Dawn of the Apocalypse.

As of right now the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida are bracing for what is being predicted by the worlds scientist as the worst environmental disaster in the history of The United States of America. Organizations of every state on the Gulf Coast are desperately asking for volunteers from everywhere possible to help fight the inevitable pending destruction the oil spill is bringing. At an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil per day pumping out of the under water well current claims are that it will take several weeks or months to stop the well. At that rate the best case scenario would be two weeks and mean that over 2,940,000 gallons of crude oil will be covering the coastlines and waters of the Gulf of Mexico with most of it predicted to flow onto the U.S. coast. U.S. State and Federal agencies are moving as fast as possible to act and the U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy, and Army are already on alert or deployment to the area. There is no question that the whole planet is going to feel the consequences of this wound. The truth is that all the efforts that the International community can bring to bear cannot stop the damage ahead because there is no technology available that can remove that much oil from the ocean, coastlines, and wildlife that will be covered long before the spill is even contained. This is worst case scenario. This is going to be a horrible conversation as time goes by and the damage is reported for years to come.

Our purpose.

This blog is a about globalization from my personal perspective.  I hold a Master of Science degree in Global Studies and International Affairs.  The purpose of this blog is to discuss my experiences with globalization and those of people I know in other parts of the world.  That said, the more I travel internationally the more I will post.  In lieu of travel, I plan to discuss world events and phenomena, as well as contemplate things about the impacts of globalization on people and places internationally.  The blog is open to comments.  Think of it as a village as the name implies.  When you join a discussion or make a comment, you become a person somewhere in the village.  I do not plan to respond to every contact but I am listening to everyone that wants to join in.  If you find yourself in a discussion with someone other than me that's OK.  In fact, any number of discussion can be going on somewhere in tngv at any time.  Remember, in tngv everyone can hear your conversation so don't be surprised if a stranger wants to join in.  Why not tell them to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy the conversation.  I want to hear what other people are discussing about places around the world.  That is what tngv is about.  Again, as the name implies, I want people from every country to join tngv discussions.  That is what makes it a village discussion as opposed to just a bunch of one sided statements about globalization.  That is also what this blog is about, discussing peoples experiences with globalization.  This is the village of the future.  This is not a chat group or message board or any of those common social network concepts.  This is not about marketing, dating, or opinions of any kind.  This blog is about living in the modern era of globalization.  That said, when I discuss your part of the world please fill in the blanks or just let us know your perspective of what is being discussed.  Think of me as the Anthony Bourdain of globalization.  Experiencing the world and other people is what energizes me and gets me up in the morning.

Human Rights Week

Today we marked the conclusion of Human Rights Week. We posted this message for everyone who participated:
$5 a day challenge:
We are proud of everyone who took this challenge. It is very moving to to see the introspection and profound sentiments that many of you have experienced. But, we have something to say to those who feel that they failed the challenge before it began. You did not fail. You conquered the real challenge. Change begins with the knowledge that we need to change. That meant the real challenge for us was to acknowledge the 1.4 billion poor people living a humble existence in poverty, acknowledge our real cost of living (the "Fabulous Life" of success) we take for granted everyday, discover that we do care about them, realize that we cannot walk in their shoes, and take ownership of the fact the we have chosen to take positive action in our lives on this issue going forward. Each of us carries a seed of change that will make us positive forces in the future of global society. Remember, everyone counts. Even you.

Brave new world

Today we added a new blog to those we follow to diversify and enrich our community, and because we like them. The University of Venus (UV) was co-founded by a faculty member we know at Northeastern University. What does UV have to do with the title of this post, you ask. It is clear from their principles and mission statement that the founders took a brave step forward into this new world we commonly call the global village. We, meaning all of us who have taken an active role in and acknowledge the international, transnational, multinational, multicultural, and interconnected life (to mention only a few of the characteristic of tngv) of world citizenship that we live today. The concept of world citizenship is at the very core of what tngv is about. According to the mission statement UV seeks to channel the genx women of academia into a global medium for positive social activity. It goes on to present some sincere and obviously heart-felt observations about current society and the realities of academia in America today. They are brutally honest about what they represent as women and academics. UV represents a fresh voice in the global community as they build powerful and positive new "global social networks." We welcome UV to tngv as the first organization of academia in the blogosphere to gain our seal of approval.

Terremoto en Chile.

The recent earthquake in Chile has special meaning to us here at tngv because of the personal and academic ties I have there. In the summer of 2008 while on a graduate seminar I interned with the Nonprofit Enterprise Self-sustainability Team (NESsT) http://www.nesst.org. While there I visited many parts of Chile and met with people from a number of the regions. On a special note, the image on this blog page is from my visit. The people of Chile are working hard to embrace globalization. Most of the people in the worst hit areas have little money to recover and need all the help they can get. The 8.8 quake left a number of after shocks including one that measured 5 in Santiago. This will be a major topic at tngv. The following information is from an email I received from them today.

NESsT is organizing a joint fundraising event and silent auction at Puro Chile in New York this Thursday evening, March 4th, to benefit the Levantando Chile Fund in conjunction with Puro Chile Corp, and The Permanent Mission of Chile to the United Nations. Heraldo Muñoz, The Chilean Ambassador to the UN, will speak and welcome guests.

You can see more information about the fund and committee at: www.levantandochile.org The website also includes information on making donations to the fund through the US and Chile.

Winter Olympics Vancouver

I have always liked the Olympic games. They are one of the conerstones of tngv.

Now that the Vancouver Winter Olympics are over tngv looks forward to the next games in London (2012) and Sochi (2014). We love the games. These recent games were awesome. But, in this age of globalization there was a dearth of representation considering how many nations did not make it to the grand stage, or even compete for that matter, The lack of diversity of the athletes in the running for medals is a sad commentary on how far the international community has gone to make the premier venue for international relations truly representative of all nations. The IOC needs to do more to bring the diversity of our global community into the field of competition. The international community needs to do more to support an IOC goal to promote and support more great athletes from every nation. We are all fortunate to have inherited one of the oldest institutions of humanity, the Olympic Games, created for the purpose of memorializing our common bond as humans, paying deference to the value of diplomacy, creating a mechanism for halting state conflict, and demonstrating to all societies that we must always work to cooperate and participate as world citizens.

The New Global Village

The new global village (tngv)means different things to everyone. To me it means that the things I learned studying globalization and international affairs as a graduate student are real. This blog is where I plan to interact with tngv more constructively than is normally possible for most people in the current global society. This blog is where I will analyse and theorize about tngv. I plan to entertain strategies that may impact tngv. Most importantly, this blog is where I plan to bring the experiences and discoveries of tngv into the mainstream.