got a call about bats.... We were driving, and I got a call from a great horned owl . So now I’m holding this great horned owl wrapped in a towel. It’s like a joke, but it’s not. Oh! There is also a box of small quails."
That day, Javelin was the only phone call. Dr. Wyckoff walked slowly towards the animal, squatted down, and blew the dart to its side. It is now 10:02 am at 10:07, and she has checked the animal. It's almost over, but it's not over yet. A minute later, she hung it up and took it to a portable cage in the trunk.
A more careful evaluation made her a little worried.
She suspected that she was hit by a car.
In the field of wildlife protection, there are often disputes about how much humans should intervene—whether nature should simply "let it go".
Ms. Bates has already considered this issue. she has. But she said the problem with this idea is that it assumes a "natural" ecosystem-a place where humans don’t squeeze animal habitats, we don’t drive through hunting grounds, and we don’t put toxins in land and air there. And we don’t take water—so much water—to meet our own needs.
If that is reality, then maybe she can avoid injured owls or rabbits. maybe. But this is not what we have, she said. Our land and ecosystem have been dramatically changed by humans. So humans need help.
"It's our nature to save babies," she said.
But in wildlife veterinary science, "rescue" can be complicated. Dr. Wyckoff explained that if her patient is a pet dog, her decision will be different. It will be taken care of during the recovery process and will be able to eat even if he limps. If a wild animal is injured to the point that it may never live in its habitat, or may face complications, she usually decides that the most kind behavior is to end the animal’s suffering.
This was her decision while examining the Javelin X-rays.
Ms. Spicer leaned over to look at the animal. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said.
They left the inspection table. There are dozens of animals in need of help. Dr. Wyckoff checked the list of patients. She checked the great horned owl in the intensive care unit and stroked its feathers. His wings have recovered well.
X-rays of the red-tailed eagle show a dozen stags, which are also healing, although its wings will take more time. The long-eared hare in the intensive care unit performed well. Opposite the treatment room, another staff member fed a nighthawk. A tortoise is recovering by their side.
Dr. Wyckoff said this is how she and others at the Tucson Wildlife Center fulfilled their commitment to the world around them.
"I think you just need to do what nature says," Ms. Bates said. "To save, as long as you can."
Europe's decades-long plan to unite the European continent in terms of shared business and shared values took a major leap on Sunday. In Bulgaria, the poorest and most corrupt member of the European Union, a new party focused on ending official corruption won the most votes in parliamentary elections.
For the thousands of civic protesters who stood up last year and demanded that the clean governance of the Black Sea countries be above all else, the result was a success.
"It doesn't matter whether you are right or left; what matters is integrity," said Kirill Petkov, the co-founder of the party we continue to change, before the election. "We are here to work with honest people, regardless of their political prejudices."
The election also revealed the depth of the Bulgarian citizen's awakening. Mr. Petkov formed his party only in September, a few weeks before the election. With few usual party institutions, it won about 26% of the vote, or enough to put it in a leading position in forming alliances with small parties against corruption.
The EU's project to instill values such as transparency and honesty in governance is still ongoing.
Europe's decades-long plan to unite the European continent in terms of shared business and shared values took a major leap on Sunday. In Bulgaria, the poorest and most corrupt member of the European Union, a new party focused on ending official corruption won the most votes in parliamentary elections.
For the thousands of civic protesters who stood up last year and demanded that the clean governance of the Black Sea countries be above all else, the result was a success.
"It doesn't matter whether you are right or left; what matters is integrity," said Kirill Petkov, the co-founder of the party we continue to change, before the election. "We are here to work with honest people, regardless of their political prejudices."
The party’s election success is not only based on promises. Earlier this year, Mr. Petkov served as Minister of Economy under the transitional caretaker government and exposed political favoritism in public procurement during the long-term rule of the deposed Prime Minister Boiko Borisov. He said that Bulgaria is a post-communist democracy with a population of approximately 7 million, and has become the EU country that has won the most public contracts without tenders.
The election also revealed the depth of the Bulgarian citizen's awakening. Mr. Petkov formed his party only in September, a few weeks before the election. With few usual party institutions, it won about 26% of the vote, or enough to put it in a leading position in forming alliances with small parties against corruption.
