The Road to Sleeping Dragon

I mentioned Michael Meyer's book The Road To Sleeping Dragon in the last post.

Meyer went to  a rural Sichuan province as a Peace Corps English teacher in the 1995.  I'd gone to rural Thailand as a Peace Corps English teacher in 1967.   I'd first gone to Beijing from a year teaching in Hong Kong, twice in spring 1990, with a followup month of research in 1991, and a again a couple of years later when I taught a class on Chinese Civil Service Reform, which included taking the class for ten days to Hong Kong and Beijing.  In 2004 I taught three months in Beijing, which gave me some opportunities to visit Xian and Shandong provinces as well.

So there are lots of reasons for me to enjoy this book, which modestly (and reasonably) states early on that it's not even a

 "book of reportage but rather of mostly chronological impressions, of lessons learned over time.  Although my understanding of China has deepened over twenty years, I can't pretend to be a "foreign expert," as my work permit alleged."

My first choice as a Peace Corps volunteer was China - but there were no Peace Corps volunteers there until much, much later.  Americans were not even allowed to travel there back then.  Thailand was a much easier place to serve.   Meyer falls in love with a Chinese woman which helped his Chinese greatly, I'm sure, and gave him continuing ties to China.

I've enjoyed comparing his insights to my own impressions.  (We both despaired at the decisions to tear down whole neighborhoods completely and replace them with high rise apartments.  Particularly the hutongs.)  He filled in details about other things.  (That the son of Hitler's architect Albert Speer Jr. played a role in the designing of the new Beijing.  The author's role in lobbying for the World Wildlife Foundation for a more natural Panda preservation area. And I enjoyed the short description of his meeting with artist Ai Wei Wei.)

Much of the book feels like it was taken from articles he's written over the years about China.  While following a basic chronological path through his life in China, it does jump around a bit.  But it does hang together.

And I'm also reminded of the wonders of traveling to places unknown, facing daily situations where you have to try new things, take chances.  You have no choice.  And as you do, you discover inner strengths you didn't know you had.  And you expand your known world.

From Early Airport Run To World Cup To China

Our guests of two weeks had a 6am flight, so we left the house a little after 4am.  D's family is family and it was great to have the three here.  Despite having a full house including a four year old and five year old, we got along smoothly, eating well, talking serious and fun, and enjoying the kids and keeping them occupied.  I've got my daughter and granddaughter for a while longer still.

From the airport to home, unsuccessful attempt to get a couple hours more sleep before heading with my daughter to the Bear Tooth to watch Croatia play well in their final loss to France.  When I watched Croatia beat Russia, it was easy to root for the small country over Putin's team.  We say sports transcends politics, but not really.  In international events people get very nationalistic - US media seem more interested, say, in the medal count than in the events.

Then Croatia beat England.   They were now my team.  For a while.  The political backdrop then interfered as I realized Croatia was an all-white team and France had a mix of colors.  Should this matter?  If everyone were equal, and race and immigration weren't tearing countries apart (and I don't doubt Putin, once again, has had his hand in this in Europe as well as in the divisive social media campaign in the US), it wouldn't be a factor.  But if Croatia won, I knew that the white supremacists would be touting how racial purity (and I have no idea exactly what that is supposed to mean and which tests of such purity the Croatian player would pass or fail) had won.  And if France won, those championing the humanity of the those fleeing political and economic oppression would use their victory as proof that immigration made a country stronger.

My compromise was to root for the individual players of Croatia and the French team.

The Bear Tooth was packed this time and when Croatia scored it was clear they were the crowd favorites.  They played hard and seemed to possess the ball much more than France.  They just couldn't maneuver the ball into the net.  France's first goal was a free kick with a boost from a Croatian head that seemed to put it just out of the reach of the goalie.  Croatia came back with a penalty kick goal.   Then the French got another gift - the ball hit a Croatian hand in front of the French goal.  In the second half the French got two more solid shots into the goal.  Croatia managed another goal by charging the goal keeper in what should have been a routine ball retrieval on the goalie's part.  Sports Illustrated has the highlights.  All in all, I left the game satisfied.  Croatia played well and France won.

