#and I am extremely proud of the infrastructure we built

[dewvorce-flowers]

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[leveloneandup]

Christen Press Is 'Taking Everything One Step at a Time' After Injuring Her ACL: 'Looking Forward to the Future'

After injuring her ACL in 2022, Christen Press is remaining positive — especially after the 2023 World Cup is coming to an end.

"Being able to watch the World Cup this year was extremely stressful, but it is a shooting star experience that only few can feel that pressure. But being able to play in the World Cup is allowing yourself to excel at sports for your country. I feel fortunate to have gone this long without an injury, and I look at it optimistically moving forward and continuing my career. I am taking everything one step at a time but look forward to the future and getting back with my team, Angels FC," the 34-year-old exclusively tells OK! while talking about her involvement with Degree’s Change the Field campaign, which aims to create safe and inclusive environments for girls of color on and off the field.

The athlete, who always knew she wanted to play soccer at a young age, is looking to change the game for others.

"I think representation is really important. I am very proud to be a part of a generation of player with increased diversity of players in our national team because I think when girls can see people that look like them on the field making it to that level, it does make you believe. I think through work on Degree’s Change the Field campaign as well, it is important for us to come together and do the work to make everyone feel more included in this sport," she shares.

"I think that sports has an amazing opportunity to create change and I have created a business that is the intersection of sports business and equity. The whole idea is that we need to re-image the infrastructure of women's sports — it was built for men, made by men and they have given women’s sports the back hours, the extension room and it does not fit. We can see this in how you cannot find women’s games, we have little information on what's going on in women's sports. The content is buried and subpar. Women’s sports has this incredible opportunity to tell stories and create change, it is quite unique," she adds.

Since Press is so passionate about changing the landscape for women, talking about Degree’s Change the Field campaign was a no-brainer.

"As a Black woman and professional soccer player, I am committed to using my own voice and platform to inspire girls of colors to keep joining the sport, but also inspire the sport’s leaders to foster inclusive and diverse atmospheres for these girls. Degree and I share a passion for advancing the sport toward a more inclusive environment, which is why I hope my message encourages coaches, players and leaders alike to implement Degree’s inclusivity modules in their communities. Degree’s free ‘Girls Can’ training modules will help equip coaches, teachers and community leaders with the skills and knowledge to ensure that equal opportunities in soccer exist for women and girls everywhere," she expresses.

"It is important to shed light on this issue and create a more inclusive world. It is extremely important to me that soccer is a diverse and inclusive sport. We are taking a step in the right direction. Degree’s Change The Field program is an opportunity to talk about how we can come together and make a change. We all grow up differently and it is important to look at that when focusing on the business of sports," she continues.

[nickcarr-scoutstories]

Where All The Houses Look The Same. (a Scout Story) The man shows me around his living room with pride, and I smile and take pictures and try my best to act as though I’m seeing it for the first time, when in fact I’ve already been in this living room three times this afternoon. I am scouting a neighborhood where all the houses look the same. It’s a modern tract home development on the outskirts of Los Angeles, built five years ago, or maybe ten, or maybe it’s impossible to say with certainty anymore because it feels like the architects have finally figured out a model that defies dating and have been churning them out ever since. In truth, the homes are not exactly identical. There are four or five models that repeat at intervals, each with its own small variations. All are a shade of beige, but some are sand-colored, some mocha. Every so often, a house design is inverted, as though it’s a mirror image of the one across the street. But as this man leads me from the dining room to the kitchen, it’s a though his home is one of a kind, the center of his universe. He tells me how overjoyed he was to be able to afford it after moving to this country from India. He shows me each of his children’s bedrooms, clearly proud they don’t have to share. In his own room, he points out his view of the scrub-covered hills in distance as though it were a vista of the Rockies. And as I take pictures, my frustration grows, because we are going to portray this man as a fool. Because you’ve seen this neighborhood, the neighborhood where all the houses look the same, in countless movies and TV shows. And in virtually every instance, it is always used to inspire one particular reaction: ridicule. In the movies, there is no more shameful place to live than the neighborhood where all the homes look the same. It is uniformly portrayed as an undeniable symbol of a character’s vapidity, their soullessness, their superficiality, their simple-mindedness. “How could anyone live in a place where all the houses look the same?” we are meant to ask as we recoil in horror at the idea. It is nothing less than a suburban purgatory, a place where the days bleed into weeks, the weeks into months and years, and all is the same and nothing ever changes and so your first hour there is indistinguishable from your last. Almost universally, if the fictional homeowner completes their inner character arc by the end of the movie as expected, their final triumph is moving out of such a neighborhood in favor of one that has been deemed acceptable: a classically unique home, situated amongst other classically unique homes. If their personal growth goes awry, the punishment is to remain. Of all the tired locations I get asked to search for, I hate this one the most. I hate it because despite having scouted countless such properties over the years, I have never once met a single homeowner who resembles the soulless, vapid, superficial, simple-minded cliché who will be portrayed as living in their home. A privilege of being a scout is that as you are photographing a person’s home, they will often volunteer intimate details of their lives with you, such as how they came to live there. And consistently, the reasons people offer for having chosen this sort of neighborhood could not be more universally understandable. The desire for as large a house as can be afforded, with lots of space to raise a family. Access to good schools for their children. Low crime rates. Centrally located. Reliable infrastructure. All are extremely aware of the copycat nature of their homes. It’s not a secret. They know. It’s not like in the movies, where the homeowner is inexplicably ignorant of the most obvious trait of their neighborhood, only to jolt awake to the monotony of design as the movie progresses. Homeowners will often make light jokes about it up front, typically followed up with a “but what are you gonna do?” shrug. It easy to tell that they consider uniformity to be a minor trade-off for attaining highly regarded benefits that would otherwise not be available to them. This is the fundamental issue that filmmakers seem terminally oblivious to. It’s not the 1950s anymore, when affordable homes were abundant, and living in tract housing was to some degree an aesthetic choice. It is 2023, where homeownership is outside the reach of most average people, certainly in cities like Los Angeles. The idea of portraying a resident of such a home as some sort of tasteless automaton is the grossest condescension I can imagine. At the very least, I can say with authority that such a depiction has no basis in reality. As my scout concludes, I thank the man for showing me his beautiful home, and then move on to the next one. Indeed, it is near identical. The only differences I can identify are an additional dormer window and a slightly different paint job. But the woman I meet inside could not be more different. She’s younger, and recently married, and as she begins to share the story of why they chose this home due to her husband’s career in the army, any hope of simplistic categorization instantly vanishes. As it always does. As it always will. -- Scout Stories is a print-only publication of personal stories and photography from my 18 years as a location scout, published quarterly. Purchase Scout Stories #1 here: www.nickcarr.com NEW Scout Stories #2 issue coming March 1.

[undefined5posts]

Credit: Jordan J. Lloyd

I've been trying to dive deeper into politics, discover the genuine roots of our society, the origins of our beliefs, and the consequences of our economic system. It's a big, long, wide journey and through multiple sources such as articles, images, videos and multiple social media platforms, I've been trying to educate myself more on important subjects.

Communism, capitalism, libertarian, conservative, the left, the right, the history, the impact. It is scary to commit to everything because once you start, you simply cannot stop, once you start waking up your conscience about the horrible reality, the lies, the truths, you cannot put it back to sleep. You can't just ignore prejudice, especially when you're extremely conscious of it's omnipresence. I have continually tried to build my own opinions all while actively creating bullet point arguments in my mind because I just know that at some point I will have to defend my thinking, and I want to do it right.

Now, I am so far from being enlightened, I am a beginner and an amateur in all of those themes, but I am trying, which is the only way to start and grow.

So to tell you about my beliefs, I am a militant human rights activist, I believe in equal opportunities regardless of gender identity, sex, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race and disability. This is a fact, not a belief, but the system was obviously not built to protect all people, its wasn't created to serve everyone equally but to grant a privilege to some and harm others. The current state of the world is not a slip, an accident or a misfunction of our brilliant system but a testament of it operating remarkably well. I believe that equity leads to equality, and I believe that we cannot "fix" methodologies that were immorally created with absolutely no honor whatsoever. I believe in reproductive rights, in legal, safe abortions for anybody who needs one. I believe in the decriminalization of marijuana. I believe that the death penalty is a despicable punition that should be banned as soon as possible. I believe in defunding the police and the military. I believe that it is a shame that I even have to talk about police brutality, I don't want to have to say that it is one of the most horrible things our world has originated, I feel extremely dense when I do because it seems like the most obvious certitude and I refuse to believe that this is a controversial statement. I believe that everything I have just stated, along with many more, isn't anything grand but the bare minimum, the bar is low, and yet, we still have the fight for basic human decency.

Humanity has become an option. We have normalized supporting people that represent everything wrong in this world under the name of tolerance. The left has never claimed to be tolerant towards hateful beings, We have never accepted homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism and sexism. We cannot, for exemple, accept nazis, as too much tolerance inevitably leads to intolerance. This picture explains it perfectly:

I consider myself a communist/ socialist. The two terms still confuse me a little, some say they are the same, some say they differ quite a bit. What I know is that socialism is the transitional period between capitalism and communism. At the end of the day, the final result and goal is a stateless, moneyless and clasless society that will provide to each his need.

Our capitalistic society has brainwashed us way more than you may think. It is the root of so many of our issues, the underground demon of our problems. Every idea, thought, belief, and misconception of ours were all affected by our current economic system. It has sold us the billionnaire dream which is one of the most toxic things capitalism has offered. We have looked up to billionaires for way too long, why are they so idolized? Most of them come from high upper class families that can easily afford to invest in their inventions and creations. After starting up their companies and occasionnaly stealing other's people ideas to ultimately get undeserved merit, they then can start to properly exploit their hardworking employees's labour. And for unlimited hours and a minimum wage which probably won't even suffice you to survive, you will have to either pick up more shifts or a second or even third job, especially if you have a family to support. All while the CEO barely does any of the work and gets all the praise and money. So no, they don't all come from really poor families and have built everything for nothing.

The worst thing is that we've been so gaslit and brainwashed that we're proud of our own exploitation, we are wired to think that to be successful we have to suffer, work 10 jobs we all hate, constantly pick up extra hours, have 2 hours of sleep, have no free time to do anything we love, waste our entire youth, be depressed our entire adulthood, to finally have a few pennies to spend when we're eighty. We so strongly believe that this is the only right way to be successful that I don't think many of us have dared to question it's authority, and even if we do, we quickly accept that this a truth, a fact we cannot change and this is just the way things are.

We have capitalized water, food, land, forests, oceans, space, and everything in betweeen. Money is social construct and we have deliberately let it take over our lives. To think about the wasted opportunities and the misery that we have to endure so others can enjoy life truly angers me.

Also, communism is not an ideology that has every actually taken place. Despite what they say, there was never actually a communist country. However, every nation that has attempted a socialist system, for exemple Burkina Faso, has thrived. But of course, once capitalist countries noticed that, they decided to murder it's leader. So in conclusion, the only reason socialism failed is because of capitalism and it's interventions.

"As President (1983-1987), Sankara initiated economic reforms that shifted his country away from dependence on foreign aid and reduced the privileges of government officials; he cut salaries, including his own, decreed that there would be no more flying in first class or driving Mercedes as standard issue vehicles for Ministers and other government workers. He led a modest lifestyle and did not personally amass material wealth. President Sankara encouraged self-sufficiency, including the use of local resources to build clinics, schools and other needed infrastructure. [...] President Sankara promoted land reform, childhood vaccination, tree planting, communal school building, and nation-wide literacy campaigns. He was committed to gender equity and women’s rights and was the first African leader to publicly recognize the AIDS pandemic as a threat to African countries. Although Sankara became somewhat more authoritarian during his Presidency, his ideas, and the possibility that they could spread, were viewed by many as posing the greatest threat. President Sankara was assassinated during a coup led by a French-backed politician, Blaise Compaoré, in October 1987. Compaoré served as the President of Burkina Faso from October 1987 through October 2014, when he himself was overthrown."

Via:https://africandevelopmentsuccesses.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/success-story-from-burkina-faso-thomas-sankaras-legacy/

I have been reading and watching some amazing human rights activists, notably Angela Davis, Malcolm X and James Baldwin. The people that were villainized, labeled as violent and radical, when every single word that came out of their mouhs were pure facts. They are probably some of the most eloquent people I have had the pleasure of hearing. Every sentence, every argument, every single detail made so much sense and opened my mind to so many new realizations. This is the perfect exemple of how the media tarnishes the reputation of wise black women and men. I would strongly advise you to research more about them.

"Socialism & communism are demonized in the west to the point of erasing influential individuals' socialist advocacy. Heres a short list of people you may not have known were socialists/ communists:

MLK

Albert Einstein

Nelson Mandela

Frida Kahlo

Tupac Shakur

Mark Twain

Malcom X

Oscar Wilde

Bertrand Russell

Hellen Keller

Pablo Picasso

George Orwell

Shia LaBeouf

John Lennon

Woody Guthrie

Socialism & communism are not dirty words. Some of the most brilliant minds of our history were socialists and communists. Embrace it." Via @sleepisocialist on twitter

So what else can I say, capitalism has ruined our society and the way we act and think. I know a lot of people refuse to support communism because they think it's too much of a perfect ideal utopian world for it to ever actually exist. And to that I say, first of all, so you agree, it is a wonderful theory, and second of all, a world without racism, sexism, homophobia or any kind or discrimination could also be perceived as "too ideal to actually exist", but does that mean I'm giving up on talking, educating myself and others, protesting and trying to build a better future? Absolutely not. This is the objective, it would be so dumb to think that we just couldn't achieve that so let's not even try.

I want to talk more in detail about communism, theory, human rights, etc... but I don't want to make this post any longer. I will however be posting more about it soon enough.

I know this is a little different than what I usually post, but I want to speak, tell you all my own opinions, I don't want to just repost activism related stuff. I'll continue to do that, but not exclusively. I know it won't get as many interactions as my other posts, but this is what I needed at some point in my life, and if I could make understanding some basic informations easier to some people, it'll already be a great accomplishment.

Thank you for reading.

[theworldtravelingblonde]

13 years ago today was the day that changed my life and the lives of many forever.  August 29th is not a holiday and for most people there is nothing special about this day at all.  However for me, I will always remember August 29th as the day the big one came barreling towards New Orleans.  13 years ago I lived in the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana while Hurricane Katrina bared down on the Gulf Coast. I had been through plenty of storms before and none of them bothered me.  This hurricane was different it was not like Betsy or Camille that ravaged the area before. Hurricane Katrina was a force to be reckoned with.

  The weekend before the hurricane hit was no different than most weekends for me.  I just started Jr. High and had a friend over for a sleepover. My parents were watching the news about the hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, but the tracker had the storm heading to Apalachicola, FL.  They were not concerned so we had not packed or prepped for the storm. My friend and I spent the weekend at the pool and renting movies from Blockbuster. Sunday morning we all woke up to a terrible surprise. The storm had moved and now was headed straight for New Orleans.  We had to hurry and prep for the storm, which meant boarding the house up and taking account of what we had. I still had a friend over at the house when evacuations by authorities had started. It was a mess. My family decided not to evacuate and believed that we could ride out the storm. We had stayed for others and most of the time the storms weakened or turned.  We never thought that the storm would be that destructive.

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I woke up on morning of August 29, 2005 to darkness.  The electricity had already gone out and the storm was howling.  That morning we sat and listened to the storm and the radio. I lived on the western side of the storm, which is the calmer side.  I had no clue what Katrina was doing to Mississippi or New Orleans. I heard news reporters on the radio who were hunkered down in the high rises in the city and they were talking about how the winds were blowing the windows out.  I listened to people calling in about the rising water. I had no idea about the levees breaking or about the storm surge in Mississippi. I just heard people screaming over the radio for help. They were trapped in their attic with rising water with nowhere to go.  I do not know if those people ever made it out or if they became one of the statistics. I truly did not understand what really was happening. I listened to the storm all day. Once the eye made landfall I went outside and walked in it. It was so calm, and creepy. All day the wind howled violently, but the eye was absolutely peaceful. After the storm had finished I still had no idea the massive destruction and all the lives lost. The face of my area had changed forever.  My family was extremely lucky. My house did not flood and had very minor damage. We were able to clean up pretty quickly. After only a few days we realized that life would not go back to normal for a while so my mother and I evacuated. We drove to Omaha, Nebraska to live with family until the school reopened.

