How Nike Is Improving Communities’ Climate Resilience
WEBWIRE – Thursday, October 26, 2023
What to know
- One year in, Nikes Community Climate Resilience Program has already seen meaningful results to help mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect the future of sport.
- Leveraging an inaugural $2 million grant, Nikes partner, Trust for Public Land, has helped revitalize more than 117,000 square feet of public park space in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, serving nearly 100,000 adults and children.
- Transforming concrete playgrounds into inviting urban green spaces, the teams planted more than 1,400 native plants and trees, helping to manage nearly 2.5 million gallons of stormwater runoff a year, among other objectives.
Each day, climate change is impacting athletes* all over the world. Climate change is not only a threat to sport, its also a critical social issue that exacerbates inequity and creates barriers to sport participation.
Knowing this, last year Nike launched the Community Climate Resilience Program to help provide access to urban green spaces and parks and increase sports participation in the communities that need it most. The program began with an inaugural grant of $2 million to Trust for Public Land (TPL) to fund U.S.-based projects in communities disproportionately impacted by climate threats.
One year in, the Community Climate Resilience Program has already seen meaningful results to help mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect the future of sport.
The partnership with TPL has helped revitalize more than 117,000 square feet of schoolyards and public park space in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles that serve nearly 100,000 adults and children. The sites are all located in low-income neighborhoods that are predominately communities of color, have historically been underserved in park quality and space, and are more prone to flooding than parks in more affluent neighborhoods are. In transforming these sites into inviting urban green spaces, the teams will plant more than 1,400 native plants and trees and build capacity to manage nearly 2.5 million gallons of stormwater runoff a year, among other objectives.
Students can be inspired by being outside in these schoolyards, and they can express that in art, in music, in sports, and in how that outdoor space impacts their ability to succeed in the classroom, says Carla Y. Rivera, Director of Facilities for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy. Her school is located in one of the neighborhoods in which Nike and TPL transformed a public park space, doubling the trees and vegetation on site and providing shade and cooling benefits to protect health and lessen energy demand.
Research shows us that these efforts make a real difference. Green spaces play a critical role in mitigating the climate- and inequity-driven effects of urban heat islands and flooding. Parks, especially those with dense trees and vegetation, can be as much as 17 degrees F (8 degrees C) cooler than the surrounding cityscape. Parks can also help disperse stormwater, minimizing the impact of climate-related natural disasters and improving water quality in communities.
Trust for Public Land and Nike are uniquely positioned to shift the paradigm around climate resiliency and parks. We both believe that access to the outdoors for sport and play is a fundamental human need and essential to our health and well-being, and we know that revitalizing these spaces can help address the effects of climate change, says Ronda Lee Chapman, Associate Vice President of Equity and Belonging, Trust for Public Land. Were working together to transform asphalt-laden schoolyards into places where kids can thrive.
Among the 100 most populous U.S. cities, TPL data reveals that neighborhoods where most residents identify as people of color have access to an average of 43 percent less park space than predominately white neighborhoods do. Residents in low-income neighborhoods have access to 42 percent less park space than residents in high-income neighborhoods do. As climate change continues to increase risks from heat and flood, particularly in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, purposefully designed green spaces and parks become a powerful driver of inclusion and climate resilience, opening up more access to sport and enhancing community health.
*If you have a body, you are an athlete.
About Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,364 parks, trails, schoolyards and iconic outdoor places, raised $93 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.4 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
WEBWIRE – Friday, October 6, 2023 After too much of a focus on costs and growth for many years, we must now play catch-up in order to offer employees, travellers and airlines the necessary quality.