And when I checked Twitter when I got home, the first Tweet I saw was already claiming the victory by the multi-colored French team repudiated Trump's nasty London comment about immigration ruining European culture.


Home for some brief interaction with my granddaughter who then went with her mom to visit mom's old Anchorage friends.  I napped and then enjoyed the luxury of  just lying in bed reading.  I'd picked up The Road To Sleeping Dragon by Michael Meyer at the library when we took Little J there.  I'll do more on the book in another post.

Economist Dr. Adele Morris' Compelling Talk On Why Price On Carbon Is Best Way To Slow Down Climate Change

This month's Citizen Climate Lobby meeting was this morning.  Groups from all over the US (representing 85% of all Congressional districts) and many countries beyond the US borders met in a conference video call to catch up on this month's actions and to hear, economist,  Dr. Adele Morris talk about her research on implementing a carbon fee.

The introduction to Adele Morris starts about 3:12.  It's worth starting there so you know who she is and why she's worth listening to.  She begins about 4:57.




The basic point is explaining

"why economists are so unanimous in supporting a price on carbon whether through a tax on carbon or a cap and trade program.  I happen to favor a carbon tax approach for a variety of reasons.  But the point is very clear, and this is a huge consensus in my profession, that is that it's the most cost-effective way.  If you have a cost on carbon, you're incentivizing all the lowest cost ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and you're doing it in a heart beat.  Like as soon as you have a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels, that instantly changes the incentives for which power plants are going to operate more and which sources of energy are going to be more cost effective.  It gives a boost to renewables relative to their fossil competitors.  It's just the absolutely most competitive way to create a wide range of incentives across the economy."

It's much easier to just play the video and hear her clearly explain this.  She's impressive!

She goes on to briefly talk about the eleven essential questions for how to implement a price on carbon.  I've taken these from her Brookings Institute webpages:

"Click on a question below to jump to its discussion: 
1. What is the name of the carbon pricing policy? 
2. What greenhouse gas (GHG) sources and gases does the policy cover? 
3. What’s the initial price and how does it change over time? 
4. Who pays the carbon charge? 
5. Who collects the revenue? 
6. What happens to the revenue? 
7. Does it change other Federal climate and energy policies, and if so how? 
8. Does it constrain state-level policies? 
9. Does it allow offsets (alternatives to paying a fee)? 
10. Does it give credits or rebates for certain activities? 
11. Does it include measures to reduce effects on U.S. competitiveness and emissions leakage? "

If this is all new info for you, you've got some serious catching up to do.

Being a member of  Citizens' Climate Lobby over the years has convinced me beyond a doubt, about Morris message:  that the most efficient, effective, and practical, and politically feasible step in slowing down climate change is a carbon fee.  

And why does this matter?  Because if climate change doesn't get slowed down, terrorism, cancer, traffic, privacy, the Supreme Court, and every other issue people are concerned about won't really matter.  We're already feeling the consequences of climate change in the loss of sea ice, in hotter summers, in fiercer storms.  All these changes will intensify and have huge impacts on human life, on what crops grow where, on the availability of water.  People will either die or move.  That movement will cause huge disruptions in agricultural output and everything else.  We are already seeing the destabilizing effects of immigration in Europe and in North America.

There is no more important issue facing human beings.

You can find out more about Citizens Climate Lobby - the most effective and efficient group I've ever seen - here.

I'd note the Anchorage group meets the second Saturday at 8:30am at UAA's Rasmuson Hall 220.  (Yes, it's early, but it's an international group video call.  And then you have plenty time left to do all your Saturday activities.)

You can find your nearest local chapter here.  There's at least one in every state and most US territories.  And in over 40 other countries.

More Bike Lessons

The five year old and I were in another parking lot so she could practice riding her bike.  There was less space (but still lots of room), but she was having problems.  She had the pedals so that she was braking when she wanted to start.  I picked up the rear tire so she could adjust the pedals.  She wanted to know why the front pedal didn't move when you turned the pedals.

