Water as the Common Denominator for Health and Peace
January 22, 2019
David Douglas
SOLD OUT!
There is no more serious and solvable global health problem in developing countries than the lack of safe water in hospitals and clinics. The need for safe water in Gaza and the West Bank represents a common goal for Palestinians and Israelis at a time when few other issues bring the sides together.
The Washington D.C.-based advocacy organization, Global Water 2020, where David Douglas is a principal, has become one of the key entities working behind the scenes on these two issues to expand safe water access.
Douglas, a Santa Fe resident, will focus on current steps being taken by governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and donors to extend safe water to tens of thousands of health-care facilities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He’ll also describe several quiet efforts now underway by Palestinians, Israelis and international donors to improve drinking water and wastewater conditions in Gaza and the West Bank.
David Douglas leads non-profit organizations devoted to global clean drinking water, including the DC-based Global Water 2020 (www.globalwater2020.org) and the Santa-Fe based non-profit organization Waterlines (www.waterlines.org) which has provided funding and technical aid for over 1,000 small-scale drinking water projects in rural villages, schools, churches and clinics in developing countries. From 2005-2010 he headed the time-limited initiative Water Advocates, the US’s first advocacy organization devoted to increasing public and private support for safe drinking water and adequate sanitation worldwide. This past November, at the invitation of the US State Department and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Douglas spoke in Rome on the appalling lack of safe water and sanitation in government and faith-based health-care facilities in developing countries.
Douglas practiced environmental law and wrote extensively in the 1980’s and 1990’s on global drinking water issues. He is the author of “Wilderness Sojourn: Notes in the Desert Silence,” “Letters of Faith: Memoirs of an Appalachian Conversion,” and co-author with his wife, Deborah, of “Pilgrims in the Kingdom: Travels in Christian Britain.” He and Deborah live in Santa Fe and have two grown daughters and five grandchildren.
The SFWAF Program will be in the: The SFCC Board Room (#223) which is in the West Wing (Administration building) of the Santa Fe Community College.
Past Programs
Foreign Policy Begins at Home: Public Opinion and National Security in a Democracy
November 29, 2018
Ted McNamara
Throughout our history, the degree of our success in foreign affairs depends on our strength and unity at home and public understanding and support of our foreign policies. Q: what did this last election do in this regard?
Ambassador McNamara is the President of the Diplomacy Center Foundation, a not-for-profit partner of the Department of State, building the nation’s first ever museum and educational center devoted to American diplomacy. He retired in 1997 as Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs, but returned in 2001 to be Senior Advisor to the Secretary on terrorism and homeland security. He previously served as Ambassador to Colombia, Special Assistant to the President, Ambassador at Large for Counter Terrorism, Special Negotiator for Panama, and other senior positions. From 1998 to 2001 he was President and CEO of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas in New York. He was Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment, reporting to the President, Congress, and Director of National Intelligence (2006-09). He is also Adjunct Professor in the Elliot School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. A career diplomat with postings in Colombia, Russia, Congo, and France, he has written extensively on Latin America, terrorism, arms control, non-proliferation and regional security. He is the recipient of numerous distinguished service awards and has appeared on the PBS Newshour, CNN, NPR, BBC, VOA and other national and international news media. The SFWAF Program will be in the: The SFCC Board Room (#223) which is in the West Wing (Administration building) of the Santa Fe Community College.
The US and China: A Fragile Relationship Under Stress
November 1, 2018
Henry (Hank) A. Levine
In late September, the US-Chinese relationship took a turn for the worse in economic and national security terms. What happened? What is the state of play and what does this mean for US companies and other American businesses in terms of trade with our single largest trading partner? What is the state of the Chinese economy? Are the Trump administration’s tariff wars justified? Are they effective? Or has the relationship between these two giants soured so much that economic disagreements also affect national security and other interests? Hank Levine is a Senior Advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group — a strategic advisory firm in Washington, DC. As a senior member of the firm’s multimillion-dollar China practice Mr. Levine helps international firms deepen their interactions with government and non-government entities in China and resolve business issues. Before entering the private sector Mr. Levine spent 25 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State. In this capacity he served twice in the State Department’s Office of China Affairs, twice at the US Embassy in Beijing, and as US Consul General in Shanghai. Following his tour in Shanghai he served for three years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Department of Commerce. In that capacity he was the senior China advisor to two secretaries of Commerce and lead negotiator for the annual US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. Mr. Levine is a member of the National Committee on US China Relations and a member of the Advisory Council of the US-China Education Trust, where he previously served as Executive Director. Mr. Levine has a B.A. in Political Science from Bucknell University. He did graduate work in international affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is a graduate, with distinction, from the US National War College. He is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin). Time: 12-2 pm Location: The Hotel Santa Fe (#Kiva C), 1501 Paseo de Peralta Santa Fe, NM 87501
Common Sense Immigration: Let’s Talk Facts and Distinguish between Good Politics and Bad Policy
October 23, 2018
Todd Greentree
