Op-Ed | Karen in America

One of my biggest accomplishments in 2025 was my first trip to Prague, Czech Republic. I decided to spend Christmas with my family there while exploring the UNESCO World Heritage site, where centuries of history meet festive Christmas magic. During my weeklong stay, I walked every day, sometimes braving the frigid winter for an hour while waiting to enter popular attractions. The wait was worthy though—here are some snippets from my trip.

Walking Through Centuries of Architectural Wonder

I had the honor of visiting the French Ambassador’s residence in Prague, a 17^th-century historic building formerly owned by the Buquoy family. The Buquoy family was a notable family of French origin, whose influence became firmly established in Bohemia (today’s Czech Republic) and extended into the Austrian lands of the Habsburg monarchy. In 1918, Prague became the capital of the newly established Czechoslovakia, and France was among the key supporters of its independence. The French government initially rented the Buquoy Palace in the early 20th century and later purchased the property in 1930. My host, the Honorable Ambassador Stéphane Crouzat, showed me around the first two floors, which house the official rooms. From the grand staircase in the entrance hall to the color-named rooms, the décor and antique furniture dazzled me. I felt as if I were touring a mini Versailles. Tiers of chandeliers looked like inverted sparkling cakes adorned with crystal. Guided by my late father’s influence, I was thrilled to recognize several pieces of Oriental porcelain that may have once traded by the East India Company. The music room with the spacious elegance of a ballroom enchanted me at first sight. In one corner stood a towering Christmas tree adorned with colorful balls and glowing yellow lights. Two vivid tapestries from late 17^th-century Beauvais hung on the walls, adding a sense of history and grandeur. Across from the Christmas tree, in the opposite corner of the room, a 1926 Pleyel piano drew the eye and captivated the ear—not only with its elegant appearance, but with its rich and resonant sound.

One evening during my stay, accompanied by my host, I wandered through the 19^th century garden visible from my bedroom window. This garden quickly mesmerized me with its perfect geometry and sense of order—a rectangular lawn, neatly pruned trees (some of them are pear trees) and tiered flowerbeds that embodied the symmetry and discipline of the Baroque style. Strolling there on a chilly winter night added a touch of mystery. Together with a few evergreens, the tall and bare deciduous trees stood like silent sentinels, their naked branches reaching skyward as if issuing a gentle warning: We’re watching you. Behave. I paused to gaze at them. I wanted to offer them an honorable salute of admiration: “Thank you for guarding this noble Prague estate.” A plaque at the entrance to the garden credits a predecessor resident, former Ambassador Alexis Dutertre, with renovating the garden access. The estate underwent extensive restoration between 2021 and 2023, the official rooms, the garden entrance, and the garden itself were all thoughtfully renewed. The scale of the work sparked my curiosity about what it takes to restore a historic site—from construction logistics and design choices to the costs contractors must navigate.

This is Prague. Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “When I sought for a word to express mystery, only Prague came to mind.” I knew little about Prague except for its world-renowned astronomical clock, which mounted on the southern wall of the Old Town Hall in the Old Square. First installed in 1410, the oldest medieval clock is still in operation today. More than a decade ago, when I was an editor in China, I wrote a travel-column feature about Prague for a teen magazine. Since then, I had longed to visit the attractions in Prague. My dream finally came true at Christmastime 2025. My host Jenny wasted no time. After lunch, she took me for a walk through the Old Town. We crossed the Vltava River on Legion Bridge, and from there we glimpsed Charles Bridge in the distance. The old stone bridge was built by King Charles IV in the 14^th century to replace a bridge washed away by floods. For centuries, Charles Bridge was Prague’s only crossing over the Vltava River, connecting Old Town and Prague Castle for knights and traders. Today, eighteen bridges span the river within the city, creating an eclectic timeline of the city’s evolving architecture.

Prague is an ideal place to study the architectural history of the West. I was captivated by every building’s exterior style and history, just as much as by its interior design. From Gothic to Renaissance, from Baroque to Cubism, I felt like a child chasing thousands of fireflies through the open air at night. I started walking in early morning every day, hoping to capture these images with my camera before seemingly endless stream of tourists descended upon the ancient city. Daylight in Prague’s winter is fleeting, and capturing its light is as time-sensitive as photographing the intricate façades of its architecture before a wandering pedestrian inadvertently steps into the frame.

If you enjoy visiting Paris’s Notre Dame, you won’t be disappointed by Prague, often called the “City of a Hundred Spires.” In fact, the city is estimated to have more than one thousand spires, ranging from Gothic and Baroque to Renaissance and other historic styles, crowning its churches, towers and buildings. During my trip, I visited several remarkable basilicas, including Strahov Monastery for Christmas Day Mass, Saints Peter and Paul Basilica and St. Vitus Cathedral. Every time I entered a large historical church, I was struck speechless by the intricate layers of portal archway, the lofty ceilings with ribbed vaults, sparkling stained-glass windows and elaborate frescoes. The giant, gleaming organ on the upper level took my breath away. Within the vast nave, its sound seemed to grow louder, echoing endlessly, reaching deep into each listener’s soul with melodic hymns to God. 

What enriched my understanding of historical churches on this trip was observing the architectural styles: Romanesque, Baroque and neo-Gothic elements were all present in these places of worship. No wonder that pilgrims in the past were drawn to churches—not only to participate in religious rituals, but to marvel at the masterpieces that showcased human craftsmanship inspired by divine inspiration. I wonder if our obsession with convenience and immediacy—driven by the endless interruptions of machine learning and automation—will in fact push humanity toward a decline, even extinction, of true craftsmanship. Real hands-on mastery lies in persistence, patience and the pure pursuit of beauty through trial and error. In Prague, I was able to see specialty shops devoted to bakeries, hats, shoes, books, perfumes and even traditional puppets. Another eye-catching sight around tourist hubs was the surprising number of weed shops. You might assume Prague is as weed-friendly as Amsterdam, but several sources debunk that myth. Cannabis sales are quite restricted in Prague. Still, window shopping through the city was a delight. I become acquainted with the finest handmade artworks displayed in the decorated windows. By contrast, in the U.S. and China, people have long grown accustomed to the one-stop shopping—whether online or in sprawling malls. How can we ensure that traditional craft knowledge and expertise are preserved and passed down to future generations?

I’m High On A Hill

I’m high on a hill, looking out over Prague. Only when you stand above the city do you fully grasp its geographic and military advantages as well as the timeless charm of this old place. During my visit to Prague, I had a couple of hiking opportunities. Several overlooks offer breathtaking panoramic views of the spires and the city’s red roofs, including Petřín Hill, Prague Castle, the Vyšehrad Fortress and Letná Park. On my way to Vyšehrad Fortress, I crossed the river over Jirásek Bridge—the closest bridge to the 20^th century deconstructive architecture of the Dancing House. I was enthralled by the awkward shape of the seven-story commercial building, where glass and concrete twist in defiance of Prague’s medieval silhouettes. Nicknamed “Fred and Ginger” to reflect a dancing couple, the Dancing House stirred in me a nostalgic longing for classic American films.

At a high vantage point, I gazed down at a vibrant city with a glistening ribbon of river flowing through its center. Each bridge was like a chain link, connecting the flow of trams, cars, bikes and pedestrians in the city’s living narrative. I could hear clearly the hustle and bustle of the city below, the swirling December wind, the church bells ringing in a rhythm that lingered longer than I had ever noticed, the rushing river flowing past several medieval mills, birds chirping and the faint whispers of other hikers. As a foreigner in this city, born and raised in Far East, I felt my entire perception of Central Europe suddenly awaken over these few days, colliding and mingling with what I had known about the region while my sense of connection to it grew stronger with each passing day.

A short stroll from the fortress walls brought me to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, nestled within the historic Vyšehrad complex in Prague. The original Romanesque church was damaged by a fire in the 13^th century and rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. Its twin spires pierced the skyline, seemingly even taller atop the rocky hill. Just beyond the basilica lay the Vyšehrad Cemetery, where famous Czechs were buried. Some of the old tombstones were elaborately decorated and richly ornate. I had a booklet that introduced the notable figures buried there, including František Ladislav Rieger(politician), Antonín Dvořák (composer), Karel Čapek (writer), Jan Neruda (poet) and many others.

