Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 67F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.. Partly cloudy. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Updated: May 16, 2024 @ 2:07 am Newly appointed Conneaut City Manager Nick Sanford, left, speaks to Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere at a meet-and-greet for Sanford at the Conneaut Human Resource Center on Wednesday afternoon.
reporter Newly appointed Conneaut City Manager Nick Sanford, left, speaks to Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere at a meet-and-greet for Sanford at the Conneaut Human Resource Center on Wednesday afternoon. CONNEAUT — City residents were invited to meet the new city manager at an event on Wednesday afternoon. Conneaut City Council voted last month to hire Nick Sanford as the new city manager, after former city manager Jim Hockaday left the position earlier this year. Sanford said his first week and a half has been “exciting, busy and exhilarating all at once.” He said he has not bee able to put into words the level of energy he has felt from the community. “I feel a level of support behind me that is almost sublime,” Sanford said. Refreshments were served at the event, and Sanford spent time speaking to those in attendance. “For everybody to come together, break some bread, share ideas, even as much as to say ‘hello’ and share the day, is tremendous, even if I just saw them a few days ago, or a couple hours ago, in some cases, I love it,” he said. Sanford said he would not be opposed to participating in informal events with the community, such as town hall meetings, in the future. Sanford previously worked at CT Consultants, the county Department of Environmental Services, and Aqua. He also served on Conneaut City Council in 2018 and 2019. Sanford was hired at a council meeting on April 24, and he started May 6. “I want to make sure that all our departments have the tools and resources they need to provide the services that are essential to their mission,” he said. He also wants the city to have a climate that is welcoming to businesses, and is conducive to growth. Sanford said code enforcement will be a focus. “I know that that has been a priority of council, I’m going to see to it that it continues,” he said. “It starts at home, with our buildings.” He said the city has a good team in place. “In every role that I’ve been in, I’ve had the high honor of working with some exceptional people, and it comes down to how you empower them to do their job, and it comes down to providing them with all the resources that they need,” Sanford said. reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
KARACHI – At a ceremony held at the premises of the SOS Technical Training Institute located on the Infaq Foundation campus in Korangi, Karachi, a new eco-friendly car was launched on Tuesday. Representing a collaboration between SOS TTI and Shell Pakistan, the small, slim single -seater car is strikingly named “ Thunderer “. It moved smoothly and well on its first, short trial run after the ceremony. Attended by both young men and women who are acquiring technical proficiency in one or more of the 12 specialist 6-month courses offered by SOS TTI for the benefit of youth from low-income families residing in Korangi and other areas of Karachi, the ceremony was also attended by representatives of Shell Pakistan, SOS Children’s Villages of Sindh and Infaq Foundation. Welcoming guests, Comdr (r) Khalid Wasim, Principal, stated that the project was proposed by Shell Pakistan Ltd and an MoU was signed with SOS TTI in March, 2023. Shell Pakistan took a bold decision to give this project to SOS TTI as this is the first time that this kind of technical project was given to a Vocational Technical Training Institute. In the past this kind of project was assigned to Engineering Universities as a part of students’ study projects.
The length of the car is 9.6 feet and width is 4 feet. The chassis is of aluminum and TIG welded to form a lattice. A 100 CC EFI engine has been installed with a range of 50 KM per liter. After intensive testing and trials, the project was completed end -April, 2024 as scheduled. 80% of the fabrication work was done at SOS-TTI. Ms Nida Tanzeel, Social Performance Manager of Shell Pakistan, appreciated the promptness and proficiency with which the SOS TTI team completed the project. She stressed that Shell has consistently supported training and capacity building of young women and men in technology and in the related services-sector. She distributed cash awards to the project team. While acknowledging Shell for sponsoring the project and felicitating the team and the principal on their success, Senator (r) Javed Jabbar, Chairman, SOS Children’s Villages of Sindh lauded the voluntary contributions made by his colleagues towards establishing and operating TTI which has so far, in about ten years, produced about 13,000 skilled youth currently gainfully self-employed or engaged in productive capacities with different organizations. He acknowledged the generous philanthropic funds provided to TTI by Ms Ava Cowasjee who was also present, and stressed the need for youth to gain technical empowerment as well as the need to explore innovations and creativity in the age of A.I and machine-learning systems.
