.The Washington Post
Democracy Dies in Darkness
Sections
Try 1 month for $1
Sign In
Newsletters & Alerts
Gift Subscriptions
Contact Us
Help Desk
Accessibility for screenreader
Checkpoint
Trump’s top Army appointee wants faster innovation. Can his service make it happen?
by Dan Lamothe May 28 Email the author
Army Secretary Mark Esper, shown touring the Watervliet Arsenal in New York in March, says the Army must begin modernizing now to outmatch potential adversaries, including Russia and China. (U.S. Army)
WARREN, Mich. — Army Secretary Mark. T. Esper climbed into the back of an experimental Bradley Fighting Vehicle on a recent afternoon, donning a helmet with plans to observe the armored behemoth from the inside. An operator put the 28-ton vehicle in autonomous mode for a demonstration, but it halted with a lurch. The computer had “dropped” the planned route from its memory.
The visit to the Army’s automotive research center is illustrative of the service’s efforts to modernize after nearly 17 years of war. The Army, after a string of fits and starts and multibillion-dollar failures, is pressing to field a variety of replacements in its aging fleet of combat vehicles. Esper says it is urgent that the Army begin modernizing now to outmatch potential adversaries such as Russia and China.
“I think that we are at an inflection right now in history,” Esper said in an interview. “I think we have been for the last year or so, and I think it’s a time to come in and make a difference. If I can leave here after three years and have made a difference, I’ll feel good about the experience.”
Esper became President Trump’s top political appointee in the Army after a tumultuous period in which two other nominees changed their minds about taking the job. Vincent Viola, a billionaire Wall Street trader and owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, withdrew in February 2017 after struggling to untangle his financial conflicts of interest. Trump then nominated Tennessee state Sen. Mark E. Green, who stepped aside in May under pressure for past comments about Muslims, transgender people and Hispanics.
Trump nominated Esper in July, and the Senate confirmed him in November with an 89-6 vote. Like some of Trump’s other Pentagon nominees, he joined the administration after working in the defense industry, a trend that some government watchdogs consider troubling. For the previous seven years, he was vice president for government relations at Raytheon, acting as a senior lobbyist.
Esper, a native of Uniontown, Pa., attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., graduating in 1986, the same year as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He embarked on a 25-year military career that included time in the active-duty Army and the Virginia National Guard, and a deployment during the Persian Gulf War.
Outside the military, he has held several other jobs in government, including deputy assistant secretary of defense during the administration of President George W. Bush, national security adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), and a legislative director to then-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). He also was chief of staff from 1996 to 1999 at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has been influential in the Trump administration.
Esper, who is married and has three children in their 20s, has eschewed commentary about polarizing issues while focusing on building up the military. Asked about Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, he told reporters that the issue “really hasn’t come up” during his visits with U.S. troops. When it comes to fully integrating women in the military, he said that “everybody wants to be treated with a clear set of standards,” a response suggesting that he sees no reason to exclude women.
Taking the Army secretary job was appealing because of the team of leaders the Trump administration has assembled in the Pentagon, beginning with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Esper said. As Army secretary, Esper is the senior civilian official in the service, overseeing such matters as weapons acquisition, personnel issues and the approval of awards for valor.
The secretary has been on the road repeatedly since taking office, visiting soldiers from South Korea to Germany. In recent days, he has advocated for a six-point list of modernization priorities that his service adopted in October before he took office. It includes investing in futuristic long-range ground fires such as hypersonic weapons, new combat vehicles, Army aircraft, communications equipment that can withstand cyberattacks, missile defense and boosting individual soldiers’ combat abilities with better equipment.
Since 1995, the Army has spent more than $32 billion on programs that were canceled early, an embarrassment that has prompted bipartisan concern and promises from senior Army officials to do better. Esper and the Army’s top generals are hanging their hopes for change on a new unit — Army Futures Command — that will be led by a four-star general. It will focus on making sure that the Army is realistic in what it requires from industry, and that military officials and defense contractors alike don’t stray too far from initial plans after a contract is signed.
“One of the key challenges the military has faced — and the Army, in particular — is defining our requirements and keeping them stable,” Esper said. “In the past… we would take years to develop a set of requirements, and they would be so grandiose that they would be unachievable in the amount of money one would have, and the amount of time one would need.”
The effort began before Esper took office, but he speaks about it often, describing it as a “reasonable bet” to make sure future projects are completed. Futures Command will “clean up lines of accountability,” he said, with a single 500-person staff overseeing acquisition in a way that did not exist before. That general has been selected, Esper said, but not yet announced.
The Army cut the number of potential homes for the command to 15 in April, and expects to reduce that number to between three and five cities soon, Esper said. The list includes northeastern metropolises such as Boston and New York, but also tech-rich cities in the west such as San Francisco and Seattle. Washington, D.C., is not on the list.
“I don’t want to taint the process too much, but there has to be talent,” Esper said of the final location. “It has to be livable. It has to provide a quality of life for your folks, and then we’ll see what else they put on the table. They may offer some things that they may think are attractive to us to bring up.”
In Michigan, Esper rode on futuristic vehicles that could play a role in the Army’s future while visiting the Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). The experimental Bradley — which Army officials call a Mission Enabling Technologies Demonstrator — was outfitted with a self-driving option and a remotely operated gun turret. The Army says the upgrades could cut back on the number of soldiers needed in combat in the future.
Army officials told Esper that the autonomous programming in it works “nine times out of 10.” They offered to reset the computer while the secretary was aboard, but his schedule was too tight to wait.
Esper also rode in a 10-wheel truck designed to include robotic “leader-follower” programming. It followed another one over roads and muddy fields. The effort went more smoothly than the glitch on the self-driving Bradley.
The Bradley had a second issue, as well. The experimental “MET-D” is designed to fly a small drone on a tether, giving soldiers inside a better view of what might be ahead on the battlefield. But the Army isn’t using it in demonstrations, following a decision last year to ground some small drones — many made in China — because of cybersecurity concerns.
Esper said visiting places such as the automotive center in Michigan “really helps connect dots” on what is going on in the Army. He said he was impressed by the advances in autonomous vehicles.
“It has a promise out there that we have to realize to change the character of warfare in our favor,” he said. “Our warfighting doctrine is that we don’t want to be in a fair fight, and we want the fight to always be tilted in our favor. And that’s a promise of autonomy.”
Dan Lamothe covers the Pentagon and the U.S. military for The Washington Post. He joined the newspaper in 2014. He has covered the military for more than a decade, embedding with U.S. troops in Afghanistan on numerous occasions.
Follow @danlamothe
subscribe
The story must be told.
Your subscription supports journalism that matters.
Try 1 month for $1
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Ghana Rugby welcomes Nigeria back to international participation
Nigeria last played in the 2016 Africa Cup - Division 1C when it beat Mauritius 31 to 12 but was beaten by Morocco 53 to 10
ACCRA, Ghana, May 30, 2018/ -- Mr. Herbert Mensah, President and Board Chairman of Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org), sent a letter to the President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Mr Kelechukwu Mbagwu, in which he congratulated the Federation on the lifting of the suspension on the Federation by Rugby Africa.
Mensah said, “I would like to congratulate you personally and on behalf of Ghana Rugby on the lifting of the suspension and we welcome the NRFF back to participating in international tournaments and matches.
Ghana Rugby and the NRFF have a long history of building the Game in the sub-region, and we are excited to join hands with you and the NRFF to pick up on that history and positively move forward to continue building character in West Africa, in Africa and the greater world of Rugby.
May your return to the international Rugby scene write a story of great achievements that will bring joy to the larger Rugby Family.”
Although the breaking news has not been broken by Rugby Africa yet, it was announced in The Guardian in Nigeria on Wednesday 30 May 2018.
According to The Guardian, Nigeria was suspended from all international activities following a leadership crisis that trailed last year’s election into the board of the federation. The suspension stopped Nigeria from featuring in some international engagements in 2017.
The Guardian further reported comments from the NRFF President as follows, “I am happy to see that Nigeria is back to the international scene. On assuming office as the president of (NRFF), I stated that it would not take too long for Nigeria to be back in the international scene. The journey had not been easy, but I thank God Rugby Afrique understood the need to develop rugby in Nigeria by lifting the ban.”
“We are grateful. This recent development would make the NRFF redouble its efforts and keep working hard to reposition the national rugby team (The Black Stallions), the female team, Nigerian domestic clubs and grassroots development programmes.”
World Rugby’s member section states that the NRFF was founded in 1998, five years before Ghana Rugby, and affiliated to World Rugby in 2001.
Nigeria last played in the 2016 Africa Cup - Division 1C when it beat Mauritius 31 to 12 but was beaten by Morocco 53 to 10.
According to official statistics from World Rugby, Ghana and Nigeria have not faced each other in a Men’s 15s competition since 2013. With Ghana Rugby’s promotion to the Rugby Africa Silver Cup, it may be some time before the Ghana Eagles and Nigeria Black Stallions face each other in an official Rugby Africa competition.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ghana Rugby Football Union.
View multimedia content
Media Contact:
Rugby@APO-opa.org
About Ghana Rugby
Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org) is the official full member of both World Rugby and Rugby Afrique in Ghana-West Africa and is responsible for the management and development of the game Rugby Union in the country.
SOURCE
Ghana Rugby Football Union
Multimedia content
Download logo
Image: Mr Herbert Mensah, President of Ghana Rugby, welcomed the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) back to international participation after its suspension was lifetd by Rugby Africa
Image: Mr Kelechukwu Mbagwu, President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), said that he was happy to see that Nigeria is back to the international scene
Link: Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU)
Link: Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF)
Share
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google+ | Tumblr | Reddit | Pinterest | StumbleUpon
APO Group - Africa Newsroom | Safe sender instructions | Privacy Policy
Distributed by :
APO Group
2nd, 3rd and 4th floor
Voie du Chariot 3
1003 Lausanne – Switzerland
Tel : +41 22 534 96 97
E-mail: switzerland (at) APO-opa.org
www.APO-opa.com
To unsubscribe from APO news releases please click here.
Quick Reply
To: News Release - APO <no-reply@apo-wire.com>
Include quoted text with reply
« Back to Inbox ‹ Newer 22 of hundreds Older ›
Search accurately with operators including from: to: subject:.
You're currently using 12396 MB (80%) of your 15360 MB
Last account activity: 41 minutes ago on this computer. Details
Gmail view: standard | basic HTML Learn more
Terms - Privacy - Google Home
ACCRA, Ghana, May 30, 2018/ -- Mr. Herbert Mensah, President and Board Chairman of Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org), sent a letter to the President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Mr Kelechukwu Mbagwu, in which he congratulated the Federation on the lifting of the suspension on the Federation by Rugby Africa.
Mensah said, “I would like to congratulate you personally and on behalf of Ghana Rugby on the lifting of the suspension and we welcome the NRFF back to participating in international tournaments and matches.
Ghana Rugby and the NRFF have a long history of building the Game in the sub-region, and we are excited to join hands with you and the NRFF to pick up on that history and positively move forward to continue building character in West Africa, in Africa and the greater world of Rugby.
May your return to the international Rugby scene write a story of great achievements that will bring joy to the larger Rugby Family.”
Although the breaking news has not been broken by Rugby Africa yet, it was announced in The Guardian in Nigeria on Wednesday 30 May 2018.
According to The Guardian, Nigeria was suspended from all international activities following a leadership crisis that trailed last year’s election into the board of the federation. The suspension stopped Nigeria from featuring in some international engagements in 2017.
The Guardian further reported comments from the NRFF President as follows, “I am happy to see that Nigeria is back to the international scene. On assuming office as the president of (NRFF), I stated that it would not take too long for Nigeria to be back in the international scene. The journey had not been easy, but I thank God Rugby Afrique understood the need to develop rugby in Nigeria by lifting the ban.”
“We are grateful. This recent development would make the NRFF redouble its efforts and keep working hard to reposition the national rugby team (The Black Stallions), the female team, Nigerian domestic clubs and grassroots development programmes.”
World Rugby’s member section states that the NRFF was founded in 1998, five years before Ghana Rugby, and affiliated to World Rugby in 2001.
Nigeria last played in the 2016 Africa Cup - Division 1C when it beat Mauritius 31 to 12 but was beaten by Morocco 53 to 10.
According to official statistics from World Rugby, Ghana and Nigeria have not faced each other in a Men’s 15s competition since 2013. With Ghana Rugby’s promotion to the Rugby Africa Silver Cup, it may be some time before the Ghana Eagles and Nigeria Black Stallions face each other in an official Rugby Africa competition.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ghana Rugby Football Union.
View multimedia content
Media Contact:
Rugby@APO-opa.org
About Ghana Rugby
Ghana Rugby (http://GhanaRugby.org) is the official full member of both World Rugby and Rugby Afrique in Ghana-West Africa and is responsible for the management and development of the game Rugby Union in the country.
SOURCE
Ghana Rugby Football Union
Multimedia content
Download logo
Image: Mr Herbert Mensah, President of Ghana Rugby, welcomed the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) back to international participation after its suspension was lifetd by Rugby Africa
Image: Mr Kelechukwu Mbagwu, President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), said that he was happy to see that Nigeria is back to the international scene
Link: Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU)
Link: Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF)
Share
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google+ | Tumblr | Reddit | Pinterest | StumbleUpon
APO Group - Africa Newsroom | Safe sender instructions | Privacy Policy
Distributed by :
APO Group
2nd, 3rd and 4th floor
Voie du Chariot 3
1003 Lausanne – Switzerland
Tel : +41 22 534 96 97
E-mail: switzerland (at) APO-opa.org
www.APO-opa.com
To unsubscribe from APO news releases please click here.
Quick Reply
To: News Release - APO <no-reply@apo-wire.com>
Include quoted text with reply
« Back to Inbox ‹ Newer 22 of hundreds Older ›
Search accurately with operators including from: to: subject:.
You're currently using 12396 MB (80%) of your 15360 MB
Last account activity: 41 minutes ago on this computer. Details
Gmail view: standard | basic HTML Learn more
Terms - Privacy - Google Home
Ozy Magazine/Tafline Laylin: From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
Ozy Magazine
Rising Stars
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
By Tafline Laylin • MAY 30 2018
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
Why you should care
Because Liberia’s youth has a chance to reverse a history of corruption and war.
LR flag
Liberia
view map
POPULATION
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
GDP PER CAPITA
CAPITAL CITY
Geo facts & figures
Two dozen years ago, Eddie Jarwolo was a homeless “street kid,” as his native Liberia was torn apart by a devastating civil war. Now 44, he is remarkably at ease, sitting in front of a wall topped by barbed wire at his home in Monrovia, where he has grabbed a leading role in shaping his country’s future without political office or much money to his name.
The founder and executive director of Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, Jarwolo is grooming a new generation of socially conscious, politically active Liberian youth. He matter-of-factly tells me that his organization’s grass-roots activism helped contribute to the West African nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in decades late last year. The work didn’t end there.
My vision was to have a quality of leader that could make our life better.
Eddie Jarwolo
“Most elected leaders are not accessible, they’re not responsive,” says the married father of two, “and they’re not accountable to those who elected them.” He is trying to bridge the divide between government and disaffected youth by teaching them to communicate through public forums. At a recent three-hour event organized through Naymote’s Youth Legislative Program, Jarwolo says six legislators, including Deputy Speaker Prince Kermue Moye, met with a diverse group of 50 students and youth leaders to discuss lawmakers’ responsibility to serve them.
But Liberia’s democracy is young, and Jarwolo’s efforts are just a drop in the bucket for a desperately poor country that still struggles to deliver services and relies heavily on international aid. As does Naymote: Most of the organization’s $200,000 annual budget comes from the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, with some help from the U.S. government and the United Nations. Nor does Liberia’s government always appreciate Jarwolo’s demands for transparency surrounding the management of public funds.
