|
July / August 2023
Newsletter
| |
Nukes Are Not the "Clean-Energy" Answer | |
|
We know we have to break with "dirty" (fossil fuels and carbon-based) energy in order to sustain life on the planet.
Scientists and other experts note that we have less than a generation to do so. And doubters need only travel right now to Texas or Europe (deadly temperatures with heat domes), small island nations or Miami or Venice (rising sea levels and unpredictable and extreme weather, like typhoons), and anywhere else from Canada to Australia (uncontrollable wildfires belching choking smoke and unhealthy particulates to the rest of the world) to see for themselves.
But where does nuclear fit into the puzzle? It is touted by many as a "clean" alternative.
Brooklyn Story Lab's partner, the nonprofit Samuel Lawrence Foundation, held a free Congressional briefing for American legislators and their staffs, featuring a panel of three experts — including the former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and two academics — who concluded that nuclear is not a viable source of climate-friendly electricity.
As part of SLF's "First Friday" series of webinars (for which Brooklyn Story Lab is a presenting partner), the panelists in the 90-minute event concluded that nuclear energy is expensive and time-consuming to produce, poses numerous threats to public safety, and is far from carbon-free.
“When we are talking about nuclear and climate change, there are a lot of challenges and difficulties with that as a solution,” said Dr. Gregory Jaczko, who served on the NRC from 2005 to 2012 and was designated Chairman in 2009.
Beyond that, nuclear reactors are not economically competitive because they're too expensive and take too long to build, said Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University. “If we have a technology that we can't even implement in 10 to 15 years, that means that technology is not going to help at all to try to solve the global warming problem,” Jacobson said during the briefing.
By contrast, energy from renewable sources can reverse global warming, create jobs, and prevent deaths caused by air pollution. Power from renewable sources can stabilize the grid throughout the world while using less land and at a far lesser cost, Jacobson added.
Watch a video of the panel here, and sign up to watch the next "First Friday" event (on July 7) here.
| |
|
Did you know that, in addition to being adorable, elephants are also our allies in the fight against climate change?
As climate change mitigators, elephants play a critical role in keeping global temperatures lower, as they consume smaller vegetation, allowing larger trees — which are huge storers of carbon — to flourish. They also devour excess grasses, reducing the likelihood of devastating wildfires. And many plants count on this keystone species to propagate — and on its dung to thrive.
It's always a good time to celebrate elephants. But August 12th is a good time in particular, as it is World Elephant Day. World Elephant Day — now in its 12th year — is the forerunner of all of the other species-appreciation days. And World Elephant Day as an organization primarily exists to call attention to the plight of elephants, and to all of the other nonprofit organizations that support these endangered (Asian elephants) and threatened (African elephants) creatures.
Brooklyn Story Lab has been a partner of World Elephant Day since 2018, and BSL CEO Lance Gould is on the World Elephant Day board. Please consider a donation to this nonprofit and help one of the most majestic — and vital — species survive.
| |
Brought to you by The Webby Awards, The Anthem Awards honors the purpose and mission-driven work of people, companies, and organizations worldwide. Join Honorees such as Gloria Steinem and Billy Porter, winners like Lil Nas X and Gilead COMPASS Initiative, partners like NRDC and Tom’s of Maine, judges like Abigail E. Disney, Peace is Loud Founder, and many other leaders across the Impact Industry in changing what we as a society deem worthy of an award. Enter by the Early Entry Deadline on July 28. | |
 | |
On the boardwalk of Coney Island, under the shadows of the world-famous Cyclone rollercoaster, a display of the ocean's riches was set up on a table. This was last month, during World Oceans Week, and those "riches" included a plate of red bottle caps, among collections of other sorted flotsam and jetsam. The presentation — which was later turned into a "trash mandala" — was the nonprofit Beautify Brooklyn's purposefully perverse celebration of garbage, intended to catalyze ocean cleanup and promote both public arts and ecological restoration.