Ah.  So we turned the bike over and saw how the chain and the teeth mesh at the pedals.

And then how the chain moved to turn the wheel.

We watched how far the nozzle of the tire went around each time the pedal went around (twice.)

So, how does the front wheel turn?  She pushed a wheel barrow Tuesday at the Learning Farm.  I asked her how that one turned.  I pushed it.  So that's how the front wheel turns on the bike - the back wheel pushes it when you turn the pedals.  And that's why I only have to pick up the back wheel to move the pedals.

With the bike upside down, she did a lot of hand pedaling and braking.

Croatia Beats England at Thai Kitchen

It was sort of rainy.  Z wanted to ride her bike, but I argued the parking lot where she wanted to practice wouldn't be empty today and the wet pavement would be more slippery for her.  We're going to a surprise place - somewhere you've been and I want to see if you remember.  She wasn't impressed.  Put on your boots - it's wet out.  No.  Mom wanted her to put on socks.  No.  Grrrrrr.  Before I knew it both kids were in the car ready to go.  No boots, no socks, just rubber sandal like shoes.

I'm hungry.  I'm hungry too.

OK.  We're going someplace you've been before but you've never been there.  Can you guess where?  That's not possible.  Yes it is.  Tell me.

We pulled into the Thai Kitchen parking lot at just about 11am minutes before they opened.  She knew it was Thai Kitchen, where she'd been before, but they've moved several spaces down the
mall to a new location she hadn't been before.

The kids picked beef - broccoli from the buffet.  Croatia - England was on the big screen tv.  It was 1-0 England.  They ate lots of broccoli and lots of beef.  And rice too.  I needed to get more.  Finally they were done.  It was now 1-1.
We went next door to the Yogurt Works where they have lots of board games and we watched the game further.  And got yogurt with sprinkles.  They played Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand while I watched the game.  Z's brothers all play soccer, so she's been to lots of games and was sort of paying attention.

Croatia scored again and eventually the game was over 2-1 Croatia.

Now we were off to Campbell Airstrip where Z cross-country skied the first time when she was here in early April.  I wanted to see if she'd recognize it without snow.  No problem at all.  This is where we skied she said as we parked.

As we got out a man with five dogs, some on leashes, some loose, got on the trail too.  Z was not excited about a bunch of dogs sniffing, but after yesterday at the Learning Farm, she was much better about it.  And there was a big sign at the beginning of the trail.

We walked over the bridge and looked for salmon in the creek below, but there were no fish.  But there was another sign.








I thought, even with bear spray, I didn't want to meet a bear on the trail with two little kids.  Especially after I asked Little J what he should do if he saw a bear.
Run away.  Wrong answer.  And even after I explained that was a bad idea, I'm sure that's what he would have done if we saw a bear.

So we went back down the road to the botanical garden, where they rubbed every leaf in the herb garden and declared how good or bad they smelled.






More of the peonies were blooming.

And this spectacular huge red poppy.

They ate the fig newtons at the garden.  But they were asking for the apple slices before we got to the car.  We all had a great time,  and everyone at home was happy to get some peace and quiet for several hours.

The Energy Of Youngins

I accompanied my granddaughter to the Learning Farm for a half day of farm stuff.










There was goat feeding.

Chicken feeding.  

Collecting eggs.

A ride on a horse.

Some snack and story time.  

Cleaning out the horse stalls.

At first Z was afraid of feeding the goats.  The chickens were different because you crunched up the crackers then dropped them on the ground.  She didn't have to put her fingers near their mouths.  But later, when we played with the baby goats, she asked for a cracker to feed the mom and then she was hooked.  

This was a fun activity to do together.  We opted for half day, but you could stay the whole day.  Some kids come several days a week.  When I asked if some parents use the farm as day care, the lady said, yes.  I was the only adult who stayed with their kid.  

When we got home, there was a quick lunch and then Grandma took her swimming while Grandpa took a nap.  

Getting Into Alaska With The Kids

We've spent way too much time in Anchorage.  I do like our backyard.  Sitting out on the deck surrounded by lots of trees in the warm weather was nice.  And traffic out of town around the 4th of July is always awful.  But I was getting antsy and wanted to take the kids down to Portage.

