You would need a microscope to be able to see all of the miniature components etched onto the single tiny microchip powering the clock in a digital watch. But you can see them all with the naked eye on artist Gislain Benoit’s The Clock, which is made from 1,916 hand-soldered components that end up weighing a hefty 14 pounds.
“He was wearing all cotton, which is the worst fabric for cold, wet weather. The weather just got the best of him,” reads an official statement by Alaska State Troopers about the death of a hiker there in 2005. This is how and why cotton can kill you.
You probably haven’t heard of “cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes,” but you’ve almost certainly rubbed them into your skin. They’re widely used in lotions and cosmetics to create that smooth, satisfying feel. And now scientists are finding—to their surprise—these chemicals in remote parts of Antarctica.
The most difficult year of my life culminated one year ago. I think I’ve adjusted; recovered seems too strong of a word.
Nestled in suburban Kansas City, the Vikings of Shawnee Mission West High School are a tight, supportive community. That strong foundation of community, along with teacher, coach, clergy and school support, ushered the students through the separate events of three students’ deaths and one teacher’s death during the school year when I was the principal.
Life is reft with joy and sorrow and we as fleeting occupants purposefully hope that one outweighs the other the majority of the time. My life’s joy of being a high school principal is, honestly, priceless. It is fun participating daily in young people’s lives helping them learn and succeed. Even though personal and professional tragedy and death waylaid that joy periodically, I was schooled daily by students’ zest for life and resilience.
Keep Friends and Family Close
During those challenging times, students confided in those they trusted; those who listened objectively, namely their loved ones. Physically, students became closer. They hugged more often out of genuine love and care for each other. The senior class was tight-knit as they had celebrated a 6A football championship the previous season. Now, after a stroke felled a beloved, star football athlete during a game, devastation, not celebration, threw them into each other’s arms again. One of their senior leaders, who had already committed to play at KU, was stripped from their lives. Seniors are notorious for pranks, of course, but this senior class, somehow understanding the remedy and the limits, organized a group hug and sleep-in between classes one day.
We followed what we knew as best practices and held to regular, daily schedules and events so students could converge. Of course, some classes didn’t go on as usual. Kids were physically there, but the instruction, the reflection, and the practice was on grief. Teachers consoled and cried. Students reflected on the lost peer’s life and cried. Counselors reported to certain classrooms where needed. Parents checked in on students frequently with more random texts interrupting moments. The time intervals of bell to bell gave a semblance of managed grief — we were helping students chunk the grief process.
Communicate and Share
Strength through communication emanated from those who were closest to the deceased. The coach, the cousin, the mother and father, the wife — those who spoke in honor of their departed loved one taught me about fortitude and strength. They chose their words deliberately and they were the master communicators. They knew they were role models for young eyes cast upon them and hanging on their every word.
One month after Andre, the football player, died, Houston was killed in a car accident on his way to play practice. He was a star actor and talented singer with a tremendous impact on the community. I can still hear one teacher shriek as I announced at the faculty meeting the news of an accident involving yet another one of our students.
As their principal, my descriptions of events to students over the intercom and various media were honest, developmentally appropriate and delivered in various settings or via different modes depending on the timeliness of the event. We all knew that an intercom announcement, email or voice message was not the best venue to speak meaningfully about someone’s life.
When Tim, the PE teacher and coach, died suddenly of a heart attack in February, I wanted to make sure we told his students in his classes personally before an intercom announcement was made. Somehow his spirit was with us as I discovered on his office bulletin board numerous life quotes he cherished that I later shared with the students in daily inspirational thoughts. Now those were meaningful announcements about Tim and his life.
Give to Others
Neighboring schools poured their wishes and support in our direction in every way. Schools crafted signs at their football games, held ‘black and gold’ color days and collected money for our students’ families. Cards and letters came from all over the state, the universities, the clergy, and private families expressing their condolences and support. I shared these in a common area for our teachers and students and I posted this information on Twitter.
We were able to pay it forward later in April when West students came together all “Wearing White for Reat” in honor of a neighboring school’s student who was killed in a shooting.
Take Time to Heal
Ezkial would have been a freshman but he was killed in July before he stepped foot into Shawnee Mission West. Even though we adults never got the chance to know his talent, his peers suffered throughout the year from his death, frequently visiting our counselors.
