Arwa's Freelance Site » climate change

Aquila Magazine: Berlin – Filled To Its Creative Brim

arwafreelance — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:39:51 +0000

Front page teaser from my little guide to Berlin for Aquila Style Magazine. For the full thing, you’ll need to download a copy for a very reasonable couple of dollars! See here and here’s a couple of photos to tempt you further…

Big Issue North: Predict & Provide – Food Poverty In The UK

arwafreelance — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:35:21 +0000

From horsemeat in burgers to poverty related hunger, food is in the headlines in the worst possible way. Yet as food prices continue to rise and cities grow, the shortage of affordable and healthy food looks set to worsen. So what can an old mill in Salford do to bring sustainable and wholesome fare to our cities? Arwa Aburawa investigates.

With central government examining the surge of emergency foodbanks and charities warning of an increase in poverty-related hunger, it’s clear food insecurity is on the rise. The horsemeat scandal may have raised a lot of questions about our supermarkets but more daunting questions are now being asked about how we protect the poorest from rising food prices. How can we make healthy food more accessible in the wake of the cuts? And can cities really feed themselves? Manchester International Festival and the Biospheric Foundation in Salford are working together to answer these very questions….

Read on below:

View this document on Scribd

Aquila Magazine: Ancient Innovation For Modern Problems

arwafreelance — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:02:59 +0000

Here’s a sneak peek of my latest article for Aquila Magazine’s Earth Issue. It’s all about indigenous populations making the most of their ancient traditions to cope with an increasingly unpredictable climate. As well as highlighting the continued importance of ancient water tunnels (called aflaj) in Oman, I spoke to an expert on community adaption in Bangladesh about the floating gardens (called baira) which are providing a lifeline to flooded communities. There’s also a snippet on the amazing work of Hassan Fathy in Egypt…

Want to read more? Well all you have to do is download (how eco is that?!) a copy of the latest Aquila Magazine here. It’s only a couple of dollars for a mag jam-packed with goodness. Go on, you know you want to!

SISTERS – The Green Edition: Faith, Families and Features

arwafreelance — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:18:17 +0000

After lots of work and even more enthusiasm (well done Brooke!) the very lovely and very special green issue of SISTERS is out. It’s bursting with green quizzes, features, top tips for your home and also a round up of some great eco-Muslims organisations. I’ve contributed an article on the issue of population growth and ask the whether large Muslim families are a blessing or a curse. Read on for more and also to download or buy your own copy.

@FabulousSISTERS – Hymens, Hijabs and Helmets: Muslimahs Who Cycle (arwafreelance.com)

MCM: Awareness into action? Manchester BME groups talk climate change

arwafreelance — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:23:37 +0000

A group of around 30, pretty diverse, people attended an event today hoping to raise awareness about the impact of climate change on BME communities in Manchester.

The event kicked off with an introduction by the chair of the Manchester BME Network Atiha Chaudry who also gave some of the partners a chance to talk about their Defra-funded research and findings. This included Michelle Ayavoro from Creative Hands and Kate Damiral from NCVO. I sadly missed this but arrived in time to sample some the workshops.

After listening into the ‘understanding the impact of climate change’ presentation I wandered into the community involvement workshop run by Catrina Pickering from Afsl. All attendees were given some handouts about projects in Manchester and were told to discuss them in pairs and share back to the group. I happened to walk in just as the group were enthusing about how great Manchester Climate Monthly was (my work here is done!) so I was pretty impressed. All the attendees got to talk about projects they wanted to share with others and also ask for help. Pretty cool stuff but I’m clearly biased.

Talking to various people during lunchtime, it’s clear that whilst they were happy that the awareness-raising event (funded by Defra as part of the research) was happening, they were wondering ‘what next?’. I sat down with Atiha Chaudry and asked her that very question. Here’s what she said:

The final report with all the findings and also the toolkit will be available next month.

DW: Egypt mourns eco-activist Mindy Baha El Din

arwafreelance — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:13:50 +0000

Egypt’s environmental community is in mourning following the sudden death of activist Mindy Baha El Din. Local journalist Arwa Aburawa knew Baha El Din personally and gives her thoughts on the passing of a hero.

I first met Mindy Baha El Din during an interview back in 2011. The first thing that struck me about her was her positive outlook on things. It seemed like, on environmental issues, she was immune to becoming cynical about anything.

Born Mindy Rosenzweig, the Chicago-born American initially came to Egypt in 1988 with a mission to highlight the importance of conservation. In the end, it turned out that it was such a big task that she never left.

Instead, she fell in love with Egypt’s nature, met and married bird expert Sherif Baha El Din and became one of the country’s leading green campaigners. She was also the Secretary of the ‘Nature Conservation Egypt’ organization, which is dedicated to conserving Egypt’s environment.