Schiphol is prioritising quality at the airport in its investments over the coming years. Between 2024 and 2027, the airport is investing three billion euros into catching up on maintenance and upgrades. Important parts of the airport infrastructure including Pier C, the baggage basement, climate-control systems, walkways, aircraft stands and taxiways are due to undergo major maintenance or need renewing. This is needed in order to ensure the quality that Schiphol wants to offer employees, travellers and airlines. From quantity to quality After too much of a focus on costs and growth for many years, we must now play catch-up in order to offer employees, travellers and airlines the necessary quality. Quantity took precedence over quality and that didnt do the assets at our airport any good. Things need to be done differently and investments need to be made in our location and facilities to align everything with our quality and sustainability ambitions. Ruud Sondag, CEO We are going to catch up on maintenance to improve, upgrade and make the airport more sustainable. This is necessary and in everybodys interest at the airport. Good working conditions, reliability, sustainability and safety are our starting points. Its a big task, with works at the heart of the airport and a continuous operation. Of course, well do everything we can to limit the risk of consequences for travellers and airlines, but some inconvenience cannot be ruled out. Quality of service Quality of work Sustainability Safety
LCQ4: Improving incomes of grass-roots families and wage earners
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Question:
In his important speech delivered on July 1 last year, the President pointed out that efforts should be made to “make sure that all citizens in Hong Kong share more fully and fairly in the fruits of development so that every resident will be convinced that if you work hard, you can improve the life of your own and that of your family”. The Chief Executive also emphasised “better serving our people” in the 2022 Policy Address. However, it is learnt that the incomes of grass-roots families and wage earners have been on the low side for a long time. From 2002 to 2021, in terms of the median monthly domestic household income and the median monthly domestic household income of economically active households by decile group, the income increases of 40 per cent of households and 20 per cent of wage earners in the lowest deciles had underperformed inflation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how it will implement the instructions of the President and fulfil the policy direction of the Policy Address, and whether key performance indicators will be set for the relevant work, so that the grass-roots and workers can have a greater sense of contentment and happiness;
(2) whether it will adopt “living wage” as the income baseline for government outsourced workers, so that they can make a decent living; and
(3) given that the Minimum Wage Commission is conducting a study on how to enhance the review mechanism for the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) level, whether the Government will consider making “living wage” as one of the factors for consideration in determining the SMW level, so that grass-roots workers can lead a dignified life?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been endeavouring to enhance the sense of contentment and happiness of all citizens in Hong Kong, in particular the grass-roots and workers. This is the common goal of all government bureaux for the betterment of livelihood of our citizens. Having consulted the relevant bureaux, including the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Health Bureau, the Environment and Ecology Bureau, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the Housing Bureau, I herewith respond to the question of the Member on behalf of the Government:
(1) To implement the spirit of the important speech delivered by President Xi Jinping on July 1, 2022 and the election manifesto of the Chief Executive (CE), the current-term Government adopts a number of measures benefiting grass-roots under various policy aspects. In the interest of time, I set out the following major measures which illustrate the Government’s focus and commitment in this regard:
Housing is the most concerned issue among grass-roots. The Government has been working in full steam to enhance the speed, quantity, efficiency and quality of public housing supply. The Government has identified sufficient land for providing about 360 000 public housing units in the coming 10-year period, i.e. in 2023-24 to 2032-33. With the supply of 30 000 Light Public Housing units in the coming five years, our target is to reduce the Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing to about 4.5 years in 2026-27. We also launched a Cash Allowance Trial Scheme in mid-2021 to relieve the pressure on livelihood of grassroots families who are waiting for public rental housing allocation. A total of around $3.04 billion in cash allowance has been disbursed to around 87 700 eligible households so far.
From the perspective of medical and health, the Hospital Authority has rolled out measures to improve patient experience by reducing the waiting time for Specialist Out-patient Clinics and introducing a service model for drug collection and delivery. We will also introduce a three-year Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme to subsidise about half of the examination and treatment fees. Another pilot scheme will enable eligible citizens to receive subsidised consultations at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital. The Elderly Healthcare Voucher Scheme will be enhanced to extend the coverage, allow the shared use of vouchers between spouses, and encourage the more effective use of primary healthcare services.
Moreover, the Government will enhance the mental wellness of the community with services targeting the needs of various groups. Measures include making arrangements for students in need to receive professional support at the first opportunity; allocating additional resources to strengthen community psychiatric services and to launch a pilot public-private partnership programme; and setting up a dedicated service centre on a trial basis for ethnic minorities. The Government will increase Chinese Medicine out-patient service quotas, regularise the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine services, and create the post of the Commissioner for Chinese Medicine Development. We will allow pharmaceutical products registered in the Mainland and relevant places to be registered and sold in Hong Kong upon fulfilment of stringent requirements, thereby diversifying the supply of pharmaceutical products.