Still, Jarwolo is doing his best to chip away at problems in areas such as the criminal justice system, plagued with high crime rates and heavy-handed policing that erode trust. He devised a partial fix: Through his School Law and Justice Program, three members of the police department and a lawyer join students at their schools to discuss the meaning of crime and due process. The goal is to help young people understand and access the law, as well as prevent crime in their own schools and communities. And then, because the man seems to have boundless energy, Jarwolo established the Young Political Leadership School in April 2016 to train new political leaders between the ages of 18 and 35.
So far, 330 people have graduated from the 12-week program, and eight have used their new speaking and organizing skills to jump into politics, according to Jarwolo. One of them, Sekou Kalasco Jomanday, scored the coveted role of aide to Liberian President George Weah.
Speaking over WhatsApp, Jomanday partially credits YPLS training for his new position. Yet Oscar Bloh, steering committee chairman of the Elections Coordinating Committee, points out that Jomanday is also the president’s longtime friend. Translation: It’s not just the leadership school. Otherwise, Bloh lauds Jarwolo’s work as critical to building Liberia’s democracy. With people younger than 25 comprising about 65 percent of the population, he says, “Eddie’s group” helps them make more informed choices about their leadership. He describes a man who is “passionate about youth empowerment” — something Jarwolo attributes to growing up during a civil war that shattered the nation.
Jarwolo
Naymote members taking part in a civic and voter education campaign in Weala, Margibi County, Liberia, during the 2017 elections.
Source Naymote Media
The violence that besieged Liberia from 1989 to 2003 separated a teenage Jarwolo from his parents and seven siblings. His father, a teacher, was stuck with his mother at the Rural Teacher Training Institute in Kakata, while Jarwolo stayed with a friend and finished high school in Monrovia. The family caring for him eventually fled to the U.S., and his friend was killed on his way to join them. The Journal of Conflict Studies reported that 1 million Liberians were left homeless by the end of 1990. By 1994, Jarwolo was one of them. “That was a terrible time in my life,” he says. “I was like a street kid.” But then he got a lucky break.
At a basketball game, Jarwolo met Hassan Jawhary, a Lebanese businessman. Jawhary financed the ambitious young man’s first two semesters at African Methodist Episcopal University in Monrovia starting in 1996, in exchange for helping manage the national volleyball team. But school made it hard for Jarwolo to keep up the work, and the funds dried up. So he started a nongovernmental organization to help raise money for himself and other young Liberians.
As soon as he graduated with his bachelor’s in sociology in 2001, Jarwolo founded Naymote (National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections). While everyone else was documenting warlord and president Charles Taylor’s crimes against humanity, Jarwolo wanted to prepare Liberia for future elections. “My vision was to have a quality of leader that could make our life better,” he says. But first he had to prepare himself.
Between 2005 and 2011, Jarwolo participated in three U.S. exchange and fellowship programs, including the five-month Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows program in Washington, D.C., and completed a master’s in public administration in Liberia. Dave Peterson, senior director of the Africa Program of the National Endowment for Democracy, says Jarwolo is “truly committed to making the world a better place.” He applied his American know-how in Liberia by borrowing an idea from Oregon: The volunteer-driven Liberia Bus Project is a nonpartisan mission to educate the country’s electorate on political issues, rolling through communities and blasting out information via cellphone to inaccessible areas. He calls the effort “my payback to the American taxpayer” for his fellowships.
It was also a test drive of Jarwolo’s nationwide reach, as he works toward his ultimate goal: priming a future Liberian president. In Africa if people want to get rich, Jarwolo says, they get a government job. If they want to sacrifice and help people, they do civil society work. “I was not born to be rich,” he says. “I was born to serve.”
Tafline Laylin, OZY Author
Contact Tafline Laylin
Explore the world
This year, OZY is going Around the World, bringing you untold stories from every single country on the map, one day at a time, to introduce you to new people, new trends and new places.
A Serene and Unexpected Liberian Paradise
Liberia flagLiberia
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
Liberia flagLiberia
The Bunkerization of Albania
Albania flagAlbania
view full series
Facebook
Twitter
245Shares
Copied
Copy link
Email
Think Outside
The Inbox
Get the important stories, told nowhere else.
Email address
Invalid email
Hey, it looks like you’re on our list already! Your subscription has been updated!
Well, that's embarrassing. An error occurred. Please email us at support@ozy.com.
OZY Terms & Conditions
Most Popular on OZY
The Life and Strangely Sexual Death of Nelson Rockefeller
Flashback
The Life and Strangely Sexual Death of Nelson Rockefeller
The famed businessman’s 70 years on Earth before succumbing to an alleged sex-fueled heart attack are truly the stuff beyond legend.
OZY Cover Story: Blood in Bluff City
Need to Know
OZY Cover Story: Blood in Bluff City
OZY takes a deep dive into the murder of Memphis’ last hometown hoops hero.
The Ins + Outs of Spouse Swapping
Wildcard
The Ins + Outs of Spouse Swapping
OZY’s Eugene S. Robinson addresses queries from the love-weary in Sex With Eugene.
Meet the Lousy Kansas Hangman Who Executed Nazis
Flashback
Meet the Lousy Kansas Hangman Who Executed Nazis
John C. Woods was an inept hangman, but he got to practice on Nazis convicted at Nuremberg.
OZYRising Stars
People shaking up their fields, old dogs doing new tricks, and those who like to bring the ruckus.
She's Finding El Salvador's Lost Children
Rising Stars
She's Finding El Salvador's Lost Children
As Margarita Zamora reunites families shattered by her country’s civil war, she searches for answers to her own personal tragedy.
The People's Therapist Turns From the Bedroom to the Boardroom
Rising Stars
The People's Therapist Turns From the Bedroom to the Boardroom
Millions listen to Esther Perel’s couples’ counseling podcast. Now she’s taking on the workplace.
Is He the Most Connected Man in Africa?
Rising Stars
Is He the Most Connected Man in Africa?
An electrical engineer by training, Cameroonian Acha Leke turns his problem-solving acumen to Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
The South African Waste Warrior
Rising Stars
The South African Waste Warrior
Nomuntu Ndhlovu, 27, wants to turn rural South Africa’s waste into electricity and biodiesel.
This Berniecrat Aims to Unseat a Queens Power Broker
Rising Stars
This Berniecrat Aims to Unseat a Queens Power Broker
First-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, is fighting for the future of the Democratic Party.
More from Rising Stars
get caught up
with the presidential daily brief
Study Casts Doubt on Benefits of Common Vitamins
Doctor's Order
Study Casts Doubt on Benefits of Common Vitamins
Serena Williams Wins First French Open Match in Bold Comeback
Bouncing Back
Serena Williams Wins First French Open Match in Bold Comeback
vault ahead
with the daily dose
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
Fast Forward
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
Rising Stars
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
SEE BEYOND
40M People and growing
Facebook
Twitter
Apple
Youtube
Instagram
The Week On OZYAbout OZYMeet The TeamJobs @ OZYAdvertise On OZYPrivacy Policy
© OZY 2018 Terms & Conditions
Rising Stars
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
By Tafline Laylin • MAY 30 2018
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
Why you should care
Because Liberia’s youth has a chance to reverse a history of corruption and war.
LR flag
Liberia
view map
POPULATION
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
GDP PER CAPITA
CAPITAL CITY
Geo facts & figures
Two dozen years ago, Eddie Jarwolo was a homeless “street kid,” as his native Liberia was torn apart by a devastating civil war. Now 44, he is remarkably at ease, sitting in front of a wall topped by barbed wire at his home in Monrovia, where he has grabbed a leading role in shaping his country’s future without political office or much money to his name.
The founder and executive director of Naymote Partners for Democratic Development, Jarwolo is grooming a new generation of socially conscious, politically active Liberian youth. He matter-of-factly tells me that his organization’s grass-roots activism helped contribute to the West African nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in decades late last year. The work didn’t end there.
My vision was to have a quality of leader that could make our life better.
Eddie Jarwolo
“Most elected leaders are not accessible, they’re not responsive,” says the married father of two, “and they’re not accountable to those who elected them.” He is trying to bridge the divide between government and disaffected youth by teaching them to communicate through public forums. At a recent three-hour event organized through Naymote’s Youth Legislative Program, Jarwolo says six legislators, including Deputy Speaker Prince Kermue Moye, met with a diverse group of 50 students and youth leaders to discuss lawmakers’ responsibility to serve them.
But Liberia’s democracy is young, and Jarwolo’s efforts are just a drop in the bucket for a desperately poor country that still struggles to deliver services and relies heavily on international aid. As does Naymote: Most of the organization’s $200,000 annual budget comes from the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, with some help from the U.S. government and the United Nations. Nor does Liberia’s government always appreciate Jarwolo’s demands for transparency surrounding the management of public funds.
Still, Jarwolo is doing his best to chip away at problems in areas such as the criminal justice system, plagued with high crime rates and heavy-handed policing that erode trust. He devised a partial fix: Through his School Law and Justice Program, three members of the police department and a lawyer join students at their schools to discuss the meaning of crime and due process. The goal is to help young people understand and access the law, as well as prevent crime in their own schools and communities. And then, because the man seems to have boundless energy, Jarwolo established the Young Political Leadership School in April 2016 to train new political leaders between the ages of 18 and 35.
So far, 330 people have graduated from the 12-week program, and eight have used their new speaking and organizing skills to jump into politics, according to Jarwolo. One of them, Sekou Kalasco Jomanday, scored the coveted role of aide to Liberian President George Weah.
Speaking over WhatsApp, Jomanday partially credits YPLS training for his new position. Yet Oscar Bloh, steering committee chairman of the Elections Coordinating Committee, points out that Jomanday is also the president’s longtime friend. Translation: It’s not just the leadership school. Otherwise, Bloh lauds Jarwolo’s work as critical to building Liberia’s democracy. With people younger than 25 comprising about 65 percent of the population, he says, “Eddie’s group” helps them make more informed choices about their leadership. He describes a man who is “passionate about youth empowerment” — something Jarwolo attributes to growing up during a civil war that shattered the nation.
Jarwolo
Naymote members taking part in a civic and voter education campaign in Weala, Margibi County, Liberia, during the 2017 elections.
Source Naymote Media
The violence that besieged Liberia from 1989 to 2003 separated a teenage Jarwolo from his parents and seven siblings. His father, a teacher, was stuck with his mother at the Rural Teacher Training Institute in Kakata, while Jarwolo stayed with a friend and finished high school in Monrovia. The family caring for him eventually fled to the U.S., and his friend was killed on his way to join them. The Journal of Conflict Studies reported that 1 million Liberians were left homeless by the end of 1990. By 1994, Jarwolo was one of them. “That was a terrible time in my life,” he says. “I was like a street kid.” But then he got a lucky break.
At a basketball game, Jarwolo met Hassan Jawhary, a Lebanese businessman. Jawhary financed the ambitious young man’s first two semesters at African Methodist Episcopal University in Monrovia starting in 1996, in exchange for helping manage the national volleyball team. But school made it hard for Jarwolo to keep up the work, and the funds dried up. So he started a nongovernmental organization to help raise money for himself and other young Liberians.
As soon as he graduated with his bachelor’s in sociology in 2001, Jarwolo founded Naymote (National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections). While everyone else was documenting warlord and president Charles Taylor’s crimes against humanity, Jarwolo wanted to prepare Liberia for future elections. “My vision was to have a quality of leader that could make our life better,” he says. But first he had to prepare himself.
Between 2005 and 2011, Jarwolo participated in three U.S. exchange and fellowship programs, including the five-month Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows program in Washington, D.C., and completed a master’s in public administration in Liberia. Dave Peterson, senior director of the Africa Program of the National Endowment for Democracy, says Jarwolo is “truly committed to making the world a better place.” He applied his American know-how in Liberia by borrowing an idea from Oregon: The volunteer-driven Liberia Bus Project is a nonpartisan mission to educate the country’s electorate on political issues, rolling through communities and blasting out information via cellphone to inaccessible areas. He calls the effort “my payback to the American taxpayer” for his fellowships.
It was also a test drive of Jarwolo’s nationwide reach, as he works toward his ultimate goal: priming a future Liberian president. In Africa if people want to get rich, Jarwolo says, they get a government job. If they want to sacrifice and help people, they do civil society work. “I was not born to be rich,” he says. “I was born to serve.”
Tafline Laylin, OZY Author
Contact Tafline Laylin
Explore the world
This year, OZY is going Around the World, bringing you untold stories from every single country on the map, one day at a time, to introduce you to new people, new trends and new places.
A Serene and Unexpected Liberian Paradise
Liberia flagLiberia
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
Liberia flagLiberia
The Bunkerization of Albania
Albania flagAlbania
view full series
245Shares
Copied
Copy link
Think Outside
The Inbox
Get the important stories, told nowhere else.
Email address
Invalid email
Hey, it looks like you’re on our list already! Your subscription has been updated!
Well, that's embarrassing. An error occurred. Please email us at support@ozy.com.
OZY Terms & Conditions
Most Popular on OZY
The Life and Strangely Sexual Death of Nelson Rockefeller
Flashback
The Life and Strangely Sexual Death of Nelson Rockefeller
The famed businessman’s 70 years on Earth before succumbing to an alleged sex-fueled heart attack are truly the stuff beyond legend.
OZY Cover Story: Blood in Bluff City
Need to Know
OZY Cover Story: Blood in Bluff City
OZY takes a deep dive into the murder of Memphis’ last hometown hoops hero.
The Ins + Outs of Spouse Swapping
Wildcard
The Ins + Outs of Spouse Swapping
OZY’s Eugene S. Robinson addresses queries from the love-weary in Sex With Eugene.
Meet the Lousy Kansas Hangman Who Executed Nazis
Flashback
Meet the Lousy Kansas Hangman Who Executed Nazis
John C. Woods was an inept hangman, but he got to practice on Nazis convicted at Nuremberg.
OZYRising Stars
People shaking up their fields, old dogs doing new tricks, and those who like to bring the ruckus.
She's Finding El Salvador's Lost Children
Rising Stars
She's Finding El Salvador's Lost Children
As Margarita Zamora reunites families shattered by her country’s civil war, she searches for answers to her own personal tragedy.
The People's Therapist Turns From the Bedroom to the Boardroom
Rising Stars
The People's Therapist Turns From the Bedroom to the Boardroom
Millions listen to Esther Perel’s couples’ counseling podcast. Now she’s taking on the workplace.
Is He the Most Connected Man in Africa?
Rising Stars
Is He the Most Connected Man in Africa?
An electrical engineer by training, Cameroonian Acha Leke turns his problem-solving acumen to Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
The South African Waste Warrior
Rising Stars
The South African Waste Warrior
Nomuntu Ndhlovu, 27, wants to turn rural South Africa’s waste into electricity and biodiesel.
This Berniecrat Aims to Unseat a Queens Power Broker
Rising Stars
This Berniecrat Aims to Unseat a Queens Power Broker
First-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, is fighting for the future of the Democratic Party.
More from Rising Stars
get caught up
with the presidential daily brief
Study Casts Doubt on Benefits of Common Vitamins
Doctor's Order
Study Casts Doubt on Benefits of Common Vitamins
Serena Williams Wins First French Open Match in Bold Comeback
Bouncing Back
Serena Williams Wins First French Open Match in Bold Comeback
vault ahead
with the daily dose
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
Fast Forward
Liberia's Irrepressible Push to Dismantle Draconian Libel Laws
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
Rising Stars
From Street Kid ... to Liberia's Kingmaker?
SEE BEYOND
40M People and growing
Apple
Youtube
The Week On OZYAbout OZYMeet The TeamJobs @ OZYAdvertise On OZYPrivacy Policy
© OZY 2018 Terms & Conditions
National Review/Mairead McArdle: Trump: ‘I Wish I Did’ Not Pick Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
The Corner
News
White House
Trump: ‘I Wish I Did’ Not Pick Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
By Mairead McArdle
May 30, 2018 10:02 AM
Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Aaron P. Bernstein)
President Trump said Wednesday morning that wishes he picked someone besides Jeff Sessions for attorney general, one of his most direct attacks on the former senator.