  About a month later I returned home to the New Orleans area, and still destruction was everywhere.  Katrina left a lasting impact to the Gulf Coast. I explored Mississippi, New Orleans, and the parishes below the city and no one was spared.  However the communities came together and people from around the nation helped rebuild the Gulf Coast.

  Since then I  have moved away from the area, but still think about my home regularly.  Over the summer I spent time in Gulfport, MS at my parent’s house. They live right on the Gulf of Mexico. I look out my parents windows to the Gulf of Mexico and can only imagine what that same view would have looked like that day 13 years ago. The building that originally was on the land that their home is built on unfortunately did not survive the storm.  It has been 13 years and there are still many signs of Hurricane Katrina everywhere. Next to my parent’s place there are still slabs with pipes sticking out. There are slabs of former buildings all over the place. It is depressing to see. I remember driving down these streets with all the buildings up and people working and living in them. All the old houses are gone.  They washed out into the gulf 13 years ago, and many were never rebuilt. Some areas have done better than others. Some towns have rebuilt a lot of their infrastructure, while others still struggle to bounce back. The area is still recovering, but the communities are stronger than ever. I am proud to call this area home. Hurricane Katrina might have changed the area, but it did not kill the spirits of the people who live there.  

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  Like many I learned a lot that day.  Mother nature is often beautiful, but at times can be brutal.  I also learned the hard way that it is not worth staying and riding out a storm. Your life is worth more than your possessions.  My family was very lucky, but I think about all those whose luck ran out. With each year passing since the storm, more and more forget about it. The area grows and continues to thrive.  One day Katrina will be looked at like her prescestors, Camille and Betsy bad, but in the past. People will talk about it, but the feelings of what happen will continue to fade as the years go on.  Unfortunately on the Gulf Coast there will be another storm one day, and it will be compared to Katrina like Katrina was compared to Betsy and Camille. However for me, August 29, 2005 was a day that  I can never forget. I will never forget about a hurricane named Katrina.

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A Hurricane Named Katrina 13 years ago today was the day that changed my life and the lives of many forever.  

[gustavodearistegui]

Jayant Baranwal (SP's): Can you give us a little background on Spain’s relationship with India?

Ambassador: Spain established a relationship with India after we joined the United Nations in 1953. A full-fledged embassy was not established until 1955, though there was a Charge-de Affaires in 1954. These premises were first rented in 1956 after being three years in different parts of the city and then we purchased in 1970. In the beginning it was very much a formal relation and Spain was under dictatorship at that time and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was not particularly fond of General Franco. So the relations were rather distant for a long time. Spain became a democracy in 1975 with elections being held in 1977. Very soon the relation grew in intensity and importance but it was more a cultural and political relation not much economic, meaningful bilateral, commercial, investment relation.

Actually there was a state visit of the King and Queen in 1981 to India. Last year’s visit here by His Majesty the King was an important visit which boosted the relationship between India and Spain. There were visits, political exchange being rather low for many decades.

This was relatively a small embassy and we have outgrown these premises. We are absolutely full over here and this was conceived when we were four times smaller than this. We have 2/3rd of our offices in a bigger building in Connaught place where we have commercial, military and cultural sections. I would describe relations as cordial relation between 1977 and the late 1990s and there was a leap forward in the beginning of this century. Then little by little we went from 10 Spanish companies to over 250 companies today. We have two commercial offices one in Mumbai and one in Delhi. It has grown five-fold and we are considering the urgent need to expand the office premises, make it twice as big and still not have enough space for all the people who are going to join us.

Since I came to India in May 2012, we have created 14 new positions in this Embassy when Spain  was undergoing very strict budgetary restrictions. Inspite of that Spain is extremely arrogant about boosting its relations with India. I have been in politics for 12 years and I was Member of Parliament and was senior spokesperson of the party on foreign policy and affairs. So when the Prime Minister won the elections and the Minister of Foreign Affairs called me and announced my appointment as Ambassador it was a  political message to the Indian government that we mean business with India and that we have been ignoring this great nation for too long. We wanted to give boost in the number of people in the Embassy and also to increase the presence of Spanish companies here. It is in many ways an ambassadorial position that has quite a political punch...  we are taking advantage of this interlock...

I can tell you that today the relations between India and Spain is a different one. We have a very fluid contact with political actors of the country. We have not covered all the States in India which is a complex and huge country. We have met the Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh and we intend meeting the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala and I am also going to Goa for the reception of the Spanish ship Cantabria. We will also be going to Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and we intend to open a consulate in Chennai. Right now, Spain is seriously investing in India. We have some of our most important companies present but not in the way and intensity that we would want.

Spain has seven of the top 10 infrastructure companies in the world, 11 of the top 20 water treatment companies of the world; one of the top three telecom companies in the world; the biggest bank in the Eurozone which is the Banco Santander which bigger than Deutsche Bank, BNP. Spain is a serious player but we don’t have hegemonic aspirations.  This is what makes us different. That is why we are a mid-size as far as population and area is concerned. It is six and quarter smaller than India, but with a global culture, global language and global interests and growing global influence.

We are a country with no hidden agenda, no strings attached. It is true we are not a global military power but we have a respectable military which I think can and must be an essential part of bilateral relations between India and Spain. As is the case with India, it is a democratic military, very professional that is obedient to elected civilian military rule and it is prestigious in the society that serves the legitimate interest of the country. Armed forces of democratic nations by and large share the same values but what I must say India is historic exception in a positive way. Many countries which regained independence and India is a not a new nation but a new state... many people tend to forget. India is a very old nation and probably the oldest civilisation and that makes this country very special. India is the only case after a period of colonial rule has direct access to democratic which is not always the case in the later part of the 20th century. That makes it unique. The political culture is unique and vibrant and that makes the armed forces of India, probably among the most respectful and professional in democratic society. All Indians should legitimately feel proud of.  

Today, we have made a huge leap forward in the economic side but it is still far from its potential. The capacities of the Spanish economy and the potential of India as a market and India as a partner, India is an extraordinary partner and I think we need to deepen that.

SP's: What all Spain can offer to have a strong base of partnership in India for the global market?

Ambassador: It is very complimentary. I see great opportunity in the emerging markets. When I see India it is not just great opportunity but great opportunity for meaningful and solid partnership. Why because India is known for intellectual property like Spain it is devoted to high technology, engineering, avante garde solutions, research and development, infrastructure, tourism, and defence. A very important  part of India’s wealth and the way it has leaped into 21st century comes from intellectual property. Spain is extremely good in some of the fields where India’s needs are bigger and more poignant... look at water quality, desalination, power generation and transmission (both conventional and renewable) and Spain is good at that. It is in our own interest to use latest technologies and it will push your and our high tech capabilities.  Today’s best technologies are tomorrow’s obsolete technologies. Of course, there are some obstacles and government regulators and trying to fix them. India needs stimulation in infrastructure projects and it requires direct investment and concession in PPP projects. If the 5 year plan is to be fulfilled you have to invest 200 billion USD in infrastructure and for that you need foreign investment and foreign investors need to feel secure, safe and that there is a certain flexibility to equity selling, to be able to refinance debt, look at making projects profitable because if they are profitable, it would be better for the banks and Indian banks will be financing and this will be good for the economy.

As regards defence, high technologies... we have sophisticated system of multi dimensional electronic and radar multi linked systems. Our coastline is protected. We have the 13th largest coastline (7800 km of coastline as peninsula) we have so many islands and we are a peninsula. This makes us a maritime nation, so is India between two oceans and you are in a complicated neighbourhood. It is not an easy neighbourhood. Spain is good at thwart terror threats, organised crime, illegal trafficking etc. Our systems are quite impressive and we are going to invite Indian officials to visit coastal defence systems... radar, motion detectors, infrared cameras cctv cameras and all combined gives us a picture of what is happening up to 10 miles into sea. It is extremely effective in search and rescue operations and response is much faster.

In the early years of this century, we had peaked at 250,000 illegal penetrations on the sea borders, now it is down to dozens as the Spanish Navy picks them up much before the border. We are doing extremely well as far as coastal protection. These systems have been developed by Indra and Amper. Indra is among the world’s giants in high tech, three out of every five air traffic control is built by indra and nearly 90 per cent used in India is by Indra. There are certain contracts with the defence sector which is catered by Indra and we are extremely satisfied with the level of expertise of the tree of excellence that Indra has developed. GMV, Technobeat etc have state of the art defence systems in very sensitive areas.

SP's: What is the proportion R&D investment in Spain?

Ambassador: It is not that much. However, the R&D budget has doubled from 600 million Euros in 2012 to nearly 1.4 billion Euros in 2014. Some of the most cutting edge technology is made by the private sector. Telefonica is one giant full-fledged technological company in the world and has huge R&D investment. We are only 49 million people and we take pride in our global companies such as Indra, Telefonica, Navantia, Airbus Military consortium of which we are a proud part.  None of the other participants in the consortium had any kind experience in building military transport aircraft and it was Casa, the Spanish branch of EADS. This is how the A400M project was born which was an evolution of the capacities, the technologies and the design of many decades of brilliant work of Spanish aerospace engineers. That has given birth of the quality of C295 which is the doubtlessly best mid-sized military airplane in the world. This is used by the American coastguard. It has won dozens of tenders around the world. This is the plane we intend to replace Avro transport plane. It is used as a platform for anti submarine war, rescue, surveillance, border control, transport troops, and also midsize gunship... all of that technology is behind the world’s most advanced military transport plane A400M. It is bigger than the Hercules. It is the only turboprop that can fly at a cruising speed of a commercial jet liner which is 0.74 mach whereas others are flying 30 to 40 per cent slower than that. It cuts down transport time for deployment of troops and in military terms, it gives huge tactical advantage.

SP's: A400M is a transcontinental project, what is the share of Spain in that?

Ambassador: The share of Spain in the consortium is relatively low at 5 per cent. In the MRTT that project is over 47 per cent.  The Boom is the most advanced refuelling system in the world. The Boom is totally computerised and it is a Spanish design. The A330 has substantial component from Spain, the tail and belly, parts of the cabin. This boom is unbeatable. It consistently defeats Russian and American technology. Even in the US, when there is unbiased assessment of technology it has defeated Boeing.

SP's: What roles can this aircraft play other than fuelling tanker?

Ambassador: Technology is so advanced... we don’t take any space from the passenger area. It still has a sizable amount of cargo capacity. It can be used for troop transportation and transformed into a super VIP military plane. I think there is great need for such planes India as it is quite a safe plane for a Head of State to fly as it can effectively thwart a missile attack. It is a multi-purpose aircraft and not just a refuelling jet. It can transport 300 troops and also high ranking officials in a business class environment. It is very versatile and you can change the configuration of the plane rapidly to use for different purposes... you can have a medical version too.

SP's: Can you elaborate on the objectives and sentiments behind the arrival of the Spanish Armada  Cantabria?

Ambassador: We are proud of this. It is the first time in the history of our bilateral relationship, a ship is coming to an Indian port. The visit of Cantabria is an emotional moment. We have been waiting for a long time for a Spanish ambassador to be receive is momentous. We have a beautiful protocol. We have the oldest marine corps in the world and  all the tradition is there.  Our naval officers are finest... they have been deployed with the Royal Australian navy for a year. It is an essential ship for modern naval warfare... this is a ship which has 25 bed hospital, ICU and dental clinic. It is one of those multi-purpose ships in concept. We have created newer version of long helicopter dock which is  a Spanish invention of long platform dock and an aircraft carrier, a mix of these two concepts. The Royal Australian navy has received two of these ships. In the Indian configuration of the ships it will be a long helicopter deck and will have combat, submarine, rescue capabilities. The ship is conceived a projection of amphibious warfare. It has a dock in the stern of the ship that has capacity to launch six assault boats with capacity for dozens of troops in each of them. Just imagine you reach the beach, the back of the ship opens and the six fast attack boats go out. It is state of the art. It has many command and control systems.... thousands of troops can be control in sea. It can control air traffic hundreds of miles of the ship. It has the most advanced pod propeller system. A 30,000 tonne ship actually manouveres like a small ferry. Everything that commands the ship is above the floatation line which is again a novelty. It can transport 5000 people. It can be used in humanitarian relief work such as the earthquake in Haiti. The ship can go to the coast and be transformed as a relief centre... it can have war tanks, trucks with humanitarian aid. This is the most versatile warship in the world right now.

SP's: What is the contribution level of Spain in EU towards infusion of technological knowhow?

Ambassador: We have some of the best engineers in the world. The engineering design company of Delhi metro is a Spanish company. They have projects in many countries ... They are at the pinnacle of their trade and a number of engineers are working out of Bangalore. Spanish engineers are really up there. European universities cannot match with regard to US universities if you consider campus facility, dormitory, urban environment etc but if you go purely on academic criteria,  there are few schools in Spain which are top in the world. Nobody can get Masters degree if they don’t go through six years of rigorous college and now the engineers can communicate in English and are extremely proficient in their trade.

European Union is a world leader in the making and it is a world leader in economic, commercial power in the world, far beyond the US. The defence expenditure if you calculate the EU it is greater than the US or the Chinese. The stock exchanges in the world are in London, Milan, Madrid , Paris... if you add technological excellence of so many European companies like Phillips, Siemens, Telefonica.... Look at the banks, Banco Santander from Spain, BNP, Deutsche Bank etc.. a lot of financial muscle and technological muscle. Look at the educational universities in UK, France, Germany... they are the brain factories of Europe. We have three top business schools in the world.

SP's: Coming to the defence trade in India, does EU play an effective role?

Ambassador: It is getting there. I see it happen. There is an excellent EU Ambassador here. The EU is a project in the making. You cannot count the things it has not yet achieved as flaws, but it will be achieved.   India has very cordial bilateral relations with individual countries of the EU... but they don’t see the usefulness of the EU yet. However, it is the responsibility of the EU with regard to foreign trade, regulation, trade etc.  Negotiations are going along a safe path and mutually beneficial result in due time. I heard that Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram stating that there was window of opportunity from now to February if the negotiators made a breakthrough and signed the FTA, if not negotiations will continue with new EU commission and with the new Indian government next year.

SP's: Would you like to indicate the key milestones of Navantia?

Ambassador: The most advanced frigate in the world is the F100 which is Spanish design. The F100 frigate is the basis for AF85 frigate Navantia built for the Norwegian Navy. It has some of the most advanced large...it would be like small frigates (BAMS – Maritime Action Boats). It is a boat of 4000 tonnes and has a crew of less than 40.  It is totally automated. We have an extremely efficient Navy because of the new concepts... No other nation has the BAM concept... they have corvettes which is smaller version of a frigate. BAM is a Spanish invention. It has more firing capacity with 30 per cent less displacement and more speed, lot less manpower. It is a revolution in maritime warfare. The submarine project is a little delayed but the S80 concept is absolutely amazing. It has the most advanced autonomous energy systems and definitely the safest. It is a multipurpose firing system developed by several companies in the world.  It has some of the most silent navigational capacities in the world and very interesting underwater speed and silent.  It has command controls which can coordinate land, sea and air attacks at the same time and is considered as a NATO command post.

SP's: What is the level of country’s aerospace and military complex contribution towards Spains economy?

Ambassador: It is important it is not huge. Spanish economy is over 1.4 trillion dollars. We are sure will be 1.8 or 1.9 trillion dollars in 10 years and we are going to be a serious player. Defence industry is important for many aspects. In an economy of our size tourism with 70 million arrivals this year is 12 per cent of GDP. Defence is much lower. However, it has so many technological breakthroughs in the military R&D and are incorporated in civilian use such as safety of boats, cars, aircraft etc. We have limited resources and keep our country more efficient and safe. It is not about having lot of people. For instance on board a Spanish navy ship there is no foot sailor, the least you can be is a first class corporal. Everybody has some kind of technical proficiency.

SP's: In India, there is lot of debate of having own aerospace complex in terms of self-reliance, does Spain support the idea?

