fighting Archives - Good News!

Eddie Alpert Earth Day at C-Suite Networking Great People Event

Austin Tang — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:57:13 +0000

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EDDIE ALBERT: BIRTHDAY & EARTH DAY | by Ron Fassler | MediumActor and activist Eddie Albert (1906–2005) was a key figure in the launch of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. An avid environmentalist, his birthday was chosen for the annual celebration, and he was active in conservation efforts, fighting pollution, and founding the Eddie Albert World Trees Foundation

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HARD WORK! FOOD RECOVERY OVER 15,000 POUNDS

Austin Tang — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:37:23 +0000

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Food Recovery Network. Fighting Waste. Feeding People.

#FoodRecoveryNetwork

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GODSQUAD EVENTS BROOKLYN, NY Join Us For Our Upcoming Events This Week!

Austin Tang — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 16:29:33 +0000

Upcoming Community Partner Events

Join us for a women’s wellness event filled with exercise sessions, yoga, nutrition demos, and more!

RSVP Here

Your donation will support our vision and help make our community safer. Thank you.

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He’s Got a Plan for Cities That Flood: Stop Fighting the Water

Austin Tang — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 19:29:01 +0000

A landscape architect in China has a surprising strategy to help manage surges of water from storms supercharged by climate change.

Kongjian Yu at his office in Beijing. “We’ve been using the conventional drainage infrastructure for 200 years and we haven’t solved the flooding problem,” he said.Credit…Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

By Richard Schiffman
Published March 28, 2024
Updated April 3, 2024

Cities around the world face a daunting challenge in the era of climate change: Supercharged rainstorms are turning streets into rivers, flooding subway systems and inundating residential neighborhoods, often with deadly consequences.

Kongjian Yu, a landscape architect and professor at Peking University, is developing what might seem like a counterintuitive response: Let the water in.

“You cannot fight water,” he said. “You have to adapt to it.”

Instead of putting in more drainage pipes, building flood walls and channeling rivers between concrete embankments, which is the usual approach to managing water, Mr. Yu wants to dissipate the destructive force of floodwaters by slowing them and giving them room to spread out.

Mr. Yu calls the concept “sponge city” and says it’s like “doing tai chi with water,” a reference to the Chinese martial art in which an opponent’s energy and moves are redirected, not resisted.

“It’s a whole philosophy, a new way of dealing with water,” he said.

Through his Beijing-based company, Turenscape, one of the world’s largest landscape architecture firms, Mr. Yu has overseen the development of hundreds of landscaped urban water parks in China where runoff from flash floods is diverted to soak into the ground or be absorbed into constructed wetlands.

Mr. Yu said growing up in a village in Zhejiang Province toward the end of the Cultural Revolution showed him how earlier generations in rural China had “made friends with water.” Farmers in his region built terraces, berms and ponds to direct and to store excess water during the rainy season.

That stood in sharp contrast to the urban landscapes in modern China. Traditionally, cities in China would set aside areas capable of absorbing floodwaters. But such nature-friendly urban design largely ended with the Industrial Revolution, Mr. Yu said. More recently, millions of acres have been paved over to build cities, some of them rising up virtually overnight.

Shanghai Houtan Park in 2006.Credit…Courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The same area in 2018.Credit…Courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation

“We’ve been using the conventional drainage infrastructure for 200 years and we haven’t solved the flooding problem,” he said, noting that much of China has a monsoon climate subject to extremely heavy bursts of rain that pose an increasing hazard as climate change advances. That’s because warm air can hold more moisture, resulting in heavier rainstorms.

Currently, 65 percent of urban areas in China experience some degree of flooding each year, according to Mr. Yu. The country is currently the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. The United States is the largest historical emitter .

“The concrete drainage systems that came here from the West just can’t handle it,” Mr. Yu said. “We need a new solution.”

The sponge city program was formally inaugurated by President Xi Jinping in 2015 with pilot projects in 16 Chinese cities and has since expanded to more than 640 sites in 250 municipalities around the country.

You can see the concept in Houtan Park, a mile-long strip of greenery along the Huangpu River in Shanghai that Mr. Yu designed on a former industrial site.

Terraces planted with bamboo and native forbs and grasses are bisected by wooden walkways that zigzag between ponds and constructed wetlands. The wetlands filter water, slow the river’s flow and provide habitat for waterfowl and spawning fish.