Mr. Petkov is a successful entrepreneur with a degree from Harvard Business School. His appeal may also lie in his promise to fight corruption immediately. "I hope to be a success story of how a small country can eradicate corruption in a very short period of time in the next four years," he told the Financial Times.
One reason for cleaning up Bulgaria’s political culture is that the country will adopt a common currency or euro. The 27-member union cannot afford to close the eurozone again, as happened in 2009, when corruption in Greece caused officials to misrepresent the size of the country's debt.
Since then, Greece has made a turn for the better in curbing corruption. Bulgaria may do this now. The EU's project to instill values such as transparency and honesty in governance is still ongoing.
Every working day, the monitor includes a clearly marked religious article that provides spiritual insights into contemporary issues, including news. The publication-in various forms-is made for anyone who cares about the progress of humanity around the world and seeks news that is reported with compassion, wisdom, and an inherently constructive perspective. For many people, this concern has religious roots. For many people, this is not the case. "Monitor" has always had enthusiasm for both audiences. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, whose founders are concerned about the current state of the world and the quality of news available.
If we feel uncomfortable or tired, happy activities seem out of reach. But God always sends the inspiration we need to let us live and love more fully and freely—just as God created us.
When my two sons were preschoolers and toddlers, my youngest son came to me crying with sore and inflamed ears. I put him on the bed and comforted him until he fell asleep, just like what I always thought was effective when I needed treatment: I prayed. His brother soon came to the door, and I also asked him to pray.
He glanced at his brother pityingly, and then shouted, "Hey! Let's go play together!"
The little guy woke up immediately and ran into the next room. When I joined them, they laughed and jumped. The young ears are completely normal; the pain and redness have completely disappeared.
"How do you pray?" I asked the eldest son.
"Well," he said thoughtfully, "I just prayed to God, and God gave me his stuff." (See Micah Korinek, "God's Idea of'Playing'," Christian Science Sentinel, June 1998 1st.)
This healing taught a lesson about childlike innocence, and I continued to learn from it time and time again. Childlike innocence is about acceptance and innocence, which is necessary for spiritual growth that leads to healing. This is a spiritual quality that we all possess as children of God. As the Bible says: "You are all sons of light and sons of day; we do not belong to night, nor do we belong to darkness" (1 Thessalonians 5:5, New Revised Standard Edition).
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the news organization and discoverer of Christian science, wrote: “Willing to grow up like a child and leave the old for the new, so that the mind can accept advanced ideas. "("Science and Health and the Key to the Bible", pp. 323-324). We are willing to claim that we are inner innocence, which has a lot to do with discerning "advanced ideas"-we are the spiritual reality created in the image of God-and leaving behind the false notion that we are vulnerable mortals. This change of thinking replaces pain and suffering with infinite joy, healing, and progress.
When my little son caught a glimpse that day, we were forced to "play"—be active happily—and love each other fully. We will never lose our connection with God, our pure and always fresh relationship with the divine love itself, He is constantly communicating with us. Embracing our innate innocence can eliminate fear, doubt, and other distracting burdens that try to make our lives boring and depressing. It clears visions and helps us to see ourselves and others in a primitive, God-given, and spiritually pure state. This purity includes harmony, which is the inevitable result of divine truth, which is another name for God based on the Bible.
No element of error can enter the consciousness full of truth. Seeing ourselves and each other through the eyes of divine love makes it easier for us to develop the ability to live and love more positively and selflessly. Our thinking naturally shifts from a material view to a spiritual understanding and belief, which has a healing effect-from disease to health, from disharmony to harmony, and from sadness to happiness.
We can even experience this transformation in our relationships—instead of being fussy or feeling out of company, we can explore with childlike joy what it means to be in God’s love now. In this joyful, inspiring and essential exploration, there is a healing effect.
We will never age because of childishness. We are created as the spiritual representative of love itself. We remind each other that love is here, spiritual adventure is here, health is here, and miracles are here. No matter how many times we revolve around the sun, we can always listen to and listen to God's "things" to restore vitality and healing.
Thank you for starting a new week with us. US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet tonight (actually), and tomorrow we will see if this marks the end of the downward spiral in US-China relations.
We want to hear, have we missed an angle that we should cover? Should we return to this topic? Or just give us a comment on this story. We hope to hear from you.