First stop, 30 minutes out, was Bird Point.  It was supposed to be a short stop, but the kids enjoyed running around, playing statue on various pedestals on the overlook walk.  Then under the bridge

and back.  Over the fence, across the tracks to check out the beach.  But the five year old started saying she was hungry (we'd been feeding them since we stopped).  But most of the way back she said she lost her gloves - it was almost raining and very windy, maybe 60˚F - so the 4 year old I went back to look.  But we didn't find them.  His cheek found a big rock though when he missed a step in the rocky part.  He had a good reason to cry and he did.  We got back to the parking lot and they deduced, by looking at the pictures D had taken, the last place Z had her gloves.  So she and I went back and found them.

Then to Portage.   At the lakeside parking lot the rain was coming down hard, horizontally.  The

wind was slamming car doors.  BUT, there were icebergs too.  I'd thought those didn't happen often since the glacier retreated out of the water and up the mountain years ago.  And they weren't the giant ones that used to float around, but they were icebergs.






But it was so rainy and windy that no one wanted to stand around outside very long.  The visitor center was a big hit with the kids.  Lots of buttons to push (raven calls, sandhill crane cackles, wolf howls), a kayak to climb into and lots of things that caught their attention.  And we saw part of the movie.











A stop at Black Bear Campground, which was totally empty, and lushly beautiful.  I'm sure the rain had something to do with both conditions.








Soup at the Bake Shop or ice cream at the cone shop at Alyeska?  The kids won that vote.

A potty break at McHugh Creek, so we walked up to the bridge.

Finally a  brief stop at a Potter Marsh pullout.  You can get a sense of the wind by the ripples in the water and the leaning grasses.  But this was nothing compared to Portage.

A fun day of sightseeing, lots of eating and laughing, running around, and seeing new things for the kids.

Croatia Beats Russia

Our guests were trying to watch the World Cup game on their phones, so I suggested we check if the Bear Tooth was showing the Croatia v Russia game.  Yes.

Tickets were free and at 10am it wasn't crowded.  Not the greatest two teams at the World Cup, but a great game that Croatia won on the last overtime penalty kick.  Some Russians near us had a drum and a trumpet, but most of the crowd was rooting for Croatia.


The first picture was just after Croatia's first goal.






The second picture is the Croatian team after winning at the last kick.














We stopped at the library for Little J.  It's not often that it's cooler inside than outside in Anchorage.
While he was checking out the kids' section, I was looking at the new books.






Here are a couple reflecting our current political situation - though writing books is a multi-year project usually, so these were probably conceived and begun before Trump was elected.  


Riddle:  What's the difference between Cost and Price?Answer:  Cost is the author and Price is the title.              

From Kirkus Review:

 Focusing on James Madison (1751-1836) and Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), Weekly Standard contributing editor Cost (A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption, 2015, etc.) offers a revealing look at how their contrasting political philosophies shaped the new nation’s domestic and foreign policies. Although they eventually became fierce opponents, Madison and Hamilton began as allies, sharing a belief “that people were easily led astray by selfish interests that undermined the cause of good government.” State oversight could not be trusted to rein in opportunism and greed. Their proposals for fostering a strong federal government, however, were at odds . . .

If we'd learn our history better, maybe we could argue about the real issues.  Maybe we'd understand that the debate is one of conflicting values and fears.  Maybe more people would understand that our government is basically there to support the wealthy and everyone else gets just enough to keep them quiet.  And that's why they need to keep making lots of noise.

From Pop Matters:

Nesi and Brera open with a vignette from 1999 -- the beginning of the end, they note. They yearn to go back to those good old days, or perhaps a bit earlier, when the mistaken path of neoliberalism could still have been avoided. They're not calling for socialism, but for a kinder capitalism (one which acknowledges the "rights conquered over the course of the twentieth century... a high-quality education available to one and all, universal health care, the right to a job and a home").

