Category Archives: Nature

Ramadan For All

Ramadan for All

By Zanjabila Khadija, age 8, Indonesia.

Asif was going to fast in Ramadan month for the first time tomorrow. He was still five years old. Eating was usually fun for him, so the first fast was a tough challenge for him. That night, he was restless. He wondered what would happen if he didn’t eat his favorite food. Too tired to think about it, he fell asleep at 8 p.m., even though he usually went to bed at 9 p.m. He was too flustered, so he fell asleep early.

In his dream, he found himself in the land of giants. On that land, a lot of giant-sized foods can be enjoyed, such as candy, ice cream, vegetables, fish, fruit, chocolate, and so on. He was full after eating many different food dishes. He laid down when someone’s voice startled him. It turned out that it was not a human voice, but a giant talking candy!

When Asif fell asleep, his mom and dad discussed Asif’s fasting. They tried to find a way so that Asif could fast comfortably without feeling too hungry or bored. His dad said, “What if we bring him a new toy that he can play with and thus get distracted?”

However, his mom said, “No! Asif was bored with toys. What about a pet? Chickens, cats, or fish. Let him choose it by himself!”

Asif’s dad agreed. The next day, Asif woke up very early to eat his pre-fast meal because he was so excited about his first Ramadan. After finishing his meal, his mom and dad asked Asif to pray at dawn. Later in the morning, Asif and his dad went to Nana’s house, a short walk from their house. Nana was his aunt. Nana had eight cats. Some of them were Persian cats, and the others were domestic short-haired cats. Asif was amazed to see those cats. He wanted three cats. He asked Nana, “Aunty, can I keep these three cats?”

“Oh, sure,” said Nana without hesitation.

Asif was allowed to bring one Persian cat and two domestic cats. He forgot his hunger during the month of fasting. He loved them when they jumped around and chased his toys. Also, they did not find any mice at home anymore. Asif named his first domestic cat “Mimi the Nimble” because he was the most agile at catching mice. The second domestic cat was called “Mike the Great Climber.” He loved to climb all the trees in their backyard and bask for hours on the rooftop. The Persian cat was named “Lulu the Groomer.” Almost all day long, she combed her fur with her tongue.

One evening, Asif went to the mosque. The mosque committee would hold an iftar. All people who wanted to break the fast were invited to come. Arriving at the mosque, he saw many people gathered there. He sat in the mosque next to an old man he had never met. The old man told Asif that he was a traveler and was going to the next town by bike. Asif felt very happy every time he broke the fast together with other people at the mosque. He felt warmth even though he didn’t know those people. He saw that rich people would sit on the same floor as the poor. He also saw that all people got the same food. No matter what their ethnicity. He then remembered what his dad had once told him: “All people are equal before God, except for the good deeds they have done.”

When he ate his Iftar meal, he remembered his cats. He thought they should feel the joy of breaking the fast as well. He set aside his empal, a traditional meat dish, for his three cats. After breaking the fast and doing maghrib prayer—an evening prayer, Asif ran home carrying that large piece of empal. As he opened the door, all his cats ran toward him. Lulu and Mimi rubbed their bodies against his legs, while Mike climbed onto Asif’s shoulders. The three cats then partied happily with that meat!

—Zanjabila Khadija, age 8, Indonesia. She writes: “I love writing poetry and short stories.” She has won several literary competitions for young writers in Indonesia. In 2024, the Ramadan will begin on Sunday evening, March 10th and end on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 with the festival of Eid al-Fitr. The festival lasts for three days.
Editor’s Note: Islam follows a lunar calendar and hence the Ramadan dates fall on different dates each year. Did you know that in 2030, there will be two Ramadans? The first Ramadan will be in January 2030, and the second one will be observed in the month of December. Also, on Dec. 25, as the Christians celebrate Christmas, the Muslims will be celebrating the festival of Eid!

It’s Time to Abandon War

By Kathy Beckwith, author and educator, Oregon

[These ideas were first shared by the author as a TED Talks program, at TEDxMcMinnville, Oregon, and we are now pleased to publish it for the benefit of Skipping Stones readers. —Editors]

I grew up on a hog farm in western Oregon. I had my own pig. She was my 4-H project. But it was more fun to play in the woods with my brothers and sisters than train a pig, so she never got really tame. In spite of my lack of pig training skills, I still reaped the benefits of growing up on that hog farm—learning to swim in an irrigation pond, eating garbage that was collected for the pigs. Just kidding, well, sort of. What we ate were the “trimmings” from grocery stores, discarded produce that had begun to fade, that my dad had picked up on his route around town, gathering scraps to feed the hogs. So we ate artichokes, oranges, bananas, pomegranates—things too good to feed hogs that we wouldn’t get otherwise.

I never wondered if this was normal, but I don’t remember ever telling other kids at school about sharing the pigs’ trimmings. So maybe, it wasn’t totally normal, after all. I have not lost two minutes of sleep over the question of trimmings being normal

But there is something big, now, that we take as normal, that at times makes me cry from the cruelty of it, and other times makes me cry out against the injustice and the horrid destruction because of it. I’ve been learning more about how it comes to be considered normal.