Ambassador: We want to be a partner with Indian companies and we are keen on participating. We are not going to withhold any kind of technology. We are going to be transparent. Offsets are going to be real and we are going to give you the latest not first generation technology. There is lot of potential for both private and public companies to go to world markets after developing synergies.   Navantia is  partnering L&T and they are going to participate in tenders of Indian Navy and Airbus Military is looking for Indian partner for replacement of Avro aircraft. Everybody has legitimate aspiration to indigenise their military, however there will be joint ventures. For instance the weapon systems of submarines are with US collaboration. We have taken hardware and systems from others and we built a totally Spanish product. Our LHD is a floating electronic war machine.  

SP's: Recession, how do you perceive the future now?

Ambassador: A lot better. We have safe fundamentals. We have bad private debt crisis. The problem is of the debt of citizens... they need to get out of it. Fiscal consolidation and discipline, structural reforms, budgetary restrictions have worked. We are out of recession... we are going to peak at 1 per cent in 2014. We have tightened our belts and now we have to fight unemployment and we have done that without sacrificing the welfare state. We have not overspent, we over invested in roads, high speed trains, airports etc. The Madrid (airport) has a capacity of 100 million passengers, it peaked at 70 million and it fell to 45 million. It will come back. We are pushing for direct flights between Delhi and Madrid and that will help us in raising numbers. Indians can go to Latin America through Spain.   We are cutting down on unnecessary expenses. Spanish ministers are driving 10 year old cars... everybody is doing their bit.

SP's: What is your perception about FDI in defence in India and what it should be?

Ambassador: It is a very delicate matter of sovereignty. It has to have some kind of special regulation. We cannot be fuzzy about our defence sector for investment and similarly other country’s reasoning.  FDI should be open in other sectors, defence you have to be careful. It needs regulation from government. There are delicate matters pertaining to security and stability, geopolitical interests have to be taken into account. We have to take necessary caution.

[architectnews]

Arup: Architecture + Engineering, Engineers

Arup Engineers, Architects, Architecture, Studio, Global Engineering Projects, Designs, News

Arup, Engineers : Architecture + Engineering

Contemporary Buildings + Structures – News: Expansion in the Americas

post updated 20 August 2021

Arup News

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Global Firm Appoints Two Directors From Nottingham Office

Two members from Arup’s Nottingham office have been appointed as directors of the global engineering firm, representing a huge achievement for the company’s presence in the city.

Steve Fernandez and Vicky Evans are just the second and third members of the Nottingham team to have both been promoted to one of the firm’s highest positions, signifying their knowledge and expertise in their fields and future potential.

Steve Fernandez and Vicky Evans: photo : Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It

Between them, the pair have worked on major local, national and international projects, including the shopping and food destination Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, the stunning St Pancras Chambers development in London, the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough, and the Government’s £3.6 billion Towns Fund.

Neil Harrison, associate director at Arup, said: “We are absolutely delighted that both Steve and Vicky have been promoted to director– a huge boost for us in the region and indicative of the hard work and expertise they put into the business.

“The interview process for the role is extremely rigorous, and for the Nottingham office to have two directors appointed is a huge achievement. We’re very proud of the work we do from Nottingham – we’ve been here for 30 years, we’ve got more than 100 staff based in the city centre and we are highly committed to the city.”

Steve joined Arup as a graduate in 1999, working in Sheffield, London, Doha and Moscow and is now based in the Nottingham office. He is recognised internationally as an expert in his fields, leading the firm’s civil and structural engineering team across the Midlands, and is the building retrofit leader across the UK, Middle East, Africa and India.

He is also passionate about educating the next generation of engineers, acting as a STEM ambassador, and has been recognised as an ‘inspirational UK BAME innovator in science and technology’ by UKBlackTech and Goldman Sachs.

He has designed and delivered a variety of iconic buildings and structures, ranging from a new school in Loughborough, the transformation of the listed Newton and Arkwright buildings at Nottingham Trent University, a 60,000-seat football stadium in the Middle East, a state-of-the-art research and university campus in Moscow, and a timber pavilion inspired by school children which was on display in Old Market Square in Nottingham.

Steve Fernandez, from Arup’s Nottingham office, who has been appointed a director of the global engineering firm: photo : Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It

Steve said: “It is a huge honour to be appointed as a director of Arup. Having worked in the Nottingham office for many years now, I’m relishing the new opportunity and helping the industry and our clients following the challenges of the last year. I am a designer at heart – I love design and working with clients to develop an idea and then seeing our work come to fruition is a great pleasure of the job.”

Vicky Evans, from Arup’s Nottingham office: photo : Ian Hodgkinson / Picture It

Chartered town planner Vicky joined Arup in London in March 2006 and since then has also worked for the company in South Africa, Dubai and the Seychelles. Having studied geography at the University of Nottingham, Vicky said she has always had a strong connection to the area and decided to move back to the city in 2015.

A specialist in housing, strategy, policy and economic development, Vicky works across all aspects of the built environment at a regional and national level. She also leads the residential business for Arup across the UK, Middle East, India and Africa.

“My work has become increasingly strategic, meaning that I’ve been able to influence decision-making at the very early stages of a project, which is really exciting,” said Vicky. “I’ve been doing a lot of planning and strategy work in the East Midlands – which is indicative of our region really putting itself on the map.”

As well as her work on the groundbreaking Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre at Stanford Hall, Vicky has been working with the government on the Towns Fund, which is investing billions in UK towns as part of the levelling up agenda. She oversaw the development of 26 town investment plans in the Midlands and East region.

She was also involved in the establishment of the East Midlands Development Corporation, set up to create new employment and housing opportunities across three key sites at Toton, Ratcliffe-on-Soar and East Midlands Airport.

Vicky said she had enjoyed the ‘robust and challenging’ interview process which led to her promotion to director, which she said was ‘a real honour’.

“It shows great confidence in me and my leadership capabilities but also indicates that Nottingham and the East Midlands is an area for growth for Arup,” she said. “Our office has grown in size in the past five to ten years – testament to the draw of Nottingham as a place to live and work.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to help clients solve their most complex challenges here – turning exciting ideas into tangible reality. Net zero, levelling up and improving infrastructure are all challenges we need sustainable, socially valuable and equitable solutions to, which are specific to the region.”

For more information on Arup, visit arup.com/offices/united-kingdom/nottingham

14 Nov 2017 Oman Botanic Garden Design, foothills of the Al Hajar Mountains, Seeb, Oman Design: Arup, Grimshaw and Haley Sharpe Design (hsd) picture ©Arup/Grimshaw Oman Botanic Garden Buildings The breathtaking Oman Botanic Garden will be revealed to the world today by Arup, Grimshaw and Haley Sharpe Design (hsd), who have collaboratively delivered the engineering, landscaping, architecture and interpretative designs. Covering over 420 hectares, Oman Botanic Garden will be the largest within the Arabian Peninsula and in the world.

4 Sep 2017 Arup’s Jo da Silva wins The Institution of Structural Engineers’ 2017 Gold Medal picture courtesy of Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers’ 2017 Gold Medal Jo da Silva, Director of Arup’s International Development Group and Arup Fellow, has been awarded The Institution of Structural Engineers’ 2017 Gold Medal. The Medal recognises the outstanding leadership she has provided as both a structural and humanitarian engineer, and for her distinguished and cross-sectoral work on urban resilience. Among her many achievements, Jo co-ordinated the efforts of over 100 humanitarian agencies to provide transitional shelter in Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2005, constructing 60,000 shelters in six months.

28 Aug 2017 Masterplan for Jurong Lake District, Singapore Design: KCAP Architects&Planners ; SAA Architects ; Arup ; S333 & Lekker picture © KCAP/SAA/Arup/S333/Lekker Jurong Lake District Masterplan The Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority unveils the masterplan for Jurong Lake District in Singapore, the city’s future second Central Business District. The JLD masterplan is exhibited till mid-September and invites the public to share their views.

11 Jul 2017 Centre for Music in London Competition Engineers Shortlist, London, England, UK

We are pleased to announce the shortlisted firms for both the Civil and Structural Engineer contract and the Building Services Engineer contract, these are:

Civil and Structural Engineer – AECOM – AKT – Arup – BuroHappold Engineering – Ramboll – WSP UK LTD

Building Services Engineer

– AECOM – Arup – BuroHappold Engineering – Hoare Lea – Max Fordham – WSP UK LTD

Centre for Music in London Competition Engineers News

7 Jun 2017 Northern Arc – Hyperloop One Global Challenge, UK Design: Ryder Architecture / Arup image courtesy of architects Hyperloop One Global Challenge: Northern Arc The Northern Arc proposal was revealed as one of nine shortlisted routes spanning the continent as part of Hyperloop One’s global challenge, at it’s Vision for Europe summit held at in Amsterdam.

24 Apr 2017 Arup Balances Aesthetics and Engineering in New Arts Venue: The Chrysalis

Location: Merriweather Park, Symphony Woods, Columbia, MD, USA

Defined by a series of asymmetric arches, the open-air pavilion offered the firm a unique opportunity to showcase its unparalleled range of specialized technical services

NEW YORK, NY, April 24, 2017 —Known for its work on major infrastructure projects and expansive developments, Arup, the global design and engineering firm for the built environment, has recently completed a project of a far different sort: an innovative gem of an outdoor performance venue located in Columbia, MD at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods.

The 5,000 sq. ft. “Chrysalis” shelters a world-class stage beneath a steel and aluminum-shingled shell, forming a captivating collection of complex curves and arched openings to the forest beyond.

The Chrysalis design by Arup

7 Apr 2017 Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex, Boston, MA, USA

Arup Implements Comprehensive Energy Strategies at New Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science Complex

Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex (ISEC) photograph © Warren Jagger

Using advanced computer modeling to integrate the design of the building systems and facade, Arup significantly reduced operational costs and improved energy efficiency, putting the project on the road to LEED Gold status—an exceptional achievement for a laboratory facility.

BOSTON, MA, April 7 —Arup, the global design and engineering firm for the built environment, celebrated the opening of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) at Northeastern University in Boston. Arup was selected by the architecture firm Payette to provide mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, as well as energy modeling, façade consulting, sustainability and lighting design services for the 234,000-square-foot project. The integrated design process has resulted in a high performance laboratory facility for Northeastern.

“We are extremely pleased to be a partner in such an extraordinary project at Northeastern University.” said Julian Astbury, Arup project manager. “Sharing Arup’s resources and expertise in sustainability and technology with the team made the experience a true collaborative process—a work of total design.”

Ambitious energy goals, innovative solutions “The facilities department at Northeastern wanted the most energy-efficient building possible,” said Mark Walsh-Cooke, Arup principal in charge. By using advanced energy modeling software and building information modeling (BIM) early in the design process and holding biweekly workshop meetings with the architects and university representatives, Arup empowered the client to make better, more informed decisions about the design, enabling them to reach their sustainability goals.

The Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code calls for new buildings to perform 20% better than required by base code. The ISEC surpasses this requirement, achieving 33% energy-cost savings over code and 75% energy savings compared to typical laboratory performance. To accomplish this, Arup engineered several major energy conservation measures, among them:

• The cascade air system is the biggest contributor to energy savings at the ISEC. “This technology was new to the client and contractor, so our advanced energy modeling software studies were critical,” said Astbury. In a typical scenario, laboratories have a dedicated HVAC system, an expensive feature to construct and operate. At the ISEC, the cascade system recovers conditioned air from the offices and atrium of the building, then transfers it to the lab, saving energy and reducing costs. • Arup used performance and life-cycle analysis to optimize the façade design, ensuring both occupant comfort and energy efficiency. The northern part of the ISEC complex, which houses the energy intensive labs, is the focus of thermal improvements; at the southern exposure (where low-energy functions such as offices are located), triple-glazed windows and a shading system work to maximize daylight while minimizing energy consumption. • Using active chilled beam technology significantly reduces the energy consumption compared to conventional air conditioning. In this system, supply air to the space is directed through nozzels on either side of a heat exchanger coil, creating a pressure difference. This pressure difference pulls air from the space over the coil, cooling or heating it, and then mixes with the supply air to be delivered to the space. Arup’s comfort-modeling software balanced the downdraft and the ambient temperature to ensure a pleasant environment. • Arup designed a hydronic run-around coil system to recovery energy from the lab exhaust air to pre-condition the outdoor air, targeting the heating as needed to either the offices or labs, and optimizing the efficiency of the system. The coils are designed to minimize the size of the fan motor and extract as much energy as practical before the exhaust is discharged. • To optimize the efficiency of the chiller and heating system, Arup installed a heat-recovery chiller, which simultaneously generates heating hot water and chilled water. This reduces the run-time of the boilers for laboratory re-heat in the summer and shoulder seasons and for pre-heat of the domestic and laboratory hot water systems. • The winter outdoor air heating demand to the atrium is reduced by using a passive solar collector to preheat the outdoor air using radiant energy from the sun.

The ISEC will be open to outside researchers in the interrelated fields of computer science, basic sciences, health sciences, and engineering. Attracting talent from beyond the campus raises the university’s profile and diversifies the academic leadership and curriculum. The project benefits the surrounding community as well; a pedestrian bridge (currently in design by Arup’s structural engineers in collaboration with Payette) spans the commuter-rail tracks to allow residents, workers, and students to easily and safely navigate their way through the site.

8 Feb 2017 Jurong Lake District Masterplan, Singapore Jurong Lake District Masterplan The ambition is to develop the area into a new mixed-use business precinct and home to the future HSR terminus, which will further anchor Jurong Lake District as ‘a district of the future’ and as Singapore’s second Central Business District.

5 Jan 2017 Second Avenue Subway Stations in New York, NY, USA Design: AECOM-Arup photo © Charles Aydlett courtesy AECOM-Arup JV Second Avenue Subway Station Buildings The first major expansion of New York City subway system in nearly a century, the 1.8 mile stretch of track runs between 63rd and 96th streets and consists of three new stations, plus one upgraded station.

4 Oct 2016 Global First: Arup Develops New Benchmark For Seismic Construction

In a Global First, 181 Fremont in San Francisco Awarded New Earthquake-Resilience Rating

picture © 181 Fremont

Developed by Arup, the REDi resilience-based design guidelines establish a new benchmark for seismic construction–far exceeding current code criteria–that focuses on quick recovery and continued operations in the aftermath of an earthquake

181 Fremont in San Francisco

22 Sep 2016 Arup Welcomes Felicia Cleper-Borkovi to its San Francisco Office

Renowned architect and healthcare-design specialist to focus on advancing the integration of operational effectiveness with design innovation for healing and working environments.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Arup, the global design and consulting firm for the built environment, is pleased to announce the addition of Felicia Cleper-Borkovi, AIA, to its San Francisco office. As a principal and expert medical planner, she will play a pivotal role in the firm’s healthcare business, strengthening its ties with the healthcare community and advising owners, designers, and operators on synchronizing strategic operational improvements with innovative design.

“We are very excited to have Felicia on our team,” said Bill Scrantom, Americas Region Healthcare Leader, Arup. “Her expertise and insight will enhance the advice and solutions we provide our healthcare clients to further target efficient, positive clinical and operational outcomes. Throughout her career, she has been a pioneer in redefining, de-institutionalizing, and modernizing medical facilities. Felicia’s addition will benefit both our Owner and architect clients and is the obvious next step for our growing practice.”

Cleper-Borkovi’s award-winning healthcare projects innovatively integrate architecture, clinical planning, landscape, interior architecture, lighting, art, and environmental design. Her past projects include Li Ka Shing Foundation Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Laguna Honda Replacement Hospital in San Francisco, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence, Italy, the New Acute Hospital for the SouthWest in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland and Norris Cancer Hospital and Research Institute at University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Prior to joining Arup, she held leadership positions at Anshen+Allen in San Francisco and London and Aditazz. “Having previously collaborated with many of Arup’s offices around the globe, I am thrilled to join the firm,” said Cleper-Borkovi. “With its extraordinary resources and commitment to shaping a better world, I’m looking forward to strengthening our leadership in the healthcare sector.” Felicia Cleper-Borkovi is an architect with specific expertise in medical planning and in orchestrating inter-disciplinary healthcare design teams. She has a Master of Architecture degree from Ion Mincu Academy of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest and post-graduate degrees from the Royal College of Art in London, Domus Academy in Milan, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Said Business School at Oxford.

Felicia discusses the relationship between creativity and design in Doggerel’s Sound bites: Maintaining the creative spirit in design.