Two landmarks located at these high points especially caught my attention: the Eiffel Tower of Prague and the Prague Metronome. I found them striking and memorable, and I learned more about their history after my trip than I did while I was there. The Eiffel Tower of Prague—officially called the Petřín Lookout Tower—was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris and was built in 1891 for Prague’s Jubilee Exhibition, which celebrated industry, science and arts. The other city landmark is the Prague Metronome, a giant working device in Letná Park. It stands on the site where a massive statue of Joseph Stalin once stood before it was dismantled in 1962. Installed in 1991, the metronome serves as a symbol of the passage of time and political change. 

Never Too Old To Learn

As I told my host Jenny, I loved museum hopping—my personal record was visiting four museums in a single day. More often than not, I left each visit with more questions than answers. As Socrates famously said, “The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know,” and I felt that deeply. These are the museums where I left my footprint—places I would gladly revisit in the future:

• Museum of Decorative Arts—A rich collection featuring French interwar advertising posters alongside a permanent exhibition tracing “art for life” from the Middle Ages to the 21^st century. I explored objects for rituals, furniture, glasswork, jewels, curiosities, modern décor and fashion.

• Rudolfinum Gallery—a contemporary Czech artist, Kateřina Vincourová, had an exhibition there during my visit. Her large-scale installations were beyond my comprehension until I read the English booklet after the trip. Apparently, I’m a rather dim viewer!

• Klementinum Astronomical Tower and Baroque Library—a must-see in the Old Town. There, I learned a lot about the history of Western astronomy and the legacy of Jesuit missionaries. Inside the tower, portraits of four legendary astronomers—Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Nicholaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei—adorned the walls, honoring the giants whose work shaped our view of the cosmos. Don’t miss the 360-degree view of the Old Town from the top of the tower! I had an amusing experience even before entering the building. Tourists from all over had started lining up before nine o’clock opening. A family of three tried to cut in ahead of me, but I stopped them on the spot, earning approving nods and cheers from the people behind me and a staff member monitoring the line. That’s the importance of speaking up, isn’t it?

• The National Museum—this place is immense: history buff could easily spend a few days exploring every detail. I went there to learn about regional history and happened upon a temporary China-themed exhibition that had run until the end of last year. Titled “100 Treasures, 100 Stories,” it showcased rare imperial collections of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. The famous jade sculpture “Cabbage with Locust and Grasshopper” looked smaller in person than in print. I was thrilled to see this treasure without traveling to Taiwan—an experience like seeing the Mona Lisa outside of Louvre.

• Franz Kafka Museum—I actually learned more about Kafka at a small house, Number 22, on Prague’s Golden Lane inside Prague Castle than from this dark confined space named after the author. I found the explanatory texts difficult to read in poor lighting and on transparent surfaces. One author who caught my eye was Max Brod, a close friend of Kafka. Brod wrote extensively, yet he was lesser known than Kafka. Kafka’s fame, largely posthumous, may have surpassed his recognition during his lifetime. According to the museum biography, Kafka was extremely critical of his own work and published very little. The majority of his work, which later brought him worldwide fame, “was only published thanks to his closest friend Max Brod, who did not respect Kafka’s wish to mercilessly burn the manuscripts.” The sculpture Piss by Czech sculptor David Černý—a bronze fountain of two men urinating into a lake shaped like the Czech Republic—seemed oddly out of place in front of a museum dedicated to a Czech literary icon.

• Czech Museum of Music—a one-of-a-kind museum dedicated to historical instruments and music history collections. I later found that the site was once the Baroque Church of St. Mary Magdalene, built in the 17^th century. I was just a handshake away from a fortepiano that Mozart played in Prague in 1787. My heart nearly skipped a beat! I also loved this little anecdote about Mozart’s impression of Prague: in a letter to his father, Mozart wrote the applause was “more intense than in Vienna” and he was marveled at the audience’s knowledge and enthusiasm. Standing there, I could feel the pride of Prague’s people too. The museum’s temporary exhibition focused on the legendary Czech opera singer Soňa Červená, who passed away on May 7, 2023. Marking what would have been her 100^th birthday in 2025, the exhibition transported visitors back in time through archival photographs as well as audio and video recordings, revealing not only the opera singer’s life on stage but also her offstage life unfolding against the backdrop of Czech political turbulence. 

• Prague Castle Picture Gallery—Inside the vast Prague Castle complex is the Picture Gallery, one of the oldest continuous art collections in Czechia. The gallery displays around 100 finest paintings and sculptures drawn from the castle’s 4,000 artworks. These masterpieces by major European artists such as Rubens and Titian dated from the 15^th to the 18^th centuries, among which a small portion came from Emperor Rudolf II’s original collections. Under dim lighting in some corners, it might demand extra effort for the eyes to study the expressive figures and dramatic compositions in the old paintings, whose pigments have turned darker over time. I enjoyed resting on the comfortable cushioned bench in the center of the room while gazing at the artworks at a farther distance.  

• Trade Fair Palace—If the National Museum in Prague takes days to absorb in full, you might plan on doubling that time here at the largest gallery site of the National Gallery Prague. From František Kupka and Emil Filla to Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau, I spent time in close proximity to their works, as if transported through time and space into the very setting depicted in the artworks. This surreal sensation of intimacy left a deep impression on me. My admiration for these masters of the late 18^th through 20^th century—not only from Czechia but also from Europe, especially from France—grew from a smoldering ember into a fire within me. Inside this rectangular, eight-story building formed around a central atrium with windows shaded to soften the light from outside, I lost track of time especially with Prague’s short winter daylight. After about four pm, night seemed to be closing in. Set near former factories and industrial grounds, Trade Fair Palace was Prague’s first Functionalist building in early 20^th century, originally designed as a trade exhibition hall. 

The most challenging part of my learning experience in Prague was immersing myself in Josefov, the Jewish Quarter. Physically I was ready, and yet emotionally I was not. Judaism was a myth to me, and in Prague, Jewish subjects fascinated me. Pressed for time, I brought a ticket that enabled me to visit four synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was Christmas Day, and my phone navigation was suddenly out of whack—the phone was my lifeline during the trip. Without GPS, I felt abruptly unmoored as if a blind without her walking stick. Questions crowded my mind: How to get to Maisel Synagogue? Where is the Spanish Synagogue? What’s worse, people around me spoke every language except English, and the street signs were not helping—either in Hebrew or in Czech. A jolt of fear surged through me—Without my GPS, how should I get home? I asked myself after failing in my attempts to restart my phone and reset my data. I had to cut short my tour in the Jewish Quarter and rely on memory alone to find my way home. In the end, I managed to visit only the Old-New Synagogue and Klausen Synagogue. The Old-New Synagogue is the city’s oldest synagogue, which has survived fires and Nazi destruction since its completion in 1270. Klausen Synagogue, which was the largest synagogue of the Prague Jewish community, stood beside the Old Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery looks crowded and uneven today, resulting from layers of bodies stacked in the same plot of land for over 300 years. What a striking contrast to the Vyšehrad Cemetery! 

My search for the path home guided only by memory was exciting and unsettling. Prague’s Malá Strana is a maze of narrow, winding cobblestone streets. The city’s mystical atmosphere and richly symbolic landscape have long inspired writers and filmmakers to set their scenes here, including Dan Brown’s latest work, The Secret of Secrets. My destination was near the peaceful Kampa Park, which offered photo-ready views of Charles Bridge. The Lennon Wall—a symbol of peace and free expression—stood directly across from the French Ambassy. My previous visit to Franz Kafka Museum and Shakespeare and Sons Bookstore also served as important clues in helping me find my way home. Suddenly, I felt as if I had become a character alongside Brown’s protagonist, Professor Robert Langdon, searching for clues in this mystical city. Fortunately, my puzzle proved far less challenging than those faced by Brown’s fictional hero. I eventually arrived home without GPS navigation—How marvelous!

Joy to the World from Prague

Before I arrived in Prague, several friends and acquaintances had recommended that I visit the Christmas Market. I soon discovered that it wasn’t just one market, but several scattered across the city during the holiday season. The most famous was in Old Town Square, surrounded by iconic landmarks such as Old Town Hall, the medieval astronomical clock, the 14^th-century Týn Church with its twin Gothic spires, and Jan Hus Memorial. Enveloped by seas of people, dazzling holiday lights, the laughter and cheers of visitors, Christmas carols, and the aromas drifted from market stalls, I could hardly imagine that Old Town Square had once been a place for public gatherings, punishments and executions in medieval times. I was dwarfed by the eight-story high Christmas tree towering in the square. I was traveling alone but I did not feel lonely. I enjoyed people watching and Prague made it easy for me to watch people from all over the world. Among the crowd, I could distinguish at least eight different languages being spoken.

