“The Out of Eden Walk is not one person’s journey. It is a unifying voyage that belongs to humanity.” – Out of Eden Walk Coalition (LINK).
Watch Paul’s newest video which gives an excellent overview of his journey and it’s many connections. If you enjoy storytelling, travel, and photography, as well as topics that focus on global connections, the environment, mass migration, climate change, and people to people connections, then you will find Paul’s journey amazing. In a time when news seems worse then ever, check out Paul’s journey and join his coalition of followers through his blog, National Geographic articles, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feed. I have enjoyed doing the Out of Eden Learn project with students in Chennai and Lusaka.
A new eco-friendly industry is taking root in Assam. With India joining a global environmental movement to restrict single-use plastics, and with Indian restaurants increasingly purging their inventories of plastic straws—the villain of disposable, plastic trash that is washing, at a rate of some eight million tons a year, into the world’s rivers and oceans—the search is on for less polluting alternatives. Enter wild bamboo: The versatile grass that grows abundantly across much of the country and is both organic and sustainable. Click HERE to read Paul Salopek’s latest story, Straw Man.
“Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek is inching into the seventh year of a 24,000-mile walk across the globe that is retracing the pathways of our species’ Stone Age journey out of Africa to South America. Along the way, through a steady stream of multi-media reportage, professional media workshops, classroom interactions, and one-on-one mentoring, Paul and our small team of educators are building an enduring community of fellow storytellers of all ages, who will carry on the project’s philosophy of slowing down to tell complex stories of our time by delving beneath the usual shallow headlines, and sharing the human experience with wonder and empathy.”
Support Paul’s journey through a donation. If you enjoyed Out of Eden Learn, continue to follow Paul’s walk across the world. Please see this LINK for how you can support the Out of Eden Walk.
An excerpt from the latest Out of Eden story. Click HEREto read the article and to see the photos. Paul’s story made me think about my own trip to Varanasi last spring, one of my final trips in India. I was a bit nervous about going and thought it might be overwhelming. I am so glad I went. It is such a historic city, full of life and death I would regret it if I had not gone, especially in light of the changes going on there now. Floating on the Ganges River as the sun rose was an image and feeling I will never forget. These are some of my photos that I took on that trip.
“India’s holiest city, the Jerusalem of Hinduism, was clouded in dust—in powdered brick, in powdered mortar. A worker army pummeled the walls of the Lahori Tula neighborhood with sledgehammers and crowbars, leveling its twisted maze of alleys and lopsided buildings. One of the city’s most timeworn districts lay bombed out amid heaps of rubble. At night, spectral trains of mules and horses saddled with baskets carted away ton after ton of debris.”
“India is a culture of selfies. The men mugged for the camera. My filming only drew more. Until I started filming their feet. This act crossed some unknown boundary of delicacy. The crowd did not like their feet filmed. It made them anxious. And in this way, one by one, the onlookers drifted away.” Click on thisLINKto see photos, video and an interview by Paul Salopek for Milestone 62 in India.
“Paul Salopek’s project encourages young children and journalism students to walk around their neighborhood and be storytellers themselves instead of just having conversations on various topics on the internet.” – Roshni Chakrabarty
HERE (LINK) is a great article from India Today Education on Paul’s walk and the work of students around the world in Out of Eden Learn. I was pleased to see a recent Tweet of mine from Lusaka, Zambia showing students doing a See – Think – Wonder Visible Thinking Routine while looking at photos taken by former students from Chennai, India.
Explorer Paul Salopek is a writer and journalist. He is currently walking across the world for a decade-long storytelling project called the Out of Eden Walk. Paul has earned most of America’s top print media awards, including Pulitzers for his reporting on human genetics and the civil war in Congo. Join him from Kolkata, India 5 years into his walk around the world!
Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia! I am writing to you, on behalf of Paul Salopek, to request your support for his Out of Eden Walk journey. Paul has one week left of a Kickstarter campaign (CLICK LINK) to raise money to continue his journey through India. So, far, he has raised 95% of the $50,000 U.S. dollars he is trying to raise. For four years, you followed his journey via Out of Eden Learn and some of you were fortunate to connect with him via a Google Hangout. Please consider a donation to support his walk. Watch the video on the link and see how you can donate.
