Brym Labs

Hey, Everyone! Welcome back to Brym - it’s Season 2, Episode 3! A quick note before we dive into this new Season and how it’s a bit different !

* First of all, huge thanks to my friend Nicolas Vivas Nikonorow for his genius music in our podcast episode!!!

* In Season 2 of Brym, we will be highlighting stories directly from changemakers across the world - inviting those folks to tell their own stories in their own ways in the spirit of Citizen Journalism! In addition to a written piece that they write themselves, we’ll also be doing interviews so you get to hear from their own voice as well!

* In this week’s podcast episode, we interviewed Andrew Banda! Andrew actually taught me about the concept of Citizen Journalism when we met in Lusaka in March and is a part of Brym’s new Global Working Group, an advisory team dedicated to re-imagining our world systems and building global climate solutions together.

As always, feel free to follow along on Apple Podcasts as well! Hope you enjoy…

Building Call to Action Communities

Author: Andrew Banda, November 17, 2022

I remember walking barefoot with a 15KG bag of fresh harvest from the farm with a sort of excitement, while the rain poured down heavily. Feeling connected to the earth as my bare feet touched the mud, I followed my mum and other parents and their children my age as best as I could as we took a foot trail through the bush, farms and a graveyard leading back home.

I grew up in the northern end of the outskirts of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, on the border of the Central Province’s Chibombo district, in a place called Chunga. Lusaka was at this time mostly farmlands and open bush. This was truer in Chunga than most areas, where almost all roads leading to it passed through some of bush. But this is not so now. There was a stream near where I lived to the east and it went north creating a natural border between Lusaka and the Central Province. Everything on the other side of this stream was either open bush or farmland. The stream, whose banks had ashy fertile black soil was suitable for sugar cane plants but also an extra use, as a raw material for toys. Many children my age and those before us used to make toy dolls, cars, houses and other ingenious things. Past the sugarcane fields was the guava tree fields, decommissioned sewer ponds, then further and around that were mango trees littered around the fields and the small hills that made up the southern side of Chunga. When in season, we would buy cheap guavas, mangos or go collect bondwe, a delicious vegetable which grew around and in the decommissioned sewer ponds. Sugarcane season was one of those seasons which I loved, where we would go to buy very cheap sugarcane or just pick the thrown away ones and eat to our hearts desire. Between our farming, and the amazing fruits, vegetables and insect delicacies which the seasons provided thanks in large part to the farms and open bush that surrounded us, it seemed we were never in short supply of food.

Years later, I volunteered at a local theatre NGO called Barefeet Theatre. I consider this era in my life as the birthplace of my voice, which because of Barefeet, tilted hugely toward creative expression and storytelling more than anything else. While at Barefeet I became one of the founding members of a youth advocacy group called the Barefeet Children’s Council, advocating for issues that affected children and young people. This was also the period where I first came to learn about Climate Change, while networking with Zambia’s UNICEF ambassadors and the many trainings and workshops that Barefeet would afford me the opportunity to attend. Through Barefeet, I would attend 350.org’s Global Power Shift Conference and go on to host multiple events before and after the conference, the highlight being during the Barefeet Youth Arts Festival.

Global Power Shift Conference, 2013

Barefeet Youth Arts Festival

This was also a time in my life where I would leave my village (metaphorically), and find out, ‘oh, other people with different ideas, cultures etc exist!’ It was confusing, intimidating, scary and beautiful. I especially loved it when you would enter a Barefeet workshop and know, it doesn’t matter who I am, because the space would reduce us to happy kids on a playing field, running, laughing, bonding and creating.

Barefoot Team during Rehearsal, 2021

After seven years at Barefeet, I joined the Alliance for Community Action (ACA), an NGO focused on social accountability. I remember when I joined, the Executive Director said something like, “we have reports, we want those reports to be turned into something citizens can interact with.” Well, they were in luck, I came from Barefeet lol. I like to credit Barefeet as the place that gave me confidence in my voice, creativity and imagination. The ACA, on the other hand, I like to think of as the place where I discovered the WHY to my voice. It’s so much I would need a part two to talk about it all but one thing I can say is that through their work I learnt that there was no such thing as the voice of the voiceless. People had voices and it was our duty to give them correct information and then a platform for them to use their voice.

Andrew Facilitating an ACA Workshop on their Rights-Based Approach

Because if there is anything that governments are afraid of, it is a mass of people speaking up, not one famous person. Through the ACA I got to lead on projects that introduced me to the African Crossroads, a group of changemakers in different spaces across Africa and beyond, sharing, collaborating and creating for the betterment of the continent. Through the community I did a data storytelling project called Tipende (lets count) and a climate change contextualizing project called Bevla of which season two is about to kick off.

Here now, I see at how fortunate I was. I just happened to grow up in the outskirts of Lusaka at a time when there was farmland. This allowed my single mother and other parents to provide food for us, send us to school while other kids were on the streets trying to sell to have food... that’s the case more so today than when I was growing up. Of course, my meals were not extravagant, but I was not hungry. That made a huge difference, the only difference I required to be educated.

Andrew, Bottom Right, with his Siblings, Mom and Nephew (who is now Executive Director of Barefoot Theater!)

That is how I look at climate change, a man-made event that affects how available and affordable food is, that directly affects how hungry families there are and what they are able to achieve. If poor families are unable to break the cycle of poverty because their children have to be on the streets to find food, then we have failed them. But I also know that they have a voice, so from my first privilege, growing up not hungry to Barefeet, to ACA to the African Crossroads and other amazing communities, I decided, I want to help them understand what climate change is and how it affects them. Then, watch them use their beautiful voices.

Huge thank you to Andrew for sharing his beautiful story! Our next Climate Autobiography will come from Steve Chiu, another member of the Brym Global Working Group on December 1st!

Have a great rest of the week everyone and a safe weekend.

Hey, Everyone! Welcome back to Brym - it’s Season 2, Episode 2! A quick note before we dive into this new Season and how it’s a bit different !

* First of all, huge thanks to my friend Nicolas Vivas Nikonorow for his genius music in our podcast episode !!!

* In Season 2 of Brym, we will be highlighting stories from changemakers across the world - inviting those folks to tell their own stories in their own ways in the spirit of Citizen Journalism. In addition to a written piece that they write themselves, we’ll also be doing interviews so you get to hear from their own voice as well!

* In this week’s podcast episode, we interviewed both our writer this week, Jen Cole, and Arijit Reeves, who shared his ‘Climate Autobiography’ last week! Both are a part of Brym’s new Global Working Group, an advisory team dedicated to re-imagining our world systems and building global climate solutions together.

Arijit Reeves - Climate Autobiography

Hailing from a very small suburban town in India called Bansberia, I grew up living on the banks of the river Hooghly, surrounded by more trees than concrete. 

Summer sunsets are mesmerizing to watch from the terrace

Video: A little montage of our garden and beings that dwell in and around.

My whole school life has been spent here in this very town, spending the summer holidays cycling around with my friends and lazing by the riverside almost every late afternoon.