Aside from street foods sold at Christmas Market like Trdelník (a cylindrical pastry rolled in sugar and cinnamon and topped with ice cream), ginger bread, mulled wine and roasted ham, experiencing Prague at Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a traditional festive dinner. Traditional Czech Christmas cuisine includes fried carp, potato salad and mulled wine. I once believed that only Chinese people considered eating a whole fish from head to tail a true delicacy. But no, Czech people do too. In Prague, I saw locals outside a mall buying live carp from temporary fish stands set up across the city. Fishmongers kept the carp in large tubs of circulating water; on the other side, on a blood-stained cutting board, lay freshly cut fish parts. Watching the buyer and seller converse in Czech, as if exchanging precise instructions on how to cut the fish, I felt transported back to my childhood visits to Cantonese wet markets, where live fish were slaughtered in full view. Had I stayed longer in Prague, I would have brought a live carp to cook myself.

On this trip, I didn’t have the chance to taste Czech carp. I did, however, sample the mulled wine. Locals call it svařák, a word I soon recognized on countless signs at the Christmas markets. Served warm and infused with citrus and spices, the wine was comforting and fragrant especially for outdoor gatherings in chilly winter. I skipped adding sugar, though I was told many locals prefer it sweetened with sugar or honey. And speaking of alcoholic drinks, I also found myself craving Czech pilsner, brilliantly clear with a crown of creamy white foam. Its smooth body and gentle bitterness invited more sips, making it the perfect companion to Czech pork knuckle. The portion was large enough for three people. With its crispy skin and tender meat, the dish was so satisfying that it left an unforgettable impression on me.   

On Christmas Eve, I was honored to be seated with my host and their children to appreciate the one-of-a-kind Franco-Polish Christmas dinner. My host has Polish roots and the traditional feast on Christmas Eve is called Wigilia. I later learned that Wigilia is a meatless feast held after the first star appears, featuring twelve dishes symbolizing the Apostles. Celebrating both French and Polish Christmas traditions, my host family prepared a scrumptious twelve-dish feast—Polish meatless classics alongside French seafood freshly shipped from Brittany. I prompted documented the menu to indulge my lifelong fondness for the c’est la vie lifestyle.

• Barszcz Czerwony   (aka Borscht beet soup)
• Oysters and shrimps with mayonnaise
• Breton lobster bisque
• Bigos and Pierogi
• Monkfish tail au four (baked) with potatoes and oyster mushroom sauce
• Scallops with their coral (aka coral scallop)
• Mak (aka poppy seeds)
• Compote
• Panettone
• Chocolates
• Crémant d’Alsace Joseph Cattin
• Sedlák Chardonnay 2022

We spent half a day cooking in a grand kitchen that serves state dinners for Embassy dignitaries. The vast space and top-tier equipment made cooking feel unexpectedly effortless and delightful, even when I helped with the dishes and wrapped a few pierogi. I wonder if this embassy-kitchen experience might earn me a few bonus points on my next job application.

The most anticipated moment had arrived—dinner was ready. We exchanged wishes and clinked our glasses to toast before diving into the twelve dishes. They were colorful: reddish-purple beat soup, gray and white oysters, orange bigo stew, pale yellow perogi and a green homemade sauce paired with coral scallops. Plates were passed around so everyone could savor each dish.

One thing was missing from the menu, however, was my new favorite French tradition—Brûle de Noël, literally “Christmas log.” It was a cake shaped like a Yule log, decorated with branches, cinnamon sticks and red cherries. Its texture was soft and its gentle sweetness melted in my mouth like delicate cotton. After dinner, we gathered in the music room to sing Christmas songs around a 1926 Pleyel grand piano. Standing beside the one-hundred-year-old instrument, I was reminded of two nights earlier when I had stood next to an upright piano in a local pub, listening to a live performance of “Rybovka,” the famous Czech Christmas Mass named after its composer, Jakub Jan Ryba.

An hour before the performance, the pub was already packed with joyful crowds—mostly locals—and I was probably the only Asian in the room. The low ceiling confined the noise, making it feel louder. A sip of chilled pilsner helped cool my body as the room warmed from people squeezing in shoulder to shoulder, a sharp contrast to the outside air hovering just above freezing. When the music began, the chatter dissolved into silence. A small choir of twenty, accompanied by local musicians of a dozen, performed with remarkable passion and coordination. It was my first time truly appreciating a live concert in a pub. From my perfect vantage point, I could watch the different parts of the sound work together in harmony.

“Hej, mistře, vstaň bystře, vzhlédni na jasnost. . .” A short and declamatory tenor voice burst out to my right, no more than an arm’s length away, followed by the piano keys pounded beside me, their resonance vibrating through the wooden floor and into my eardrums like a waterfall of sound you never want to end. The bespectacled pianist, who also served as a conductor, rose and played as if the melody had possessed him, each groove and beat etched into his movements. His hands flew across the keys while his head bobbed, beads of sweat glinting under the pub’s yellow lights. The music spilled into every corner of the intimate pub, stirring emotions that played vividly across the pianist’s expressive face. I was captivated by the sheer power of performance. Despite the language barrier in the lyrics, I could sense the glory and love the choir was praising through its chants.

That same transporting sensation was how I felt in the music room with my host family on Christmas Eve, where we sang Christmas carols in English, Polish and French. The joy and hope of the holiday spirit are universal. Earlier, a local Czech artist had told me that Prague was once home to Czechs, Germans and Jews, but the cultural diversity largely vanished after World War II. A similar transformation occurred in religion: Christianity, particularly Catholicism, once shaped everyday life, yet today Prague is often described as one of the most secular places in Europe.

During my visit, I encountered Prague as a living remnant of humanity’s layered history and preserved culture, standing in stark contrast to the mercenary modernism that dominates superpowers like China and the United States. This makes the mission of preserving Prague as a UNESCO World Heritage site feel even more urgent, especially in an era when augmented reality is becoming increasingly common in museums and retail spaces. Would you travel to Prague to experience the past or rely on synthetic media that recreates the voices and images of those who have long passed to tell the story of our civilization? As historical simulations are increasingly shaped by commercial interests, how can we not reconsider the ways we interpret and value cultures once lost? Prague reminds me why we care for history, for music, for art, for holiday traditions, and ultimately for the soul of humanity itself.        

Looking outside through the window from my desk, I see the world is blanketed with snow. If you get near the snow, you’ll realize it has turned to ice. Only icy snow can crystalize the contour of an object—a branch, a leaf, the top of an iron fence. If it is new snow, the wind has long taken it away to dance with the cold air of December.

I am living in 2025, and yet I feel a good part of my being still living in the past. I dare not to think of future. Future is now. Future is this moment. I am still as falling snow from the treetop catches me by surprise. The weight of snow on the tip of a branch makes the tree to shudder, sending the snow tumbling to the ground. The day following a snowy day is usually quiet. I normally can hear traffic noise from far away in winter after the deciduous trees have lost their leaves, but not in the following day after a snow storm. Even the car passing by my window now sounds less noticeable. The bird that chirps at four thirty in the early morning when I am usually on my way to the gym is singing his love song beneath the snow-cloaked branches. I don’t know the species of the bird by name. I only feel the spiritual being of AZ is with me when this bird sings. Does this live creature embody a human soul? The bird seems to understand my nostalgia, my grief, my ache and loss. The morning birdsong perhaps is a vocal warm-up for the bird, but to me, it keeps me company as if to signal me that you are not alone.

2025 is a year of setbacks and resilience for me. My late husband AZ is with me spiritually on this journey though. He left me a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor and many wonderful books and archives of his journalist career that spans more than half a century. Being a homeowner is a proud privilege. Privilege, yes, the more I know how to live well in the United States, the more I find this country worships entitlement and privilege. I realize what politicians mean in their campaigns when they often proclaim that your Zip code determines your quality of life and the resources available to you. Near my condo, I have four to five grocery stores within 10 miles radius. My close friend Frank who lives in a small river town in the Adirondacks in upstate New York can only frequent one grocery store near him. He needs to travel more than 20 miles to a bigger supermarket in Saratoga Springs. Well, I can argue that he also has his privilege—that is the tranquility of the rural life and the beauty of Mother Nature. In order to maintain a home and fulfil homeowner’s obligation, I cannot stop working. But on January 8, I was let go unexpectedly. While I was between jobs, I reached out to friends, family in the United States and in China, former classmates, professor and old contacts at work. I was hoping perhaps networking might lead me to a career opportunity. To my disappointment, the reality is when you are not at your best, your charisma in social relationships diminishes. I recall the longest stretch I spent job hunting lasted eighteen months. I have also experienced a couple of years of fulltime writing without income. This time, I felt more urgent to find my next job than previous times mainly because I am solely responsible for my existence as a human and a homeowner.