Have you heard of the Green Frog in the lima bean pot? Green Frog hops into the pot where the lima beans are soaking overnight—in cold water—but in the morning, when the fire is lit in the cook stove under the pot, and the water starts to get hot, so does Green Frog—unaware. Because it’s his nature to adapt his body temperature to his surroundings. Sometime before boiling, Green Frog has to be startled into leaping from danger, or risk getting cooked.

It seems to me, that when considering war, many of us are quite like Green Frog. We’ve been adapting to our surroundings, to a culture that treats war as normal, and it’s getting hot.

I propose three things for your consideration:

War is not normal…
It is time to abandon war… and
It can be done.

Yet we do things ourselves that normalize war. We let assumptions take hold in our minds. Have you heard these?

War is inevitable. Things will never change.

Inevitable? Conflict is inevitable; but war is a choice, a decision that is made about how to respond to a conflict.

Things will never change? Dueling, to the death, was seen as an honorable way for gentlemen, including a man who became a U.S. President, to settle a rumor. Women, vote?! Ha! Things change!

There are other reasons we adapt to the “war is normal” lima bean pot.

Fear sells war, and we’re sold fear.
Carefully chosen words and PR (Public Relations) campaigns market wars such as
“Rolling Thunder”, “Shock and Awe”, and “Operation Enduring Freedom.”
Kids watch the parades and ceremonies from toddler days on. They play with war toys bought for them, and—when older—with video games simulating war, normalizing war.
And then we put war in its own category and don’t challenge it like we would other things. If neighborhood problems were handled with the violence of war, we’d name it tragic, criminal—not heroic. If hometown parades included execution equipment from prisons past and present—electric chairs, firing squads, lethal injection kits—we’d say, “What in the world were they thinking, putting that stuff in a parade our kids watch?” But execution equipment of war—tanks…? “Wow!” If we heard teenagers down the street calling out the chants used in military training: “What makes the grass grow? Blood makes the grass grow. Who makes the blood flow? We do, we do. Blood, Blood, Blood!” … and “Kill, Kill!”—we’d call 9-1-1 for help. Never would we condone the “normals” of war in our communities!

But perhaps most normalizing of all, is the assumption that even though no one wants war, sometimes it’s necessary to protect human rights and our freedoms; that without war, we’d lose our freedom. The problem is, rarely do we finish that sentence. Our freedom to do what, exactly? What freedoms have our wars actually protected? Freedom to take land we wanted? To protect business investments in other countries?… To opt for war instead of using alternatives, over and over again. Our history is bleak, and sad. How many of us grow up believing that the horrendous killing and maiming of the American Civil War was necessary to get rid of slavery? We don’t learn to ask, “Why didn’t we join the rest of the world in eliminating slavery through moral and legal persuasion, instead of turning to war?” The more we learn about alternatives that were possible but not taken, the harder it is to accept war.

But wait. What about Hitler? I have been asked that question so many times, and heard Hitler used as justification for U.S. military acts so many times, that I’ve begun to wonder if maybe Hitler won the war, after all. Wasn’t he the one who believed that power and violence should be combined to reach one’s goals? That philosophy seems to have caught on.

When we discuss Hitler, let’s make sure we ask, and answer, because the answers are here, “What could have been done before and during Hitler’s rise to power that would have changed the course of that history? What could have been done to prevent Hitler’s brutality from being condoned?”

Never should we grant Hitler—or anyone—power over us to keep us from choosing alternatives that are wise, effective, humane, and that honor life and our precious Earth.

But are there alternatives that really work? That’s the good news! Alternatives abound. Education. Diplomacy. Negotiation, mediation, arbitration. Economic justice, crisis response teams, peace commissions—all are effective alternatives to war.

A more democratic United Nations could be used to advise wisely, instead of us bartering with its members to do our will.

Universities around the world have programs in international conflict resolution, and specialists ready to facilitate peace-making, as do religious and secular organizations, and the United States Institute of Peace.

People find ways! Women from Liberia barricaded men inside a hotel, preventing them from leaving until they got serious about negotiating the end to war.

Bulgaria was ordered by Hitler to ship the country’s Jews by rail to the death camps. The first group of 9,000 Jews were assembled at the railway station, in barbed wire fences, awaiting final orders for loading onto the trains. Members of parliament, students, and others from all walks of life, joined the clergy there, who said they would lie down on the tracks; these people must not be taken away. Those ready to give the orders, instead told the Jews to take their bags and go back home.

President Truman and the United States Air Force responded to the Soviet Union’s full blockade of West Berlin in 1948, not with a return to war or the threat of war, but with an airlift of supplies dropped into the city for months, until the Soviets recognized the futility of their actions.

The research of Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth (TEDxBoulder) presents us with dramatic truths: nonviolent civil resistance works, it works better than violence, and it more often results in democratic systems in place after the resistance. There is no excuse for saying war is necessary.

So what can WE do, personally, to help bring about the end of war?