We would chill by the riverside, wave at passing boats and watch people fishing.

There is this place by the riverside where an illegal river sand mining business used to run. It was shut down a few years back but it ran for a long time. They would pump up water and silt from the riverbed and dump it into huge trough-like basins and allow the water to slowly move back into the river via outlets, leaving behind the white sand. 

Pipeline that ran from the riverbed to the troughs on the riverside

I remember running around on the white sand and playing football in the late afternoons. It felt like a mini beach at that place.

The sand would be mined during the afternoon and transported at night.

It was only many years down the line that I understood the massive impact of that activity when a local bridge caught a crack in one of its pillars and had to be closed off and repaired right away. I didn’t know what kind of thought it sparked in me, but it did affect me.

One could see little pioneer species growing out of the sand.

When I moved to the city of Kolkata for attending college, two things stood out to me. The sheer population of the city and the quality of air. I remember feeling a certain heaviness in the air while breathing. There are more than a few reasons for that but I only got to know about them in detail during my master’s. I used to be a field volunteer for a research project surrounding air quality & its health impact and it was during those days that we quantified the pollution and saw first-hand how bad the situation was. Particulate matter was through the roof, both 2.5 microns and 10 microns and as for the dissolved gases like ammonia, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, etc., it was the sulphur oxides that were dominant due to diesel-run vehicles. Have a look at the documentary I shot for the research project and maybe that could give a better explanation.

Video: This project is aimed at finding the pollution hotspots of the city and predicting their change.

After my master’s, I got work as a Media Consultant for a project called ‘Delta Lives’ in the ecologically and environmentally volatile zone called the Sundarbans, the world’s largest delta ecosystem. 

Video: A sneak peek into the village life in the world’s largest delta.

Part of our job was to highlight the regional art, craft, practices and skillsets to the world, that are slowly fading away into oblivion. While working I came across stories about the survival of the villagers against tropical cyclones and storm systems. One of those stories that really stuck with me was of the cyclone ‘Amphan’ in May of 2020. When the cyclone hit the Sundarbans, the villagers were as prepared as they could be but one thing always evaded their preparedness. The embankments. The riverside was embanked but was not strong enough to hold against the maddening waters during the cyclone. 

Video: I once daringly filmed a thunderstorm from the terrace. But this is pretty much how cyclones start.

When the water rose in the river, it started pushing against the embankment and if that were to keep on happening, it would eventually break it and flood their fields of rice and vegetables with saltwater and render it useless for agriculture. With nothing to stop nature, the villagers decided to do anything to save their future. They made it to the embankment and laid down, hand-in-hand, on the slope in order to stop the water from breaking the embankment. They lay there for hours till the water calmed down and the worst part of the cyclone had blown over. After I listened to the story, it dawned on me to what lengths the people of the world will go to save their families, their communities and their future from being wiped off of the face of this Earth.

The embankment, made out of sacks of sand and soil, where the villagers lay down to stop it from breaking.

Currently, I work as a Communications Associate at the Indian Institute of Technology in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. With this work, I hope to shed more light and bring to the attention of the greater mass the progress of research in the country and the various strides being taken in academia to better the lives of everyone in the world. I believe everyone should have a peek into the work of researchers that strive tirelessly, day and night, to make the world a bit better to live in the next day. It shouldn’t just be exclusive to other researchers and academicians what their labour is bringing to the table. I wish to bridge the gap between the institutes, the society and the administration to make a seamless transaction of information and ideas that will help alleviate local problems using global solutions.

When you spend years living in a single place, you end up looking at your surroundings with greater depth and with each passing year, you become better at analyzing the information you absorb from it. You also bear witness to some of the major changes that take place around you and more often than not, it affects you in ways you don’t understand. But when you do, be sure to act on it. I don’t envision a future where everyone is rich but I do envision one where everyone is happy and no one lives in fear of losing their life to calamities of nature. And to that end, everyone must at least understand the dynamics of the world and how our actions now will shape the future. Because if we don’t start small now, we will never make big changes then. Nobody knows what the future holds or how it will change. But it will change, no doubt. And it is up to us to make it a good one.

Final Video!

So go on ahead and bring small changes.

- Arijit Reeves

Thank you everyone for reading and helping us kick off Season 2! If you would like to learn more about Arijit’s work and get in touch, please let us know. Over the next 6 months, we will invite different guests to share their Climate Autobiographies in their own way. Can’t wait to share the next one on November 3rd!

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear from Glenn Schatz, Chief Revenue Officer at Blocpower! We dig into his background in the Navy, his first encounter with CEO Donnel back in 2014 and how their paths have crossed again to decarbonize every city in the US. You can also, as always, tune in through our Website or Apple Podcasts. Hope you enjoy!

‘Turning Buildings into Teslas’… Blocpower’s new slogan, coined by their CEO, Donnel Baird sounds cool, but what does it mean!?

You might not guess it, but over ⅔ of New York City’s CO2 emissions come from the Built Environment - consisting mostly of man-made infrastructure, such as buildings.

When I learned that, I was surprised at first. I thought transportation, all those cars backed up in midtown traffic, would be a much higher percentage of all emissions.. But transportation makes up only about 30% …

And I guess that makes sense. Think about all the skyscrapers leaking heat out of their glass structures … and also think about the low-income communities who have seen divestment from housing in their neighborhoods for centuries leading to outdated infrastructure, energy inefficiencies, and many other challenges not having to do with climate change...

How do we transition built spaces away from carbon-intensive fuels. AND, an often forgotten variable, how do we do this in a way that actually centers community voices in the planning, strategy, and execution of this transition. 

Glenn Schatz, Blocpower’s Chief Revenue Officer was born in Taipei, Taiwan - his mom Taiwanese and dad from Brooklyn. After moving to and growing up in the US, he has spent 2 decades in the Navy (+ is still a part of the reserve team!), and built a passion for combatting climate change. 

He first came across Donnel and Blocpower in 2014 during his time at the US Department of Energy in the office looking at building energy efficiency technology. Their stories have evolved and overlapped since then - now Glenn has been brought on to lead their growth!

It was an honor being able to connect with Glenn in person to learn more about his story and the work happening at Blocpower today - when Brym first started crystalizing into reality, Blocpower was one of the first examples I found and said ‘yup - that’s our North Star’. In our first ever 1-pager describing our work, Blocpower is even mentioned briefly… 

Definitely a meaningful full-circle moment to share more about why their work is such a guiding force and why it should be for you too. 

The Trophy Shelf at Blocpower is Full

Blocpower has been awarded many accolades for their work. 

* #4 most innovative company in the world - Fast Company

* Top 50 on CNBC’s list of Disruptors,

* Time Magazine top 100 Most Influential Company

* Investors include:

* Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund 

* Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund

* Goldman Sachs

They raised a $75 Million Series A round from some of the most well known funders in the space, allowing them to bring their message across Brooklyn and to different parts of the country. 

This all sounds shiny and great - especially for capitalists who are excited about growth, profit, and scale. 