In terms of social welfare, the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme provides a safety net to those who are unable to support themselves for various reasons, whereas the Working Family Allowance (WFA) Scheme and the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) provides financial support to designated groups. The Government has in recent years relaxed the eligibility for the WFA and increased its rates of allowances twice to benefit some 180 000 persons to date, which included more than 73 000 children. Furthermore, the Government has merged the Normal and Higher OALAs since September 2022, so that eligible elderly persons may receive a higher rate of allowance. At present, nearly three-fourths, i.e. about 1.2 million, elderly persons aged 65 or above are receiving non-contributory cash allowances.
The current-term Government adopts the new strategy of targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need. The Commission on Poverty has been restructured to study and identify any other target group for poverty alleviation. The Strive and Rise Programme which focuses on supporting junior secondary school students from underprivileged families, particularly those living in subdivided units, is in good progress since its implementation in October last year. We will enhance and launch the second phase of the Scheme. Meanwhile, the Government is planning to introduce the Community Living Room Project and the School-based After School Care Service Pilot Scheme, and invite the District Services and Community Care Teams in the 18 districts to support singletons, doubletons and households in which all members are elderly persons. Details will be announced in due course.
The Government is committed to enriching citizens’ quality of life and enhance environmental hygiene, so that citizens from all walks of life can enjoy better sense of happiness. To respond to the public demand for enhanced environmental hygiene, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration has coordinated the efforts of relevant departments to tackle various hygiene black spots in Hong Kong, and the results are well received by the public. We have committed to removing at least 75 per cent of the environmental hygiene black spots by the end of this year. We will also enhance cityscape in Hong Kong and build a liveable environment. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department offers many quality and leisure and cultural services and programmes, many of which are free. Half-priced or even sponsored free tickets for the museums and some programmes of the West Kowloon Cultural District are offered to CSSA recipients or underprivileged persons.
(2) The Government is committed to protecting the remuneration of outsourced non-skilled workers. As announced in the 2022 Policy Address, the Government conducted a further review on the arrangement relating to the employment of non-skilled workers under government service contracts, including remuneration of the workers and the relevant monitoring mechanism. As reflected in the review findings in the first quarter of this year, the enhanced government procurement regime implemented since April 2019 has been effective. The median hourly wages of non-skilled workers have increased by 49.9 per cent during the 3.5-year period until September 2022, comparing much favourably with the Consumer Price Index (A) which has increased by 5.5 per cent over the same period. The median hourly wage of non-skilled workers, $55, is also 37.5 per cent higher than the current Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) of $40, or 18.8 per cent higher than the market median wage. The new measures put forward upon review have been reported to the Legislative Council Panels concerned in May this year.
(3) The Minimum Wage Ordinance establishes the SMW regime to provide a wage floor which forestalls excessively low wages and minimises the loss of low-paid jobs, without jeopardising Hong Kong’s economic growth and competitiveness. The Government has no plan to change the aforesaid policy objective of the SMW or introduce living wage besides the SMW.
Since the implementation of the SMW in May 2011, the employment earnings of grassroots employees have improved. In February-April 2023, the nominal average monthly employment earnings of full-time employees in the lowest decile group had risen cumulatively by 85.1 per cent compared with that of the pre-SMW period, translating into an increase of 31.6 per cent in real terms after discounting the headline Consumer Price Index (A) inflation of the corresponding period.
The CE announced in his 2022 Policy Address that the Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) would be invited to study how to enhance the review mechanism of the SMW. The MWC is conducting the second-stage consultation and will submit the study report to the CE by end-October this year. The Government will carefully consider the MWC’s recommendations so as to chart the way forward.