The flow of migrants from Central America is a serious issue, but the United States is not suffering a general crisis of illegal immigration. Let’s talk facts and distinguish between good politics and bad policy. Much of this is common sense. Other nations do not “send” their worst people to the United States, rather the U.S. remains a beacon for citizens of other nations who are seeking better lives for many reasons. The total number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.has actually declined from its peak of 12.2 million in 2007.More Mexicans are returning home than are coming into to the U.S, a trend that began in 2009 and which job growth from NAFTA has reinforced. MS-13, the gang that Trump loves to hate, spawned in the jails of Los Angeles, not the streets of San Salvador. The surge of people fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has its roots in the U.S.-backed civil wars of the 1980s, the “low quality” democracies that have resulted in the succeeding decades, and drug trafficking that transits Central America on the way to the U.S. Research generally shows that the crime rate among illegal immigrants is lower than the general population, and is even lower among legal immigrants. The principal implication is that solutions will come not by building a wall or draconian enforcement, but rather though a combination of effective border security, foreign assistance, and legislation that regularizes the flow of human beings into the country as well as the status of those who are here now. A former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Todd Greentree has served in five wars, from El Salvador in the early 1980s to Afghanistan between 2008 and 2012. Mr. Greentree graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz, received his master’s degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and his doctorate in history from Oxford University. He has taught Strategy and Policy at the Naval War College and the University of New Mexico and was a Visiting Scholar at the SAIS Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. Currently, he is a Research Associate with the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, conducts programs in Latin America with the U.S. Center for Civil -Military Relations, and teaches international relations at UNM. He is writing a book titled The Blood of Others, about the origins and consequences of the wars at the end of the Cold War in Angola, Central America, and Afghanistan. Location at Santa Fe Community College Board Room (#223).
Will North Korea Denuclearize if the U.S. does not normalize?
SOLD OUT!
September 17, 2018
Siegfried S. Hecker
2017 was a very bad year for North Korea–U.S. relations as the two appeared headed toward military conflict. North-South Korea rapprochement in 2018 led to a peaceful Winter Olympics and opened the door for the Singapore Summit on June 12, at which Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump stepped back from the precipice. Three months later, however, we are no closer to the denuclearization of North Korea. Dr. Hecker will draw on our historical studies of North Korea’s nuclear program and his seven visits to North Korea to explain why denuclearization will not occur without concurrent normalization of relations. Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor emeritus (research) in the department of management science and engineering and a senior fellow emeritus at the center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Hecker was Co-Director of cisac from 2007-2012. He served as the fifth director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986-1997. Hecker received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in metallurgy from Case Western Reserve University. His professional interests include nuclear weapons policy, plutonium research, global nuclear risk reduction with Russia, China, Pakistan, India, North Korea and Iran, and threats of nuclear terrorism. Location at Santa Fe Community College Board Room (#223).
Mitigating Climate Change
September 10-11, 2018
Wolfgang Saam, Dr. Christof Stefes, Anton Hufnagl, Max Gruenig and Luke Spangenburg
We are pleased to announce a special panel discussion under the auspices of the Santa Fe Community College’s Aquaculture and Hydroponics Club in partnership with Ecological Institute, US; Transatlantic Climate Bridge; and the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum with support of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. The panel “Mitigating Climate Change: Business, Politics and Policy” will be held Monday, September 10 from 12-1:30 at the SFCC Board Room (#223) and feature Wolfgang Saam, cofounder and managing director of Klimaschutz-Unternehmen, an association of German corporations committed to climate protection; Dr. Christof Stefes, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver and expert in renewable energy policy; Anton Hufnagel, First Secretary for Climate, Environmental and Urban Affairs at the German Embassy; Washington, DC. The panel will be chaired by Professor Luke Spangenburg, Director of the SFCC Biofuels Center of Excellence and Innovation Center and welcomed by Max Gruenig, President of the Ecological Institute, US. They panelists will explore concerns about the universal problem of climate change mitigation and adaptation drawing upon insights and experiences from Germany, a recognized world leader in ambitious yet considered climate policies, and lessons shared worldwide at the September 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. There will be no cost associated with this special panel. Reservations are not necessary. It is open to SFCC faculty, staff, and students, SFWAF members and others in the Santa Fe Community on a first come, first serve space available basis. There will be an optional tour of SFCC’s environmental facilities from 1:30-2 for the visiting German experts. SFCC invites program attendees to join the tour. THE PANELISTS Wolfgang Saam Director, Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency Group of the German Economy Wolfgang Saam is co-founder and director of the Climate Protection and Energy Efficiency Group of the German Economy, where he works on facilitating green business solutions in German companies and enhancing sustainable policy frameworks. As an expert, Wolfgang presents sustainable business development in government consultations, business committees and amongst non-governmental organizations. His recent project covered the interplay of employees’ preferences and employer’s programs to implement climate and energy savings activities in companies. Before co-founding the Climate Protection Group, Mr Saam worked as a project manager at the Association of German Chambers of Business and Commerce in Berlin where he focused on energy efficiency and green-tech solutions. He studied political science and public policy at the University of Freiburg, the University of Michigan and the University of Potsdam. His expertise on international energy security issues was