And now a word from our sponsor… 🙂 I’m pleased to announce Capstone’s spring 2020 StudyUSA & Canada Higher Education Fairs, which will take place from 21 February to 1 March in Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Nha Trang, and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Please click on the ad on the left or the poster below for detailed information and online registration.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
About 6.6% of Viet Nam’s population of about 97,000,000, or 6.4 million people, are Catholic. While most are in central and southern Viet Nam, there are still some in the North. Most Vietnamese identify themselves as Buddhist. This photo was taken in Hà Đông, an urban district in the southwestern part of of Hà Nội. Follow this link to read a 2018 post I wrote entitled Catholicism, the Vietnamese Language, & Student Recruitment in Viet Nam.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
As seen on a Facebook group devoted to the work of independent education counselors (IECs):
Intimidated by college deadlines? #EducationUSA advisers and U.S. university alumni are here to help! Type your questions down below or shoot us an e-mail at manila[AT]educationusa.org or cebu[AT]educationusa.org for any questions and concerns regarding your college applications. Our services are completely free! (Source: EducationUSA, The Philippines)
This spot-on observation came from an IEC based in the Philippines: They said EducationUSA advisers and US university alumni will answer their questions. I said:
‘Be very careful about where you get your advice from regarding your college applications. It isn’t enough to be an alumnus of a US university or an EducationUSA adviser. Ask if they are professional college counselors…most US alumni are not.’ Good advice!
This is akin to native speakers being hired to teach English as a foreign language. Because they speak the language doesn’t mean they can teach it properly. Same for US higher education alumni; they definitely have a lot to offer in terms of sharing information and experiences from a former student’s perspective but most are not trained educational advisers.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
Sometimes, the truth hurts but it’s also useful in solving problems, both individual and societal. You know the expression, “The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one.” Here are two key paragraphs from this 7 October Reuters piece about Hanoi’s recent and cyclical air pollution problem and some misguided attempts to deny the accuracy of the data collected by independent monitors and reported by AirVisual via its website and app.
The attack came after Vietnamese Facebook user (INSERT NAME), an online chemistry teacher with almost 350,000 followers on the website, said in a lengthy post that AirVisual was manipulating its data in order to sell air purifiers made by its parent company, IQair.
(INSERT NAME) did not offer any evidence to back up his claims, but the post – which said the AirVisual ranking would harm tourism to Vietnam and urged people to leave negative reviews of the app – quickly received thousands of shares and likes.
Of course, the online chemistry teacher (OCT) didn’t offer any evidence to back up his claims because he doesn’t have any. That’s called shooting from the hip. Or, to put it more crudely, I call bullshit. Methinks the OCT should have put up or shut up. It appears he’s just another social media “influencer” without data to back up his bold and slanderous assertion. What was his ulterior motive? More student customers? Fame and fortune?
Yes, air pollution is ultimately good for IQAir’s bottom line but why would a reputable Swiss company endanger its sterling reputation by “manipulating its data’? It just doesn’t compute. Besides, Hanoi and HCMC do have an air pollution problem, along with a long list of other cities. In the case of the former, where I live, some of it is cyclical, i.e., there’s more pollution at certain times of the year than others because of changing weather patterns, e.g., temperature inversion. The causes include millions of motorbikes, trucks, and buses, and the ubiquitous and never-ending construction.
Just in case you believe the OCT’s unfounded charges, have a look at the result of the US Embassy-Hanoi monitoring station, which has been around for a long time. (I think we can all agree that for all of its faults, the US government has no reason to manipulate air quality data.) As of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 October 2019, the air quality index registered 114, which is considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
Here’s a relevant excerpt from the AirVisual website about the sources of data, which are many and varied.
Where does IQAir AirVisual get its data from?
IQAir AirVisual reports from governmental and non-governmental air monitoring stations. For each station, it always lists the data source, contributor and location. IQAir AirVisual does this to be fully transparent and to give its users a choice as to which data they want to follow.