We can question. We can ask, “What alternatives are possible in this situation?” Question what role U.S. military bases around the world, our weapons sales, military spending, our rhetoric—what role do these things play in perpetuating war. Question why the U.S. government insists on spending a trillion dollars to modernize nuclear weapons of unimaginable destruction, designed for the mass murder of populations, when so many nations are calling for them to be dismantled.

Question. And assign ourselves a history lesson: Learn about wars, and what they do to real people, including survivors, and soldiers who actually fight on the ground. So much of war, for so many of us, happens someplace else.

We can learn about alternatives, including nonviolent civil resistance, and teach that history to children and teens. We can teach kids how to mediate conflicts for each other at school, and bring that training home and into their future lives. We can hold family meetings, so kids grow up knowing how to facilitate a meeting and brainstorm solutions. We can encourage youth to explore service in the Peace Corps, or take six months (or more) to volunteer somewhere around the world, because their work and experiences in different cultures will make a difference. Prevention costs a fraction of military action. And as they help others, they will surely grow in compassion and understanding.

We can stop feeling powerless and join others to share ideas and take action. We can stop honoring war and honor its opposite: “creative problem-solving.”

And if we wish, we can point out how mules cooperate—to swat flies.

I was walking on our road and glanced into the field where our mules…(video) were standing rump to head, swishing their tails, brushing the flies off each other’s faces. I ran home, grabbed my camera, and when my husband got home, I told him, “Your mules are amazing.” “Yep, they are,” he said, “but they do that all the time. It’s normal!”

Well, if mules can normalize cooperation, people can too.

In January 1929, the US Senate advised ratification and President Coolidge signed into law the Kellogg Briand Pact outlawing the use of war as a means of resolving conflict. Millions and millions of Americans said we are ready for the end of war. They raised such a voice that those in government had to listen, and join the effort, and make it the law of the land—it’s still the law of the land—a law that we can reclaim, if we will seek out and use alternatives to war.

We’re lucky to have three awesome and exceedingly fun grandkids. I love them dearly. I want the best for these precious kids. Down deep I think we know what’s normal, what we come home to—the longing we all have, to give the children the very best we can. They don’t need to inherit our messes. War is a monstrous mess. It has been normalized, but it’s not the way, and we don’t have to accept it.

We can abandon war. There are alternatives. I extend to each one of you a personal invitation, and permission, to help make that happen.

About the Author:
Kathy Beckwith is a school mediation trainer from Dayton, Oregon. She also volunteers as a mediation coach. She is author of PLAYING WAR: A Story About Changing the Game (winner, 2006 Skipping Stones Honor Award); A MIGHTY CASE AGAINST WAR: What America Missed in U.S. History Class and What We (All) Can Do Now; and other books on problem-solving. Her latest work is a young adult novel, ENCOUNTER: When Religions Become Classmates—From Oregon to India and Back (winner, 2022 Skipping Stones Honor Award). She lives on a small farm with her husband (and his mules) and loves picking wild blackberries for summertime pies. She can be reached via her website at www.kathybeckwith.com. Kathy’s TEDx Talk can be accessed online here.

We’re Getting Hotter by the Year!

A Happy New Year to all our readers, contributors, subscribers, and supporters, both here and abroad!

Photo of the Emigrant Peak, seen from Paradise Valley, Montana

Emigrant Peak, seen from Paradise Valley, Montana. Photo by Paul Dix.

Did you read that 2023 was the hottest year for as long as human beings have been on the planet? According to research 2023 was the HOTTEST year in at least the last 100,000 years! Don’t get confused just because there are a few regional cold spells—like the upcoming Deep Freeze in much of North America later this week and the recent Arctic Blasts in Scandinavia and Northern Europe!

Common Dreams and other news media reported (on January 9, 2024) that global average temperature in the year 2023 was 14.98°C—that’s 0.17°C warmer than 2016 (the previous warmest year), 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average, and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 (pre-industrial) level, according to the scientists at the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. And, the prediction is that this year, 2024, will be warmer than 2023! Why do scientists predict more of the same in 2024?

The global oceans paint a better picture of what is happening in the climate world because the heat gets absorbed in ocean waters. A study published on January 11th in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences states that the upper 2,000 meters of the global ocean was estimated to have an additional 15 zettajoules of energy in 2023 compared to the 2022 amount. The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the world’s economy requires about half a zettajoule of energy to run every year, that means, the oceans gained 30 times the annual energy needs of the world. Fifteen zettajoules would be enough to boil 2.3 billion Olympic-sized swimming pools of water . About 90 % of the energy produced by global fossil fuels use is stored in the world’s oceans. Therefore, the ocean is warming consistently, year over year to new record levels, due to this increase in ocean heat content. The resulting increased ocean water temperatures fuel the weather systems bringing intense heat waves, hurricanes, and big storms—high winds and dump heavy precipitations.

The Paris COP agreement was to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C over the pre-industrial levels. Obviously, most countries will not meet that target because we continue to depend greatly on the use of fossil fuels—coal, oil, natural gas (fracked gas).

Unfortunately, the recent COP 28 international conference (like most of the previous ones) was not much more than a hot air balloon, and the next one—COP 29 is likely to be no different. So disappointing! What can we expect when these climate conferences are dominated by oil producing countries and thousands of black gold lobbyists?

