What the United States could learn from France about regional transit

June 25, 2022 / Europe / ,

I am very grateful to Magwyer Grimes -a senior studying international studies and economics- for this guest post:

I’ve recently had the chance to study abroad in Lyon, France for the 2021-22 academic school year and by far the most common question that I receive from Americans and French people alike is: what is the biggest cultural difference between the United States and France? Much to their dismay, and instead of talking about the language or the cuisine, I always point to the difference in transportation systems. Upon hearing this, their eyes usually start to glaze over because it sounds like such a minute difference but, in fact, it touches every aspect of daily French and American life. I found myself looking forward to catching a train to Paris or even simply using the metro to get to work. A stark contrast from the dreaded car commute to work or the overhyped 5-hour road trip to Seattle.  

In the United States, the decision to travel between cities or regions essentially boils down to a choice between the plane or the automobile. Both of which are less than ideal in terms of ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Ecologically, planes are an environmental disaster, with one average long-haul flight producing more emissions per passenger than an average person produces in an entire year in dozens of countries. Socioeconomically, someone without a car in the United States is functionally excluded from larger labor markets and, to a large extent, having a social life as many cities lack even basic public transit. 

Well, I hear you ask, what about Amtrak? Don’t they operate interregional routes across the United States? Amtrak does indeed operate many interregional passenger rail routes across the United States, but these routes are often plagued by high ticket prices, slow operating speeds, frequent service delays and maintenance issues resulting from decades of disinvestment. On several occasions, I’ve had the chance to take the Oregon Amtrak route from Portland to Salem which, in theory, should be a simple one-hour train ride in a straight line with few complications. Every time that I’ve taken it, however, I’ve been left sitting in the train for an extra hour or two due to maintenance issues. What’s more, the ticket price generally exceeds the price that gas would be for an alternate one-hour car ride.

In France, the Amtrak interregional equivalent is called the RER, the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network). The RER operates more daily trains than Amtrak and at a fraction of the cost for the consumer. Depending on the region, one could expect to pay around 4 or 5 euros for a one-hour interregional train that comes at all hours of the day. A quick search on Amtrak’s website, however, shows that the Portland to Salem route has only three trains running the entirety of tomorrow, Friday June 25th, with ticket prices ranging from $17 to $45. 

The United States is also severely underdeveloped in terms of high-speed rail services. There is currently only one high-speed route in the United States and that is along the Northeast Corridor connecting Boston, New York City, and Washington D.C. with 13 other intermediate stops depending on the train schedule. It is telling, however, that this corridor is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States and highly successful with over 260 million trips made on the Northeast Corridor each year and a comfortable profit margin on Amtrak’s Acela Express route which runs the fastest trains in Amtrak’s portfolio. 

It’s clear that when provided with safe, affordable, and fast regional transit options, Americans have no apprehensions about taking advantage of these services. But decades of neglect and weak levels of investment in passenger rail have left much of America with the glorified highway system as their only option. However, recent developments give us reasons to be hopeful. 

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in late 2021 allocates a historic $66 billion over 5 years to upgrading the nation’s surface rail infrastructure. This alone won’t be sufficient in bringing the nation’s passenger rail up to par with that of other developed nations, but it’s a noticeable indication that things are changing in a nation previously known for its addiction to endless highway expansion. Lastly, new developments in states as diverse as California and Texas demonstrate the interest in high-speed passenger rail is growing. It will be up to us to maintain the pressure on our elected officials to ensure that these kinds of projects are encouraged and not killed off to maintain the preeminence of the interstate highway system. 