“I wish I did!” the president wrote on Twitter after quoting Congressman Trey Gowdy, who expressed sympathy with Trump’s frustration that he could have picked someone else to be the nation’s cop.
Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation a year ago after pressure to do so due to his contacts with the Russian ambassador as well as his role as a campaign surrogate.
Trump has publicly attacked Sessions on several occasions since his recusal, even though the former Alabama senator was one of the first high-profile Republicans to endorse the New York real estate billionaire during campaign season.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the president asked Sessions to reverse his recusal, frustrated with his attorney general’s inability to help him regarding the investigation of his campaign’s ties to Russia. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating the president’s request to determine whether Trump tried to obstruct the Russia probe.
“I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward,” Gowdy said on CBS in the interview that the president quoted.
Stay Updated with NR Daily
NR's afternoon roundup of the day's best commentary & must-read analysis.
“He could have picked someone else,” the South Carolina Republican added.
Gowdy broke with the president, however, when he defended the Obama administration FBI’s use of a confidential informant to probe connections between Russia and the Trump campaign before the election.
“Based on what I have seen, I don’t know what the FBI could have done or should have done other than run out a lead that someone loosely connected with the campaign was making assertions about Russia, I would think you would want the FBI to find out whether there was any validity to what those people were saying,” the Tea Party congressman said.
Trump has dubbed the informant operation “Spygate” and accused the “criminal deep state” of politically-motivated spying on his campaign, saying it may be “one of the biggest political scandals in history!”
NOW WATCH: ‘What Is The Fallout Of A Potential Rosenstein Firing?’
News
White House
Trump: ‘I Wish I Did’ Not Pick Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
By Mairead McArdle
May 30, 2018 10:02 AM
Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Aaron P. Bernstein)
President Trump said Wednesday morning that wishes he picked someone besides Jeff Sessions for attorney general, one of his most direct attacks on the former senator.
“I wish I did!” the president wrote on Twitter after quoting Congressman Trey Gowdy, who expressed sympathy with Trump’s frustration that he could have picked someone else to be the nation’s cop.
Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation a year ago after pressure to do so due to his contacts with the Russian ambassador as well as his role as a campaign surrogate.
Trump has publicly attacked Sessions on several occasions since his recusal, even though the former Alabama senator was one of the first high-profile Republicans to endorse the New York real estate billionaire during campaign season.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the president asked Sessions to reverse his recusal, frustrated with his attorney general’s inability to help him regarding the investigation of his campaign’s ties to Russia. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating the president’s request to determine whether Trump tried to obstruct the Russia probe.
“I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward,” Gowdy said on CBS in the interview that the president quoted.
Stay Updated with NR Daily
NR's afternoon roundup of the day's best commentary & must-read analysis.
“He could have picked someone else,” the South Carolina Republican added.
Gowdy broke with the president, however, when he defended the Obama administration FBI’s use of a confidential informant to probe connections between Russia and the Trump campaign before the election.
“Based on what I have seen, I don’t know what the FBI could have done or should have done other than run out a lead that someone loosely connected with the campaign was making assertions about Russia, I would think you would want the FBI to find out whether there was any validity to what those people were saying,” the Tea Party congressman said.
Trump has dubbed the informant operation “Spygate” and accused the “criminal deep state” of politically-motivated spying on his campaign, saying it may be “one of the biggest political scandals in history!”
NOW WATCH: ‘What Is The Fallout Of A Potential Rosenstein Firing?’
The Guardian/Rory Carrollin: Trump's enemy No 1: Michael Avenatti on his quest to take down a president
The Guardian
Stormy Daniels
Trump's enemy No 1: Michael Avenatti on his quest to take down a president
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer insists reports on his finances and personal life are a Trumpian plot with ‘zero bearing’ on his case
Rory Carroll
Rory Carrollin Los Angeles @rorycarroll72
Wed 30 May 2018 06.00 BST
Last modified on Wed 30 May 2018 13.00 BST
Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after the presentation to Stormy Daniels of a key to the city of West Hollywood.
Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after the presentation to Stormy Daniels of a key to the city of West Hollywood. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Stormy Daniels stood in front of the sex shop wearing a big smile and holding a small box which contained the key to West Hollywood.
Facing Trump, a historian appeals to America's soul: 'I think we'll survive'
Read more
City officials stood on one side, a mannequin with chains and a leather jockstrap on the other. Camera crews and supporters packed the sidewalk, some clambering on to a roof for a better view. “Go Stormy,” yelled a man clutching a margarita. This was – by official proclamation – Stormy Daniels Day. Outside the liberal California enclave of West Hollywood, it was known as Wednesday.
The celebration was not for Daniels’ work in adult films. In the United States of 2018 this was a political event – an act of solidarity expressed by a backdrop with a single word: “#resist”.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has tangled Donald Trump in knots over hush money paid to conceal his alleged one-night stand with her in 2006, an imbroglio which some analysts say poses a graver threat to the president than Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Hence the city of West Hollywood hailing Daniels a “profile in courage” and the bawdy hollers from supporters.
But it was another figure, dapper and bullet-headed, who truly electrified the crowd. If Daniels was the star, here was the ringmaster. “Mi-chael! Mi-chael!”
Michael Avenatti: the attorney who has become a hero of the left by transforming what seemed a tawdry blip for Trump into a millstone around his presidency.
The burlesque tableaux outside Chi Chi LaRue’s sex store belied the high political stakes, said Robbie Turner, 40, jostling to glimpse Daniels and Avenatti. “But if ridiculous saves us from ridiculous, so be it. They’re the only thing that seems to have taken Trump off his stride. I hope they take him down.”
None of the other attorneys are having the press digging into their background or talking about their personal lives
Michael Avenatti
Avenatti, 47 and a veteran litigator who operates from an office in Newport Beach, south of Los Angeles, has waged a relentless legal and media blitz against Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to overturn a non-disclosure agreement signed by Daniels.
This has spilled the revelation that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels before the election, possibly violating federal campaign finance laws. Which in turn has lifted the lid on Cohen parlaying his relationship with the president into payments from corporations and Columbus Nova, an investment firm linked to the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Avenatti has mastered the news cycle by dropping regular bombshells – notably Cohen’s bank transactions – via media interviews and tweets. He can make headlines just by trolling the president and his beleaguered legal fixer.
More is coming, Avenatti told the Guardian. “I don’t believe Mr Trump will complete his term. Information that is going to come to light in the coming months, as well as information that Mr Cohen is going to provide, will make it nearly impossible for him to serve out his term.”
‘Disgusting and despicable’
Avenatti spoke in a wide-ranging interview over breakfast in Beverly Hills, before the West Hollywood event. It touched on his roots, legal strategy, taste for adrenaline – and increasingly fraught relations with parts of the media. As his fame has grown so have questions about his financial affairs and media strategy.
Michael Avenatti in Los Angeles.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Michael Avenatti in Los Angeles. Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Guardian
Affable but wary, arms mostly folded, Avenatti spoke like a man who feels he has a target on his back. Choosing words carefully between sips of orange juice and scans of his phone, he made a striking claim: that his media critics were acting at the behest of the Trump administration.
“There was a period when the other side didn’t perceive us to be a legitimate threat. Now they perceive us to be a legitimate threat – rightly so. The people that want to protect the president and that are very concerned about me and my client being threats are the ones that are targeting our personal lives.
“I think it’s disgusting and despicable. My past business dealings, my personal life, who I’m dating, the details of my divorce, other business matters that I’ve had – all that should be completely off-limits. It’s completely irrelevant to the case.”
In a sign of the pressure, he recently locked his Twitter account. “A strategic decision that I have made, and I think it’s a good one. To the people that don’t like it, tough shit. I’m not under obligation to provide information to everyone that wants it when they want it.” The strategy changed soon after the interview when he unlocked the account, citing requests from people who wished to follow him.
Multiple outlets have reported financial problems at his law firm, Eagan Avenatti, including a $10m bankruptcy court judgment last week. The firm was also supposed to pay $440,291 in back taxes, penalties and interest, part of $2.4m it owes the IRS. Unpaid bills and taxes have also dogged Tully’s Coffee, a Seattle-based chain Avenatti bought in 2013.
The attorney has rebuffed the reports as inaccurate and irrelevant, saying he represents Daniels via another law firm, Avenatti & Associates, and that in any case he is merely an attorney, not a party to her lawsuit. “I’m not a celebrity. I’m a guy doing a job.”
His character has “zero bearing” on the case against Cohen and Trump, he said. “I find it rather fascinating that none of the other attorneys are having the press digging into their background or talking about their personal lives. Why is that? I think it’s pretty clear where a lot of this is coming from.”
I don’t think either of us has a tendency to be easily intimidated. Both of us at times can be described as boisterous
Avenatti on Trump
The news value of Avenatti’s finances is debatable but it is a stretch to cast the Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times and the legal website Law & Crime – all subjects of Avenatti ire – as Trumpian stooges.
Some commentators have said Avenatti is himself Trumpian in the headline-grabbing tweets, trolling, accusations and threats to sue. “I think there are some similarities,” he acknowledged. “There’s a certain degree of media savvy that he has. I don’t think either one of us has a tendency to be easily intimidated. I think that both of us at times can be described as boisterous.”
Still, it would be a rich irony were Trump to fall not to the patrician granite of Mueller, an establishment figure, but a scrappy outsider who uses Trump’s media playbook.
‘For good or for bad I’m a risk taker’
Avenatti grew up middle class in California, Colorado and Utah before his family settled in St Louis, Missouri. His mother gave him a wooden turtle with an accompanying note which seemed to have stuck: “Behold the turtle – he progresses only when his neck is out.”
Life is to be grasped, said Avenatti, who is a race car driver in his spare time. “For good or for bad I’m a risk taker. I like high-stakes, high-reward type situations. I thrive under pressure.”
Jonathan Turley, a professor who mentored Avenatti at George Washington University law school, agreed. “Trial litigation tends to be the most thrilling and punishing ride for lawyers. Not everyone is made for that. Those who excel are often lone wolves and adrenaline junkies. Michael is a dangerous combination of someone who is equally skilled inside and outside the courtroom.”
At law school, Avenatti worked as an opposition political researcher at a firm run by Rahm Emanuel, later to become Barack Obama’s chief of staff and mayor of Chicago. It left him cynical about politics.
He finished first in his class and joined a California firm with celebrity clients, including a socialite in a defamation case against Paris Hilton and a man who claimed Trump and the producers of The Apprentice stole his idea for the show. Avenatti later set up his own firm and racked up more than $1bn worth of verdicts, according to his unabashedly immodest website.
Stormy Daniels receives her key to the city of West Hollywood from Mayor John Duran, left, as Avenatti looks on.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Stormy Daniels receives her key to the city of West Hollywood from Mayor John Duran, left, as Avenatti looks on. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
“He’s very bright, very thorough, very aggressive,” said William Cornwell, a Florida-based attorney who went up against him. “I didn’t agree with all his tactics. There’s a fine line between what’s generally considered appropriate. He’s going to push the envelope. Would I hire him? Depending on the case, absolutely.”
Cornwell had another observation, one to chill the White House. “He’s not bluffing, generally, when he makes a threat or a promise.”
Munching on a bowl of oats and berries, dressed in loose grey pinstripe, Avenatti issued one of his characteristic, tantalisingly apocalyptic predictions: that Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team should look for cover. “There will be a series of bombshells in connection with this case.”
The evidence will shift public opinion despite Trump’s campaign boast that he could shoot someone and still retain support, said Avenatti. “It reflects an over-confidence that is very dangerous. Nothing lasts forever. History teaches us that.”
Michael is a dangerous combination of someone who is equally skilled inside and outside the courtroom
Jonathan Turley, George Washington University
The decision of Evgeny Freidman, a Cohen business partner, to cooperate with prosecutors as a potential witness was highly significant, he said. “It further tightens the noose on Michael Cohen which in turn further tightens the noose on Mr Trump.”
Avenatti said he had been trying to convince two more women who signed non-disclosure agreements in relation to Trump to come forward. One said no, the other is “on the fence”.
Skills from motor racing were useful in the whirlwind that came with taking on the White House, he said. “You need to stay cool under pressure, you need to be able to take in a lot of data points in a very short period of time.”
Stuart Codling, the executive editor of F1 Racing magazine, said the sport resembled a high-speed game of chess, especially the 24-hour Le Mans race, in which Avenatti competed in 2015. “It’s about maintaining a high average speed. Part of the skill is in avoiding trouble.” Avenatti’s record suggested caution, said Codling. His team finished Le Mans 36th out of 37 that completed the race.
Avenatti said the Daniels case has taken over his life, scotching work-life balance and his exercise regime. “I was probably in the best shape of my life when we filed this case. It’s a 110%, 24/7 effort.” Feeling “burned and betrayed” by some journalists, he plans to be more picky when granting interviews. “We have the ability to be very selective. The media needs us much more than we need the media.”
If Avenatti needed to bask in good vibes, he got it from the crowd in West Hollywood. “God he’s cute, get his phone number,” shouted one man. After the ceremony, Daniels disappeared. Avenatti stayed to speak to TV crews, shake hands and pose for selfies.
“He’s fantastic,” said Duke Mason, 26. “He’s the one they’re really scared of.”
Topics
Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump
Trump administration
US politics
features
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Google+
Most viewed
US
World
Environment
Soccer
US politics
Business
Tech
Science
Homelessness
back to top
make a contribution
subscribe
securedrop
help
advertise with us
work for us
contact us
complaints & corrections
terms & conditions
privacy policy
cookie policy
digital newspaper archive
all topics
all contributors
Facebook
Twitter
© 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Stormy Daniels
Trump's enemy No 1: Michael Avenatti on his quest to take down a president
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer insists reports on his finances and personal life are a Trumpian plot with ‘zero bearing’ on his case
Rory Carroll
Rory Carrollin Los Angeles @rorycarroll72
Wed 30 May 2018 06.00 BST
Last modified on Wed 30 May 2018 13.00 BST
Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after the presentation to Stormy Daniels of a key to the city of West Hollywood.
Michael Avenatti speaks to the media after the presentation to Stormy Daniels of a key to the city of West Hollywood. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Stormy Daniels stood in front of the sex shop wearing a big smile and holding a small box which contained the key to West Hollywood.
Facing Trump, a historian appeals to America's soul: 'I think we'll survive'
Read more
City officials stood on one side, a mannequin with chains and a leather jockstrap on the other. Camera crews and supporters packed the sidewalk, some clambering on to a roof for a better view. “Go Stormy,” yelled a man clutching a margarita. This was – by official proclamation – Stormy Daniels Day. Outside the liberal California enclave of West Hollywood, it was known as Wednesday.
The celebration was not for Daniels’ work in adult films. In the United States of 2018 this was a political event – an act of solidarity expressed by a backdrop with a single word: “#resist”.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has tangled Donald Trump in knots over hush money paid to conceal his alleged one-night stand with her in 2006, an imbroglio which some analysts say poses a graver threat to the president than Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Hence the city of West Hollywood hailing Daniels a “profile in courage” and the bawdy hollers from supporters.
But it was another figure, dapper and bullet-headed, who truly electrified the crowd. If Daniels was the star, here was the ringmaster. “Mi-chael! Mi-chael!”
Michael Avenatti: the attorney who has become a hero of the left by transforming what seemed a tawdry blip for Trump into a millstone around his presidency.
The burlesque tableaux outside Chi Chi LaRue’s sex store belied the high political stakes, said Robbie Turner, 40, jostling to glimpse Daniels and Avenatti. “But if ridiculous saves us from ridiculous, so be it. They’re the only thing that seems to have taken Trump off his stride. I hope they take him down.”
None of the other attorneys are having the press digging into their background or talking about their personal lives
Michael Avenatti
Avenatti, 47 and a veteran litigator who operates from an office in Newport Beach, south of Los Angeles, has waged a relentless legal and media blitz against Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to overturn a non-disclosure agreement signed by Daniels.