We need hundreds of thousands of nature educators, activists and nature protectors of all ages, like the late Rachel Carson (author and marine biologist, USA), Sir David Attenborough (of UK), Bill McKibben (Co-founder of 350.org, USA), Greta Thunberg (from Sweden), Ilyess El Korbi (from Ukraine, Morocco, and now Germany), Elizabeth Wathuti (of Kenya), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Native American from USA), Maria Reyes (of Mexico), Amma (from India), Tahsin Uddin (in Bangladesh) and Leah Namugerwa (of Uganda), people from all over the globe to wake us up from our slumber—to educate us and demand a change in the ways our industries, businesses, systems, people, and governments have been damaging and destroying the planet’s natural systems.

Won’t you become a change maker in your school, community, region or nation—wherever you are?

Presented by Arun N. Toké, editor. Based largely on several news reports published by Common Dreams (Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2024)

My Happy Place

By Keira Kelly, age 17, Missouri.

The all-consuming monster that is anxiety has ruled over my mind for my entire life. Growing up “shy” is cute, but staying a quiet, on-edge shell of a person loses its charm with age.

“Just take deep breaths, count to ten,” my mother would say.

“Calm down, it’s nothing to get worked up about,” my father would say.

“You can’t avoid everything that makes you a little anxious, Keira,” my teachers would say.

Nothing they said worked; anxiety comes as naturally to me as breathing, and no amount of deep breaths or mental perseverance could calm the storm once it decided to hit; those who say otherwise have never experienced such a dreadful feeling.

I started therapy in my freshman year of high school, due to my parents growing worried when I was getting too old for the “cute, shy little girl” routine. Dr. McBride was the first to understand that my anxiety was a real disorder, not just a little emotion I had to overcome. I was prescribed medicine, and she gave me a place to talk about my issues. She understood me, more than anyone else. She listened to what I had to say and validated my emotions, and understood.

Then, she offered a coping mechanism that worked for me.

“Find your happy place.”

What a cliché. Just like the deep breaths and counting to ten, I assumed this to be another useless measure that others thought helped with anxiety, yet held no merit. The extent of my anxiety tended to cause depressive episodes, so, originally, my “happy place” was only my bed, where I could curl away and hide from the real world. Warm, cozy blankets surrounding me seemed like absolute bliss, when, realistically, they sprung me deeper and deeper down a lonely spiral.

“No, Keira, find the place. The place where worry does not exist, where it is impossible to feel unsafe or insecure. That’s your happy place.”

It took some time to think it over, but I soon came to the revelation that I was capable of being happy outside of my bed; in fact, I could be even happier.

Ever since then, whenever I’ve gotten too stressed or worried or sickly anxious to cope with my everyday responsibilities, I take a moment to imagine myself in a field full of wildflowers, with birds chirping quiet songs in my ears, sunshine warming my skin, fresh flowers surrounding me. Around the field would always be a forest, which granted me a sense of safety, symbolizing that the unknown could surround me all it wanted, but I still had my beautiful space, one that belonged to me, and to me only.

West Boulder River Valley, with Absaroka Mountains in the Background, Montana. Photo by Paul Dix, Oregon.

The fictional safe haven I created in my imagination is represented by this image, which resonates deeply with me, granting an inherent sense of calm. I can imagine myself walking down the paved path, allowing my senses to absorb the beauty surrounding me, and the terrible monster inside of me dwindles.

One day, I’d like to visit my happy place. I have yet to find it in the real world, so, in the meantime, I can continue to travel there in my mind, living amongst nature and forgetting the horrors of reality.

—Keira Kelly, age 17, Missouri. She adds: “My goal… is to become a published author, hopefully one day, of a fiction novel. What I enjoy most about writing is the artistic creativity available in carefully choosing and stringing together words to create a beautiful piece. I’ve adored writing ever since I was little, and I am ecstatic to explore how far I can reach with this passion. I wish to continue Creative Writing programs in college, and depending on my success rate, pursue a career as a full-time author. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to begin my journey.”

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Butterfly

Butterfly

By Richard Siyi HE, 17, P. R. China

It’s the antennae, then the wings, then…flight.

It slowly took off, the blue velvet-like sheen on its wings reflecting onto a large red enchanting flower below it, so intense; the obsidian-like eyes silently gazed at the sky that was inferior to its blue, disdainfully glanced at the flowers below, and slowly swayed in the soothing breeze.

“Hello, I should call you ‘Number 86’… Oh no, let’s call you ‘Flutterby’,” a young girl smiled at it. Her blonde hair and turquoise eyes blended in with the flowers, looking very natural and pretty.

“Oh, this blue-spangled butterfly turned out to have successfully emerged. I had thought it was a damaged butterfly. Having seen you take care of it day and night, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you.” Her father came to her side, “You know, in order to prevent these butterflies from becoming extinct, we can only evolve them into higher predators. Well, since those despicable interest-driven people have taken their habitat, on which they depend, away. But anyway, hopefully, we didn’t over-evolve them.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, but we should go home for dinner. Let’s go!” The girl reluctantly followed her father out of the hexahedral simulated breeding greenhouse.