22 Jul 2016 Torre Reforma Mexico City Skyscraper Design: L. Benjamin Romano Arquitects (LBRA) + Arup image © Torre Reforma Torre Reforma Mexico City Skyscraper – “Arup has been indispensable in helping to transform my architectural vision into an efficient and buildable structure,” said Benjamin Romano, principal of LBRA. “They have provided innovative solutions to the complex seismic issues in Mexico City.”

26 Apr 2016 New Lucerne Theater, Switzerland image from architect New Lucerne Theater Building Arup Study Sets the Stage for Innovative New Performing Arts Venue in European Cultural Hub Interdisciplinary design and planning firm help project stakeholders define a facility that supports exploration and experimentation in the future of dramatic performances with music.

23 Apr 2016 Long Beach Civic Center Reaches Financial Close Design: Arup with HOK image from architect Long Beach Civic Center Building Arup was the City’s Lead Advisor providing comprehensive services integrating financial, commercial, real estate, design, engineering, and cost consulting. The City of Long Beach and Port of Long Beach has reached financial close for the USD$520 million Long Beach Civic Center Project.

9 Mar 2016 Engineering Innovator Arup Names New Director of Arup University

Mahadev Raman to lead Arup’s global research, learning, and knowledge-sharing program

NEW YORK, March 9, 2016 — Arup, a leader in interdisciplinary engineering, consulting, and design services, has named Mahadev Raman as Director of Arup University, the firm’s program to foster innovation, research, learning, and knowledge among its 13,000 staff members. Following his term as Chairman of the Americas Region, Raman brings his distinctive experience and perspective to the position.

“Arup University is an important part of our strategy. With his background in engineering design, expertise, and vision, Mahadev, who cares passionately about our professional skills and the quality of work we offer our clients, will make it even better,” said Gregory Hodkinson, Arup Group Chairman.

Raman, whose career at Arup began in 1978, is a Principal, a member of the Arup Group Board, and Sustainability Director. He has provided engineering design leadership for multidisciplinary teams on a wide variety of projects worldwide and has been named an Arup Fellow, an honorary title awarded to exceptional members of the firm who are considered role models with world-class vision and initiative. Raman is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Architectural Engineering Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Visiting Lecturer in mechanical engineering at Princeton University.

In his 1970 Key Speech, firm founder Ove Arup said, “It is up to us to create an organization which will allow gifted individuals to unfold.” Forty-six years after that statement was made, Arup University is a realization of that principle. Because the firm is owned in trust, with its employees as beneficiaries, the innovation generated by Arup University advances not only its team members, but its clientele and related industries, as well.

The mission of Arup University is to empower Arup’s people by supporting the firm’s goals – enabling greater design skills, creating better leaders, and fostering innovation. The firm has dedicated significant people, technical, and financial resources to achieve these goals.

In addition to sponsoring research and foresight studies, Arup University offers online educational modules, structured workshops, and partnerships with more than 150 schools and colleges. True to the firm’s culture, employees of every level of expertise are encouraged to engage in the program, furthering the company’s investment in its people—and in turn, delivering exceptional value to its clients.

“At Arup University, our work is balanced between the now, the new, and the next,” said Raman. “I am excited and honored to lead the program, which continues Arup’s commitment to shaping a better world.”

24 Feb 2016

Engineering Innovator Arup Names New Global Aviation Leader

With decades of experience, Susan Baer will lead strategic planning and master planning for some of the biggest aviation projects in the world.

Arup, a leader in interdisciplinary engineering, consulting, and design services, has announced Susan Baer has been named Global Aviation Business Leader. With a comprehensive knowledge of the field—and its future—she brings an exceptional set of qualifications to the role. Baer’s predecessor, Peter Budd, is retiring, and will continue to support the aviation team in an advisory capacity.

“The aviation team at Arup is without equal, led by exceptional professionals in the regions where expert aviation teams plan, design, and commission the best airports in the world,” said Baer. “I look forward to continuing the vision for global aviation established by Peter Budd, whose leadership, business acumen, and client understanding were unparalleled.”

Baer joined Arup in 2013, heading up its aviation business in the Americas region and directing global aviation planning. Through her superior negotiation and communication skills, she ensures that collaborations between planners, engineers, airport operators, and airlines are focused on the successful delivery of projects in the best interests of all stakeholders.

In her new position, Baer will capitalize on one of Arup’s key resources: its ability to mobilize its experts around the world. The firm is a local as well as a global presence, bringing people together in various locations throughout the world to produce universally beneficial work. Baer will harness the firm’s pockets of different capabilities worldwide, and then strategically deploy Arup’s collective expertise in pursuit of shaping a better world. Arup’s aviation projects currently under development include some of the biggest new airport projects ever undertaken, such as the Abu Dhabi International Airport, Heathrow Terminal 2, Hong Kong International Midfield Concourse, Perth Airport, and Taoyuan Terminal 3 (Taiwan).

Previously, Baer spent 37 years with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where as Director of Aviation she oversaw the safe, efficient, and profitable operation of the busiest airport system in the U.S. There, her diverse achievements ranged from managing a $2.3 billion operating budget to negotiating airport-based retail developments to implementing a model customer service program. Baer was the first person in the agency’s 92-year history to manage each of its major airports: JFK International, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International, and Teterboro.

Such unmatched credentials provide Baer with a keen command of all aspects of the aviation business. She is leveraging this experience to bring a new perspective to Arup’s well-established aviation competencies, including planning, security, IT, operations planning, strategic and business services, acoustics, operations readiness and training, transaction advice, and more. In a series of short videos posted to Arup’s online magazine, Doggerel, Baer shares her thoughts on the state of airport design today and in the future.

“From airports to airlines and private customers, fulfilling the needs of our diverse clients is the most exciting part of this role,” said Baer. “It is my goal as Global Aviation Business Leader to make sure that Arup’s vast global skills and capabilities continue to evolve to meet the needs of this dynamic, ever-changing industry.”

About Arup

The preeminent provider of interdisciplinary engineering, consulting, and design services, Arup drives the world’s most prominent projects, from city-building to iconic architecture. The firm opened its first US office over 30 years ago, and now employs 1,300 people in the Americas. Since its founding in 1946, Arup has pioneered groundbreaking strategies, technical excellence, and social purpose. As a responsive and respectful business partner, Arup honorably serves its clients and shapes a better world. For additional information, visit Arup’s website at www.arup.com and the online magazine of Arup in the Americas at doggerel.arup.com.

13 + 12 Jan 2016 Engineering Powerhouse Arup Names New Leadership as Firm Expands in the Americas

Andy Howard named Chairman and Leo Argiris named Chief Operating Officer

Renowned for its engineering acumen, Arup is addressing today’s most complex challenges—city building, transportation/mobility, resiliency, and energy—by broadening its project and program management, planning, and advisory services

LOS ANGELES — Arup, a global leader in multidisciplinary engineering, consulting, and design, announced today that Andy Howard has been appointed Chairman of the Americas Region and Leo Argiris has been named Chief Operating Officer of the Americas Region. Their appointments reflect the firm’s forward thinking and its capacity to embrace change: Arup routinely rotates its leadership to bring fresh perspectives to the firm’s growth and development in the Americas and worldwide. Outgoing Chairman of the Americas Region, Mahadev Raman, has been named Director of Arup University, the firm’s forum for keeping skills at the cutting-edge, overseeing the firm’s research, professional-development, knowledge and foresight activities.

photograph courtesy Arup Associates

Gregory Hodkinson, Arup Group Chairman, said, “Arup’s strategy is to do the best quality work for our clients across all specialties to achieve a positive impact on our world. Andy Howard and Leo Argiris have the right skills to advance this mission in the Americas, a region that offers incredible opportunities and where the firm has worked on some of the most complex and progressive projects for some of the most demanding clients.”

The new management team aims to bring the world’s best ideas and advice to clients in the Americas. By leveraging digital technologies to provide clients with efficient and inventive solutions, Howard will both drive the vision for the firm’s future and serve as a steward of Arup’s legacy. “Because our firm is owned in trust, with its employees as beneficiaries, we have the opportunity to invest heavily in innovation for the benefit of our clients and industry. This is a powerful motivator for me and the entire Arup team to continue to develop transformative ways of working,” said Howard. Arup’s clients also benefit from the company’s high rate of employee retention, which ensures sustained, focused research.

As Howard and Argiris lead Arup into the future in the Americas, prospects are exciting on a number of fronts. For FYE 2016, revenues for Arup in the Americas will exceed $350 million (the firm’s global revenue is $2 billion), and the group is anticipating double-digit growth annually for the next five years. “For Arup, growth is not a target, but an enabler that allows us to provide the best services to our clients and interesting opportunities for our staff,” said Argiris.

BSkyB Believe in Better Building design by Arup Associates, Architects: photo : Simon Kennedy

Arup in the Americas

Going Forward: Arup in the Americas

Looking ahead, Howard believes that Arup is ideally positioned to capitalize on the tremendous potential offered by harnessing automation in new ways to facilitate the design process. Arup’s ability to compile and quickly analyze information on ever-larger scales is transforming the management of complex projects and development of creative solutions. In city-building, for instance, Arup synthesizes and manipulates data on resiliency, traffic congestion, pollution, and energy usage with great speed and accuracy to produce smart, real-time models that yield results of much greater impact and efficiency than traditional linear-style design. Areas specifically targeted by Howard that can benefit from this advanced approach include transportation networks and infrastructure projects.

Howard views technology as a driver for positive change within the AEC community and will work to solidify Arup’s position as a strategic leader in this rapidly evolving scene. “At Arup, we’re looking at expanding our capabilities,” said Howard. “We have become advisory experts, giving our clients broader advice on solutions. We define our value by the positive impact we have on stakeholders and the world at large.”

Setting goals to continue the company’s organic growth and creating new opportunities for staff are also on the firm’s agenda for the future. Arup is planning to expand its 15 offices in North and South America and is currently evaluating several locations for new branches.

Arup

The preeminent provider of interdisciplinary engineering, consulting, and design services, Arup drives the world’s most prominent projects, from city-building to iconic architecture. The firm opened its first US office over 30 years ago and now employs 1,300 people in the Americas. Since its founding in 1946, Arup has pioneered groundbreaking strategies, technical excellence, and social purpose. As a responsive and respectful business partner, Arup honorably serves its clients and shapes a better world. For additional information, visit Arup’s website at www.arup.com and the online magazine of Arup in the Americas at doggerel.arup.com.

14 Sep 2012

Arup Zero-Energy House

Micro-algae prove ideal for making green facades

• Algae ‘bio-reactors’ provide shade and a source of green energy • Commercial-scale algae bio-façades set for production

(London) A zero-energy house under construction in Germany is set to provide the first real-life test for a new façade system that uses live microalgae to provide shade and generate renewable energy at the same time.

Bio-adaptive façade: images from Arup

The world’s first ‘bio-adaptive façade’ will be installed in the ‘BIQ’ house for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Hamburg, which runs through 2013.

The façade concept is designed so that algae in the bio-reactor façades grow faster in bright sunlight to provide more internal shading. The ‘bio-reactors’ not only produce biomass that can subsequently be harvested, but they also capture solar thermal heat – both energy sources can be used to power the building.

In practice, this means that photosynthesis is driving a dynamic response to the amount of solar shading required, while the micro-algae growing in the glass louvres provide a clean source of renewable energy.

The shading louvres for the BIQ house in Hamburg are being fabricated in Germany by Colt International on the basis of bio-reactor concept and design work led by the international design consultant, Arup, in cooperation with SSC Strategic Science Consult of Germany. The BIQ house was designed for the IBA exhibition by Splitterwerk Architects of Graz, Austria.

Arup’s Europe Research Leader, Jan Wurm, said, “To use bio-chemical processes for adaptive shading is a really innovative and sustainable solution so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario. As well as generating renewable energy and providing shade to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, it also creates a visually interesting look that architects and building owners will like.”

Simon O’Hea, Director at Colt, said, “It’s been a very rewarding scheme to be involved in. We have put a lot of work into meeting the technical challenges and we now have a commercial-scale, effective solution that uses live algae as a smart material to deliver renewable energy. You can’t get greener than that.” Once completed in March 2013, the BIQ house will allow scientists, engineers and builders to assess the full potential of the system as a green alternative providing dynamic solar shading alongside sustainable, renewable energy.

Key Recent Arup Projects

Featured Buildings by Arup, alphabetical:

AAMI Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2010 Design: Cox Architects and Planners with Arup photo : John Gollings AAMI Park Stadium – information + images added 25 Jun 2012 Arup brought unrivalled skills and global experience in structural and civil engineering design to the development of Rectangular Stadium, employing structural ingenuity to support the architectural vision.

Health & Wellness Facilities, Education City, Doha, Qatar 2010- Design: GHD Global Pty Ltd image © Reid Fenwick Asociados Health Wellness Doha – 25 Jun 2012 The Health and Wellness Facilities in Doha, Qatar is a spectacular project which is conceived to be the main sports facilities for the Education City Complex. The objective of the project is to develop an existing site designated within the overall Masterplan, for a Sports Facility to service the students and staff of the University Campus of Education City.

Estadio Espanyol, Cornalla, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 2007 Design: Reid Fenwick Associates & Gasulla Arquitectura Integral photo : Luca Orlandini_Arup Estadio Espanyol – added 25 Jun 2012 Located in the city of Cornella, this stadium has several commercial and sport services, library and a hotel in the corners. For this stadium, Arup developed the fire protection strategy and the structural design during the basic project phase. This included the design of both the stand and foundations as well as the roof, made of reinforced concrete and steel respectively.

Major Buildings by Arup

Beijing Olympics – The Water Cube, China Design: PTW with Arup photo © Arup_Ben McMillan Water Cube Beijing – National Aquatics Centre – Beijing Olympics Venue ETFE bubble-pattern façade – Architecture Competition win 2003 The National Aquatics Centre, also known as the ‘Water Cube’, will be one of the most dramatic and exciting sporting venues for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Enclosed within the blue bubble walls are five swimming pools, including a wave machine and rides and a restaurant, along with seating and facilities for 17 000 spectators.

More projects by Arup online soon

Location: London, south east England, UK

Arup Practice Information

Architecture + Engineering offices based across the world

photo © Arup_Ben McMillan

Arup is a world-class firm of designers, planners, engineers, architects, consultants and technical specialists working across every aspect of today’s built environment. The company, which has its headquarters in London, is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects. It employs 6,000 people across 17 UK offices, and thousands more worldwide, with a presence in more than 30 countries. Its business in Nottingham has been making a positive contribution to the city and the East Midlands for more than 30 years.

Arup Associates

Arup Advanced Geometry Unit

Arup Associates Unified Design Unit

Website: www.arup.com

London Architecture Designs

Architecture Studios

Buildings / photos for the Arup page welcome

The post Arup: Architecture + Engineering, Engineers appeared first on e-architect.

[sticky-institute]

Travel Diary: Zinefest Christchurch, by Bryce Galloway

I used to go to all of New Zealand’s annual zinefests, but now that there’s six of them (!?!?) I only go to my hometown zinefests - Hamilton/Wellington, and one other, in strict rotation. I’m weird like that, just ask my friends.

Last time I was here (2013) I was in a lonely hotel on the edge of Cathedral Square, telling the assembled locals to go zine, cos it was one of the best cultural vehicles for a city lacking infrastructure. Christchurch (Ōtautahi) was post-quake. Christchurch is still post-quake, just a little less so.

This time round I’m staying with friend, artist, musician and Content Manager at inde radio station RDU - Gemma Syme. I slept on Gemma’s coach, until drunken friends and flatmates woke me with their banter and late-night fry-up. I listened to the drunken Pakeha boys try and argue their iwi (tribal) status with the Māori girls. What, with the sleeping bag over my head, I totally missed that one of the boys in question was friend and zinester Spencer Hall. Once they’d left I got up and checked they’d turned the oven off. Those, “don’t drink and fry” ads, ya know?

I see nobody from Christchurch Zinefest 2013 at the 2017 event. This must be a completely new local zine spasm. However, Christchurch’s ongoing love of the risograph and the influence of designer/art school lecturer Luke Wood are still present, extended by Jane Maloney’s riso press (M/K Press Ltd) and her pre-Zinefest riso-zine workshops.

Christchurch Art Centre are providing this space by virtue of the fact that they have a zinester in their ranks - Louise Sutherland. Otherwise, Alice Bush is the primary organizer of this year’s event.

