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The researchers, who spent two years working on the study, found that in the impoverished communities of Ndirande, Malawi and Mukuru, Kenya, most residents used wood and charcoal for their daily cooking, with plastic bottles, maize stalks and homemade charcoal briquettes, also found to be used as fuel. With householders often cooking in cramped, unventilated spaces, families were likely to be exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants on a daily basis.

Dr Uny said: These informal settlements or slums have little infrastructure, and people who are affected by poverty are using whatever fuels they can afford to cook. Solid fuels cause the most damage to health and its women who are often the main cooks and children who are disproportionately exposed to that household air pollution.

We were measuring for PM2.5, which is tiny particles if you think of the size of a strand of hair, PM2.5 would be much, much smaller. The recommended World Health Organisation guidelines state that you shouldnt be exposed to more than 15 micrograms per cubic metre air (g/m3) in a 24-hour period.

During this research, when we measured the air pollution people experienced during their day we recorded short peaks as high as 2000 g/m3. Were talking about really, really high levels of exposure, to tiny, tiny particles in the air of soot that people are inhaling every day, causing significant harm to their health.

Researchers from Stirling's Faculties of Health Sciences and Sport, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences worked on the project alongside academics from the Kenya Medical Research Institute and Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences.

More than 2 billion people worldwide use solid fuel for their cooking and heating needs and household air pollution (HAP) can be linked to approximately 3.2 million deaths a year - 700,000 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, with HAP linked to diseases including stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer.

The research was funded by the UK Research and Innovation Arts and Humanities Research Council and carried out in partnership with experts from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS).

Fred Orina, of KEMRI, said: This was a unique study in that we worked at a grassroots level with communities in order to find out from their perspective what the most pressing issues around using charcoal, wood and other solid fuels for cooking were and the type of solutions they think are the most sustainable, affordable and most feasible to improve air quality and health.

As part of the research, the academics embedded themselves in the two informal settlements, conducting walking interviews where the interviewer walks with and films the participants journey from sourcing, buying or collecting fuel to preparing the fire or stove and cooking. As part of this research method, video, GPS and air pollution measuring equipment was used to gather data. The team also used novel research method 'Photovoice, where a further 20 participants were given camera phones to document their own experiences of fuel gathering, food preparation, cooking and household air pollution over a two-week period.

During the study, one participant told researchers: You will hear the children complaining smoke, smoke. It overwhelms me and I even have difficulty in breathing when I light the stove. I get headaches, I am lightheaded.

The data and interviews were then translated into a series of posters which were displayed at a number of community events. Researchers also engaged with community leaders, policymakers and local and national government representatives to share their findings.

Limbani Kalumbi, MUBAS, said: People are being driven to use these fuel sources, not because they want to, but due to issues around household income, access to certain fuels and the availability - or lack of availability of cleaner sources of fuel.

We discussed potential solutions with community members and what they are interested in is better access to cleaner fuels including LPG gas and in the longer term being able to rely on a good, affordable supply of electricity.

Dr Uny added: The need is great. Previous interventions have seen sub-Saharan communities provided with more fuel-efficient stoves, which provides some benefits environmentally but doesnt improve the health implications suffered from exposure to smoke.

We shared our findings through a poster exhibition in Kenya and Malawi and discussed solutions with local people as well as with policy makers and other decision makers, to highlight the issues further and discuss possible ways in which the impact on health of solid fuel use could be improved in line with the aspirations of the Kenyan and Malawian governments.

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Fuel study finds staggering pollution levels in informal settlements in ... - University of Stirling

By Dr Larilin Kharpuri

Around the first week of August 2019, The Shillong Times (TST) celebrated its75 years of works in progress and continuing till date. A unique project was initiated by TST aspart of its platinum jubilee celebrations. Project Operation Clean-Up (OCU) was led by its Editor, Patricia Mukhim along with other like-minded people as members. The members met, discussedand debated the projects mission, and finally walked (and still walking) the talk. The Projectprimarily involved cleaning up the Urkaliar part of the Umkhrah river; it also includes other partsof Shillong like Golflinks, Laban, Umiew river near Umphrup village, Shillong peak and Umpling.With the exception of interruptions caused by the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic,the team of Project OCU met almost every 2nd or 3rd Saturday of the month to clean the Urkaliar river. Today, in its fourth year of existence, Project OCU has seen many members come and go and come back too.