Not long after they left, Flutterby began to fly steadily. Its eyes slowly fixated on a praying mantis, which was also staring at it. As if provoked, the praying mantis pounced over with its sharp scythes waving fiercely. Flutterby took advantage of the airflow created by the scythes with just one slight flap of its seemingly frail and thin wings, dodged the fatal blow, and landed behind the mantis. It then plunged its proboscis into the head of the mantis and began sucking. The praying mantis twitched for a moment before falling to the ground, its scythes still swinging helplessly.

Soon, the first batch of butterflies was ready to be released into an artificially simulated natural environment. They came to a beautiful hillside and brought many newly emerged blue-spangled butterflies in boxes. “Don’t be nervous. This area has been equipped with a well-developed defense system. If the results are not satisfactory, we can easily eliminate them all. But the simulated environment here is no different from their habitat. Come on, let’s get started.”

The little girl nodded and prepared to gently open the lid with both hands, her palms sweating profusely. But just before opening the lid, she asked softly, “If the results are not satisfactory, is killing them all the only choice?”

“Oh, rather than saying we are killing them, let’s say it’s more like natural selection.”

The little girl reluctantly opened the lid, and the blue-spangled butterflies flew out continuously. In the company of sunlight and breeze, they flew towards the forest, lake, hillside, and stream. Up close they looked like slow-moving blue elves and from far away they looked like a large piece of blue silk rippling with the wind, slowly disappearing into the distance. The little girl smoothed her windswept hair and watched them leave.

“Oh, so sorry, I really didn’t expect to have such a massive outbreak of the butterflies. Hmm…Okay, I’ll be right there.” The little girl’s father hung up the phone and anxiously prepared to leave. The little girl asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Need my help?”

“Oh, the experiment results were terrible. They completely disrupted the ecological balance of that area. But it’s okay, you wait at home.” After that, he kissed her and left.

As soon as the little girl’s father arrived at the release site, he pressed the backup restart button. Time began to speed up, and then the butterflies began to reproduce in large numbers. Billions of blue-spangled butterflies densely covered every tree. The meteor shower made up of them in the sky searched for the trace of any prey. Whenever found, they would frantically wrap their prey. Their sharp proboscises pierced the prey’s body like needles and the blood that splattered on their wings made their wings full of blood-red eyes. Their larvae ate almost all of the leaves and dense black-red larvae wriggled together, even cannibalizing each other. But it didn’t take long for the reproduction rate of prey and host plants to slow down and a large number of butterflies starved to death…The blue-spangled butterflies were eliminated by natural selection. And this process only took a few minutes.

The little girl saw that her father’s face was very pale when he came back. Her father said weakly, “I’m sorry, we may have to terminate this experiment.” The little girl’s eyes welled up with tears. “Oh no, why? There must be a solution, right? Right? Please, please!”

“I’m sorry.” Both were silent, “Time to go to bed, okay?”

In the afternoon, when her father went out, the little girl quietly ran into the greenhouse to say a final goodbye to the butterflies. Flutterby gently stopped on her fingertip. It was so beautiful and charming, and then she was shocked to find that Flutterby was pregnant! The little girl bit her lip and took a deep breath, quietly taking it out of the greenhouse. “You can go. Although I don’t know if this is right.” But Flutterby didn’t leave, as if waiting for her to make a final decision, “Before I change my mind.”

Flutterby gently flew up and headed towards the sunset. Through her tearful eyes, the little girl seemed to see the blue light on the butterfly’s wings and the orange light reflected by the sunset meet to create a fireworks-like pattern of brilliant colors, dancing with the wind in search of light.

Underneath the angelic face of Flutterby, a devilish smile loomed.

—Richard Siyi HE, age 17, high school junior, People’s Republic of China. Richard adds: “I am obsessed with biology but also love writing. My favorite places are butterfly gardens all over the world (unfortunately, Beijing’s Colorful Butterfly Garden has gone). I am trying to breed butterflies and their host plants in the hope of protecting endangered butterflies.”

Skin Pigmentation, Skin Cancer and Vitamin D Deficiency

Skin Pigmentation, Skin Cancer and Vitamin D Deficiency

By Parnian Derahvasht, Grade 11, Ghods Girls High School, 8th District, Tehran, Iran

Humans have been migrating throughout history. It is believed that the first Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa about 50 to 70,000 years ago, likely due to climate changes in Africa. [1]

As they left Africa to settle in other regions of the planet, they also interacted with other archaic human species such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans who were already living in those areas. [2]

Factors such as UV exposure, altitude and latitude, food sources, the overall climate, etc. vary from location to location and each species that inhabits those areas must have the biological qualities that are required for its survival and reproduction in that environment. Our ancestors did not have those qualities when they first migrated out of Africa and it took many generations to gain those traits and for natural selection to take part in this process although interbreeding with the Neanderthals and Denisovans did speed up the process and was advantageous for our survival in the new environment.