But they’re accomplishing all of this for the right reasons. Through their model, they are systemically challenging the status quo from a political, economic, and social perspective, delivering change on a community level all across the country… an embodiment of ‘Think Globally, Act Locally.’ 

So What’s the Model?

The model is simple at first glance, but the underlying nuances are what differentiates Blocpower from any other organization I’ve ever come across.

On the surface: 

* ‘Turn Buildings into Teslas’ … Blocpower has software that can look at any building and assess: where can we improve heating and cooling efficiencies - the main contributors to carbon emissions from buildings. They are providing this assessment for every building in the country for free.

* Their Workforce (more details below) then completes a renovation project that replaces old oil and gas heating/cooling systems with electric heat pumps. 

* Increased energy efficiency leads to cost savings on monthly utility bills - these go back to the community and also generate revenue for Blocpower!

Underneath the Surface:

* When they sign a contract to retrofit a building or community, Blocpower constructs what they call ‘Community Advisory Boards (CABs)’ made up of neighborhood advocates, religious and community leaders, workers and residents to help lead and contribute to the project. 

* These building retrofits aren’t free, and the hefty upfront costs are usually an inhibitor to low-middle income households adopting renewable energy in homes … In order to finance these construction projects, Blocpower helps communities raise the required money - they go fundraise from Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and others to step in and offer capital so that the communities can leverage their technology and services at $0 upfront. The cost-savings from switching away from oil and gas pay back Blocpower, their investors, along with delivering savings to the building. 

* Their Co-Founder and CEO, Donnel Baird grew up in Brooklyn and his background is in community organizing. I’ve listened to him speak on a ton of panels and interviews and the classic story that stuck with me is that his family used to turn on the gas stove to heat the apartment in New York winters…. With the windows open to escape carbon monoxide poisoning. Not only is this unsustainable from a climate perspective, but more importantly, it’s dangerous, unhealthy, and a reality for many families that Blocpower is working with. 

Environmental Justice - More than a buzzword

While they’re a for-profit company, one of the many reasons for Blocpower’s success is that, in many ways, they prioritize community impact over profit. Plus, their impact lies beyond just decarbonizing buildings - they hit the intersection of public health, community empowerment and even employment. 

A couple examples …

NYC Broadband Internet

* Many communities take fast wifi for granted. We use it every day for work, to connect with our friends, to check the weather. But this is not a guaranteed right. Blocpower has also invested to establish community wifi in neighborhoods or buildings without access to this resource. According to Glenn, Donnel, and others, this is a huge piece of leveling the playing field and offering resources to underserved communities…. And it’s prioritized even though it might not be necessarily the most profitable business channel. 

Clean Energy Workforce Development Training Program - Civilian Climate Corps

* Mayor Eric Adams has given Blocpower a $40-50 million contract to train construction workers from the 5 most ‘Gun Violence Impacted Communities’ in New York City. These individuals have been identified by the NYPD and District Attorney’s Office to be most likely to be involved in a future incident of gun violence. Some are war veterans, survivors of domestic violence, former foster children, and formerly incarcerated individuals, all offered a door into the green buildings revolution. They are brought in to execute the building retrofits and trained in the high-tech future of the built environment.

Momentum is Growing

Many countries, states, and cities are making commitments to achieve net-zero by 2030 or 2050 or somewhere in between (hopefully). And decarbonizing the built environment is a HUGE component of doing this, especially in urban communities.

The first city to stick their neck out, Ithaca, NY, has committed to decarbonize every building - 0 fossil fuels - by 2030 through Blocpower. 

Menlo Park, CA followed suit this year, with the goal of electrifying 15 buildings in 2022, 100 in 2023, then 1,000 or more every year after that… 

The City/State leadership in Ithaca and Menlo Park are hoping that the examples in their municipalities can build a path for others. Across (just!) the US, there are $4 trillion worth of projects to do…. so there’s a long way to go. More people need to invest in their model, more …

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear from Malik Saric, Horticulture Manager at Brooklyn Grange! We dig into our time growing up in NYC, his amazing garden in Bushwick, BK, and how he believes education and the environment can intersect to build more justice into our food system! You can also, as always, tune in through our Website or Apple Podcasts. Hope you enjoy!

A Garden in Brooklyn

9 months ago, I visited my old friend, Malik Saric, at his Brooklyn apartment in Bushwick. After escaping death a few times, weaving in and out of cars on my bike down Broadway Ave, I entered through the gate of an old ground floor parking lot and into a beautiful oxymoron. 

Over the last two years, Malik has reimagined his empty parking lot into an ecosystem. As you look around to take it in, everything seems out of place but also perfectly meant to be… 

Old tables and dressers scatter towards a kitchen sink filled with soil, a new home for Morning glories. A hand-built raised bed, initially filled with mushroom compost, now burgeons with mushrooms bursting through the cracks during Summer. Vegetables like spinach, kale, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, (everything started from seeds indoors or directly in the garden) harmonize with herbs, flowers and more…. 

Malik glows as he talks about how every piece of this ecosystem has been ‘refurbished or recycled or found on the street’. Someone was throwing out the sink before he turned it into a flower pot, old Nike sneakers are home to hanging flowers, big blue bins ground tropical plants I’ve never seen before. 

I remember visiting this space last year - I also remember the pickled peppers he gave me … and the interaction with God that they led to (they were hot peppers). I remember the tomato off the vine and dark green bell pepper that went down a lot easier than the chile. :)

But I’ll mostly remember this day as one of the moments that inspired me on my own sustainability journey. A few months after our visit, I went to volunteer on an organic farm in Chilé for a month and have recently even built a raised bed of my own in Brooklyn. With any luck, some tomatoes will grow from there this Summer (which Malik helped me plant, of course).  

City Kids 

People don’t expect to be walking through the streets of New York City and see such an explosion of green and color, especially built into someone’s home… 

Malik and I both grew up in Manhattan, but we come from different histories… his Mother grew up on a farm, and his maternal grandfather raised horses, ducks, show dogs, and 10,000 chickens… sounds like a good time. His Dad is from Bosnia, and his paternal grandfather was an award-winning beekeeper… they decided to move to the city to raise Malik.

While from different histories, we both agree that as city kids, our relationship with the earth is weird. We grew up on concrete, much like the empty parking lot at Malik’s place. New York is a great city, partly because it has so many beautiful parks, but it’s still easy, especially if you grow up here, to feel distant and disconnected from the natural environment around you. 

That’s why I was so inspired by Malik’s re-imagining of the city space around him. It’s not just about the garden looking pretty, either. He believes we can ‘bring food closer to the people who are consuming it, especially in the city…Right now, healthy food is not affordable for everyone. Which is interesting, because growing food is actually very cheap.’ There’s a lot to learn from the example Malik is setting.

Edible Schoolyard

Thinking back on our lives growing up in the city, Malik started to ask himself how we could get more kids, rural and urban, excited about the environment and ecology. He spent two years doing Teach for America in Richmond, CA - building a passion for education.