Operation Clean-up included individuals like Rudi Warjri, Jiwat Vaswani and his Team Jiva, Brian Wallang and students of K.C. Secondary School, members of Make Someone Smile, students of Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shubham and NGO, the Col Sishupal Security Company (CSSC) Home Guards and quite importantly the drivers of garbage trucks and earth moving machines and the cleaners from the Shillong Municipal Board have been the constant presence at the OCU activities.

On April 6, 2023, the Government of Meghalaya called a meeting to discuss the cleaning and rejuvenation of Umkhrah, Umshyrpi and Umkhen rivers with various stakeholders like the KHADC, Dorbar Shnongs, Civil Society Organisations and concerned Government Departments on board. Although an informal group of concerned citizens from disparate fields, members of Project OCU likewere also invited to share their experiences and provide valuable suggestions. Looking back over the years and now, one has to give due credit to the exemplary leadership of the core members ofProject OCU, for their tenacity, grit, and strength of character, in going on and on, over andagain, without fail. The Government did take note of Project OCU activities!

The article, No more meetings on garbage, please, by Avner Pariat (TST, Dated April 28, 2023)made some interesting points about the total waste of time on TALKING. For cooperation andengagement rather than a confrontational attitude, a consensus before any action is alwaysnecessary. Unless of course, humans are only driven by impulse and emotions and they takeaction without any thinking, deliberations or any regard for the consequences.

The Anglo-Khasi War (Khasi Resistance against the British Raj) of 1829-33 under the leadershipof U Tirot Sing Syiem was started only after due deliberations in the general Durbar of HimaNongkhlaw. A few months before the War, a durbar was held for two days to deliberate theapplication for permission by the British to construct a road from Sylhet to the BrahmaputraValley through areas under the independent Khadsaw-phra Syiemship. This durbar, witnessed byBritish officials, invited admiration and respect from the white men with one even comparing it tothe proceedings of the Westminster Parliament. Historically and as part of oral narratives, it hasbeen recorded that such deliberations did take place before the Achiks under Pa Togan Sangmaand the Jaintias under U Woh Kiang Nangbah took up arms against the British in 1872 and 1861-62 respectively.Historically and to date, the indigenous tribals of Meghalaya are known to have a deliberativeprocess of decision-making, from the family, clan (kur and mahari) level to the village, Raij/Raid,Nokmaship, Elaka and Hima level.

The Preamble to our Constitution states that India is a Sovereign Socialist Secular DemocraticRepublic. That means, its citizens matter the most. Any decision or law-making by a democraticallyelected government will have to be weighed well, with considerable time taken.Afterall, citizens lives are impacted and its a matter of losing or winning elections, i.e. Power.

Our country is not a Peoples Republic of chai-chai or Democratic Peoples Republic of kor-kor orsome monarchy where decisions are made by a very few members of a non-democratic Politburoor an unelected General Secretary or some dynastic heir or heiress. To reduce deliberations,discussions and debates to pseudo democratic stakeholder meetings is to disrespect ourFounding Fathers Mothers, our freedom fighters (both living and dead then in 1947-1950) andmembers of our Constituent Assembly, who took 3 consecutive years to frame our democraticConstitution that gave legal/official form to our country called the Republic of India (BharatGanarajya), a Union of States.

Awareness or IEC (Information, Education and Communication) or Social Marketing activities are important for any event or scheme implementation. They may take the most ever-ready form of aposter, hoarding or word-of-mouth to a street play, roadshow, social media posts or even a flash mob. One may like or dislike RJ Nicky personally, but one has to give due credit to him; hedoes his bit for Mother Nature. The students and faculty members of the Department ofEnvironment and Traditional Ecosystems (DETE), MLCU have been involved in many awarenessactivities, community camps and other field-based activities including Project OCU.