Our adaptive introgression inherited from Neanderthals has affected genes associated with body fat distribution, muscle contraction, brain size and functioning, keratin filaments, enamel thickness, sugar metabolism, as well as oocyte meiosis. Humans inhabiting in various locations on Earth adapted to those places and, as a result, the genes related to variation in skin pigmentation and hair morphology showed signs of positive selection. [3]

Melanin, which provides the skin with pigmentation, is also a filter for the ultraviolet radiation (UVR) that we are constantly exposed to. Long-term exposure to the sun’s UVRs can damage our DNA and lead to the development of skin cancer. In order to resolve this issue, we evolved to have particular amounts of melanin according to the environment we live in.

For example, in places with high latitude and low UVR, it is more favorable to have lighter skin. This is because of the fact that there is not much UVR to damage the DNA, so having skin that allows these rays to penetrate the skin to produce vitamin D is crucial for the individual’s well-being in that environment. It is a similar situation for darker skin populations that live in low latitudes (near the equator) where there is high UVR. It is best to have highly pigmented skin for a protection against the sun’s high levels of UV radiations.

The Fitzpatrick scale is a numeric chart for human skin color classification. It was developed in 1975 by Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, an American dermatologist, as a way to guess the response of different types of skin pigmentation to UV light.[4] In the Fitzpatrick scale, there are six major skin color categories:

Type I: Always burns, never tans (palest; freckles)

Type II: Usually burns, tans minimally (light colored but darker than fair)

Type III: Sometimes mild burn, tans uniformly (golden honey or olive)

Type IV: Burns minimally, always tans well (moderate brown)

Type V: Very rarely burns, tans very easily (dark brown)

Type VI: Never burns (deeply pigmented dark brown to darkest brown)

The potential of skin cancer varies between the categories, with the highest being in Type I, and the lowest chance being in Type VI. To put it simply: the lighter the skin the higher risk of developing skin cancer and burning. The darker the skin, the lower the risk of developing skin cancer and burning.

Although skin cancers can occur in any type of skin color, it is more likely to be seen in white populations as their skin is not well protected against the sun’s UV radiations. The most common type of skin cancer among white individuals is BCC (Basal Cell Carcinoma), followed by SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma). Both are non-melanoma skin cancers and can be cured if detected early. Lastly, the third most common kind of skin cancer is melanoma which can spread to other parts of the body and can be fatal.[5]

As said earlier, the human race has been migrating to new environments since our species first emerged. As human beings became more advanced, environmental factors became less of a reason for migration; instead, social and political factors such as wars, conflicts and government persecutions have been the main reasons for migration during these past centuries. Whatever the reason may be, not many people acknowledge the long-term health risks that come with migration to a completely different environment.

For years, there has been a skin cancer crisis in Australia. According to the website “World Cancer Research Fund International,” Australia had the highest overall rate of melanoma of skin in 2020, followed by New Zealand. [6] This could be because of a number of reasons including Australia experiencing high levels of UVR, resulting from the reduction in their ozone layer since the 1970s or the culture of tanning that has gained a lot of popularity over the decades. It is interesting to know that most of these cancer cases are in white Caucasian immigrants, and this is mainly because of the low levels of melanin that are produced in the skin, and thus having less protection against the sun’s UV rays than other races with darker skin tones.

On the other hand, some ethnic groups with darker skins, especially African Americans who live in North America are at greater risk of vitamin D deficiency.[7] Again, this could also be because of a number of reasons such as diet, health conditions that prevent the absorption of vitamin D and the overall increase in indoors time. A major amount of vitamin D that is produced by our body comes from the sun’s UVB rays, so it is obvious that skin types with high levels of melanin will have a hard time absorbing those UVB rays, thus producing insufficient amounts of vitamin D. The melanin in dark skin is twice as effective in blocking UVB compared to White skin. While the Black skin epidermis allows only 7.4% of UVB and 17.5% of UVA to penetrate the skin, 24% UVB and 55% UVA passes through white skin.[8]

If it has not become apparent by now, both of these cases (skin cancer and vitamin D deficiency) are more likely to be seen in immigrants from different countries and continents. Racial groups look different for a reason that has a lot to do with the race’s environment of origin; the relocation of those individuals might result in the health issues stated above.

As social and economic concerns are becoming more prominent every day, more people are choosing to emigrate to other countries; which means more people are going to be living in completely new environments that their biology has not adapted for.

To conclude, the best strategy for dealing with these issues is to take precautions. For light- skinned individuals living in tropical or subtropical areas, it is best to apply sunblock creams and avoid ‘tanning beds’ completely, because there is no such thing as “safe tanning.” People with darker skin living in polar and sub-polar zones should have a vitamin D rich diet along with other nutrients, and it might be better for them to be slightly more exposed to the sun than their light-skinned counterparts.

References:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations#:~:text=Around%201.8%20million%20years%20ago,around%201.9%20million%20years%20ago.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_between_archaic_and_modern_humans#:~:text=Genes%20affecting%20keratin%20were%20found,cope%20with%20non-African%20environments

[3] Dolgova O, Lao O. Evolutionary and Medical Consequences of Archaic Introgression into Modern Human Genomes. Genes (Basel). 2018 Jul 18;9(7):358. doi: 10.3390/genes9070358. PMID: 30022013; PMCID: PMC6070777.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzpatrick_scale

[5] Bradford PT. Skin cancer in skin of color. Dermatol Nurs. 2009 Jul-Aug;21(4):170-7, 206; quiz 178. PMID: 19691228; PMCID: PMC2757062.

