August 27th, The United Nations of Nations….

August 27th, The United Nations of Nations….

I went to the UN in Vienna today. I thought that it was a really interesting trip, unlike some students… I learned that when you are in the UN in Vienna, you are not technically in Austria.
Cool. Our guide asked us what the UN promotes, and I totally knew the answer and I wish I spoke up…oh well. The UN promotes the right to live of course! There are 192 members of the UN, the UN won a couple of Nobel Peace Prizes, and the UN is located in Vienna because it was the center of the cold war and its neutrality was a bonus. Those were some cool facts that I learned. After seating in the conference room, which was decorated in the 70’s, we headed to a IAEA Press Conference. Most of my questions were answered in the speech that the guy gave. Here are the questions that I had:

1.) Energy cost are rising around the world. Low income families and individuals have to shell out more money from their pockets (or from their income) on energy. They pay more but get the same amount. Is nuclear energy a reasonable solution to quench our energy thirst? Pros and Cons? I believe France has more atomic energy in the world. Are they a role model for the rest of the world?
Answer: IAEA doesn’t promote nuclear energy use, but they encourage it. France has about 78% atomic energy use, which is driven by climate change and is influenced by the consumer.
2.) Many eminent scholars have recommended several ways to limit the amount of nuclear
war heads each country is allowed to have and produce. Some plans also include other countries allowing high security access to other countries missile inventory. Which plan seems most plausible to you? What does the UN and the IAEA have in place now? Do you see anything coming to fruition soon?
Answer: There are boarder searches and some of these issues go beyond the IAEA’s mandate.
3.) The IAEA’s future is going to be discussed at the General Conference. Is the IAEA getting weaker in some areas? What are some of the challenges that the IAEA faces today? Is there lot of public support?
Answer: Some weak areas that the IAEA faces are things like security.
4.) Why did Cambodia withdraw forth the IAEA in 2003?
Answer: ? There were really no enemies that they had.
5.) (UN Q) There are several entities that the UN in Vienna are in control of. How does the UN decide which one gets the most funding?
Answer: No idea, the information is on the website.

While listening to the lecture on the IAEA, I was able to find out that the IAEA is responsible for safety standards in the medical fields (especially for cancer treatment). And that in South/East, like Africa, there is not one single cancer treatment machine. The IAEA is also in charge of nuclear technology application, which deals with economic disasters, like the House Fly.
They solved it by using radiation on the males, so that when the male mates with the female, the female is able to produce unhealthy eggs that don’t hatch, therefore reducing the population of house flies. The IAEA also deals with big events (such as the Olympics) where there is a possibility of a nuclear threat, and so the IAEA trains people to handle the threat and the nuclear material. It was very interesting to hear how involved the IAEA is with so many different aspects. There are so many different issues that the IAEA is involved with, besides trying to be peacemakers with countries that are trying to create secret nuclear weapons.

After the UN visit, I headed over to the Natural History Museum. It was really cool to see all the different displays. My favorite of course was the Venus of Willendorf. I seriously took ten pictures of that thing. Another fun part of that museum was the different rock and crystal collections. I was able to see a big emerald that was supposedly given to Hernan Cortes by Montezuma. It was a really fun museum. I am beginning to wish that Sacramento had these really cool museums, or that I lived here in Vienna where I can visit them anytime!