We all experience formative moments along our self-discovery journeys… one of Malik’s was going to Chez Panisse and learning about Alice Waters’ contribution to the Edible Schoolyard project and the Slow Food Movement. 

I had never heard of the Edible Schoolyard Project before, but please go check them out. The foundation of their work is to center education around organic school gardens, transforming learning into a hands-on experience that connects kids with ‘food, nature and each other,’ according to the organization’s mission statement.

This intersection of education and environment is where Malik’s passion has taken root. He believes that Holistic Learning should include movement, especially ‘for kids who are kinesthetic learners. Working in gardens, working with food, using their whole bodies… ties theoretical knowledge into experiential learning and draws applications into their own lives.’

For Malik, ‘The Kids need to eat what they’re working with…’ In his experience, if kids can learn what veges picked straight off the vine taste like, they also learn that growing your own food (and preparing it) can be really fun! Especially when growing food is a community activity - like eating with friends or feeding your family.

Grow Your City

Last week, we heard from Peter Kirketofte, in Fredericia, Denmark, about his ‘Grow Your City’ program. I think Malik’s story is a great follow up - he is quite literally growing the city around us and setting an inspirational example for people like me who wanted to dive into a new relationship with the earth but didn’t know where to start… as Malik and Robin Wall Kimmerer suggest: start a garden!

Growing your city can be a small act of organizing against the larger, and broken, food system. If your own food comes from your backyard or from someone you know close by, this disconnects communities from the larger supply chain owned by huge monopolistic food producers and allows a group to operate outside the typical economic, social and political systems in place. 

We can each grow our own impact on our city - and this movement is completely inclusive. For decades, especially in NYC, we’ve experienced that community gardens can be empowering for immigrant communities - allowing them to center their culture in a new place, sharing food and time together in a space that they design. 

Whether you’re an individual or a community, from NYC or Bosnia or anywhere in between, take a listen to the interview with Malik and if you’re thinking about building a garden, let us know… Malik and I will also be working this Summer on pulling together on a guide for resources on gardening. 

Malik now works with the Brooklyn Grange - the organization that he speaks to in our conversation together - started as a project to refurbish huge industrial rooftops into rooftop gardens. Their goal is to providing high quality food to communities + helping divert rainwater runoff, which can flood sewers and his a huge issue in NYC + offering educational opportunities for local schools. 

Please reach out if you’d like to get in touch with Malik!

Recommended Reading:

Barbara Kingsolver  -

‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle’ - A family’s reflections on 1 year of only eating their own food or food from someone who they knew grew it.

Poisonwood Bible 

Robin Wall Kimmerer -

Braiding Sweetgrass

Looking Forward

Believe it or not, this is Brym’s 13th case study and podcast episode!!! If you’ve missed any or just want to take a look back through the journey, you can find the case studies and podcasts all on our website. 

Season 1, which started January 4th, is close to wrapping up to take a break for the most of July and August. We need to wrap our heads around what we’ve learned and take time to give thanks for all the amazing people who have been involved… there are some exciting evolutions developing that I can’t wait to share with everyone.

Please look out for a short note from us next week, giving an update on our progress so far, and then our last Study and podcast of Season 1 will come out on July 7!! Thank you so much again for taking the time to dive in with us… and thank you for your support of this new initiative all year. See you soon!

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear from Peter Kirketofte, CEO at Kanal Byen. This interview was recorded in Denmark only a week into Peter’s time in his new role!! You can also, as always, tune in through our website or Apple Podcasts. Hope you enjoy!

Intro

Denmark has always seemed to me like a Star Trek-esque country - futuristic, full of great cheese and also new technology. Ok fine, I’m not sure Star Trek boasts futuristic cheese…I’m more of a Star Wars fan anyway. But when it comes to innovative tech solutions to climate change, Denmark has always stood out to me as a shining example of what’s possible. 

And in some ways, that’s true. Unlike the US, Denmark is actually on track to hit carbon neutrality by 2050, a goal agreed to by many governments during the 2021 COP26 conference in Glasgow (including the US). Denmark currently has 50% of its energy coming from solar and wind power with the goal of 100% by 2030 and has specifically doubled down with other Scandinavian countries on maximizing off-shore wind potential. 

Beyond tech, they also have one of the best examples of high-functioning Democratic Socialism in the world. While the US is busy building an anti-Socialism campaign across our polity, Denmark’s citizens enjoy free education through university (plus a stipend for students from 14-22 years old), free healthcare for all, the highest ratings for Happiness in the world (yes, countries measure that), low poverty, incredible long-distance transportation infrastructure, and other programs sponsored by the government that are helping all sectors of society including the environment. While the US can’t get a comprehensive Infrastructure Bill through Congress, countries like Denmark seem to be leaving us in the dust.

But every square km of Denmark isn’t a perfect Scandinavian paradise. They are still a part of our global capitalist economy and lower income communities experience the negative effects of that system much like similar communities in other parts of the world.

In today’s Case Study, we’ll hold a magnifying glass up to a specific Danish town called Fredericia, about a 2-hour train ride from the capital of Copenhagen… spending time in Fredericia, I learned more about their industrial past and challenges that come along with being a port town known for shipping and ‘heavy industry’ like fertilizer production. I also left inspired by many innovative programs that are allowing them to re-imagine their physical space and what is possible within their community. Excited to share more…

Fredericia

After a couple days in Copenhagen, my mom and I had the chance to hop on the train and head out to Fredericia. We have been there a few times because my mom has a relationship with the theater in the town - well known across Denmark and internationally, the theater is a center for the community. It’s a small, quiet city with, in addition to the theater, a couple schools, a burgeoning waterfront, and an old castle with ramparts that overlook a stretch of river that leads to the North Sea. 

This town reminded me a lot of my ancestors’ hometown in South Wales, Merthyr Tydfil mostly because of its history as a center of the industrial revolution. Instead of coal mining, though, Fredericia's past was molded from its geography as a port. For hundreds of years, they were a hub for shipping and an important stop along a path delivering goods out from Europe to the Baltic and North Seas. That history has left its mark on the land… In recent years, the town has been undergoing a huge re-invention, led in large part by Peter Kirketofte and his organization, Kanal Byen. 

A Just Transition

For many generations, hundreds of families have relied on work in Fredericia’s shipping yard to put food on the table. Health of the air, water, and soil was an afterthought. This is the situation so many towns have encountered, in the past and present, and it poses a really complex challenge. 

* How do you support families who currently rely on jobs that negatively impact the surrounding climate? 

* How do you think holistically about ‘Health’ to incorporate climate concerns as a variable that impacts human life and survival? 

* How do you deliver a legitimate alternative rather than just complaining that we ‘Need a new way’ without incorporating the people who might lose their jobs. 

* Is there a win-win scenario? 