As part of the implementation of the Mott MacDonald blueprint, the Meghalaya government distributed the green and blue bins for separation of wet and dry waste at the household level. DETE-MLCU students conducted locality-wise and door-to-door campaigns to generate awareness for the same in Shillong City, as part of their internship programme. With experiential learning being a key component of MLCU education, the involvement of the students in field-based activities isrecorded and credited as a part of their degree programmes. For our Gen-Z MLCU students, participationin Project OCU activities is a different learning experience, they come in contact with individuals and groups from different walks of life sharing the common concern for our rivers and waste management and Mother Nature in general.

Recently after a Project OCU activity, a student took some photos of the garbage dumped in the river and put them up on her social media posts with the caption, Balei ki briew kim pyrkhat, kim sngewthuh? (why dont people think or understand) Isnt that what Awareness is all about a future behavioural change in a democracy?

With a Ministry and a Department named Forests, Environment and Climate Change, both theCentral and State Governments are well aware of the challenges related to waste management.Acts (and Rules framed thereunder) have been legislated and passed. Consumerism andIndividualism has marked our ancient tribal society that we live in today. The quantum of wastegenerated has multiplied. Of course, dustbins and landfills are necessary now but they cannot be the all-time answer to our waste problems. What we need to think now and act upon is zerowaste behaviour change and policy. Reduce, Reuse, Recover and Recycle should be the mantrafor all.

To conclude, why just leave everything to the government? Why cant we as concerned citizens,individuals or informal groups like Project OCU, do our bit and be a part of the solution ratherthan the problem? It is easy to rant but ranting without lifting a finger to help change things on the ground is misplaced.

(The writer teaches at the DETE, MLCU, Shillong.)

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For Mother Natures Sake, Lets Meet, Talk then Walk The Talk - The Shillong Times

on April 17, 2023 at 11:20 am

Did you know that the food you eat every day has an embodied energy, water, and carbon footprint based on the way it was produced, shipped, and prepared? USU Dining Services is working to help reduce that footprint by decreasing the amount of meat consumed on campus.

Why meat? For one, it takes approximately 1,850 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef! This compares to one pound of vegetables, which only takes 39 gallons to produce.

Because producing meat is such a carbon-intensive process, cutting out meat for just one day per week can help to reduce your personal emissions. In fact, cutting meat once per week could save the same amount of emissions as driving your car 348 miles.

A group of USU students are working to reduce carbon emissions and industrial water usage through the decreased consumption of meat. They are helping to uplift the practice of Meatless Mondays as a long-term way to help the environment.They arent asking people to give up meat altogether, which would probably scare most away before they even start, but rather to give meat up for one day a week.

This partnership with USU Dining Services stems from ENVS 4700: Communicating Sustainability with Dr. Roslynn McCann, where the class focus is to engage the community in more sustainable behavior through the partnership of local organizations. Ideas for developing strategies originate from our course text: Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing (Third Edition) by Doug McKenzie-Mohr, which has influenced our approach to this project.

In partnering with Alan Anderson, Director of Dining Services, the students are collaborating with their marketing team for informational graphics and presenting information on the TVs near The Hub. Alan has communicated with his chefs of menu possibilities for vegetarian and meat alternative meals, and these menu options will be presented in the Marketplace. Every contribution helps reduce carbon emissions each week, and we want to ensure students understand the sustainability aspect as well as getting rid of any misconceptions or fears of meat-alternatives.

On April 3rd Meatless Monday was kicked off with a sampling table in the Marketplace featuring meat free foods. The students also gave out stickers that stated I Pledge to Eat Meatless on Mondays. Now, diners at the Marketplace can participate in Meatless Mondays by simply ordering from the meat-alternative menu at Mamma Blues.

We hope to see you at the Marketplace, and we are very excited to find fun ways to try meatless recipes and share them with the students here at USU!

