Green Environment Events 2017

A selective list of green urban environment, healthy water, air quality, biodiversity, nature conservation and climate change events:

7-9 March
Ecobuild
Focus: Sustainability in Building
Excel
London

8 March 6.30-8.30pm

Bristol Viewpoints: Waste Water and Water Waste

1^st in series of 3 free talks on water research

Bristol Natural History Consortium

Watershed

Bristol

13 March 6.30-8.30pm

Bath Viewpoints: How Water Shaped Bath

2^nd in series of 3 free talks on problems and solutions for waterways

Bristol Natural History Consortium

Bath Guildhall, Bath

13 March-31st March
Air Quality and Hydrogen Exhibition
City Hall
London

20 March 6pm

Placemaking and Planting

Kew Mutual Improvement Society Lecture

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

23 March 6.3—8.30pm

Keynsham Viewpoints: Healthy Water

3^rd in series of free talks on water research

Bristol Natural History Consortium

Keynsham Community Space

Bristol

28-30 March

Flood and Coast 2017

Theme: Risk, Resilience and Response in a Changing Climate

Telford International Centre

UK

Preview

30 March 8.30am-2pm
Low Emission freight logistics: all you need to know
ARUP Offices
London

13 April-15 October

IGA Berlin 2017

International Garden Design and Green Urban Lifestyle Exhibition

Berlin

Germany

Twitter: #IGABerlin

15-26 May 9am-5.30pm

Tropical Plant Identification Course

For conservation & environment professionals, graduate ethnobotanists, ecologists and zoologists

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

25-26 May

State of the World’s Plants Symposium 2017

Special Focus on Madagascar

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

8-25 June

Festival of Nature

Bristol Natural History Consortium

Bristol

Twitter: @festofnature

NB: Inclusion in this list does not constitute endorsement of any conference, event or third party. This list is for information purposes only. All details should be checked on the organisers' websites, as they may be subject to change.

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Zaha Hadid's Mathematical Legacy

The stunning design hits you as soon as you walk through the door of the  new Winton Gallery. Unfortunately, its designer was one of the many famous and talented people who passed away in 2016. Zaha Hadid's architectural legacy lives on around the world. In December, the architect's completed design for the new Mathematics gallery opened.

Side-view of Zaha Hadid's design with exhibits in glass cases

Design inspiration
The Imperial War Museum, IWM Duxford and RAF Hendon also suspend airplanes overhead. This was dramatically different. Zaha Hadid was a mathematician before she was an architect. Her knowledge of geometry informed her creativity. The video below shows how she used wind patterns around the plane to create her stunning design.

Modern approach
It's also interesting that the museum approached a woman for its Mathematics gallery. The Science Museum is seeking to inspire a new generation of STEM enthusiasts. The new gallery uses a more modern approach to displaying artefacts. They are more spaced out rather than piled up. I still wondered if a new generation would require more interactivity. My attention was captured by the sheer size of many of the exhibits. Modern technology has downsized so many of them and increased capacity at the same time.

There was a huge model used at the London School of Economics to show students how the Economy works. The Thames Flood Barrier Model also caught my attention. 

Model of London's Thames Flood Barrier in the Winton Gallery

Maths was never my favourite subject at school, although I did love algebra. Something to do with it looking like a foreign language to be decoded perhaps? 

Cash register
One exhibit cast my mind straight back to my early school days. There was a huge, old-fashioned cash register. I had a smaller toy version as a child. I remember telling my teacher that I wanted to be a shopkeeper. She told me that I was too 'clever' for that. I didn't like that 'clever' word if it stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. I just liked counting money at that age. 

I am sure the teacher meant to encourage me to see the greater career opportunities that were opening up for women. Retailing had become a recognised graduate career by the time of my first degree. Maybe my wish should have been interpreted as the sign of an early entrepreneur?

Old cash register with Access credit card sticker

Contactless payments
Today is Boxing Day in the UK. Cash registers are ringing up post-Christmas sale purchases across the country. I smiled when I recognised the old green Access credit symbol. I have just taken delivery of my second contactless card. I love the simplicity. I've stopped carrying cash as much as in the past. My museum experience brought home how much shopping and attitudes have changed in my lifetime.

I wonder ...
... how a contactless card will look in a museum of the future? 
... if will we see more women inspired to take up mathematics as old attitudes change?
... what new unpredicted careers will appear as today's schoolchildren grow up?

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Nordic Minimalism at Christmas

Christmas is the time of year when everyone seems to go over the top with decorations. I highlighted London's lights and elaborately decorated shop windows in earlier blogs. One store's window stood out for its minimalist decorations on my Christmas walking tour: Skandium, the Scandinavian design and furniture retailer.

I saw a Christmas tree that was barely decorated and a straw goat.

Skandium Knightsbridge store window after closing time

There were two more straw goats on the opposite side.

Cultural tastes and norms
Let's be frank here: it looks as if the store simply hasn't made much of an effort for Christmas. I recalled my many years of working with Nordic countries. My experience told me that the seeming absence of a display is simply a reflection of Nordic cultural tastes and norms.

