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The death of Pope Francis has been announced by the Vatican. I first met the late Pope Francis at the Vatican after a conference called Saving Our Common Home and the Future of Life on Earth in July 2018. My colleagues and I sensed something momentous was happening at the heart of the church. At that time, I was helping to set up the new Laudato Si Research Institute at the Jesuit Hall at the University of Oxford. This institute is named after the popes 2015 encyclical (a letter to bishops outlining church policy) on climate change. Its mission is rooted in the popes religiously inspired vision of integral ecologya multidisciplinary approach that addresses social and ecological issues of equality and climate breakdown. Originating from Argentina, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, witnessed firsthand the destruction of the Amazon and the plight of South Americas poorest communities. His concern for justice for vulnerable communities and protection of the planet go hand in hand with his religious leadership. In his first papal letter, Laudato Si, he called for all people, not just Catholics, to pay more attention to the frailty of both our planet and its people. What we need is no less than a cultural revolution, he wrote. As a theologian, I recognise that he inspired significant change in three key ways. 1. At global climate summits Its no coincidence that Pope Francis released Laudato Si at a crucial moment in 2015 prior to the U.N. climate summit, Cop21, in Paris. A follow-up exhortation, or official statement, Laudate Deum, was released in October 2023, just before another U.N. climate summit, Cop28 in Dubai. Did the decisions at these global meetings shift because of the influence of Pope Francis? Potentially, yes. In Laudate Deum, Pope Francis showed both encouragement and some frustration about the achievements of international agreements so far. He berated the weakness of international politics and believes that Cop21 represented a significant moment because the agreement involved everyone. After Cop21, he pointed out how most nations had failed to implement the Paris agreement which called for limiting the global temperature rise in this century to below 2°C. He also called out the lack of monitoring of those commitments and subsequent political inertia. He tried his best to use his prominent position to hold power to account. Promoting a general moral awareness of the need to act in ecologically responsible ways, both in international politics and at the local level is something that previous popes, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI also did. But, Pope Franciss efforts went beyond that, by connecting much more broadly with grassroots movements. 2. By advocating for Indigenous people Cop28 marked the first time that close to 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. Pope Franciss interventions potentially helped shift the needle just a little in the desired direction. His emphasis on listening to Indigenous people may have influenced these gatherings. Compared with previous global climate summits, Cop28 arguably opened up the opportunity to listen to the voices of Indigenous people. However, Indigenous people were still disappointed by the outcomes of Cop28. Pope Franciss lesser-known exhortation Querida Amazonia, which means beloved Amazonia, was published in February 2020. This exhortation resulted from his conversations with Amazonian communities and helped put Indigenous perspectives on the map. Those perspectives helped shape Catholic social teaching in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, which means all brothers and sisters, published on October 3 2020. For many people living in developing countries where extractive industries such as oil and gas or mining are rife, destruction of land coincides with direct threats to life. Pope Francis advocated for Indigenous environmental defenders, many of whom have been inspired to act by their strong faith. For example, Father Marcelo Pérez, an Indigenous priest living in Mexico, was murdered by drug dealers just after saying mass on October 23, 2023, as part of the cost of defending the rights of his people and their land. While 196 environmental defenders were killed globally in 2023, Pope Francis continued to advocate on behalf of the most marginalised people as well as the environment. 