This letter to the editor was submitted by Grace Christensen, Kylee Chadwick, and Paisley Napier for their class, ENVS 4700 Communicating Sustainability.

paisley.napier@usu.edu

Original post:
Letter to the editor: Dining Services incorporates Meatless Monday ... - Utahstatesman

EXCLUSIVE:Shout! Factory on Wednesday announced their promotion of longtime senior executive Michael Ribas to Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management.

Most recently serving as Vice President of Marketing, Ribas has been with Shout! Factory since 2003, prior to that holding editorial and product-management positions at the San Francisco company, WetFeet.

In his elevated position, Ribas will report to CEO Garson Foos and EVP of Strategy and Digital, Gene Pao, continuing to collaborate closely with both executives on big-picture strategy supporting the companys long-term growth. While leading marketing and product management strategy for all initiatives and properties apart from kids and family entertainment, he will continue to oversee advertising, corporate branding, convention and trade-show activations, digital streaming, theatrical rollouts, partnerships, product management and social marketing for Shout! Factory, Shout! Studios and Shout! TV. Hes also in charge of the marketing and promotion of Shout!s Mystery Science Theater 3000 franchise, which includes the new series and licensing and merchandising.

Michael is a high-level strategist and a successful leader. His business acumen and strategic thinking have contributed greatly to the success of Shouts overall business, said Shout! EVP, Pao. He has driven the growth of many business verticals by super-serving our content partners and maximizing business opportunities. All of this and his strong leadership skills have made him an invaluable leader at Shout!.

Added Ribas in his statement to Deadline: After nearly 20 years at Shout! I remain energized and excited by the opportunity to not only connect fans with the movies and series they love, but to also introduce them to new ones that just might become the classics or cult favorites of the future.

A multi-platform media company focused on film and TV distribution, development and production, Shout! Factory was founded by Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos in 2003. The companys current partners and properties include Gkids, Sesame Street, Laika Studios, The Carol Burnett Show, The Johnny Carson Show, Stephen J. Cannell Productions, ALF, ITV Studios and Major League Baseball Productions. It also owns and operates libraries including the aforementioned Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson) and the Roger Corman New Horizons Pictures Library, all while operating Shout! TV.

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Shout! Factory Ups Michael Ribas To SVP, Marketing And Product Management - Deadline

Twitter is like a merry-go-round. Users watched it from afar, thought it looked interesting and hopped on for a spin. It was fun at first, under previous owners. Though there was the occasional breakdown, things went smoothly for the most part, as the social media platform added features and enriched the user experience. Then a new operator (Elon Musk) took over and the merry-go-round became unpredictable, speeding up at first and then slowing down. The operator replaced old horses with new ones, raised the price of admission, and eventually kept some users off the ride altogether.

Since Musk took over the social media platform in October of last year, it has become a circus and people are jumping off the merry-go-round before they are thrown off. Twitter has become unpredictable, and the ringmaster grows more volatile by the day. This is particularly interesting since Ringmaster Musk vowed to step down as CEO as soon as someone foolish enough to take the job would replace him.

And the merry-go-round continues. Here is just a sampling of the most recent news stories about Twitter. We say sampling, because as soon as we hit publish, this article will be outdated.

NPR has 52 official Twitter feeds, and the news organization said Wednesday that it will no longer post fresh content to those feeds. The reason for jumping off the merry-go-round? Twitter labeled NPR as a state-affiliated media organization; the social media platform later revised it to government-funded media. As a private nonprofit company, NPR said this is both inaccurate and misleading. NPR CEO John Lansing said the company receives less than 1% of its annual $300 million budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

By leaving Twitter, NPR is protecting its credibility and its ability to produce quality journalism without a shadow of negativity.

We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities. There are still plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPRs news, music and cultural content, said Lansing. We will also continue to maintain a presence on our other social platforms.

Though NPR remains on Twitter for past content, it is still labeled government-funded media.

Musk countered with this tweet and linked back to the language on NPRs website.

