AKON: Africa’s Rising Sun #SolarPower

Newly trained field workers install solar street lights in Mali, the Akon Lighting Africa project.

This has been a week to be proud of #hiphop.

Hip Hop culture gets a lot of flack for negatively influencing the youth, promoting harmful brands, alcohol and drugs and objectifying women. The truth is that hip hop is what inspired us all to make a bad situation better, and help as many people ecape that reality. Hip Hop begun as protest art in South Africa and has been a bridge to different countries throughout Africa.

For Senegalese artist Akon, Hip Hop took him from a dusty open veld on the continent to bright lights and camera time in the United States. Akon has always been an inspiration to Africans – but his latest move is deserving of extraordinary praise.

“Mr. Lonely” has teamed up with African entrepeneurs to launch a solar academy in Mali. This will be a place where Africans are taught how to harness the power of the sun in a bid to give electricity to 600 million people living in the dark every night.

Below is a short video report on the initiative;

It’s also worth noting that Akon’s initiative has received the backing of prominent Hip Hop artists such as Busta Rhymes and Talib Kweli.

  

Well done and thank you very much Akon!

June 5, 2015June 8, 2015 by van1go

Keep your Eye on the Storm #ClimateChange

Looks like South Africa’s storm category listing is about to go up. Another major tornado captured on video this weekend. Terrifying weather patterns!

This tornado like storm captured on cellphone video between Vryheid and Dundee in KZN, is the 2nd of its kind in less than 10 days.

Below, a distant tornado is making its way through farm land used to grow export product. Unfortunately, it had an adverse effect on the crops. On the highveld, farmers have become accustomed to irregular losses and unpredicted setbacks due to the changing weather. A decade ago, scientists were able to predict the weather changes with relative certainty, though there aren’t any foolproof ways to shelter the crops.

The weather doesn’t always mean mayhem and destruction though, just one day before the Mpumalanga tornado, these storm clouds brought much needed relief farmers in East London.

    

It’s not all about the wet weather. Cold fronts in the middle of spring, earthquakes in Orkney and even this sand storm from Bloemfontein through to Johannesburg are all part of the recent irregular weather patterns.

    

The change has definitely caught the attention of South Africa’s insurance companies. At the beginning of this year, after one helluva hail storm, a majority of them operating in the country met to analyse and find better ways to predict when damage will occur.

Subsequently, insurance companies have started issuing warnings about pending hailstorms, while others have made it a marketing issue, as if getting a payout is privilege.

Weather scientists, reinsurance experts and an international agricultural insurance specialist met with the South African Insurance Association and the Insurance Institute of South Africa, in Sandton “due to recent extreme weather events that have caused massive damage and that had led to insurance claims of more than R1 billion in the past year,” they said in a joint statement.

The association’s chief executive, Barry Scott, says in 2012 and 2013, the industry experienced a dramatic increase in hail insurance claims in motor and property sectors…[Read more]

Who knows, in  a few years, the weather could be the most interesting and important subject in global social discourse.

November 24, 2014November 24, 2014 by van1go