My biggest, personal support throughout the year came from the unassuming actions of the head football coach and PE teacher. He was close to Andre, the football star, and to Tim, the teacher, as a member of his PE department. Every morning on coach’s walk through the office, he’d ask how I was doing. At Tim’s visitation, three days after having returned from my mother’s funeral, somehow coach knew. He could sense my vulnerability as we, side-by-side, visited the casket where Tim was dressed in his West golf-coach shirt. After we sat quickly, he continued to talk to me and engage me as if knowing that if I stopped talking to him, my resolve would be lost.
The students and TV teacher produced a passionate, reflective video that we showed to all the students before holiday break to lighten the mood and focus on safety over break. Students personally reflected on what was meaningful to them in their lives. There was wonderful feedback on that video from the students and the community as well. At the end of the year, senior Logan produced a culminating video that summed up the year appropriately, though.
We built resilience in our students through purposeful leadership by offering compassion and various opportunities for grief and human connection. In high school, we typically teach about subject content and less about social skills. But teaching about death and grief was part of our repertoire that year and what I learned from my students and teachers guides me every day.
By Amol Mehra, Esq. and Erica Embree
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Never confuse motion with action.” In the business and human rights domain, this saying is particularly applicable.
Decades of negotiation at the international level about the respective obligations and responsibilities of governments and companies in regards to human rights led to the development of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which were unanimously endorsed in 2011 by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Until recently, however, real implementation of the UNGPs and other business and human rights standards by governments and companies was absent. Now, a little less than three months into 2015, action may not be so elusive.
Civil society groups, investors and even some companies and governments, have recognized that change was, at best, too slow, and they have engaged in myriad efforts to motivate action regarding business’ respect for human rights. From rankings, benchmarks, reporting and more, the drumbeat of integrating human rights into government and company action is getting too loud to ignore.
The following snapshots highlight some promising advancements in this regard.
Rankings.
Oxfam has built a tremendously successful effort in ranking companies based on specific indicators in supply chains in the agricultural sector. Using only publicly available information, Oxfam’s Behind the Brands ranks as one of the the top ten largest food and beverage companies in the world, based on their policies relating to agricultural sourcing from developing countries. The ranking factors in a wide range of issues, including women’s rights, climate, land and transparency. Recent increases in companies’ scores reflect that success is achievable when individuals leverage informational tools to pressure companies to improve their policies.
In a similar push to motivate action, Ranking Digital Rights is breaking into the tech world with its new ranking. The first phase of this project will rank some of the world’s biggest players in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector based on how their policies and practices, with regard to privacy and freedom of expression, measure up against international human rights standards. This first phase is expected to be published in late 2015. The second phase, to be completed in 2016, will include a full ranking of software, device and networking equipment companies as well.
Benchmarks.
A group of investors and human rights organizations announced a human rights benchmarking initiative this year that is pitched as an effort to spur a race-to-the-top by appealing to the competitive nature of business. The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark will rank the policy, procedure and performance of at least 500 global companies on their respect for human rights, with an initial focus on four crucial sectors — agriculture, apparel, extractives and ICT.
Reporting.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre launched an initiative this week that maps government and company actions with respect to business and human rights. It reflects the responses — and non-responses — of 101 governments and 180 companies to questionnaires targeting these two stakeholders’ efforts relating to the human rights impacts on business. The government and company “action platforms” feature the ability to build comparisons of responses or to search responses by government, company, issue or type of action. A wealth of information is thus opened up to users, whether they are governments seeking guidance on developing National Action Plans (NAPs) on business and human rights, businesses aiming to bolster their performance with regard to human rights or consumers and investors looking to purchase and invest responsibly.
Shift and Mazars released the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework this week, which provides comprehensive and practical questions for companies to address when reporting on their fulfillment of the responsibility to respect human rights set out in the UNGPs. The Framework has already been taken up by five companies in five industry sectors: Unilever (consumer goods), Ericsson (communications technology and services), H&M (retail-clothing), Nestlé (food and beverage) and Newmont Mining Corporation (gold mining). A lengthy list of investors — which have $3.91 trillion assets under management — have also formally expressed their support for the Framework.
And More.