They say, when God closes one door, he opens another. I am grateful to my former coworker and best friend Aeran who put me in touch with her longtime customer friend Javier. At hearing my name, Javier knew who I am but he told me on the phone that he had another candidate in mind, he would like to think through and get back to me. In later months of this year, after I was hired by him in the end, I learned from him that what held him back from giving me the job immediately were the rumors about me that he had heard from my former coworker. There I realize in the United States not only office politics is commonplace, rumors and gossips are tactics used by ill-minded people to manipulate others—for this character flaw, I’d say it is universal. In my memoir “Golden Orchid,” The Bitchy Stuff is a character that exemplifies this moral weakness. Although my childhood story took place decades ago in China, it has shaped my understanding of human nature across diverse groups of people and races. A famous Chinese saying goes: “One must never harbor the intention to harm others, but one must always guard against being harmed by others (害人之心不可有，防人之心不可无).” I also remember in the Lord’s Prayer, there is a line saying: “. . . forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I ask myself, when I trespass on others, do I know it beforehand, or does my awareness come too late?

On February 14 after a snow storm, I started my new job at a local construction company as Director of Operations. Until today, I am still grateful to my boss for his leap of faith in me. He took the chance and wagered that I could serve his company well. I remember at my interview I left him my resume voluntarily but I doubt he read it at all. I landed the job without a resume. This makes me to ponder for months, why am I spending so many hours crafting my resume? Sadly, every webinar and virtual job fair I’ve attended since the Covid pandemic has conveyed the same message: the job market is rapidly shifting toward AI-assisted tools, and resumes are no longer reviewed by humans in the initial rounds of screening. Technology is helping humans to write well instantly and human would rather train a machine to think and create than invest on human’s core skill—learning to learn. I write; I might write poorly but I can edit my work. Now, I am learning to partner with AI to do almost everything. This year is perhaps my closest partnership with ChatGPT at work yet. In my new role, I have taught myself a wide range of skills, from small business operations and finance to technical management and trade knowledge.

In March, the company’s bookkeeping software underwent a major change. Some data went missing during the migration from the desktop version to the online cloud-based version. After I rebuilt the online architecture, my boss changed his mind simply because he couldn’t access the customized financial reports he relied on for decision-making. As a result, we had to abandon the online version and revert to the desktop version. Since the two versions are not fully interchangeable, I had to learn the desktop version from scratch and spent two months to recover the lost data while simultaneously entering new data to support daily operations. I worked more than forty hours a week without compensation during those months. The outcome has been rewarding as I have become a stronger problem solver.

Since April, my journey of lifelong learning has continued steadily. I have taken courses offered by various educational institutions as well as the United Nations. I have earned four certificates, ranging from strengthening my management skills in the green digital sector and enhancing my knowledge of small business finance and accounting, to gaining a foundational understanding of international environmental governance and advising on individual income tax. I enjoy going to school but which school will accept a middle-aged woman who is curious about everything in and out of this Planet?

When I discussed my career path with my mentor, Professor Robertson, he advised me to pinpoint a focus and deepen my expertise to refine my career path. I remember my former classmate once said, you are looking for your next job and your next job is also looking for you. I confess that since I arrived in America sixteen years ago, I have been looking for my next job. I don’t know how I got into residential remodeling; I never planned for it. But when I read the book “There is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America,” I was stunned to learn that the living condition, which were even poorer than those of my childhood as depicted in my memoir, still exist in the United States in 2025. I was delighted to learn that in the county where I reside I can enroll a course for adults to study green building construction. Becoming a fulltime writer is my ultimate goal. Perhaps to achieve it, I must take many twists and turns, experiencing life as the foundation for both financial stability and creative inspiration. Perhaps, making my life in America meaningful is to help the homeless and folks like me who strive to fulfil homeowner’s responsibilities on a tight budget to improve their homes.

At the end of year, I easily fall into a contemplative mood. I know that in the first few years, I will remember exactly how many years have passed since a loved one died. Time is a healer. Gradually, that number becomes blurry, eventually fading from memory. What remains is the deep remembrance in my heart, gently nudging me to recognize that the void left by someone’s physical absence has enriched his spiritual presence within me. Time has lost its power to capture the depth of our love for one another. Similarly, what I have done this year will be clearly remembered in the next year or two, but as I grow older, part of this memory lane will be inevitably fracture and fade. I may not remember every detail of what I did in 2025, but every decision I made this year is a seed for the future—some will thrive, some will die, and some will evolve into unexpected circumstances. I am still navigating my way toward my next career opportunity.

I had the opportunity to visit China this year, my first visit after four years since the Covid pandemic broke out. One of my biggest impressions during my two-week stay in my hometown Guangzhou was the widespread electric vehicles (EV) running in the city. I took more rides in an EV in Guangzhou than in any other city in America. From private sedans to ride-hailing cabs, I saw home-made brands of EV competing speed and battery longevity with one another. Tesla probably is the most well-known foreign EV brand yet in China. But how clean can technology be?

Let us travel to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in this documentary report, and learn about the making of EVs and the dirty business of advanced technology.

In “The Silicon Valley of Dreams” by scholars Pellow and Park, I learned that the electronics industry is toxic. The authors wrote: “The roots of this industry’s chemical base are in the military, petrochemical, and agricultural sectors—the biggest polluters on earth.” As electric and semi-autonomous cars require increasingly sophisticated chips, the extraction of ores, minerals and non-renewable resources will never end. Not to mention, the US government is determined to bring back chip manufacturing to American soil. I wonder how many innocent, underprivileged lives will lose their life working in the chip industry. How many of them will truly have a wellbeing guarantee in the fanfare that promises new jobs in a “clean industry”?  

These are a few questions bothering me:

—Why do governments emphasize on economic growth instead of ecological wealth?

—Why climate mitigation activities, including reducing our wants and demand for excessive materialized needs, are less appealing to individuals?

—Why do we tend to politicize climate action?   

These are only starters. I have more questions during my search for mindful living. In Guangzhou, I saw how the Internet of Things (IoT) was integrated in people’s everyday life. Literally, you cannot live well without a smartphone in a Chinese city. Of course, driving an electric vehicle is only an option for middle class Chinese people; the quantity of vehicles on the road is not reduced. On the opposite, the Downs-Thomas Paradox is still at play. That is, improvements in the road network can make congestion worse if improvements make public transport more inconvenient or if it shifts investment.   

I told my friends in Guangzhou that American cities have fallen behind in EV market not because the gas at the pump is relatively cheaper than Canada or the UK, but the infrastructure to charge EVs is still in its infancy. Tesla superchargers used to work only for Tesla EVs. That is similar to Apple Inc.’s lightning cable which is only for Apple devices. Until early this year, Tesla opened up more chargers in its nationwide network to non-Tesla vehicles. But without Chinese competitors in the US EV market, American consumers may still have some years to suffer from high prices of electric vehicles and the inconvenience of charging them.

As for the development of the lightning cable, I have to give a shoutout to a European Union law to reduce e-waste. The law requires phone manufacturers to adopt a common charging connection by December 2024. And the 2023 iPhone 15 models feature the universally accepted USB-C connectors instead of lightning cable.  

I saw plenty of futuristic looking EVs in Guangzhou. But I don’t quite understand why the EV gets hot inside because of the clear sunroof. This is a common problem for any EV, and not just Tesla alone. In the dog days of summer, if the EV is parked outdoors exposed to the sun, the interior of the car gets hot soon. The car owner usually has to start the cooling system of the car remotely before entering the vehicle. Doesn’t the cooling waste battery energy? This is a big warning to those forgetful parents who might leave babies inside a car. We do not need more tragedies in the clean technology.    

As we approach the end of 2023, how far are we to achieve the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals? I am pleased to find this video from our local leader on climate action.

Are you curious about your carbon footprint? The EPA has a website for conscious global citizens like you to find out household carbon footprint. Check it out.  Carbon Footprint Calculator

The more we educate ourselves about the lifecycle of our Internet of Things, including EVs and mobile devises, the better we may do more to achieve ecological wealth. Yes, ecological wealth is positive growth for generations to come. 