“Over the years, we have witnessed massive changes and degradation to Egypt’s natural heritage,” she told me back in 2011. “It is shocking how one generation made decisions about natural resource use, affecting present and all future generations of Egyptians.”

New environmental projects are sprouting up across Egypt, thanks to Baha El Din’s groundwork

“The nation is blessed with amazing nature, cultural heritage and traditional communities which need to be protected.”

Campaigning on different fronts

During my environmental reporting on the Middle East, I would regularly receive tweets from Mindy about everything from campaigns to stop development projects near Lake Qarun, to efforts to end fishing in Ras Mohammed National Park.

Mindy Baha El Din wasn’t shy about making the most of social media and was proud of all the international support she managed to garner for her campaigns.

“We are new to environmental activism,” she confessed to me following the revolution in Egypt which saw the overthrow of the dictator Mubarak in early 2011. “It was not tolerated in the past but seems to suit the current atmosphere in the country.”

Indeed, following the Arab Spring, Mindy seemed to go into top gear with an even greater belief in the need to keep people informed and the importance of openness.

Still, at the same time, she was very proud of being Egyptian and told me she considered herself lucky to call Egypt her home.

“Living here is like being on a permanent vacation,” she had said.

A husband and wife team

Working with her husband, she led international campaigns against bird hunting, helped inform government environmental policy and campaigned to conserve any precious piece of nature that came under threat.

Environmental journalist Arwa Aburawa first met Mindy Baha El Din in 2011

“We both have a strong sense of civic duty,” she explained. “We have tried our best to make a difference, but it has been an uphill struggle.”

The one thing that struck me whenever I interviewed Mindy Baha El Din was just how optimistic she was. Even after the revolution which toppled Mubarak threatened to push environmental issues further down the political agenda, she saw new opportunities and new potential in the young people who flooded the streets.

“What is very exciting after the revolution is all these creative, talented and bright young people,” she said. “They are the nation’s capital and future. They want to be involved in improving their nation. It is up to us environmental campaigners to find ways to engage and channel their energies,” she said.

Last Thursday (14.03.2013) Mindy suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. During an operation a later later she fell into a coma. She passed away early on the following Monday morning. Her wake will be held later this week in Cairo and is open to the public.

::Originally published at Deutsche Welle.

@FabulousSISTERS – Hymens, Hijabs and Helmets: Muslimahs Who Cycle

arwafreelance — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:44:49 +0000

Readers, I present my latest green column for SISTERS Magazine which is all about cycling as a Muslim woman. Got a great response to my more personal columns so it’s about my experience navigating the cultural minefield that this otherwise innocent form of transport throws up. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and share. Just click on the images to have a read.

MCM: “Little Green Feats” – AfSL’s Interactive #Sustainability Workshop for Kids

arwafreelance — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:19:45 +0000

I caught up with AfSL volunteer Shireen Malik to talk about the sustainability workshop she developed to help inform children about environmental issues in a fun and interactive way. Shireen will be holding the workshops in Manchester until February 2014, so get in touch if you are interested or know someone who is.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got involved with AfSL?

I’m a full-time mum of three children (aged 9, 7 and 3). I first became involved with AfSL by coming along to a local project of theirs, Old Moat Gardeners (OMG), which was an allotment they had set up in a back garden of a house that was being renovating. I received a letter in my son’s school bag and thought that this would be a fabulous opportunity for my kids to learn about growing own our food! They loved it, especially the younger two. After approximately 2/3 months of going the Local Project Managers of OMG were leaving Manchester and asked if I would be interested in taking over. AfSL offered training, which I completed, and as a result Little Green Feats was born!!

What are the workshop’s aims and why did you want it to be targeted at kids?

The workshops are aimed at children aged 9-11. I have been volunteering in school for some time before I became a Local Project Managers (LPM), and was aware of the ability of this age group so I geared my workshop for them. I have also volunteered for an Islamic charity, the Islamic Society of Britain, in which I delivered workshops to teach children of this age group about Islam which have been very successful. So, I thought why not teach children about sustainability?!

I aimed it at children because they are in their prime for learning, and ideas and thoughts are developed at this time. I also remember where my interest in sustainability came from, and it was by watching Blue Peter when I was at school age! Children are custodians of the future, and I feel that by teaching them how they can make their world better for their future, is important for them.What has the reaction to it been from the parents, kids and staff?

So far, the reactions I have got from children and their parents have been great! Children have enjoyed taking part and parents have said they are applying what they have learnt at home, which is just what we wanted! Teachers have felt that it has supplemented their teaching very well, and confirmed that the children enjoyed every minute of it. I think when you start something new you never expect positive responses straight away, so just to get the response I got was really quite surprising!

Why is sustainability important to you?