This has spilled the revelation that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels before the election, possibly violating federal campaign finance laws. Which in turn has lifted the lid on Cohen parlaying his relationship with the president into payments from corporations and Columbus Nova, an investment firm linked to the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Avenatti has mastered the news cycle by dropping regular bombshells – notably Cohen’s bank transactions – via media interviews and tweets. He can make headlines just by trolling the president and his beleaguered legal fixer.
More is coming, Avenatti told the Guardian. “I don’t believe Mr Trump will complete his term. Information that is going to come to light in the coming months, as well as information that Mr Cohen is going to provide, will make it nearly impossible for him to serve out his term.”
‘Disgusting and despicable’
Avenatti spoke in a wide-ranging interview over breakfast in Beverly Hills, before the West Hollywood event. It touched on his roots, legal strategy, taste for adrenaline – and increasingly fraught relations with parts of the media. As his fame has grown so have questions about his financial affairs and media strategy.
Michael Avenatti in Los Angeles.
Michael Avenatti in Los Angeles. Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Guardian
Affable but wary, arms mostly folded, Avenatti spoke like a man who feels he has a target on his back. Choosing words carefully between sips of orange juice and scans of his phone, he made a striking claim: that his media critics were acting at the behest of the Trump administration.
“There was a period when the other side didn’t perceive us to be a legitimate threat. Now they perceive us to be a legitimate threat – rightly so. The people that want to protect the president and that are very concerned about me and my client being threats are the ones that are targeting our personal lives.
“I think it’s disgusting and despicable. My past business dealings, my personal life, who I’m dating, the details of my divorce, other business matters that I’ve had – all that should be completely off-limits. It’s completely irrelevant to the case.”
In a sign of the pressure, he recently locked his Twitter account. “A strategic decision that I have made, and I think it’s a good one. To the people that don’t like it, tough shit. I’m not under obligation to provide information to everyone that wants it when they want it.” The strategy changed soon after the interview when he unlocked the account, citing requests from people who wished to follow him.
Multiple outlets have reported financial problems at his law firm, Eagan Avenatti, including a $10m bankruptcy court judgment last week. The firm was also supposed to pay $440,291 in back taxes, penalties and interest, part of $2.4m it owes the IRS. Unpaid bills and taxes have also dogged Tully’s Coffee, a Seattle-based chain Avenatti bought in 2013.
The attorney has rebuffed the reports as inaccurate and irrelevant, saying he represents Daniels via another law firm, Avenatti & Associates, and that in any case he is merely an attorney, not a party to her lawsuit. “I’m not a celebrity. I’m a guy doing a job.”
His character has “zero bearing” on the case against Cohen and Trump, he said. “I find it rather fascinating that none of the other attorneys are having the press digging into their background or talking about their personal lives. Why is that? I think it’s pretty clear where a lot of this is coming from.”
I don’t think either of us has a tendency to be easily intimidated. Both of us at times can be described as boisterous
Avenatti on Trump
The news value of Avenatti’s finances is debatable but it is a stretch to cast the Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times and the legal website Law & Crime – all subjects of Avenatti ire – as Trumpian stooges.
Some commentators have said Avenatti is himself Trumpian in the headline-grabbing tweets, trolling, accusations and threats to sue. “I think there are some similarities,” he acknowledged. “There’s a certain degree of media savvy that he has. I don’t think either one of us has a tendency to be easily intimidated. I think that both of us at times can be described as boisterous.”
Still, it would be a rich irony were Trump to fall not to the patrician granite of Mueller, an establishment figure, but a scrappy outsider who uses Trump’s media playbook.
‘For good or for bad I’m a risk taker’
Avenatti grew up middle class in California, Colorado and Utah before his family settled in St Louis, Missouri. His mother gave him a wooden turtle with an accompanying note which seemed to have stuck: “Behold the turtle – he progresses only when his neck is out.”
Life is to be grasped, said Avenatti, who is a race car driver in his spare time. “For good or for bad I’m a risk taker. I like high-stakes, high-reward type situations. I thrive under pressure.”
Jonathan Turley, a professor who mentored Avenatti at George Washington University law school, agreed. “Trial litigation tends to be the most thrilling and punishing ride for lawyers. Not everyone is made for that. Those who excel are often lone wolves and adrenaline junkies. Michael is a dangerous combination of someone who is equally skilled inside and outside the courtroom.”
At law school, Avenatti worked as an opposition political researcher at a firm run by Rahm Emanuel, later to become Barack Obama’s chief of staff and mayor of Chicago. It left him cynical about politics.
He finished first in his class and joined a California firm with celebrity clients, including a socialite in a defamation case against Paris Hilton and a man who claimed Trump and the producers of The Apprentice stole his idea for the show. Avenatti later set up his own firm and racked up more than $1bn worth of verdicts, according to his unabashedly immodest website.
Stormy Daniels receives her key to the city of West Hollywood from Mayor John Duran, left, as Avenatti looks on.
Stormy Daniels receives her key to the city of West Hollywood from Mayor John Duran, left, as Avenatti looks on. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
“He’s very bright, very thorough, very aggressive,” said William Cornwell, a Florida-based attorney who went up against him. “I didn’t agree with all his tactics. There’s a fine line between what’s generally considered appropriate. He’s going to push the envelope. Would I hire him? Depending on the case, absolutely.”
Cornwell had another observation, one to chill the White House. “He’s not bluffing, generally, when he makes a threat or a promise.”
Munching on a bowl of oats and berries, dressed in loose grey pinstripe, Avenatti issued one of his characteristic, tantalisingly apocalyptic predictions: that Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team should look for cover. “There will be a series of bombshells in connection with this case.”
The evidence will shift public opinion despite Trump’s campaign boast that he could shoot someone and still retain support, said Avenatti. “It reflects an over-confidence that is very dangerous. Nothing lasts forever. History teaches us that.”
Michael is a dangerous combination of someone who is equally skilled inside and outside the courtroom
Jonathan Turley, George Washington University
The decision of Evgeny Freidman, a Cohen business partner, to cooperate with prosecutors as a potential witness was highly significant, he said. “It further tightens the noose on Michael Cohen which in turn further tightens the noose on Mr Trump.”
Avenatti said he had been trying to convince two more women who signed non-disclosure agreements in relation to Trump to come forward. One said no, the other is “on the fence”.
Skills from motor racing were useful in the whirlwind that came with taking on the White House, he said. “You need to stay cool under pressure, you need to be able to take in a lot of data points in a very short period of time.”
Stuart Codling, the executive editor of F1 Racing magazine, said the sport resembled a high-speed game of chess, especially the 24-hour Le Mans race, in which Avenatti competed in 2015. “It’s about maintaining a high average speed. Part of the skill is in avoiding trouble.” Avenatti’s record suggested caution, said Codling. His team finished Le Mans 36th out of 37 that completed the race.
Avenatti said the Daniels case has taken over his life, scotching work-life balance and his exercise regime. “I was probably in the best shape of my life when we filed this case. It’s a 110%, 24/7 effort.” Feeling “burned and betrayed” by some journalists, he plans to be more picky when granting interviews. “We have the ability to be very selective. The media needs us much more than we need the media.”
If Avenatti needed to bask in good vibes, he got it from the crowd in West Hollywood. “God he’s cute, get his phone number,” shouted one man. After the ceremony, Daniels disappeared. Avenatti stayed to speak to TV crews, shake hands and pose for selfies.
“He’s fantastic,” said Duke Mason, 26. “He’s the one they’re really scared of.”
Topics
Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump
Trump administration
US politics
features
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Google+
Most viewed
US
World
Environment
Soccer
US politics
Business
Tech
Science
Homelessness
back to top
make a contribution
subscribe
securedrop
help
advertise with us
work for us
contact us
complaints & corrections
terms & conditions
privacy policy
cookie policy
digital newspaper archive
all topics
all contributors
© 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Partners in EXCELLENCE Blog/David Brock: Beware Of “Experts” Sharing Data…..
Partners in EXCELLENCE Blog
About and Services
Transform Your Organization
Hire Dave As A Speaker
Hire Dave As A Coach
Partners In EXCELLENCE Radio And Podcasts
Beware Of “Experts” Sharing Data…..
by David Brock on May 29th, 2018
I guess part of being perceived as being an expert is sharing data and research—all of which supports the conclusions you want people to reach.
Don’t get me wrong, we share data on the results we’ve produced, we share data on research we have conducted. But we are careful to position the context of that data and how it might be interpreted.
But too often, we consciously or unconsciously, we “lie with statistics.”
I read an interesting article in Forbes. Largely, I agree with the author, but he cited an example that is very misleading. I’m certain there was no bad intent, but it was an example that reinforced his basic premise–everything in buying is going digital, the B2B buying process is becoming consumerized.
He posed an example, under the heading, “Don’t Get Fooled By The Occasional Analog Win.”
The example was behavior he noticed on a train ride. A SaaS sales person, over the course of 4 hours and multiple conversations closed a single deal worth $10K. He contrasted that with another sales person sending out a promotional tweet for a logo creation service to 1.2 M followers on Instagram and Twitter. After blasting those messages out, at the end of the train ride, he had converted 800 to orders totalling $16,000.
Clearly, the conclusion we are supposed to reach is a simple posting on Instagram and Twitter was far more productive (in those 4 hours) than a series of phone discussions with a single customer.
“Experts” that want you to drink the “Social Selling Kool Aid” will revel in this example. They will say, “Social selling produced 60% more revenue in the same time, QED!”
But one should be skeptical about these examples. One should start questioning and looking deeper. Some thoughts I had:
1. The $10K SaaS deal was ARR. In reality, the deal was far greater than that, an important metric in SaaS is CLV-Customer Lifetime Value. In reality, this deal was probably worth $10’s of thousands in CLV. I’m not sure what the entire sales cycle was, we’re left to think it was 4 hours, but even if that was the tail end of the sales cycle, that’s a great deal. Let’s be really conservative and imagine CLV at $25K.
To create $1M CLV, I have to close 40 deals. If it’s $1M ARR that I want to hit, I have to close 100 deals (but the CLV for that is $2.5M). On a CLV basis, for the sales person, that’s a little more than 3 deals a month. On an ARR basis, that’s a little more than 8 deals a month—both probably achievable.
2. By contrast the Instagram/Twitter Deal was $16K, based on the description of the company, it looks like that is one-time revenue. The results aren’t stunning. Out of 1.2 M messages, 800 closed—or 0.067%, for an average transaction of $20 per customer.
One starts doing the math. If I want to produce $1M in orders, I have to acquire 50,000 customers. At the 0.067% conversion rate I must reach out to about 75M customers. What’s this mean–can I go to the same 1M+ customers 75 times (clearly there will be significant fatigue in those customers receiving messages. Do I cast a wider net, but the yields are likely to plummet. How do I effectively reach those 75M customers? And at what cost?
Now, all of a sudden, things look a little different. Perhaps the “old school” method actually looks much more intriguing.
In fairness, it’s impossible to ascribe “goodness” to either case, though that’s clearly the implication the author is trying to make. The situations are so different. The selling/buying process, the target customers, the decision-making processes are very different. For example the SaaS deal may have been a complex sale with multiple decision-makers and a higher level of risk. The other deal is a very transactional deal, with very low risk, and likely to be a single decision-maker (Brent and Nick, I know you are reading this, how many $20 deals require 6.8 😉 )
It’s impossible to tell which is better than the other, because these aren’t comparable situations.
Yet we are constantly presented with these false choices or alternatives.
And too often, we get sucked into believing them, often in very dangerous ways.
As consumers of this kind of data, it’s always important to be skeptical of the data and conclusions. Make sure you understand the underlying context and assumptions. Make sure those are relevant to you, representative of your business, customers and markets. Be skeptical of claims of outrageous results, while they may be true, they may only apply to a very special case which may not be representative of the situations you face.
As experts, while it’s fun to present sexy compelling data, but if we are to be responsible and to engage followers in a meaningful way, we have to be careful how we position and present the data. Thinking of customers a gullible and presenting data that, while true, may be very misrepresentative of what they might expect. Be careful, it will always come back to bite you.
Afterword: To help you understand and think about these issues both more deeply and broadly, I highly recommend reading the following:
Factfulness by Hans Rosling: A stunning analysis of much of what we think of as true about world data on medicine, environment, economics, and how we look at problems in the world. Lessons can easily be translated to what we do every day.
How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff: An absolute classic. This was originally published in the 1940’s but is a fun read about how we use and misuse data and statistics. Really a fun, fundamental book.
Book CoverFor a free peek at Sales Manager Survival Guide, click the picture or link. You’ll get the Table of Contents, Foreword, and 2 free Chapters. Free Sample
Be Sociable, Share!
inShare
Related Posts:
Buyer Beware — Seller Be Aware!
“The Modern Buyer Is Digitally Driven,…
Creating Crap At The Speed Of Light!
You Can’t Have Pipeline Integrity Without Deal…
If You Don’t Understand Your Numbers, You…
Share this:
PrintEmail
From → Problem Solving, Results, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Strategies
2 Comments →
Jim Berryhill permalink
Lies, damned lies, and statistics .
Reply
Jim Berryhill permalink
Supposed to be a 😉 following my post :-(.
Reply
Leave a Reply
Name: (required):
Email: (required):
Website:
Comment:
Note: XHTML is allowed. Your email address will never be published.
Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
Making A Difference – Thoughts, Observations and Opinions
This is Dave Brock's Blog. It offers my views on a variety of business, sales, marketing, and leadership topic. My goal is to make a difference for you, the reader, in both your professional and personal lives.
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Sign Up Now
For Email Newsletters you can trust.
Get Our Posts Delivered To Your Email
Follow Me:
View David Brock's profile on LinkedIn
iTunes logo
Partners In EXCELLENCE Radio
Click on "menu icon" on upper right for all episodes.
Recent Posts
Beware Of “Experts” Sharing Data…..
Sales Manager, Are You Doing Your Job?
Thoughts On Agility
Valuing Time–Your Customers’ And Yours
What You’ve Always Been Doing Won’t Get You Where You Want To Be.
Search
Topics
Topics
Blog Archive:
Blog Archive:
About
Partners In EXCELLENCE
22715 Barlovento
Mission Viejo, CA 92692, USA
PHONE: +1-949-305-7146
info@excellenc.com
www.excellenc.com
Call Me Through Google Voice
Want to reach me right away? You will be asked to enter your name and number. You have the option to keep it private. Then click connect. The number you entered will be called and then you will be connected with me.
Search
Copyright © 2018 Partners In EXCELLENCE. Titan Theme by The Theme Foundry.
About and Services
Transform Your Organization
Hire Dave As A Speaker
Hire Dave As A Coach
Partners In EXCELLENCE Radio And Podcasts
Beware Of “Experts” Sharing Data…..
by David Brock on May 29th, 2018
I guess part of being perceived as being an expert is sharing data and research—all of which supports the conclusions you want people to reach.
Don’t get me wrong, we share data on the results we’ve produced, we share data on research we have conducted. But we are careful to position the context of that data and how it might be interpreted.
But too often, we consciously or unconsciously, we “lie with statistics.”
I read an interesting article in Forbes. Largely, I agree with the author, but he cited an example that is very misleading. I’m certain there was no bad intent, but it was an example that reinforced his basic premise–everything in buying is going digital, the B2B buying process is becoming consumerized.
He posed an example, under the heading, “Don’t Get Fooled By The Occasional Analog Win.”
The example was behavior he noticed on a train ride. A SaaS sales person, over the course of 4 hours and multiple conversations closed a single deal worth $10K. He contrasted that with another sales person sending out a promotional tweet for a logo creation service to 1.2 M followers on Instagram and Twitter. After blasting those messages out, at the end of the train ride, he had converted 800 to orders totalling $16,000.
Clearly, the conclusion we are supposed to reach is a simple posting on Instagram and Twitter was far more productive (in those 4 hours) than a series of phone discussions with a single customer.
