2019
September
12
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

September 12, 2019
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

Today’s stories examine a different view of a changing Texas, a problem of perception for female presidential candidates, the unexpected way scientific integrity went viral, how colleges think about your kid, and the country music history you didn’t know.

But first, why you might want to say hello to someone you don’t know today.

Fear of the stranger is educated into us from the time we are kids. And there can be common sense in it. “Don’t get into a stranger’s car” is wise advice, on the whole. But readers of the Monitor will be well acquainted with the kindness of strangers.

Dave Scott wrote Tuesday about how strangers gave a young Florida boy a beautiful sense of self-worth. Patrik Jonsson wrote Monday about how strangers’ extraordinary generosity is changing the dynamics of disaster relief. In The Washington Post Wednesday, I read about strangers who lined up more than 100 yellow cars outside a young cancer survivor’s window on his birthday because he loved Bumblebee from the “Transformers” films.

It’s too easy to cast these off as isolated incidents. But a recent Wall Street Journal article talks about the uplifting effect strangers can have on our lives. “People feel more connected when they talk to strangers, like they are part of something bigger,” says one psychologist.

At a time when news is so often filled with the fear of the stranger – from members of a different religion to people from another country – it is a reminder that the most remarkable blessings often come from those we know least.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News/AP
Heather Buen mounts Norman the bull for a photo before an opening reception at the Texas Democratic Convention, June 21, 2018, at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Texas Democrats this week released a detailed plan for turning the state "blue" in next year's elections.

Texas is changing, with liberal voters gaining more clout. But it’s worth looking deeper at the narrative of why the state is changing and how fast.

Story Hinckley/The Christian Science Monitor
Kamala Harris holds a campaign rally outside at Mack's Apples in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Sept. 6, 2019.

Many Democrats say they support a woman for president, but remain concerned women are less electable than men. That might be a false impression. 

It started with tweets and a marked-up weather map. Some experts now see what’s being called “Sharpiegate” surfacing the idea of scientific independence in a tangible and potentially bipartisan way.

How should colleges determine the value of an applicant? On the eve of the sentencing of the first parent in the Varsity Blues cheating scandal, we look at recent data revealing what admissions officers say matters most.

SOURCE:

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Washington D.C.

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Karen Norris/Staff

Television

Sony Music Archives/PBS/AP
Johnny Cash is shown at his home in California. The image is used in the Ken Burns documentary "Country Music," which airs on PBS beginning Sept. 15, 2019.

Country music’s twangy reputation has long rested on white guys singing about lonesome hearts. But as a new PBS series notes, country’s roots go back to the influences of the black banjo and white fiddle.


The Monitor's View

Three decades of efforts to arrest global warming have inspired many people to adopt solutions. Yet as temperatures keep rising, and many weather disasters are tied to climate change, others have turned fatalistic – even about adapting to the potential damage. On Sept. 10, this blue funk received a red flag. A major report from key leaders offered this encouraging news: If significant investments are made in adapting to climate change, they are likely to be paid back as much as 10-fold in economic benefits.

That’s the conclusion of the Global Commission on Adaptation, led by three international heavyweights: former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, and Kristalina Georgieva, chief executive of the World Bank. The report’s underlying message, says Mr. Ban, is to counter the notion that it is too late to protect people from disasters like Hurricane Dorian.

“I’m here today to tell you that this is simply not true,” he said.

The report estimates that investments in adaptation could save trillions of dollars in losses by 2030. For example, spending $800 million on a global warning system for storms and heat waves could result in countries avoiding losses of as much as $16 billion annually. In general, for every $1 invested in adaptation, it estimates, between $2 and $10 of net economic benefits would result.

These investments should be made across broad areas, the commission says, including the implementing a global early warning system, protecting shoreline mangroves, improving agricultural techniques, and making water resources more resilient. Without efforts to adapt farming, global agricultural yields could drop by 30% by midcentury – and have their worst effects on the world’s 500 million small farmers.

“If we do not act now, climate change will supercharge the global gap between the haves and the have-nots,” said Mr. Ban.

Will this climate report be yet another one that is soon forgotten? Not likely. In late September, the commissioners will launch a “year of action” at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. They will follow up with public officials and private players to boost investments in adaptation.

The report also undercuts the false choice between cutting greenhouse emissions and adaptation. Both are possible, with a focus on adaptation being a way to persuade more people to support clean energy. People working together to adapt to climate change might find their expectations lifted to tackle the big task of reducing carbon pollution.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

When a student was faced with a major roadblock to taking a crucial exam, realizing that God meets our needs empowered him to feel calm and confident that a solution would emerge – as it did, just in time.


A message of love

Michael Probst/AP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel climbs out of a transparent car with security devices during her visit to the IAA Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 12, 2019.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thank you for joining us today. Please come back tomorrow when staff writer Laurent Belsie looks at whether Big Tech has fallen from grace, and what that might mean for the culture and economy.

More issues

2019
September
12
Thursday
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