Noteworthy. (2015). Solutions 6(1): 6-10.
Idea Lab Noteworthy
Tom Benson
The California blue whale population has returned to nearly maximum population capacity after dwindling as a result of whaling in the 20th century.
A Whale of a Comeback by Colleen Maney
Good news from off the coast of California in the United States: once ravaged by whaling, the California blue whale population has rebounded to 97 percent of historic levels. Researchers from the University of Washington had to get creative to prove this promising upswing. Before whaling was banned in 1966, most of the hunting in the Pacific Ocean where these whales reside was carried out by Russian fleets. As such, much of the data surrounding their catches was kept secret under Soviet rule. Even once they had gained access to these documents, the scientists were still unable to calculate accurate historic populations. Pacific blue whales are categorized as two distinct populations: California
blue whales, and those that live off the coasts of Japan and Russia. To distinguish between the two populations, the researchers studied the songs the two groups used to communicate. Learning the different tunes allowed research teams to demarcate a boundary between the two populations that was then compared to data from Soviet records. Once the research team was able to accurately calculate the numbers of each population lost to whaling, they were then able to establish a historic population size, against which the sizeable California rebound was measured. While the California blue whales are no longer threatened by whaling, they are still vulnerable to modern society. In an effort to protect the whales from fatal ship strikes, of which there are on average 11 per year,
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Californian authorities have taken to paying merchant ships to slow their speeds off of the coast. These ongoing conservation efforts hope to support the blue whales’ return to carrying capacity in the Pacific Ocean. Cole Monnahan, a researcher and lead author on the resulting paper, recognized the human influence on the whales’ rebound, saying, “California blue whales are recovering because we took actions to stop catches and start monitoring. If we hadn’t, the population might have been pushed to near extinction—an unfortunate fate suffered by other blue whale populations.” One such population is the Antarctic blue whale. At a frighteningly low one percent of their historic numbers, drastic solutions are needed to protect the survival of this dwindling population.
Idea Lab Noteworthy
David McKelvey
One project included in Paris’ city investment budget is the transformation of the historic Place de la République into a pedestrian zone. Other projects were voted upon in the participatory budget.
Building a Paris for the People by Colleen Maney
Paris’ first female mayor began her term with a dramatic democratic move: opening the city budget to public participation. Mayor Anne Hidalgo set aside €426 million, 5 percent of the city’s investment budget for 2014 to 2020, for this budget participatif project. With this being the largest amount ever dedicated to such a scheme, Hidalgo proclaimed she was, “handing the keys of the budget to the citizens.” As Parisians prepared to partake in this unprecedented project, Hidalgo entrusted the public with the franchise to decide how to improve their city.
During the last week of September 2014, Parisians of all ages and nationalities were invited to vote on 15 potential city improvement projects for inclusion in the city’s 2015 spending plan. Nearly 41,000 citizens voted, with polls distributed both online and at 200 physical locations throughout the city. Nine projects were proclaimed winners, with a total cost of just under €20 million. The winning projects largely reflect environmental concerns. Collecting the most votes was a proposal to create at least 40 vegetation walls to improve biodiversity in local areas. Coming in second place was a plan to introduce “learning gardens” in primary schools, and, in third place was a scheme to transform derelict and abandoned
areas around the city’s ring road into spaces for arts performances and community events. Other winning projects include mobile trash collection points to encourage recycling and co-working spaces for young entrepreneurs. The project encouraged meaningful participation in local governance for Parisians of all ages, backgrounds, and political identities. Hidalgo said of the revolutionary project, “We wanted to give Parisians a voice. Democracy is not only a word in the dictionary, it’s something that must be practiced.” With plans to conduct a similar vote in 2015, Parisians are being encouraged to suggest their own project ideas. New public submissions are already being accepted at https:// budgetparticipatif.paris.fr/bp/.
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Idea Lab Noteworthy Scrubbing Up Global Hygiene by Colleen Maney
Sometimes, powerfully innovative solutions are as simple as a bar of soap. Science has already proven that regular hand washing with soap and water can reduce mortality from preventable diseases, such as diarrhea and pneumonia, by almost 50 percent. Every year, these two diseases alone are responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million children under the age of 5. Washing ones’ hands with soap is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to minimize the spread of such deadly germs. Dow and Lifebuoy soap from Unilever have capitalized on this simple hygiene solution to make soap even more effective. Through a research and development collaboration, the two companies have produced an enhanced germ protection soap. Using Dow Polyox Water-Soluble Polymers, the formulation takes advantage of controlled release technology to produce a longer lasting and better quality bar of soap. The result is a more affordable hygiene product. The new technology has been used in products released in markets in India, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia, to a widely positive consumer response. Sales of these products are accompanied by a hand-washing campaign by Unilever targeting lowincome market areas, with the goal of increasing a regular hand-washing culture. Dow has proclaimed this new technology a “Breakthrough to World Challenges,” as part of a commitment to highlight innovative products and technologies with the potential to address significant global problems. In order to be recognized in this category,
UNICEF Ethiopia
Regular hand washing with soap and water can reduce mortality from preventable diseases, such as diarrhea and pneumonia, by 50 percent.
products are evaluated based on their potential impacts on human lives and on the environment. Unilever has also made commitments to social impact. The company’s Sustainable Living Plan outlines a goal of helping to improve the health and wellbeing of one billion people by 2020.