“Experts” that want you to drink the “Social Selling Kool Aid” will revel in this example. They will say, “Social selling produced 60% more revenue in the same time, QED!”
But one should be skeptical about these examples. One should start questioning and looking deeper. Some thoughts I had:
1. The $10K SaaS deal was ARR. In reality, the deal was far greater than that, an important metric in SaaS is CLV-Customer Lifetime Value. In reality, this deal was probably worth $10’s of thousands in CLV. I’m not sure what the entire sales cycle was, we’re left to think it was 4 hours, but even if that was the tail end of the sales cycle, that’s a great deal. Let’s be really conservative and imagine CLV at $25K.
To create $1M CLV, I have to close 40 deals. If it’s $1M ARR that I want to hit, I have to close 100 deals (but the CLV for that is $2.5M). On a CLV basis, for the sales person, that’s a little more than 3 deals a month. On an ARR basis, that’s a little more than 8 deals a month—both probably achievable.
2. By contrast the Instagram/Twitter Deal was $16K, based on the description of the company, it looks like that is one-time revenue. The results aren’t stunning. Out of 1.2 M messages, 800 closed—or 0.067%, for an average transaction of $20 per customer.
One starts doing the math. If I want to produce $1M in orders, I have to acquire 50,000 customers. At the 0.067% conversion rate I must reach out to about 75M customers. What’s this mean–can I go to the same 1M+ customers 75 times (clearly there will be significant fatigue in those customers receiving messages. Do I cast a wider net, but the yields are likely to plummet. How do I effectively reach those 75M customers? And at what cost?
Now, all of a sudden, things look a little different. Perhaps the “old school” method actually looks much more intriguing.
In fairness, it’s impossible to ascribe “goodness” to either case, though that’s clearly the implication the author is trying to make. The situations are so different. The selling/buying process, the target customers, the decision-making processes are very different. For example the SaaS deal may have been a complex sale with multiple decision-makers and a higher level of risk. The other deal is a very transactional deal, with very low risk, and likely to be a single decision-maker (Brent and Nick, I know you are reading this, how many $20 deals require 6.8 😉 )
It’s impossible to tell which is better than the other, because these aren’t comparable situations.
Yet we are constantly presented with these false choices or alternatives.
And too often, we get sucked into believing them, often in very dangerous ways.
As consumers of this kind of data, it’s always important to be skeptical of the data and conclusions. Make sure you understand the underlying context and assumptions. Make sure those are relevant to you, representative of your business, customers and markets. Be skeptical of claims of outrageous results, while they may be true, they may only apply to a very special case which may not be representative of the situations you face.
As experts, while it’s fun to present sexy compelling data, but if we are to be responsible and to engage followers in a meaningful way, we have to be careful how we position and present the data. Thinking of customers a gullible and presenting data that, while true, may be very misrepresentative of what they might expect. Be careful, it will always come back to bite you.
Afterword: To help you understand and think about these issues both more deeply and broadly, I highly recommend reading the following:
Factfulness by Hans Rosling: A stunning analysis of much of what we think of as true about world data on medicine, environment, economics, and how we look at problems in the world. Lessons can easily be translated to what we do every day.
How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff: An absolute classic. This was originally published in the 1940’s but is a fun read about how we use and misuse data and statistics. Really a fun, fundamental book.
Book CoverFor a free peek at Sales Manager Survival Guide, click the picture or link. You’ll get the Table of Contents, Foreword, and 2 free Chapters. Free Sample
Be Sociable, Share!
inShare
Related Posts:
Buyer Beware — Seller Be Aware!
“The Modern Buyer Is Digitally Driven,…
Creating Crap At The Speed Of Light!
You Can’t Have Pipeline Integrity Without Deal…
If You Don’t Understand Your Numbers, You…
Share this:
PrintEmail
From → Problem Solving, Results, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Strategies
2 Comments →
Jim Berryhill permalink
Lies, damned lies, and statistics .
Reply
Jim Berryhill permalink
Supposed to be a 😉 following my post :-(.
Reply
Leave a Reply
Name: (required):
Email: (required):
Website:
Comment:
Note: XHTML is allowed. Your email address will never be published.
Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
Making A Difference – Thoughts, Observations and Opinions
This is Dave Brock's Blog. It offers my views on a variety of business, sales, marketing, and leadership topic. My goal is to make a difference for you, the reader, in both your professional and personal lives.
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Sign Up Now
For Email Newsletters you can trust.
Get Our Posts Delivered To Your Email
Follow Me:
View David Brock's profile on LinkedIn
iTunes logo
Partners In EXCELLENCE Radio
Click on "menu icon" on upper right for all episodes.
Recent Posts
Beware Of “Experts” Sharing Data…..
Sales Manager, Are You Doing Your Job?
Thoughts On Agility
Valuing Time–Your Customers’ And Yours
What You’ve Always Been Doing Won’t Get You Where You Want To Be.
Search
Topics
Topics
Blog Archive:
Blog Archive:
About
Partners In EXCELLENCE
22715 Barlovento
Mission Viejo, CA 92692, USA
PHONE: +1-949-305-7146
info@excellenc.com
www.excellenc.com
Call Me Through Google Voice
Want to reach me right away? You will be asked to enter your name and number. You have the option to keep it private. Then click connect. The number you entered will be called and then you will be connected with me.
Search
Copyright © 2018 Partners In EXCELLENCE. Titan Theme by The Theme Foundry.
Port Technology: HERE and Sigfox to Support Supply Chain IoT
Port Technology
HERE and Sigfox to Support Supply Chain IoT
30 May 2018 10.23am
A partnership between mapping and location company HERE Technologies and wireless networks firm Sigfox will develop a global location service that can fuse the Internet of Things (IoT) with container shipping.
By combining global coverage of Wi-Fi hotspots from HERE with the Sigfox worldwide network and geolocation engine, the companies will integrate IoT applications into the global supply chain to locate assets.
IoT asset tracking can take place both indoors, including inside factories warehouses, and outdoors.
This means that it has the potential to create $1.9 trillion of economic value in the global supply chain and logistics sector, according to technology conglomerate Cisco and DHL, the world’s largest logistics provider.
By collaborating, HERE and Sigfox plan to expand asset tracking opportunities for companies that could not previously afford geolocation services.
The combination of both HERE and Sigfox technologies and their worldwide footprint enables clients to locate their assets and collect useful data to ensure better transport conditions and increase service reliability.
Read about how Rotterdam and IBM are building the port of the future in a Port Technology technical paper
Use cases currently in live phase include air transport, luggage and trolley management, location of stolen and missing cars, industrial asset management and location of shipping containers.
Christophe Hamaide, Senior Account Executive at HERE, said: “Our partnership with Sigfox reinforces HERE as a major player in IoT.
“The HERE Location Suite references billions of Wi-Fi hotspots, and through this joint initiative, we will be able to pinpoint the location of millions of connected objects all around the world in the coming years.”
Laetitia Jay, Chief Marketing Officer at Sigfox, commented: “This partnership is another major step to accomplish Sigfox’s ambitious vision to become the most competitive provider of industrial data in IoT.
“Locating assets while guaranteeing the lowest total cost of ownership of the solution is a key driver for logistics and supply chain industry to benefit from massive IoT business impact.”
Read more: DHL has announced the launch of DHL SmarTrucking — an innovative trucking solution leveraging IoT technology
Automation and Optimisation , Digitalisation, Container Handling, Automation Systems, Global Economy/Trade, Going Places, Security and Logistics, Shipping
Subscribe to our Newsletter
We’d like to send you relevant news, technical papers and updates. We work with ports and terminals that may also send you communications. By submitting your details, you are accepting these Terms & Conditions and agreeing to our Privacy and Cookies policies. You can opt out of these communications at any time.
Related News
No related articles found
Most Popular
Autonomous Yara Birkeland Ship Project Chooses Kalmar
IBM Begins Introducing AI-Enabled Scanner for Global Trade
IMO Begins Validating Autonomous Ship Operations
Friday Focus: Drones Survey Israel’s Future Port
Blockchain Insurance Platform Piloted by Maersk Launches
Maersk Creates New Atlantic Shipping Link
Blockchain Startup Hit with Cease-and-Desist Order
Leading Supply Chain Solutions Provider Joins BiTA
Port of Oakland Launches Online Terminal Gateway
Port of Amsterdam Launches Digital Business Guide
All contents © copyright Maritime Information Services Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Accessibility
Back to top
Share this selection
Tweet
Facebook
HERE and Sigfox to Support Supply Chain IoT
30 May 2018 10.23am
A partnership between mapping and location company HERE Technologies and wireless networks firm Sigfox will develop a global location service that can fuse the Internet of Things (IoT) with container shipping.
By combining global coverage of Wi-Fi hotspots from HERE with the Sigfox worldwide network and geolocation engine, the companies will integrate IoT applications into the global supply chain to locate assets.
IoT asset tracking can take place both indoors, including inside factories warehouses, and outdoors.
This means that it has the potential to create $1.9 trillion of economic value in the global supply chain and logistics sector, according to technology conglomerate Cisco and DHL, the world’s largest logistics provider.
By collaborating, HERE and Sigfox plan to expand asset tracking opportunities for companies that could not previously afford geolocation services.
The combination of both HERE and Sigfox technologies and their worldwide footprint enables clients to locate their assets and collect useful data to ensure better transport conditions and increase service reliability.
Read about how Rotterdam and IBM are building the port of the future in a Port Technology technical paper
Use cases currently in live phase include air transport, luggage and trolley management, location of stolen and missing cars, industrial asset management and location of shipping containers.
Christophe Hamaide, Senior Account Executive at HERE, said: “Our partnership with Sigfox reinforces HERE as a major player in IoT.
“The HERE Location Suite references billions of Wi-Fi hotspots, and through this joint initiative, we will be able to pinpoint the location of millions of connected objects all around the world in the coming years.”
Laetitia Jay, Chief Marketing Officer at Sigfox, commented: “This partnership is another major step to accomplish Sigfox’s ambitious vision to become the most competitive provider of industrial data in IoT.
“Locating assets while guaranteeing the lowest total cost of ownership of the solution is a key driver for logistics and supply chain industry to benefit from massive IoT business impact.”
Read more: DHL has announced the launch of DHL SmarTrucking — an innovative trucking solution leveraging IoT technology
Automation and Optimisation , Digitalisation, Container Handling, Automation Systems, Global Economy/Trade, Going Places, Security and Logistics, Shipping
Subscribe to our Newsletter
We’d like to send you relevant news, technical papers and updates. We work with ports and terminals that may also send you communications. By submitting your details, you are accepting these Terms & Conditions and agreeing to our Privacy and Cookies policies. You can opt out of these communications at any time.
Related News
No related articles found
Most Popular
Autonomous Yara Birkeland Ship Project Chooses Kalmar
IBM Begins Introducing AI-Enabled Scanner for Global Trade
IMO Begins Validating Autonomous Ship Operations
Friday Focus: Drones Survey Israel’s Future Port
Blockchain Insurance Platform Piloted by Maersk Launches
Maersk Creates New Atlantic Shipping Link
Blockchain Startup Hit with Cease-and-Desist Order
Leading Supply Chain Solutions Provider Joins BiTA
Port of Oakland Launches Online Terminal Gateway
Port of Amsterdam Launches Digital Business Guide
All contents © copyright Maritime Information Services Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Accessibility
Back to top
Share this selection
Tweet
Anas Amereyaw Deserves Praise - Not Condemnation By Greedy And Hypocritical Individuals
It is extraordinary that those busy pillorying Anas Amereyaw miss a salient point. Do they not understand that for common-good-reasons sometimes the only way to expose corrupt individuals is to entrap them? Are they so otherworldly and innocent about the wily ways of the greed-filled crooked-folk-in-high-places bleeding our homeland Ghana dry? Ebeeii.
Surely, the Hon. Kennedy Adjapong is not so naive and boneheaded as to think that corrupt judges will willingly tell Anas Amereyaw - on their own volition - that they are corrupt individuals who can be bought to bend the course of justice? Haaba.
There is a world of difference between framing up the innocent and going for the crooks-in-high-places ruining our country with their greed by entrapping them. The former is unethical the latter necessary for the common weal - and therefore acceptable morally.
And has the Hon. Kennedy Adjapong forgotten that some of the judges Anas Amereyaw and his investigative team baited - the honest and principled ones - swiftly drove them away incensed at the thought that anyone could think they could be bought? One is either honest or one isn't. Full stop. Case closed.
And this selfsame Hon. Kennedy Adjapong - an uncouth and boastful character forever insulting those who annoy him who aren't well-off as "useless" beings - is outraged that Anaa Amereyaw, a hardworking and resourceful fellow paid in foreign currency for most of his work, has been so astute as to invest his earnings wisely in sundry landed properties?
Is it not arrant nonsense for anyone to draw the conclusion that because he allegedly owns a multiplicity of properties Anas Amereyaw must be corrupt? Bully for him that he is a wealthy man. Being wealthy is not a crime in Ghana after all, is it? Not yet, at any rate - thank God for small mercies.
Anas Amereyaw is a patriot serving his nation the only way he knows how - by using all means necessary to enable him help root out grand corruption in our country: by exposing those "Chopping Ghana small!" to quote a pidgin English phrase of infamy in our homeland Ghana's chequered history. In so doing, Anas Amereyaw deserves praise, not condemnation by greedy and hypocritical individuals. Haaba.
Surely, the Hon. Kennedy Adjapong is not so naive and boneheaded as to think that corrupt judges will willingly tell Anas Amereyaw - on their own volition - that they are corrupt individuals who can be bought to bend the course of justice? Haaba.
There is a world of difference between framing up the innocent and going for the crooks-in-high-places ruining our country with their greed by entrapping them. The former is unethical the latter necessary for the common weal - and therefore acceptable morally.
And has the Hon. Kennedy Adjapong forgotten that some of the judges Anas Amereyaw and his investigative team baited - the honest and principled ones - swiftly drove them away incensed at the thought that anyone could think they could be bought? One is either honest or one isn't. Full stop. Case closed.
And this selfsame Hon. Kennedy Adjapong - an uncouth and boastful character forever insulting those who annoy him who aren't well-off as "useless" beings - is outraged that Anaa Amereyaw, a hardworking and resourceful fellow paid in foreign currency for most of his work, has been so astute as to invest his earnings wisely in sundry landed properties?
Is it not arrant nonsense for anyone to draw the conclusion that because he allegedly owns a multiplicity of properties Anas Amereyaw must be corrupt? Bully for him that he is a wealthy man. Being wealthy is not a crime in Ghana after all, is it? Not yet, at any rate - thank God for small mercies.
Anas Amereyaw is a patriot serving his nation the only way he knows how - by using all means necessary to enable him help root out grand corruption in our country: by exposing those "Chopping Ghana small!" to quote a pidgin English phrase of infamy in our homeland Ghana's chequered history. In so doing, Anas Amereyaw deserves praise, not condemnation by greedy and hypocritical individuals. Haaba.
The Scotsman/Ilona Amos: Massive solar farm in Moray will be Scotland’s biggest
The Scotsman
Massive solar farm in Moray will be Scotland’s biggest
Elgin Energy has received planning permission for a 50-megawatt solar farm at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray
Elgin Energy has received planning permission for a 50-megawatt solar farm at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray
Ilona Amos
Email
Published: 18:16 Tuesday 29 May 2018
Share this article
A giant solar farm that will be the largest in Scotland has been given the go ahead.
The 50-megawatt scheme is set to be built on a former military airfield in the northeast of Scotland after planning consent was granted by Scottish ministers.
It will include 200,000 solar panels and will supply enough green energy to power up to 15,000 homes or 19,000 electric vehicles each year once operational.
The massive development will occupy around 115 hectares, the equivalent of around 140 football pitches, at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray.
It is the first solar development approved by the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) of the Scottish Government, which rules on projects of 50 megawatts or greater in output.