Louise’s zines precede her. She be the author of the wonderful Coaster Frenzy, here today for just “$1 or swaps”. Alice and I gush our respective roller coaster stories at the Coaster Frenzy author. Alice has the world’s highest rollercoaster under her belt. I have the world’s highest vertical-drop rollercoaster under mine, which is surprising, I HATE heights. I launch into the Dead Kennedy’s rollercoaster disaster anthem Funland at the Beach, and later kick myself for the inappropriateness of that song in the context of post-quake Christchurch!!!

Louise says she feels privileged to have been part of the Christchurch rebuild, “It’s a moment in history. How many of those do we get to share.” Louise contends that Christchurch art and music have benefitted from the quakes; that a formerly closed scene, full of hierarchies, is now open to all players. That’s very ziney. It’s a sentiment echoed in issue two of the riso music journal Cheap Thrills (at Zinefest with editor - Erin Kimber). In the opening article - On the Value of Music - Matt Scobie writes, “I believe these events allowed or encouraged us to break free of the shackles of competitive individualism driven by exchange values and start acknowledging the importance of seeing the Ōtautahi music community as a synergetic whole…”

Hey, there’s Cameron from riso design journal Strips Club. His Strips Club collaborator’s moved to Berlin. Maybe there won’t be another volume of Strips Club. “Awe, do a White Fungus.” I encourage. “Berlin/Chch to their Taiwan/Wellington. Interview White Fungus’s Hanson brothers.” We talk politics, voting patterns, Winston Peters, the “king-maker” in post-election New Zealand. Cameron tells me about the massive Justice Building, that cynically opened for election season photo ops with members of the incumbent National party, closing again for ongoing construction as soon as the polling booths were shut.

I do the stall-holder circuit, it probably takes about an hour to get a reasonable handle on the qualities of the various zines on offer. All the zinesters are doing the same thing; doing the whole circuit before deciding how to spend their budget of $5, $10, or $20. I spend every cent that I make in sales of my own zine - Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People. I get all zinesters to sign their work.

There are approximately 20 stall-holders here according to Alice: Asian exchange students have written about racism against their own, David Merritt has his foldout poetry housed in upcycled books and banana box linings, there’s a zine from the Christchurch Women’s Centre, Spencer’s pop-up comics and satirical propaganda commands (Spencer also passes round a folded piece of paper for a comics jam on fictitious FX pedals), there are other inde comics, second hand books, witch zines, potion zines, stickers, handmade jewelry, cassettes, CD-zines, creative writing, sci fi stories, photo zines, travel zines, cat zines, music zines, even a zine about zines.

I sell more zines when I’m not on my stall than when I am there!?!? I’m not surprised, zine shopping is a potentially self-consciousness experience in the extreme. Where else do you examine someone’s art while they examine your face for signs of enjoyment, waiting for you to decide whether their art’s good enough to purchase. Imagine being installed next to your own gallery painting, with your hand out!? But that’s also the best thing about zinefest, you meet ALL the artists.

Bleeeurh! A bit tired and hungover now. Need coffee. The worst busker in the world sits in her wheelchair outside Bunsen Café warbling some churchy dirges over karaoke backing. Too good to be full-o-character, too bad to forgive her genre of choice.

My zinefest neighbor is a scrapbooker from the US, so I’m compelled to ask her if she thinks the scrapbooker kits one finds in art/stationary shops are a rip. Thankfully, she does. She appears to be afloat in NZ, not knowing if her art school back in the US will be restructured out of existence or not. Is looking to find an arts program in New Zealand.  

Cameron of Strip Club packs up early. Bastard! Makes a huge hole in the wee zinefest presence/footprint.

I’m just not acclimatized to this Christchurch cold. They’ve put the Wellington guy in exactly the wrong place, by the draughty doorway. Locals chit chat in tee shirts while I hug myself, jacket zipped, hat pulled tight!?!?

I’m encouraging Louie of Dunedin Zinefest and Alice of Christchurch to get committees of helpers. They’re both currently running their zinefests solo!?!?

Spencer tells me to check out his story about NZ alt rock legend Bruce Russel being the alter-ego of NZ alt rock legend Martin Phillips, as printed in his Lyttelton Rotten Radio zine.

It’s nearly 5 PM. I pack up and make short work of my farewells so that I can catch a bus to the airport and relax knowing I’m in the right place for my flight back to Wellington.

Back home and checking the best of my haul:

Cheap Thrills Issue 2 - an elegant risographed volume of NZ music past and present

Wandering Wolves is a gorgeous riso, the very first zine of Prabha Mallya, made at one of the workshops leading up to zinefest. Poetic mix of tagged animal narrative, poetry, illustration, photo and collage.

Field Notes from The Crescent City – July 2017 “It’s a very efficient and sensible method of burial that ensures you can never ever escape your family, even in death.”

Louise Sutherland’s holiday snaps and memories of New Orleans (including its cemeteries), well enough written and photographed to transcend any photo album limitations

A Most Elusive Species – by Louise Sutherland’s brother Robert. Photo essay of seemingly empty zoo enclosures. A subtle variety to the picture-by-picture approach creating a rewarding sense of narrative.

Burn Out is a pun. Yes, there are cars, but the scars are not the result of spinning tyres but of the sun’s rays peeling the paint off that once proud finish - by Robert Sutherland.

The cutest wee Untitled zine that pitches it’s teensiness against clipped horror narratives from Greek myth.

Cuss Weird cussing birds. Inexplicable.

OX OX OX... a CDR economically clothed in a folded A3. Rockabilly are the first chords, with hints of Ramones and Stooges. Next song is quite different, same vocal stylings but over “Dunedin Sound” meets Fall repetition. In the zine, we’re regaled with some pretty compelling “um and ah” misadventures from the band’s singer. Now they play a kiwified Joy Division cover. Sweeet!

Strawberry Stories runs some loopy narrative logic, or lack thereof. And some nice red spot-colour on the strawberry coloured one, though s/he’s not actually a strawberry eh, s/he’s like a person with a tree growing outta their head!?!?

A Zine Fanzine Beautifully designed and laid out riso about zines. Tightened up my own understanding about the provenance of zines, though changes to conjecture when talking about post internet zines.

Misc - Excellent poems by Arwen Miriama Sommer. “Snow is built of feathers and birds are built of trees”

All About the Sex* The Christchurch Women’s Centre decide to distribute their newsletter at zinefest, so it’s a zine now. An intro to the Woman’s Centre and their weekly discussion forum, plus an intro to the Red Tent movement and editorial about aging women’s identity.

Rotten Radio Zine - Spencer Hall’s good at writing original meandering comedy nonsense about music and culture.

[celebritylive]

The race is on.

As the 2020 field of presidential candidates continues to narrow, the solid remaining 14 contenders have A-list supporters who’ve been vocal about who they want to see as the next president of the United States.

From Oscar winners to internationally known pop stars, see who is on team Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and beyond.

Donald Trump

The current president, who was impeached by the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 2019, on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with his Ukraine scandal, has his status as commander-in-chief hanging in the balance. Trump, who will likely have to stand trial in the Senate in the new year, must beat out fellow republicans Gov. Bill Weld and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, if he wants to remain in the White House.

Despite the current chaos surrounding Trump and his administration, the 73-year-old still has some famous supporters on his side. His most well-known ally is rapper Kanye West.

Trump all day

— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019

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To make sure his fans knew where he stood coming into 2019, West sent out a string of tweets to set the record straight. “Just so in 2019 you know where I stand,” he tweeted before posting three dragon emojis and writing, “Trump all day.”

To my fellow Americans. Part 1. pic.twitter.com/srw4zXCRKJ

— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) May 25, 2019

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In May 2019, actor Jon Voight also pledged his allegiance to the president and tweeted out a two-part video to share why Trump has been “the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.”

To my fellow Americans. Part 2. pic.twitter.com/uhqpbzwHhS

— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) May 25, 2019

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Voight followed up the impeachment vote by tweeting another video in support of the president, called “In God We Trust”.

In God We Trust pic.twitter.com/xbMCTDhgp4

— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) December 19, 2019

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In the clip, the actor claims that “if the impeachment proceeds, America will fall — for President Trump has built it back and the extreme left are destroying this nation’s glory.”

Other supporters include Roseanne Barr, Scott Baio (via Fox News) and Stacey Dash (via NYT).

2020 vision

pic.twitter.com/kg6yTnmwQk

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) August 14, 2018

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Joe Biden

The former vice president has director Rob Reiner on his side. The 72-year-old expressed his stance in a tweet, writing, “We have a great field of candidates running for President. We should be supportive of them all. But if ever there was a time in our nation’s history that we needed someone to restore our soul & standing as leader of the free world, it’s now. Joe Biden will do that on day one.”

We have a great field of candidates running for President. We should be supportive of them all. But if ever there was a time in our nation’s history that we needed someone to restore our soul & standing as leader of the free world, it’s now. Joe Biden will do that on day one.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) April 25, 2019

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Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin shared his requirements for who the next president should be, only to drive home that Biden is the candidate for him.

“The main things I want in a nominee, however, are twofold: (1) someone who can beat Trump, and (2) someone who would actually be a good/ great president,” Martin wrote in his blog in May 2019. “Biden qualifies on both counts. Also, the speech he gave announcing his run was kickass… and so, so true. I wish him well.”

One of Biden’s earliest supporters is Olympic ice skater Michelle Kwan. She shared her excitement after he had initially announced that was running on Instagram, writing, “I’m thrilled that @joebiden announced that he’s running for President!”

View this post on Instagram I'm thrilled that @joebiden announced that he’s running for President! I know that there is already a field of incredible democratic candidates and the 2020 election is so important we cannot lose sight of the big picture. Ultimately, I believe that the Vice President is the ideal candidate to unify our country with his experience, knowledge and track record of fighting for Americans. He has worked side by side with @barackobama to pass the Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance to 20 million people and protected people with pre-existing conditions. He championed marriage equality and remains at the forefront of ensuring LGBTQ rights. He has tackled climate change and pollution to protect our environment. He has earned the respect of the international community and, through his leadership, he will strengthen our relationships with our allies and stand up to meet rising global challenges. Most importantly, VP Biden has a reputation for getting things done – from implementing the most comprehensive and progressive investments in our nation’s infrastructure and clean energy industries, to writing the Violence Against Women Act, to taking on the the NRA and winning (twice!). He’s the candidate that I’m proud to support because he will do what it takes to restore the soul of this nation, rebuild the backbone of the country, and unify America.

A post shared by Michelle Kwan (@michellewkwan) on Apr 25, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

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“Ultimately, I believe that the Vice President is the ideal candidate to unify our country with his experience, knowledge and track record of fighting for Americans,” she continued, before adding, “Most importantly, VP Biden has a reputation for getting things done – from implementing the most comprehensive and progressive investments in our nation’s infrastructure and clean energy industries, to writing the Violence Against Women Act, to taking on the the NRA and winning (twice!). He’s the candidate that I’m proud to support because he will do what it takes to restore the soul of this nation, rebuild the backbone of the country, and unify America.”

Other supporters include Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (via CNN).

Elizabeth Warren

The senator from Massachusetts is teeming with celebrity support, including from Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness. On Twitter, the star shared how he knew Warren was for him.

“The moment I knew I was endorsing @ewarren was last month when I misplaced my HIV meds. It cost $3500 to replace them out of pocket with ‘amazing’ plantinum level insurance. Healthcare shouldn’t be for profit ever, it’s a human right,” he tweeted in September 2019, alluding to Warren’s Medicare-for-all stance.

The moment I knew I was endorsing @ewarren was last month when I misplaced my HIV meds. It cost $3500 to replace them out of pocket with “amazing” plantinum level insurance. Healthcare shouldn’t be for profit ever, it’s a human right.

— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) September 25, 2019

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Warren also has John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s cosign, along with that of musician Melissa Etheridge.

We look forward to the Warren Presidency!

— John Legend (@johnlegend) October 29, 2019

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“We Look forward to the Warren Presidency!” Legend tweeted at the nominee, while Etheridge took the straight-forward route and tweeted, “I am officially pledging my support for @ewarren for her candidacy for president!”

I am officially pledging my support for @ewarren for her candidacy for president! #ElizabethWarren pic.twitter.com/fvJVOrcAXS

— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) October 10, 2019

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Today I'm proud to endorse @ewarren for president.

Elizabeth and I share a vision of America where everyone counts. An America where people⁠—not the wealthy or well-connected⁠—are put first. I'm proud to join her in the fight for big, structural change. pic.twitter.com/xDvMEKqpF3

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) January 6, 2020

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Other supporters include Megan Rapinoe, Amy Schumer, Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Reynolds (via Politico) and former presidential candidate Julián Castro.

Bernie Sanders

Sen. Sanders has Cardi B on his side — okurrr! The star sat down with the 78-year-old in August 2019 to discuss important issues that affect every day American people, including police brutality against black men and minorities, protecting immigrants, health care and more.

Bernie Sanders is kicking off a three-day trip in Iowa today alongside @SusanSarandon, here at a campaign field office in Davenport with her Pomeranian-Maltese named Penny. pic.twitter.com/2Yh2PkTJxs

— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) August 19, 2019

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Oscar winner Susan Sarandon was seen speaking at a Sanders rally in August 2019, while in November, the candidate and singer Ariana Grande expressed support for each other. The “Thank U, Next” singer thanked the presidential hopeful for coming to her show and shared that her team has helped register more than 20,000 young people so they can vote in the upcoming election.

MY GUY. thank you Senator Sanders for coming to my show, making my whole night and for all that you stand for ! @headcountorg and i are doing our best to make you proud. we’ve already registered 20k+ young voters at my shows alone. also i will never smile this hard again promise. pic.twitter.com/7UYqkXR0g1

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 20, 2019

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Another big star backing Sanders is Emily Ratajkowski. The 28-year-old was featured on the candidate’s YouTube channel to share why she’s feeling the Bern.

“Bernie is extremely genuine,” she began. “He’s consistent. He’s powerful, not because of who he is as one person, but because of the way that he invigorates people, and excites them, and brings together this movement.”

She added: “Bernie has always been very clear about how he advocates for women’s health care, which is hugely important to me.

Other supporters include Miley Cyrus, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover (via AOL) and Jack Nicholson.

Spotted leaving the @BernieSanders rally in Moreno Valley, CA: Jack Nicholson. pic.twitter.com/KkycIPDfOh

— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) December 20, 2019

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Pete Buttigieg

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been extremely popular with Hollywood. According to filings by the 2019 Federal Election Commission, reported by TMZ, Mayor Pete has had Anna Wintour, Gwyneth Paltrow, Larry David, Michael J. Fox, Ryan Murphy, Sharon Stone and more donate to his 2020 campaign.

View this post on Instagram ‪Honored to be in New Hampshire with #TeamPete. ‬ ‪I’m here because I’m hopeful about the future of our country. But I’m also here because we can’t wait. We can’t wait to tackle our nation’s greatest challenges, and @pete.buttigieg is the President we need right now. ‬

A post shared by Michael J Fox (@realmikejfox) on Feb 8, 2020 at 6:35pm PST

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View this post on Instagram I support PETE for president because I believe he is the candidate that will take us to a safer, more thoughtful future! Sharon

A post shared by Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) on Jan 18, 2020 at 11:22am PST

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Actress Sharon Stone shared her endorsement on Instagram, writing, “I support PETE for president because I believe he is the candidate that will take us to a safer, more thoughtful future!”

In late December, actor Kevin Costner endorsed Buttigieg at an Iowa rally.

View this post on Instagram @pete.buttigieg Link in bio to help!

A post shared by Emmy Rossum (@emmy) on Aug 1, 2019 at 6:47am PDT

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Shameless star Emmy Rossum showed her support via Instagram and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane expressed his opinion on Buttigieg being “one of the best Presidential candidates I’ve seen in my lifetime,” on Twitter in July 2019.

Damn Twitter for the character limit. pic.twitter.com/TzSIFQmxbg

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) July 31, 2019

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This Is Us star Mandy Moore also shared that she’s #TeamPete on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram Just got off the stage with this guy in Iowa! I don’t usually get involved in politics, but @pete.buttigieg is just so darn brilliant and inspiring—he’s the person America needs as president right now. If you’re with us, click the link in my bio to chip in and donate to the campaign. Every dollar counts. #teampete

A post shared by Mandy Moore (@mandymooremm) on Jan 13, 2020 at 6:58pm PST

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She posted a selfie of the two during their time together in Iowa, writing, “I don’t usually get involved in politics, but @pete.buttigieg is just so darn brilliant and inspiring—he’s the person America needs as president right now.”