The inability for the US to answer these questions has led local leaders like Senator Joe Manchin in West Virginia to push back against anything to do with ‘Climate’ legislation… check out Donnel Baird’s thoughts on this. “If we had spent the last 5 years investing in solar factories and installation factories in West Virginia, we’d have a climate bill right now.” The $$ flowing to Sen Machin from the fossil fuel industry is a different, connected issue, but I digress…

Grow Your City

As we envision a true alternative and a Just Transition, Peter and Kanal Byen are leading a few really great initiatives in downtown Fredericia, by the waterfront that was hit hardest by their industrial past. I’ll outline their projects briefly below:

* Grow Your City

* 15 years ago, the town started a program called, ‘Grow Your City’. For 500 Kroner a year, about $71, you can own 10 raised beds filled with soil. In these beds, you can plant produce, flowers, or anything in between. Your plots will be located amongst the beds of other families who are growing their own! 

* While being a great source of locally sourced, fresh food, this has also been a great way for the community to come together on the issue of their green transition. The town hosts concerts at the Grow Your City venue, school education events, and provides a common space open to the public. 

* I imagine this working really well in parts of New York where families just don’t have the space indoors to grow produce but could cut down on massive amounts of CO2 emissions, and eat better food, if there was a common place to plant in each community.

* Container Living

* One of the great re-imaginings of their physical space, the town is transitioning old containers that used to be used for shipping into sustainable living spaces. These are affordable housing options, also located right next to the Grow Your City plots. Other containers are also canvases for local artists and/or rented to local entrepreneurs selling ice cream, food, and drinks, down by the waterfront.

* Tree Planting

* Also 15 years ago, they started planting different species of trees and devised an experiment: which trees best filter out the fertilizer left over in the soil along the water… many of the early generations of trees died because they could not handle the level of contamination, but over time, the natural filtration system has worked and soil health is on the up! 

* Green Space

* They have built a park just about a hundred feet from the water where school kids are coming to play and learn about the transition of the town. They have even transplanted some of the older trees used for filtration to be a part of the new green park.

* Just Transition 

* In order to support the workers who used to work in the shipping industry, they have increased the amount of jobs in the transportation sector. The transition of the town is attracting more and more people, so jobs for creating that infrastructure are increasing. They have also built new technical colleges in town to offer increased skill training to individuals and families who want to expand their work beyond those traditional sectors. 

For me, the concept of ‘Growing Your City’ back to life is special. Not necessarily because of the concept of growth from an economic standpoint but because of the applications this has towards applying natural solutions to solve the problem. Today, these are called Regenerative Solutions. 

Another Quick Example

Definitely also take a look at the work being done in Malmo, Sweden - another fantastic example of an industrial port city transitioning to a ‘Living Lab’ and ‘City of the Future’. Their waterfront distri…

Hey Everybody… before we dive in, I think it’s important to take a moment to send prayers and whatever other form of good spirit you believe in to our brothers and sisters in Uvalde, Texas… a moment like this really puts things in perspective.

At a loss for any type of good transition, I’m going to jump right in and share an amazing story with all of you - I know I need signs of hope right now, I’m guessing others might too…

As always, you can also read the full case study on our website HERE and listen to our full interview on Apple Podcasts @Brym Labs…

Intro

Next on our journey, we travel to the Middle East, to Lebanon, to meet with Nouhad Awwad! Nouhad represents Greenpeace MENA (Middle East and North Africa), specifically campaigning for the new Ummah for Earth Alliance. 

While sadly I did not have a chance to meet with Nouhad in person this time around, I had the pleasure of hearing her speak on a panel during the COP26 conference back in Glasgow in October of last year… which feels like ages ago.  

Nouhad was speaking as part of a discussion called ‘Faith in action to strengthen community-led and gender inclusive adaptation for climate justice.’ Along with Patriciah Roy Akullo, Waseem Ahmad, Shahin Ashraf and others, the conversation was focused on how faith-driven groups can take on leadership roles within the climate movement. Nouhad, through her work with Ummah for Earth and Greenpeace is creating a great example for other communities (of faith and otherwise) to learn from… can’t wait to share a tiny bit about her work with all of you.

Early Days

Nouhad was raised in Lebanon, and shared with me early memories of times with her mom where the emphasis was to always be thinking about how they could live with respect for the earth. From picnics where her mom would make sure they didn’t leave any trash behind, to making sure they limited waste in their home, her experiences growing up made her more aware of her relationship with the physical world around her. This reminds me a lot of my experience growing up with my mom who, when we had any free time, would always bring me to parks in New York. As a kid growing up in the city, time in those parks helped shape a lot of what I’m passionate about today.

Much like most of the great activists and organizers that I’ve met, Nouhad started out thinking locally. ‘How can I impact the people around me in my community?’  Taking part in different climate initiatives from an age of 14, like local beach cleanups, she continued her work and finally achieved an Undergraduate and Masters degree in Environmental Sciences. 

Seeing her passion growing, one of her professors shared an opportunity for her to take on more responsibility and Nouhad went on to form the Arab Youth Climate Movement in Lebanon in 2012… Over time, her movement grew to expand across many different countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa like Egypt and Qatar until eventually she caught the attention of the United Nations. 

In 2015, Nouhad received a scholarship from YUNGA to attend the UN negotiations in Paris and this is when her work went from Regional to Global. The UN invited her not only to attend but also to speak at this international gathering, becoming an important focal point and representative for young voices usually ignored or overlooked in global climate discussions. 

Over time, Nouhad has had an important part to play in SO many different initiatives but I’ll name just a few below… her Linkedin shares much more!

* YUNGA focal point for developing countries in 2017

* Sustainable Development Network Ambassador for Arab Youth

* Climate Action Network Regional Coordinator

All of this early work led to her joining Greenpeace MENA (Middle East & North Africa) as an organizer and campaigner. In 2019, through her role with Greenpeace, she helped launch the Ummah for Earth Alliance. 

Ummah for Earth

The alliance is a special mixture of different Muslim-centered groups from around the world who have come together centered around shared values of sustainability and climate justice. 

Ummah for Earth started in 2019, founded by Nouhad at Greenpeace MENA, along with 3-4 other organizations like GlobalOne, Islamic relief Worldwide and Greenpeace Indonesia. They had many goals, but principle amongst them were:

* Raise inclusion of Muslim voices in the climate movement.

* 3 year goal → ‘Catalyze a new, resilient Muslism climate movement’

* Reach new audiences and have Muslim voices heard. 

The list of Alliance Members is growing, even since we first met in October of last year. A combination of organizations, individuals, movements, the alliance brings together a vast global community to share experiences and collaborate. 

Here is the full list of the current Alliance Members

What are they Focused on?

I’ve been inspired by many things that they’re working on, I’ll name a few below:

* Ummah Stories

This incredible initiative invites activists, academics, entrepreneurs, (faith) organizations, and more to share their own experiences on:

* How climate change has affected their lives

* AND stories of Action to show examples of how they are organizing themselves to build solutions. 

Over 180 stories have been submitted to the platform across a broad range of topics… according to Nouhad, ‘Climate change intersects with so many different parts of peoples’ lives, we want to bring awareness around real life impacts.’

Another huge goal of the Ummah Stories initiative is to provide youth with a platform to engage with each other and celebrate success stories. The overall message is one of hope and agency… ‘change is possible and you can be a part of it.’ And they don’t have to change the world overnight, they can engage on whatever level they see that can make a difference..

