VOA AsItIs20180422：Native American Tribe Battles to Keep Land
内容：
(1)Developing Nations to Study Ways to Block Sunshine, Slow Warming
(2)New AG School Teaches Secrets of Farming
(3)Native American Tribe Battles to Keep Land
(4)Door Opens for New Tourism in South China Sea
(1)Developing Nations to Study Ways to Block Sunshine, Slow Warming
The sun is pictured behind trees during sunrise in Karak, outside Kuala Lumpur in nearby Pahang state early on April 6, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Mohd RASFAN)
Scientists in developing nations are considering ways to limit the effects of climate change on Earth. These scientists plan to explore one possibility: controlling or restricting sunshine levels. They want to see if use of a man-made chemical to block sunlight would be less risky than a rise in surface temperatures.
This area of study is called “solar geo-engineering.” Researchers believe that using the right chemical or chemicals might produce the same effect in Earth’s atmosphere as a big volcanic explosion. They think it could cool surface temperatures by hiding the sun with a cloud of ash.
Currently, solar geo-engineering is being studied mainly in industrial nations and by universities such as Harvard and Oxford.
Twelve scientists from developing countries say poor people are most likely to be affected by climate change. And they think the poor should be more involved.
“Developing countries must lead on solar geo-engineering research,” they said.
Nature magazine published a commentary written by the scientists. They are from countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica and Thailand.
Atiq Rahman is head of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. He said the idea of solar geo-engineering is unusual, but slowly growing in popularity in the world of research. He spoke by telephone with the Reuters news agency.
A new $400,000 research project may prove helpful to solar geo-engineering studies. It has urged scientists to request financing for their studies.
The project is called the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI). It receives help from the Open Philanthropy Project, a group supported by Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, Cari Tuna, the scientists wrote.
The project could help scientists in developing nations study the effects of solar geo-engineering on floods and dry weather, said Andy Parker, a project director of the SRMGI.
Rahman said he and the other scientists were not saying that geo-engineering would work. Among the ideas: airplanes might release shiny sulfur particles high in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“It is too early to know what its effects would be: it could be very helpful or very harmful,” the 12 specialists wrote, adding that many are against the idea.
A group of United Nations climate experts also have questions about solar geo-engineering and its effectiveness in fighting climate change. Their comments appear in a leaked copy of a report about climate change set for release in October.
Rahman noted that most developed nations have not kept their promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Studies have linked those gases, such as carbon dioxide, to rising temperatures.
For that reason, Rahman said, the other possible ways to limit warming must be explored. The world is set for a warming of three degrees Celsius, he said, far above a goal of keeping a rise in temperatures “well below” two degrees Celsius. That target was set under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
I'm Susan Shand.
This story was adapted by Susan Shand from an original Reuters report. It was edited by George Grow.
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Words in This Story
solar – adj. involving or about the sun
geo-engineer – v. to change the earth with natural materials
philanthropy – n. the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people
emission – n. the act of producing or releasing something, such as a gas
(2)New AG School Teaches Secrets of Farming
Virginia winery owner Doug Fabbioli walks with farming students at his free agriculture school.
Doug Fabbioli is concerned about the future of the rural economy, as cities' areas expand into farm fields. Fabbioli owns a winery in Loudoun County, Virginia. He decided to support the agricultural economy in his own way. He established The New AG School. The free school hopes to raise the next generation of farmers.
Farming is hard work, but Fabbioli says young people would love it if they knew its joys. But, he says, to succeed in farming, they will need specialized skills.
That is what Fabbioli hopes to teach at his new school. The goal is to fill the immediate need for farm workers, but also to create future leaders who can teach others in years to come.
The New AG School has many different students.
“We have some younger folks that are either right out of high school or even in high school,” Fabbioli says. He also has some students who have completed college but cannot find jobs, as well as older people who want to try farming.
Olga Goadalupe Alfoseca says the program is helping her find the right career. “I learned a lot…my dream is maybe I can plant my own plants and start my... business.”
Liam Marshall-Brown who left college, finds farm work interesting. “It’s fun,” he says. “I mostly did restaurants before…you feel trapped after a while, doing the same thing over and over and over again. It’s just nice to be outside. Pretty much you’re doing something new every day.”
But not all work is outdoors. Students study five different subjects, everything from cleaning, horticulture, hospitality, to leadership and business.
And the training is not complete until they learn about the machines they use every day; how they work and how to fix them.
As you might expect from a winery owner, wine production is also part of the educational program.
Winemaker Meaghan Tardif is a mentor at the school... she teaches students winemaking – and leadership skills.
