Chinggis Khan, World History and the US Ambassador to Mongolia!

Friends, Moms and Dads, Family and those with an interest in our Mongolia exchange,

Some memories from a day in Ulan Baatar, June 20, 2011

Our group of 28 US teens and 29 Mongolian teens traversed 1.5 - 2 miles of streets to reach the Star Apartment complex in downtown Ulan Baatar Monday afternoon. It was seasonably hot, perhaps 95 as we walked through various neighborhoods to reach the US Embassy. There were several welcomes and presentations in the afternoon. One was specifically related to the Millenium Challenge Project which is helping develop infrastructure related to energy use and decreases in air pollution in Ulaanbaatar Baatar. With many rural people coming to live in and around UB the past decade a tremendous increase in air pollution has occurred here due to burning of coal in their semi nomadic homes. We learned the UB is ranked as the number one Capitol city in the world with the worst air pollution. IN the US pollution standards for particulate matter (dust and materials resulting from burning fossil fuels), is 40 ppm. Exceeding this volume of particulate matter is considered hazardous to human health. No doubt Fairbanks, Juneau's Mendenhall Valley and several other places in the western US sometimes exceed this during the winter months with cold temperatures, inversion layers, no wind to move the pollution out of valleys and the high incidence of burning unseasoned wood and sometimes coal. We learned that UB has had pollution levels ten times this rate due to very arid surrounding land, lack of vegetation to hold soil in place and most importantly burning coal in very inefficient stoves.

In the winter months pollution levels sometimes even reach 20 times this rate with 800 ppm recorded.

It's estimated that people living in UB inhale 20 pounds of coal dust every year! The Millenium Challenge Project is attempting to provide
more fuel efficient stoves along with coal that has been turned into briquettes which is somewhat cleaner to burn instead of "raw" coal. We are fortunate not to be here in the winter.

A second presentation helped introduce us to the significance of Mongolia's very long history and historical perspectives of Chengis Khan. Jack Weatherford, professor from Un. Of Minnesota and author of several books on Chengis Khan including "Chengis Khan, Creation of the Modern World," and "Secret Life of the Mongel Queens," gave a stimulating and informative presentation. A few gems of interest about the Mongol Empire:
Chengis Khan (often seen as Ghengis Khan in western writing), was born in 1162. After his father was murdered soon afterwards, his mother and brother were forced to scavenge on the steppe for survival. He learned the value of building strong relationships in his youth. As a young man he made alliances easily, was charismati and had natural qualities of leadership. in 1189 Mogul leaders proclaimed him Great Khan of all Mongolia. By the end of the 13th century the Mongol Empire was the largest land empire in HISTORY, stretching at it's greatest extent from central Europe to china and Korea, and from Russia to Iran an Vietnam. This empire was easily double the conquests of Alexander the Great and beyond the land mass of the Roman Empire. With an army of just 100,000, he was able to conquer and overome armies of 1 million.

It is interesting to surmise that so much of this occured because the young Chengis had a girl friend who had been kidnapped when he was just 16 years old. His sense of justice especially related to kidnapping of women represented his first major civil law which helped create the enduring trust and respect from the people his armies conquered. Two additional laws involved both environmental respect-especially towards rivers and a tolerance towards all religions. (Seeing many of the "civilized" nations in his conquests, he realized that far more of them involved religion). So today we walk in the steps of the Great Khan who had a profound impact on the world as we know it.

Our last presentation was with the US Ambassador to Mongolia who mentioned he too was suffering from jet lag. He had just returned from Washington D.C. Where the Mongolian Pesident and President Obama met this past week. The food reception that followed at the Embassy included a variety of traditional foods enjoyed by all.

What a fantastic introduction to Mongolia!

Peter Stortz, pjstortz@Alaska.edu