BALANCE of CULTURE

Happy Holidays 2012!

Just another typical sleigh in the Maldives…happy holidays to all! Back in early January!

More Voices Rise in Maldives Conversation

Maldives is a country that has been on my radar since my first visit to the atoll nation several years ago. I've been closely watching the developments in Male since February 7, when President Nasheed was ousted from power by what he calls a "military coup."

The surge of women protest groups has been one of the most interesting and inspiring occurrences the past month. In this Muslim nation, these women have banded together to voice their discontent with the coup, even being dealt with unnecessary force by local police (the police brutality against protesters in Male has been constantly brought up by human rights activists).

One of the most surprising details to surface this week was the unlikely position of current President Waheed Hassan's brother, Naushad Waheed, who lives in the UK. Apparently Naushad is "so upset over developments that he has taken to the streets of London to distribute antigovernment leaflets."

Of his brother, Naushad states that "He believes that he is serving his country as the leader of a legitimate government, but I do not agree with him. The new government I believe is guilty of committing human rights abuses against the opposition."

During the last few years, it seemed that the Maldives as a nation was ready to pursue a path to progress. It became a democracy, flourished with foreign investments and high tourism growth, and was pushing for global climate change education. (Some of its low-lying islands are already submerged due to climate change.) With the unfortunate chaos that consumed the capital earlier this year, it's up to the traditionally unpolitical local women's groups and people close to those in power (like Naushad in London) to strive for the continued efforts of the past few years.

With all of this KONY talk buzzing online, it's disappointing that the developments in the Maldives -- which some account as the precursor to the Arab Spring -- has made relatively little headway in global communications.

Hopefully the new documentary film The Island President will put more of this small yet geopolitically-important country in our international conversation.

Perfect Storm in Paradise

The political turmoil in Male, the capital of the Maldives, continues to escalate as Islamic extremists have enforced their "Taliban-style intolerance" not only on the streets of the city but also towards the various ancient 12th century Buddhist artifacts housed in the Maldives National Museum.

A senior museum representative stated that the history of the Maldives' Buddhist past has effectively been "erased," as the delicate coral and limestone objects have zero chance of being restored due to their brittle and age. Five men have since been arrested for this.

An interesting fact here: the Maldives National Museum was built and financed by the Chinese government and presented to the Maldives on July 10, 2010. Considering that this Indian Ocean paradise is now a premium destination choice for many newly-wealthy Chinese travelers -- and conveniently located just south of India, China's regional geopolitical sparring partner -- we can probably expect to see much more Chinese influence in Maldivian society in the the next decade.

Off the beaten path: A small hospital we visited on a residential island in the Maldives, 2007.

Most travelers to the Maldives won't see much more than the usual perfect clear turquoise waters and sugary white sands of their island resort. Vacation plans rarely include a visit to see typical everyday life on a residential island (though we were lucky to get a glimpse of this on our first visit several years ago), which is vastly different from the polished experiences offered by their tourism industry.

The Maldives is clearly in a challenging phase of its current political and social existence. The recent coup of President Nasheed, the society's religious "soul searching" (to put it nicely), its frontline position in the battle of climate change, and its internationally-powerful tourism industry is a perfect storm of dynamic factors that will define the country's bumpy road ahead.

I just hope that its pre-Islamic past is not further deleted from history's documentation by modern day "radicals." So tragic.

Maldives' Next President Needs to Continue Climate Change Efforts

Considering all he has accomplished in just a few years in the educating world leaders and citizens about climate change, Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed -- the first democratically-elected leader of the island nation -- has quit amid growing protests.

Some are calling it a coup or mutiny. Instead of digging his heels in his position, Nasheed decided against using force to maintain his power. He was quickly replaced in about an hour by his VP Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.

While most people around the world may not see or feel the effects of climate change directly, the citizens of the Maldives have it quite differently. Because the nation has the lowest level surfaces on earth, they have been struggling with continuously rising sea levels which have already overflowed parts of the country. The now former President Nasheed had been studiously working with other neighboring countries to prepare for a mass exodus of Maldivians to the mainland, perhaps within decades.