The long retreat from the coasts

May 28, 2022 / oceans /

In a sense, human history since the end of the ice age has been the story of one long retreat from the ocean. I sometimes wonder if this is not why stories of floods are not so common in many cultures globally. Of course, flooding is a common human experience. But vast amounts of territory have been lost globally, from Beringia in the north Pacific, to the lost region of Doggerland between the United Kingdom and Denmark. This is why fishermen can pull harpoons out of the ocean near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

With global warming, this process is continuing. Some of my favorite places will be lost to the waters, such as south Florida. Entire cities are being moved to make way for this process. In some areas, such as China, the challenges are immense. But how can this transition be managed. Canada’s Hakai Institute has one of my favorite online journals, which focuses on marine issues. I strongly recommend one recent piece, ”Letting the Sea Have its Way,” which details the story of how Britain is abandoning some oceanside land. By allowing this terrain to return to the marsh that it once was, the nation gains environmental benefits, while also increasing local resiliency against flooding. This text itself is a selection from a forthcoming book by Erica Gies, ”Water Always Wins.” Based on this selection, this book will certainly be on my reading list.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

How to follow the War in Ukraine

June 4, 2022 / war / ,

Like everyone, I’m following the war in Ukraine. There are many great websites to keep up to date on military events there, such as the Oryx blog and the Institute for the Study of War. But there is also a new site, which provides a daily war map, an interactive map, and videos. It’s called Ukraine Map, Daily Ukraine War Reports, and it’s a useful new resource to follow events.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

The strange and addictive global geography game

May 28, 2022 / Geography, teaching / ,

Years ago I used to teach my ”Introduction to International Studies” class online with a custom-built geography quiz. Students had to learn a list of approximately 60 countries, as well as some basic geographical features. Although this sounds quite simple to build, in practice the instructional designer that I worked with found it really hard to keep the system functioning.

Fast forward a decade, and there a plethora of such platforms freely available. But the most fun way to learn global geography is probably Globle. Much like Wordle, there is only a single game to play a day. In this case, you need to learn the identify of a mystery country. You start by guessing a country for which you know the location. The first information that you will get is how close this country’s border is to the mystery country. And then you keep guessing successive countries. You can see a ranking of your countries by how close they are to your target country. This may sound a little complicated, but after you’ve played it a couple of times it’s second nature. And if it sounds too easy, in my experience it’s not at all.

This is a really fun tool- enjoy!

Shawn Smallman, 2022

Online summer class: “The US and the World”

May 18, 2022 / U.S. Foreign Policy /
This summer I will be teaching a fully online, core class. This is a “no-cost” class, in which all of the resources are available as links, mostly to videos and articles available through the PSU library. There is no final exam. If you want to better understand everything from China’s relationship with the United States, to current tensions between Russia and the United States over the invasion of Ukraine, this is the course for you.

What should you know about NATO?

May 18, 2022 / Uncategorized /

I’ve been on sabbatical for the last year, and was fortunate enough to spend the fall in Lisbon and Coimbra, where i was studying the 1918 influenza pandemic in Macau. When I was packing to travel to Portugal the last thing to go in my suitcase was supposed to be my microphone, so that I could do my podcast. But when the time came there wasn’t room, and I decided to take a break. That time away turned into a more than six month hiatus, but I’m happy to say that I’ve returned to podcasting.

To start season two, I was fortunate enough to talk with Peter Olson, who is not only an old friend, but also the former legal advisor to the Secretary General of NATO. You can hear his thoughts on NATO here. Next I’ll have an interview with someone who teaches Italian, who will talk not only about language learning and Italian, but also Italy itself. I’m also hoping to have an interview with a particular virologist soon, who can share some interesting thoughts on the origins of COVID. Please stay tuned.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine

April 27, 2022 / security / , ,

There are a plethora of sources available to cover the conflict in Ukraine, but I think that two in particular are worth noting. First, the Oryx blog uses open source intelligence to track hardware losses. It’s based in the Netherlands, and is so effective that I have the feeling that even governments rely upon it. The blog also covers issues such as which European nations are donating equipment to Ukraine. If you are interested in objective information about Russian losses, or equipment donations, this is the source for you.