A new approach can train a machine learning model to predict the properties of a material using only data obtained through simple measurements, saving time and money compared with those currently used. It was designed by researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Asahi KASEI Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals, and Sumitomo Chemical Co and reported in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials: Methods. A tremendous amount of data is usually needed to train machine learning models for this purpose. Two kinds of data are used. Controllable descriptors are data that can be chosen without making a material, such as the chemical elements and processes used to synthesize it. But uncontrollable descriptors, like X-ray diffraction data, can only be obtained by making the material and conducting experiments on it. “We developed an effective experimental design method to more accurately predict material properties using descriptors that cannot be controlled,” says Tamura. The approach involves the examination of a dataset of controllable descriptors to choose the best material with the target properties to use for improving the model’s accuracy. In this case, the scientists interrogated a database of 75 types of polypropylenes to select a candidate with specific mechanical properties. They then selected the material and extracted some of its uncontrollable descriptors, for example, its X-ray diffraction data and mechanical properties. This data was added to the present dataset to better train a machine learning model employing special algorithms to predict a material’s properties using only uncontrollable descriptors. “Our experimental design can be used to predict difficult-to-measure experimental data using easy-to-measure data, accelerating our ability to design new materials or to repurpose already known ones, while reducing the costs,” says Tamura. The prediction method can also help improve understanding of how a material’s structure affects specific properties. The team is currently working on further optimizing their approach in collaboration with chemical manufacturers in Japan. Further information About Science and Technology of Advanced Materials: Methods (STAM Methods) STAM Methods is an open access sister journal of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM), and focuses on emergent methods and tools for improving and/or accelerating materials developments, such as methodology, apparatus, instrumentation, modeling, high-through put data collection, materials/process informatics, databases, and programming. https://www.tandfonline.com/STAM-M Dr. Yoshikazu Shinohara Press release distributed by Asia Research News for Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.
CE signs Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021 (with photos)
****************************************************************************************** “Signing bills passed by the LegCo and promulgating laws is one of the Chief Executive’s constitutional powers and functions. I have exercised this power and discharged this function in respect of four legal instruments within a year, which are essential to upholding the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and ensuring its full and faithful implementation. It is indeed a significant responsibility,” Mrs Lam said. The four pieces of legislation comprise the National Anthem Ordinance signed on June 11, 2020; the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and implemented following the signing of the promulgation by the Chief Executive on June 30, 2020; the Public Offices (Candidacy and Taking Up Offices)(Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2021 signed on May 20, 2021; and the Ordinance signed today. “The vitality of the law lies in its faithful and accurate implementation. The HKSAR Government will fulfil its responsibility and take resolute enforcement action without fear to strive to safeguard the constitutional order of the HKSAR and ensure its long-term prosperity and stability. “I express my gratitude to the LegCo for enacting the several pieces of legislation and various sectors and the general public for their support for the legislative work,” Mrs Lam said. Looking ahead, Mrs Lam said that the HKSAR Government’s priorities after completing the legislative work of the Ordinance are fighting COVID-19 to achieve “zero infection”; preparing for the three forthcoming elections in accordance with the law to ensure that they are held in a fair, just and open manner; and reviving the economy and working in concert with the LegCo to resolve the fundamental livelihood issues.
Schiphol improving quality by catching up on maintenance
Assets that are in good condition and that deliver good results are key to the quality Schiphol wants to offer travellers and airlines. Thats why, day and night, a lot of maintenance is carried out to ensure that the airport facilities continue to deliver high operational performance. Because of the backlog in the replacement and renewal of our assets, investments need to be made. Here are some examples of major projects:
Schiphol considers it very important that everyone at Schiphol has a healthy and safe working environment. One of our top priorities is the improvement of working conditions, and thats something were working hard on. Initiatives include:
Schiphol is making the airport more sustainable. Efforts to accelerate this process include:
We are investing in safety to ensure the safest possible airport processes. For example:
Hong Kong – LCQ4: Improving incomes of grass-roots families and wage earners
Following is a question by the Hon Kingsley Wong and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (June 21):Improving machine learning for materials design
“Machine learning is a powerful tool for predicting the composition of elements and process needed to fabricate a material with specific properties,” explains Ryo Tamura, a senior researcher at NIMS who specializes in the field of materials informatics.
Ryo Tamura
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
Email: tamura.ryo@nims.go.jp
STAM Methods Publishing Director
Email: SHINOHARA.Yoshikazu@nims.go.jp
Topic: Press release summaryHong Kong – CE signs Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021 (with photos)
The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (May 29) signed in accordance with Article 48(3) of the Basic Law the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021 passed by the Legislative Council (LegCo). The Ordinance will come into immediate effect after it is published in the Gazette on Monday (May 31).Ads