Neverthelessm their book is essential for any critic of the contemporary situation, because they achieve more ably than most a clear-sighted and beautifully expressed explanation of how untenable the present situation is. They're angry at corporations that try to avoid paying their fair share -- Brera, as an investment manager, understands clearly how his discipline has come to engage in the destructive delusion that undermining the social contract in pursuit of higher profits can ever be a good thing.

If you're thinking The Doors, you're right.  

When we got back from the airport tonight my granddaughter told me I could take the training wheels off her bike because she can ride a two wheeler now.

Hot

Anchorage has been sunny and hot.  For Anchorage that means 75˚F or more.  It's gotten into the low 80s some days this week - depends what part of town.  We also have good friends up from California who don't think it's all that hot.  We've spent a lot of time outside, and when at home, on the deck, where the mosquitoes seem to be distracted by the heat too.  There are some, but not many.  So here are some pictures of a bit of our time.  

The sun would seem a perfect start in this weather.  This version is downtown at 5th and G St.   Since Little J is a planet expert, it seemed like a good adventure to start here and visit as many of the planets as we could.  This high school science project brought to life over ten years ago, places the planets around Anchorage, proportionately sized and distant from each other.  So Mercury was a block away (5th and H), Venus another block, Earth a couple blocks, and Mars was at Elderberry Park.  

Then we got the car and went to the end of Westchester Lagoon for Jupiter.  Later that day went to visit friends in Turnagain, so we were able to go down to the bike trail at Lyn Ary Park to find Saturn (who's rings, unfortunately, have been broken off).  Then we drove down to Point Woronzof to find Uranus, which is on the bike trail before you actually get to Point W.  Fortunately, Little J's parents found it on google maps.  Neptune is somewhere further along the bike trail and Pluto is below Kincaid Park, not accessible by car, and Little J was getting tired and I think he'll have to do this another year when he's mastered bike riding.  He wasn't keen on the trailer bike I've got, even with the new dinosaur helmet.  

This was a view of some blooming cow parsnip from the bike trail that goes up Campbell Airstrip Road.  

I took our guests to the botanical garden where we saw this Chinese peony.  

And these prairie smoke flowers.  

And today we walked over to Campbell Creek Park playground where Little J tested all the playground equipment and then joined lots of other kids playing in the creek.  I saw some salmon in the creek a couple of bridges further down the other day.  

Tomorrow, Little J gets a playmate when my granddaughter arrives.  

Why is Mark Begich Running For Governor? Tom Begich Explains

Like a lot of people, apparently, I was surprised and concerned when Mark Begich threw his name into the Governor's race.  A three way race could well give the office to the likes of Mike Dunleavy.  (I'm afraid my opinion of Dunleavy is not very positive, though I acknowledge it's based on one event - the hearings he chaired in Anchorage during a special session.  His committee's task was simply to pass a bill - Bree's Law, to teach kids to defend themselves from sexual predators -  that the Senate had passed unanimously the previous year but the House hadn't gotten too.  The House subsequently passed it and now the Senate merely needed to pass it one more time.  It should have taken five minutes.  It took days.  Dunleavy tried to water down bill and add his own - already rejected during the regular session - amendments.  Here's one of the posts that sums up much of those hearings.)

I consoled myself and others about Begich's decision by saying, "Mark is a good politician and candidate, he knows the issues and he is a real extrovert.  But much more important is that he wouldn't jump in this race without talking to his brother, State Senator Tom Begich. And Tom knows the numbers of Alaska politics better than just about anyone else.  I know this, and got to know Tom, when I was covering the Alaska Redistricting Board.  Tom was at most meetings along with his equally knowledgeable Republican counterpart Randy Ruedrich.

So, when I saw Tom at the immigration rally on Saturday, I gave him pretty much that preface I gave others.  Here's what he answered.  [It was noisy Saturday.  There was music and lots of people talking around us.  The audio is mostly understandable, but I've made a transcript.  There were a few parts I wasn't completely sure of, but nothing that changes the basic meaning.  The transcript follows the video.]