The ECU has allowed a five-year timescale for commencement of the project owing to its “scale and complexity”.
The former RAF airfield was decommissioned in the 1970s and since then has been used for a variety of activities, including storage, truck testing and livestock grazing.
Sheep will continue to be kept at the site, which belongs to Innes Estate, once construction is complete.
Edward Tennant, who owns the estate and 350-year-old Innes House, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Innes Estate. For 20 years my parents have grown and diversified the business to span from farming and forestry to weddings and corporate entertainment.
“This new project will provide yet more diversification, and most importantly it will allow us to re-invest in one of Morayshire’s most important historic houses.
“The need for renewable energy is becoming increasingly important and we are very happy to be contributing to the green future of Scotland.”
Bristol-based firm Elgin Energy is behind the project.
The developer has a number of other Scottish project in the pipeline, including a 20 megawatt project near Urquhart, also on the Innes Estate.
It also created Scotland’s largest operational solar farm, a 13-megawatt project at Errol Estate in Perthshire, which went live in May last year.
Environmentalists and green businesses have welcomed the ECU decision.
Dr Sam Gardner, acting director of WWF Scotland, said: “After many parts of Scotland have been basking in sunshine over recent days, it’s great to see this large solar farm granted planning permission.
“Solar will have an important role to play in helping Scotland reach its 50 per cent renewable target by 2030.
“It’s low-cost, popular with the public and is playing an increasingly important role UK wide in helping to keep the lights on.”
Stephanie Conesa, policy manager at industry body Scottish Renewables, said: “It will surprise many that the electricity generation potential of a solar PV array in Scotland is very similar to, if not better than, in central or northern England or parts of Wales.
“Scotland really can be a hotspot for this type of green energy.”
More from Future scotland
Follow Us On
Explore
News
Sport
Business
Lifestyle
Culture
Food and Drink
Heritage
We Know Scotland
Future Scotland
More from The Scotsman
Announcements
Buy a Photo
Directory
Digital Archive
Jobs
Homes
Cars
Calendars
Conferences
Dating
Local Guide
Public Notices
Supplements
Reader Shop
Must Read
Read This
Travel Insurance
Events
Useful Links
Contact Us
Advertise My Business
Advertise a Job
Advertising
Place your Ad
Subscribe
Edinburgh Evening News
Readers Charter
© 2018 Johnston Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions Disclaimer Privacy & Cookies Policy
Massive solar farm in Moray will be Scotland’s biggest
Elgin Energy has received planning permission for a 50-megawatt solar farm at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray
Elgin Energy has received planning permission for a 50-megawatt solar farm at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray
Ilona Amos
Published: 18:16 Tuesday 29 May 2018
Share this article
A giant solar farm that will be the largest in Scotland has been given the go ahead.
The 50-megawatt scheme is set to be built on a former military airfield in the northeast of Scotland after planning consent was granted by Scottish ministers.
It will include 200,000 solar panels and will supply enough green energy to power up to 15,000 homes or 19,000 electric vehicles each year once operational.
The massive development will occupy around 115 hectares, the equivalent of around 140 football pitches, at Milltown Airfield, near Elgin in Moray.
It is the first solar development approved by the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) of the Scottish Government, which rules on projects of 50 megawatts or greater in output.
The ECU has allowed a five-year timescale for commencement of the project owing to its “scale and complexity”.
The former RAF airfield was decommissioned in the 1970s and since then has been used for a variety of activities, including storage, truck testing and livestock grazing.
Sheep will continue to be kept at the site, which belongs to Innes Estate, once construction is complete.
Edward Tennant, who owns the estate and 350-year-old Innes House, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Innes Estate. For 20 years my parents have grown and diversified the business to span from farming and forestry to weddings and corporate entertainment.
“This new project will provide yet more diversification, and most importantly it will allow us to re-invest in one of Morayshire’s most important historic houses.
“The need for renewable energy is becoming increasingly important and we are very happy to be contributing to the green future of Scotland.”
Bristol-based firm Elgin Energy is behind the project.
The developer has a number of other Scottish project in the pipeline, including a 20 megawatt project near Urquhart, also on the Innes Estate.
It also created Scotland’s largest operational solar farm, a 13-megawatt project at Errol Estate in Perthshire, which went live in May last year.
Environmentalists and green businesses have welcomed the ECU decision.
Dr Sam Gardner, acting director of WWF Scotland, said: “After many parts of Scotland have been basking in sunshine over recent days, it’s great to see this large solar farm granted planning permission.
“Solar will have an important role to play in helping Scotland reach its 50 per cent renewable target by 2030.
“It’s low-cost, popular with the public and is playing an increasingly important role UK wide in helping to keep the lights on.”
Stephanie Conesa, policy manager at industry body Scottish Renewables, said: “It will surprise many that the electricity generation potential of a solar PV array in Scotland is very similar to, if not better than, in central or northern England or parts of Wales.
“Scotland really can be a hotspot for this type of green energy.”
More from Future scotland
Follow Us On
Explore
News
Sport
Business
Lifestyle
Culture
Food and Drink
Heritage
We Know Scotland
Future Scotland
More from The Scotsman
Announcements
Buy a Photo
Directory
Digital Archive
Jobs
Homes
Cars
Calendars
Conferences
Dating
Local Guide
Public Notices
Supplements
Reader Shop
Must Read
Read This
Travel Insurance
Events
Useful Links
Contact Us
Advertise My Business
Advertise a Job
Advertising
Place your Ad
Subscribe
Edinburgh Evening News
Readers Charter
© 2018 Johnston Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Terms and Conditions Disclaimer Privacy & Cookies Policy
Carbon Brief Guest Post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Carbon Brief
16G Farmer in Bangladesh. Image shot 09/2006. Exact date unknown.
Farmer in Bangladesh, 2006. Credit: Simon Rawles/Alamy Stock Photo.
GUEST POSTS 29 May 2018 21:00
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Carbon Brief Staff
Multiple Authors
29.05.2018 | 9:00pm
Guest posts
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Dr Andrew King is a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne and Luke Harrington is a climate scientist at the University of Oxford
Climate change is increasing the frequency of heat waves, changing rainfall patterns, raising sea levels and damaging coral reefs through increasing bleaching events.
These effects of climate change are pervasive, so the vast majority of the global population will be impacted in some way as the world warms. However, these impacts will not be felt equally from one country to the next.
Our research, published today in Geophysical Research Letters, shows that it will be the poorest nations who will see the biggest shifts in local climate.
Limiting global warming benefits the tropics
The Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels with a preferential limit of 1.5C. The Agreement is motivated by the recognition that unchecked global warming will likely have dangerous consequences for the planet.
But keeping to the 1.5C limit will be extremely challenging given the emissions trajectory we are following and the fact that we have had more than 1C of global warming to date.
In our study, we examine the consequences of missing the 1.5C limit in terms of the change people experience in their local climate. We do this using the “signal-to-noise” ratio.
The weather we experience every day is a combination of the long-term trend of climate change – the “signal” – and the short-term fluctuations of natural variability – the “noise”. In areas where temperatures are less variable, a smaller amount of warming is needed before the change in climate becomes perceptible.
So, for example, the warming to date is more noticeable in tropical regions – Singapore, for example – than it is in the mid-latitudes where month-to-month temperature variations are much higher, such as New York or Melbourne.
Society and ecosystems have adapted to the range of historical temperatures experienced in their location, so the signal-to-noise measure of climate change is relevant for everyone.
In general, missing the 1.5C limit and reaching 2C of warming will mean a more palpable change in local temperatures in the tropics than at higher latitudes. You can see this in the map below, which shows higher signal-to-noise near the equator, shown in red, and lower signal-to-noise outside the tropics.
World map of warming.More perceptible warming is projected over the tropics than at higher latitudes
More perceptible warming is projected over the tropics than at higher latitudes. Red shading denote higher signal-to-noise compared with oranges and yellows. Source: Adapted from King & Harrington (2018)
The inequality of climate change
We wanted to investigate how shifts in local climate from 1.5C to 2C of global warming would affect what people actually experience in their own part of the world.
It has previously been shown that global climate change has affected the poorest first, so we investigated whether this effect is projected under future climate change and the sensitivity of this effect to different scenarios of how society develops in future – known as “shared socioeconomic pathways” (SSPs).
We compared the signal-to-noise ratio data with population and gross domestic product (GDP) data, first using 2010 estimates, at every location across the world to investigate the relationship between local climate change and current wealth patterns.
As the less economically developed areas of the world tend to be in the tropics and the more developed economies are in the higher latitudes, we see a strong inverse relationship. This mean, in general, the wealthiest will experience less perceptible climate change than the poorest.
For example, we project that the people of the UK – the first country to industrialise and one of the wealthiest countries – would experience less than half the level of perceptible climate change than the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world.
This result holds true when we look across different SSPs by the middle of this century – by which time 2C may have been breached. Low-income countries are consistently the ones which will experience the largest perceptible shifts in local climate beyond the 1.5C limit. And these countries often have a limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate.
This result is remarkably clear given we are only examining a half-a-degree difference in global temperature.
The graphs below show the relationship between each location’s signal-to-noise and future GDP per capita in 2050. The three scenarios, from a future world where sustainability is given a high priority (left-hand plot), to a more fractured world with a more national focus (right-hand plot), show the poorest places are projected to experience a bigger shift in climate in all cases.
Scatter plot graphs show that Under future potential pathways, the inequality of perceptible climate change remains
Under future potential pathways, the inequality of perceptible climate change remains. Scatter plots between the local signal-to-noise ratio from 1.5C to 2C global warming (x-axis) and GDP per capita under three scenarios for 2050 (y-axis). Source: Adapted from King & Harrington (2018)
An impetus to act
Keeping global warming to low levels, as signatories to the Paris Agreement are aiming to do, has many benefits compared with the alternative of a 3C or 4C warmer world.
Previous work has shown that this would reduce the expected increase in frequency of heat extremes and their impacts in many places around the world – and similarly for droughts and extreme heavy rain events. There would be benefits for many of the world’s plant and animal species, as well as entire ecosystems including the Great Barrier Reef.
Limiting global warming would also help to reduce the barriers to development in the poorest parts of the world. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions more rapidly the developed world would put less of the burden of the impacts of climate change on the developing world.
This should incentivise stronger emissions reductions globally as the drive to eradicate absolute poverty and reduce inequality – among other UN Sustainable Development Goals – depend heavily on limiting global warming.
Unfortunately, the alternative – where greenhouse gas reductions are lethargic – means a warmer world where the poorest regions pay the price of inaction.
King, A. D. and Harrington, L. J. (2018) The Inequality of Climate Change from 1.5C to 2C of Global Warming, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2018GL078430
Sharelines from this story
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Guest post: The poorest nations will see the largest shifts in local climate
Comments
View Comments (0)
Related Articles
THE BRIEF
Expert analysis directly to your inbox.
Get a Daily or Weekly round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email.
Published under a CC license. You are welcome to reproduce unadapted material in full for non-commercial use, credited ‘Carbon Brief’ with a link to the article. Please contact us for commercial use.
SECTIONS
Science
Energy
Policy
In Focus
ABOUT
About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Cookies
Join Our Mailing Lists
SOCIAL
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube
RSS
Published by Carbon Brief Ltd - Company No. 07222041
© 2015
16G Farmer in Bangladesh. Image shot 09/2006. Exact date unknown.
Farmer in Bangladesh, 2006. Credit: Simon Rawles/Alamy Stock Photo.
GUEST POSTS 29 May 2018 21:00
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Carbon Brief Staff
Multiple Authors
29.05.2018 | 9:00pm
Guest posts
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Dr Andrew King is a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne and Luke Harrington is a climate scientist at the University of Oxford
Climate change is increasing the frequency of heat waves, changing rainfall patterns, raising sea levels and damaging coral reefs through increasing bleaching events.
These effects of climate change are pervasive, so the vast majority of the global population will be impacted in some way as the world warms. However, these impacts will not be felt equally from one country to the next.
Our research, published today in Geophysical Research Letters, shows that it will be the poorest nations who will see the biggest shifts in local climate.
Limiting global warming benefits the tropics
The Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels with a preferential limit of 1.5C. The Agreement is motivated by the recognition that unchecked global warming will likely have dangerous consequences for the planet.
But keeping to the 1.5C limit will be extremely challenging given the emissions trajectory we are following and the fact that we have had more than 1C of global warming to date.
In our study, we examine the consequences of missing the 1.5C limit in terms of the change people experience in their local climate. We do this using the “signal-to-noise” ratio.
The weather we experience every day is a combination of the long-term trend of climate change – the “signal” – and the short-term fluctuations of natural variability – the “noise”. In areas where temperatures are less variable, a smaller amount of warming is needed before the change in climate becomes perceptible.
So, for example, the warming to date is more noticeable in tropical regions – Singapore, for example – than it is in the mid-latitudes where month-to-month temperature variations are much higher, such as New York or Melbourne.
Society and ecosystems have adapted to the range of historical temperatures experienced in their location, so the signal-to-noise measure of climate change is relevant for everyone.
In general, missing the 1.5C limit and reaching 2C of warming will mean a more palpable change in local temperatures in the tropics than at higher latitudes. You can see this in the map below, which shows higher signal-to-noise near the equator, shown in red, and lower signal-to-noise outside the tropics.
World map of warming.More perceptible warming is projected over the tropics than at higher latitudes
More perceptible warming is projected over the tropics than at higher latitudes. Red shading denote higher signal-to-noise compared with oranges and yellows. Source: Adapted from King & Harrington (2018)
The inequality of climate change
We wanted to investigate how shifts in local climate from 1.5C to 2C of global warming would affect what people actually experience in their own part of the world.
It has previously been shown that global climate change has affected the poorest first, so we investigated whether this effect is projected under future climate change and the sensitivity of this effect to different scenarios of how society develops in future – known as “shared socioeconomic pathways” (SSPs).
We compared the signal-to-noise ratio data with population and gross domestic product (GDP) data, first using 2010 estimates, at every location across the world to investigate the relationship between local climate change and current wealth patterns.
As the less economically developed areas of the world tend to be in the tropics and the more developed economies are in the higher latitudes, we see a strong inverse relationship. This mean, in general, the wealthiest will experience less perceptible climate change than the poorest.
For example, we project that the people of the UK – the first country to industrialise and one of the wealthiest countries – would experience less than half the level of perceptible climate change than the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world.
This result holds true when we look across different SSPs by the middle of this century – by which time 2C may have been breached. Low-income countries are consistently the ones which will experience the largest perceptible shifts in local climate beyond the 1.5C limit. And these countries often have a limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate.
This result is remarkably clear given we are only examining a half-a-degree difference in global temperature.
The graphs below show the relationship between each location’s signal-to-noise and future GDP per capita in 2050. The three scenarios, from a future world where sustainability is given a high priority (left-hand plot), to a more fractured world with a more national focus (right-hand plot), show the poorest places are projected to experience a bigger shift in climate in all cases.
Scatter plot graphs show that Under future potential pathways, the inequality of perceptible climate change remains
Under future potential pathways, the inequality of perceptible climate change remains. Scatter plots between the local signal-to-noise ratio from 1.5C to 2C global warming (x-axis) and GDP per capita under three scenarios for 2050 (y-axis). Source: Adapted from King & Harrington (2018)
An impetus to act
Keeping global warming to low levels, as signatories to the Paris Agreement are aiming to do, has many benefits compared with the alternative of a 3C or 4C warmer world.
Previous work has shown that this would reduce the expected increase in frequency of heat extremes and their impacts in many places around the world – and similarly for droughts and extreme heavy rain events. There would be benefits for many of the world’s plant and animal species, as well as entire ecosystems including the Great Barrier Reef.
Limiting global warming would also help to reduce the barriers to development in the poorest parts of the world. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions more rapidly the developed world would put less of the burden of the impacts of climate change on the developing world.