“Many scholars and pundits have proclaimed this era of high technology the ‘Information Age,’ [. . . ] each of these claims conjures up images of high-tech society liberated from the constraints of nature—space, time, gravity—that have defined the boundaries of all previous civilizations. Natural resources—particularly land, minerals, fuels, and water—are necessary factors for our survival and are the root input factors in the global economy. [. . . ] We are as natural resource—dependent as human society has ever been.”

—“The Silicon Valley of Dreams” by David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park

This year’s Academy Awards was “history-making” as the Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh said. I watched only bits and pieces of the ceremony but I was moved by the speeches on that night. This year’s Academy Awards was a major recognition for Asian representation on the silver screen. I thought to myself, if only we could spread this recognition for Asians in Hollywood to every facet of our society. After all, everyone has his/her own immigration story in this Land of Opportunity.

Nevertheless, in this Land of Opportunity there are all kinds of vices. One of them is called anger. From the Chinese spy balloon to the TikTok hearing, China becomes the target of anger by the Americans. Hyperdrama outshines substance. If statesmen are empowered to reason and reform, negotiate and compromise for the best interest of people as they claim, I’m bewildered by the weakness of our elected officials and political appointees. They’re expected by their people to resolve conflicts and narrow differences on domestic issues and world affairs. The reality is they’re overpaid and yield little results. The reality is Asians, ethnic Chinese in particular, bear the brunt of paranoia against China. People who look like Chinese or have Chinese heritage could easily become victims of hate crimes. The land of opportunity now becomes the land of conspiracy.  

https://youtu.be/eQcQrFkBSuQ

How threatening can China be? I received a flyer recently from a Republican senatorial candidate, on which one item of the agenda was “stop transferring wealth to communist China.” This item is misleading the public. American people have brought so many goods from China to save money. Wealth inequality in the U.S. —and around the world for years—is that the very rich are getting even richer, and the poor are harder to get out of debt. I thought I was back to the early 20^th century in the first Red Scare period. If history repeats itself, only the people in each episode of history have changed. If every American has her own immigration story, I’m now seeing the repeated history of a Red Scare unfolding before my eyes in the Land of Opportunity. I bet few American officials and civilians who advocate for a China boycott understand China at all. I’m saddened with tears running in my heart.  

I like analyzing characters. If a fictional character thinks China is a threat, my theory is first, this character has unfathomable fear. Fear is a natural and primitive human emotion. It requires high emotional intelligence to quell it. This fictional character apparently falls short of a normal person’s emotional intelligence. Second, she could be ignorant of China. As philosopher Ibn Rushd said succinctly, “Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.” Third, this character may have been a victim of a physical or psychological trauma associated with China or Chinese people; thus, she cannot come to terms with her past.

For instance, if you grow up in a war zone just as devastating as Ukraine today, how can you forgive the invader that turns your homeland into rubbles, your family scattered or dead, and you now a refugee? Last century China has been through much political turmoil before and after Communist took over the government. China was also once invaded by the imperial Japanese army. During that period, the ancestors of today’s Chinese and Taiwanese people fought together against Japanese. And later after the attack on Pearl Harbor, American soldiers joined forces with Chinese armies against Japanese invaders.

If by the judgment of today’s political correctness, will this historical event be labeled as the shame of the US for uniting with China for global peacemaking?

Will the world history follow what the Taiwanese ruling party does to remove China from the history textbooks and misinform the next generation of world citizens about the contribution of Chinese as a huge ethnic population to world peace?    

This is my 14^th year living in America. I’ve read and listened to too many immigrants’ stories in the Land of Opportunities. Many of them are from Greater China. There have been a great number of Chinese people exiled to America on the grounds of political asylum. Many of them are filled with anger and hatred toward the Chinese leadership. This is not uncommon. America is a hotbed of dissidents. Seldom do I find a happy immigrant story in which the protagonist sings higher praise of her birth country than her adopted homeland—the Land of Opportunity. Simply, if you like your motherland more than America, why did you emigrate? This is why immigrants have their dreams to create and build a new society that is better than their birth country. And yet, this supposedly a new and hopeful society is now facing divergence in last fifteen years.

I cry for those innocent Chinese immigrants who are discriminated against by China haters. But I’m still proud to say I’m ethnic Chinese in front of those who have doubts about China, those who spread conspiracy about a China threat, and those who make personal gains from demonizing China in their brainwashing propaganda.

I’m thankful that I received my higher education in America. American education enables me to understand why native-born American people cherish American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous. In other words, America’s values, political system, and history are unique and worthy of universal admiration. Can America still uphold this moral high ground today?

Here are two current affairs that show me otherwise.

1. Hong Kong national anthem saga

It’s not the first time that organizer of international sports events played a protest song instead of China’s national anthem during ceremonies for Hong Kong sports team and for Hong Kong athlete. The latest mishap occurred last month at the ice hockey world championships in Sarajevo. A Cantonese language protest song released in August 2019 has long been mistaken for Hong Kong’s national anthem on Google search. Apparently, there is no human brain involved in fact-checking throughout the web search engine optimization. Since last December, Hong Kong government has pressured Google Inc. to change its search results to display China’s national anthem. The tech giant refused, alleging the company “do not manually manipulate organic web listings to determine the ranking of a specific page.”

Imagine that if this is a TikTok search glitch for glorifying Jan 6 US Capitol riot, can the public accept the same response from Google for TikTok to dodge the Congress grill? After TikTok hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg from Facebook may have smirked at his milder treatment in a Congress grill? Not to mention that Mr. Chew from TikTok is Singaporean and his wife is Taiwanese. While Mr. Chew was facing the music at the U.S. Congress, Tim Cook from Apple Inc. received warm welcome in his China visit. China or the U.S., which is showing off its exceptionalism toward innovation and opportunity?

Does the US Congress expect tech giants to regulate themselves internally on data collection and usage? How much corporate social responsibility from these tech giants do customers buy in? Technology always goes faster than law enforcement. The Congress hearing opened my eyes about how shallow our lawmakers understand the ethical issues in technology beyond ideology and geographic borders. This Congress hearing also highlights the depth of China phobia in Washington. Perhaps all non-China-based tech companies will need a quasi-party secretary-like watchdog on data privacy that can report directly to the US Congress.   

We’re on a Red Scare groundhog day. As Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is the predicament of my Chineseness.

When big tech companies do not end falsehood and conspiracy, and when governments are slow to enforce laws to regulate tech malpractice in general, we human beings are indeed manipulated by our smarter-than-us devices and algorithms. When professional ethics and the four cardinal Platonic virtues—prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice—are missing in our decision making, there will be no distinction between humanity and machines.

“The Wealth of Nations” is often considered the bible of capitalism, but what draws my attention to the author Adam Smith is his another great work before the publication of “The Wealth of Nations.” In his book “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” Smith defined four virtues—prudence, justice, beneficence and self-command—as this:

“Prudence moderates the individual’s excesses and as such is important for society. It is respectable, if not endearing. Justice limits the harm we do to others. It is essential for the continuation of social life. Beneficence improves social life by prompting us to promote the happiness of others. It cannot be demanded from anyone, but it is always appreciated. And self-command moderates our passions and reins in our destructive actions.”

In my mind, a man’s morality comes before his wealth. So was the sequence of publication of Adam Smith’s two great works. Sadly, today’s American leaders in public service and business seem to have gone the opposite direction of Smith’s four virtues.

2. Avatar in reality

In the movie “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the audience saw an intelligent whale-like species named Tulkun. A whaling vessel led by Captain Mick Scoresby hunted Tulkuns to extract an anti-aging serum. The entire whale hunting operation was like a public-private cooperation. Military forces were on site driving helicopters and vessels. Advanced military technologies were used to hunt Tulkuns. The picture reminded me of the accusation from the US officials for China stealing US technology to supply its military. I can’t say this is not happening but I dare to ask which country in the world does not allow advanced technology first to apply to national defense?

The US, first and foremost, does not easily unveil or commercialize its advanced defense technology. Many space projects at NASA are funded by the federal government, for instance. And yet, the projects are partnered with the US military. The US Space Force is the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. So, can you see how closely the research and development of technology is associated with government?        

This comes back to my earlier question about if American exceptionalism is still unwavering. The Chinese military will have the first access to advanced technology. So will the US military. When the US sell arms to Taiwan, isn’t the US also selling indirectly advanced technology to China? Most countries, including the US, do not consider Taiwan a sovereign state. In China’s narrative, Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Taiwan’s trade with China is far bigger than its trade with the US. Who knows if Taiwan will need to appropriate millions of dollars from China trade to pay US for unwanted weapons?   