Yacoob Zamindar, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Chairman Emeritus, SOS Sindh, on behalf of Mr Sanaullah Qurieshi, Chairman, SOS-TTI who was absent due to indisposition, delivered the Vote of Thanks. This very challenging project involved designing and fabrication of the vehicle and to make it operational in a cost effective and fuel -efficient manner. The car uses normal petrol but with high efficiency and low emissions. After SOS-TTI agreed to accept the challenge, the 5-member project team was led by Mr Muhammad Abdullah, Head of the Motor Cycle Deptt. at TTI, supported by trainees Mr Danyal Riaz, Ms Maima Faraz, Mr Habib Ullah and Mr M. Faisal.
Gleb Ziuzin shared a breakdown of the Mythical Door project inspired by Suzume, showing how he set up a water shader and explaining the texturing algorithm that helps him achieve more organic materials. Hi, I'm Gleb Ziuzin, an environment artist. I'm incredibly passionate about how artistic compositions and visual images can evoke impressions in my viewers. I've always wanted to fully master these tools so that my creations can resonate with ideas, images, and emotions in people's hearts. I decided to work in the game industry, and during my year of study, I created my first works for my portfolio. After that, I joined my first studio, Studio 1518, where I worked on the environment for the game "The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria". Later, I moved to Dekagon Studio and at the same time worked on weapons for the "World of Guns" project. Right now, I am looking for projects that might interest me. I've thought for a long time about the main direction in 3D, and I decided to focus my professional development on creating environments for two main reasons: firstly, environments best reflect the atmosphere and mood, and secondly, they take up a significant portion of the game space. I'm a big fan of Japanese animation. Makoto Shinkai's works have always stood out to me with their vast, deep, densely-clouded skies that expand the entire space, captivating camera angles, and detailed frame work. His style takes its color palette from Studio Ghibli but maintains rich shading and a modern Seinen drawing style. Choosing the right concept is one of the most important stages in working on a location, and selecting it can take up a significant amount of time. Often, the correct silhouette, composition, and guidelines can turn what seems to be a dull concept into something beautiful. I really enjoyed working with the concept from the anime "Suzume"; it's clear that an experienced team of artists worked on it. In this example, I schematically marked the compositional base.
Also, by converting the picture to black and white, we can understand how colors differ in Value. These differences also allow us to highlight the objects that the viewer will notice first (in our example, it's the door). Because the colors are less bright, the viewer will focus on other elements that stand out due to their Value. When I settle on a style and concept, I draw inspiration from artists who have successfully realized the main ideas of this style in 3D. For example, I was impressed by the foliage and atmosphere of abandoned ruins by Kima Honma in the project "Stray". I decided to set the level of detail on the objects to be realistic with a slight inclination towards stylization. The best example I found was from Pawel Kostecki in the "Dying Light" project. Working on the blockout started with dividing everything into three groups: props, modules, and foliage. I created a basic mesh model for the door and the first-floor modules, based on human dimensions. I set up the camera, calibrated the lens, and began fine-tuning the focal length so that all blockout lines exactly matched the concept. I bought the sky from the marketplace and quickly modeled the hill in ZBrush. Firstly, I started working with assets and modules to industry standards. I did all the unwrapping in RizomUV. The main rules were to calculate the texel density, straighten the islands, overlap them, and pack them tightly. I baked the normal maps in Marmoset Toolbag or used a bevel normal in Blender. Secondly, I decided to refine the entire background because I'm working with these kinds of backgrounds for the first time. I added a gradient to the sky image to make the colors more dynamic. I drew the clouds in Photoshop, making them fluffier and airier than in the concept. To reduce the contrast of the clouds, I added a slight transparency to the edges. Then I planted trees on the hill. I chose to work through the layer system in UE5 as it seemed simpler to me than placing point lights. The directional light divided the scene into two halves, creating a directional light spot on the right. A second directional light was placed for additional shadows to give depth to the objects. The overall fill light illuminated the entire scene, and the skylight served to soften the black