Fingers crossed that the next President has the foresight to continue these urgent efforts regarding climate change. He really doesn't have a choice!

Yuan Xikun, artist and environmentalist

Yuan Xikun is yet another important and exciting Chinese artist who is extremely well known in his home country but also a familiar face in the international context. Xikun recently opened an exhibit in the Maldives' National Art Gallery and also made a stop in New York City last week for his US exhibit "Two to Three Dimensions: Blend of Contemporary Chinese Art and Western Aesthetic," which was co-hosted by The China Institute in America and E.G.G. Strategic Alliance at the CUE Art Foundation.

"Two to Three Dimensions: Blend of Contemporary Chinese Art and Western Aesthetic" features 25 of Xikun's lauded contemporary paintings and sculptures provided by the Yiyuan Society, which is China's largest private museum. Yiyuan Society's mission isn't simply to showcase art by both established and upcoming artists, but also to promote cross-cultural understanding and international exchanges between China and the rest of the world. The museum highlights both art history as well as contemporary art through its myriad interdisciplinary conservation and education programs.

Xikun, distinguished as both an artist as well as environmentalist, speaker, educator and philosopher, has been heavily involved in the progression of China's pollution control and environmental protection issues for decades. In the 1990s he facilitated an important loan between the World Bank, Yunnan province, and the Kunming Municipal government which went towards Dianchi Lake's pollution efforts and has since been active with multidisciplinary approaches to such public campaigns.

Recently at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Xikun was recognized by UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner with an award for "UNEP Patron for the Arts and Environment."

Xikun's public education of the environment continues all around the world today. The UNEP in Kenya and Beijing Zoo have installed his works to support their own aims at educating the youth and general public on local environmental issues. He continues to exhibit his multidisciplinary work within both museum and institutional walls as well as the public outdoor sphere -- Xikun's upcoming work is a highly anticipated "sand sculpture" in the Maldives, which will be comprised of sand from five different continents and water from the two Arctic Poles. This will surely be an amazing sight to experience!

Be sure to keep up with Xikun's future projects -- he is a substantial figure in art and the environment, as well as a leading creative mind in China's compelling contemporary culture and soft power.

Related:

Fabien Cousteau & Yuan Xikun bring more awareness to the Maldives

Fabien Cousteau & Yuan Xikun bring more awareness to the Maldives

At this point in my life I've visited numerous remote beaches and islands around the world and so far none of them have ever come close to the atolls of the Maldives in terms of beauty, privacy and uniqueness. While most people from the US bristle at the +24-hour trek to reach this distant and secluded place, the exhausting journey is amazing in and of itself (we call it the "Indian Jones" journey).

The region's sugary white sands are primarily submerged only a few feet below warm crystal blue waters that reach the flat horizon in what seems to be in the middle of nowhere -- and indeed, the nearest land mass is at least 1,000 miles away from any given Maldivian island. For me, it is truly the most stunning location on our planet.

These amazing low-level waters is what makes the Maldives claim some of the most spectacular sandbars and lagoons in the world. But this very same attribute is what worries the leaders of this Muslim nation: rising sea levels have thrust this small country at the forefront of planet Earth's climate change battle.

It's very easy to dismiss notions of climate change when you're living so comfortably in the US or any other western society. Even though first world countries are the ones creating the majority of the world's pollution, it is the less-powerful states that often end up dealing with the aftermath before anybody else has to.

Fabien Cousteau, who took the photo above (yes, he's Jacques' grandson) recently went diving deep in the Baa Atoll with a crew of concerned environmental experts and discovered that much of the area's coral is in pretty bad shape (what they call "bleached"), thanks to pollution by man, natural causes, as well as rising water temperatures.