Not to mention if Taiwan can afford the arms sale given the fact the economy of the island is declining after the ruling party boycotts mainland China, and the climate crisis will first impact self-ruled islands like Taiwan. Water scarcity is aggravating the island which boasts to be Asia’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer. But chipmaking is a thirsty business. The US is already in high debt. Is it the best interest for the American people to defend a resource scarce island?    

There are also many immigrant stories in Taiwan as locals can trace their ancestral hometowns in mainland China.

Recently a friend from Arizona asked me about my view on Taiwan Strait tension, I immediately thought of a verse from a most cited Chinese poem by Cao Zhi (曹植). This 2^nd century poem read: “本是同根生，相煎何太急？” in Chinese. It means beans and bean stems originated from the same long root, why should rush to boil it? Brothers and sisters should be caring for one another and coexist harmoniously instead of harming one another for personal gains. Well, I didn’t think my friend understood Chinese classics. I told him that in the eyes of Chinese people, the tension is domestic; but in the eyes of the US, the tension is global.

My concern goes to how social media and journalists report the facts, not opinions, about happenings in Taiwan. Sadly, today’s reporters seem to mix their views into facts, and algorithms often pick on the most extreme views of stories. Without professional ethics, any publisher who posts stories online is also the expeditor of false news and conspiracy.

Do you remember I mentioned earlier in my character analysis for why China haters become who they are? One of the possibility is my character may have been a victim of a physical or psychological trauma associated with China or Chinese people. Children and young people, in particular, who have experienced trauma have little space left for learning. When a character refuses to learn and refresh her impression of old knowledge, misconception brings about miscommunication, and it might lead to confrontation.

Well, I’m sure there are Chinese people in this category living in Taiwan and elsewhere who grew up with a family story of revenge and hatred of Chinese communists. They could be the innocent kids then who fled to Taiwan with their families. Today, Taiwanese commentators like comparing Taiwan Strait tension to Ukraine war. I must say our world has already lost a generation of promising future in Ukraine. Seeds of anti-Russian sentiment are sowed in their young mind, and perhaps in their future children and grandchildren, too. For that, this Chinese is in sorrow.

History would need to be rewritten if one denies Chineseness in the blood of Taiwanese people. In fact the diaspora of the Chinese people and even the adopted Chinese children of non-Chinese parents all have this unique Chineseness in them. We cannot define what an American look like because so many Americans have different ethnic backgrounds. We also cannot distinguish the ancestral background by origin of an ethnic Chinese. We should give ourselves a chance to learn from one another and appreciate others’ goodness not vice.

A few months ago when I first visited a Thai restaurant after staying homebound for so many months, I found it a bit distasteful that I was offered plastic straws with water. I used to like drinking almost everything in a restaurant with straws. In fact, that’s a very American thing. Just like a customer is often offered hot tea in a Chinese restaurant in China even though it’s on a sweltering hot day. I never say no to straws in America, nor do I say no to hot tea in China. Now, the UK will ban not only plastic straws but single-use plastic cutlery and plates this October. When will a similar plastic ban reach ashore across the pond?

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how I value the quality of life with less material waste. Three years ago I read a study saying an estimated 1.6 billion disposable face masks ended up in our oceans in 2020. That amounts to roughly 5,500 tons of plastic pollution, and it will take more than four centuries for the single-use plastic to decompose in the ocean. In fact, health care remains one of the largest waste-producing sectors. Do you still remember the disposable personal protective equipment (PPE), the single-use surgical gloves, the medical masks, goggles, and many other necessary supplies that are no longer strange to us? Thanks to the mass media covering how we combat Covid-19 in the past years. Single-use plastic is omnipresent in health care as well as in our everyday life—just like that straw offered to me free.

What am I going to do about my plastic waste? I no longer use straws when I dine in a restaurant. I prefer cooking to ordering take-outs. I know there are many like-minded people making much bolder change for a consumer’s world with less single-use plastics. They are whom I dub “the sane doers.” The EU legislators have taken a much earlier step than the US and the UK.  Back in 2021, the EU banned the sale in EU markets of ten plastic products including plastic bottle caps, cutlery, straws and plates, as well as Styrofoam food and beverage containers. I remember my last visit to Europe before the pandemic, I brought my own utensils and reusable shopping bags. That was only out of my precautious nature. I’m not sure if I should bring my own reusable lunch box and travel mug next time when I visit Europe. But I welcome this idea.

American patrons enjoy Chinese take-outs. Yet I don’t think the Chinese restaurants realize how much money they could save if they encourage their loyal customers to return and reuse these plastic food containers. I think many restaurants that offer delivery or take-out in America should factor in how much money they waste in single-use plastic. A friend of mine once said the food containers in her house could replace her porcelain plates and bowls. She often ordered take-out and she served her own cooking with what’s convenient to carry for her. Well, if she has a business mind, she might resell them to food vendors.

Starting from October 2023, British retailers, takeaways, food vendors and the hospitability industry will not be allowed to sell single-used plastic plates, trays, cutlery, and some types of polystyrene cups and food containers. Travelers, are you ready for this change? BYOB, an acronym of “Bring Your Own Bottle,” may have a new eco-friendly meaning. With no mistake, if I travel across the pond, I will continue to BYOU, bring your own utensil. 

(I went to a Starbucks store one day and saw this sign. Every small step adds to a positive change.)

Try These Planet-Positive Tips:
** Switch to a reusable cup
** Take only what you need
** Try a nondairy beverage
** Opt for an e-Gift card
And. . . 

Straws & Utensils Upon Request at Starbucks!

In English, a good egg is someone who is good and kind. On the opposite, a bad egg is someone who is bad and dishonest. This is what I learn through reading. Eggs are common in English idiom mainly because of its wide availability in our daily life. What if eggs are not available in our community store? What could be the best replacement for eggs?

Since the H5N1 bird flu was first detected in U.S. poultry in February 2022, the virus has led to the loss of a record 58.6 million poultry across 47 states. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a weekly update on the affected birds. The severity of  the bird flu epidemic is comparable to that of the COVID-19 pandemic among humans.

In Europe, more than 48 million domestic birds in 37 countries were slaughtered in 2022 in order to contain H5N1 avian influenza. Two reported cases in Cambodia are linked to bird flu. However, scientists clarified recently that a teenager who died after being infected with bird flu did not have the widely circulating variant that causes mass deaths in wild and domestic birds globally. How can we not raise higher awareness of the zoonotic diseases? They are infections that are spread between people and animals.

Covid-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been classified as a zoonotic disease. The World Health Organization has stated some key facts about avian flu on its website. Humans can be infected with avian, swine and other zoonotic influenza viruses. Climate change and rising temperatures can lead to the spread of zoonotic hosts and vectors, increasing the risks for human population to infect zoonotic diseases.

All viruses mutate but not always at the same rate. Which goes faster—virus or vaccine? If bird flu poses a risk to our consumption of poultry and eggs, will humans next invent vaccines for animals and food as well? Will you eat eggs that are vaccinated?     

Farm birds in U.S. are vaccinated against other infectious poultry diseases, such as fowlpox. But to vaccinate hundreds of millions of birds against bird flu, how many humans will get involved? I’m sure they are good eggs who fight for the poultry kingdom. But I also know these humans have bills to pay and food to buy. With the increase of the egg price, will some families feel burdened as their selection of food become fewer? I learned early this year in some parts of America a dozen eggs cost near five dollars.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of eggs was up 138% in December 2022 from a year prior, to $4.25 a dozen. For that, I wonder if the price gouging is the result of bad eggs. Or is it the true reflection of the equilibrium of demand and supply in the market?

As author David Graeber wrote in his book “Debt: The First 5,000 Years,” “Commercial profit was seen as legitimate only as compensation for the labor that merchants expended in transporting goods from one place to another, but never as fruits of speculation.” Eggs are considered locally produced goods. How far are our eggs transported from poultry farms to our dining table? I doubt the bad eggs in price gouging are chicken-hearted if regulations are weak.     

