China is on the menu at a Star Island conference

Star Island Corporation, a nonprofit organization, owns the property and runs the programs, which typically last from June to September. CEO Joe Watts said it is the perfect environment to dig into some timely topics with others.

“One of the things we put a premium on is being open to all different perspectives,” Watts said. “There’s something about Star Island that makes it happen because visitors are on an island and all together… You quickly get to know people and they are their best selves.”

It may also help that guests eat three meals a day family-style, there are no televisions, and alcohol is not sold on the island.

During Natural History Week, June 15 to 22, China’s environmental challenges are the topic of discussion. Professor Judith Shapiro, director of the masters program in natural resources and sustainable development for the School of International Service at American University, says participants will come out of the program with a deeper understanding of what it means to be Chinese today.

“China has a particularly large global environmental footprint, and its impact has been dramatic and sudden,” Shapiro said. “The arrival of China on the global stage offers opportunities for developing countries but it also carries enormous risks.”

“At the same time, the pollution that the Chinese people are experiencing at home is often due to the displacement of environmental harm from wealthy countries who are consuming the inexpensive products manufactured in China,” Shapiro said.

The International Affairs Family Conference on Human Migration will run from July 20 to 27. Julie Dahlstrom, a clinical associate professor at Boston University School of Law, says there is a connection between migration and human trafficking.

That includes trafficking for sex and labor, Dahlstrom says.

“The problem has been known to be difficult to quantify. We know it’s a global problem and it’s an underground problem,” Dahlstrom said.

Dahlstrom founded and directs the Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Program, which offers law students at BU the opportunity to represent noncitizen and survivor clients. She said they have helped draft important legislation on the topic.

Professor Daniel Kanstroom works at Boston College Law School and is another presenter during the week. He is the author of “Deportation Nation, Outsiders in American History,” and is currently working on a new book, “Deportation World.”

Kanstroom said there are more than 250 million international migrants around the world.

“This number has grown by some 49 percent since 2000, nearly double the rate of growth of the world’s population. If we add in temporary travelers, the number of people crossing borders amounts to billions annually,” Kanstroom said.

Kanstroom said that a majority of people travel in a safe, orderly and regular manner, but there are also tens of millions of irregular migrants who cross borders without permission, overstay visas and have otherwise complicated statuses.

“Government responses have been complex and insufficiently studied as a global phenomena. What we do know is that, even as many governments struggle to ‘control their borders,’ and as political discourse about immigration hardens, on any given day, around the world, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people sit in detention, awaiting deportation,” Kanstroom said.

Watts said the deep immersion into a Star Island experience can be life-altering. He started going to the island with his family at 11 years old.

“At the end of the week, I never wanted to leave and have gone back every year since,” said Watts, who grew up in Manchester. “When you leave, you feel like you’ve been there a long time and it’s in a good way.”

The conferences on China and human migration are just two of the over 50 programs offered on Star Island this summer. For more information on other getaways, visit www.starisland.org.