Archive for December, 2009

Fear and Loathing at U.S. Customs – A Profiling Experience?

Posted on: December 31st, 2009 by Geoff Livingston 11 Comments
Geek_err_terrorist.jpg

The above photo features me nine hours before my international flight to Washington, DC

Many have heard about the “crackdown” on international flight security since the failed Al Qaeda Christmas day attack. And after my experience, there’s much to fear and loathe entering the United States.

Flying back from a fantastic one month trek through Argentina, the Buenos Aires International airport was backlogged with hard core security lines, a result of new provisions for U.S. bound flights. This was an unpleasant, nasty experience, but frankly expected after the well publicized news that U.S. in-bound security had reached new levels of strictness.

What was not expected was the unusually nasty Customs and Border Patrol experience AFTER the flight at Washington Dulles. Apparently, even after you land & you are a U.S. citizen, you will be heavily screened as a potential terrorist.

It was clear that I had been profiled. I currently have a nice tan, a two day beard and am a dark looking Jew. My thick Philadelphia accent is a clear marker for the Middle East, too.

The first Customs agent looked at my seven year old passport and asked me to lift my beanie to check my hairline to match the photo (seriously I am balder. Please forgive me.). Then I was grilled me about why I shaved my goatee seven years ago… Ironically, I had to provide a new picture and finger prints (this has privacy issues in its own right) one month ago at the same facility on return from France. Guess the agent hadn’t looked at the screen or DHS hadn’t updated my profile.

After, a couple minute grilling, I was cleared to get my bags. I did, and then got the fifth degree again upon exit. I was asked why I was abroad for a month, what I was doing in Argentina, etc. The process was clearly heading to full-on bag inspection until the agent asked my profession and then grilled me on what a blogger was. As soon as Twitter and Facebook were mentioned, I was cleared to go with a suddenly amiable attitude.

Dear Customs Agent: Too late.

Mind you, I am a U.S. citizen. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be foreign citizen coming into the United States. Especially, a swarthy fellow with a “questionable” passport.

It seems to me the Obama Administration, and in particular DHS, has already given a victory to Al Qaeda with this kind of post flight treatment. In my mind, a crackdown like this, a reaction to the Christmas Day attack, finds its basis in fear and not logic. As a result, we hurt our travel industry and our global reputation with Draconian measures.

In fact, perhaps reviewing and improving measures should have occurred first rather than simply “cracking down” with more bad and useless procedures. I’m just going to say that the Department of Homeland Security has overemphasized post flight security, which does nothing to stop airplane incidents and hurts the travel industry. Instead of acting out of fear, we should act more mindfully and address the causes of terrorism.

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Frustrated Over Copenhagen? Then Change.

Posted on: December 21st, 2009 by Geoff Livingston

Monastics Play Volleyball, Too!

The conference ended with a controversial deal, an unfunded U.S. commitment to provide monies for developing countries that engage in green developments. The accord offered some progress. Yet critics have good cause to be angered. Nothing that the world’s biggest carbon producing offenders — the United States and China — agreed to offers substantive change in their own actions.

Though the pact may finally yield a U.S. legislative action, the irony of the situation cannot be ignored. Here we are telling other countries to change their policies — incentivized by unbudgeted and at this point non-existant U.S. dollars — when we can’t change our own behavior or laws.

Once again, Copenhagen demonstrated politicians cannot be considered the serious answer to the worldùs environmental problem. They will only follow the general public’s will. In that sense, Copenhagen offered the ideal result mirroring our public attitude: An agreement that acknowledges there’s a serious problem, but doesn’t actually do much.

If you’re angry about Copenhagen, then it’s time to turn your suffering into something substantive: Personal change and action. Only through our own actions and increased conversations can we affect global environmental progress. Each action can cause another person to change their own behavior, and eventually general public opinion and societal norms. It’s been done before. Consider how much of a faux paux public littering has become.

There are so many great places to start. There’s an environmental organization for almost every political temperment. Or if you’d like, join me and my friends at Live Earth for the Dow Run for Water. Whatever you do, don’t settle for Copenhagen angst. Do something positive for the environment today, and let change begin with us.

Geoff Livingston is a regular contributor to the Live Earth blog.

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Copenhagen: Empty Gestures or Real Action?

Posted on: December 7th, 2009 by Geoff Livingston 4 Comments

Walking Uphill

The UN Copenhagen Conference to negotiate a new global environment treaty begins today. And my mind wonders north and east across the entirety of the Atlantic Ocean. I imagine these political types gathering, making great statements and pronouncing real hope. However, as CNN reported this weekend, the gathering is unlikely to yield a new world pact.

While every person in attendance at Copenhagen will surely admit the severe nature of the environmental crisis, few will be empowered to act. That includes Obama. Politically speaking, economic prosperity and “defense” still outweigh eco-initiatives in most every country. Individually, we have not brought enough pressure to bear on our governments to cause movement.

I recently saw Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh speak about Copenhagen, and he had an interesting perspective. From the politician’s point of view, it would take great courage to take strong measures. It would mean acting against the general will of the people. For while we are aware of the problem, people don’t want to stop consuming. In the U.S.A. we consume well beyond our needs, while throughout the world in developing countries like India, Brazil and China, people strive to match our consumption.

The environmental problem remains second to our individual welfare. Instead, economic prosperity and national defense – protecting our well being – comes first. The environment is a weak cousin we choose to pay attention to when its convenient for us.

We have not awaken to the terrible impact our consumption is having on the world. With 6.8 billion people consuming as Americans do, we need five earths to match our current consumption… Imagine how much we will need in 30 years when there are 9.2 billion of us?

Yet, these things need not be disparate. Imagine if we invested more in green technologies and transitioned to sustainable, renewable energy sources. Just ¼ of our defense monies reallocated in this fashion would make a huge impact on carbon emissions. In the U.S. consider all of the actions we are currently engaged in… What would make a better contribution to world peace, sustained action in Iraq or investment in next generation renewable energy technologies?

What if we reviewed our Western eating habits and moved towards more mindful consumption of our land resources, reducing carbon producing industrial poultry and beef centers and ate more vegetarian? I’m not suggesting abstinence, just moderation. Do we really need to eat meat at every meal?

Yes, to act in such a fashion at Copenhagen would be courageous. Perhaps, its simply too much to hope for… At least until we as individuals across the globe wake up to the severity of this issue and start making changes within our own lives.

Today, I am leaving Buenos Aires for El Calafate in Patagonia. There I will begin a two-week ecotour. Every time I am out in nature, I see beautiful things that just astound me. And increasingly, I see the signs of climate change on our most precious resources making the trips somewhat bittersweet.

When I return, the Copenhagen conference will have ended. I will be curious to see how things turned out, and what lies next for the environmental movement. I will never be a George Washington Hayduke, preferring nonviolent action and pressures. May the politicians negotiating our environmental future have the courage and the heart to act before we realize how much general public and personal apathy has hurt our collective future.

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