color in the shadows and to illuminate the water. In the end, I achieved a result with basic lighting, shadows, and the background. Refining the props in Substance by setting a single contrast and HSL preset for all future textures imported into UE5 helps me save time on unique textures and materials with reflections. A shader is one of the most important parts of creating a detailed and optimized environment. To realize the full potential of the environment pipelines for this and future projects, I wrote my own shader. I provided an example of how materials were assembled in this scene using the pipeline with masks. In this way, I configured each layer in the shader's general material. I created it for the current and future projects to allow me to work with tile textures and displacement and blend them together using Blend, Tint, Reveal Masks, Vertex Color, and UV sets. This allows me to reuse many of the same textures, achieving various materials. Since I was working with water for the first time, I spent the most time experimenting with it. In the liquid, four materials are combined at different distances from the surface, and a separate material is used to work with caustics. In the concept, we see shallow depth, light refraction giving us a gradient, and glares. To convey this, I had to create the water materials myself as the purchased water systems did not fit my task. To create a sense of space and volume of light from the background as well as convey the feeling of abandoned empty interiors I created a glass material. I can enthusiastically and in great detail talk about what good unique textures are and how important volumes, gradients, color variations, accents, and storytelling are. But that's a topic for a separate course. In this article, I want to focus more on the logic of texturing. To achieve more organic materials when working with unique textures, I use a specific texturing algorithm. Here's the list: This logic serves as a foundation for development. Afterward, it's refined to the required level, considering the time you want to spend on the asset. You can work on textures indefinitely, just don't forget to eat. I meticulously and for a long time adjusted the asset colors using color tint, contrast, and saturation in the shader to match the reference. That's why the color correction in UE was mainly needed to give the shadows the desired color and saturation. Another task was to refine the tonality of areas where the light was too bright. Working on masterpieces like the works of Makoto Shinkai allows me to significantly expand my artistic skills. I've dived into the development of environment technologies and shaders. The advice I'd like to give to readers: work on interesting and heart-touching concepts. My goal is to find a studio where I can realize my ambitions in collaboration with talented colleagues who share a passion for art. I would like to express my gratitude to the 80 Level team for the opportunity to share this project with you.
While gas savings are the biggest draw of electric vehicles (EVs), many drivers are also looking to make the switch to help improve their own impact on the environment. In fact, according to recent data from the Hankook Tire Gauge Index, “sustainability” ranked second as the term Americans most strongly associate with EVs, just behind advanced technology.
That means dealers shouldn’t overlook the value of sustainability in their products when selling to EV drivers. Whether customers inquire about more planet-friendly options for their vehicles, or specifically about tires made with sustainable materials, dealers can build on their sales and customer loyalty by meeting the needs of this changing market. One way to meet the sustainability needs of EV drivers is to understand the specific eco-friendly features of their products, beginning with how the tires are made. Some tire companies such as Hankook have policies that ensure the rubber going into the tires comes from a traceable and sustainable natural rubber supply chain, helping to preserve natural rubber plantations and the biodiversity of the areas they are sourced from. With over 50 million tons of waste tires discarded around the world, recycled and other green materials can play a key role in enhancing a tire’s sustainability credentials. Silica made from plant-based waste is being used in place of mineral-based silica for some tires, while reclaimed rubber and green carbon allows for the use of recycled butyl rubber. These materials help reduce waste in tire production and create a more sustainable production process. In addition to greener supply chains and production, tires can improve the environmental impact of EVs by reducing rolling resistance. This is beneficial to any vehicle but especially so for EVs, because it helps increase the vehicle’s range and maximizes its energy efficiency. That means more miles between charges, which cuts down on electricity consumption.