The goal, at least on paper, is that by 2030, 70 percent of the rain that falls on China’s sponge cities during extreme weather events should be absorbed locally rather than accumulate in the streets.

Whether enough land can be converted is a key question.

Mr. Yu, who studied landscape architecture in China and at Harvard, with hand-drawn landscape designs. Credit…Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

Edmund Penning-Rowsell, a research associate at the University of Oxford who focuses on water security, said the scale of the sponge city projects would have to be huge to cope with flooding on their own. “Take New York City,” he said. “How many Central Parks would you need to absorb this kind of problem? You’d probably need half of Manhattan.”

Zhengzhou, in northeastern China on the banks of the Yellow River, was an enthusiastic early adopter of the sponge city concept, spending hundreds of millions of dollars building related projects from 2016 to 2021. But torrential rains inundated much of the city in July 2021, creating scenes of destruction and killing hundreds, including at least 14 in a subway tunnel.

Why were the floods so disastrous in Zhengzhou? Mr. Yu said some of the money earmarked for sponge projects was diverted to other programs and that the land set aside for them was insufficient. If permeable surfaces or green spaces make up 20 to 40 percent of a city’s area, he said, “you can virtually solve the problem of urban inundation.”

Niall Kirkwood, a professor of landscape architecture at Harvard who has known Mr. Yu for years, acknowledged that it can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to convert land in city centers that have already been densely built. Still, he said, Mr. Yu’s impact as a innovator has been incalculable.

“He’s created a clear and elegant idea of enhancing nature, of partnership with nature that everyone, the man on the street, the mayor of a city, an engineer, even a child, can understand,” Professor Kirkwood said.

Where large tracts of land are not available, sponge city projects are replacing concrete and asphalt with permeable pavement, installing green roofs and creating trenches called bioswales that channel storm-water runoff and use vegetation to filter out debris and pollution.

The sponge city concept is not unique to China. One of Mr. Yu’s projects abroad is the Benjakitti Forest Park, a maze of ponds, trees and miniature islands in Bangkok that was opened to the public in 2022 and occupies more than hundred acres on the site of a former tobacco factory.

Separately, in 2007 the Dutch government began a program called Room for the River that consists of more than 30 projects around four rivers, including the Rhine. The idea is to restore natural floodplains in key areas around sites that need protection. The Danish capital, Copenhagen, is using “floodable parks” that turn into temporary ponds during heavy rains. Philadelphia and Malmo, Sweden, also have projects.

The site of Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok in 2020.Credit…Courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The park, which was rehabilitated by Mr. Yu’s firm, in 2022.Credit…Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times

In addition to flood control, these projects have the advantage of being an inexpensive way to recharge local aquifers and a low-tech adaptation to help overheated city neighborhoods, because evaporating water has a cooling effect.

John Beardsley, the curator of the Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, which was awarded to Mr. Yu last year, echoed Professor Kirkwood, saying Mr. Yu’s impact on policy in China, a country that has been more likely to imprison environmental activists than take their messages to heart, has been astonishing.

Mr. Beardsley attributes this to Mr. Yu’s adroit political skills and infectious enthusiasm, as well as the Chinese government’s powerful incentive to appear to be addressing the problem of urban flooding, which has grown alarmingly in recent years.

“Kongjian has managed to be very critical of the government’s environmental policies while still maintaining his practice and his academic appointments,” he said. “He’s both brave and deft in this regard, threading a very narrow needle.”

“Sponge cities isn’t a total solution, but it makes a significant impact,” Mr. Beardsley said. “I mean, we need to start doing something.”

Courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation

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GoodNewsLetter: Ukrainian Benefit/Ukrainian Church/Choir 3/21, at the Jewish Actors Temple, Earth Day: 4/22 Water/Peace/Ukrainian Benefit Times Square, Mulan

Austin Tang — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 19:29:36 +0000

from 2014 with the Mulan Drummers from China creating a Peace Sign with their drums, very special. We are all one, OM.

Ukrainian Benefit at the Actor’s Temple Monday March 21, 2022

Not Exactly Sun Tzu: Russian Military Blunderings & the Global Democratic Deficit

Pause for Peace, 4/22 Earth Day & 9/11 & 9/21 Peace Day 2022 Proposal As of 3/14/22

Mulan, Drumming in the design of a Peace Sign “Classic Good News” 09/14/14

Lastly, please join us to Pause the World for Peace. Call us at 212 647 1212. Go to www.peacedayparty.org to volunteer or donate. WE APPRECIATE YOU AS WE KNOW EVERYONE ON OUR NEWSLETTER IS ALL ABOUT PEACE & LOVE.