Other supporters include Alyssa Milano, Jennifer Garner, Ben Platt, Anthony Rapp (via TMZ) and George Takei.

The times demand more of us. They demand a thoughtful leader who affirms the promise of America and our ability to make real progress. That is why I am so proud to endorse @PeteButtigieg for President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/5SP6sEUhTO

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 19, 2019

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Amy Klobuchar

The senator from Minnesota has former Glee star Jane Lynch on her side. The actress tweeted, “If you like Amy, now is the time to support her $. I like her and I supported her,” adding Klobuchar’s website to close out her tweet.

If you like Amy, now is the time to support her $. I like her and I supported her via https://t.co/0nahxsexi5

— Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) December 14, 2019

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Other supporters include Jane Fonda and Teri Hatcher (via LA Times).

Andrew Yang

View this post on Instagram Thanks for joining me at the rally in SF! Big things are happening and it's all thanks to you! #YangGang #Yang2020

A post shared by Andrew Yang for President 2020 (@andrewyang2020) on Oct 27, 2019 at 6:29pm PDT

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Yang Gang gained another member when tech entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted his support of Yang in August 2019. Musk tweeted “I support Yang” in response to a comment made by Hardcore History Twitter’s Dan Carlin.

I support Yang

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2019

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According to CNBC, Musk and Yang hold similar views on the need for universal basic income in the United States. Musk told the outlet in 2016 that “there is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation,” and one of Yang’s biggest campaign promises has been to give American citizens, who are 18 or older, $1,000 a month since he believes robots and other automated services will continue to replace humans in the workforce.

Thank you @DaveChappelle and welcome to the #yanggang. You are the best. Let’s do this for our kids.

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— Andrew Yang

(@AndrewYang) January 14, 2020

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In Jan. 2020, comedian Dave Chappelle announced his support in a release sent out by the Yang campaign prior to the seventh democratic presidential debate in Des Moines, which stated, “I’m Yang Gang!” CNN reported. Yang responded by saying that he and Chappelle “share similar concerns about the future” and added, “We are also parents who see the world that we are leaving to our kids and believe they deserve better,” in his own statement.

Yang did not qualify for the debate that took place in Iowa on Jan. 14, but he was missed.

Andrew Yang is not in the debate? He is the only candidate addressing problems of the future, such as the increasing vulnerability of our social media. To underscore this point, I plan on hacking Mr. Yang's twitter-feed to live-tweet tonight's debate. Signed, Captain Midnight.

— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) January 14, 2020

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Norm Macdonald tweeted that Yang “is the only candidate addressing problems for the future” before joking that he planned on “hacking Mr. Yan’s twitter-feed to live-tweet” the debate. Meghan McCain also expressed her disappointment that Yang did not qualify for the debate, tweeting, “I miss @AndrewYang & @TulsiGabbard #DemocraticDebate”

I miss @AndrewYang & @TulsiGabbard. #DemocraticDebate

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 15, 2020

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Other supporters include Donald Glover, Nicolas Cage, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Noah Centineo and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

I will put our celebrity donor list of Nicolas Cage, Rivers Cuomo, Noah Centineo and Sam Altman up against anyone’s.

— Andrew Yang

(@AndrewYang) April 16, 2019

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Other supporters include Donald Glover, Nicolas Cage, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Noah Centineo and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

  Michael Bloomberg

The former mayor of New York City entered the race fairly late in the game (on Nov. 24, 2019) after announcing in March that he wasn’t going to run for president, but that didn’t deter Judy Sheindlin, famously known as Judge Judy, from pledging her support. The Emmy-award winner wrote an op-ed in USA Today outlining why Bloomberg is her top choice.

“An independent, tough-minded businessman, he represents our best chance to bring America together again and begin the long national process of healing,” Sheindlin wrote.

“We need a no-nonsense president who’s sane, competent and honest, someone who can’t be bought and has no skin in the game. As he showed during 12 years as mayor in New York City Hall, Michael Bloomberg fits the bill,” she continued.

“He’s a self-made billionaire, a man who made a lot of money in a very straightforward, transparent way. He’s an advocate for strong action on climate change. He believes in reasonable gun control, like the vast majority of Americans. He believes in making certain that the criminal element in our society — which scars the life of so many — is treated firmly, swiftly and fairly,” she added.

Michael Douglas has also publicly pledged his support and told PEOPLE that he “hasn’t been this excited” about a presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy.

“I feel so blessed that in this particularly difficult time that we have one of the greatest candidates in the history of our elections,” Douglas said.

In his view, Bloomberg offers “a rare opportunity to coalesce and bring us back together, get rid of all this horrid, negative scare tactics that are going on, and the fact that he’s succeeded to the degree that he has is phenomenal.”

View this post on Instagram I support Mike Bloomberg for president because he has the strongest track record on climate change and will do the most to fight it. He plans to: Completely phase out emissions in the electricity sector. Accelerate the deployment of clean energy resources that expand the US economy and create millions of jobs that are able to support families. And most importantly to me, invest first in communities that have suffered most from coal pollution or have been left behind in the transition to clean energy. https://www.mikebloomberg.com/2020/policies/climate-change

A post shared by Ted Danson (@teddanson) on Jan 27, 2020 at 2:26pm PST

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Ted Danson announced on Jan. 27, 2020 that he’s all for the former mayor because “he has the strongest track record on climate change and will do the most to fight it.”

He further explained on Instagram that the candidate plans to “completely phase out emissions in the electricity sector” and most importantly, “invest first in communities that have suffered most from coal pollution or have been left behind in the transition to clean energy.”

The star concluded his post by adding a link to Bloomberg’s website, where his followers can learn more about the candidate’s climate efforts.

Tim Gunn is also backing Bloomberg, and has officially joined on as a member of Bloomberg’s LGBTQ Leadership Council.

“When I talked to his campaign yesterday, they said, ‘We’re getting into this late’ and I thought, Maybe that’s a real advantage,” Gunn told PEOPLE. “He hasn’t been part of this squabbling and bickering. Now he can just ride in like a knight in shining armor.”

Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter John Mellencamp lent his song “Small Town” — and his endorsement — to the Bloomberg campaign, writing, “The stakes are too high to not nominate the candidate who will take the fight directly to Trump,” in a statement released by the former mayor. “From small towns to big cities, Mike Bloomberg has the experience to represent all Americans. He’s a job creator, philanthropist, and true public servant, and I am confident that as president, he will restore America to a place we can be proud of once again.”

from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2ZaZgfQ

[theworldtravelingblonde]

13 years ago today was the day that changed my life and the lives of many forever.  August 29th is not a holiday and for most people there is nothing special about this day at all.  However for me, I will always remember August 29th as the day the big one came barreling towards New Orleans.  13 years ago I lived in the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana while Hurricane Katrina bared down on the Gulf Coast. I had been through plenty of storms before and none of them bothered me.  This hurricane was different it was not like Betsy or Camille that ravaged the area before. Hurricane Katrina was a force to be reckoned with.

  The weekend before the hurricane hit was no different than most weekends for me.  I just started Jr. High and had a friend over for a sleepover. My parents were watching the news about the hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, but the tracker had the storm heading to Apalachicola, FL.  They were not concerned so we had not packed or prepped for the storm. My friend and I spent the weekend at the pool and renting movies from Blockbuster. Sunday morning we all woke up to a terrible surprise. The storm had moved and now was headed straight for New Orleans.  We had to hurry and prep for the storm, which meant boarding the house up and taking account of what we had. I still had a friend over at the house when evacuations by authorities had started. It was a mess. My family decided not to evacuate and believed that we could ride out the storm. We had stayed for others and most of the time the storms weakened or turned.  We never thought that the storm would be that destructive.

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I woke up on morning of August 29, 2005 to darkness.  The electricity had already gone out and the storm was howling.  That morning we sat and listened to the storm and the radio. I lived on the western side of the storm, which is the calmer side.  I had no clue what Katrina was doing to Mississippi or New Orleans. I heard news reporters on the radio who were hunkered down in the high rises in the city and they were talking about how the winds were blowing the windows out.  I listened to people calling in about the rising water. I had no idea about the levees breaking or about the storm surge in Mississippi. I just heard people screaming over the radio for help. They were trapped in their attic with rising water with nowhere to go.  I do not know if those people ever made it out or if they became one of the statistics. I truly did not understand what really was happening. I listened to the storm all day. Once the eye made landfall I went outside and walked in it. It was so calm, and creepy. All day the wind howled violently, but the eye was absolutely peaceful. After the storm had finished I still had no idea the massive destruction and all the lives lost. The face of my area had changed forever.  My family was extremely lucky. My house did not flood and had very minor damage. We were able to clean up pretty quickly. After only a few days we realized that life would not go back to normal for a while so my mother and I evacuated. We drove to Omaha, Nebraska to live with family until the school reopened.

  About a month later I returned home to the New Orleans area, and still destruction was everywhere.  Katrina left a lasting impact to the Gulf Coast. I explored Mississippi, New Orleans, and the parishes below the city and no one was spared.  However the communities came together and people from around the nation helped rebuild the Gulf Coast.

  Since then I  have moved away from the area, but still think about my home regularly.  Over the summer I spent time in Gulfport, MS at my parent’s house. They live right on the Gulf of Mexico. I look out my parents windows to the Gulf of Mexico and can only imagine what that same view would have looked like that day 13 years ago. The building that originally was on the land that their home is built on unfortunately did not survive the storm.  It has been 13 years and there are still many signs of Hurricane Katrina everywhere. Next to my parent’s place there are still slabs with pipes sticking out. There are slabs of former buildings all over the place. It is depressing to see. I remember driving down these streets with all the buildings up and people working and living in them. All the old houses are gone.  They washed out into the gulf 13 years ago, and many were never rebuilt. Some areas have done better than others. Some towns have rebuilt a lot of their infrastructure, while others still struggle to bounce back. The area is still recovering, but the communities are stronger than ever. I am proud to call this area home. Hurricane Katrina might have changed the area, but it did not kill the spirits of the people who live there.  

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  Like many I learned a lot that day.  Mother nature is often beautiful, but at times can be brutal.  I also learned the hard way that it is not worth staying and riding out a storm. Your life is worth more than your possessions.  My family was very lucky, but I think about all those whose luck ran out. With each year passing since the storm, more and more forget about it. The area grows and continues to thrive.  One day Katrina will be looked at like her prescestors, Camille and Betsy bad, but in the past. People will talk about it, but the feelings of what happen will continue to fade as the years go on.  Unfortunately on the Gulf Coast there will be another storm one day, and it will be compared to Katrina like Katrina was compared to Betsy and Camille. However for me, August 29, 2005 was a day that  I can never forget. I will never forget about a hurricane named Katrina.

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A Hurricane Named Katrina 13 years ago today was the day that changed my life and the lives of many forever.  

[linseaallen-mccoy]

Embodying and Discerning

I trust Nature, the ravishing, the habitat, the intelligence.  I trust, as an adult grown from a zygote in a design beyond my own conception, as the makings of nature. I trust, as someone who has attended about a hundred births, including of my own giving. I get the give-and-take of nature, as a labourer often outdoors in various weather-affected roles like construction, demolition, logging, and planting trees. As someone who swims in water, runs on land and breathes only a specific recipe of atmosphere, as a product of magical biology, I trust and move with nature.            

           I trust my bodily processes to function under our basic scientific definition of what it means to be living: to eat, to proliferate, to evacuate excesses. I trust my body to let go of unrealized fecundity, repeatedly, continuously, my blood shed like the leaves of autumn click-clacking down with the wind, the renewing of uterine walls like the leaves fermenting into humus-rich soil. I trust my body to deliver a live, wet, squealing infant after fully gestating the life-igniting sparks, just as I trust winter to be cold and bodies to be warm. I trust proteins to clot and reweave skin and muscle tissues torn on trespassed barbwire fences, and fluids of immunity to ambush and ferry away foreign microorganisms non-native to my body. I trust nature's power, inclusive of the power of nature within me, to carry on with life.

           But I don't trust the nation-state of Israel not to operate from a basis of fear and control, and I had to walk through many various detectors, passing each scan with some apprehension, but opting for the body search alternative only once.  As hand-held detectors glided over my belly I wondered, Are you okay in there baby? We happened to be in the Middle East, my partner and I, when the kidnappings in June triggered the latest avalanche of re-occurring violence. I know tear gas to be an abortificant, so despite the fact that visiting friends in the occupied territories was high up on the itinerary, our plans changed. We made the call anew each day waiting to see if things cooled off. Don't you dare! The voices of his mother and other family and friends were mixed. Not today, the tanks are still active, and Bethlehem is off-limits. Well, we'd love to see you, you know it's not that much more dangerous than it always is. If you drive around to the north road to Ramallah there may be a better shot. So-and-so got through a few days ago, but it's gotten worse since then.

           There is a tactile tension suspended in the molecules of the holy land, even in Jerusalem's catacombic stone-by-stone-built Old City where the Jewish and Muslim Quarters are piled on top of each other, and the Armenian and Christian Quarters too, touching each other on many levels. The Jewish pogrom and holocaust museums, the state of the art security, the frequent Muslim calls to prayer all wound through each other. We rested with our backs against the outer walls of the Old City staring at the hill opposite us. On the hill was an enormous Jewish cemetery that blocks the path that Muhammad is prophecized to take to end all suffering. On top of the surrounding hills was the wall of apartheid as far as the eye could see.

           Despite all my roofing and demolition jobs, I am not that tough. I often feel freakishly wide-open to the sufferings of the world, with too many permeable membranes, vulnerable to my environment. By environment, I include the palpable fear in a landscape of violence and oppression. There was underlying tension even on the civilian buses which were well endowed with M16 assault rifles on the shoulders of soldiers and on the minds of people. How did I wind up traveling around the hot zones of this small but notorious country while newly pregnant? My first child had just turned seven years old, and this new life was long desired in our family.

           Initially I was there for a wedding, a union of love between two go-getters, a Canadian medical student and an Israeli soldier. Have many children for the army!, uncles cheered at the wedding with fervour. Her parents were proud – there was a particular flavour of honour in her marrying a soldier. I was subdued; I know some veterans who cope with a lot of trauma and my partner has many friends on both sides of the conflict.  With so many people facing unjust prison terms, home demolitions and the loss of family members while we were drinking champagne, it was very problematic. Even still, the evening of dancing began with the hora on the terra-cotta rooftop overlooking the azure and crashing Mediterranean Sea.

           There was a certain inborn incapacity for the trip to be apolitical, being where we were, being who we were. My partner and I were staying on various uncomfortable couches of activists, ex-kibbutzniks, a progressive teacher and a human rights journalist. At other times we stayed with more right-wing, government-employed family members in white tiled apartments with stunning views. And at other times we struck out on our own, sleeping under a thatched roof sukkot deep in the Negev Desert, among seas of solar panels, among Bedouin tents and kibbutz farms, surrounded by ineffable canyons and deft mountain ibex by day, and by night the noise of coyotes and army camps, all united (or not) under the wondrous, starry sky. People in all situations are desperate for the killing to end. People in all situations are conserving the dwindling water resources, and there is a scramble for expensive water desalinization infrastructure and recycling plants, as well as think-tanks sent to the task of reshaping/plastic surgery for the Dead Sea itself.

           A few weeks into the trip I knelt down on the ground, the fatigue of pregnancy and the summer desert heat defeating all my ambitions, having me simply endure each moment. I was in a place called Canada Park, a nice place for a picnic or a leisure stroll, full of tall pine trees but not quite right. The trees were of uniform spacing, size and age, the monoculture having been planted all at the same time. I knelt under the shade of one of the fewer older almond trees. That one was here when the village was here. My new Israeli friend Eitan showed us how to see the Palestinian village that had been demolished and planted over.  He pointed out the cemetery, left mostly intact, the remaining olive trees, and the cactus plants that had been used as fences. Eitan has been fighting for years to get some signage to indicate the aspects of the Muslim history here, with many frustrations and little progress. There were however, other signs. We walked around the stone plaques that listed the hundreds of Canadian donors of Canada Park. Generously funding projects of “forestation” to “rehabilitate” the “desertification” sounds like a really good thing to do – but what of the forensics? I knelt among the grassy mounds where the houses used to be, learning how some people had been trapped alive inside their homes at the time of the demolitions.