Sustainability is important to me mainly because of two things. First of all, in my Islamic faith there are clear instructions to protect the environment and respect the laws of nature. Understanding sustainability and acting upon it, is a form of worship because we are abiding by the religion’s teachings. Secondly, my passion for sustainability has come from regular viewing of the one and only Blue Peter, and related animal and environment conservation programmes when younger.

How can people help support the project and take part?

People can help support the project by volunteering with AfSL and joining the workshops when they take place. They can also help by spreading the word about Little Green Feats to anybody who works in primary schools. We are trying to make LGF available to schools all over Manchester so help from anyone outside central Manchester would be welcome to save journey time to schools in that area. If anyone wishes to volunteer then they can contact myself at shireen.malik@afsl.org.uk or Erika Nagae, (Sustainability and Schools Coordinator for Manchester) at erika.nagae@afsl.org.uk.

Partner organizations & Funders:

- Ward Regeneration Officer (Chorlton and Chorlton Park)

- Manchester City Council and AfSL

Interview conducted by Arwa Aburawa, co-editor of Manchester Climate Monthly

“Little Green Feats” – AfSL’s Interactive #Sustainability Workshop for Kids in #Manchester (manchesterclimatemonthly.net)

MCM: Manchester’s Climate Vulnerable – An Interview with Atiha Chaudry

arwafreelance — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:13:18 +0000

Whilst it’s easy to think that all those people ‘really vulnerable’ to climate change live in far away places, the truth is they don’t. They live in cities great and small all over the world. And there are some living right here in Manchester. Who are they? Well, there are the marginalised, the socially, economically and politically vulnerable. They are our old, our BME, our asylum seekers and refugees and whilst our climate keeps changing, we ought to figure out a way to protect them.

Last year, the Manchester BME Network got £15,000 from Defra to do exactly that. They were tasked with “mapping the needs of BME, older people and refugee and asylum communities to better understand their needs and concerns about the impact of a changing change.” The project also wanted to find the gaps and consider how these might be addressed. The project is led by Muslim Communities UK (MC-UK) with direct support from Manchester BME Network (MBMEN), Salford Refugee Forum and Creative Hands Foundation. The partners interviewed 100 people and held four focus groups.

Ahead of the final report which will be released next week, MCFly caught up with Atiha Chaudry, from MBMEN, to talk about their findings and what happens next.

Could you tell us a little about the Manchester BME network and the work it does?

The MBMEN is a well established network supporting BME groups and organisations in Manchester. It holds regular networking meetings addressing key issues relevant to the BME sector and brings together a diverse range of groups, individuals and local stakeholders to meet and share knowledge and experience. The Network delivers a range of projects and currently is involved in the following: a partnership with Fareshare to address the issue of food redistribution and meet the needs of those in most need; climate change and its impact on the BME sector; safeguarding and supplementary schools; sexual health and BME women.

You mention that the network has been involved in climate change before. Could you tell us what form the project took and why you were keen to tackle this issue?

We were invited by NCVO a year ago to work with them on a pilot project in Greater Manchester which would look at working with a cohort of 20 BME groups. We brought together these groups and sat on the steering group for delivering this project . It involved 3 workshops to build knowledge and understanding of climate change, disseminate this to others the groups work with and build a better awareness in the local communities.This was really successful and lead to the success of the bid to Defra for a £15,000 grant for further work gathering evidence of need and developing solutions. The NCVO work will be presented at a national conference where we will have the opportunity to share our experience and influence the national strategy.

Why do you feel it’s important to explore the climate change and BME link now?

Because, many BME communities need more awareness and connection to local strategies so that the particular concerns of BME communities are taken on board. BME communities also have an added issue about the impacts of climate change to their friends and family in their country of origin as well as the overall impact of this on wider issues (eg foods they are used to eating from their countries of heritage).

What do you hope to do with these findings and the information that emerges from your research?

We hope to produce a toolkit that addresses the concerns people share with us so that it can provide advice and support. We are also holding a conference at the end of the project (end of March) to share our findings, engage the strategic and wider sector, influence local work and national strategy and look at ways to continue the work we have started.

Is the funding for research only or will some be available to implement some findings?

It’s for research only but we are hopeful that through engaging local stakeholders we can continue the work.

Originally posted at Manchester Climate Monthly.

Science speaks to democracy on #climate, or, "Manchester's climate Wake Up Call" #manchester #mcc #acertainfuture

arwafreelance — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:19:49 +0000

Reblogged from manchester climate monthly:

Climate scientist Kevin Anderson talks to Manchester's full council about turning climate rhetoric into reality, steady state and why it's too late in the day to be pinning our hopes on technologies

Weds Jan 30: Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at Manchester University, was invited to give a 30 minute presentation to Manchester's full council meeting today. The great hall was packed out with 90+ councillors and over 35 members of the public.