The Beautiful People of Earth

I've been learning a lot about many issues in the so-called third world countries, such as hunger, lack of access to clean water, and environmental conservation. Before I go to sleep, I often think about those people on other parts of the earth.

Although Peru rated high on the Human Development Index, most people in the country are still poor. We watched a video of Brazilian nut hunters in Peru. I got the people imprinted in my mind - they are beautiful people! They are dark-skinned, have features that aren't like those of white, black, or Asian, and speak with some accent. Some of their traditional clothes are very pretty. They are beautiful because they are not perfect and real. We are not talking about some fictional remote planets and aliens as in Avatar here. Those local people, in Earth's most abundant and scenic place, the tropical rainforests, are harvesting wild Brazilian nuts (a labor-intensive job) and making a living through their own sweat and time.

The Amazon is not paradise. The people struggle for life. Conflicts (between people and between people and the environment) always exist. The local people want ownership over their land, but they don't want to be isolated from the rest of the world. They are not satisfied to be in poverty and long for the materials we enjoy in developed countries, while afraid that their culture would vanish with globalization, and their hometown would be destroyed by foreign companies.

Although complete equality across the globe is impossible, I dream about seeing those beautiful people of Earth empowered and thriving, not as the perfect Avatar in an isolated paradise, but as modern people! They don't necessarily need a first world lifestyle. (That's not feasible for everyone, and we rich people need to lower our consumption factor too.) Just a little more would make them much happier - but I hope to see them able to get what they want - food, clothes, etc. - not receiving the leftovers of rich countries because we pity them! And that they have titles to their land, and can connect with the rest of the world by economics and modern electronics, representing their own culture and be proud, like the Chinese and the Indian today, instead of being assimilated in the storm of globalization.

Is it even possible, that we can't eradicate all the conflicts and problems in the world, but at least make things a bit better and not let the beautiful parts of the world disappear?

YES CHEESE!

Stereotypes are mean but sometimes can be fun.

The environmental studies TA asked, "Do you think stereotypes can really represent who we are ... like we are all eating cheese and brats, drinking beer, and watching Packers in Wisconsin?"

A few other students and I nodded and replied, "Yea."

Oops, Overslept ...

It was so embarrassing. It's all because I've been too stressed. I felt asleep last night while preparing for the environmental studies exam. Then I woke up at 10:34 AM .. oh no! I totally missed the exam.

I sent an e-mail to the professor and she allowed me to take the exam in the afternoon alone. I did well on the 1st and 2nd exams, however, ran out of time preparing well for this 3rd one. There were some geography questions that asked us to locate several countries and I might have messed them up. At least I was allowed to take the exam. It's better than nothing!

I think I'm going to sleep ... I feel like I need a good sleep, not just nap, immediately now.

The Ultimate Insect-killing Machine

... DDT.

I made a drawing of DDT since we learned about it in class.

DDT is relatively nontoxic to humans and other mammals but he got into troubles especially with environmentalists and bird-lovers and has been condemned for ecological destruction.

The professor showed us a video of technicians trying to convince an African tribe to apply DDT to control malaria in their village. The chief, being skeptical about anything modern and "magical", shook his head. One of the technicians wanted to show the safety of DDT so he sprayed some DDT in a tray AND HOLY CRAPS HE DRANK IT! (Urrrgh, chlorinated hydrocarbon, I bet it tasted awful.)

Well, it's true that people back in the 50's and early 60's thought DDT was totally safe and the savior of getting rid of all bug problems and insect-vectored diseases. In the same video, the "safety" of DDT was demonstrated by having people dined and swam joyfully in fume of DDT spray.

Things in the drawing:
Top-left: bird death and broken eggs due to DDT poisoning and egg shell thinning.
Top-right: 4 mosquitoes - one dead and three alive - implying that more mosquitoes survived than killed due to resistance.
Right: The personified DDT in his overall.
Left: the (young) Rachel Carson - author of Silent Spring.
Down-right: malaria parasites coming out of a red blood cell.
Down-left: African residents suffered from malaria and hoping to find a solution. DDT is still an important and effective way to reduce the spread of malaria in some African countries by controlling mosquito population.


I just couldn't lift my energy to prepare for exam today. I went back and forth falling asleep and waking up feeling awfully tired. Now it's 3:40 AM but I feel so stressed that I can't sleep. Well, if at least I'm feeling less tired now I'm going to study a bit.

Brainstorming for Prof. K's Portrait

I'm still getting idea for my big art project - a portrait of Prof. K.

My art teacher Nic asked me what I've come up with, I said I had no idea. Some things I can associate with Prof. K. are greenhouses, vegetables, and owls.

"You created a whole comic of characters. You have new ideas every week, but now you're telling me you have no ideas?" Nic said, "Come on, just put your professor into the comic! Give him some psychedelic costumes or what ... Maybe Ecstasy fell in love with the professor and turned his life upside-down. They began raving all day with owls in the greenhouse, and the sunflowers were all dancing to the beats ..."

I couldn't do anything else but crying "Oh my God!" and laughing out loud. Oh Nic, thanks for the smart-ass WTF suggestion ...

Prof. K. told me that one of his most concerned issues is the patenting and monopolization of improved crops, world hunger, and the health of children. Maybe I should depict him in a weird costume, having numerous owls and directing the owls to steal precious patented seeds from agricultural company tycoons and giving them to the poor farmers in third world countries so they could feed their children ...

P. S. Prof. N. of my environmental studies class asked, "Have you used natural pesticides?" No reply. The first thing came to my mind was chili water. Prof. N. counted her finger and said, "Nicotine ... cocaine ... caffeine." There were giggles in the lecture hall, but Prof. N. remained serious (because she wasn't kidding). "Those things exist in nature to protect the plants, not to give you a buzz," she smiled. Well, that's fair and true for those plant alkaloids. Coffee? Maybe, but imagine someone spraying plants with cocaine ... LOL