“My favorite part about being a mentor is I always give the student a chance to teach someone else,” Tardif explains. “Leadership is everywhere. It’s not just in the work. It’s not just your employees, but it helps you throughout your life.”
The experience has caused Marshall-Brown to find a future in agriculture.
“I would like to be that, but I still have a lot to learn to be able to do that. Hopefully I’ll get there, and I’ll run my own farm one day and have people work under me.”
That pleases Fabbioli, who says it is good for the community to have more farmers.
He notes Loudoun Country’s position as one of the richest areas in the nation. He says the goal of those living in the community is to save the land in western Loudoun County as green space.
In his words, “We can do that by farming, but we need more farmers very much. So, giving people the opportunity to learn, put more people to work. It may also keep the cars off the highways because they’re living locally and they’re working locally.”
That is what the New AG School hopes to do -- grow the next “crop” of skilled farmers.
I’m Susan Shand
Faiza Elmasry reported this story for VOA News. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in This Story
urban – adj. of or relating to cities and the people who live in them
winery – n. a place where wine is made
folks – n. people
horticulture – n. the science of growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers — compare
hospitality – n. generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests: hospitable treatment
mentor – n. someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person
opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done
(3)Native American Tribe Battles to Keep Land
FILE - Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye, far left, Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, third from left, and others wield shovels during an official casino groundbreaking, April 5, 2016, in Taunton, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Money from casinos has lifted many Native American tribal economies and made some tribes rich.
Take the Shakopee Mdewakanton in the state of Minnesota, for example. Its gaming operations earn tribe members $1 million a year. But the road to casino riches can be rocky, as the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts has discovered.
Land in trust
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the United States government. In 2007, the bureau recognized that the Mashpee had operated as a community since colonial times. It found that 97 percent of Mashpee members are related to the historic tribe.
In 2015, the agency placed about 130 hectares of land “in trust” as the Mashpee’sreservation. (The term in trust means someone or something, in this case the federal government, guarantees and protects the property for the tribe). Sixty hectares of the land were in the Massachusetts town of Mashpee. The other 70 hectares were about 56 kilometers away from Mashpee, in the town of Taunton.
“This was one tenth of one third of our total tribal base,” said Cedric Cromwell, the tribe’s chairman. Cromwell told VOA his people were among the first to welcome English settlers to what became Plymouth, Massachusetts. He said the tribe controlled 36,000 square kilometers of land in the 17th century.
For years, the Mashpee had wanted to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton and agreed to pay the state 17 percent of all its earnings. The tribe made its offer on the condition that no other casinos be built in the area. The town approved their plan and the Mashpee borrowed money to start building the casino.
‘Not real Indians’
But the tribe had competition. In early 2013, a Chicago developer made an offer to Massachusetts state officials. The developer wanted to build a $1 billion casino resortjust 24 kilometers away from the Mashpee casino.
Weeks before the Mashpee were ready to start work on the casino, townspeople from Taunton brought legal action against the federal government. They said the Mashpee were not really “Indian” and they should not be given land. That case was partly financed by the Chicago developer.
Even after the state rejected the developer’s proposal, a U.S. District judge ruled against the Mashpee. The ruling required the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reconsider the issue.
Since then, the tribe has been in limbo. It has halted work on the casino project and is now hundreds of millions in debt, and no earnings.
Cedric Cromwell believes the case was driven by race. "The claimants said ‘we’re all for a casino in Taunton, but we don’t want an Indian casino,’" he said.
Adam Bond, the lawyer who represented the lead plaintiff, denied that race was a consideration. “Does Mr. Cromwell believe that Judge Young is racist because he read the law and gave a correct reading of that law?” Bond wrote in an email to VOA. He called the case, “a clean and fair fight.”
Shifting federal policy?
The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Interior Department said it would make a decision about the future of the Mashpee’s reservation by June 2017, yet no decision has been made.
It may be a long time in coming, suggests Bryan Newland, a Michigan lawyer who specializes in Indian gaming law. He is an Ojibwe citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community.
Newland said the Trump administration approved a rule governing any requests to put land into trust outside existing reservations. It says those requests should be decided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.
“This creates a bottleneck,” he said, adding that there are not enough people working at the bureau’s headquarters to study the requests and make decisions.
In addition, 15 months into the Trump administration, the Interior Department has yet to appoint an assistant secretary for Indian affairs.
Newland said the department is developing policies about Native Americans without appointing Indian affairs policy makers. He wonders who is actually responsible for decisions.
Cromwell says the Trump administration is working to “detribalize” and take Mashpee’s land out of trust.
A Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesperson told VOA she is unable to comment on the case while it is being considered in court.
Enter Congress
In March, Bill Keating of Massachusetts, a member of the U.S. Congress, proposed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. If approved, the measure would prevent any effort by the Interior Department to withdraw the tribe’s reservation.
“That would be unprecedented,” Keating said. “That the government would take away land in trust from the Wampanoag Tribe.”
In the U.S. Senate, both Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren have proposed another bill.
Mashpee chairman Cromwell says he remains hopeful, but says if the Mashpee lose the case there will be big problems.
“Housing, education, health care, elder services, and all this is at risk if our lands get taken out of trust,” he said.
I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
Cecily Hilleary reported this story for VOA. Susan Shand adapted the story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
casino - n. a building or room that has games of chance, such as roulette or blackjack
in trust – n. a relationship in which one person or group holds or protects property for someone else
resort – n. a place where people go for fun
plaintiff – n. a person who brings a case against another person or accuses another person of a crime in a court of law
bottleneck – n. something that slows down a process
detribalize – v. making someone lose his or her tribal identity
unprecedented - adj. not done or experienced before
elder – n. someone who is older; an older adult
(4)Door Opens for New Tourism in South China Sea
FILE - Chinese tourists take souvenir photos with the Chinese national flag as they visit Quanfu Island, one of Paracel Islands of Sansha prefecture of southern China's Hainan province in the South China Sea, Sept. 14, 2014.
A southern Chinese province’s plan to offer visa-free tourism could lead some visitors to explore the disputed South China Sea.
Hainan, an island province, plans to allow visa-free travel to visitors from 59 countries beginning May 1, state-run media reports. The travelers will be allowed to stay for up to 30 days.
Some experts who study the area say the visa decision has opened the door for visitors seeking to visit the South China Sea.
Zhao Xijun is with the School of Finance at Renmin University of China. He says some tourists might be interested to set foot on Chinese-claimed islands and reefssoutheast of Hainan.
The area is home to the Paracels, a group of islands controlled by China, but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
“This is something for the future. It’s not just for outside visitors, but domestictravelers also will try hard in this direction,” Zhao said.
Collin Koh is a security researcher at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He says opening the Paracels to foreign travelers could also help China politically. It could be a way for China to support its sovereignty claims and show that it controls administration activities in the area, he said.
“It actually gives you additional security,” Koh said. “Because if you have foreigners from different countries all over the world in that place, it decreases the chance of any other people taking rash actions against you.”
Six governments have competing claims in the South China Sea, which acts as a pathway for one-third of the world’s shipping traffic. China claims most of the sea as its territory and often sends coast guard ships throughout the waterway.
In recent years, China has built up man-made islands in parts of the South China Sea, some of which support military structures. The expansion has angered other nations with competing territorial claims.
China is building on at least three islands in the Paracels, an American think tankproject reported last year. Woody Island, the most developed, has a population of about 1,000 people. It includes an airstrip, missile equipment, a hospital and market.
It is not clear whether foreign tourists are currently allowed to visit the Paracels, a spokesperson with China’s travel booking service Ctrip.com said. An official in the southern city of Sanya said Friday the local government website would eventuallypost information on who is permitted to visit the South China Sea.
Lin Qi is an assistant researcher with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan province. He says visitors to the Paracels would expect China to keep the area’s sea environment clean so tourists can enjoy the beauty of the area.
“From the openness to tourism perspective, you definitely need a place with a good natural environment to give it value,” Lin said. He added that if tourism opens up in the area, fishing activities would have to be greatly reduced.
China’s first cruise ship set out for the Paracels in 2013. In 2016, a Chinese airline began flights from the Hainan’s capital Haikou to Woody Island. In March 2017, a cruise ship from China took 300 people to the Paracels. Vietnam protested the move, arguing that it has sovereignty over the area.
Vietnam and Malaysia have also opened up small islands in the South China Sea to tourists in an effort to back up their territorial claims.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Ralph Jennings reported this story for VOA News. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
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Words in This Story
tourism – n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure
allow – n. permit
actually – adj. used to stress that a statement is true especially when it differs in some way from what might have been thought or expected
reef – n. a line of rocks or sand near the surface of the sea
domestic – adj. inside one country, not international
think tank – n. an organization that consists of a group of people who think of new ideas on a particular subject or who give advice about what should be done
sovereignty – n. a country's independent authority and the right to govern itself
rash – adj. done suddenly and without thinking carefully
perspective – n. a way of looking at or thinking about things
cruise – n. a trip on a boat for pleasure