My Experiences in Montana under 2015 YSEALI academic fellowship -Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative

 

Today, the scenery in the morning is the same as when I first arrived here in Montana. I heard the nice sound of birds singing around my dormitory and I saw a deer in front of my room which I never have seen before in Laos. I am very lucky to be selected to participate in Young Southeast Asean Leaders Initiative  (Yseali) in the United States for 5 weeks. The project is conducted at the University of Montana which is one of the most beautiful and peaceful city I have seen in my life. The most surprising and impressive thing about Montana is the way people love nature and try to protect the environment.  Some kinds of wildlife especially squirrels, deers and birds are commonly seen in the area around the University of Montana. If I am not wrong, people here in Montana are providing rights to these creatures to stay with the human in a harmonised manner.

Many cities are facing big issues regarding urban water management, but here in Montana, a natural stream/creek running down at the middle of the town is very clean. As a result, people here can take advantages of the river especially for recreation- activities on the water which people can meet up and have fun. I used to wonder why the environment here is so good and later found out that here they set out regulations by involvements of the citizens in Montana. People here can show their opinions on what they need their town to be. Therefore, they may feel that they are the owners of the town and so, they try to protect them. If people feel a sense of ownership, they will try to protect that thing. The ownership is a natural phenomenon which I probably can call it science.    And one thing I can observe is people in Montana from generation to generation consider themselves as parts of the eco-system. They have high ethics when it comes to the environment or nature.  They have hearts that are willing to protect the environment and nature around them. I will call the love for the environment and nature of these people as ethics. By combination between sciences (regulations) and ethics (the heart of loving environment and nature) makes this town become a better place to live.

Natural resources are properties off whom?- Government? Citizens? Or No one?. Because natural resources have no definite owners, so they are likely to be taken for granted. Many countries, especially developing countries are heavily exploiting their natural resources in order to contribute to socio-economic development. Society today increasingly become consumerism and a throw-away society that produces a significant amount of waste. Sadly, some kinds of waste can still be recycled, but most people/countries do not pay much attention to them. Most waste is being used one time and throw away.  Imagine what will happen if we use up all the natural resources? It will cause problems for new generations, climate change and so on. Fortunately, in Montana, it obviously is seen that people take waste management and recycling as serious tasks which I strongly believe that if my community can manage waste similarly to Montana, it will be very beneficial to the environment.

It is impressive to see people here respect passengers/people walking along the street and people who ride bicycles. I feel like I am special while riding a bicycle because cars will stop to let me go. This signifies that people here encourage those who ride bikes. I think it will be awesome if all cities can do this. Enough for now. Thanks, Montana.