The poor health of the region's oceanic plant life -- and the rising water levels in these atolls -- is an ominous signal for us to keep researching the effects of climate change and strive to discover what can be done for those in the most urgent need. The Maldives will ultimately have to make some kind of extreme decision over the next decade, as many of these beautiful islands will be submerged in our lifetime.

Any disruption to the Maldives will be a huge loss for this planet. I just can't imagine not having this travel option as the destination it currently is -- let's not only be relegated to the accessible and conventionally-pretty landscapes of most tourist traps!

Other cool news: prominent Chinese artist (and environmentalist) Yuan Xikun is currently exhibiting his art in Male at the National Art Gallery. His opening talk was attended by local artists as well as the new Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Yu Hongyao and Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Mamduh Waheed.

Yuan's upcoming sculpture project will comprise of sand from five continents and water from the two Arctic Poles, which he will discuss with Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed on Wednesday.

Museum Misinformation: Climate Change Doesn't Necessarily Exist

Climate Progress's Joe Romm has a revealing post on the National Museum of Natural History's misleading exhibit on evolution and climate change funded by a "billionaire polluter--who is an even bigger funder of disinformation on climate science than Exxon Mobil."



Romm states:

The exhibit’s main theme is that extreme climate change in the past made humans very adaptable, an interesting theory based on limited data and lots of speculation. But its huge flaw is that it it [sic] leaves visitors with the distinct impression that human-caused global warming is no big deal — even though our understanding of the grave threat posed by that warming is based on far, far more research and data.

The exhibit’s major intellectual failing is that it does not distinguish between 1) the evolution of small populations of tens (to perhaps hundreds) of thousands of humans and pre-humans over hundreds of thousands of years to relatively slow, natural climate changes and 2) the completely different challenge we have today: The ability of modern civilization — nearly 7 billion people, going up to 10 billion — to deal with rapid, human-caused climate change over a period of several decades (and ultimately much longer).

Besides the obvious problem of manipulated misinformation on climate change so irresponsibly delivered to the public (via a project between a Smithsonian museum and a wealthy businessman), the backstage issue of what constitutes the museum's role in the public domain is illustrated with the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.

How much should a wealthy supporter's agenda affect what a museum exhibits--and more importantly--how it exhibits? With this particular unfortunate instance, the National Museum of Natural History is eerily resembling an untrustworthy politician with its public servant stance that actually doesn't serve the public at all. Instead, it serves the source of the money that props it up. Of course one expects this kind of behavior from your typical desperate-for-money museum, but a museum under the Smithsonian's umbrella? I have to admit this comes as a surprise. Additionally, the fact that it ignores one of the most urgent issues in our lifetime is a heinous mistake that actually causes real harm to society's body of knowledge--the actual opposite of what the public expects from a museum of such stature.

The more incorrect information that gets broadcast on behalf of someone's selfish agenda, the harsher the future will be for individuals like President Mohamed Nasheed--and the families and cultures he represents all over the globe.

Submerged Island Should Spotlight the Climate Crisis for Maldivians

In an eye-opening turn of events, an island in the Bay of Bengal--disputed by India and Bangladesh for nearly 30 years--has been swallowed by the rising seas. The island, called New Moore island by Indians and South Talpatti by Bangladeshis, lies in an area believed to hold vast gas and oil reserves.

Oceanographer and Jadavpur University professor Sugata Hazra states, "What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming." Another nearby island was submerged in 1996 and apparently 10 others are currently at risk.

Perhaps this will assist the perilous situation of neighboring Maldives. President Mohamed Nasheed of the island nation has repeatedly urged the international community to recognize that the climate change for most of the world is a climate crisis for Maldivians, warning that his nation could be submerged within the next 100 years. Though the Bay of Bengal island has already submerged there is still time for the global community to recognize the actuality of rising sea levels and strive for policy changes that will prevent us from losing one of the most unique and stunning locations on our planet.