PBS is also leaving Twitter because of the government-funded media label added to their profile, says USA Today. A spokesperson for PBS confirmed that the Public Broadcasting System does receive some government funding, but it is a small portion of their overall funding, similar to NPR.

Twitters simplistic label leaves the inaccurate impression that PBS is wholly funded by the federal government, said Jason Phelps, senior director of external communications for PBS.

PBS is not posting new content to Twitter and has no immediate plans to resume posting. However, they are monitoring the situation, USA Today reports.

Mike Donoghue, co-founder and CEO of Subtext, has been following the Twitter saga for the last year, and he wasnt surprised to see NPR and PBS leave the platform.

I think it was probably an easier conclusion to arrive at than many people would think, Donoghue said. Twitters relationship with the media and other creators has always been extremely one sided, and its pretty easy to unpack.

Donoghue analyzed the situation on LinkedIn yesterday, and he gave us permission to share his analysis.

When creators use Twitter, Twitter gets:

When creators use Twitter, creators get:

In March, Musk said that legacy checkmarks for verified accounts would be removed for Twitter Blue nonsubscribers effective April 1. As of that date, the only organization to lose its legacy blue checkmark was The New York Times because they publicly said they would not pay $1,000 a month for verified status. Musk has pushed the date back for legacy checkmark removal to April 20, according to an April 11 tweet.

Meanwhile, a number of media organizations and other organizations and celebrities have said they will not pay for checkmarks on Twitter. Here are a few who are saying no to a Twitter Blue subscription:

The general feeling is that, because of Twitters actions in the last five to six months, verification status and checkmarks on Twitter no longer establish authority or credibility. Instead, they can be bought.

In a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent Wednesday to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, the House Judiciary Committee said they would issue subpoenas to get the requested information about Twitter since it wasnt provided voluntarily, reports media Post. At issue is whether or not Twitter misled users when it asked for user email addresses and phone numbers for security, but that information is believed to have been used for ad targeting.

According to Media Post, the FTC is also investigating behind-the-scenes information that Twitter may have shared information with journalists about certain editorial decisions. Previously, the committee said they felt the FTC was harassing Twitter for reinstatements of prominent conservatives. In related news, Musk has asked the FTC for a meeting, and they turned him down.

Earlier this week, Twitter Inc. has merged with Elon Musks privately-held X Corp and is now domiciled in Nevada rather than Delaware, reports the Wall Street Journal. Technically, Twitter no longer exists as a corporation. In an interview with the BBC this week, Musk said that his goal was to create X, the everything app, and added that Twitter is an accelerant in this plan.

Twitter has become an important platform for millions of monthly active users (MAUs). In fact, SproutSocial reports that Twitter has 556 million MAUs, and 53% of them use the platform for news. More than half of Twitter users are men, and U.S. adults spend an average of 34.8 minutes on Twitter daily. While those statistics are impressive, news organizations, subscription companies and others who are jumping ship are exploring Twitter alternatives. Here are three to consider.

While Mastodon is often part of the Twitter alternative conversation, Mastodon is a very different type of social networking platform. It is a decentralized, free, open-source platform. Rather than joining Mastodon, users join a specific server that is managed by an individual, group of people, or an organization. Users can join multiple servers, follow people and have people follow them. Users can also create their own servers.

The Verge explains that, on Mastodon, users post toots instead of tweets and toots have a 500-character limit, nearly double the limit of Twitter. Posts may include images, video or audio files, and they can be edited after they go live. Mastodon supports the use of hashtags to help users find posts of topics of interest. Useful resources about Mastodon include this Guide to Mastodon by @[emailprotected] and a comparison of Twitter alternatives by Teri Kanefield.

Social networking thats not for sale, Mastodon says on their home page. Your home feed should be filled with what matters to you most, not what a corporation thinks you should see. Radically different social media, back in the hands of the people.