Finally, mileage and tread wear can play a key role in the sustainability of an EV’s tire. The increased weight and instant torque delivery of an EV place greater stress on its tires, which means they need to be built with stronger compounds to evenly spread road pressure. Doing so helps reduce tread wear, increases the tire’s lifespan, and thus cuts down on waste by ensuring the tires last longer. Incorporating these sustainability features in your marketing approaches (for example by leveraging green leaf decals with brief explainers on the production process or benefit to the vehicle) can help drive growth among two key groups of EV drivers. The first are those who prioritize environmental responsibility in their purchasing decisions and will actively seek out products that complement their values. By demonstrating ways in which their EV tire purchases can be more sustainable, dealers can help these customers achieve these important goals and provide a more satisfying buying experience. The second group of customers are those who are unaware of the potential for improved sustainability in their tire-buying decisions, but welcome the opportunity to make a greener choice nonetheless. By incorporating customer education into the buying experience, dealers can improve sales by educating drivers how their tire choices are about more than just price and performance.
Hankook and other tire makers recognize the importance of improving sustainability in their product lines, and are investing in significant research and development to achieve this goal. As many EV drivers will appreciate the opportunity to make an additional sustainable purchase, dealers should stay abreast of improvements in these areas to help improve their sales to EV buyers as these vehicles increase in market share. Rob Williams is the president of Hankook Tire America Corp. These include ST235/80R16 and ST235/85R16 sizes and are designed explicitly for high-speed trailer use. CMA and Double Coin have introduced two new all-steel ST radial tires to the Double Coin lineup. The additions are 16-in. sizes, expanding on the RT500 model. These include ST235/80R16 and ST235/85R16 sizes and are designed explicitly for high-speed trailer use, CMA/Double Coin said. “These additions fill a need our customers have asked about for some time,” said Aaron Murphy, senior vice president at Double Coin. “We’re excited that the time has arrived to add these quality trailer tires to our Double Coin stable of products.” Executives discuss the future of sustainable tire manufacturing, the relationship between EVs and tire waste and what’s next for airless tire technology. The Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4Matic+ Coupé is being fitted with 265/40ZR19 (102Y) front tires and 295/35ZR19 (104Y) rear tires. The J.D. Power study shows that EV owners have similar expectations of tire wear as owners of gas-powered vehicles do. Cole and Sky Johnson secured a victory in the 4400 Unlimited Class and Josh Atteberry earned second place in the 4600 Stock Class. Highlights from this year’s annual Turbo Wholesale Tires open house event, which featured a trade show, dinner and buyers event. The study concluded that differences in measurements between players using fields with crumb rubber infill and those using grass fields were negligible. With 13 locations and counting, McMahon has close-knit ties to the communities it serves and is elevating professionalism in the tire industry. Spark plug condition can reveal valuable clues about short and long-term engine issues if you know what to look for. Tire Review providing expert tire- and service-related content daily.
It was the warmest April on record – the eleventh month in a row of record global temperatures. Sea surface temperatures have been record high for the past 13 months. Extreme weather caused many casualties and socio-economic disruption. The monthly reports from Copernicus Climate Change Service and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration highlight the extraordinary duration of record temperatures fuelled by the naturally occurring El Niño event and the additional energy trapped in the atmosphere and ocean by greenhouse gases from human activities. A similar streak happened previously during the strong El Niño event of 2015/2016. April 2024 had an average surface air temperature of 15.03°C, 0.67°C above the 1991-2020 average for April and 0.14°C above the previous high set in April 2016, according to the ERA5 dataset from Copernicus Climate Change Service implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission. The month was 1.58°C warmer than an estimate of the April average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period, according to the ERA5 dataset. Monthly breaches of 1.5°C do not mean that the world has failed to achieve the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal, which refers to a long-term temperature increase over decades. South America had its warmest April on record, whilst Europe had its second warmest, according to NOAA. Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in April was the smallest on record. Both Eurasia and North America were below average, whereas parts of eastern Russia and China were above average. Global sea ice extent was the tenth smallest on record, according to NOAA. The record temperatures were accompanied by high-impact weather events – including intense heat in many parts of Asia. A new study from World Weather Attribution said that climate change made the deadly heatwaves that hit millions of highly vulnerable people more extreme. Drought bit southern Africa and extreme rainfall hit the Arabian peninsula. Persistent heavy rainfall in East Africa and southern Brazil has worsened in the first week of May, leading to devastating and deadly floods. Afghanistan also suffered deadly flash flooding in mid-May, killing at least 300 people and causing widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. “The high number of extreme weather and climate events (including record daily and monthly temperatures and rainfall amounts) are more likely in a warmer world,” said WMO climate expert Alvaro Silva. “The sea surface temperature in several ocean basins, including in the tropical belt, continues to be record high, releasing more heat and moisture to the atmosphere and thus exacerbating conditions,” he said. The El Niño in the eastern equatorial Pacific continued to weaken towards neutral conditions, but marine air temperatures in general remained at an unusually high level. The global sea surface temperature averaged for April 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 21.04°C, the highest value on record for the month, marginally below the 21.07°C recorded for March 2024, according to C3S. WMO uses six internationally recognized datasets for its climate monitoring activities and State of the Global Climate reports. There were big temperature differences within Europe. Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over northern and northeastern North America, Greenland, eastern Asia, northwest Middle East, parts of South America, and most of Africa. Large regions of Asia – including Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Bangladesh, Thailand, Viet Nam and the Philippines – experienced temperatures well above 40°C for many days. The heat was particularly difficult for people living in refugee camps and informal housing, as well as for outdoor workers. While the death toll is often underreported, hundreds of deaths have been reported already in most of the affected countries. The heat also had a large impact on agriculture, causing crop damage and reduced yields, as well as on education, with holidays having to be extended and schools closed in several countries, affecting millions of students. The rapid study from World Weather Attribution confirmed that the role of climate change is likely of similar magnitude to the heatwaves in South Asia studied in 2022 and 2023, which were found to be around 30 times more likely and much hotter. In the Philippines, event would have been impossible without human-caused climate change. In West Asia, climate change increased the probability of the event by about a factor of 5. India suffered repeated heatwaves in April and the early part of May, with the India Meteorological Department issuing numerous advisories and warnings to protect people’s health. The highest maximum temperature of 47.2°C had been recorded at Gangetic West Bengal on 30 April. Schools were closed in Bangladesh as a safety precaution against the dangerous heat. Thailand recorded many new station temperature records – for instance 44.1ºC at Mueang Phetchabun Phetchabun on 27 April, according to the Thailand Meteorological Department. In Myanmar there were also new temperature records of 48.2°C at Chauk. Mexico also recorded unusually high temperatures. The station of Gallinas measured 45.8°C on 2 May – compared to an average May temperature of 34.1°C (1981-2010 baseline). The heatwave is expected to continue with maximum temperatures greater than 40°C, according to the national meteorological and hydrological service, CONAGUA. On 9 May, in Observatorio de Tacubaya/Mexico City the temperature reached 34.3°C, a new all-time record high temperature for this weather station; and Gallinas, eastern Mexico, recorded the 51.1 °C. It was predominantly wetter than average over most of north-western, central and north-eastern Europe. Most of southern Europe were drier than average, according to C3S. Conditions were wetter than average over central, eastern and southern North America, across Central Asia, the Persian Gulf countries, easternmost Asia, eastern Australia, southern Brazil. Heavy rainfall often led to floods. More Information on 1.5°C: what it means and why it matters | United Nations
Evan Lieberman is the Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at MIT, and is also director of the Center for International Studies. During a semester-long sabbatical, he’s currently based at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. In this Q&A, Lieberman discusses several climate-related research projects he’s pursuing in South Africa and surrounding countries. This is part of an ongoing series exploring how the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is addressing the climate crisis. Q: South Africa is a nation whose political and economic development you have long studied and written about. Do you see this visit as an extension of the kind of research you have been pursuing, or a departure from it? A: Much of my previous work has been animated by the question of understanding the causes and consequences of group-based disparities, whether due to AIDS or Covid. These are problems that know no geographic boundaries, and where ethnic and racial minorities are often hardest hit. Climate change is an analogous problem, with these minority populations living in places where they are most vulnerable, in heat islands in cities, and in coastal areas where they are not protected. The reality is they might get hit much harder by longer-term trends and immediate shocks. In one line of research, I seek to understand how people in