The Covid-19 pandemic surely becomes a good excuse for suppliers to raise prices. Perhaps the increasing extreme weather patterns, too. Who knows the next mega-storm will be the blame for a price hike on some necessity goods? In the end, all consumers have to bear the cost of higher production costs, inventory, shipping and business overheads. Well, if that’s the case, be a smart consumer; and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

If you type “trash bin” in your search engine, you’ll find a number of trash bins in various sizes and shapes. In my household, I have at least one bin to every room, from bathroom and kitchen to study and bedrooms. Last month the repair of my damaged condo by water pipe burst finally came to fruition. As I was moving out of the condo temporarily to give way to the remodeling crew, I realized the thirteen-gallon kitchen trash bin had to stay in the vacant house. Even if I wouldn’t produce trash during my absence, the remodeling crew would. We, literally, cannot live without a trash bin.

If you visit any Home Depot store or ask the associates at the lumber section, you’ll notice that the Husky contractor trash bags are one of the popular items in the store. The shelves that carry these items go empty as soon as the shelves of plastic water bottles, which are also quickly sold out, in the store. As we make our homes beautiful, we overlook our trash as being more or less not-in-my-backyard (NIMB). Homeowners should know construction trash should be disposed at different designated sites away from municipal waste dumpsters. However, knowing is one thing, doing is another. And law enforcement on homeowners’ and contractors’ not doing the right thing in this country is nearly nonexistent.

Why would I say that? I saw contractor’s trash bags in the dumpsters in my community before. I also saw contractors who dumped their black trash bags into the trash bins of the Home Depot. How often do you pay much attention to the trash you dump? I learned from a store associate at the Home Depot during my checkout that there were thieves who hid the tools in trash bags and collected them from the trash bins when they left the store.

What about all those unwanted cardboard boxes and medicine bottles that have the consumers’ names and addresses in the labels? Do you scratch out your personal information before you toss your boxes and bottles?

When I was in grad school learning about global sustainability, I was aware of how wasteful the packaging industry was. I remember before COVID-19 I saw in residential communities in China piles of empty boxes discarded near the dumpsters. That nightmare happened later on in my community in Northern Virginia. I believe the same nightmare happens everywhere now because while e-commerce is booming, our single-use packaging materials are also on the rise exponentially. Not to mention the retail giants contributing to excessive shipping emissions. I hope the relentless version of “Made in USA” under the Biden Administration will shed light on the accountability of all players in the free market in terms of their handling of waste.

We cannot live without trash bins. It’s a myth that other nonhuman species also produce waste but their waste tends to have little negative impact on our shared environment. But human’s waste, if not carefully categorized, does do damage to our environment. The recent oil spill in the Philippines seas has caused local villagers feeling nausea and dizziness. Marine biologists say some 89 acres of coral reef, mangroves and sea-grass are at risk from the oil spill. Even if we have a gigantic trash bin to collect the entire oil spill, where should we dispose the waste? In early March, the United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of US’s Endangered Species Act. Well, if humans do respect biodiversity, humans should do the fair share to create a better environment for both humans and nonhumans, no?

This is a ten billion dollars question. How to reuse our waste? Please do not send it away to other countries though. A report shows Canadian companies illegally shipped at least 2,300 metric tons of waste overseas last year. Aside from being mindful of what I am throwing away into my trash bin, I learn that my county recently began accepting food scraps for composting. That’s a small progress. If only more households are knowledgeable about composting and regular pick-up services are available, I believe our soils will be healthier and landfill methane will be cut significantly too. Who knows, perhaps if you dig deeper in your own trash bin, you’ll turn trash into treasure.

“On the one hand, one of my own most important environmental ethics is that people should always be conscious that they are part of the natural world, inextricably tied to the ecological systems that sustain their lives. [. . . ] On the other hand, I also think it no less crucial for us to recognize and honor nonhuman nature as a world we did not create, a world with its own independent, nonhuman reasons for being as it is.”

—William Cronon, author of “The Trouble With Wilderness”

Last year during my moving into a condo, I packed several bags of old clothes and even new linens. I had no idea the house had stored so many textile goods until I did a thorough inventory. Out of sight, out of mind. You can say that again. In the end, I had to donate a majority of them to the American Red Cross. But my experience made me wonder how much clothes do we throw away in a lifetime? We dump fast and we also replenish fast. Why so fast? Don’t you bond with your belongings?

My closet has been pretty stable for more than a decade. Unless old clothes don’t fit me only then will I consider buying new ones. I’m blessed that I know how to sew. I tend to sew my worn clothes to extend their life span. After all, I’m sentimental and superstitious to believe it’s difficult to find clothes that I like and at the same time fit me. I knew nothing about fast fashion until I visited a few landfills in China, Ghana, Pakistan and India. I was never disappointed to see mounds of textile waste at these sites.

Why so fast? Do you know how much water, energy, chemicals, raw materials and labor are used in producing clothes that only been worn a short life span?

Today’s garments are made from a wide range of substances, including synthetic fabrics, fabrics sourced from plants and animals such as leather and cotton, chemicals for the fabric dyeing, processing, and finishing techniques, and various materials such as metals, wood, and plastic for hardware (buttons, zippers, buckles, clasps, etc.). The petroleum-based fibers are found in four main fabrics—polyester, acrylics, nylon, and spandex.

So, if you check out the fiber content label attached to your sweater or trousers or bags, these names are not strange to you. As author Jared Diamond said, “All modern societies depend on extracting natural resources, both non-renewable resources and renewable ones.” I often wonder if we will run short of natural resources to make clothes. I’m concerned about materials made from synthetics that can take centuries to break down. According to Ellen MacArthur’s study, the degradation process of cotton in a landfill can take up to five months and polyester up to 200 years.  

Come to think of it, slow fashion is trendier. So, what is slow fashion? Forbes magazine explains succinctly. Slow fashion is clothes with trendless designs and premium, long-lasting quality. Only sustainably sourced, non-toxic substances are used in the making of such clothes. I don’t think shoppers will be against the idea of bonding an intimate relationship with slow fashion and indirectly doing good deeds for our society and the environment. Why so fast? Life is short indeed. Putting on a lasting clothing is to enjoy the beauty of becoming.         

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how we look at fashion. Since we can’t feel the actual sample and try it on, consumers tend to buy, buy, buy and return, return, and return via online shopping. Why so fast? If you’re a store receiver, aren’t you annoyed about the seemingly non-stopping returns and restocking from the same customers? You might wonder if they’re ever satiable.

Do you know the textile industry produces nearly 120 metric tons of carbon emissions every year, which accounts for 10 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions? Online shopping does tilt the scale in favor of the fast fashion businesses; but if you are sensitive to trends and conscientious, you will join the slow fashion movement like tens of thousands of ethical consumers in South Korea and elsewhere. I also hope more Chinese textile manufacturers will spread the seeds of sustainable consumption around the world. If “decoupling” is a hot buzzword, then decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources is a win-win solution for humans and the planet.

I’ve never been to the Atacama Desert in Chile. But I can find stunning images of it on travel websites. I’m also learning that a beautiful site now has become the dumping ground of fast fashion. Tens of thousands of tons of unwanted clothing from Europe and the US are being dumped in the desert every year. South America, or precisely the world, is losing the pristine Amazon rainforest. Are we also losing our beautiful Atacama Desert, replacing it with mounds of fast-fashion fabrics that are usually non-biodegradable?   

Slow fashion is more than a movement. Slow fashion is a healthy lifestyle. Slow fashion enables renewable resources to regenerate and provide humans with sustainable materials. Slow fashion empowers human creativity and conscience. Slow fashion exudes one’s outer beauty as well as her inner beauty through deeds.   

If you are a sane doer, why not take the time to build a relationship with your clothes? Why not brag about your oldest collection in the closet? Why not learn to sew and repair clothes? Your efforts in giving a second life to used clothes and saving water and energy to recycling your clothes are the value you don’t see but is accruing in your taste of fashion. In the Year of the Rabbit, may you have a big bounce like a bunny to find your trendy slow fashion brands!  

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

—Sir Winston Churchill

This week I had an unexpected wondrous encounter on my way to work. It was before dawn. As I was driving slowing on a quiet community road, three deer—one of them was relatively smaller—were crossing the road carefully. As soon I spotted them, I stepped on the brake and slowed the speed of my car. Watching the deer crossing the road so close, I felt so surreal as if seeing a genie popping out of a bottle. As I slowly cruised my car passing them, I saw the leader of the pack watching me vigilantly amid the darkness of the woods. Later I realized perhaps the deer wasn’t drawn to me but the headlights of my car.