Please share this newsletter with your community, ask them to sign up for this FREE Newsletter and join our Peace Movement. For our newsletter go to:

https://goodnewsplanet.com/newsletter/

LET’S GROW TOGETHER. GOOD NEWS MOTTO: ALL WE ARE IS WHAT WE ARE WITH EACH OTHER. ZEAL

For more information contact:

Reverend Paul Sladkus, All Faiths and Spiritual 212 647 1212

New York, NY, Montauk, NY

PS – SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR FRIENDS AND MEMBERS: Looking for a vacation rental, SHORT TERM, in Montauk, NY. Call Paul Sladkus. https://goodnewsplanet.com/montauk-manor-rental-suite-403-paul-sladkus/

#poem #life #communications #peace #nonviolent #war #no #more #sun #tzu #enemy #fighting #good #news #mother #earth #water #love #hope #mulan #ukraine #ukrainian #benefit #actors #temple #russian #military #proposal #global

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AVOIDING A POTENTIAL ‘TWINDEMIC’ Experts Say Flu & Covid 19=Double Dose of Trouble How You & Your Family Can Help

Austin Tang — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 15:44:57 +0000

Listen to “AVOIDING A POTENTIAL ‘TWINDEMIC’ Experts Say Flu & Covid 19=Double Dose of Trouble How You & Your Family Can Help” on Spreaker.

Last year, as the United States entered its third wave of COVID-19, lockdowns and mitigation techniques kept people distanced and helped prevent a severe flu season. As a result, according to a new survey, three in five Americans say they may delay or skip the flu shot this season.

Now amidst a different pandemic environment and laxed social distancing that has prompted influenza’s inevitable resurgence, annual vaccination remains the best way to protect ourselves and families.

http://familiesfightingflu.org/

Influenza vaccination is critical in helping to avoid a potential ‘twindemic’ and alleviate the burden on our healthcare system. According to the CDC, it is both safe and effective for a COVID-19 vaccine to be co-administered with a seasonal flu vaccine and may even improve the uptake of both vaccines/boosters.

Key Flu Facts:

Influenza vaccination prevents hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year and can alleviate the growing burden on our healthcare system

Flu vaccine is especially critical for protecting vulnerable populations, including young children, older adults, and people with chronic health conditions

Children under 18 years of age suffered nearly 52,500 flu-related hospitalizations and 434 deaths in 2019/20, which is why it’s critical for parents of children under 18 years of age to be vigilant about vaccination

Shelle Allen, President, Families Fighting Flu (a national, nonprofit, advocacy organization dedicated to protecting children, families, and communities against the flu) will be available to discuss the importance of flu vaccines and help families plan for it. Shelle has a personal connection to this issue. Her daughter, Madi Allen, was placed on life support when she was 12 years old as a result of influenza, and even had part of her left lung removed more than a decade later due to long-term effects.

Joining Shelle will be Gregg Sylvester, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Seqirus, a global leader in influenza prevention, which is partnering with Families Fight Flu, urging them to take a “Promise” to stay on track for flu vaccines.

#avoiding #twindemic #family #covid #flu #help #families #fighting #vaccination #healthcare #health #care #cdc #boosters #vaccines #influenza #hospital #stelle #allen #gregg #sylvester #promise

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What Happens When a CEO Gets COVID-19… TWICE

Austin Tang — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 19:15:48 +0000

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What Happens When a CEO Gets COVID-19… TWICE…..

Exactly a year to the date he learned he had tested positive for the then-new COVID-19, Eric Yaverbaum found out he contracted the disease again – this time the B.1.1.7 variant. In March 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning and we still weren’t sure what we were grappling with, Eric began what would be a grueling 90 day battle with Covid-19. Confined to a bed for the first month, and then dealing with long-haul symptoms, lung damage, and requiring an oxygen tank for another two months, Eric found himself running his company while fighting for his next breath. So when the unthinkable happened and he got COVID-19 a second time, Eric knew the fight he had ahead of him and resolved himself to once again, keep breathing and get his company through to the other side. Two weeks ago, he began stringent quarantine, informed his clients, updated and reassured his team, and hunkered down to face the disease that a year ago had knocked him down for three straight months.