Oh, and the OCT’s claim that the AirVisual ranking would harm tourism in Viet Nam? That’s one possible side effect of air and water pollution not only in Hanoi but other tourist destinations, e.g., Danang. (The point is it’s the POLLUTION that could negatively affect tourism not AirVisual rankings. Duh.) Then there’s the long-term damage that will be done to the health of millions of people, not to mention the environment in which they live, unless these problems are addressed sooner rather than later. Finally, there’s economic development, which will be negatively impacted by pollution.
In the meantime, I’ll keep checking my AirVisual app, which I downloaded long before it became all the rage in Viet Nam simply because I like to know the air quality of the places in which I live and work, as well as those I visit for business and/or pleasure.
Here are two relevant posts I saw on Facebook last week. (OK, I cleaned up some of the language in the second post. This is a family blog, after all.)
AirVisual is a Swiss company, please tell me the reason why they picked Vietnam of all places and started a massive conspiracy to undermine the trust in Vietnam’s crispy clean air? Moreover, this is what Saigon looks like from my bedroom window… it didn’t look like that yesterday when airvisual claimed 56 points compared to today’s 152. Airvisual might be a scam but are my eyes suddenly blurry or something?
If some of you put the amount of effort you put into defending yourself into changing the small things, you’d have good air. It’s as simple as that It’s OK to admit you f_____ up. It happens. It’s called life. Grow the (______) up.
Breaking news & screaming headline! Vietnam teacher apologizes after igniting smear campaign against AirVisual. This happened the day after the Reuters article was published and picked up by a number of international news outlets, including the New York Times. Gee, I wonder why? Maybe, probably, most likely, because of enormous pressure applied to the OCT by AirVisual attorneys. Can he spell L-A-W-S-U-I-T, I wonder? Most likely, he didn’t want to end up living in a rented room and using public transportation or worse because I’m pretty sure he would have ended up with nothing after justice ran its course. For all I know, maybe the Swiss ambassador to Viet Nam filed a complaint with the Viet Nam Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are limits to freedom of speech. We can’t just write and say whatever the hell we want whenever we want to, especially if it’s not true and especially if it’s harmful to others, in case this a Swiss company. The offender was forced to shut up, thanks to swift action by AirVisual, because he couldn’t put it. Chalk this up as a minor victory for accountability!
Can you guess what the greatest concern is for the Vietnamese? Health (!), according to a recent Nielsen survey.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
Vietnam is the fourth-largest contributor to marine plastic pollution globally, a 2015 study by the University of Georgia showed.
I took the above photo during a recent trip to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 and one of the natural wonders of the world. While the water is often described as “emerald” that is not always the case because of pollution. In addition, if you take a boat out on the bay for a half a day or overnight, there is a nearly 100% certainly that you will see plastic items floating in the water. Most of this garbage will eventually find its way into the sea.
Aside from the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for the sake of the flora and fauna that live in it and the people who consume what it has to offer, there is also tourism, which is ultimately dependent upon a clean and beautiful natural environment, including the water that people swim in.
Sadly, Viet Nam is one of Asia’s five worst polluters of ocean plastic waste with 13 million tonnes of waste released to the ocean every year. The country ranks 17th in the world for ocean plastic waste pollution. According to the February 2019 article from which that information was taken, each person in Viet Nam consumed 3.8 kg of plastic per year in 1990; in 2015, that figure had skyrocketed to 41 kg (Source: Viet Nam’s Association of Plastic). The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) estimated that about 80 TONS (!) of plastic waste and bags are thrown away every day in Hanoi and HCMC alone.
To learn about positive steps that are being taken and can be taken, read the rest of the aforementioned mention article, Việt Nam takes action to reduce plastic waste. Waste is not only a burden but an economic opportunity with the use of existing technology and that currently being developed. There’s gold in garbage, as many entrepreneurs have discovered.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