* Green Ramadan 

During the month of Ramadan, this is the time for ‘good deeds’... so In this component of their work, they created a ‘Truth or Dare’ game that engaged 90,000 young Muslims across the world and challenged to take climate action during the holy month of Ramadan, with an emphasis on ‘taking a stewardship role for earth.’ 

* Green guide to Hajj + Umrah !!!

For those who don’t know the difference (I didn’t), Hajj is an obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) that must be undertaken within 10 days of the start of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah. Umrah is that same pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) but can be undertaken by anyone at any given time of year.

As communities make their plans for these ‘visits’, Ummah for Earth launched an app that acts as a guide for how people can go about these religious traditions in a climate friendly way. Their goal is to help people move from an individual focus on the ritual itself to more collective action - how can we as a community think about these important moments and their relationship to the environment around us. 

* Green Mosques Initiative: Solar Project - Glasgow Central Mosque 

Heading into COP26 last October, Ummah for Earth put their money where their mouth is and partnered with the Glasgow Central Mosque to install solar panels on their roof. 

With the event transpiring in the city, Nouhad’s initiative showed that Faith communities could step up and lead the change. 

What does Climate Justice mean for U4E?

While everyone seems to have a different opinion of what ‘climate justice’ or ‘climate action’ means today, Nouhad’s answer was simple: ‘Playing an active role in protecting the planet.’ 

I appreciate that she leaves her answer open ended so that any young person can find their own entry point into the fight… for those looking for more detail, she offered: 

* Raising awareness on mitigation and adaptation on local community levels

* Pushing for change on the legislative side

Looking into the future, Nouhad accepts the many challenges in our way, but like her Alliance, she flips the narrative towards hope… there is a lot of good work she is seeing in her region and across the world that seems to be leading to a snowball effect. Hugely important in her mind, indigenous voices are being r…

We’re in Double Digits!!! Episode 10 comin’ at ya. As always, you can also read the full case study on our website HERE and listen to our full interview on Apple Podcasts @Brym Labs

In this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear from Shri B.B. Subba, Secretary of Horticulture for the Government of Sikkim, a ‘small’ State in Northeastern India setting a great example for the rest of the world. This audio was recorded during an in-person presentation in Gangtok at their government offices! I would suggest listening in tandem with the Case Study below - where you can learn about the efforts of their department in much more detail.

Intro

What if a government and their people could actually produce a coordinated effort to create a more sustainable climate AND economy? 

Sikkim, the second smallest Indian State, is tucked among the Himalayas in the northeastern corner of the country. They are the first state, not just in India but in the world, to become a ‘100% Organic State’. At the same time, they are creating new jobs for young people and building a strong economy, exemplifying that sustainability and development can go hand in hand… if the government and community are aligned on how to achieve that vision.

Amidst the contentious histories of India’s Green Revolution, when chemical fertilizers were first introduced in response to famine in the 1960s, and the more recent ‘Farmer’s Protests’ in 2020/2021, when an estimated 250 Million Indians took a stand against agricultural neoliberalism and formed the world’s largest ever organized strike, Sikkim is writing a new narrative. 

I had the honor of sitting down with the Government Secretary of Horticulture, Mr. Shri B.B. Subba in Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital, to learn more. I’m excited to share my interview with Mr Subba and help tell the story of how their ‘small’ state can provide a substantial blueprint for other states in India and across the world.

Also, before I dive in, don’t just take my word for their impressive record… here are a list of national and global accolades given to Sikkim for their example and leadership in futuristic planning and sustainability:

* Future Policy Gold Award, 2018 in Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

* Delhi-based research institute Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) - Sustainable Development Leadership award to Chief Minister Chamling (2016)

* Germany-Based International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) - One World Award Grand Prix (2017)

* Khangchendzonga National Park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the 11th Biosphere Reserve added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves in July 2018.

* Indian Agribusiness Excellence Award, 2017

* National Kalam Innovation Governance Award, 2018

Also, a quick shout out to Cuba!! Cuba is the only other country/state that has a government-driven mission for total organic farming. 

The Journey - Getting to Sikkim

At the end of April, right after leaving the Sundarbans and JGVK, (at the Southeastern most point of India) my dad and I set off on a 24-hour journey to Sikkim (India’s northeastern most State) at the foothills of the Himalayas. 

The journey started with a 3 hour drive to Kolkata, then we took an overnight train 13 hours North to Siliguri. Bunk beds lined the sides of the train cars - we were lucky to be in a section with air conditioning … and to meet some new friends from neighboring bunks! From Siliguri, we took an electric, three-wheeled ‘Auto’ to the town bus terminal, where we were ushered into the back seat of a ‘Shared Jeep.’ 10 total people smushed into a 3-row jeep van was a new experience that tested the alignment of our spines and that bumpy ride was our home for the next 3 hours as we climbed the hills at the feet of the Himalayan Mountain Range, arriving next in a town called Darjeeling. 

Our family (my grandmother, Frances Helen and great-grandparents, Walter and Mary) lived in Kolkata and Darjeeling almost 100 years ago. So before heading to Sikkim, we spent some time researching our family history first at the school where my grandma attended when she was just 3-5 years old. We found the old cottage where they lived, holding an old black and white picture up to the brightly colored day to confirm the match.

Finally, our last Shared Jeep brought us further North, through the border at Jorethang, out of the state of West Bengal (where Kolkata and Darjeeling are based) and into Sikkim. Jaws drop as you climb higher. Clouds dip into the stunning mountain range like a system of intertwined rivers flowing down from the largest mountain range in the world.   

The Background

During my first weeks in India, I had heard tales of Sikkim and their wonderful momentum towards a sustainable and completely ‘Organic’ society. Ahead of our journey North, I was able to learn more thanks to a lucky find in a Kolkata used bookstore - Jiwan Rai’s Remember the Name: Sikkim: India’s First Organic State. I highly suggest everyone reads this for more details on the political, social, cultural and economic context of this beautiful place.

The Sikkimese message is simple but profound - “Organic farming can heal our Earth, help our families, and offer hope for our shared future. Will anyone listen? Will anyone join us?”

There is so much to highlight about their work, but it’s already impressive you’ve read this far :) so here’s what we’ll prioritize …

* A brief history of Sustainable agriculture in India and how Sikkim plays into that picture

* What does being a ‘100% Organic State’ actually mean? How does their mentality represent a larger movement beyond just farming and gardening practices?

* As the first state in the world, not only India, to achieve this, how did they actually pull this off? I’ve included a table of specific actions below rather than try to write them all in narrative form. 

* Where does Sikkim go from here? How can we follow?

* Sikkim - A Brief History:

The Green Revolution in the 1960s introduced pesticides (many supplied by the US) and showed great promise in the first few years after adoption. However, farmers started to realize quickly that while short term yields were up, the soil and crops were changing… and not for the better. 