           It wasn't your fault. There is nothing you could have done differently.

           Surviving the desert was a minimal experience because I was sick numerous times and having a hard time staying hydrated. In the cities too, I was sick with even the slightest smells of street food and unwashed teeth and sweaty crowds, the olfactory sense hyper-wired for pregnancy – an undesirable superpower if there ever was one. I became mean and suddenly foreign to my partner, and he was foreign to me now too in the context of this side of his family and this place where he had once lived. Triggered by the intensity of heat, stress and enough hormones to fill the canyons, I got vicious and unrelenting migraines that were like starving hounds yapping at my tent as though I were hiding bloody meat inside, as the winds shrieked high and deep and threatened to destroy my thinning shelter. After one particularly long and terrible row, shredded, I wanted desperately to drown myself and the baby in the Mediterranean Sea.

           I did not do that. When I recovered enough, I did go to the sea. That is where I swam and swam and found myself again, my prolific human worries melting in the ecstasy of great waves pleasing my belly-full body over and over again. Reality changed shape into something softer and move forgiving, time itself becoming pregnant with love and possibility. The place is holy but too obscured to be holy until the spirit is permitted freedom from the horror, oppression and fear. I had become a sea anemone taking it all in, down the trachea, through the heart to the winding road of my entrails, and I had boiled in it, unable to let it all go. The ocean was an exorcism, the waves my salvation.  

           Maybe the kid just thought better of joining us. We aren't good enough, the world far from it. It was not a rational thought, but it wasn't my sheer rational mind that conceived and composed the baby into human form either. Who could blame one for leaving?

           It wasn't your fault, there is nothing you could have done differently. It's normal to question what might have been the cause. We generally don't know the answers, but it is often a matter of the genes not lining up just right, the doctor said.

           It's hard to pinpoint exactly why things happen, like an electron or the name of a song you knew ten years ago, but I couldn't help the thoughts. What about that deep-seated feeling in my belly when the airplane jumped us up then so fiercely down in a short series of turbulent extremes? It was enough to stop a fledgling heart - or, at least I felt with a raw gut that it might be - a heart that had been pumping for only and all of five months so far. A heart I had listened to in the doctor's office and in dreams and in the echoes of dreams. Maybe too fragile, a common-place mix-matched chromosomal mistake, is that why, and for the best?  

           The possibilities for why provided no shortage of wondering in Israel and in Canada. There are radiation-emitting products everywhere in our electronic age, everywhere there are computers, microwaves, cell phones, sunlamps or over-exposure to the sun itself, medical xrays – I'd had one for a work-related injury – there's the portable data terminals at work too.  Then there's exposures to asbestos, lead paint, plastics, contaminated water, the outpourings of industry in the air, chemicals sprayed on the food, genetic splicing inside the food, nanotechnology in the sunscreen. I get why the doctor didn't ask me about work-related or environmental exposure, it's really far too pervasive.  They don't make the environment like they used to.

           It had been a long time before the Israel trip that I'd planted trees, and I generally trust spruce saplings to be harmless. But I don't trust the pesticides and their labeling: Pregnancy Not Advised For One Year After Exposure. The labeling itself is bitter-sweet. I would rather know, then I can choose. But science is always learning too, being refuted and revising itself, and the research is always owned and swayed by someone with investments. Why one year? What happens at one year and a day? I planted thousands upon thousands of trees that year. It seemed like a really good thing to do.

           I am writing with sad news. I am not pregnant today. The babe passed in the dusk of this morning. I was in labour throughout the night, knowing the meaning of the familiar rhythms of the rocking, pacing, and moaning, but not acknowledging completely - some denial to preserve me, some surprise because I thought I had quite the fighter inside of me. The thunder and lightning were loyal to the night. It was at home, I was alone, I knew what to do.  The delivery was straight-forward and astounding - a little child who fit in the palm of my hand, more perfectly shaped than you might expect, with a look of softness, of vagueness and of peacefulness too, followed by a healthy placenta that took extra pains to let go of as I didn't want to tear the teeny umbilical cord.  With the coming of dawn, I wrapped up the baby after one last long look. I took a shovel to the nearby forest, and I buried him/her (I forgot to check) deep under a thick, white birch tree, marked with a flat red stone then a round black rock on top. Heart-shaped leaves of wood sorrel covered the forest floor there. I wept in the rain.

       I was the habitat. My body was the environment, creating warmth in precise and perfect degrees, making vitality and nourishment into a human being, meanwhile buffering and dimming the harshness found in the world beyond. But not stopping it, the harshness of all that's wrong with the world. If I could, I would. The barriers between my blood, the placenta and the smallest body were selective in what gets through, but not as selective as I wish I could be.  

           I feel profound gratitude for the slice of forest left intact by the house. There is a campground on one side, a subdivision on the other, a river to the south and more forest to the north.  Even just to have that little bit of wild left, that was significant solace. I did not want the impersonal technocratic fluorescence of a hospital, nor did I want an autopsy. My repulsion against the application of scalpel and dissection of the fetus far out-cried my wanting to know why. Even with an autopsy, answers are often unclear.

           You don't need to wait to try again, the doctor reassures me. That is good because we weren't exactly waiting... The medical convention is that only after three “spontaneous abortions” [1] in a row is genetic testing and investigation performed. I trust that either another pregnancy will happen in due course, or that maybe that is just how it is now, we humans coming to terms with Enough.

           One in three couples are involuntarily childless in both Canada and Israel today. A good friend of mine had a baby nine months ago and was diagnosed with cancer eight months ago. We are becoming aware of rising rates of infertility, allergies, asthma, pregnancy loss, prematurity, and many forms of cancer. Environmental pollution as the root cause cannot be ruled out. Body is not separate from environment in that both are endangered together. You know, they don't make us like they used to.

           This tiny human passed through me, born dead. I trust that nature may have taken the fetus in a selection process most efficient. Nature includes death, my own and those born of my body, and this I trust and work to accept. I don't trust that the accumulation of toxins in my environment and my work life were necessarily a neutral factor in the miscarriage. No one on earth is really qualified to say that.  In either case, we pay with our flesh, I pay with my sorrow.

           But, you know, there are things I can do differently.

           This is the only body and the only habitat we have. Addressing root causes remains a possibility. Though the pain of transformation pierces our lives when the veils to death are thin, reminding us of the impermanence of the health of our bodies and our habitat, we endure in the aftermath. Though the world is not more safe for all our technological contrivances and our abolishment of wild places, and we rearrange our problems like a rubix cube without permanence in our solutions, we persist in living. We are still here, making ready for the next steps.

[1]      Meaning “miscarriages”, neither term I'm happy with for one thing because blame seems implicit in the language, as if women “carried” improperly and aborted their fetuses impulsively.

[jonardjamessaria]

THE CITY OF GRACE A Travelogue write-up of Jonard James L. Saria about Baguio City  

The City of Baguio’s beauty was truly amazing and mesmerizing. Each year, whenever the month of December comes. The total human population of the said city almost doubled due to the sudden influx of tourists from other localities in the Philippines and even from the other countries in the world. So, when I was given an opportunity to visit the Summer Capital of the Philippines in 2019. I did not hesitate and immediately accepted my family's persuasion to look in with one of the most wonderful city in the country.

Baguio City was distant from CALABARZON. It was approximately 500 kilometers away from the City of Imus. According to some elderly travelers who used to visit the City of Pines in the 90s, their trip took them about twelve hours. I had felt a mixture of joy and excitement when I learned those information because I was not used to go through long journeys. I was also tasked my father to be his relief replacement driver for our expedition.

When our family started our voyage to the City of Baguio, I was surprised with the brevity of our travel time. The said circumstance was probably caused by the continues establishment of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of Expressways or connecting wide roads that goes through Manila and the Cordillera mountains. Some examples of these roads are the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the recently inaugurated route, the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX). After more than six hours of traverse, our family finally reached Baguio City. We immediately went to the Transient House where we were staying. Although it was a just small home, it filled our family's housing needs. These temporary rental houses in Baguio are also popular because of its cheap daily and nighttime fees.

On the afternoon of that day, we immediately visited the Baguio City Museum that were Inspired by Ifugao architecture. I learned there that during the time of the Spaniards, there was already a recorded preliminary summaries of history that discusses the geography and anthropology of the city. Kafagway was the first name given to this place because it was the home of the Kankana-ey and Ibaloy tribes of the Cordillera.

I had also learned from a seasoned tour guide from the museum that when the Americans occupied the country in 1900s. The white subjugators were immediately attracted to the gold mines that could be extracted from mountains. The frigid climate of the place that matches the health needs of western foreigners also allured the conquerors.

Bestowing anew from the narratives of our tour guide at museum, when the foreigners finally besieged Kafagaway (Baguio), the Americans built a road that connects Benguet to Pangasinan. The American Commission named the route as ‘Kennon Road’ in honor of Col. Lyman Walter Vere Kennon, the master planner of said artery. A few months after the construction of road, the American soldiers had also immediately established a military base and named it Camp John Hay. Three years after the creation of various military bases and connecting roads from other cities and provinces, the board of the American Commission has formally enacted the cityhood of Baguio with an identity as the ‘Summer Capital of the Philippines.’

The time I had spent at the said museum was really worthwhile because I had perceived several new knowledge that I could share from my other colleagues. Aside from the significant history that surrounds the city. One of the best things I can say that the residents of Baguio should be proud of was its climate. At an altitude of 1,524 meters above sea level, we could almost take in the grasp of the sky as we embrace by the extremely cold climate of the locality. I had also experienced a severe difficulty on taking a bath in the city since the chilling tap water biting throughout my bone.

One of the vanity features of Baguio that I consider was its stunning green environment and old historic buildings. One of the infrastructure that caught my attention was the Baguio Cathedral. I can compare its architectural design to the Saint Basil’s Cathedral of Moscow, Russia.

To this day, the City of Baguio can still be contemplated as the center of military excellence. Even though some of the military bases on the city had ceased their operations, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was established there. The said academy is one of the prestigious military and leadership schools in the country. Wherein the officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) train students who aspire to serve the country. The facilities that can be seen on the academy were also astonishing. Because, according to the director general in charge of the academy, their teaching equipment was ‘state of the art’ in order to make our military soldiers globally competitive. My experience in this place was one of the most unforgettable because I was able to hold rifle of the soldier living on the academy.

The dishes that can be eaten from the vanity eateries in Baguio City were also very delicious. I still can’t forget the unique taste of the foods served at the Great Taste Restaurant, a famous eatery located at Otek St, Baguio City. Aside from the courses that can be eaten on the restaurants of the city. The foods that can be given away with friends and other family members are also unique. Some of those are Strawberry Jam, Ube Jam, Peanut Brittle and Strawberry Wine. They are also selling clothes and key chains that can be taken home to some relatives. So that they can feel the mesmerizing cultures of Baguio city.

Unbeknownst to everyone. Apart from being the Summer Capital, the city of Baguio was also known for its second -hand clothes and equipment also known as Ukay-ukay. At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, the night market along Session Road in the city center gradually fills up with buyers and tourists. We could buy quality clothes there at cheap prices.

Even though Baguio is already an urbanized city, the vegetable trade there was still abundant. Their town market is full of a variety of vegetables and fruits. The number of people there was also colossal because the price of goods on the market is three times lower compared to the emporiums in Cavite and Manila.

Due to the massive influx of people in Baguio City, it was inevitable to prevent heavy traffic on the main roads of the city. Our family had experienced the said circumstance. It almost engulfed the entire time that we traveled in the city. This incident reflects that the city was not prepared to receive a plenty of visitors. Because, Architect David Burnham designed the city only for its small city population at the time. Although our experience on Baguio’s traffic was not good, our trip can still be considered a success.

I will never forget our family's trip to Baguio City. I had so many new experiences that I mainly enjoyed while staying on the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Apart from that, I had also learned new historical information from our tour at the unique and historic place. I am hoping that at the end of this pandemic, I can return and revisit the city of grace that gives pleasure and happiness to every Filipino.

-END-

JONARD JAMES SARIA 2021 (c)

[csrgood]

Dentsu Aegis Network Hits Target of 100% Renewable Electricity

Global advertising and marketing company, Dentsu Aegis Network, today announces that it has achieved 100% renewable electricity across its worldwide operations where markets allow[1].

Employing 45,000 people across 145 markets, Dentsu Aegis Network achieved its landmark goal of becoming 100% powered by renewable energy (where markets allow) ahead of schedule. 

Wendy Clark, Global CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network commented:

“I am extremely proud that we are now powered by 100% renewable electricity, and that we are leading change in our industry on one of the most critical challenges facing society today. Our industry has so much capacity to deliver positive change and at Dentsu Aegis Network we are committed to achieving meaningful progress for our clients and society.

“This achievement demonstrates that it is possible to embrace better and more sustainable ways of working at pace and scale. I’d like to thank our passionate teams across the world who have worked so hard to reach this ambitious goal.”

Dentsu Aegis Network’s transition to renewable energy has been supported by RE100, a global initiative that brings together most influential companies that are committed to 100% renewable power and is led by the Climate Group in partnership with CDP. 

As an RE100 member, Dentsu Aegis Network achieved the ambitious goal it set itself in 2015 to procure 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2020 in all markets in accordance with RE100 strict technical criteria[1]. Challenges remain in sourcing renewable energy in certain markets that are unable to provide the necessary renewable infrastructure that businesses require to achieve full RE100 status. Dentsu Aegis Network will be joining forces with RE100 this October in the coalition’s global campaign to encourage fully certifiable renewable energy resources in all markets.  

Anna Lungley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network said:

“As global leaders in media, digital and creative communications services , we have the ability to inform and influence the choices people make every day. We are committed to using that influence to tackle the climate crisis, to raise awareness of the issue, help decarbonise the global economy and address sustainable consumption and production. Change starts at home and we need to walk the walk first. In 2015 we set ourselves the most ambitious targets among global marketing holding companies, which required us to rapidly transition to renewable energy across the entirety of our business in only five years and we have achieved that goal ahead of schedule. The work does not stop here. We are now laser-focused on achieving our 2030 science based targets.”

Mike Peirce, Director of Corporate Partnerships, the Climate Group said:

“We are delighted by Dentsu Aegis Network’s ambitious progress towards their RE100 goal and pleased that the company is working with RE100 to encourage fully certifiable renewable energy resources in all markets. 

“Dentsu Aegis are leading the way in the advertising industry, showing that commitment to 100% sustainable, renewable power is the new standard for businesses.” 

Dentsu Aegis Network is committed to procuring renewable electricity, even in some of the most challenging markets for corporate renewable purchase. Where it cannot procure renewable contracts directly, it has worked with Natural Capital Partners to purchase renewable electricity certificates or Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs). EACs provide the systems required to reliably track generation and consumption of renewable energy and demonstrate demand for increased supply. Dentsu Aegis Network has secured EACs in new and emerging renewable electricity markets such as the UAE, Morocco and Israel.

Through Dentsu Aegis Network’s rapid drive to switch to fully renewable electricity it has become apparent that some energy markets are behind the curve in providing the necessary renewable infrastructure that businesses want and need to achieve full RE100 status.

The announcement is the latest in a series of efforts to reduce its environmental impact. Last year Dentsu Aegis Network joined forces with Bristol University, Sky and the BBC to launch DIMPACT – a ground-breaking collaboration to map the carbon impacts of digital value chains.

For more details about Dentsu Aegis Network and its Social Impact strategy please visit https://www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com/who-we-are/social-impact 

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

For all media enquiries, please contact Nicola Forsyth and Andrew McKay at Seven Consultancy: dentsu@seven-consultancy.com

[1] For a company to be RE100 compliant, it is required to purchase the energy from the same country in which it is used. For nine markets (Russia, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Argentina) accounting for 9.7% of Dentsu Aegis Network’s electricity demand, factors beyond Dentsu Aegis Network’s control have prevented adherence with RE100’s guidelines to source renewables within the countries’ borders. The company has shown ambition by purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) from adjacent countries where possible. RE100 supports this approach as an interim measure while the coalition works to improve supply in these markets. For the purposes of reporting and in line with RE100 guidance, the European Economic Area is considered a single market. 