The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights have released a report titled National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights, which presents a toolkit for governments to use in developing, implementing, and reviewing National Action Plans or NAPs, on business and human rights. ICAR and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice also recently released a report that draws upon the toolkit to analyze the four business and human rights NAPs already developed by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland.
From rankings, benchmarks, reporting and more, real energy is being put into moving governments and companies to act on their human rights obligations and commitments. More than motion, the business and human rights agenda is now lurching into action.
Photo by Magnus Hastings
In the lead-up to the season seven premiere of Rupaul’s Drag Race, fans are already speculating about who the queen will be to snatch the crown. Before we all get wrapped up in a cast of new personalities, I thought it made sense to check in with the winner of season 6, the incomparable Bianca Del Rio. I caught up with Bianca when she was in Baltimore this past weekend, trying to figure out travel after her shows there were postponed due to the crazy winter weather. “It’s fuckin’ nuts!” she said, about her current touring schedule, “I have a 4:00 a.m. train back to New York City to be there for a couple of hours to leave for Australia on Monday.”
It’s appropriate that Bianca is the only drag queen the late, great Joan Rivers had on her web series In Bed with Joan, because just like Joan, Bianca has an unbreakable work ethic. She is all over the world, participating in multiple tours as well as performing her own 90 minute Rolodex of Hate show, preparing to film her first feature-length film Hurricane Bianca this coming summer, and doing it all while maintaining the extraordinary level of polish she exhibited throughout her season of Drag Race. It’s not hard to understand why RuPaul crowned her America’s Next Drag Superstar. We chatted about her life before Drag Race, the way audiences have changed over the nearly 20 years Bianca has been doing drag, and what it’s like to be constantly touring the world. Season seven girls, listen up — you’re next!
What is the most challenging part of touring so much?
Traveling and sleeping; the two things your body can’t get used to. The touring schedule kind of continues while you’re on it. Nothing makes sense — one day you’ll be in London, the next day you’ll be in Las Vegas, the next you’ll be in Ohio, and then Texas, etc. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. It’s fascinating when people on social media are like, “You’re already here, come to Orlando!” Well, I don’t have control over that — I don’t pick where I go. People think I just randomly pick cities and show up and do a show, which is not how it works. The schedule is pretty hectic.
Also, just adjusting to where you are. I have to travel with a lot of stuff — you’ve seen my look, I’m not the most natural thing on the face of the Earth. It’s schlepping a lot of shit to different places, which can be a little overwhelming. I figure I’m going to sleep when I’m dead at this point, but you get in that nap any chance you can.
What do you do to pass the time when you’re traveling?
I love my trash magazines at the airports! I But I’m a list-maker, so the majority of the time it’s just making a list of shit that I need to get done when I can. Like tomorrow I have a full list that I have to have happen because I’m home in New York City, which is everything from getting my dogs to doing my laundry to paying my rent, going to the wig store, I’m out of white eyeliner… those are the kinds of things I’m constantly thinking about and doing. And just when you think you have a minute to go off into lala land and relax, you can’t. I can never really relax. I don’t watch any shows, because they continue and I lose my mind if I can’t see it when I need to see it! Books? I don’t mind them, but they’re heavy! It’s all about the having space in my luggage.
Well I’d say magazines count as reading.
Exactly — I get all the dirt from what everyone was wearing to the Emmys and the Oscars to Bruce Jenner’s latest issues. Women drivers, right? Ugh!
You’re approaching your 20th year in drag. What’s the biggest difference between the audiences you were performing for when you were first starting out and the audiences you perform for now?
Well the audiences I had years ago are all dead. Now, they actually act more dead than the ones that are dead, because everybody is on their phone! Everybody is filming it the entire time, which for me kind of takes the fun out of it. There’s nothing worse than going to a show and only watching it through your phone that you’re trying to film the whole thing on illegally, or texting or using Grindr because you can’t see a fag that’s two feet away from you. That I find pretty interesting, but I roll with it. Luckily with the kind of show that I do, I make it a part of the show and call out those people and discuss it. Why would you want to spend money on a ticket to sit there and be distracted by something else? That was always the magic of going to the theater or going to see a show. You didn’t have any distractions, and you could get lost in that moment for the amount of time you were there. I think our society today doesn’t know how to do that; they don’t know how to chill, they’re always worried they might be missing something. Especially the gays, the gays have to be on everything. Instagramming their moments and capturing it — it’s like, live in it! Back in the day we all had to live in it. You had to go to the bar to see your friends, you had to go to the theater to get the whole experience of seeing a show, and now there’s so much else going on. That’s part of the reason that I work so much, you’ve got to get in your fifteen minutes while you can.
Aw come on, 20 years is a lot more than 15 minutes!
This is true, I’m very lucky. It’s also why whenever I come across some of the youngins who don’t know anything about where you come from and only know you from Drag Race… I find it quite fascinating. I usually go, “Oh queen, there are things I’ve forgotten you’ll never know.” People don’t have the energy to look anything up, they think they know everything from watching Drag Race.
How is the drag culture in New Orleans different from the drag culture of New York City?
Well I think the divide is more Southern and Northern. In the South I find we’re a little campier, I think there’s a little more production value, because we have the space! We have the dressing rooms and larger bars and showcase lounges and cabaret spaces. In New York, while of course there are the amazing performances spaces and theaters, they’re usually more expensive and exclusively for bigger shows. So some of the bars I’ve worked at in New York are very limiting — there’s no dressing room, there’s no place for you to change, there’s no curtain, no wings. I think that’s why there’s a little more pageantry in the South than there is in the North. I grew up with that larger than life approach, so when I got to New York it was kind of interesting. Like oh, I only need one outfit? I’m going directly to the bar right before the show?
It’s a bit of a bigger production in the South — it’s all about getting your shit to the venue, getting ready there, having a cocktail with your girlfriends, and all in one big dressing room. Being able to tour the South now is really fantastic because it takes me back to that time which I love so much. I love nothing more than getting to a show early and sitting in the dressing room talking to the local girls — you get all the dirt that way. When you’ve been around as long as I have, that’s when you start hearing stories, and it gets really good. Like, “I remember her! Oh, she’s in jail?” That kind of thing.
Up until recently you were holding down a 9-to-5 working in the costume design industry and doing drag on the side. Was your goal always to make drag your career?
Well I’m not really goal oriented in general, which is probably why I’ve made the choices I have in my life. I didn’t really initial plan to do either job. I started doing both in New Orleans, first with costumes, wigs, and makeup, which was always my passion, and then it just kind of snowballed. Sometimes in New York I’d be doing five nights of drag in a week, sometimes three, because parties would change or nights would change. Also, New York has become saturated with a group of bars in one area. There’s a bar on every corner in Hell’s Kitchen, so things were happening a lot. I kept those jobs basically to pay rent… and I liked nice things so I knew I had to work! But they’re both really kind of unstable careers. Sometimes Broadway would dry up here and there and then I’d make more money in drag — it was kind of just keeping that balance, the ying and yang of New York living.
I was lucky that I didn’t have to be a waiter or a hairdresser or something. Both of my jobs were my passions, and they were both different each night, aside from the regular Broadway shows where you would repeat a lot of things, like for Wicked, or Mamma Mia! Those shows would pay your bills, but you do a lot of stuff and a lot of stuff doesn’t get seen or the shows don’t last, so you never really knew what was next, which was great creatively. It was great to get to use a different part of my brain, and also why I didn’t want to get stuck just doing drag. Then of course Drag Race came along, and I’m traveling the world and always on tour, so I don’t even get a chance to do design anymore because I’m never in one place long enough.
Why do you think performing as Bianca allows people to laugh at some of your jokes that they might just be offended by if you were saying them as Roy?
Well I’ve always said that if I didn’t wear a wig I’d be called a nasty fag, but when I wear a wig I’m called hysterical. What I think is very funny, getting back to the social media thing, is that people are very brave online. People are very brave on Twitter. The things people write, the things people put out there in the blogs, they would never ever say to your face. I think people are fascinated because I’m willing to say it to their face, or out loud, and I’m willing to take the rap for it. And I’m not some Norma Rae of the drag world, it’s because that’s just what I’ve done for a long time. Make fun of myself, make fun of pop culture, and make fun of what’s in front of me. I’ve kind of mastered doing that over a long period of time, so it doesn’t throw me or scare me. I don’t get bothered by it. I often think, what’s the worst thing they can do? They can get up and leave your show, or they can complain. Occasionally you get those people, and it’s like ‘OK great, you can leave!’ When someone says to me at a bar “I find that offensive!” I just go, “Well what the fuck are you doing out on a Monday night at a gay bar at 1:00 a.m. watching a drag queen? Go home! You have options!” I try not to get too caught up in it. I’m not curing cancer, I’m doing a show — either you get it or you don’t, you know?
What is the most upset heckler you’ve ever had to deal with?
You know I really haven’t had any lately — hecklers are rare now. Now they’re a little more scared, there’s enough footage for them to look at of how I handle it. One I remember was really early on in San Francisco — either my season had just launched or was just about to. I was doing my crazy jokes, my usual shtick, and there was a guy in the audience who felt the need to school me — you know, tell me what I needed to know about the Latino community. I dealt with it the way I always do, not even thinking that anyone was filming it. I went back to my hotel, got unpacked and passed out, then woke up and flew to another city. I got to the next city, I took a nap, and then I turned on my computer, and that’s when I saw all the magic. I had no idea! Not only was it shot but it was shot from a bunch of different angles. It was like the Kennedy assassination — one from the school book depository, one from the grassy knoll… I still haven’t watched it, which I could not because I’d have to hear my voice, but just to see the response was interesting. Shockingly, more people were on my side than I expected. Taken out of context, you do have those people who will go “Oh that’s disrespectful!” But look, it was a drunk queen who wanted the grab the microphone and try to talk back to me, but I’m the one with the microphone, and I’m not scared! The fact of the matter is, unlike what tried to say, the Latino community doesn’t pay my bills, which is exactly what I said to him — the Latino community should be worrying about paying its own bills, not mine! I mean what an idiot, he didn’t even realize where I come from. My mother is from Cuba my dad is from Honduras, you stupid fuck!
I do have to say that watching how it went all viral was really interesting, because for me dealing with someone like that is just a typical night. It had happened many, many times before, but no one cared to film it, no one cared to post it all over. So I was kind of concerned for a minute, but then I thought you know, you do what you do and you take full responsibility for it.
In addition to everything else going on, you have a feature-length comedy called Hurricane Bianca in the works. Do you have any updates on how that’s going?
We actually start filming in July! We’re filming for three weeks, and of course we’re still accepting donations because things are just adding up as they go. All the updated information with be on www.hurricanebianca.com – it’s all really exciting. Joslyn Fox just joined the cast, and we also have a few cast members which haven’t been announced yet which is super exciting. We had a dream list of people who we wanted to be involved, and a few were very interested in it, but it all comes down to scheduling. So we have a few surprises to announce soon — in two weeks we announce the newest cast member, and I’m quite excited about it. It’s totally the power of television — here is something my friend and I talked about for five years, and now we are finally getting the chance to do it.
Was your intention with drag always to focus on comedy?
I’ve done lip-syncing before in my life, I’ve done stage performances, but it’s just not my favorite thing to do. Early on, when I first starting touring as Drag Race was airing, in those early months I was concerned about going my usual route because people didn’t know me yet, so I didn’t know how that was going to work. I did do a few cities where I had to do numbers, and I just really hated it. It’s just not my specialty, so when I see people do it and do it brilliantly like Latrice Royale who is absolutely phenomenal, it makes it even more clear that it’s not my thing. I just leave it to those people. That’s the great thing about Drag Race, because as it started to air people started to understand where I come from and what I do. With it, I get to do fun audience participation things when I make bar appearances, and I’ve been able to do my own one and a half hour show, which I’m traveling with now. I was also just on the Battle of the Seasons tour hosting while Michelle Visage was doing Big Brother UK, and it kind of balances out — we all have our niche. You have Jinx who sings and is going to do her cabaret stuff, Sharon who is going to do her hard-metal stuff, and Adore who sings as well, so I just thought, eh, not my thing. Not my strongest point. Shockingly, a lot of them don’t like to talk on the mic, whereas I’m the most comfortable with it.
In an ideal world what will you be doing 20 years from now?
Hopefully not drag! I had originally put the cap on it to end at 40, and I’m turning 40 this June. I was thinking you know, 20 years is enough, I had a good run. But then once I did Drag Race it opened so many doors for me to do far more than I had ever imagined. That’s what so great about the world right now — people are interested in what we’re doing. So to say yes to drag or no to drag… it’s hard, the sky’s the limit. I didn’t plan to be on Drag Race, I didn’t plan to win Drag Race, and I didn’t plan to be sitting and talking to you about this now, but I think I’m just going to keep with my theme. I don’t know what I want, but I know what I don’t want. You can’t really put your finger on it, you know? You can’t know what to expect. But that’s how I like to live — living with the unexpected.
Keep up to date with all things Bianca Del Rio at www.thebiancadelrio.com
Ice Cave Sculpture by Henry Richardson
As temperatures drop to recording breaking lows, climate change is once again pushed to the forefront of our global conversation.
I recently spoke to three people who approach the issue of climate change from a diverse array of perspectives and disciplines. Dr. David Lea is a Professor of Earth Science and Member of the Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara; Jochen Wermuth sits on the board of Greenpeace and is the Founding Partner and CIO of Wermuth Asset Management, a German investment advisory firm that focuses on sustainable growth and clean technologies; and Henry Richardson is a pioneering world-renowned sculptor whose work calls attention to the issue of melting Arctic glaciers. We spoke about the nexus of issues surrounding climate change, the technologies and finances that we are developing to combat this issue and the role that the artistic community has in this fight.
Tell us a bit about your work, process and research?
DAVID LEA: My research is focused on using past climate records to probe how the climate system behaves under different climate regimes. For example, the peak of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, and the Pliocene Epoch, about 2.5 to 5 million years ago, represent times of extreme cold and relative warmth, respectively. By reconstructing climate during these extremes, we can unravel how the climate system responds to both internal and external forces. I am particularly focused on the tropical Pacific and its role in climate change. We are working on a new ocean core from southeast of the Galapagos Islands that will provide a detailed record of climate from this region over the last 600,000 years.
JOCHEN WERMUTH: As a German family office, we have decided to only undertake investments with a positive impact on the environment and joined the “100% Impact” family office network. We have also joined the www.divestinvest.org movement and committed to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energies and resource efficient companies.
For us, with a focus on resource efficiency, we do not see a conflict between doing good and getting profits – on the contrary, we have achieved returns of 20% per annum both in listed securities with a “divestinvest” portfolio, with an “impact investing” activist portfolio pushing companies to improve resource efficiency and fight corruption with private equity investments in resource efficient companies in the EU which we help to sell their products to emerging markets who often consume four times as much energy as Germany, with achieved top-line growth of 50% per annum and a positive impact on the environment.
On our charitable giving side we are a supporter of Greenpeace Russia, UK and Germany; and have participated on a German-French Arte TV program. As much oil is being spilled into the Arctic Ocean from Russia, as BP’s Horizon Oil well spilled – some 5 million tons per year – without there being much press coverage about it.
HENRY RICHARDSON: For my new series, based on the ice forms in Iceland, I have traveled to the glaciers and ice beaches to observe how the light goes through the glaciers, how the ocean carves the forms of ice, how the light from the winter sun reflects through the materials. This series of sculptures are reminders of the long-term systemic problems humans face as we change the chemistry of our planet.
The ice forms are truly abstract forms, and arrive at the confluence of my educational background as a geology major and my maturing as an artist to explore long term issues confronting humanity. In several decades the ice forms of Iceland as in other parts of the world will disappear due to the changes in our climate. It is my intention to assert that this change will occur, and how we respond over the decades will have a profound effect on humans and other lifeforms on our planet.
How did you become acquainted with Henry and his work?
DAVID LEA: I met Henry when we were both geology majors at Haverford College. I still remember that Henry had a special aesthetic about how he looked at geology. I served as Henry’s field assistant on one memorable trip. Later, he asked me to help him with some calculations related to a glass sphere he was creating (the original Tikkun). It was gratifying to be part of something that turned out to be so moving and beautiful.
JOCHEN WERMUTH: We are considering putting up some of his statues because they highlight the beauty of the Arctic ice which we are about to lose, with drastic consequences for humanity and life on Planet Earth. It is thus no longer a question if, it is only a question by how much and by when the sea-levels will rise. The United Nations estimates that 1.2 billion people will be displaced with 2m higher sea levels already. The climatic effects will be so rapid and violent that if we reach a 2 degrees Celsius warmer global climate, humanity is unlikely to be able to adapt and survive. The poorest 2 billion people who had nothing to do with causing this climate change will be hit first and hardest. We thus joined www.divestinvest.org for moral as well as financial reasons.
We have art reminding us of our commitment to 100% renewable energy now! At the entrance to our home and we hope to be able to draw the interest of others to our topic through the impressive art of Henry.
Henry, how have David and Jochen influenced your work?
HENRY RICHARDSON: David has been a pioneer in the field of climate change and I am fortunate to have him as a friend and as a source of scientific information. I am excited by the idea of using my art to communicate rapid changes of our world caused by climate change, especially changes in glaciers that, although massive, are vulnerable, and vitally linked to human lives
I met Jochen at a meeting of investors working on systemic problems. We discussed his interest in the effects of climate change. His leadership in his own country greatly impressed me. The German commitment to alternative fuels sources, like solar energy, created a market for solar panels that prompted Chinese manufactures to ramp up production, and has lowered the cost of this energy source significantly. It would be great if the United States and other developed countries would follow suit.
When Jochen learned of my work of sculptures based on ice forms, he was very enthusiastic about finding art that reflects his passions. Art is a powerful source of emotion and communication, a creative energy to which I have dedicated my life. As another friend of my said, ‘I take care of my body, I like to study, but art is really feeding my soul’. Well said!
David and Jochen, what do you think about intersections of art, science and activism? How can each benefit from the other?
DAVID LEA: I feel quite strongly about this issue and see the boundaries as quite fluid. Great art and great science both require an aesthetic to be effective, although this is less obvious for science. But in my work, presenting a great story requires a clear line, just like a great symphony. And a scientific result, if aesthetically pleasing, is all the more compelling.
JOCHEN WERMUTH:Art is the language of the gods and it can help bring people together and inspire them to move in the right direction. My wife and I are happy to swim against the stream, following our motto “only dead fish swim with the stream.” The time has come to turn the heard of lemmings around to make sure we do not kill the basis of our existence. We need to share our success stories by investing in an impactful fashion, and visualizing what we are about to lose through the arts.
During the recent State of the Union address President Obama declared, “There is no greater threat than climate change”. How you do you respond to this? How effective is the legislation that’s currently in place or in the process of being put in place? What in your opinion needs to happen next?
DAVID LEA: I am a big supporter of the president’s programs, and believe he has been as effective as anyone could be in his position, given the political, economic and diplomatic circumstances. He also has appointed effective and vigorous people to enact his policies, like Secretary John Kerry pursuit of effective climate diplomacy. The U.S. – China agreement on emission reductions announced last fall is a major breakthrough, with great potential for making a real impact. I would also single out Todd Stern, the President’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, for his role behind the scenes in laying the groundwork for the agreement with China. I spent a year as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U. S. State Department, where one of my roles was providing science advice to Mr. Stern. I developed a great respect for his effectiveness in a role that is very challenging, both nationally and internationally.
JOCHEN WERMUTH: $45 trillion of asset owners have subscribed to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, $34 trillion have called for international governments to come up with a price for CO2 emissions at the UN climate change summit on 23 September 2014 in New York City. The USA has failed to lead on this front for over a decade now, and instead is behind the potential destruction of the planet. A “global cop” causing global damage is no good. Let us hope that America wakes up and takes a lead by imposing a price on carbon emissions domestically and signing up to global rules including a clear tax on emitting CO2.
2015 is the year in which we need to get the momentum going towards an international agreement on CO2 emission reductions. If governments fail us again, then businesses, families, institutional investors, individuals, artists will have to take the lead and make sure humanity has a chance to survive.
Though the words “concussion” and “NFL” rarely go together in a positive headline, Hall of Famer Warren Moon offered some words of encouragement for America’s most popular sports league.
“I think they finally are [making the game safer]. I really think they are,” Moon told HuffPost Live host Jordan Schultz in an interview Thursday. “I think they’re aware of how violent the game had become and how much those big hits were taking its toll on players, and they’ve really tried to make the game safer. They’ve tried to make the equipment better and they’ve also penalized guys who don’t play within the rules.”
For years — decades even — the league was derided by most for its lack of rules in place to protect player safety, specifically as related to head injury. In the last year, the NFL has settled a lawsuit with former players for damages related to concussions, though the details of the settlement have not yet been fully ironed out. The league has also instituted a protocol for teams to follow when a player is suspected of having sustained a concussion.
Moon, 58, is more than familiar with the effect of concussions. He said Thursday that he’s had six concussions over his playing career, the first when he was just 11, playing Pop Warner football. Moon has also seen former colleagues like Junior Seau, Andre Waters and others end their own lives after suffering the lingering effects of brain trauma.
“It’s something I really worry about because I’ve seen what concussions have done to a lot of the guys I’ve played with and guys that have played before me,” Moon said. “Head injuries are something I think the league has taken a much stronger stance on, and I worry every day that these concussions are something that are going to come back and affect me at some point in my life. So far, so good for me.”
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As you may have heard, congressional Republicans have embarked once again on their six-year mission to eventually one day get around to coming up with their own plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. At the same time, they’re also keeping a hopeful eye on the Supreme Court, where a looming court case, King v. Burwell, could threaten the existence of critical health insurance subsidies.
But what if the Obama administration has a secret plan to thwart these efforts? A pair of Republican legislators have recently suggested that a conspiracy is afoot. Or rather, two conspiracies are both afoot, simultaneously, each of which seems to contradict the other. Maybe just pick one, guys?
Over at The Hill, Sarah Ferris reports on how a House subcommittee chairman is hot on the trail of a secret Department of Health and Human Services plan to rescue the law in the event that the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell:
Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, says federal officials are hiding a roughly 100-page document on the looming court case. The case, King v. Burwell, could cut off ObamaCare subsidies in three-quarters of states and potentially collapse the national marketplace.
Pitts confronted the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the plan, which he says is being circulated among senior officials, for the first time on Wednesday.
“HHS secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said she does not know of a planning document,” Ferris reported. But perhaps there is an explanation! According to HuffPost’s Sam Stein, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) was discussing the Affordable Care Act at the Conservative Political Action Committee on Thursday when he pointed to an even more nefarious scheme:
Sen. Barrasso: Ocare was “designed to fail so that they could get to the single payer system that the president has supported all along.”
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) February 26, 2015
So what are the people at the Department of Health and Human Services playing at here? Do they have a secret plan to save the Affordable Care Act, or are they rubbing their palms together, hoping that the Supreme Court kills the law so they can spring their single-payer trap?
Can this contradiction be squared? Perhaps. Maybe this was Obama’s plan, all along:
1. Pass a law called the Affordable Care Act, after a long, grueling, and political-capital absorbing legislative battle.
2. Bury some ambiguous language in one section of the bill governing the subsidies to state exchanges set up by the federal government.
3. Sit back and wait for the law’s opponents to find that instance of ambiguous language and bring a lawsuit alleging that members of Congress always intended the law to do something they never actually intended it to do.
4. Hope that the Supreme Court will ignore multiple past instances in which they’ve had to make similar interpretative calls and rule in favor of the opposition, effectively gutting the subsidies and stripping beneficiaries of the means to “afford” this “care act.”
5. Then there is this whole middle part I haven’t quite figured out yet. Maybe it’s what’s in the secret 100-page HHS document.
6. EVERYONE GETS SINGLE-PAYER, SOMEHOW!
It’s the perfect plan. The conspiracy goes all the way to the bottom and then back to the top of the slide where it stops and turns and goes for a ride till it gets to the bottom and it does it again.
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LeBron James says there are colleges recruiting his 10-year-old son, and the superstar isn’t happy about it.
James told a Detroit radio station this week that his son, LeBron Jr., has already received scholarship offers. James did not specify which schools have contacted the youngster, but feels any such courtship “should be a violation. You shouldn’t be recruiting 10-year-old kids.” James has been through the recruiting frenzy before. At Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James was the most sought-after prep player in the country. He bypassed college and went straight to the pros as an 18-year-old.
James is highly protective of his three children, and the 30-year-old intends to let LeBron Jr. enjoy his childhood.
On Wednesday, before the Cavs hosted Golden State, James said his oldest son loves to play basketball, video games and doing his homework. James says: “Let him be a kid.”
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