“Everything is more intense this time around. All of the symptoms came back faster and harder than before, but I know I’m going to get through this,” said Yaverbaum.

He is still managing his agency from his bed, responding to emails, swapping zooms for calls, and continuing to write his next book, The Audacity of Silver Linings, inspired by the hope that got him through his first round of COVID-19 and his company through the darkest days of the pandemic (with the wish that he can share that hope with others).
Already an expert on leadership and crisis communications – and author of industry-standard Public Relations for Dummies and bestseller Leadership Secrets of the World’s Most Successful CEOs – Eric learned a lot in real-time about leadership, managing a business through a crisis, and above all, the power of hope.
The disease has reinforced his belief that compassion and transparent and frequent communication are key aspects of crisis leadership. Being open about your own struggles and setbacks as a leader is vital when trying to stay connected in a world where we are actively reconfiguring how we connect and interact with each other.

New York Times bestselling author of seven books and CEO of Ericho Communications, Yaverbaum has been asked to speak on his experience leading a company while overcoming COVID-19 in Entrepreneur, PR Week, NY1, and more. Consistently, he cited hope as the only force willing him to feel better each day. Yaverbaum will be recounting his lifelong ability to look towards the bright side and his coronavirus recovery for his upcoming book The Audacity of Silver Linings, set to release in 2022.

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In Honor of Womans History Month

Austin Tang — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 02:59:57 +0000

Same days she is a warrior.
Some days she’s a broken mess.
Most days, she’s a bit of both.
But every day she’s there.
Standing .Fighting.Trying.

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Sierra Nevada makes a difference fighting the food insecurity crisis during the holiday season By Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Austin Tang — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:37:26 +0000

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Sierra Nevada makes a difference fighting the food insecurity crisis during the holiday season

By Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Food insecurity is rapidly sweeping across our great nation, and those of us who can stand up and fight will undoubtedly want to stand with companies such as Sierra Nevada Brewing Company who have donated $1 Million to Community Nonprofits during this pandemic, and they’re just getting started! The holiday season is a time of giving unprecedented by any other event during a year. This is especially important to remember during this year when the COVID19 Pandemic has quelled our celebrations and impacted roughly 20% of U.S. households. It has hampered abilities to pay bills even as important as mortgage and rent and is leaving a record number of Americans facing unemployment, decreased wages, increased expenses for essential items as they become demanded commodities, healthcare, and childcare. Some have even been left without a home for the holidays. Efforts across the nation that Sierra Nevada has partnered with include Rethink (New York), Community Servings (Boston), Common Pantry(Chicago), Sol Collective (Sacramento), #HashtagLunchbag (Los Angeles), Second Harvest (San Jose), Del Mar Village Association (San Diego), SF New Deal (San Francisco), Carolina Farm Trust (Charlotte), and Second Helpings (Atlanta).

In August, Sierra Nevada unveiled its new program centered around the release of Dankful IPA, a generously hoppy beer launched to help the brewery raise awareness for a variety of nonprofits working to support local communities. A hoppy West Coast-style IPA, Dankful is now available at retail stores across the country. The beer is 7.4% ABV with 55 IBU’s and resinous flavor notes of pine and tropical fruit. Regardless of the purchase, the company has committed to this $1 million pledge to help! On your program, Robin will discuss:

o Sierra Nevada’s Goal to support communities and what has allowed them to become so agile in this pursuit.

o How Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is providing immediate support to Nonprofits who do incredible things for their communities.

o How Philanthropy has been brewed into the company culture since it’s humble beginnings.

o How Sierra Nevada has contributed to help ramp up testing and provide necessary tools to Medical Centers for COVID19

o Much more

Robin Gregory

Robin Gregory is the Communications Director for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a family-owned and operated craft brewery based in Northern California, and she has been with the company for seven years. She is a Northern California native and her favorite beer is Celebration IPA. Before joining Sierra Nevada, Robin was a journalist, serving as the San Francisco Editor at HuffPost. She now lives in Chico, CA with her family.

What Does Peace Mean To Robin Gregory go to: http://goodnewsplanet.com/what-does-peace-mean-to-robin-gregory/

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During WW1 The Christmas TRUCE, German and American/Allies soldiers stopped fighting Submitted By Peace Believers

Austin Tang — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:30:45 +0000

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