This conflict has also seen an unprecedented information war, one which Ukraine has certainly been winning. In my opinion, the best analysis of open source intelligence is Bellingcat. This blog provides critical thinking and research related to digital issues, but in the case of Ukraine it also provides key data on military events. If you only want to follow a couple of blogs to learn more about the conflict, these are the top two that I would suggest.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

Photo by Chuanchai Pundej on Unsplash

Bananas, wine and the collapse of complex societies

April 27, 2022 / food, Uncategorized / ,

Photo by Alistair Smailes on Unsplash

With the current fighting in Ukraine, and sanctions on Russia, some nations are facing the real possibility of food shortages next year. Ukraine is an agricultural powerhouse, which produces a high percentage of some global crops, in particular wheat. Of course, there have been global shortages throughout the pandemic. The rising price of gas -before the invasion of Ukraine- had already created series social and economic issues from Brazil to Europe. Still, no commodity may be as fundamental as food.

The Guardian has a wonderful article, “Our Food System isn’t ready for the climate crisis,” which looks at how global societies have become increasingly reliant on a declining number of crops. In turn, there has been a dramatic reduction in the genetic diversity of the crops that we do use. Plant varieties may be selected less for their ability to evade disease than their ability to be shipped large distance without rotting. As a result, our entire food web has become less resilient at the same time that we face the greatest challenge in modern history, the dramatic impact of climate change.

There are some scholars who suggest that one of the factors that led to the Bronze Age collapse around 1172 BC (and the end of an earlier period of globalization) was the loss of tin supply routes from Afghanistan, which made it difficult to produce bronze. As we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, if China enters lockdown, car manufacturers in Germany can’t get their chips. As the Financial Times reported in a recent podcast, the world has a critical shortage of some key metals.

One of my favorite books is Joseph Tainter’s, the Collapse of Complex Societies. The work combines both archaeology and a systems perspective to look at how civilizations collapse. Tainter’s argument is that societies tend to become increasingly complex in order to address problems, but that with time this complexity often carries increasing costs while delivering marginal returns. When the costs of complexity begin to exceed its advantages, societies can suddenly become simpler, less hierarchical, more rural and smaller. In other words, they collapse.

I think many people have been aware for a long time how vulnerable aspects of modern society are to all kinds of shocks. But the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a fascination with the supply underpinnings of our global economy. The podcast “Ship happens” has become an unexpected hit, which is unusual for a podcast that focuses on logistical issues and the global supply chain. But I think that if there was just one global area to focus on it should be food, even more than energy. You can work remotely, dress more warmly, or take a bus to reduce your energy consumption. But it’s hard for most urban dwellers to produce much of their own food.

When I moved into my new apartment in Portland this year there was a bottle of wine waiting for me on the counter. It was a 2020 pinot noir from an Oregon winery. While I appreciated the gift, it was almost undrinkable because forest fires in California and Oregon that year had given the grapes a powerfully smoky taste. Whites or a pinot blanc were unaffected, because they lose their skins during the wine making process. But red wines that year tasted like smoke. Besides the impact of fires, the climate in Oregon is changing, which will impact wineries throughout the state. Last fall I spent six weeks in Portugal, which has a long history growing wine in a warmer and dryer climate, using grape varietals that have emerged over the course of more than two millennia. Why don’t wine producers in Oregon adopt these varieties? There are a plethora of options, which would be well-suited to future climate scenarios in the state. But they take time to grow, so that if we are going to experiment with this option, these varieties need to planted now. Ten years ago would have been better, and twenty years ago even better yet.

To the best of my knowledge, only one vintner in Oregon is experimenting with Portuguese, Spanish, Italian or Greek varietals. I think that Abacela may be the leader in the industry (many thanks to Stephen Frenkel for this information). Brazil has made real advances in wine production in the last thirty years, but you would never know it outside the country itself. Wine snobs would probably not even try wine produced in the tropics. Instead, with wine, bananas, avocados and potatoes, we usually still rely on the same old options that we did a generation or two ago. But climate change is coming. If the pandemic and Ukrainian invasion rock our current supply chains, what will happen when global warming seriously impacts food production? We need to rethink which crops we rely on, which varietals we use, and how we supply food on a global level.