Seeing deer looking for food in the woods near where I live used to be common. That was before the notorious “Transform 66 Outside the Beltway” project kicked off in late 2017. I used to wait for the county bus to the nearest metro station for my daily commute. The deer usually appeared before dawn in the woods that separated the bus terminal and the I-66 motorway. Just before the pandemic started, the landscape changed significantly. By then, I no longer commuted to my office located in District of Columbia. Trees were cut down; flowerbeds and lawn on the sidewalk became sand and gravel. At one point, at the sight of bare roads, dusty air, watery potholes and incomplete cement infrastructure, I felt like being in a homeland torn by war.  

A few days ago in the new year, I walked the same path that led to the woods. I noticed rainwater was overflown from the stream, damaging the path that I normally took. I realized that the nearby road expansion project had not only changed the topography of my familiar community but also left a hidden flood and soil erosion problem. A number of tall trees were toppled because of disease and road construction.  

It is wintertime. The scrawny trees without leaves remind me of the season. Without the lush woods, I’m able to see farther and hear much more from afar. I look faraway. A steel bridge emerging from the blue sky. The buzzing of vehicles on the high bridge was clear and crisp. That is the new toll road on I-66. Its birth only reminds me of how close I am to the site where wildlife has lost their habitats to humans. I miss the lush woods that buffer the noises in our community. If winter is here, spring won’t be far behind. But by springtime, we won’t have as many trees as we used to have. Some part of the woods has given way to human habitats and now the billions-dollar road project.     

To my disappointment, the road expansion project does not include a firm plan for the extension of the orange metro line of the District-Maryland-Virginia metro system. Instead, what could have been the space for a metro line above ground, or a maglev train which is a more cost-effective and efficient mode of transportation, now is becoming a toll lane for the already congested interstate 66 highway system.

Have you heard of the Downs-Thomas Paradox? The paradox states that improvements in the road network will not reduce traffic congestion. Improvements in the road network can make congestion worse if improvements make public transport more inconvenient or if it shifts investment. Generally speaking, during peak hours there are more cars—no matter whether they are electric vehicles or not—on the road. They will generate more carbon emissions in total than in the off peak hour. But more highway lanes encourage more cars on the road at any given time of the day. In other words, increasing highway capacity means increasing carbon emissions. Not to mention there isn’t enough infrastructure yet for superchargers for electric cars along the busy highway.    

I don’t know if I will see fewer trees and woods as a result of the urban sprawl. I do know that housing in northern Virginia is becoming more unaffordable. You may say the disease of urban gentrification that I witnessed and lived through in China is now also happening in northern Virginia and elsewhere in American suburban areas. Not everyone is winner in urbanization. The original residents in an old neighborhood usually have to move out (and usually poorly compensated) before the new community to be built.

Recently I watched a movie in which I learned about the legacy of urban planner Robert Moses who changed the landscape of New York City through power and influence. There are many lessons learned from the NYC’s changed landscape. I wonder if power and influence of both the officials and private investors are fully in play the I-66 transformation project as well. Technology is advancing comparing to Robert Moses’ time, but the psychology of power in humans has not.          

When we don’t see wildlife around our neighborhoods any more, when the path in the woods is submerged in floodwater, when our winter is abnormally warmer than what we remember, will our hardwired brains begin to awake to the fact that we are the victims of the tragedy of the commons? Nobody is winner in the human-induced climate crisis.

“‘But what we need is that the only men to get power should be men who do not love it, otherwise we shall have rivals’ quarrels. […] Who else, then will you compel to undertake the responsibilities of Guardians of our state, if it is not to be those who know most about the principles of good government and who have other rewards and a better life than the politician’s?’

‘There is no one else.’“

Plato, “The Simile of the Cave” from The Symposium

It is eighteen years too late for me to read the book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond. If you’re reading the first edition of this book now, you’ll find the content is a bit out of date. Nonetheless, I’ve learned a lot about the rise and fall of ancient and modern societies resulting from environmental change, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners and the society’s response to its environmental problems. The book serves me a good reminder to love and respect the Earth. And I can’t agree more with the author that we tend to forget things.

“In modern literate societies whose writing does discuss subjects besides kings and planets, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we draw on prior experience committed to writing. We, too, tend to forget things. For a year or two after the gas shortages of the 1973 Gulf oil crisis, we Americans shied away from gas-guzzling cars, but then we forgot that experience and are now embracing SUVs, despite volumes of print spilled over the 1973 events.”

—Jared Diamond, author of “Collapse”

I don’t have very good memory. Perhaps that’s why I resort to writing. These days with the help of the smarter-than-me phone, I take photos of the events or things that prompt me to take action. But it might be human nature that out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind keeps happening to me. Even I have photos to remind me, if I don’t see them I won’t remember why I took the photos. So, I begin to make sense why in the old days people need to go to church every Sunday, why religious people say prayers at a certain hour of the day, and why on our birthdays we may have a chance to think back and compare the older self with the younger self. We need constantly to review, reflect and be reminded of in the journey of making a meaningful life.

But what if I’m living in a lie that was made before I was born?

For starter, I read a news story this week saying the oil giant Exxon Mobil’s scientists made accurate predictions about global warming in the 1970s despite leadership denial. The scientific study conducted nearly half a century ago showed from 63% to 83% of the climate change projections fit strict standards for accuracy that the globe would warm about .36 degree (.2 degrees Celsius) a decade.

So how can we hold the liars accountable for the devastating ecological and financial losses caused by fossil fuel emissions? Not to mention that the methane release from Nord Stream leaks last year is a result of man-made destruction and political lies.

We don’t physically participate in a war but we global citizens in every corner of this planet feel the pain of any war regardless of its format, scale and intent. I would like to be your reminder. The potential consequences of modern war and military activities on ecosystem structure and function are huge. And yet, humans only value fatalities tolls on humans and financial losses without giving too many thoughts on the chemicals they deploy in the air and in deep sea.

I think before we aim to destroy our so-called “enemy” in political rhetoric, we could have destroyed our food chains and habitats. To make it more current, who is going to pay for the rebuild of post-war Ukraine? Who is going to restore the marine life in the Taiwan Strait if missiles and bombs are launching from north, south, east and west? After all, Japanese, Taiwanese, South Korean and east coast Chinese people consume and export seafood in enormous quantities. Do you believe without wildlife, clean water, clean air, moderate temperature for humans we can live on for generations?

Can you tolerate noisy neighbors hammering and drilling day and night near your dwellings? You can imagine how wildlife is disrupted in their breeding season and migration routes by human military activities in our oceans and skies. This is my narrow assumption that few military and strategic think tanks in Washington, Beijing, London, Brussels, Tokyo and even Pyongyang will factor in the ecological casualties and far-reaching impact of a modern warfare in the strategic policy advocacies.

For entrée, a recent study published by the Science journal reminds us that if the world overshoots the 1.5 Celsius temperature limit, it could trigger multiple climate tipping points. So, limiting global warming to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius requires more measures on climate mitigation as well. This winter Europeans are following government mandates to reduce energy consumption although the initial reason is not for saving the planet but to combat energy shortages. I wonder if this is a trade-off of a hot war in the continent.

Can North Americans and Chinese people take more aggressive action to reduce fossil-fuels dependence and landfill methane emissions? Municipal solid waste is the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the US. Methane is also the largest component of natural gas, and natural gas leaks are predominantly methane. Carbon dioxide and methane are both critical greenhouse gases. Now, you know the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo ships are contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.               

As author Jared Diamond pointed out in his book Collapse, “All modern societies depend on extracting natural resources, both non-renewable resources (like oil and metals) and renewable ones (like wood and fish).” I would like to remind you that sustainability means differently to different sectors and industries in a society. But to almost all societies on this planet, whether they are modernized or not, sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. There are many lessons learned in the book Collapse as well as other competitive works in recent years. The advances of technology should not only focus on how much more we individually can acquire natural, social and economic resources at a lower cost, but what other eco-friendly alternatives will allow us to meet our needs fairly and sustainably.                

The best gift we mortals can give our unborn future generations is repair and restore our debilitating ecosystem now. We don’t need another war triggered by shortage of food and water and a pandemic. A warming climate can affect the spread of diseases worldwide.

On a personal level, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by, for instance, simply turning off your car engine when you are waiting or running errands. Too many times I see in parking lots or curbside that drivers just let their engines running while they either sit in the car or are absent.

An idling vehicle releases harmful chemicals, gases and particle pollution (“soot”) into the air, contributing to ozone, regional haze, and global climate change. Every gallon of gas burned produces more than 20 pounds of greenhouse gases. I hope this is a friendly reminder that every driver, whether you are driving a company truck or a private car, can do better for our shared planet and public health.