“So far, Paul has covered 700 of 1,800 miles across India. Along this stretch of the trail, Paul and his local walking partners are exploring the mounting effects of dramatic environmental change, including climate woes, rapid urbanization, growing communal tensions in the world’s largest democracy, and the tenuous endurance of South Asia’s many varied cultures.”
I am really happy that Paul was able to visit AISC in September and to talk to you. Thank you for your support. I miss you and wish you well. I’d love to hear how you are doing, so please stay in touch. Please comment and tell me how you are doing, or email me at: martin.robert.lee@gmail.com
Check out this great story by the CBC on Paul Salopek. He was interviewed while he was in Chennai last month. Listen to the audio version on the way home or to school. An excerpt:
As a long-time foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Salopek has spent a lot of his life on the road. He says everyone he loves knows this is a part of who he is.
“It might seem crazy to some people that I could maintain family relationships, even deep friendships when I’m inching across the world for five years. But this is not a departure for me. I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Salopek told Tremonti.
He attributes his start as a global nomad to a life-changing move over the border from Southern California to a small village in Mexico.
“[It] taught me that … I may never be truly at home anywhere, I’ll feel at home everywhere to some degree, and that home is where my boots are,” he said.
It was the first rain of the season. It came with fistfuls of blown dust, and it barely wet the sand. Paul Salopek encounters the first monsoon in northern India at Milestone 58.
Milestone 55 features Paul’s interview with the first person he meets when he arrives at milestone 55 in India, near Amritsar. You can read this story on this LINK.
An excerpt:
I met my new walking partner, the Indian nature photographer Arati Kumar Rao, at the militarized India-Pakistan border, and we walked almost 15 miles along the Grand Trunk Road to Amritsar. Amritsar is the spiritual capital of the Sikhs. Arati marched without complaint through her blisters on the boiling tarmac. When I offered to carry her pack, she nearly karate-chopped me in the neck.
The Art of an Interview (photo by Rob Martin)
Paul always takes photos of his feet at every milestone (100 miles). This was a milestone moment for Mr. Martin meeting Paul. (Photo by Rob Martin)
Paul and Don Belt conferencing with Delhi-based journalists about the stories they were writing for the workshop. (Photo by Rob Martin)
Paul Salopek and me outside Karim’s Hotel and Restaurant in Old Delhi. (Photo by Rob Martin)
Paul, Don and me at Karim’s. (Photo by Prem Panicker)
Mr. Martin’s Out of Eden Walk in Old Delhi. (Photo by Rob Martin)
Mr. Martin’s Out of Eden Walk in Old Delhi. (Photo by Rob Martin)Mr. Martin’s Out of Eden Walk in Old Delhi. (Photo by Rob Martin)Mr. Martin’s Out of Eden Walk in Old Delhi. (Photo by Rob Martin)
Old Dehi (Photo by Rob Martin)
Jama Masjid Mosque (Photo by Rob Martin)
A poster for the National Geographic workshop on Slow Journalism. (Photo by Rob Martin)
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today. Readthis articleon History.com.
Silk production, or sericulture, is the nearly 5000 year old process that supplies the world with its most prized threads.
Paul Salopek has spent many months walking through the ancient Silk Road region of Central Asia. He has written a nice article about it HERE (CLICK LINK). Read his article and watch the longer video on his blog post.
Paul Salopek is one of the few people to have crossed a roadless, mountainous part of Afghanistan by foot. The journalist had previously reported there during the war. But as part of his Out of Eden walk around the world, he’s encountered a completely different Afghanistan than the one he had come to know. Hari Sreenivasan from PBS NewsHour talks with Salopek about the latest leg of his journey and what’s next. Click HERE to read the story.
Have a nice long weekend and see you on Monday (2G Day). All students should have have written their reflection for their Trimester 1 summative assessment (Why do people migrate?). That should be on your e-portfolio. If you have not finished it, please do it this weekend. Otherwise, there is not homework. I am sharing a few photos of Paul Salopek from his journey. He is currently Pakistan.