Post.news bills itself as a social platform for real people, real news, and civil conversations. Users can discover, follow, share and support diverse voices on topics they care about, the website says. It also says that users can access journalism from premium publishers without subscriptions or ads. Instead, users pay for what they read with micropayments. For news publishers, Post.news allows them to create content; monetize and manage that content; and grow their audiences. Among the publishers that are trying out Post.news are:

With a flexible content editor, creators can write, format and embed their content. They can also find audiences interested in the topics they cover, and they can monetize their work through tips, donations or put up a micropayment paywall. Creators can set up their content so that readers can just pay for what they read, or they can push their readers to subscribe to their content.

Another Twitter alternative is T2 which is currently accepting people to its waitlist. On the waitlist questionnaire, T2 asks if the applicant has a Twitter account, their current Twitter handle, and three choices for a T2 handle if accepted. The platform looks very similar to Twitter. Some users have a purple checkmark next to their names, indicating they are Twitter legacy users or have been T2 authenticated. Like tweets, individual posts can be commented on, shared, loved and flagged.

Each user has a profile page, very similar to Twitter. The site has a 280-character limit per post. Without an account, it does not appear that the feed can be altered, but prospective users can lurk for now. Here is an example of Fast Companys T2 profile page.

The platform was co-founded by Gabor Cselle, CEO, who previously worked at Google; Sarah Oh, formerly of Twitter and Facebook; and Michael Greer, CTO, who worked at Discord and was the co-founder of TAPP Media. The About Us page says that T2 is a place to have the authentic conversations weve always wanted to have.

We believe in the basics: offering simple tools and creating space for human conversation. Were working to build an elegant, sustainable, and hospitable place that recaptures what we all used to love about the internet, T2 says.

Even with hundreds of millions of MAUs, Mike Reilley, data and journalism professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, a trainer for the Google News Initiative and the founder of Journalists Toolbox, thinks Twitter can be replaced.

Anything can be replaced, especially if Elon Musk continues to screw it up, Reilley told us. While some have left when he took over and headed to Mastodon, Post.news, etc., many have stayed, primarily journalists. And with Journalists Toolbox, I have to go where the audience is. And thats still Twitter. I post on the other channels, but Twitter is still the best way for me to engage with my journalism audience.

We asked Reilley if he felt there was a way for Musk and Twitter to turn things around to prevent a mass exodus.

Hopefully, Elon finds a new toy and moves on, and the developers and managers take over and improve it. Hes a total madman with how he does things see Tesla among others but if hes not hovering over them, they can really work on making it a great thing, Reilley said.

Reilley gave the example of early concerns about Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, purchasing The Washington Post.

People panicked that he was going to turn the place into a circus, Reilley said. Its worked out OK, and he has tech developers working with journalists to do some amazing things.

As a journalism and data expert, we asked Reilley which Twitter alternative he liked best. Post.news is his preference right now. He can write longer posts, monetize them, and hotlink out of the post.

They have some work to do with the platform, but I much prefer it to Mastodon, said Reilley.

For journalism organizations specifically, Reilley said they need to spray to a lot of fields on social and see what sticks.

Reilley said, Maybe your audience forms on Post, maybe your Substack newsletters gain traction. Who knows? But they need to have a presence everywhere and see where they can best engage the reader. Thats a lot of work, but its the nature of the beast.

As companies watch Musk and the merry-go-round spin in frantic circles, those who use Twitter as part of their marketing and outreach strategy need to find other avenues. Here are five things subscription companies can do while Twitter figures itself out or a better alternative emerges.

No one can predict what Musks true intentions are or what his next moves will be. While he may be a genius, he is also a volatile businessman who makes impulsive decisions. He cherry picks the rules he wants to follow, and he doesnt follow them consistently or unilaterally (e.g., The New York Times). Musk does what Musk wants. But that doesnt mean users, including subscription companies, are beholden to him or to Twitter. We are in control of our brands, our brand messaging and strategies, and how we want to market them and engage with our audiences. Stay informed and be prepared for anything.

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Five Practical Strategies to Navigate Your Social Marketing While ... - Subscription Insider