published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. Dr. Christoph H Stefes, a German citizen, is a Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Colorado Denver. In his teaching and research, he focuses on European and Post-Soviet Politics. For the past twelve years, he has studied the politics surrounding transitions towards sustainable energy systems on both sides of the Atlantic. He is the author and editor of several books and articles on this topic, notably Germany’s Energy Transitions. A Comparative Perspective (with Carol Hager, 2006): https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137442871. In his most recent project, he analyzes the various forms of resistance against sustainable energy. Anton Hufnagl serves as First Secretary for Climate, Environment and Urban Affairs at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. Previously, he helped defend the German government against compensation claims by the operators of nuclear power plants in national and international proceedings. Until 2010, Anton was an analyst with J.P. Morgan’s Exotics and Hybrids desk in London, U.K. Anton has studied economics and statistics in Paris, Mannheim and Moscow. More recently, he received his Master in European Philosophy from the Universities of Vienna and Hagen. In 2017, he finished his studies at the Hertie School of Governance, where he was on a full scholarship from the Federal Ministry for the Environment. Max Gruenig, Max Gruenig is the President of Ecologic Institute US and has been with Ecologic Institute since 2007. His work focuses on sustainable development in the energy and transport sector, as well as urban sustainability and resilient cities. In 2004, Max Gruenig received his degree in economics from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin, Germany). The main focus of his studies was natural resource economics and auction theory. He has lived and worked in Germany, the United States, Iceland, and Japan. He is a native speaker of German and is fluent in English and French. He is a founding member of the European Institute for Sustainable Transport (EURIST), a member of the sustainability advisory board for NaturEnergiePlus and a member of the Consumer Research Network run by the German Federal Ministry for Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV). Luke Spangenburg, Panel Chair, Director of SFCC Biofuels Center of Excellence and Innovation Center. Luke is a nationally recognized leader in the Algae and Biofuels industry and for his collaborations with educational development programs. He has current projects with the Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Labs, Sandia National Lab, Los Alamos National Labs, EPSCoR and a variety of industry collaborations. Luke has been involved with the SFCC Alternative Fuels program since its beginning and continues to collaborate in developing new, cutting-edge programs. He has directed the Biofuels Center of Excellence since 2012 and in 2015 was voted the second ranked educational program internationally by the industry. Luke also directs the SFCC Innovation Center which creates commercialization opportunities with business to establish new local economic development He is also the president of New Solutions Energy, a company dedicated to integrated bioenergy solutions and holds two patents for algal cultivation methods and systems. Luke’s knowledge of sustainable technologies, combined with his passion for the natural world, motivates all of his work Location at Santa Fe Community College Board Room (#223).
Sultanate of Oman: Beacon of Hope in the Middle East
August 17, 2018
Linda Pappas Funsch
Few Americans know much about Oman, a small sultanate located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Yet Oman hosts American military forces on three Omani bases through a Facilities Access Agreement and its unbroken alliance with the US dates from 1790. The majority of Omanis are Ibadhi, an early offshoot of Islam and a third tradition within the Islamic mosaic. This small but strategic country at the mouth of the Persian Gulf is ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said – who has been in power since 1970 after engineering a bloodless palace coup against his father. Although Omani society is historically tribal, Sultan Qaboos has been able to construct an effective national consensus, in which Omani loyalty transcends tribe. Oman is also now highly urbanized and since 2014, foreign migrants represent over 43% of the population working primarily in the oil industry. Yet in addition to encouraging the growth of the petroleum sector, the Sultan has also initiated a program of “Omanization,” aimed at reducing the country’s reliance on hydrocarbon production, increasing private investment, and replacing expatriate labor with trained Omanis. Linda Pappas Funsch, author of Oman Reborn: Balancing Tradition and Modernization (2015, Palgrave Macmillan), will discuss the history and modern transformation of the Sultanate of Oman, a little known, but vitally important, country of the Arab Middle East. The story of Oman is compelling – a maritime power that prospered as the global hub for the frankincense trade in antiquity. Its unique world view and international relations of today are a reflection of its lengthy interaction with diverse cultures. Oman’s foreign policy today is a product of its history, values, and realistic appraisal of 21st century dynamics. Ms. Funsch is a career specialist in Islamic and modern Middle Eastern history and cultures with experience in academia, publishing, consulting, tourism and travel writing. Following undergraduate study at Marymount College, Tarrytown (NY) and the American University in Cairo, she was awarded an M.A. in Near Eastern Languages and Literature at New York University. She has served as editor of The Arab World magazine in New York, consultant for the League of Arab States’ office to the United Nations, project specialist for the Ford Foundation, both in Beirut and New York, and US Director of the American Research in Egypt consortium in Princeton, NJ. She has taught at several colleges in New York and Maryland, including Iona College, Mount Saint Mary’s University, Hood College and — for 15 years and currently — at Frederick (MD) Community College’s Institute for Learning in Retirement. She has guest lectured at Georgetown University, the World Affairs Council, the World Bank, the National Defense University, Mary Washington University, and Baylor University, among others. She has also been interviewed on the Voice of America. In addition, she is engaged in a number of ecumenical outreach activities, aimed at fostering an understanding and appreciation of the shared values among the Abrahamic faith traditions. Location at The Santa Fe Community College – Room 487