This should incentivise stronger emissions reductions globally as the drive to eradicate absolute poverty and reduce inequality – among other UN Sustainable Development Goals – depend heavily on limiting global warming.
Unfortunately, the alternative – where greenhouse gas reductions are lethargic – means a warmer world where the poorest regions pay the price of inaction.
King, A. D. and Harrington, L. J. (2018) The Inequality of Climate Change from 1.5C to 2C of Global Warming, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2018GL078430
Sharelines from this story
Guest post: Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will hit poorest the hardest
Guest post: The poorest nations will see the largest shifts in local climate
Comments
View Comments (0)
Related Articles
THE BRIEF
Expert analysis directly to your inbox.
Get a Daily or Weekly round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email.
Published under a CC license. You are welcome to reproduce unadapted material in full for non-commercial use, credited ‘Carbon Brief’ with a link to the article. Please contact us for commercial use.
SECTIONS
Science
Energy
Policy
In Focus
ABOUT
About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Cookies
Join Our Mailing Lists
SOCIAL
Youtube
RSS
Published by Carbon Brief Ltd - Company No. 07222041
© 2015
RenewEconomy/Joe Romm: Oil and car companies are suddenly investing in electric vehicles – why?
RenewEconomy
rss
5
Oil and car companies are suddenly investing in electric vehicles – why?
By Joe Romm on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
ThinkProgress
Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Game-changing advances in batteries are happening so fast that, this week, oil giant BP announced it would invest $20 million in an Israeli company that could allow an electric car to be charged in five minutes.
On Wednesday, German battery maker Sonnen announced $71 million in new investments from Shell Ventures (the oil major’s venture capital fund) and others.
Also this week, National Grid, which runs England’s electric grid, announced a partnership with startup Pivot Power, which will create a $2 billion 2-Gigawatt network of batteries connected to the UK grid that will power 100 fast electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
And earlier this month, Volkswagen announced it had awarded an astounding $48 billion in contracts to purchase batteries. CEO Herbert Diess promised, “By 2020 we will offer our customers more than 25 new electric models and more than 20 plug-in hybrids … the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles.”
What’s driving these announcements and investments?
Electric vehicle sales have seen exponential growth this decade
Certainly the steady rise in gasoline prices in recent months has made the environment better for such investments. But the primary driver is the exponential growth in EV sales as the above chart illustrates.
The EV industry had essentially zero share of global car sales in 2010, but EV-Volumes projects that “it reaches close to 3% in December 2018 and 2% for the complete year.”
The massive investments are also based on projections that this exponential growth will continue in the years to come, with EVs potentially hitting a 50 percent market share in two decades, as Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts.
Projected global electric vehicle sales
The exponential growth in sales is, in turn, due primarily to the stunning improvements in the price and performance of batteries over the past decade.
In addition, the projections of future sales growth are based on projections of continued improvements in battery price and performance, especially in energy density, which results in cheaper batteries that are also smaller and lighter.
Plummeting prices for batteries and rising energy density are expected to continue for years to come Credit: The Economist
The most optimistic future projections, however, are not just based on incremental improvements in lithium-ion batteries.
Indeed, earlier this month, the Japanese government announced a new initiative to develop next-generation solid-state batteries. That’s what the BP investment in Israeli start-up StoreDot was about — a solid-state organic polymer battery.
The “promise” of solid-state batteries, the journal Nature explained in 2015, “is that they will replace the heavy and sometimes dangerous liquid electrolyte” with a “lighter, more versatile solid alternative.”
As one MIT materials scientist put it, “Imagine batteries that do not catch fire and do not lose storage capacity. That is the promise of solid-state batteries.”
The promise is also that a solid-state battery could be available in five years that “delivers 2.5 times the energy density of typical lithium-ion batteries, with the potential of costing one third of the 2020 projected price of those batteries,” Green Car Congress reported in Novmember
And solid state batteries are the ones that can be charged in a matter of minutes, just like your gas tank can.
With next generation batteries, an electric car will match or beat gasoline cars in every respect. The future of EVs is very solid.
Source: ThinkProgress. Reproduced with permission.
TweetPocket
News & Commentary • Renewables • Smart Transport • Solar • Tesla
Chris Drongers
Is there a lower limit to how many kWhrs/100km an electric vehicle will use? At the present consumption of about 5k/kWhr or 20 kWhr/100 km ‘fuel’ cost for a sparky @25c/kWhr retail is $5/100 km. A petrol Camry gives about 7 l/100 km or $10/100 km fuel cost. Substantial difference but not a game changer for a family runabout.
Steve
My i3 averages around 13 kWh per 100 km on my suburban commute into town. Lower limit is zero if you drop the car from space 100 km above the ground. Realistically main impediments would relate to weight you are moving, constancy of speed, tyre and wind resistance, and how spirited a ride you want. I’m a bit of a lead foot with my i3 – but with city driving there is not much chance to really let loose.
Kim Wilkinson
Hi Chris,
Cost becomes much more attractive if you are using energy from your own PV – in my case, that will be 7c/kWhr, or 100kms in an EV will cost about $1.40 (opportunity cost). Also the cost of maintenance will be much less. A new EV dealership is budgeting on maintenance revenue (to them) of about $100 pa and a further $30 for parts.
Hettie
Those graphs of the global uptake of EVs are a clear vindication of Tony Seba’s predictions. Doubling every two years.
Now if our horrible federal government would only get the hell out of the way, and the State governments step up to the plate (Well done ACT and Qld), Australia would be well on the way to fuel security in a very few years.
Ian
It’s so damn obvious, anyone who loves Israel or lives in Israel, should be spending every waking moment and every spare dollar finding decent vehicle battery technologies, or building battery factories or facilitating EV production. Israel is surrounded by oil-funded foes, over a billion ICE cars are transporting money to these countries which bristle with weapons aimed at this small vulnerable state.
« Previous Post
Next Post »
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
rss
5
Oil and car companies are suddenly investing in electric vehicles – why?
By Joe Romm on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
ThinkProgress
Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Game-changing advances in batteries are happening so fast that, this week, oil giant BP announced it would invest $20 million in an Israeli company that could allow an electric car to be charged in five minutes.
On Wednesday, German battery maker Sonnen announced $71 million in new investments from Shell Ventures (the oil major’s venture capital fund) and others.
Also this week, National Grid, which runs England’s electric grid, announced a partnership with startup Pivot Power, which will create a $2 billion 2-Gigawatt network of batteries connected to the UK grid that will power 100 fast electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
And earlier this month, Volkswagen announced it had awarded an astounding $48 billion in contracts to purchase batteries. CEO Herbert Diess promised, “By 2020 we will offer our customers more than 25 new electric models and more than 20 plug-in hybrids … the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles.”
What’s driving these announcements and investments?
Electric vehicle sales have seen exponential growth this decade
Certainly the steady rise in gasoline prices in recent months has made the environment better for such investments. But the primary driver is the exponential growth in EV sales as the above chart illustrates.
The EV industry had essentially zero share of global car sales in 2010, but EV-Volumes projects that “it reaches close to 3% in December 2018 and 2% for the complete year.”
The massive investments are also based on projections that this exponential growth will continue in the years to come, with EVs potentially hitting a 50 percent market share in two decades, as Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts.
Projected global electric vehicle sales
The exponential growth in sales is, in turn, due primarily to the stunning improvements in the price and performance of batteries over the past decade.
In addition, the projections of future sales growth are based on projections of continued improvements in battery price and performance, especially in energy density, which results in cheaper batteries that are also smaller and lighter.
Plummeting prices for batteries and rising energy density are expected to continue for years to come Credit: The Economist
The most optimistic future projections, however, are not just based on incremental improvements in lithium-ion batteries.
Indeed, earlier this month, the Japanese government announced a new initiative to develop next-generation solid-state batteries. That’s what the BP investment in Israeli start-up StoreDot was about — a solid-state organic polymer battery.
The “promise” of solid-state batteries, the journal Nature explained in 2015, “is that they will replace the heavy and sometimes dangerous liquid electrolyte” with a “lighter, more versatile solid alternative.”
As one MIT materials scientist put it, “Imagine batteries that do not catch fire and do not lose storage capacity. That is the promise of solid-state batteries.”
The promise is also that a solid-state battery could be available in five years that “delivers 2.5 times the energy density of typical lithium-ion batteries, with the potential of costing one third of the 2020 projected price of those batteries,” Green Car Congress reported in Novmember
And solid state batteries are the ones that can be charged in a matter of minutes, just like your gas tank can.
With next generation batteries, an electric car will match or beat gasoline cars in every respect. The future of EVs is very solid.
Source: ThinkProgress. Reproduced with permission.
TweetPocket
News & Commentary • Renewables • Smart Transport • Solar • Tesla
Chris Drongers
Is there a lower limit to how many kWhrs/100km an electric vehicle will use? At the present consumption of about 5k/kWhr or 20 kWhr/100 km ‘fuel’ cost for a sparky @25c/kWhr retail is $5/100 km. A petrol Camry gives about 7 l/100 km or $10/100 km fuel cost. Substantial difference but not a game changer for a family runabout.
Steve
My i3 averages around 13 kWh per 100 km on my suburban commute into town. Lower limit is zero if you drop the car from space 100 km above the ground. Realistically main impediments would relate to weight you are moving, constancy of speed, tyre and wind resistance, and how spirited a ride you want. I’m a bit of a lead foot with my i3 – but with city driving there is not much chance to really let loose.
Kim Wilkinson
Hi Chris,
Cost becomes much more attractive if you are using energy from your own PV – in my case, that will be 7c/kWhr, or 100kms in an EV will cost about $1.40 (opportunity cost). Also the cost of maintenance will be much less. A new EV dealership is budgeting on maintenance revenue (to them) of about $100 pa and a further $30 for parts.
Hettie
Those graphs of the global uptake of EVs are a clear vindication of Tony Seba’s predictions. Doubling every two years.
Now if our horrible federal government would only get the hell out of the way, and the State governments step up to the plate (Well done ACT and Qld), Australia would be well on the way to fuel security in a very few years.
Ian
It’s so damn obvious, anyone who loves Israel or lives in Israel, should be spending every waking moment and every spare dollar finding decent vehicle battery technologies, or building battery factories or facilitating EV production. Israel is surrounded by oil-funded foes, over a billion ICE cars are transporting money to these countries which bristle with weapons aimed at this small vulnerable state.
« Previous Post
Next Post »
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
RenewEconomy/Jeremy Deaton: Racial resentment may be fueling climate denial in US
RenewEconomy
Racial resentment may be fueling climate denial in US
By Jeremy Deaton on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
NexusMedia
What began as a way of trolling Prius drivers became a signature protest against America’s first black president — rolling coal.
Drivers spend hundreds or thousands of dollars retrofitting their trucks so they can blanket cyclists, motorists and pedestrians with thick, black clouds of exhaust.
“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all,” one seller of coal-rolling equipment told Slate. “If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that.”
In some instances, the practice has taken on an explicitly racial tone, as drivers publish videos of themselves rolling coalon Black Lives Matters protestors.
Why would anyone spend so much money to do something so hostile and self-defeating? New research offers some insight.
After Barack Obama took office, white Americans were less likely to see climate change as a serious problem, according to a recent paper published in the journal Environmental Politics.
The study further finds evidence of a link between racial resentment and climate change denial. This is not to suggest that all climate deniers are racists, merely that racial resentment may, in part, be driving climate denial.
“There has been increasing polarization on this issue — and this is one thing my own research has been examining for a while — trying to figure out what are some of the root causes of this polarization,” said study author Salil Benegal, a political scientist at DePauw University.
Researchers have thoroughly investigated the link between ideology and attitudes toward climate change, finding that conservatives are significantly more likely to reject climate science, not because they misapprehend the facts, but because they are taking their cues from conservative elites, many of whom have close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Thus, while scientists have grown more certain about the causes and perils of climate change, attitudes toward the carbon crisis have become more and more polarized.
While Democrats have grown more concerned about climate change, among Republicans, climate denial has become increasingly calcified.
Source: Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Separately, researchers have studied how racial resentment among white Americans has worsened economic anxiety and driven opposition to welfare, Medicaid and other government initiatives. (As it happens, white Americans are the largest beneficiaries of these programs.)
Writing in the Washington Post, political scientists Adam Enders and Jamil Scott explained that, while racial resentment has remained stable over time, “More and more, white Americans use their racial attitudes to help them decide their positions on political questions such as whom to vote for or what stance to take on important issues including welfare and health care.”
They added, “Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency further strengthened the relationship between racial resentment and political attitudes.”
Benegal’s study links these two fields of research by asking if, and to what extent, racial resentment has fueled climate change denial.
He began by examining the views of black and white Americans on climate change before and during Obama’s presidency, comparing Pew surveys taken between 2006 and 2008 with surveys taken between 2009 and 2014.
Obama, who named climate change a top priority on the campaign trail, tried and failed to pass cap and trade in 2009.
Before the 2008 election, Benegal said, there was no significant difference between white and black Americans on climate change, when controlling for partisanship, ideology, education, church attendance and employment.
In the years after Obama took office, the views of black Americans stayed roughly the same. White Americans, however, were 18 percent less likely to see climate change as a very serious problem.
Source: Environmental Politics
For the second part of his study, Benegal investigated the relationship between racial resentment and climate denial using data from the 2012 and 2016 American National Election Studies.
First, he created an index of racial resentment based on how much people agreed or disagreed with statements like,
“It’s really a matter of some people not trying hard enough, if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites,” and,
“Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.”
Then, he looked at how racial prejudice interacted with views about climate change.
“I found that the racial resentment scale was incredibly significant in predicting whether or not people agreed with the scientific consensus,” Benegal said.
Controlling for age, ideology and education, he found that white Republicans who scored high on racial resentment were significantly more likely than those who scored low to say that climate change isn’t happening or that humans aren’t the cause.
Source: Environmental Politics
“It is not so much that elites would highlight Obama’s race specifically and then bring up climate or other health policies,” Benegal said.
“It’s more that when certain voters associated Obama with an issue, they inherently saw Obama through this racial lens and immediately viewed almost anything he was associated with as some kind of racial issue.”
And Obama did a lot on climate change — setting ambitious fuel standards, creating the Clean Power Plan, joining the Paris Agreement.
None of this is to say that racial resentment is the sole driver of climate denial.
Rather, this study shows that racial resentment could be one of several factors shaping views about climate change.
Benegal suggested future research could investigate how political elites talk about climate change — how they may be tapping into racial resentment to stoke climate denial, just as they have capitalized on resentment against black and, increasingly, Hispanic Americans to court white voters.
The racial and ethnic composition of the United States, 1970–2050, based on data from the Statistical Abstract of the United States and the U.S. Census Bureau. The United States is projected to grow more diverse in the years ahead. Source: Center for American Progress
While Benegal’s research makes an important contribution to understanding attitudes toward climate change, political scientists Adam Enders and Jamil Scott, who were not affiliated with the study, noted its limitations.
Enders, an assistant professor at the University of Louisville, said that it is difficult to separate racial resentment from partisanship as climate change is highly politicized, and people are more likely to hear about the issue from politicians than from scientists.
Scott, a Phd candidate at Michigan State University, noted how polarized the issue has become. “Climate change is an issue that is ‘owned’ by the Democratic Party.
Thus, Democrat identifiers tend to buy into the message of climate change and Republican identifiers do not,” she said, explaining that:
“a stronger test of the racialization hypothesis would tease out the difference between negative attitudes toward climate change as a partisan concern, which by extension includes Obama as the head of the party, versus negative attitudes toward climate change as a racial concern because of its association with Obama.
“There is subtle, but important difference there.”
Benegal said he intends this study as first step in understanding this relationship, explaining that “we need to examine other elements of partisanship or factors that may amplify or intensify partisan values or behaviors” — including racial resentment.
He added, “I’m hoping this paper acts as a step in that direction to start exploring some of those interactions, specifically those between race and party ID.”