3. By inspiring activism Ive been speaking to religious climate activists from different church backgrounds in the U.K. as part of a multidisciplinary research project on religion, theology and climate change based at the University of Manchester. Most notably, when we asked more than 300 activists representing six different activist groups who most influenced them to get involved in climate action, 61% named Pope Francis as a key influencer. On a larger scale, Laudato Si gave rise to the Laudato Si movement, which coordinates climate activism across the globe. It has 900 Catholic organizations as well as 10,000 of what are knownas Laudato Si animators, who are all ambassadors and leaders in their respective communities. Our institutes ecclesial affiliate, Tomás Insua, based in Assisi, Italy, originally helped pioneer this global Laudato Si movement. We host a number of ecumenical gatherings which bring together people from different denominations and hopefully motivate churchgoers to think and act in a more climate-conscious way. Nobody knows who the next pope will be. Given the current turmoil in politics and shutting down of political will to address the climate emergency, we can only hope they will build on the legacy of Pope Francis and influence political change for the good, from the grassroots front line right up to the highest global ambitions. Celia Deane-Drummond is a professor of theology and director of Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall at the University of Oxford. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Starbucks is brewing up something new in Texasand this time, it’s not just what’s in the cup. Next week, the coffee giant will open its first-ever 3D-printed store, a drive-thru-only location in Brownsville that looks more like the future of construction than your average café. Built with layers of concrete piped out by a giant robotic printer, the 1,400-square-foot structure is part of the companys ongoing effort to modernize operations and trim costs. But does a 3D-printed café actually save moneyor is this just a buzzworthy experiment? Is 3D-printing more cost-effective? Peri-3D, a German company, used a giant 3D printer to pump out layers of concrete mixture to create the structure. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the cost for building the small scale coffee shop was about $1.2 million. The accounting platform Freshbooks says building a restaurant from the ground up can cost up to $2 million. However, a smaller-scale quick-serve restaurant may cost less to build. According to KRG Hospitality, it costs around $535 per square foot to build a quick serve restaurant, which comes out to $749,000 for a 1,400-square-foot structure like the new Starbucksa bit less than the $1.2 price tag for the 3D-printed build. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brownsville Today (@brownsvilletoday) Of course, the new method is a first for the brand. And builders say, the more they use the technology, the more efficient they are at it. In Georgetown, Texas, an entire community of 100 homes was recently built using 3D-printing. The company who built the community, Lennar, says they’re seeing costs drop with each build. Stuart Miller, chairman and co-CEO of Lennar, told CNBC earlier this year that the construction company says their costs and cycle time go down “by half” by adopting 3D-printing. “This is significant improvement in evolving a housing market that has the ability to change over time and being more adaptable and more functional in providing affordable and attainable housing for a broader swath of the market, said Miller.Likewise, many building materials are becoming more expensive all the time. According to a 2023 report by construction cost data tracking firm Gordian, 82.5% of construction materials have skyrocketed since 2020, with the average increase at 19%. Now that the impact of tariffs is looming, those costs are expected to increase even more.3D-printing is also much faster, meaning that projects can be completed in a fraction of the time, potentially drastically cutting labor costs. According to the World Economic Forum, 3D-printing can cost just 30% of what building structures the old-fashioned way costs. That’s why some companies are using it as a tool to address labor shortages and the housing crisis. The future of restaurant building? 3D-printing is gaining momentum for construction purposes, given it’s less time-consuming and has the power to be less costly. In addition to housing, in Japan, a 3D-printed train station was just erected. And Peri-3D, itself, has completed at least 15 construction projects, including residential buildings in Europe and Germany.3D-printing has been incorporated into some restaurants when it comes to customizing food, or even making 3D-printed furniture, too. But building restaurants with the technology is a brand-new development. With restaurant chains looking for cost-cutting initiatives in the wake of inflation, rising operating costs, and the impact of tariffs, 3D-printing could eventually become a time-slashing, and cost-slashing way for establishments to expand. Especially because, no matter how the restaurants are built, the food, and the coffee, are likely to taste the same.