“What began as a genuine desire to increase agricultural productivity in Sikkim through chemicals has become dangerous to the soil and to the health of the people and livestock.” (Rai) 

They had to seek a different approach that would better position the health of Sikkim over the long-term. 

28 years ago, in 1994, Chief Minister Chamling was elected into leadership. It seems that this transition / push for sustainability started with him in many ways. After he was elected, he made a speech that immediately struck me because it is something I have never heard from the US: 

‘To All with Love,

My government is with all those farmers who deserve a dignified life anchored to a dignified profession. The state government will lend every possible aid by way of subsidies, rebates, start-up loans, consultation, capacity building, free benefits doled out to farmers by the state government etc. This offer is for all farmers, agro-entrepreneurs and educated youth who aspire a career in organic farming.’ - Pawan Chamling

From Day 1, Chamling was unwavering in his commitment to this strategy and it has paid off. And not just in success for the ecology of Sikkim but for the economic livelihoods of its people. In the mid-1990s, 41% of the population was living in extreme poverty. By 2011-12, that had dropped to just 8%... 

Of course, wary of correlation vs causation, there are other factors that might have impacted this drop in poverty than just the Organic transition, but the variable of Sikkim’s new ‘Organic Mission’ should also not be understated. 

Some other fun facts on Sikkim

* ALL of their cultivable land is now certified organic - over 76,000 hectares.

* Sikkim only occupies 2% of land in India, but it is home to 26% of flowering plants species.

* 82.31% of geographical area is under administrative …

Sustainability isn’t just about plants and trees. How we engage with our world affects every aspect of our lives… the food we eat, the air we breathe, our health, our livelihoods, our relationships with each other, and, as we’ll focus on during this case study, the fresh water we drink.

And in this week’s podcast episode, you’ll hear from Tridib Reeves, Project Leader of the Sustainable Water Resource Management (SWRM) team at Joygopalpur Gram Vikash Kendra, JGVK. This audio was recorded during an in-person presentation at by the SWRM team - apologies in advance for any choppy sound quality… Excited to share more of their story below!

Introduction: The Sundarbans

About a 3 hour drive southeast of Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, India, is a region called the Sundarbans. Characterized and well-known for being the largest mangrove delta in the world, this ecosystem and natural embankment provides an essential defense system for the surrounding, low-lying wetland communities. 

A few other interesting facts about the Sundarbans:

* The mangrove forests are home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, of which I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse during my time there. Also unique to the area are the Gangetic freshwater Dolphins and the prowling 15 foot crocodiles that look like floating logs drifting down the rivers…

* Sundarban honey is known as (some of) the best in the world. Local farmers trek deep into the forest to harvest small amounts and sadly are often killed by tigers who are known for attacking humans in the villages surrounding the forests.

* The Sundarban National Park is like the Florida coast on steroids. Thousands of miles of rivers intertwine to create countless islands and wetlands… you’ll see mangrove roots (which actually grow upwards out of the soil instead of down to avoid the salt water and breathe the oxygen out of the air) signal the arrival of new protective barriers against the next round of cyclones. 

* The first climate refugee ever recorded fled from this region, highlighting what is still true today: low-lying wetland communities are constantly under threat and being hit hardest by climate change, especially as tropical storms and floodings increase. 

* The Sundarbans are a UNESCO Heritage Site and span across both India (40%) and Bangladesh (60%). 

JGVK - Joygopalpur Gram Vikash Kendra

During my time researching in India, I had the opportunity and privilege to be invited to the Sundarbans to spend time with a local island community, Joygopalpur, hosted by an organization based there, JGVK. 

Sandwiched between the Matla and Bidyadhari Rivers, the journey to JGVK’s campus is entrancing. You pass alongside beautiful banana trees and rice paddies for as far as the eye can see until, at last, you arrive at a gate and enter into what looks like a university campus, just miles from the Sundarbans National Park. 

On our journey, I was accompanied by recent Calcutta University Masters graduate, Arijit Reeves, an incredibly smart and driven young man who also turned out to be a great friend. His father, Tridib, is the Project Leader of the Sustainable Water Resources Management (SWRM) project at JGVK and was able to give us a great introduction to the work they are doing today… I’m excited to share a bit about what I learned and how we can get involved in their mission.

April 20th: Presentation by SWRM! 

The first day we arrived, the Sustainable Water Resources Management team sprung into action and immediately walked us through a comprehensive powerpoint presentation - I will break it down into three parts. 

* Identified challenges the community is facing with it’s fresh water system

* Community solutions they have built to combat the challenges

* Finally, and most importantly, how they are manifesting + implementing those solutions everyday in their work

Challenges

Above ground salt water level is rising. 

* Tridib and his team have recorded an incredible 4 feet increase in high tide water levels over just the last 7 years. Two Sundarban islands - Ghoramara and Mousuni - are already almost completely submerged after two cyclones last year, Yaas and Amphan. Residents have been ushered off the islands by the West Bengal government - adding to the climate refugee totals in the Sundarbans. 

Underground fresh water level is decreasing.

* The team takes monthly measurements of groundwater at ‘Tube Wells’, situated from village to village where the community comes to pump. Their year-over- year recordings of water levels show drastic changes… water was only 8.58 meters down in the well at its lowest level in 2015, 11.34 meters down in 2020 and a huge jump to 15.07 meters in 2021… this change compared to the rising sea level has eyebrows raised and Tribid’s team is asking questions…

Overnight shifts from drought to storm-level rainfall causes huge flooding 

* Rainfall has been lower than average over the last 7 years … but abruptly, 46cm (1.5 feet) can fall in a 48 hour period, as was recorded in 2021.

* In drought, soil in the Sundarbans loses its permeability. So then when it pours, the rain becomes runoff into the ocean rather than filtering through the soil into the groundwater sources. This is another reason why the sea level has been rising so fast.

Water for drinking vs cultivation 

* 70-80% of water in India is used for agriculture and this challenge applies to Joygopalpur as well. Based on the data they’ve gathered, there is a very strong correlation between the number of shallow pumps in a village (pumps used by farmers to distribute water into agricultural fields) and the number of dry wells nearby for drinking water… which makes sense because they both come from the same source.

Solutions

First of all, I was very impressed with their ability to collect such strong data without any support from the government… they were very excited to show me some of their homegrown tactics for providing data like their Rain Gauge, Tidal gauge, Water level meter - all built on their own or built locally rather than having to import from international companies who they said wanted to charge ridiculous prices...

The first priority, after analyzing their data, was that the community needed to find creative ways to USE LESS WATER! A few great examples/tactics below..

* SRI Method - ‘System of Rice Intensification’ 

* Before: Keep paddy fields full of water consistently. Plant 3-4 seeds per paddy.

* After: Initial small level of water, wait for dry crack in soil, then refill back to small level. Plant 1 seed instead of 3-4

* Resulting in higher output + much less water!

* Crop adaptation and rotation -

* After rice cultivation, mulch land and grow potatoes with remaining moisture.

* Next come banana trees, marigold flowers (which are religiously important and can be sold in town), maize, high protein lentils, and mustard seeds.