Is a global look and feel possible?
The minimalist 'display' reminded me of past Nordic reviewers who disliked 'ostentation' in American corporate style. They regularly wanted the style toned down.

Meanwhile, the Japanese wanted the visuals for their corporate brochures to look more 'showy' for its target audience. American corporate identity guidelines rarely tolerate and accommodate Japanese style, norms and expectations easily.

Nordic and Japanese tastes and expectations are practically at opposite poles. Such cultural differences make it difficult, and sometimes even impossible, for a company to have a single, effective corporate look and feel globally.

Swedish tradition
So what's with the straw ornaments? It is a Swedish tradition to make straw ornaments at Christmas (see YouTube video below).

Gävle goat
The Gävle goat is Sweden's famous straw goat. It is erected at the start of Advent. Unfortunately, the stories of vandalism and arson have become as famous as the goat. Various security measures have tried to protect it over the years. It barely lasted more than a few hours before being torched this year.

Washington Post report 2016

Sweden's News in English 2016

2012 ITN report video:

Other Nordic ornaments
I was pleased to see that there were still straw goats in the windows at Skandium when I passed the store again a week later. I also took a look at the other straw, minimalist and rustic-looking Christmas ornaments inside. Lots of candles and candle holders too. A bit pricey for my budget, but I admired their simplicity nonetheless.

I would have taken a close-up photo of the large straw goat in the window. Unfortunately, the couple who followed me out were stopped by security for a bag search. As a result, I simply couldn't get the right angle for a good shot.

You may appreciate more Nordic Christmas ornaments in the following video instead:

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Red light for innovation challenges?

Walking and waving a red flag in front of a moving car? Preposterous! Yet, the US and the UK had just such a law as a safety precaution in the 19th century.

Driverless cars, drones, unmanned aircraft, space rockets, satellites and probes to Pluto... What on earth would our ancestors think? Technology is moving at a faster pace than the majority of us can take in. Should we rein in our modern day innovators, pioneers and explorers with red and amber flags while we catch up?

Driverless cars

Google reported that its driverless cars keep having accidents. The June 2015 report stated: "Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident". Inattentive humans are the problem.

Is the obvious fix to ban all human drivers from the road in future? It's not that simple.

Car hacking

A current Wired article is entitled Hackers remotely kill a jeep on the highway - with me in it. In a test, hackers toyed remotely with the air-conditioning, radio, windscreen wipers and then the accelerator at 70 mph...  Off the road and into a ditch... The manufacturer has issued a recall to prevent the vehicles from being controlled remotely. Recalls don't come cheap.

Accidents on land can be contained. What of the skies?

Drones

There is alarm about drone safety - particularly the unregulated use of hobby drones. In late January, Le Monde reported that drones had flown over 17 French nuclear power stations since October 2014. 

After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the world is understandably uneasy. A major earthquake followed by a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors. An unpredictable sequence of events?

Unmanned aircraft

Unmanned craft already fly the skies on spying missions. NASA's unmanned Global Hawk can remain aloft for up to 30 hours at high altitudes. It is being used for atmospheric analysis, but was originally developed for military use. 

Challenger
NASA employs some of the world's most brilliant scientists. They've known both glorious successes and heart-breaking disasters. The Challenger Space Shuttle accident cost 7 lives.  Just 0.678 seconds after lift-off, there was a strong puff of grey smoke. The two cameras that should have reported the precise location were inoperative. A rapid series of events from 72.20 seconds followed. Challenger exploded after 73.137 seconds.

The Presidential Commission's report on the Space Shuttle disaster is full of technical detail. The accident was due to faulty design. A faulty pressure seal caused a major setback in space exploration. In the NASA control room, they knew the astronauts. They knew their voices.

Rockets explode. Satellites and probes malfunction. Space is filling up with junk.

3D printing

Technology is developing at such a pace that it is hard to predict all the challenges in advance.  Some are overstated. When 3D printing came to the fore, people worried that it would be used to make guns.

Today, most geeks content themselves with posting pictures of epic failures or cereal-box-style Star Wars characters online. 3D technology is saving lives in the medical field today.

Hacking inevitable?

Experts treat hacking as inevitable. They seek to minimise risk. Total prevention is not viewed as realistic. The "good guys" play catch up with the "bad guys". Hacking pays well.

Red and amber flags?

Modern technology is exciting. The pace is so fast. There is little time to question if technology is always being used in the best interests of Man. History should teach us caution. Do we need to slow down a bit and take stock? Issue some red and amber flags?

Shared planet

If only the best minds could work on climate change for all Earth's residents. We never get on well with all our neighbours. We just have to find a way to coexist.

Relocation isn't an option. NASA hasn't found another habitable planet for us.

Karen Andrews runs
Anglicity Ltd. She is
an entrepreneurial
French to English
translator, editor,
content writer and
marketing consultant. 

Contact karen@anglicity.com 
for further information 
on Anglicity's services.