Reasonably close transcript:

Steve:  Tom
Tom:  Hey Steve, how’re you doing?
Steve:  I trust your judgment . . .
Tom:  I’m glad
Steve:  . . . But I’m really concerned about Mark jumping into the race, so tell me why this is happening.  Is this going to lose the race altogether?
Tom:  Not a chance.  When you look at the numbers we use  to analyze the race, what is . . . the key  here is to make sure a progressive is elected governor of the state of Alaska. I spent time talking to the Governor, the Lt. Governor, and others.  My brother.  Facilitating for the last week before the filing deadline.
And you know, it was our belief, based on the data, based on those discussions, that the governor wasn’t going to be in a position to win this race.  And, you know, we can’t sacrifice a progressive agenda, we can’t take that risk.  The imperative was to be sure that the strongest progressive candidate was in the race.  And that that candidate was part of our base party.  Try to remember, our primary is open to Independents and Democrats.  The Governor was ??? going to be in that primary and changed his mind.  That’s a problem.  There would have been another D probably if Mark hadn’t filed.  And Mark would have been, was, is the strongest D.
I never would have supported my brother getting into this race if I didn’t think he could win this race, and I’m certain that he can.  That being said, the question is how do we all come together as progressives?  There’s not a lot of hostility here between the Governor or between my brother.  What there is, is the need to have the strongest candidate face Mike Dunleavy.

Look, we’re talking about the situation now where the Supreme Court at the Federal level where you’re going to have Choice at risk, LGBT rights at risk.  There are a number of things that are going to take strong governance at the local level to ??? those issues.  Mark is the best candidate by far for that.
So with all that said, I believe Mark has the wherewithal to do it and the ability to do it.
Let me add one last thing.  Mark as the Democratic candidate brings other resources to the table.  The Democratic Governors’ Association resources, DFC resources that otherwise wouldn’t be coming to the state.  [http://www.democraticfreedomcaucus.org]   That’s going to help our down-ballot races, which matters a lot.
I know that both campaigns are going to continue to talk throughout this process, throughout the primary.  I’m certain that at the end of August, everybody will sit down and talk about who’s in third, who’s in second and make the right decisions.  I just believe that’ll happen.  But if it doesn’t happen, we have data that shows Mark wins a three horse race and he’s the stronger candidate in a two horse race.  And that’s what matters.  We have to win for progressives, we have to win.
Steve:  So you’re saying, if Mark didn’t get in the race, Dunleavy would have won anyway?
Tom:  I believe that to be true, yes.
Steve:  Thank you very much.
Tom:  You’re welcome.  

After I stopped the camera, I did ask Tom about the data he was basing this on.  He mentioned some polls, but pointed specifically to a poll that had been posted on Midnight Sun which showed, in a three-way race,  Dunleavy with 38%,  Mark Begich with 33%, and Walker with 23%.  These numbers were based on Begich having just gotten into the race and not having done any campaigning.   He also said that the Permanent Fund was really hurting Walker.  He also pointed out that Walker was a pro-life Republican.  He'd lost in a previous Republican primary so last round he entered as an Independent.  Walker and the Democratic candidate - Alaska Native and former head of the Alaska Permanent Fund Byron Mallott - realized that neither could beat the Republican Sean Parnell in a three way race.  So their Lt. Governor partners bowed out and Mallot joined as the Lt. Governor candidate with Walker as the candidate for Governor.  And they won.  Walker's main goal at the time was to build a natural gas pipeline, force the oil companies to release the natural gas they had on the North Slope, and ship the gas to Asia.  While there is action on that project and an agreement has been signed with a Chinese partners, there is also a lot of skepticism about whether it will ever be built.

If the poll numbers don't change much by August - or if Begich moves up - would Walker be willing to step out of the race?  The Democrats did that in 2014 to help Walker get elected.   I imagine he'd want Begich to commit to the pipeline and perhaps be given a position to lead that fight.  Walker has acted as a rational adult in Juneau- at least as I saw it, making decisions based on facts and practical realities rather than ideology.  But his cutting back the Alaska Permanent Fund while the Republicans blocked any other sources of revenue - recouping the oil taxes they cut earlier, an income tax, even a sales tax - doesn't sit well with Alaskans.