different African countries, in different ethnic groups, perceive the problems of climate change and their governments’ response to it. There are ethnic divisions of labor in terms of what people do — whether they are farmers or pastoralists, or live in cities. So some ethnic groups are simply more affected by drought or extreme weather than others, and this can be a basis for conflict, especially when competing for often limited government resources. In this area, just like in my previous research, learning what shapes ordinary citizen perspectives is really important, because these views affect people’s everyday practices, and the extent to which they support certain kinds of policies and investments their government makes in response to climate-related challenges. But I will also try to learn more about the perspectives of policymakers and various development partners who seek to balance climate-related challenges against a host of other problems and priorities. Q: You recently published “Until We Have Won Our Liberty,” which examines the difficult transition of South Africa from apartheid to a democratic government, scrutinizing in particular whether the quality of life for citizens has improved in terms of housing, employment, discrimination, and ethnic conflicts. How do climate change-linked issues fit into your scholarship? A: I never saw myself as a climate researcher, but a number of years ago, heavily influenced by what I was learning at MIT, I began to recognize more and more how important the issue of climate change is. And I realized there were lots of ways in which the climate problem resonated with other kinds of problems I had tackled in earlier parts of my work. There was once a time when climate and the environment was the purview primarily of white progressives: the “tree huggers.” And that’s really changed in recent decades as it has become evident that the people who’ve been most affected by the climate emergency are ethnic and racial minorities. We saw with Hurricane Katrina and other places [that] if you are Black, you’re more likely to live in a vulnerable area and to just generally experience more environmental harms, from pollution and emissions, leaving these communities much less resilient than white communities. Government has largely not addressed this inequity. When you look at American survey data in terms of who’s concerned about climate change, Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans are more unified in their worries than are white Americans. There are analogous problems in Africa, my career research focus. Governments there have long responded in different ways to different ethnic groups. The research I am starting looks at the extent to which there are disparities in how governments try to solve climate-related challenges. Q: It’s difficult enough in the United States taking the measure of different groups’ perceptions of the impact of climate change and government’s effectiveness in contending with it. How do you go about this in Africa? A: Surprisingly, there’s only been a little bit of work done so far on how ordinary African citizens, who are ostensibly being hit the hardest in the world by the climate emergency, are thinking about this problem. Climate change has not been politicized there in a very big way. In fact, only 50 percent of Africans in one poll had heard of the term. In one of my new projects, with political science faculty colleague Devin Caughey and political science doctoral student Preston Johnston, we are analyzing social and climate survey data [generated by the Afrobarometer research network] from over 30 African countries to understand within and across countries the ways in which ethnic identities structure people’s perception of the climate crisis, and their beliefs in what government ought to be doing. In largely agricultural African societies, people routinely experience drought, extreme rain, and heat. They also lack the infrastructure that can shield them from the intense variability of weather patterns. But we’re adding a lens, which is looking at sources of inequality, especially ethnic differences. I will also be investigating specific sectors. Africa is a continent where in most places people cannot take for granted universal, piped access to clean water. In Cape Town, several years ago, the combination of failure to replace infrastructure and lack of rain caused such extreme conditions that one of the world’s most important cities almost ran out of water. While these studies are in progress, it is clear that in many countries, there are substantively large differences in perceptions of the severity of climate change, and attitudes about who should be doing what, and who’s capable of doing what. In several countries, both perceptions and policy preferences are differentiated along ethnic lines, more so than with respect to generational or class differences within societies. This is interesting as a phenomenon, but substantively, I think it’s important in that it may provide the basis for how politicians and government actors decide to move on allocating resources and implementing climate-protection policies. We see this kind of political calculation in the U.S. and we shouldn’t be surprised that it happens in Africa as well. That’s ultimately one of the challenges from the perch of MIT, where we’re really interested in understanding climate change, and creating technological tools and policies for mitigating the problem or adapting to it. The reality is frustrating. The political world — those who make decisions about whether to acknowledge the problem