References

Lakhani, Nina, Alvin Chang, Rita Liu, and Andrew Witherspoon. “Our Food System Isn’t Ready for the Climate Crisis.” The Guardian. April 14, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/food/ng-interactive/2022/apr/14/climate-crisis-food-systems-not-ready-biodiversity.

Tainter. (1988). The collapse of complex societies. Cambridge University Press.

Russia’s strange war in Ukraine

February 28, 2022 / security / ,

I’d like to share a few resources regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Australian broadcasting corporation has a beautiful storyboard that examines why the Russian military forces seem to be stalling, although it’s very early in the invasion. The “Good Times Bad Times” YouTube channel covers recent events in the conflict, such as the immense economic costs that Russia is paying, and the start of negotiations. I appreciate that the channel looks at information critically, such as the legend of the ghost of Kiev.

What is clear is that Russia has neither conquered major urban centers, nor achieved air dominance; it’s planes can no longer fly over Europe; the Russian stock market has plunged, and the rubles’ value is crashing. Ukraine is rallying its population and resources. Europe is providing major military resources to Ukraine, while turning away from Russian energy. What is remarkable is that there now is serious discussion of having Ukraine join the European Union. Even Switzerland is following Europe’s lead on financial sanctions. It is difficult to unite Europe. But with the possible exception of Hungary, Russia seems to have both alienated its major energy customers, while leading Europe -particularly Germany- to pay huge amounts to strengthen their military forces. Whatever happens now in Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine a world in which Russia could have done more to undermine its national interests so quickly. It’s a strange war.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

How to become a Digital Nomad

February 28, 2022 / cyber / ,

I’ve blogged many times before about Digital Nomads, which are people who work in nations outside where they have citizenship, typically because they have jobs that can be completed online. I first became aware of digital natives after the 2008 financial crisis. Some of my students realized then that they could do their job -for example, data entry for a hospital- anywhere globally, while living in a country with a far lower standard of living. These students began to turn up in my online classes. Chiang Mai, Thailand was by far the most popular place for these students to live, but I also found students to be living anywhere with cheap costs and good internet.

In the years that have followed, Digital Nomads have become a true social movement for twenty and thirty-somethings. They have their own group on Linked In. Entire nations, such as Portugal, have begun to try and court this group, which is ironic. I was in Lisbon this fall, and found that many coffee shops will have signs on the tables near the windows: “No computers at the table.” The cafe owners don’t seem to want people in the street to look into their cafes to see people working there. At the same time, there’s always a space a little back from the windows in which there are long tables, filled with foreigners busily working on their Macbook.

So how do you become a Digital Nomad, or at least resettle in another country? I’ve been fascinated with this question, because I wondered how many people -often in their twenties- managed to figure out all the complexities that come from working abroad. It turns out that there is a network of resources to support these people. If you look on Reddit, you’ll find find subreddits that are filled with practical advice. I like also particularly Kristin Wilson’s podcast, “Badass Digital Nomads.” You should be aware that Kristin has a company that helps people relocate. Indeed, one of her podcast episodes features an audio recording of one of these classes, in which people describe their motivations and what they are learning from the course. What was interesting to me was that many people who were taking the class were not digital nomads, but rather retirees searching to find an new life abroad, not only because they wished to protect their finances, but also because they were disillusioned with life in the United States. I found myself curious to take the course. Kristin Wilson also has a popular Youtube channel about travel, “Traveling with Kristin.” It’s a good source for inspiration, while also being realistic about the challenges digital nomads and travelers face. One recent episode focused on what she disliked about living abroad, after having lived in sixty different countries.

I have a podcast, Dispatch 7, which has been on hiatus since October as I am on sabbatical. But I’ll return to work soon, and will be featuring some interviews with and about Digital Nomads.

Shawn Smallman, 2022

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