[6] https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics/

[7] Harris SS. Vitamin D and African Americans. J Nutr. 2006 Apr;136(4):1126-9. doi: 10.1093/jn/136.4.1126. PMID: 16549493

[8] Brenner M, Hearing VJ. The protective role of melanin against UV damage in human skin. Photochem Photobiol. 2008 May-Jun;84(3):539-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-1097.2007.00226.x. PMID: 18435612; PMCID: PMC2671032.

International Day of Peace, Sept. 21

International Day of Peace: Time to Act Is Now!

Happy International Day of Peace to us all!

Since 1981, the International Day of Peace (IDP) has been observed around the world on September 21st. The U.N. General Assembly declared in 1981, IDP as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. The ongoing wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, and elsewhere show us clearly that our world needs peace more than ever.

This year’s theme is Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the #GlobalGoals. It calls us to get involved in actions that recognize our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace. Fostering peace will help us realize of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will create a culture of peace for all.

The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres recently said, “Peace is needed today more than ever. War and conflict are unleashing devastation, poverty, and hunger, and driving tens of millions of people from their homes. Climate chaos is all around. And even peaceful countries are gripped by gaping inequalities and political polarization.”

While the world is also observing the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide this year, IDP 2023 especially encourages all youth to be ambitious in their engagement as positive and constructive social agents, and to help us reach the SDGs and contribute to building sustainable peace. Together we can help to lead our world towards a greener, more equitable, just, and secure future for all.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981, two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire.

The Global Sustainable Development Report 2023

Since 2019, a progress report has been issued every four years. The latest 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report was issued on the 19th of Sept. at the 2023 SDG Summit which took place during the United Nations General Assembly session to follow-up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) entitled: “Times of Crisis, Times of Change: Science for Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Development” finds that at this critical juncture, midway to 2030, incremental and fragmented change is insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the remaining seven years. Implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires the active mobilization of political leadership and ambition for science-based transformations. This must be achieved globally—leaving no country, society or person behind. The report is an invitation to embrace transformations with the urgency needed to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This year marks the mid-point in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs were defined to bring us closer to having more peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, free from fear and violence. But without the contribution of a wide range of actors including the 1.2 billion young people alive, the goals will not be achieved. So the U.N. invites us all to join the U.N. call to take action for peace: fight inequality, drive action on climate change, and promote and protect human rights.

The 17 SDGs, listed below in short, show the immense amount of work that is needed to bring peace and prosperity in our world.

End Poverty: End poverty in the world in all its forms
End Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Health and Wellbeing: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Women and Girls: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Water and Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Sustainable Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Improve Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduce Inequality: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Habitat: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Sustainability: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Climate Change: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Oceans and Marine Life: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Preserve Ecosystems: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Peace and Justice for All: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Global Partnerships: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development can only be achieved through a societal resolve, which can come through public education efforts. Educators, therefore, have an important role to play in achieving the SDGs by 2030! The value of education—in its broadest sense—cannot be underestimated.

Happy International Day of Peace to us all!

Compiled by Arun N. Toké, editor.

It Never Rains in California

By Jada Ying King, grade 11, California

“There is no chance of rain. Zero, zip, zilch. Don’t worry!”

—Jada King, White Stag patrol counselor (PC) to the Tunde patrol. Afternoon of June 22, 2022. Approximately… two hours away from regretting those words.

4:30 P.M.
Light cloud cover hung over the sky. To anyone anywhere except the dry valley that is Piney Creek, Monterey, that signified rain coming. But as I, my nine fellow PCs, and the rest of middle to southern California knew, it does not rain in California in the summer.

Confident in my knowledge, I turned back to look at my seven sweaty little lieges. “Faster we make it up this hill, faster you can get cooking!”

Immediately, all the boys perked up, picking up their pace with shouts of, “Aw yeah!” and “Great!”

We remained ignorant of the coming storm.

5:45 P.M.
“Don’t the clouds look pretty dark?”

Ethan, a particularly persnickety 13-year-old camper, pointed up to prove his point. “The sky’s weirdly yellow. And I think I heard a grumble.”

“Where are we?” I chuckled. But more seriously, I added, “I talked with Tim. He said, and I quote, ‘In the past thirty years, it hasn’t ever rained here in the summer.’ We’ll be fine.”

At that exact moment, a BOOM echoed through the valley below, followed by the quiet patter of raindrops. My heart rate rocketed—we youth counselors planned for basically every situation except rain.

Mind whirring, I barked, “Get out the tarps and take cover; stay low as much as possible! Cover your packs and the cooking equipment if you can.” I took a deep breath, telling myself to remain calm. I trained for these moments; I was the PC here. I had control over the situation. So maybe the second leg of our hike was going to be delayed. But once the rain died down, we’d head for our outpost.

