海角大神

2023
August
23
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 23, 2023
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Sarah Matusek
Staff writer

Joa Navarro doubted he could outrun the flames. On Aug. 8, the teenager tried to flee Hawaii鈥檚 Lahaina wildfire, on Maui, but was stuck in traffic with a near-empty tank of gas.聽

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how far I was going to make it,鈥 he says on a call.

Then he saw Jackie Ellis pass by in her own car. His favorite teacher at Lahainaluna High School taught him science all four years. He caught up to her and waved her down. After he managed to park his car, Ms. Ellis let him jump in hers.

鈥淗e kind of kept me calm in the way that an 18 year old shouldn鈥檛 have to do for an adult,鈥 Ms. Ellis . His presence helped her make better decisions, she said, 鈥渂ecause I had someone else to look out for.鈥澛

Together they drove to safety, surviving what has become the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. So far, more than 100 people are confirmed dead, with about 10 times as many names still unaccounted for,聽.

Now in Utah, on the other side of the ocean, Mr. Navarro has just started his first week of college. Displayed in his dorm room is the print-edition front page of the Aug. 9 Maui News: a photo of palm trees silhouetted by a fiery sky.

鈥淗opefully it鈥檚 all good and rebuilt by the time I鈥檓 done with college,鈥 he says. 鈥淏ut if not, I can definitely get in there, help.鈥

His community won鈥檛 be far from thought. A freshly inked reminder on his right arm reads the words 鈥淟ahaina Strong.鈥


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Debates can reshuffle presidential races as candidates shine or sink on live TV. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces the greatest pressure tonight in the GOP鈥檚 opening matchup.

Aijaz Rahi/AP
Indian Space Research Organization Chairman Sreedhara Somanath (center) and his officers arrive at a facility in Bengaluru, India, to address the media after the successful landing of spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 near the moon's south pole, an unchartered territory, Aug. 23, 2023.

Landing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the moon鈥檚 strategically important south pole is a major milestone for India鈥檚 evolving space program, demonstrating what can be achieved with modest resources.

The Explainer

California鈥檚 familiarity with disaster preparation, born of many experiences with storms, wildfires, and earthquakes, helped ease the impact of rare Tropical Storm Hilary.聽

Nokukhanya Musi - Aimienoho
Eswatini village girls who are enrolled in a course teaching them computer coding skills assemble a robot.

As a rapid wave of tools based on artificial intelligence sweeps the globe, developing countries like Eswatini risk getting left behind. Concerned citizens are taking matters into their own hands.

Karen Norris/Staff

Books

In her book 鈥淩ed Memory,鈥 journalist Tania Branigan offers a candid look at China鈥檚 Cultural Revolution and illuminates the relevance of that decade of chaos in deciphering China today.


The Monitor's View

AP
Followers of Javier Milei, the presidential candidate in the Aug. 13 primary elections, wait for results in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Sharp economic downturns, such as the one unfolding in Argentina, can sometimes create openings, especially in politics when an outsider promises disruption.

That helps explain the upset victory of Javier Milei, a first-term legislator from a fringe, far-right political coalition, in a presidential primary last week in Latin America鈥檚 third-largest economy. Many voters are fed up with a political elite that reigns over 113% inflation, a collapsed peso, and mass poverty. Mr. Milei pledges to cut government spending, dismantle the central bank, and eliminate half of the federal agencies, including education and health, if elected in October.

His policies may have limited appeal, pollsters say. The reason could lie in how ordinary Argentines have responded to decades of economic mismanagement and corruption. They have formed bonds of community. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all trying to float,鈥 Marina Furlanetto, a gallery owner in Buenos Aires, told Here Magazine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a competitive struggle.鈥

The cohesive strength of local communities resides in the cultivation of mental defenses against despair and cynicism 鈥 such as trust, creativity, and the shared good of self-reliance. Those qualities characterize a culture of entrepreneurship that has endured despite the downward economic trends.

In Buenos Aires, for example, a business incubator supports nearly 300 startups, anchoring Argentina as a fast-growing global hub for financial technology services. One of those companies, Ual谩, reached a value in excess of $1 billion before listing publicly. Some 20% of such 鈥渦nicorns鈥 in Latin America are from Argentina.

During a 12-month period from mid-2020 to 2021, while the country defaulted on its international loans and the economy shrank, investment in startups grew more than fivefold. Overall, the value of Argentina鈥檚 entrepreneurial activity jumped by 164% from 2020 to 2022 compared with the previous two-year interval.

Changes in tax law helped support that growth. But investment bankers and business developers say the real source of resilience is individual and shared persistence. 鈥淎 distinctive feature of entrepreneurs in Argentina is adapting to change,鈥 Juli谩n Gurfinkiel, founder of a flight comparison website, told the investment bank BBVA Spark. 鈥淭he country鈥檚 rules and economic climate train entrepreneurs to act more quickly in the face of adversity.鈥

Lately, an emerging class of Generation Z business creators is adding its own sense of shepherding the common good by starting companies and changing consumer patterns. Their moves reflect frugality, social and environmental transparency, and a strong defense of intellectual property rights.

One such entrepreneur is Tom谩s Machuca. Raised in a poor neighborhood in the city of Rosario, he made a pair of shinguards for himself out of plastic bottle caps as a teenager 鈥 and then built a company. He now supplies hundreds of neighborhood and professional clubs and gives away one pair of shinguards for every one he sells.

Mr. Machuca鈥檚 ideas on business capture something larger about Argentina鈥檚 economic resilience. 鈥淲e can allow ourselves to dream big no matter where we come from and how we are pointed out from the outside, regardless of social class and economic level one has,鈥 he told the Endeavor network, an Argentinian incubator. 鈥淒on鈥檛 look for the best answers, but find the best questions.鈥

The secret to Argentina鈥檚 renewal resides in a disposition among its citizens to build things up rather than tear things down. A disrupter in politics may merely reflect the creative disruption by people reinventing their economy.


A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥 in its various forms 鈥 is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥 whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

Whatever emergency we may face, we can turn to God as a reliable help, as this short podcast explores.


Viewfinder

Maynor Valenzuela/Reuters
A puma licks her month-old albino cub, born in captivity, at their enclosure at Thomas Belt Zoo in Juigalpa, Nicaragua, Aug. 22. Zoo veterinarian Carlos Molina estimates that the cub is one of only four albino pumas worldwide. The zoo plans to exhibit the puma鈥檚 cubs to the public when they are 3 months old, Reuters reports.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thank you for spending time with us today. We hope you鈥檒l come back tomorrow when we take a look at accelerating patterns of American migration through a series of charts. Not surprisingly, Americans are moving to where聽houses are more affordable.

More issues

2023
August
23
Wednesday

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