Benegal worries that, as some have suggested, the political parties are sorting according to feelings of about race.
“Maybe we need to look at race or racial resentment much more critically,” he said.
“The concern for me is that if climate change as an issue has become more racialized… it may make it harder to actually persuade individuals to shift their views.”
Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy.
Source: NexusMedia. Reproduced with permission.
TweetPocket
Climate • Community Power • Other Good Stuff • Renewables
Steve Applin
I humbly suggest that pig ignorance is the link between racial resentment and denial of climate science.
Peter Campbell
Perhaps it is too polite to attribute it to ignorance. I know there are plenty of exceptions but perhaps not giving a stuff about future generations, other races, unemployed, disabled and anyone else not like us, and voting right wing, and feeling resentful that somebody else might be getting something I am not and dismissive of scientific expertise if inconvenient and conservative fear of change, self-righteous religiosity and so on are all symptoms of people who are just not very nice.
MaxG
The US is a menace to the modern world; a continuous war mongerer and imperialist. If the people of Germany were complicit to Hitler, then US citizens are complicit in their government’s actions.
« Previous Post
Next Post »
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
Racial resentment may be fueling climate denial in US
By Jeremy Deaton on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
NexusMedia
What began as a way of trolling Prius drivers became a signature protest against America’s first black president — rolling coal.
Drivers spend hundreds or thousands of dollars retrofitting their trucks so they can blanket cyclists, motorists and pedestrians with thick, black clouds of exhaust.
“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all,” one seller of coal-rolling equipment told Slate. “If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that.”
In some instances, the practice has taken on an explicitly racial tone, as drivers publish videos of themselves rolling coalon Black Lives Matters protestors.
Why would anyone spend so much money to do something so hostile and self-defeating? New research offers some insight.
After Barack Obama took office, white Americans were less likely to see climate change as a serious problem, according to a recent paper published in the journal Environmental Politics.
The study further finds evidence of a link between racial resentment and climate change denial. This is not to suggest that all climate deniers are racists, merely that racial resentment may, in part, be driving climate denial.
“There has been increasing polarization on this issue — and this is one thing my own research has been examining for a while — trying to figure out what are some of the root causes of this polarization,” said study author Salil Benegal, a political scientist at DePauw University.
Researchers have thoroughly investigated the link between ideology and attitudes toward climate change, finding that conservatives are significantly more likely to reject climate science, not because they misapprehend the facts, but because they are taking their cues from conservative elites, many of whom have close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Thus, while scientists have grown more certain about the causes and perils of climate change, attitudes toward the carbon crisis have become more and more polarized.
While Democrats have grown more concerned about climate change, among Republicans, climate denial has become increasingly calcified.
Source: Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Separately, researchers have studied how racial resentment among white Americans has worsened economic anxiety and driven opposition to welfare, Medicaid and other government initiatives. (As it happens, white Americans are the largest beneficiaries of these programs.)
Writing in the Washington Post, political scientists Adam Enders and Jamil Scott explained that, while racial resentment has remained stable over time, “More and more, white Americans use their racial attitudes to help them decide their positions on political questions such as whom to vote for or what stance to take on important issues including welfare and health care.”
They added, “Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency further strengthened the relationship between racial resentment and political attitudes.”
Benegal’s study links these two fields of research by asking if, and to what extent, racial resentment has fueled climate change denial.
He began by examining the views of black and white Americans on climate change before and during Obama’s presidency, comparing Pew surveys taken between 2006 and 2008 with surveys taken between 2009 and 2014.
Obama, who named climate change a top priority on the campaign trail, tried and failed to pass cap and trade in 2009.
Before the 2008 election, Benegal said, there was no significant difference between white and black Americans on climate change, when controlling for partisanship, ideology, education, church attendance and employment.
In the years after Obama took office, the views of black Americans stayed roughly the same. White Americans, however, were 18 percent less likely to see climate change as a very serious problem.
Source: Environmental Politics
For the second part of his study, Benegal investigated the relationship between racial resentment and climate denial using data from the 2012 and 2016 American National Election Studies.
First, he created an index of racial resentment based on how much people agreed or disagreed with statements like,
“It’s really a matter of some people not trying hard enough, if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites,” and,
“Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.”
Then, he looked at how racial prejudice interacted with views about climate change.
“I found that the racial resentment scale was incredibly significant in predicting whether or not people agreed with the scientific consensus,” Benegal said.
Controlling for age, ideology and education, he found that white Republicans who scored high on racial resentment were significantly more likely than those who scored low to say that climate change isn’t happening or that humans aren’t the cause.
Source: Environmental Politics
“It is not so much that elites would highlight Obama’s race specifically and then bring up climate or other health policies,” Benegal said.
“It’s more that when certain voters associated Obama with an issue, they inherently saw Obama through this racial lens and immediately viewed almost anything he was associated with as some kind of racial issue.”
And Obama did a lot on climate change — setting ambitious fuel standards, creating the Clean Power Plan, joining the Paris Agreement.
None of this is to say that racial resentment is the sole driver of climate denial.
Rather, this study shows that racial resentment could be one of several factors shaping views about climate change.
Benegal suggested future research could investigate how political elites talk about climate change — how they may be tapping into racial resentment to stoke climate denial, just as they have capitalized on resentment against black and, increasingly, Hispanic Americans to court white voters.
The racial and ethnic composition of the United States, 1970–2050, based on data from the Statistical Abstract of the United States and the U.S. Census Bureau. The United States is projected to grow more diverse in the years ahead. Source: Center for American Progress
While Benegal’s research makes an important contribution to understanding attitudes toward climate change, political scientists Adam Enders and Jamil Scott, who were not affiliated with the study, noted its limitations.
Enders, an assistant professor at the University of Louisville, said that it is difficult to separate racial resentment from partisanship as climate change is highly politicized, and people are more likely to hear about the issue from politicians than from scientists.
Scott, a Phd candidate at Michigan State University, noted how polarized the issue has become. “Climate change is an issue that is ‘owned’ by the Democratic Party.
Thus, Democrat identifiers tend to buy into the message of climate change and Republican identifiers do not,” she said, explaining that:
“a stronger test of the racialization hypothesis would tease out the difference between negative attitudes toward climate change as a partisan concern, which by extension includes Obama as the head of the party, versus negative attitudes toward climate change as a racial concern because of its association with Obama.
“There is subtle, but important difference there.”
Benegal said he intends this study as first step in understanding this relationship, explaining that “we need to examine other elements of partisanship or factors that may amplify or intensify partisan values or behaviors” — including racial resentment.
He added, “I’m hoping this paper acts as a step in that direction to start exploring some of those interactions, specifically those between race and party ID.”
Benegal worries that, as some have suggested, the political parties are sorting according to feelings of about race.
“Maybe we need to look at race or racial resentment much more critically,” he said.
“The concern for me is that if climate change as an issue has become more racialized… it may make it harder to actually persuade individuals to shift their views.”
Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy.
Source: NexusMedia. Reproduced with permission.
TweetPocket
Climate • Community Power • Other Good Stuff • Renewables
Steve Applin
I humbly suggest that pig ignorance is the link between racial resentment and denial of climate science.
Peter Campbell
Perhaps it is too polite to attribute it to ignorance. I know there are plenty of exceptions but perhaps not giving a stuff about future generations, other races, unemployed, disabled and anyone else not like us, and voting right wing, and feeling resentful that somebody else might be getting something I am not and dismissive of scientific expertise if inconvenient and conservative fear of change, self-righteous religiosity and so on are all symptoms of people who are just not very nice.
MaxG
The US is a menace to the modern world; a continuous war mongerer and imperialist. If the people of Germany were complicit to Hitler, then US citizens are complicit in their government’s actions.
« Previous Post
Next Post »
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
RenewEconomy/Sophie Vorrath: Renewables smash records in 2017, but 2018/19 will be bigger
RenewEconomy
Renewables smash records in 2017, but 2018/19 will be bigger
By Sophie Vorrath on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
The Clean Energy Council has detailed a year of remarkable deal-making and record-smashing project activity in Australia’s large-scale solar and wind sectors in its latest annual snapshot of the national clean energy market.
The Clean Energy Australia Report 2018, published on Wednesday, looks back at a 2017 where 16 large-scale renewable energy project, totalling around 700MW of new generation capacity, were completed and connected to the National Electricity Market.
Among those, four large-scale solar projects were completed in 2017, taking Australia’s total installed large-scale solar capacity to 450MW at the end of the year, from just 34MW at the end of 2014 (see chart below).
For the wind sector, the 547MW of new capacity added in 2017 was the third highest amount added in the history of the Australian industry, bringing total generation capacity across the country to 4816MW.
Fifteen new wind farms were either under construction or financially committed at the end of 2017, the report said.
In dollar terms, the CEC says this large-scale wind and solar project activity pushed investment in Australia up 150 per cent to a record $US9 billion for the year.
On the smaller scale, almost 1.1GW of solar PV was installed on Australian home and business rooftops in 2017 – another record broken. And perhaps even more exciting is the news that of the 172,000 household PV installations in 2017, 12 per cent included a battery – up from just 5 per cent in 2016.
And while 2017 was a record year, CEC chief Kane Thornton says it is “just a glimpse” of what is shaping up to be an unprecedented level of activity in the next couple of years.
“Perhaps most significantly, the large-scale renewable projects either under construction or which had attracted finance add up to more than seven times the amount of work completed in 2017,” he said in comments at the launch of the 2018 report.
“These 50 projects add up to 5300MW of new capacity and 5750 direct jobs.”
But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.
As we report here, both the CEC and the Smart Energy Council are deeply concerned that the federal government’s National Energy Guarantee, as it stands, does nowhere near enough to encourage investment in renewable energy, beyond 2020.
“There are now enough projects in the system to meet the 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET),” said Thornton in comments on Wednesday.
“Given we were only about halfway to the large-scale target at the beginning of 2017, it shows the remarkable level of deal-making and project activity during the year.
“However, it also shows that long-term bipartisan policy has been critical for investment in the energy sector, and that policy certainty beyond 2020 is becoming increasingly urgent.”
TweetPocket
Battery storage • CleanTech Bites • Renewables • Solar • Wind CEC, Clean Energy Council, renewable energy
ChrisG
The number of projects under construction is heartening but comparing this to last year’s report is pretty sombre. Total renewable generation down to 17.0% from 17.3% in 2016 (at least it’s mostly due to hydro), wind generation down slightly despite more capacity, medium scale solar PV is less than half of what it was in 2016 (which I actually think might be a mistake, the size limits for medium scale haven’t changed so how the hell did they lose 200+ GWh of production?)
Maybe 2016 was just an outlier for wind and hydro generation but considering the mountain we have to climb to cut our emissions going backward in what I imagine is the easiest sector to reduce them in isn’t great…
Also the 2015 total on the graph for cumulative installed capacity of large scale solar is very obviously wrong, last year’s report puts it at around 200MW for 2015 which is around what the bar shows despite the label saying 302.2MW.
Hopefully we see more progress next year.
Peter F
When the above plants are completed that will push renewables up to 25% in 2019/20. Then there is Stockyard Creek, Murra Murra, Bulganna etc etc so by 20/21 we should be 35%
« Previous Post
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
Renewables smash records in 2017, but 2018/19 will be bigger
By Sophie Vorrath on 30 May 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
The Clean Energy Council has detailed a year of remarkable deal-making and record-smashing project activity in Australia’s large-scale solar and wind sectors in its latest annual snapshot of the national clean energy market.
The Clean Energy Australia Report 2018, published on Wednesday, looks back at a 2017 where 16 large-scale renewable energy project, totalling around 700MW of new generation capacity, were completed and connected to the National Electricity Market.
Among those, four large-scale solar projects were completed in 2017, taking Australia’s total installed large-scale solar capacity to 450MW at the end of the year, from just 34MW at the end of 2014 (see chart below).
For the wind sector, the 547MW of new capacity added in 2017 was the third highest amount added in the history of the Australian industry, bringing total generation capacity across the country to 4816MW.
Fifteen new wind farms were either under construction or financially committed at the end of 2017, the report said.
In dollar terms, the CEC says this large-scale wind and solar project activity pushed investment in Australia up 150 per cent to a record $US9 billion for the year.
On the smaller scale, almost 1.1GW of solar PV was installed on Australian home and business rooftops in 2017 – another record broken. And perhaps even more exciting is the news that of the 172,000 household PV installations in 2017, 12 per cent included a battery – up from just 5 per cent in 2016.
And while 2017 was a record year, CEC chief Kane Thornton says it is “just a glimpse” of what is shaping up to be an unprecedented level of activity in the next couple of years.
“Perhaps most significantly, the large-scale renewable projects either under construction or which had attracted finance add up to more than seven times the amount of work completed in 2017,” he said in comments at the launch of the 2018 report.
“These 50 projects add up to 5300MW of new capacity and 5750 direct jobs.”
But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.
As we report here, both the CEC and the Smart Energy Council are deeply concerned that the federal government’s National Energy Guarantee, as it stands, does nowhere near enough to encourage investment in renewable energy, beyond 2020.
“There are now enough projects in the system to meet the 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET),” said Thornton in comments on Wednesday.
“Given we were only about halfway to the large-scale target at the beginning of 2017, it shows the remarkable level of deal-making and project activity during the year.
“However, it also shows that long-term bipartisan policy has been critical for investment in the energy sector, and that policy certainty beyond 2020 is becoming increasingly urgent.”
TweetPocket
Battery storage • CleanTech Bites • Renewables • Solar • Wind CEC, Clean Energy Council, renewable energy
ChrisG
The number of projects under construction is heartening but comparing this to last year’s report is pretty sombre. Total renewable generation down to 17.0% from 17.3% in 2016 (at least it’s mostly due to hydro), wind generation down slightly despite more capacity, medium scale solar PV is less than half of what it was in 2016 (which I actually think might be a mistake, the size limits for medium scale haven’t changed so how the hell did they lose 200+ GWh of production?)
Maybe 2016 was just an outlier for wind and hydro generation but considering the mountain we have to climb to cut our emissions going backward in what I imagine is the easiest sector to reduce them in isn’t great…
Also the 2015 total on the graph for cumulative installed capacity of large scale solar is very obviously wrong, last year’s report puts it at around 200MW for 2015 which is around what the bar shows despite the label saying 302.2MW.
Hopefully we see more progress next year.
Peter F
When the above plants are completed that will push renewables up to 25% in 2019/20. Then there is Stockyard Creek, Murra Murra, Bulganna etc etc so by 20/21 we should be 35%
« Previous Post
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
Email Address
From Our Partners At SolarQuotes
Live Australia Electricity Generation Data
OpenNEM
Upcoming Events
Sponsored Links
Renew Economy Jobs Board
Press Releases
GoodWe awarded EuPD Research Top Brand PV Seal for the Netherlands
Victron Energy aims for large-scale storage projects with new MultiPlus-II battery inverter-charger
Boost for clean energy start-ups with new Brisbane base thanks to the CEFC and EnergyLab
Energy Regulator to put networks under the microscope
Putting a stop to energy discounting that leaves consumers worse off
Follow Us
Popular Articles
Snowy Hydro seeks 800MW of wind and solar capacity
Video of the day: Superb take-down of Coalition's energy policy
Tesla plans 18 new EV supercharger stations for Australia, in major global roll-out
Why there will be no new petrol cars sold in Australia by 2027
Tesla leads charge against generators over market access
Popular Tags
AEMO ARENA Australia battery storage carbon emissions CEFC China clean energy climate climate change climate policy coal cop21 electricity electric vehicle electric vehicles emissions energy energy efficiency energy storage EV EVs fossil fuels Gas Germany global warming India NEM nuclear policy renewable energy renewable energy target renewables RET rooftop solar smart energy solar solar energy solar farm solar PV south australia Tesla wind wind energy wind farm
© Copyright RenewEconomy 2018. All rights reserved.
Privacy | Terms of Use | Contact | Login
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