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E-Commerce
The infamous Am I the A**hole? subreddit is making its way to the small screen. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, the new game show for Comedy Central U.K. will feature members of the public appearing before Carr and a panel of two comedians to reveal their deepest secrets and most bizarre disputesbefore receiving judgment, per Deadline. The show is based on the popular Reddit subreddit of the same name, which boasts 24 million members at the time of writing. The subreddits creator, Marc Beaulac, is one of the executive producers of the series. Jimmy Carrs Am I the A**hole? is being produced by STV Studios-owned Tuesdays Child. Filming will take place in late spring, and the series is set to premiere later this year on Comedy Central U.K., consisting of eight hour-long episodes. Steph Harris, executive producer at Tuesdays Child, said per Chortle: Am I the A**hole? is only a question you ask if you’re convinced you’re right in an argument, but will our guests get the answer they’re hoping for when they share awkward real-life scenarios with comedians who pull no punches in delivering judgments? Carr added: Seems odd that anyone would ask me to host a show about a**holes. I should be grateful, but I feel a little insulted. I guess I’m an a**hole. Well, it takes an a**hole to know an a**hole, so I’m the right man for the job. I’m very much looking forward to being Comedy Central’s proctologist-in-residence. There are an impressive number of a**holes in our country, and they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve on national television. From giving your stay-at-home wife a written performance review (kind of the A-hole) to calling out a lactose-intolerant milk thief (not the A-hole), Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole” threadalso known by the acronym AITAhas become a safe space for people to vent anonymously and ask an impartial jury of Internet strangers: Am I in the wrong? Since its creation in 2013, AITA has evolved from a niche online forum into a cultural phenomenon, the subject of philosophical and demographic study and endless internet discourse. Over a decade on, it has inspired an entire ecosystem, including TikToks and podcast episodes dedicated to dissecting the most viral posts. Now, a panel of comedians and a TV audience will have their turn weighing in on real-life conflictsoffering insight, validation, or, in some cases, a much-needed dose of self-reflection.
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E-Commerce
Leo Robitschek says he loves gin-based martinis and negronis. Unfortunately, they dont always love him back. After two, that decision to have a third is usually a tricky one, says Robitschek, who has worked in the liquor industry for more than two decades, including serving as a bar director for Manhattan hot spots Eleven Madison Park and the NoMad Hotel. To lessen the pain after a boozy night out, Robitschek joined forces with another bartender, Nick Strangeway, and the founder of the sparkling beverage brand Dry Soda, Sharelle Klaus, to launch Second Sip Gin. The London dry gin is 20% alcohol by volume (ABV), roughly half the level of most gins, and was formulated over the course of six months as somewhere between Beefeater and Tanqueray gins. Second Sip has a juniper forward flavor, along with angelica root, coriander, bitter orange, and licorice, so it can retain an array of botanicals that gin is known for. [Photo: Second Sip Gin] Two martinis are better than one, says Robitschek. But hopefully, theres no regrets in the morning. The rise of mindful drinking Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in alcohol consumption as Americans were stuck at home with little to do. After life returned to normal, many consumers sought to reset their relationship by participating in Dry Januaryavoiding booze for the full monthand giving nonalcoholic beverages a try. All this coincided with the rise of Gen Z into legal drinking age, a generation thats drinking less than other young people before them. But industry data shows that a vast majority of adults that consume nonalcoholic drinks arent exactly sober. More than 90% drink alcohol, too. And often, they will alternate between alcohol and N/A brands within the same evening, a social concept called zebra striping. That idea of zebra striping and the consumer having two options results in this low alcohol space in the middle, says Kaleigh Theriault, associate director of beverage alcohol thought leadership at research firm NIQ. They can trust that the product is going to be moderate for them and they dont have to be as conscious about making a decision between a non-alc and a regular ABV [alcohol by volume]. Lower alcohol sales total nearly $3.6 billion annually in U.S. grocery, liquor, convenience, and other retailers tracked by NIQ, but the category is also evolving differently across beer, wine, and spirits. Within beer, there has been less appetite for low-strength alternatives because major brands like Miller Lite and Coors