Passport for July 2020

This is an online version of the monthly newsletter of the World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area (WACMB). You may click here to see other online issues or click here to reach the archive of recent issues in PDF format. 

Issues Around the World in the Age of Covid-19

Check your email on the scheduled days for links to these videos

July 15, 2020
Mike Clancy
Citizens’ Climate Lobby

The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Climate Change:
A Silver Lining?

Economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has produced the largest drop in global energy demand since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This drop in energy demand has translated directly into a drop in global CO2 emissions. If some restrictions on economic activity stay in place worldwide until the end of the year, global emissions will likely drop by about 7%, 6 to10 times larger than during the 2008 global recession. Is this falloff in emissions a “silver lining” of the pandemic that will help the world achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Accord? Mike Clancy of Citizens Climate Lobby examines this question in the context of the science of climate change and of current global economic and political challenges. Mr. Clancy is the former Technical and Scientific Director of the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Monterey.

July 30, 2020
Philipp C. Bleek
miis

Helping People Help Themselves: How Prepared Were Governments to Meet Covid-19 Related Expectations of their Constituents?

In 2007, Philipp Bleek co-authored research on how prepared governments at the local, state, and federal level were to meet citizen expectations following a biological weapons attack. Drawing on that research he reflects on the degree to which authorities in the United States were prepared to meet the Covid-19-related needs of their constituents. To the extent that their preparations fell short, he considers what might have been done and, more importantly, what might now be done, to avert similar shortcomings in the future. Dr. Philipp C. Bleek is Associate Professor of Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. He previously served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs.


WACMB coordinates two ongoing discussion groups that address a new current topic each month. The sessions are are free and open to the public.

Click the headline above to read more.


Click the headline above to read more.


Issues Around the World in the Age of Covid-19

The following is the tentative schedule and list of topics for WACMB’s new Quick Takes video program. On the scheduled day, you will receive an email with a link that will take you to the video.


Video Library

If you missed an episode of our “Issues Around the World in the Age of Covid-19” series, fear not! You can find that video, along with many videos of previous luncheon talks, by going to our Speakers, Topic, and Videos page. Here’s what you’ll find:

  • Craig Whiteside’s “Quick Take” on ISIS
  • Glenn E. Robinson’s “Quick Take” on Global Jihad
  • Isebill Gruhn on Europe in Turmoil
  • Jeffrey Knopf on Chemical Weapons: Lessons from Syria
  • Boyd Haight on Global Challenges for Food and Agriculture
  • Larry Diamond on Saving Democracy from Russian Rage and Chinese Ambition
  • Francis Fukuyama on The Global Rise of Populist Nationalism
  • . . . and many more!

In Memoriam: Mary E. Boyken

The World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area announces with sadness the passing of Mary E. Boyken on June 2 in Monterey after a long illness. Many will remember Mary as a dedicated Board member of the World Affairs Council who designed and produced this newsletter, The Passport.

Mary was born in San Francisco in 1930, grew up in Burlingame, CA, and graduated from Stanford University. She worked for Time magazine in New York for a time, and then moved to Washington, DC, to begin a long career
as an editor with the US Information Agency (USIA).

Mary was kind and generous, intelligent and witty. Her absence will be felt by all who knew her.


Welcome to Our New Members

The World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area extends a warm welcome to
our newest members!

  • Jennifer Acuff
  • Peter and Anne Albano
  • Jill Cody and Jerry Grimes
  • Patrick Nevis
  • Ann Pendleton
  • Andrea Quihuis
  • Cynthia and Frederick Riebe
  • Frank Shields
  • Katherine Spitz

CRYPTOGRAMS!

For your shelter-in-place entertainment, The Passport presents WACMB’s first-ever cryptograms. These cryptograms are all quotations that are (at least somewhat) relevant to world affairs. Each quotation is followed by its author’s name. Each cryptogram has its own code, so you’ll need to figure them out individually.

  1. GN GKV’N UVYQAD NY NIPM ILYQN BUIOU. YVU SQKN LUPGUTU GV GN. IVR GN GKV’N UVYQAD NY LUPGUTU GV GN. YVU SQKN ZYHM IN GN.
    -UPUIVYH HYYKUTUPN
  2. YVH BXWWHG RW MVRPV SWH HWLQGHC MVXY BQCY TH HWLQGHL RC BSGH RBOSGYXWY YVXW YVH YVRWZ YVXY BQCY TH HWLQGHL.
    -LHXW XPVHCSW
  3. VG JDX OSIBQ SC Z KXIN CZTSPQ BXZB HXIQSG, “Z GZJVSG JDZJ BSXQ GSJ UGSO VJQ DVQJSIN VQ BSSTXB JS BS HSSIFN SG JDX QYDSFZQJVY ZHJVJPBX JXQJ.”
    -BZKX AZIIN

Answers will appear in next month’s Passport.


This is the monthly newsletter of the World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area (WACMB). Founded in 1951, the council is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization established to promote the presentation, discussion, and study of international affairs. WACMB is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) organization, EIN-770301206. Contributions are tax deductible as permitted by law. WACMB sponsors monthly luncheons, discussion groups, and student scholarships.

Corporate and institutional support for the World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area is provided by:

  • California State University Monterey Bay
  • Defense Language Institute
  • Monterey Peninsula College
  • Naval Postgraduate School
  • Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
  • Rancho Canada
  • Horan & Lloyd Law Firm

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