Thunder filled the sky. I shivered again.

9:30 P.M.
The rain continued to pour, although the barrage of lightning had stopped earlier. Unfortunately by then, the sun had already set.

“You sure you’re good with going down first?” asked Ethan, PC of the Attila patrol. The adult staff had called an emergency PC meeting, and because the Tunde patrol was stationed the closest to the route to the outpost, I nominated myself as the forerunner.

I rolled my shoulders and shook out my dripping, stringy hair. Although I wore my water-resistant staff jacket, I was soaked to the bone and freezing cold after standing around in the downpour for half an hour. “Not a problem,” I said. “Plus, it’s only gonna get darker from here on out.”

I trudged up the hill to the Tunde patrol. “Pack up, guys, we’re going down to outpost!” I said, maintaining my energetic facade to lighten up the situation.

But when I brought my seven kids to the pitch-dark, rocky, near-vertical slope down to outpost, my fake cheer faltered. No, I told myself. I could not let myself fall to self-doubt in this sort of situation. Behind me, my patrol whispered uncertainties to each other.

I turned around, my heart running a million miles an hour. “Okay, kiddos. I bet this is going to be the most difficult night of your week.” Murmurs of agreement. “But hey, we’re going to make it down, we’re going to finish this hike, and we’re going to do this together. So get out your flashlights!”

The trip down the hill was terrifying, to say the least. Quite a few times, my shoes slid and skidded on the muddy rocks. I caught one of my kids from falling over once, and figuring out where their patrol site was in the dark and the rain was an entirely different challenge, even with flashlights.

But by 11 P.M., in the utter darkness of the Monterey wilds, in the biting wind and my sopping clothes, I managed to get my patrol in bed, free of injuries, and now with an exciting story to tell to their parents.

Of course, the fact that the staff site was overgrown with poison oak was something we never told our kids. Nor did we tell them that we youth staff only crawled into our sleeping bags at 2 A.M. because we looked for somewhere to sleep for two hours. We just magically showed up at our patrols the next morning with as much energy as we did before, ready to make more enchanting outdoor memories for them.

After all, as a PC, I was there to give them the experience of a lifetime. And isn’t it more fun at summer camp when your counselor’s always giving everything their 110 percent?

Author’s Note:
“I am a Chinese-American 11th grader at Palo Alto High School who enjoys drawing, writing, and hiking—which is why in 2022, I served as a youth counselor for the White Stag Leadership Academy, an accredited outdoors summer program dedicated to enriching youth from the ages of 11 to 17 in outdoorsmanship and leadership.

Our program is entirely youth-led. From September to May, youth counselors train in first aid, outdoors skills, and effective leadership, as well as plan a full week of summer camp for incoming White Stag candidates. Unfortunately, the one thing we didn’t plan for was rain!

I hope that my true story can both inspire individuals to go outside and experience the great outdoors, but also not feel disappointed when nature rains on us. Sometimes the most inconvenient situations that the sky throws at us lead to the most inspiring personal growth—and the most entertaining stories!”

—Jada Ying King, grade 11, California.

Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge

By Roi J. Tamkin, Georgia.

A great way to experience nature and the outdoors without traveling to remote parts of the country is a visit to a National Wildlife Refuge. There are 588 National Wildlife Refuges, or NWRs, across the United States alone. Chances are very good there’s a NWR near you.

NWRs are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Their number one priority is to protect native species. Their second big purpose is recreation. NWRs are great for outdoor hiking, exploring and fishing. If you live near a refuge by the water, you can even go boating. The Fish and Wildlife Service manages land and water resources to create the optimal environment for all the plant and animal species that call these refuges home.

Downey Woodpecker in Cattails

I recently visited Pinckney Island off the southern coast of South Carolina. This NWR is part of a chain of islands along the Atlantic Flyway that attracts thousands of birds each year. The island is an important rookery for coastal birds.

Common Moorhens on their Nesting Site

Pinckney Island is named after the Revolutionary War veteran Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney who purchased the island to grow cotton. The refuge was established in 1975 and consists of 4,035 acres and includes many small islands around Pinckney, the largest one. These islands support a wide variety of plant and animal life found in South Carolina.

A Coot

During my visit to Pinckney, I saw plenty of moorhens and coots in the freshwater ponds on the island. I also saw three very large alligators in one pond. That’s three too many for me! White-tailed deer roam the island, but are hard to find since they generally avoid people.

A Friendly Armadillo

But a friendly armadillo did come out of the brush to visit me. I also saw dolphins in the creek running along the eastern side of the island. There is also a historical shell mound built by Archaic Indians 4,000 years ago. Sadly, it is covered up by centuries of vegetation, but you can still walk to the spot where the mound is located. Nearby Hilton Head Island has a preserved mound you can visit and learn about the ancient people that migrated through the coast of the southern U.S.

Spanish Moss on Oak Trees

The NWR near you may not have alligators or 4,000-year-old relics, but it may have something unique to where you live. Check your local maps or do a search for a wildlife refuge near you and enjoy a day outdoors with nature.

—Roi J. Tamkin is a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia.