A Thinning Line

Posted on December 13, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Hi folks,

Last week I submitted 3 photos to the UofA International photo contest (a photo contest run by my home university that will appear in some publications if selected).

The photos are supposed to relate to the theme “Living Democracy: Citizen Power In A Global Age.”

It would be wonderful if you could take 30 s to vote for the photo presented here, which was taken in Greece, with an extremely modest Canon Powershot and insubstantial photography skills.

The survey is here:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/I-WeekPhotoContest

You will find the photo on the final page of the survey, under the section “Student.”

The voting ends on Dec 15.

A Thinning Line

This image, while it looks to be displaying military power, is actually ironic. The easternmost Greek island of Lesbos is just a quick boat ride away from the Turkish mainland. Greece and Turkey have historically had a problematic relationship centred around disputes in the Aegean. Not surprisingly, Greece emphasizes its military presence on Lesbos in a visible show of strength for the mainland Turks; despite Greece’s debt problems, it manages one of the largest military expenditures as a % of GDP in Europe. Yet, this military accumulation is becoming less and less meaningful. Trade between Greece and Turkey has increased from $900 million to $3.5 billion over 10 years, and Greek investments in Turkey total more than $6.5 billion. When the civil societies of both countries engage in such a way, it’s a powerful argument for peace and common trust.

Two other photos were submitted, but I feel that “Thinning Line” is the best, and would like to concentrate votes on that one. Nevertheless, here are the other two photos now:

Europe Tax

Around Athens’ Omonia Square there are signs everywhere of civil volatility, frustration and active protest over the encumbered Greek economy, and resultant austerity measures encouraged by Brussels. There is a perceptible tension in Athens’ poorest and most dangerous central district. The citizen protests, violent or not, are the signs of life of a democracy, even crudely demonstrated here, roughly 2500 years after Cleisthenes reformed Athens.

Disembarkation

Human movement and migration is one of the most powerful forces citizens have in a globalized world, that fosters global peace and mutual understanding. As geopolitical expert Parag Khanna foresees:

‘The Great Game’ connotes dominance over the other, a silk road connotes independence and mutual trust. The more silk roads we have, the less of a dominant ‘Great Game’ competition we’ll have in the 21st century…I believe if we focus on the lines that cross borders, then we’ll wind up with the world we want – a borderless one.

Thanks again.

Earth Institute cities and climate change report

Posted on July 29, 2011 by rdnaidoo

http://earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2813

The report, led by researchers at Columbia University and the City University of New York (CUNY), is the most comprehensive study to date detailing the risks cities face, and how they are preparing for impacts such as increased heat waves, drought and rising sea level. Authors from 50 cities looked at urban areas in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America, doing in-depth analyses of Athens, Dakar, Delhi, Harare, Kingston, London, Melbourne, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo and Toronto.

…

Some key findings and facts from the report, Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network:

- Cities already tend to be hotter than surrounding areas due to absorption of heat by building materials. In the 12 cities analyzed in detail, average temperatures are projected to rise between 1 and 4 degrees C by the 2050s, increasing extreme weather events including heat waves.

- Coastal cities should expect to experience more frequent and more damaging flooding related to storm events due to sea level rise. Particularly at risk are populations like those living in slums located in lagoon areas such as in Lagos.

- In many cities, the quantity and quality of energy, water, and transport systems will be strained by increases in flooding and droughts, and increased demand for air-conditioning and other services. Water-borne diseases, injuries and chronic health problems may increase with rising temperatures and frequency of extreme weather.

…

Despite the grim forecasts, the report outlines actions already being undertaken by many cities. Affluent ones like New York and London have been developing plans, but many in developing countries are also looking ahead. “Cities are developing comprehensive climate action plans, but we’re a long way from being prepared, particularly to meet the needs of the world’s poorest urban residents, who are also the most vulnerable,” said Shagun Mehrotra, managing director of Climate and Cities at the Center for Climate Systems Research and coeditor of ARC3. Mehrotra said that cities must be “acting decisively, and acting now. The greatest gains in city-climate-risk reduction will occur from mainstreaming science-based analysis into ongoing and planned infrastructure investments by private and public sectors.” International organizations led by the World Bank, Cities Alliance, and UN-HABITAT, along withC40, a group of large cities committed to tackling climate change, and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, are enabling cities to scale up these efforts, said Mehrotra.

Cool, cool, cool..

Urgent: East Africa Food Crisis

Posted on July 14, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Severe drought has pushed more than 11 million people in East Africa into a struggle for survival. Conditions are deteriorating rapidly, forcing many families to abandon their homes for refugee camps, a journey so difficult many don’t survive.

Oxfam needs your help to deliver critical water and life-saving supplies – Donate now >>

Begin forwarded message:

From: “Oxfam Canada” <Oxfam_Canada>

Date: July 14, 2011 3:26:11 PM MDT

To: naidoo

Subject: Urgent: East Africa Food Crisis

Reply-To: “Oxfam Canada” <reply-cf14ed7614-0b9257d2d6-9b38>

Dear Supporter,

Severe drought has pushed more than 11 million people in East Africa into a struggle for survival. Conditions are deteriorating rapidly, forcing many families to abandon their homes for refugee camps, a journey so difficult many don’t survive.

Oxfam needs your help to deliver critical water and life-saving supplies – Donate now >>

The situation is particularly critical in Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Learn more >>

In some areas, more than half the livestock has perished, while remaining herds are sick or seriously underweight. But people aren’t worried about their animals anymore – there is fear for the lives of their children, their families and their neighbours.

Oxfam is trucking water to villages where all other sources have dried up, digging wells and providing life-saving food and medical supplies to people in crisis. As this crisis grows, we MUST rush more supplies and staff to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Please donate today to make it happen – your gift will save lives!

For $50, you can provide clean water for 175 people for a day.

For $100, you can feed a family of six for two weeks – helping them survive and giving them the strength to assist their community.

For $175, you can dig a well that will provide drinking water for an entire village. With your gift, we can start right now – in some areas, the closest well is currently 50 miles away.

The funds we raise today will determine how many lives we can save now and how many people we can help later to rebuild their lives.

Help the people of East Africa in their fight for survival – make a tax-deductible gift now!

We will ensure that your donation is used effectively and efficiently to help people in East Africa overcome this crisis.

Thank you in advance for your help. Your generosity can bring hope to people in their most desperate hours.

Sincerely,

Robert Fox
Executive Director
Oxfam Canada

P.S. Watch Oxfam Ambassador Kristin Davis’ interview about the crisis in CTV News.

CCIS & V-Wing, Old & New

Posted on June 9, 2011 by rdnaidoo

CCIS & V-Wing, new & old, a set on Flickr.

I somehow found myself in one of the new lecture halls in CCIS this morning (CCIS is the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science at the University of Alberta, just recently opened in April). What was striking, was what seemed to be the deliberate placement of old pieces of furniture, representative of the 1960s-era V-Wing building that CCIS ultimately replaced. An old, rusty stool placed next to a new, plastic economy seat. The clock – looked upon by thousands over the decades, as the dry lecture on crystal symmetries wound down – set right beside a WIFI range expander.

V-Wing was a special place for us, where most of our math and physical sciences courses were held. Despite reports of bats seen nesting in its basement, we above ground, in the old lecture halls, could enjoy the sweet smell of esters floating in from the adjacent Chem West corridor. May the ghosts of V-Wing, and their contemporary physicist descendants, forever haunt and dwell in the relatively sterile elegance of the new interdisciplinary science building.

A Digraph of Recent Digital Life

Posted on June 7, 2011 by rdnaidoo

^I wanted to map out exactly how each digital tool, network and platform, that I employ and participate in, relates to each other. A bold directed edge illustrates a functionality of one application to act on another (eg: the ability to publish a WordPress blog post directly from a Flickr album. Whoa.). Fine arrows signify how one element merely points to another (eg: there is a link to the WordPress blog from the Facebook profile page.).

There is an expected complexity to this digital ecosystem. It is powerful and flexible, as it organically grew over the years into a sprawling mesh. It is my foreign ministry, my communications room, it houses an external brain to process and store an enormous amount of information. And all-together it casts a footprint that projects some kind of actively reinforcing identity online. The most intimate and personal tools display a real picture in the profile. But it is the more purely digital projections of myself, that are less connected to my real life, with a hint of separation and anonymity, that are represented by cartoons (A cartoon character – exhibiting some likeness – is borrowed from Thunderbirds, and there is a styrofoam model of a plausible City of Edmonton.). My initial assumption is that there is nothing inherently and overall good or bad about it. Each of you have your own graphical representation of your sprawling digital life. Yours is bound to get larger and more powerful as the decade progresses, even despite functional coalescence.

So, you want to be a social entrepreneur?

Posted on May 21, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Hello,

This will be my final post about the Unite for Sight Conference. Today I will present to you some video I took at a panel discussion on ‘Careers in Social Entrepreneurship.’

This panel discusses broadly about social entrepreneurship in global health, as well as some good career advice for those interested in social entrepreneurship:

PART 1: http://youtu.be/JzBUv6VBxQw

PART 2: http://youtu.be/0no2xTerybQ

PART 3: http://youtu.be/yaJmNcjCIRc

In a similar, earlier panel on ‘Careers in Global Health,’ one strand of advice stood out:

focus on a problem, then the solutions become a lot simpler – rather than fit solutions to a certain problem.

Now I am sure many of us have heard this before. The last time I heard it loud and clear, nearly two years ago, was from Paul Graham (founder of Bay Area startup incubator, Y Combinator), when I tried to convince him of the apparently great usefulness of dynamic routing algorithms…”I wish you guys would focus on the problem.” And, yeah, ultimately he was right. And you will hear it repeated from just about any tech entrepreneur out there.

My problem is, how do I reconcile this with the last few years of being immersed and conditioned in the academic applied science research paradigm? Typically in the academic applied science world, the approach is almost always the opposite: we tend develop awesome, hi-tech solutions, and then go to something called a tech transfer office to look for all of the problems we can solve with it. Millions of dollars of grant money later, maybe you end up making a direct difference in the world with your research – or maybe you don’t, with it lost and locked away in some journal, on some database, waiting for some other bright soul to build on it.

I posed this question to Marc Koska at the end of the ‘Careers in Global Health’ panel. He recognized that the dominant solutions-oriented approach of academic applied science can be suboptimal. Indeed Koska is a guy who has dedicated most of his entire adult life to just one problem: how can we prevent the reuse of syringes that have the potential to spread blood-borne infectious disease. He gave a talk at TED Global in 2009 describing his rather simple solution here.

What comes out of a problem-oriented design approach tends to be a solution that is far simpler and more effective for the context in which the problem is occurring. And when this happens, it’s an invaluable confluence for any entrepreneur. In some way our applied science research projects (unlike basic science research), at the university, would do well to adopt problem-oriented design thinking from time to time, over the usual assessment of feasibility and expertise, in forming those initial research questions.

Sonia Sachs, Millennium Villages Project update, Unite for Sight 2011

Posted on May 14, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Hi. This is a continuation of my last post on the Unite for Sight conference, where I posted up the keynote address by Jeffrey Sachs.

Today is the keynote address by Sonia Sachs, Director of Health, Millennium Villages Project, at the Earth Institute at Columbia University:

PART 1: http://youtu.be/ihH0-mu_1BY

PART 2: http://youtu.be/NzCTQ7Dx-uw

PART 3: http://youtu.be/dVs6qyiZk18

PART 4: http://youtu.be/iJSzNVj_PcU

She skillfully presents a really comprehensive update on the Millennium Villages Project.

The Millennium Villages Project was launched at scale in 2006 and now reaches nearly half a million people across ten countries. The goal is to show how an integrated approach to community-level development can translate the international MDG [Millennium Development Goals] agreements into ground-level breakthroughs throughout rural sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.millenniumvillages.org/progress/

She also makes note of another related initiative, the Millennium Cities Initiative.

In a lot of ways, this is what change looks like, as she presents some real, tangible progress.

Jeffrey Sachs, Unite for Sight 2011

Posted on May 10, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Aloha,

Back in April, I had the great opportunity to attend and present at a really inspiring conference, called the Unite for Sight Global Health and Innovation Conference. Over the next little while, I’ll share with you some video I was able to take of some keynote talks and sessions.

Today is a keynote address by economist, and Director of the renowned Earth Institute at Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs:

PART 1: http://youtu.be/5ehLYK0WVwk

PART 2: http://youtu.be/VVzuVxj120c

PART 3: http://youtu.be/EaXb5LrLgAc

PART 4: http://youtu.be/8thO14w1ntM

Though he can usually be found with a stump speech about extreme poverty, the Millennium Development Goals and the Millennium Villages Project, he decided to take a break to talk about the seemingly bizarre state of political and economic affairs in the United States in recent years:

The U.S does not have the most pressing crisis in the world by any means. Many of you coming from other parts of the world have truly more urgent challenges, and your countries’ (or regions’) problems are the ones the world needs to focus on. But one of the features of our world today is the nearly complete neglect by the United States of these global problems. Now if there’s any attention by the U.S, it isn’t public health because the neglect by the U.S of other global problems: climate, hunger, environmental degradation, lack of education, and so forth is even more striking than in the public health arena. And so talking about the U.S crisis will at least help those of you from abroad understand this weird spectacle that is taking place in this country. We have a paradox here in the United States in that the U.S is an incredibly rich society, that has more resources, more wealth, more income, more technology, more knowledge, more capacity than it knows what to do with. And in a lot of ways, despite all of this, it’s increasingly in a deep crisis. It can no longer solve problems for the rest of the world, and it can’t even solve its own problems. And so, for those of you in the U.S this talk is really about what we as citizens might be able to do to help pull this country back from a growing crisis. For those of you in the rest of the world, it is I hope that it is a little bit of a window on what must seem awfully strange, to be watching the U.S in near paralysis, lack of any effective responses to global crises, on the verge of one political breakdown after another. It is a paradox, and it’s a paradox that needs understanding.

After running through a set of well-thought arguments, ultimately he exclaims,

We need to raise taxes in this country, but instead we’re on the path of cutting.

The so-called ‘race to the bottom’ that has occurred over the past few decades, as a result of a philosophical dam in the river of political current, ultimately making stagnant the federal government’s capacity to respond and create tangible change in the lives of its citizens. And it is independent of a Democratic or Republican presidency, House or Senate.

In the very end he zeros in that much of the problem is about the way in which politics has been allowed to be conducted, which is completely independent of the common and good values of the American people.

Our biggest deficit is a democracy deficit. If the American people and American values were able to be heard, over the pressure of big money, we would actually get back on the right track.

Essentially,

We need to restore democratic deliberation

And it was his very last point that I found particularly resonant to my thoughts and mindset at the time, in the middle of April. By that weekend Canada was already deep into its 41st general election. Though it was an election largely devoid of any substantive policy debate, a persisting theme of those early weeks was of generalized concern about the quality of our democracy, and the attitude towards it exhibited by the ruling Conservative party.

An Open Letter to the Liberal Party of Canada

Posted on May 4, 2011 by rdnaidoo

Hey everyone, here are some rough thoughts cobbled together in the form of a letter. Please help me to make it better.

—————

Hi Senator Mitchell,

Thank you for your emails throughout the election campaign.

Like many young people, determining one’s identity and purpose in life can be a lengthy, confusing and soul-searching process – as is true for one’s political identity. For years, in slowly becoming more politically aware, I have found myself caught somewhere in between the current conceptions of Green, Liberal and NDP thought and party lines. In the Green Party I admire their sustainable vision, long-term thinking, openness and civility. From the NDP I share their genuine and tireless commitment to eradicating poverty in Canada, but more importantly around the world where it is most extreme. But what I have seen in the Liberal Party is a party that was a nation-builder, that helped build the identity of Canada.

Yet with respect to this history, the Liberal Party needs to finally be rebuilt utterly and completely.

The politics of the Liberal Party can not afford to be overly-combative, ill-spirited or reactionary in any way, but it has to be compelling in being uplifting, light and of good humour. Recognize the historically low voter turnout in recent elections. Clearly a lot of Canadians do not identify federal politics as being important to their lives, or are frustrated by it. The party needs to be both humble and proactive in radically reaching out to and including young Canadians, low-income Canadians, Aboriginal Canadians and northern Canadians, across the political dimensions and across society, in this rebuild process, right now.

The process itself needs to be open and transparent, that at its heart takes advantage of the massively collaborative tools inherent to the internet. Not because it may appeal to a newer generation of digital natives, but because of the fundamental advantages in design flexibility, and because this is the space where most Canadians now (or will soon) live.

Most importantly, the Liberal Party needs to redefine the identity and purpose of Canadians in a 21st century, globalized world. And it has to be done in the most open, inclusive, genuine and ambitious way possible. A subtle, underlying anxiety of Canadian life is that lack of solid identity and picture of what the country should be. What goals should we set for Canada in 2017 (the sesquicentennial), and as far out as 2030? Ironically the election campaigns featured a series of policies to target ‘families,’ seniors and possibly university students, but no party leader would really dare to articulate what it means to be a Canadian. There is a vacuum in the discourse coupled with a great frustration and cynicism for politics. This is the space that truly has been left untended and where a genuine rebuild of the identity of a political party can begin, out-flowing from it a framework of coherent policy.

After the 2006 Liberal Leadership Convention, I observed how many of my new friends and colleagues from the convention steadily lost interest and became frustrated with not only the Liberal Party but Canadian politics in general. Many, including myself, sought to employ our idealism elsewhere; to new and worthy projects ranging from hyperlocal urban sustainability issues, through to various global campaigns in global health and international development. Though we have been away, I think we sense an opportunity here – in the aftermath of Monday’s election – to finally re-engage if the party is willing to accept it.

So, how can we do this?

Thanks for your time!
Ravendra Naidoo

———————

Let me know what you think. Good? Bad? Terrible? Hopeless?

Please forward and retweet!

Thanks!

Slow Bit #14 – A Livable and Lovable SimCity

Posted on April 21, 2011 by rdnaidoo

http://thisbigcity.net/infographic-what-makes-a-liveable-city/

^For those of you who know me, you’ll know that I absolutely love bright, colourful, compelling infographics! They are great vehicles for driving home a series of points that one wants to make.

You will see on this blog, from time to time, a collection of some of the best infographics that I come across that express something about an important issue I care about. Sure they save me from having to write a long post today, but….

Finally, I am not too happy with the name “Slow Bit.” You may recall that this series of blog posts was previously called “Daily Dose.” Neither of these names really fit IMO. Help me determine a better name. Please leave a comment or send an email or tweet.

Allons-y les Habitant.

Regards.

Naidoo

Science, Technology, Politics, Edmonton, Canada.