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David Blanchard, Chief Research and Development Officer at Unilever, commented on the success of the companies’ combined effort, saying, “Dow’s polymer technology is a great example of how collaboration can result in leading innovation and outstanding results.”
Idea Lab Noteworthy
Pablo Pecora
Turkey’s new Green Generation Restaurant initiative will allow the country’s many restaurants to become to become “green” certified.
Green Generation Restaurants in Turkey by Maisam Alahmed
Turkey, a rapidly growing economy with a booming tourist industry, now has approximately 77,000 restaurants (230 of those are McDonalds), and wastes almost 325,000 tons of food every year. However, it is not alone—many countries with emerging economies are growing so fast that they are not creating the infrastructure to do so responsibly. With that in mind, Ugur Bayar, Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Turkey, has recently announced the launch of the Green Generation Restaurants in Turkey. This project, developed and supported by the WWF in Turkey, Bogaziçi University, the Turkish Restaurant
Association, Besiktas Municipality, and Unilever Food solutions, aims to reduce food waste. It does so by certifying a restaurant through a similar criterion to the Green Restaurant Association. This includes six different categories a restaurant must adhere to: water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable food, energy, disposables, and chemical and pollution reduction. Additional ideas require the collaboration of both restaurants and customers to implement such change. Transforming waste into fertilizers and changing plates and utensils only as needed are only a few of the many ways a restaurant and its customers can go green in Turkey. The project will begin in Turkey’s most chic and privileged areas, all in the hopes of improving the future of Turkey’s environment.
Getting restaurants to reduce waste is a worldwide movement, and one of the objectives of the Milan Protocol, a global agreement expected to be ratified at the upcoming Milan Expo in 2015. The Expo aims to address the issues of food sustainability through three objectives: the promotion of healthy lifestyles and fighting obesity, the promotion of sustainable agriculture, and the reduction of food waste by 50 percent by the year 2020. Turkey did not join the Protocol until very recently, and therefore does not have much to offer nor a plan of action to present at the Expo. However, Turkey’s Green Generation Restaurants project is one way of prompting food sustainability, and specifically the reduction of food waste.
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Idea Lab Noteworthy
Caroline Gluck/EU/ECHO
Yazidi women and girls have been targeted by ISIS factions overtaking their villages. These Yazidi women are now living as refugees in Turkey after fleeing from ISIS attacks in Northern Iraq.
Hope for Female Victims of ISIS by Maisam Alahmed
Founded in 1992, WADI is an IraqiGerman association that launches and supports various programs focused on empowering women in the Middle East. The organization works to fight for women’s human, political, social, and educational rights, and equality. One of their most renowned campaigns is targeting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Kurdistan area, where local authorities are responding positively, slowly initiating the first laws in the region prohibiting FGM.
What distinguishes and strengthens WADI’s credibility as an aid organization, and this particular campaign, is a Northern Iraqi staff comprised of local individuals, including survivors who know and understand the complexity of the situation and the conditions of the region. Ever since the breakout of the Arab Spring and its repercussions, WADI members have had their work cut out for them while attempting to extend a helping hand to all those affected by the civil war in Syria, and to the minorities who are suffering tremendously from terrorist group violence, such as that perpetuated by ISIS.
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The brutality within the ISIS community has resulted in the unfortunate re-establishment of the slave trade. When ISIS fighters take over a village, they systematically collect and execute nearly all of the men. Women are generally allowed to live, but face a fate that may be worse than death. Many horror stories have been documented about the women of the Yazidi minority group, a Kurdish ethno-religious community with a large part of its population located in Iraq and Syria. The news agency NBC recently reported on a series of stories of women who managed to escape their ISIS captors, bringing back horrific tales of continuous sexual and physical abuse. WADI officials have stated that over 650 girls have escaped from ISIS and are now seeking refuge in Northern Iraq. Officials are also predicting that the number of escaped girls will continue to increase, and will soon reach the thousands. With the growing influx of escaped women and girls, the organization and its aid workers are finding themselves in a race to absorb these wounded victims, and are working quickly, but efficiently, to rehabilitate them back into society. Chemen Rasheed, a WADI aid worker since the early 2000s, has worked on several cases and programs targeting violence against women. She is now dedicating all of her efforts towards helping victimized Yazidi women and girls get back on their feet. Her role is primarily in the supervision of a new center, near the refugee area, where female victims take their first steps in dealing with the trauma they have experienced at the hands of ISIS. Rasheed has grown close to these girls, some of whom have come to call her ‘Mama,’ while awaiting the return of their real mothers who remain captives of ISIS.