Paul’s most recent blog posts, Walking the Wild Rim of War and Heart Like a Wheel feature his journey in Afghanistan. His photos and videos are amazing and show a part of the world we often associate with war. Here is a quote that I found very interesting when he described the process of turning wheat into flour to make bread:
“Isolated by 20,000-foot mountains and years of civil war, and rich in tumbling glacial creeks, the people of this remote territory of Badakhshan Province depend on the flexed green muscle of running water to survive—to eat.”
Check out the videos. Not many people are living this way in anymore. It’s a land far removed from the comforts and access to technology we have in our lives.
The “UN Group” – South Korea, Germany, Thailand, France, and Japan
Looks like an Apple Store with a better view of the palm trees!
A friendly visitor in class.
In class we are answering the compelling question: Why do people move or migrate? We are seeking connections to Paul Salopek’s Out of Eden Walk as we build some background knowledge on his motivation for his 9-10 year walk that will follow the path of human migration. In class students are conducting research that focuses on migration during four different time periods: ancient history, the “Great Migration” (African-Americans in the U.S.A.), Vietnam and the boat people, and Syrian refugees. We want to learn about where they migrated to, why they migrated, and what challenges they faced.
Here are two current photos from Paul’s walk in Tajikistan. Here is a current story from Paul’s walk,The Ruby Sellers of Vrang. All students should be finished with posting footstep #1, Setting Off, for Out of Eden Learn. You should also be engaging in conversations with other students from other schools in our walking party. We will do Footstep #2 after the vacation.
If you find interesting stories, maps or links that help answer this question, please let me know and I will add it to my list of resources. As we try to understand Paul Salopek’s goal of following the path of ancient human migration, we will look to make connections with our world today.
Here are a few photos of your work on your snapshot autobiography from class on Thursday and Friday. Most of you nearly finished in class. Finish them before class on Monday and Tuesday and be prepared to share them with your classmates. Review the expectations and rubric that has been emailed to you and also shared on PowerSchool. Out of Eden Learn begins next week! More details will be provided in class.
National Geographic Education hosted a live event last night where teachers and students could ask Paul Salopek questions about his journey. He got quite a few new questions in this interview from Bishkek, where he is spending the winter months. Check it out!
In class we have been learning about the Silk Road. Here is a new articleabout Paul Salopek and his walk. You can also listen to the interview with him as well. Here is a scriptof the interview. In his article, he says this about the Silk Road and globalization, something we will discuss this week:
For the past year, Salopek has been following the ancient Silk Road trade routes that once connected China to Mediterranean. Merchants used to move precious cloths and spices. Now they move precious oil and gas. Globalization has made it possible to extract the region’s abundant natural resources, which has brought prosperity to a small but growing middle class in the region. However, that prosperity has also created resentment. Many locals are being left behind.
“That’s happening in North America too, of course,” he tells Chattopadhyay (the interviewer). “That’s what’s driving some of these movements against globalization.”
I hope you enjoyed the Google Hangout with Paul Salopek today. I received many good questions via email and will save them for future ‘hangouts.’ If you want to see the places where our students asked questions, skip to 22:54 (EJ) and 41:44 (Amy). Here is an excerpt of what Paul said:
EJ: What is trade like on the New Silk Road?
Paul: Cool! That’s a really good question. That’s a great question because when you mention the two words Silk Road together you have images of camels…and yet the Silk Roads continue today and that’s something I am writing about now. China has invested trillions of dollars in something called the “One Road, One Belt” project. It’s the most expensive infrastructure project in the history of the world, and it’s designed to tie Europe and Asia together with shipping routes, highways, and railroads throughout the Eurasian continent. From foot level today, it looks like Turkish trucks roaring past on a highway built by South Koreans. It looks like railroads built partly by Australian technology that are being plied by trains from Belarus. So what it is…is a miniature snapshot of globalization….”
Students – We have an exciting opportunity tomorrow at 10:30am in the CIC. Paul Salopek and Out of Eden Learn will be hosting a LIVE Google Hangout Question and Answer (Q & A) session for students and teachers. He is in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Please comment here or send me a question you would like to ask. He has been walking the the ancient routes of the Silk Roads, so this is also a great opportunity to ask him questions about this topic. Your A block teacher will release you to go to the CIC. Here is a great CNN story about the Silk Roads today with interactive maps and stories about the countries along the present day ancient networks for the Silk Roads. Click HEREto see the stories.
"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
- Maya Angelou
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