That event was sponsored by our partner, Blue Planet Alliance (BPA). And back at UN Headquarters and around New York City, this week-long observation of the importance of oceans and their ecosystems dovetailed with so many of BPA's initiatives. And BPA participated in and hosted a number of events, from the world premiere of a South African animated film about the spirits of the sea to a video display inside UN Headquarters. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a special World Oceans Day program, featuring an array of BPA partners, such as "Her Deepness" Dr. Sylvia Earle (Mission Blue), Lea d'Auriol (Oceanic Global), and Fabien Cousteau (Proteus Ocean Group), as well as the dazzling performance of WHAIA Creation, a Maori vocalist (pictured above) whose stylized indigenous music is startling and awakening — perhaps the jolt we need to take collective action and protect the oceans.
|
Africa for the Wind (and the Win) | |
Africa is literally more than abundant in renewable energy resources. Of its 54 nations, all but one (Egypt) has been rated as "super abundant" or "abundant," meaning it has more than 1,000 times or 100 times, respectively, the technical potential of current energy demand.
In a speech earlier this year in Germany, William Ruto, the President of Kenya, noted that renewable energy potential across Africa is 50 times greater than the anticipated electricity demand of the entire planet by 2040. Meanwhile, across the Mediterranean, not a single country in Europe enjoys super abundant or abundant status. So if European capital and African resources could partner, there is an opportunity for Africa to turn into a green energy hub, and for both to benefit. (The carbon-free future would also help the planet, too.)
That's the message in "Unlocking Investment in Africa's Energy Future," a new explainer piece by The B Team — a nonprofit partner of Brooklyn Story Lab — in their backgrounder series, “Activating Leadership.”
|
|
What if dilapidated walls could not only talk, but sing and swim and otherwise delight? That's the fantasy behind the stop-motion eye candy of "The Guardian of the Walls," the winner of the Mobile Film Festival's "Grand Prize Morocco."
The film was among the best of a special Africa edition of the Festival, open only to filmmakers from the 54 nations comprising the continent. The winners (from eight different countries) were announced last month in a ceremony in Rabat, the Moroccan capital.
Regular readers of BSL newsletters are familiar with our partner Mobile Film Festival, the philosophy of which can be summed up in six words: “1 Mobile, 1 Minute, 1 Film.” It’s a democratic approach to filmmaking, one in which creativity bests big-budget productions shot with expensive equipment.
|
 | |
An increased interest in genealogy has led to so many personal discoveries, from family-tree branches that stretch back directly a dozen generations to pinpointing that 6% of Baltic, Balkan, or Balinese heritage. But what happens when a master reporter and storyteller examines his own past, only to discover that his grandfather was a German Nazi Party chief during World War II?
That's the premise of the nonfiction masterwork "Fatherland" by New Yorker staff writer (and friend of Brooklyn Story Lab) Burkhard Bilger. Bilger, who was born in Oklahoma but whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Germany after the war, dove deep into his family history and the musty archives in Black Forest villages near Alsace-Lorraine, a French region that has traded hands between France and Germany numerous times. He has pieced together an honest portrait as compelling and complex as his grandfather.
The book is also a paean to journalistic sleuthing, as Bilger sifts through Teutonic rooms "lined from floor to ceiling with leather-bound volumes, decomposing slowly in the dim, damp air" while lamenting other non-digitized records "still buried in Moscow or the Library of Congress — bureaucratic dross yet to be sifted for flecks of gold." There is both an art and a science to storytelling, and in this wrenching personal exploration, Bilger masters both.
|
|
|
Let's Tell Your Story
Brooklyn Story Lab creates cutting-edge campaigns, events, and content for purpose-driven organizations, with a particular focus on their social good commitments. Our work is aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals — a blueprint for making sure no one on the planet is left behind.
If you would like your purpose-driven project to reach new audiences and deliver more impact, we’d love to help you tell the story through our Content Solutions:
- Articles and Impact Stories
- Brand Strategy
- Campaign Ideation and Execution
- Content Strategy and Storytelling
- Fundraising Collateral and Strategy
- Op-eds and Thought Leadership
- Podcasts
- Seminars, Panels, and Moderated Events
- Social Media Campaigns and Events
- Storytelling Workshops
- Strategic Partnerships
- Video: Longform and Short
- Website Design and Development
Please send us more information about your project so we can help you get started. Fill out our contact form here, or email info@brooklynstorylab.net.
| | | | |