Technorati Tags: balance of culture, climate crisis, government, India, Linda Constant, Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, Bangladesh, New Moore, South Talpatti

Broadcasting from the Maldives: The 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

I was pretty excited when I first heard that the Maldives was chosen as a location for the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue--so excited, in fact, that I asked my husband to pick up a copy for me at the local newsstand on his way home from a meeting that day.

I swear that I don't share a swimsuit model obsession with your average 15 year old boy. As a young girl I fell in love with the way the Maldives environment looked in photographs--transparent lagoons, sugary white sand, flat, untouched sandbanks--and when I finally got to go there as an adult, I was not disappointed in the least.

A Maldivian sandbank

The sheer flatness of the Maldives, one characteristic that makes this country so beautiful, is also what makes it so threatened. The average island's natural elevation is barely four feet (it is the lowest country in the world), so from the Maldivian perspective the term "climate crisis" is much more appropriate to use for our planet's environmental issues than "climate change." Many scientists believe that this country could be submerged within the century, which has prompted President Mohamed Nasheed (and many others) to truly focus on creating awareness and action about the looming catastrophe for the Maldives (as well as small islands in general). At the recent UN climate summit in Copenhagen, President Nasheed announced that his country would bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a symbolic gesture similar to his underwater cabinet meeting (below)--another attempt at broadcasting his country's plight to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

Photo from www.itbhuGlobal.org

Since 2008 and 2009 were big years for the Maldives in terms of climate crisis education, I was not very surprised to see disapproval of Sports Illustrated (and their swimsuit models) for "ignoring" the real story behind their photoshoots--the fact that the sand they were working on was slowly descending into the crystal clear waters around them.

It's funny how differently I interpreted the SI photoshoot. I reacted positively because after the past two years of concentrated climate crisis awareness building (mainly in the environmental policy communities), the Maldives had their grim situation circulated to perhaps the most numerous amount of people to date--via the immense, mainstream platform of Sports Illustrated. In my opinion, the magazine's decision to shoot in the Maldives for their 2010 issue was fortunate--not only for aesthetic reasons but also for putting the country, however briefly, in the international spotlight and potentially reaching thousands of people who may not care enough about Copenhagen (or environmental studies) enough to click on a news story link about rising sea levels. The fact that SI reaches so much of the mainstream audience (or what I like to call the "dominant average") makes it likely that many people who did read the magazine actually learned something about the Maldivian climate crisis.

Another discussion I found regarding SI's questionable approach ends with this disclaimer: Note: I haven't seen the print issue, and this commentary is based on the lack of mention of climate change in the promo video only. I should point out that on page 76 in the print issue, writer Mark Bechtel gives a brief overview of the location, the environs, the resort in which they stayed and, yes, the desperate situation of rising sea levels that jeopardize the Maldives. Sure, it isn't a huge, official report on the dangers that the Maldives face, but it is simple and quickly delivers the message. That 15 year old SI reader may very well be compelled to write his next science report on the Maldives and the efforts of President Nasheed, thanks to the 2010 swimsuit issue (a strangely fun sentence to type, I assure you). I think that the potential greater awareness about the Maldives' situation after this swimsuit issue should trump any discontent over how the plight was "handled" by the magazine staff.

We should not be precious about how the information gets around--it just needs to get around, period. I believe that there are hierarchies in each subset of issues that we face as a global society. Though many may deem this particular magazine simply as a vehicle for the objectification of women, the crisis that the Maldivians face--which even entails a potential, unprecedented context of mass displacement--is ultimately higher on the survival chain than is sexism. Even the most chauvinist human being needs to consume enough clean water and food in order to be sexist in the first place, thus placing the issues of access to food and clean water higher on the priority scale than other issues that we are able to focus upon once well nourished. Similarly, the Maldives face a rapidly approaching crisis that a few bikinis should not be able to distract us from at this moment.

Technorati Tags: balance of culture, climate crisis, Copenhagen, displacement, dominant average, government, Linda Constant, Maldives, media, Mohamed Nasheed, obejctification, photography, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, United Nations