* By rotating crops, all of these can be grown on the same plot of land, increase the biochemical health of the soil, and use much less later.

Maximize all water sources

* During rainy season, they use a water catchment system for domestic water use and are showing an example of how to do this successfully outside their school canteen.

* Primary filtration with sand+stone, secondary filtration with biochemicals, then the water is ready for domestic use like washing hands and dishes.. This allows for a smaller amount of potable drinking water to be used on these activities instead of just for drinking. 

Leveraging data signals to protect lives during the tropical storm season

* Last May, readings from their tidal gauges showed huge swings in water levels, indicating a major upcoming weather event… and indeed it was true. They were able to warn the local villages early of the coming of Yaas, one of two major cyclones in 2…

All podcast episodes are now available @Brym Labs on Apple Podcasts + on our Website! (not on the ‘Listen in Podcast App’ link above) :)

I would suggest reading the case study below first before listening so you have more context. Regardless, here’s a look inside our episode this week:

* Besa Kaoma speaks about his career starting out as a gardener and evolving to an ‘Environmental Education Manager’ for Conservation Lower Zambezi - outlining the curriculum he’s built to teach the communities about local conservation, why it’s important to protect the environment, and how he’s hoping to inspire the next generation of Besa’s to carry the torch forward.

* The inception of the NGO Coalition ‘Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi’ and how Besa engaged the local community chiefs and schools, as well as artists across Zambia to raise awareness.

* Besa explains why he refuses the claim that Zambians will be the ones to benefit from a mine like Kangaluwi. He speaks about his experience growing up on the Copper Belt and reflecting on working conditions for Zambians who in the mines there (including some places we highlighted in our last Case Study like Black Mountain in Kitwe). Finally, we speak about ways that people around the world can engage to oppose the mining project, including the online petition!

Hope you enjoy!

Intro: The Mighty Zambezi & Victoria Falls

Surging over the cliffs of Victoria Falls, a rainbow-infused shower soaked us to the bone. One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of water on our earth with its face stretching across both Zambia and Zimbabwe. The tail end of Rainy Season filled the Falls to the brim, over 150 million gallons of water per minute diving into the plunge pool below then erupting back up hundreds of feet to produce a never ending tropical rainstorm drenching everything within miles. The shades of green around us will be imprinted on my brain for a long time to come.

Gaining momentum as it continues its journey over the Falls, the waters of the Zambezi River flow Eastward through 6 countries and finally out into the vast Mozambique Delta and the Indian Ocean. The Mighty Zambezi is the 4th longest river in Africa and the largest East-flowing waterway, supporting millions of people in Southern Africa.

At the beginning of April, after witnessing the power of this aptly named Wonder of the World, Kampamba, EJ and I found our way to their friend’s family-run Lodge on the bank of the Zambezi River about 600 kilometers downstream - in the Lower Zambezi National Park. Alongside the Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe (just across the river), the two protected areas combine to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There, you will find 350 species of birds, as well as IUCN Red Listed species like the African wild dog, hippo, lion, pangolin, leopard, and a key population of African savannah elephants. 

Getting there was a journey in and of itself. We maneuvered from Livingstone through the city of Chirundu, then across about 3 hours of roads meant for Jeeps rather than our rented sedan.  We navigated around the fresh elephant dung in the last stretches of road and finally arrived alongside the River. Although we knew we were close to the water, in the pitch black darkness of our arrival we had no idea what was awaiting us in the morning. 

After a gloriously sleepless night surrounded by a symphony of new sounds, we rose at sunrise to a reflection of orange and pink glancing off a flowing river. Peace resting on the surface, life teeming underneath. Hippos wrestling and bellowing, crocodiles waiting stealthily in the shoreline depths, eagles fishing for breakfast, and unforgettable elephant trunks draped into water from the bank downstream. 

In awe, I found myself thinking… this seems pretty perfect. So many places in our world need something that doesn’t currently exist there… What does this place need? The answer clearly screams: absolutely nothing! Over the time we were there, I learned about how the indigenous people live in harmony with the river, relying on it for their fresh drinking water and sustainably fishing from its banks to feed their communities. Animals across a thriving food chain rely on the Park to enjoy the bounty of resources around them. 

Along with my overwhelming awe came a sense of regret and apprehension… At the end of the day, my being there represented a threat to the health of these people and ecosystems. We were far enough into the park that there were no other tourists nearby, but over time, where money can be made and spent, people will come… then what happens? There was more to this story developing, I just didn’t know it at the time.

The Kangaluwi Copper Mine:

Beyond the impact of my presence, there was a looming threat on nearby shores, deeper into the park. If you’ve been following along with Brym’s research series in Zambia, you’ll know that one motif has been centered on the effects of our global capitalist system, especially with regard to international extraction of Zambian natural resources. Unfortunately, yet inevitably, this story also applies to this beautiful place…

I came across this article, written up in the Lusaka Times, the Zambian Capital’s local newspaper. The author is Tilyenji Kaunda, son of Dr Kenneth Kaunda who was the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. In addition to being a huge figure in the independence movement from British Colonial rule, President Kaunda was also a staunch conservationist and protector of the Lower Zambezi National Park. 

The article from his son speaks out against the operation of an open-pit copper mine project called Kangaluwi. The project recently gained approval to commence drilling and has become a huge source of controversy in Zambia and across Southern Africa for the past few years. However, the physical operation has not yet begun and there are ways we can all act in opposition…. 

So, here’s some more information on what’s happening:

* Who’s the mine owner?: The answer to this is complex which is an additional concern. Kangaluwi is owned by ‘Mwembeshi Resources Ltd’ officially registered in Lusaka, Zambia. However a majority of the company’s shares are held in Bermuda (used as a tax haven) and owned by a majority Chinese and Dubai-based conglomerate. 

* What was the Approval Process?: 

* The Mine was Approved on May 7th, 2021 when the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) issued a letter approving the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) after only a 7-day review - a process of which many are skeptical.

* The project had previously been rejected by ZEMA under the previous political administration…however, after the election of the new government, there was a new appeal made and ZEMA then approved. 

Here is the official approval letter from ZEMA - thanks to Estella Snowden from CLZ for providing.

* Who’s affected?: Over 20,000 people live directly on the banks of the river and depend on it for clean drinking water and food from its 2,000-ton subsistence fishery. This does not only impact the Zambian population but also communities in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique that either live along the banks or rely on its resources.

* Who Benefits - A two-sided argument: 

* Pro-Mine: Mwembeshi Resources has done a good job marketing to local communities that this new mine will provide jobs and more income to the local community. They say that an estimated 250 jobs will be directly generated by the mine with the potential of more jobs available for supporting businesses. And that line of argument is gaining traction with the local people… while it seemed to me like the local communities ‘don’t need anything,’ they are enticed by the mine’s potential of bringing a livelihood to their families and helping provide more financial support than is currently available to them in their daily live.

* Against the Mine: For this perspective, I spoke with Besa Kaoma, Environmental Education Manager for Conservation Lower Zambezi,…