and whether to implement resources in the best technical way — are playing a whole other game. That game is about rewarding key supporters and being reelected. Q: So how do you go from measuring perceptions and beliefs among citizens about climate change and government responsiveness to those problems, to policies and actions that might actually reduce disparities in the way climate-vulnerable African groups receive support? A: Some of the work I have been doing involves understanding what local and national governments across Africa are actually doing to address these problems. We will have to drill down into government budgets to determine the actual resources devoted to addressing a challenge, what sorts of practices the government follows, and the political ramifications for governments that act aggressively versus those that don’t. With the Cape Town water crisis, for example, the government dramatically changed residents’ water usage through naming and shaming, and transformed institutional practices of water collection. They made it through a major drought by using much less water, and doing it with greater energy efficiency. Through the government’s strong policy and implementation, and citizens’ active responses, an entire city, with all its disparate groups, gained resilience. Maybe we can highlight creative solutions to major climate-related problems and use them as prods to push more effective policies and solutions in other places. In the MIT Global Diversity Lab, along with political science faculty colleague Volha Charnysh, political science doctoral student Jared Kalow, and Institute for Data, Systems and Society doctoral student Erin Walk, we are exploring American perspectives on climate-related foreign aid, asking survey respondents whether the U.S. should be giving more to people in the global South who didn’t cause the problems of climate change but have to suffer the externalities. We are particularly interested in whether people’s desire to help vulnerable communities rests on the racial or national identity of those communities. From my new seat as director of the Center for International Studies (CIS), I hope to do more and more to connect social science findings to relevant policymakers, whether in the U.S. or in other places. CIS is making climate one of our thematic priority areas, directing hundreds of thousands of dollars for MIT faculty to spark climate collaborations with researchers worldwide through the Global Seed Fund program. COP 28 (the U.N. Climate Change Conference), which I attended in December in Dubai, really drove home the importance of people coming together from around the world to exchange ideas and form networks. It was unbelievably large, with 85,000 people. But so many of us shared the belief that we are not doing enough. We need enforceable global solutions and innovation. We need ways of financing. We need to provide opportunities for journalists to broadcast the importance of this problem. And we need to understand the incentives that different actors have and what sorts of messages and strategies will resonate with them, and inspire those who have resources to be more generous.
Mayte Padron, Community Relations Director Published: Mayte Padron, Community Relations Director HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The majority of the student body and staff at Air Base K-8 Center in Homestead knew their top teacher, Jennifer Diaz, was selected as a Local 10 Tribute to Teachers Honoree. They didn’t say a word to her until Local 10 Community Relations Director Mayte Padron visited the school last week and broke the news. Padron and Local 10 photographer Jason Weitzman did it in Diaz’s classroom as the assistant principal escorted her inside. “Did you suspect this?” asked Padron. “No. Absolutely not,” replied Diaz. For more than two decades, Diaz has been a teacher. At Air Base, she teaches language arts to third grade gifted students. She’s also the school’s environmental liaison and kindness ambassador. She’s created a vegetable garden outside the classroom, organized beach clean ups and implemented the Dream and Green initiative. This is all in an effort to teach her students to be good stewards of planet Earth. “She just magnifies a simple lesson plan and makes it ten times more interesting and engaging and fun for the children,” said room parent Auriana Bequer. “She deserves this by teaching us the things that we deserve to know,” added student Isaac Orrego. With the recognition came a reward. Publix Supermarkets gave Diaz $1,000 in store gift cards. When Padron made the announcement, Diaz and her students erupted with excitement. It was too much to contain to one classroom, so the party was taken outside to the school’s main corridor, where Diaz was met with dozens of students chanting her name and waving congratulatory banners. “Ms. Diaz is just one of those gem teachers that no one can speak highly enough about, and I’m grateful that she’s been in my daughter’s life for these past two years,” said parent Jennifer Messemer-Skold. All agree that Diaz deserves the extra credit. “She is selfless, and she will go above and beyond for our school and for the students at Miami-Dade County Public Schools,” said Angela Carvalho Air Base K-8 Center’s Assistant Principal. Copyright 2024 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved. Mayte Padron Cordones is an Emmy-award winning journalist and the director of WPLG's Community Relations Department, overseeing the station's outreach initiatives to benefit and strengthen the South Florida community. email Recommended Videos