About Dentsu Aegis Network 

Part of the Dentsu Group, Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of eight leadership brands - Carat, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, dentsumcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, and Vizeum and supported by its specialist/multi-market brands. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital and creative communications services. Offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 45,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com  

About RE100

RE100 is a global initiative bringing together the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable power. Led by the Climate Group in partnership with CDP, the group has a total revenue of over US$5.4 trillion and operates in a diverse range of sectors. Together, they send a powerful signal to policymakers and investors to accelerate the transition to a clean economy. #RE100

About CDP 

CDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Voted number one climate research provider by investors and working with institutional investors with assets of US$96 trillion, we leverage investor and buyer power to motivate companies to disclose and manage their environmental impacts. Over 8,400 companies with over 50% of global market capitalization disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2019. This is in addition to the over 920 cities, states and regions who disclosed, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Visit cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more. Visit cdp.net follow us @CDP to find out more.

About Natural Capital Partners

With more than 300 clients in 34 countries, including Microsoft, MetLife, Logitech, PwC, Sky, Ørsted and Dentsu Aegis Network, Natural Capital Partners is harnessing the power of business to create a more sustainable world. Through a global network of projects, the company delivers the highest quality solutions which make real change possible: reducing carbon emissions, generating renewable energy, building resilience in supply chains, conserving and restoring forests and biodiversity, and improving health and livelihoods. 

naturalcapitalpartners.com

carbonneutral.com

source: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/45758-Dentsu-Aegis-Network-Hits-Target-of-100-Renewable-Electricity?tracking_source=rss

[ncuindia]

Experience at The NorthCap University

I am Aparna Sharma, a final year undergraduate student pursuing Electronics and Communication Engineering from The NorthCap University. Talking about my experience at NCU, I would conclude it to be an amazing one. The journey covered by a student from the time when he enters to the time he departs is a period that brings in a lot of positive changes and makes one a better person.

There is altogether an equal contribution from various aspects that makes my experience in the university very aesthetic.The faculty and course curriculum covered has always been very helpful and designed in such a manner that there is constant learning given to the students. The professors are highly experienced and knowledgeable. They take in numerous efforts in making things imparted to the students in an easy to learn the method.

At the same time, our university believes in comprehending the knowledge and teachings practically too. We should be aware of the fact that paper-pen learning and corporate life works differently. For this purpose, industrial trips are being organized promptly, which gives students a clear picture of how things work in an industrial world.

The infrastructure in terms of its size is another factor to be very proud of. The university is spread hugely for its area. There are in numerous classes and sufficient labs for each field of study. The class and lab size for students to accommodate is extremely enormous. There is a vast ground and specific courts built for each game to be played for the students. The campus is very spacious and significantly built.

I still remember the time I became a part of this prestigious institution and the passage covered so far is worth remembering. I have come across some of the most precious experiences that have enabled me to become a better version of myself. The confidence that the university has given me through being a part of various professional society events is unparalleled. It has imbibed in me a feeling of audacity and valour with much ease and poise. The events held in a professional society are not only on a large scale but also imbibe many great qualities within a student. It develops much confidence, excellent communication skills, and a personality with conviction. It is these traits which are of utmost relevance and nourishes a student in and out.

There has always been so much to learn in these four years not only academically but outside the classroom learning as well. It is all these experiences at The NorthCap University, which makes my stay beautiful and worth remembering.

Aparna Sharma

BTech (ECE) final year

(2016-20 Batch)

[cynicalglimpse-blog]

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[inerginc]

Ethiopia’s former State Minister in the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Mr Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Ghana Grid Co, Lilongwe Water Board and several renewable energy generation projects were amongst the winners at the annual African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards that returned to Cape Town this week, honouring the leading utilities, projects and people in the energy and water industries on the continent.

Their achievements during 2018/2019 were celebrated during the prestigious gala dinner on Wednesday 15 May, and formed part of the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition in Cape Town.

The winners and finalists in the respective categories for the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 are:

• Lifetime Achievement Award

WINNER: Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Former State Minister, Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia

Mr Sigo said he was “grateful for being chosen”. According to the former minister he was fortunate to have been involved in many interesting projects in his career, in both water and energy: “especially the 6000MW hydropower Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction, on the Blue Nile. This project has already reached almost 60 percent, so this will help Ethiopia as well as the neighbouring countries through integration. This was one of the big projects that I was leading when I was at the ministry. This award is not just for me, but also for all the colleagues who have worked on so many projects with me, from the time when I was a site manager until I became a minister, and the team work we achieved.”  

For seven years, Wondimu Tekle Sigo served as Ethiopia’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy. He is well respected for the design and construction of various infrastructure projects, including the expansion of a rural electrification programme for more than 6000 towns and villages in the region. Furthermore, he tackled water shortages by increasing the water supply of the city around the Dire water reservoir dam from 240,000m³ to 400 000 m³ per day.

Amongst his many achievements, Sigo upgraded eight cities’ electric distribution systems including that of Addis Ababa. ESI Africa included Sigo in their 60 most influential figures in the power sector from East and West Africa. Now as a PhD candidate for Economics at the Peking University in China, Sigo has been conducting research since 2017 around achieving Ethiopia’s economic growth and development.

The other finalists were (in no particular order):

Abderrahim Jamrani, Technical Director, Masen

Wim Jonker Klunne, Programme Director, Energy and Environment Partnership, Southern and East Africa (EEP)

Dale Robertson, President, Enerscan Engineering

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Power

WINNER: Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer, BioTherm Energy, South Africa “I am very proud of this achievement” an elated Ms Nyker said on Wednesday evening, “it has been eight years since we started building biotherm energy into a renewable energy investment and development platform. I dedicate this award to my team because it is very much a team effort. We’ve built an amazing business and we have expanded into the rest of Africa. For us this is just a great achievement.”

Ms Nyker is the Chief Executive Officer of BioTherm Energy, who led the business to grow from 4 MW in PPAs to over 450 MWs of secured PPAs. BioTherm has expanded its development activities to build a pan African business by winning projects in Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Iviore and Ghana, and has also won large scale projects with some of the leading global mining companies.

She has previously managed the direct investment portfolio on behalf of the PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund as well as Booz Allen Hamilton in London. Ms. Nyker holds an MBA from the London Business School, where she was a Merrill Lynch Scholar, and a Business Science degree in Finance from the University of Cape Town. She was nominated as a 2012 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was part of the Inaugural Global Agenda Council on New Energy Architecture for the World Economic Forum. The other finalists were:

Ricardo Amansure, Community Operations Manager, Umoya

Jonathan Amoako-Baah, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo)

Joel Nana Kontchou, Chief Executive Officer, Eneo Cameroon SA

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Water

WINNER: Prof. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, President of the Governing Board of the Sustainable, Development Studies Institute National University of Public Service, Hungary

Unable to be in Cape Town this week, a pre-recorded acceptance speech on video by Prof Szöllösi-Nagy was played to the hundreds of high-level power and water professionals who had gathered at the gala dinner to honour him. “Africa needs capacity in water resources,” he said. “Although rich in water, it will have major problems to make water use sustainable for generations to come, particularly in the light of climate change. Perhaps there is no other continent that will be so deeply impacted by climate variability and change because as the hydrological cycle is accelerating the probability of having extreme flaws, either floods or drought, will likely increase. And it is now that we have to work together with politicians and policy makers to find out what the appropriate measures are to deal with this danger.” Andras was instrumental in implementing the establishment of several UNESCO Water Centers across Africa. These centers play a pivotal role in advancing sustainable water management in Africa as well as contributing to capacity development and training activities. They also play a pivotal role in implementing IHP. There are six African UNESCO water centers established to date, including the Regional Center for Training and Water Studies of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones (RCTWS) in Egypt. The Regional Centre for Shared Aquifer Resources Management (RCSARM) in Libya. The Regional Centre on Groundwater Resources Education, Training and Research in East Africa (RCGRE)in Kenya. The Regional Centre for Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM) located in Nigeria. The Regional Centre on Capacity Development and Research in Water Harvesting (RCWH) in Sudan and the African Regional Centre for Eco hydrology in Ethiopia.

Prof. Szöllösi-Nagy was appointed by the Director General of UNESCO to serve as Rector of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The Institute was an integral part of UNESCO Category 1 Institute. During his tenure he has reformed the Institute where approximately 40% of the graduate students were from Africa. In that period Africa was a priority of both the research and capacity development activities of the Institute. The African alumni are in lead positions today all over Africa serving various water related organizations.

The other finalists were:

Andre Kruger, Head Africa Investment and Integration Desk (AVID), Nepad Business Foundation

Alfonso Chikuni, Chief Executive Officer, Lilongwe Water Board

Damas Alfred Mashauri, Professor: Civil Engineering, University of Namibia: Engineering & IT

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Young Leader

WINNER: Astria Fataki, Energy Generation, Founder and President

After receiving the award a very excited Astria said that: “about ten years ago I fell in love with the energy sector because I realised that energy was a very strong factor and tool for development. But as I was implementing projects I came across a lot of human resources challenges, so I started wondering how we can contribute to the electrification of the continent but with local resources, both technical and human resources. So that is how the idea came to first develop the human capital to provide solutions to the challenge of access to energy and also innovative technology that is tailored for Africa.”   Astria Fataki, who is originally from Togo, is an entrepreneur passionate about project development in Africa. Astria truly believes that energy is at the center of socio-economic development, and fully dedicates herself to tackle this challenge both at the micro and the macro level in Africa. At a macro level, she coordinated, from 2013 to 2015, the contractual and legal construction of two Public-Private Partnership projects for the construction and operation of photovoltaic solar power plants in Mali (40MW) and Chad (60MW). At the micro level, in 2016, she founded the pan-African organisation Energy Generation, with the objective to develop young Africans’ entrepreneurial initiatives in the energy sector.

Astria holds a Master’s degree in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris. The other finalists were:

Lois Gicheru, Solafrique, Founder and CEO

Boitumelo Sehlake, Sehlake Energy Solutions, Founder

Pule Segale, Rina Consulting Ltd, Civil Engineer (Site Manager)

• Power Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Ghana Grid Company Ltd, Ghana

Daniel Mathe is a Divisional Director at GRIDCo and accepted the award on behalf of the organisation: “the award means a lot and means that the good work we are doing has been seen and recognised in Africa and we are working very hard to support other countries within Africa. This year we have been able to supply power to Burkina Faso, our neighbours, so it means that the efforts that we are putting in, are being seen in the industry. We want to do even better. We also supply power to Togo and Benin and are doing a lot as far as the West Africa Power Pool is concerned.” GRIDCo operates the Ghana Wholesale Electricity Market and provides electricity transmission services and in Ghana and West African. Since its inception GRIDCo has continuously ensured reliable supply of affordable electricity to households by continuously upgrading and extending the grid and the introduction of modern systems in compliance with IEC 61850. As a result, access to electricity in Ghana has increased from 66.7% (2009) to 82.5% (2016). The increase in electricity access has resulted in increased income, improve trade balance, provided local solutions, contributed to industrial development and creation of new job opportunities.

In West Africa GRIDCo has established inter and intra connections with other West African countries to the North, East and West of its boundaries, as part of the West African Power Pool System and has positioned Ghana as a Net-Exporter within the Sub-region. For instance, GRIDCo currently supplies about a third of the Electricity required for Burkina through its Transmission System. These power exports have brought socio-economic benefits and continues to enhanced energy supply security. Additionally, over the last four (4) years GRIDCo has commercialized its telecommunication assets and now provides the most reliable form of fiber communication for telecommunication services and IT support systems nationwide.

The other finalists were:

Umeme Limited

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company

Energy Utility Corporation Limited – EUCL

• Water Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Lilongwe Water Board, Malawi

The company’s Corporate Planning Manager, Gustav Sikasima, responded as follows after the announcement: “this award means a lot, it means we have been making strides towards the social impact of the people of Lilongwe City and the efforts we have been making to make sure that the City has potable water.”

Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) is a statutory organization created in 1947 by the government of Malawi and mandated by the Water Works Act (Cap 72) to supply water to the residents of Lilongwe. There are about 83,000 metered customers and more than 1000 water Kiosks (communal water selling points) within the City. The total pipe network for LWB is estimated at 1,900 Km. The Board abstracts raw water from Lilongwe River which originates from Dzalanyama Ranges. The Kamuzu Dam I and Kamuzu Dam II upstream of the intake works act as storage for the dry season during which the flow from Lilongwe River cannot sustain production. These two dams collectively were designed to provide a total storage volume of 24.3 million cubic meters. However, due to sedimentation and the continuous severe drought faced by the country for a decade, this capacity is reducing on an annual basis at a rate of approximately 66,760m3 per year for the past five years. The company has two main Treatment Plants, TW I and TW II which are situated within the Water Works Campus. The combined capacity of the two plants is 125,000 cubic meters per day.

The other finalists were:

Hessequa Municipality

Umgeni Water

Ontec Systems (Pty) Ltd

• Grid-Tied Renewable Energy Project (10MW +) WINNER: Kathu Solar Thermal Power Plant, South Africa

“What is very unique about this type of project is firstly the clean technology" Siyabonga Mbanjwa, Regional Managing Director Southern Africa for SENER, one of the construction partners in Kathu said on Wednesday evening, "and also that it offers production during peak periods: so we are using molten salts as a storage mechanism and that allows us to continue to produce electricity, even when the sun has set. But what is also very exciting about Kathu Solar Park is the manner in which we have worked with the community, we have kept very, very close ties with the community.” Kathu Solar Park is a 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Construction on the project commenced in May 2016. The solar power park achieved commercial operation in January 2019 and has an operational life of 30 years. Kathu solar project is part of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Program (IRP) 2010, which aims to increase the country’s power generation capacity to 86.8GW by 2030.

It is a parabolic trough plant consisting of a number of solar collector assemblies, including parabolic reflectors (curved mirror), a tracking system, a support structure, and a receiver tube. The storage system reduces the effects of irregular sunlight and enables the plant to produce electricity even during low levels of sunlight. It is also installed with 57 three-phase, cast resin-type transformers rated at 1,500kVA.

It will also create 500 jobs during the construction phase and 81 permanent jobs during the operational phase. The project is expected to drive the economic revival of the Northern Cape Province and was constructed as an EPC project by SENER and ACCIONA. The other finalists were:

Greenmillenia

Jinko Solar

• Small-Scale Sustainable Energy Project (under 5MW)      WINNER: Rubagabaga Hydropower Limited, Rwanda

Dan Klinck, MD of East Africa Power/Rubagabaga Hydro Power Limited said after receiving the award: “We’re very pleased with the award, this is very prestigious, and we are thrilled that Rubagabaga came to fruition. It’s been a lot of hard work, we’ve had 1500 workers on this project, so this award is really for everybody who participated.”

He added: “what’s unique about this project is that it is a public-private-community partnership. It is one thing to build a project that just hooks up the line and adds it to the utility. For us we really focused in on what it would do to the community and its productive use equipment, its industrial park, its community library, its agricultural centre of excellence – it wasn’t just power to line up the grid, it was something that really could bring the community together and make a difference and we’re very happy about that.”    Rubagabaga Hydropower Project is a 445 kW grid-connected, run-of-the-river project located in the Northern Province of Rwanda. It has made a very large impact on the local and regional communities by bringing renewable energy, jobs, and improved livelihood to thousands of households. The project is the first hydropower project to implement a containerised turbine and generator in East Africa.

Built almost entirely using simple man-power with little mechanical intervention, this project gives credit to the innovative and resourceful nature of the Rwandan people In addition to the 455 kW delivered to the national grid, this project has created more than 1000 jobs over the span of its life thus far.

The ongoing introduction of energy linked directly to innovative, locally-initiated industries creates a dynamic and diverse economy and a sustainably healthy community with the power to impact Rwanda on a national scale. It is the developer’s policy to establish such community-serving projects wherever a successful hydropower plant has been developed.

The other finalists were:

BBOX

Ecomandate Foundation

African Sustainable Energies

Eaton Electric South Africa

Industry support The sponsors of the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 were Eaton, Aberdare Cables, SBS Tanks, Mazars, Standard Bank, ESI Africa, Smart Energy International and Clarion Energy.

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