2019
January
10
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

January 10, 2019
Error loading media: File could not be played
 
00:0000:0000:00
00:00
Eva Botkin-Kowacki
Science, environment, and technology writer

Most Americans can sing Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land Is Your Land.” But lately, some people have been living it.

With the US government partially shut down, most National Park Service employees have been furloughed, leaving still-open national parks and monuments largely unattended. Trash is piling up. Bathrooms are overflowing. And protected habitats are being trampled. In Joshua Tree National Park, visitors even strung Christmas lights on the iconic and delicate trees, normally off-limits to visitors. That park and others have been forced to close.

But, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters, a spirit of stewardship has emerged. Volunteers have arrived armed with cleaning supplies and a reverence for public lands.

Some have come alone. Others organized cleanup crews, coordinated supply drives, and reminded visitors to “leave no trace.” One group earned the nickname “toilet paper angels.” A national Muslim youth association mobilized members across the country to chip in.

For many volunteers, like Mike Skelton, who organized a cleanup crew for Yellowstone National Park, it’s a matter of civic duty.

“When it gets down to it,” Mr. Skelton told The New York Times, “it is our park and it belongs to all of us in this country.”

Now onto our five stories for today, highlighting a renewed commitment to voter rights in Missouri, a community effort to support children affected by the Flint water crisis, and the role of teamwork in helping newcomers to Spain feel welcome.


You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Just a year ago, Sen. Susan Collins was able to break a shutdown logjam by gathering senators in her corner office to hash out a bipartisan solution. Here's why that bridge-building technique is not working now.

Gerrymandering used to be the province mostly of spelling bee contestants and policy wonks. But for many today, redistricting reform has become a fundamental struggle for fairness.

Ellyn Sudow
Canisha Norris, an educator from the Crim Fitness Foundation, teaches yoga to members of the Southwestern Jaguars football team in Flint., Mich., late last year. Civic groups, foundations, and universities have joined hands with local government and public-health officials to provide services to city residents.

The Flint water crisis may have faded from national headlines, but for locals the story is lifelong. The city's holistic approach to recovery may hold lessons for other struggling communities.

Juan Carlos Toro
Issa Abdou (c.), a Cameroonian immigrant who arrived in Spain with dreams of becoming a professional soccer player, plays with Alma de África (Soul of Africa), a team made up of immigrants that’s based in the Spanish city of Jerez.

Spain’s welcome mat is still out, but many newcomers are jobless. And dreams often need some kind of support. What role should government play?

Difference-maker

Pavel Yakovlev/Reuters
Sharon Tennison met with Mikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the Soviet Union, at the Gorbachev Foundation in central Moscow in September. Ms. Tennison has been organizing visits between Russians and Americans for 35 years.

Sharon Tennison has been credited with helping to break the cold-war ice. Can the same approach help soothe today's harsh rhetoric?


The Monitor's View

Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize for "European vision" in Aachen, Germany, May 10, 2018.

For a European Union fragmented on many fronts, it may be time to go back to its roots – at the very heart of the Continent. On Jan. 22, the leaders of Germany and France plan to sign a treaty aimed at bringing the bloc’s two most powerful economies – and its original founders – even closer.

The two are first going local, hoping to better integrate people living close to the border. Schools on either side will be encouraged to become bilingual, for example. Joint business parks may be set up. Ambulances will be able to cross over. Basic utilities like water might be merged. The idea is to form “Eurodistricts,” or models of integration.

This “twinning” pact, negotiated over the past year, also calls for ministers to regularly sit in the cabinet meetings of each other’s government. It seeks greater unity in diplomacy and peacekeeping missions. France will push for Germany to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Europeans often forget the EU was born out of a stunning convergence of these two nations after World War II. By the 1960s, France had largely forgiven Germany for its Nazi past and Germans showed great contrition over that past.

Such qualities of character helped suppress the militant nationalism that had sown conflicts for centuries. After World War I, says French President Emmanuel Macron, “we were unable to produce a lasting peace because France and Germany remained divided.”

The current strains within the 28-member union, such as Britain possibly exiting the bloc and the rise of anti-EU nationalist parties, have convinced Mr. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the need for deeper European integration – starting with their own countries. The two plan to sign the treaty in the German city of Aachen, which has been controlled by both peoples over time. It is best known as the imperial center of Charlemagne, the great uniter of Western Europe in the late 8th century.

The signing date of Jan. 22 is also significant as it marks the 56th anniversary of the signing of the Élysée Treaty, which cemented the French-German friendship and provided the foundation for the EU.

Nearly two-thirds of EU citizens say the bloc is a good thing, according to the most recent Eurobarometer survey. But about half say the Union is “going in the wrong direction.”

With so much division – over migration, EU regulations, the euro’s woes, and anti-democratic moves in a few countries – the bloc’s two founders are like a couple who, after decades of marriage, find their extended family squabbling and splitting. So they’ve decide to remind everyone of the origin of that family by renewing their wedding vows and drawing closer. If they can speak as one even more, they will help drive the convergence that has provided a peaceful balancing of interests in Europe for so long.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Many wish to better understand who and what they are, and some seek answers in genealogy. Today’s contributor explores this subject and presents a view of creation that starts and ends with God as its source.


A message of love

Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
A damaged statue from Palmyra awaits restoration at Syria's National Museum of Damascus Jan. 9. A dozen archaeologists are carefully working on centuries-old statuary destroyed by jihadists during Syria’s war, which is about to enter its eighth year.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Come back tomorrow. We’ll visit a former mill town that is turning the environmental hazards of defunct industry into economic opportunities. 

More issues

2019
January
10
Thursday
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us