Light are already naturally low in alcoholic content and the N/A brands that have emerged, led by Heineken 0.0 and Athletic Brewing, taste similar to their full-strength cousins. Redefining the buzz Fabian Clark says he enjoys N/A beers, but when he worked in hospitality and ran a restaurant in London, he consistently declined to stock Seedlip and other N/A spirits he was pitched. For me, I felt they didnt deliver on the flavor that I was looking for, says Clark. [Photo: Quarter Proof] After his restaurant shut down due to COVID, Clark cofounded Quarter Proof in 2022, launching with a gin and later a tequila and vodka that all contain 15% ABV, a level he says allows the startup to deliver spirits that retain a similar flavor profile to the higher proof competitors. Theyre not looking to abstain, theyre looking to moderate, Clark says of the shifting consumer mindset. And we feel that we offer seamless moderation. As we like to say, All of the buzz, none of the blur. Stateside, Quarter Proof is only sold in bars and restaurants in New York and Miami, but Clark is in talks with a national distributor to bring the brand to additional markets. Clark also intends to move to the U.S. before the end of the year to have a more active in-person role building up Quarter Proof. Brandon Joldersma, the CEO of N/A wine brand Surely, says that the dealcoholization techniques changed the flavor profile too much for some consumers. You really want to taste as similar as possible, says Joldersma. Its just much more difficult to do with wine than it is for beer. [Photo: Arlow] With that in mind, he launched the low-alcohol wine brand Arlow last year, with varietals including sauvignon blanc, rosé, and cabernet sauvignon, all with a 6.5% ABV and fewer calories and sugar than the full-strength wines. The brand is sold online in nearly all states and has scored wholesale distribution in New York as a test market. A category without clear rules NIQs Theriault says theres no set guidelines for lower roof alcohols and thus the ranges for each category arent yet settled. Generally, NIQs unofficial definitions settle on beers under 4% ABV, and most wines under 10% and spirits below 30%. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for upstarts like Arlow and Quarter Proof. ABV math is something that consumers dont necessarily do when at the shelf making a purchase, says Theriault. And probably not while ordering a drink while at a bar. Beyond explaining the claims about ABV and better-for-you proposition for Arlow, Joldersma says hes fielded questions like if Arlow adds water to dilute it (they dont). This is a brand new category that we are introducing and theres some education that comes with that, says Joldersma. Some say Americans are finally playing catch-up by embracing mid-strength cocktails like the aperol and hugo spritzes. That lighter daytime drinking moment has always been part of European culture, says Emma Fox, global VP for St-Germain elderflower liqueur and Martini vermouth. [Photo: St-Germain] Fox estimates that globally, the aperitif and N/A-low alcohol segment is worth $11 billion and projected to grow 6% over the next four years. Google Search volume for the hugo spritz, made with St-Germain, prosecco, and mint, spiked by 130% in 2024 from the prior year and saw content on TikTok more than triple. St-Germain launched a global ad campaign with actress Sophie Turner last year to bolster the hugo spritz during the summer, when the cocktail tends to be more popular. To bolster popularity during the colder months, the French liqueur brand has also developed aprs-ski pop-ups at ski resorts. A new standard for bar menus Proof Creative, which conceptualizes cocktails menus for luxury hotel clients like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, anticipates menus will soon be engineered to offer N/A, low ABV, and full strength options across every beverage category. Bobby Carey, creative director for bar consultancy Proof Creative, says the lower-proof brands are also emerging in response to some consumer pushback that the N/A brands were being sold at lofty price points on par with the full strength spirits and wines. Why am I paying so much for a nonalcoholic drink?, asks Carey, explaining a common gripe hes witnessed. If you can turn around and say, This is still alcohol. Its still giving you the same flavor. Thats a more winning proposition.
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E-Commerce
A bold new building at Spelman College in Atlanta is all about breaking down barriers. Designed by the architecture firm Studio Gang, the Center for Innovation and the Arts is the new home for collaboration between students of science, technology, art, and performance at the historically Black women’s liberal arts college. It will provide a new space where Spelman’s programs in dance, documentary filmmaking, photography, theater and performance, and music can tap into emerging technologies from the worlds of science and computer science. Studio Gang founder, Jeanne Gang, says the primary goals of the project were to help the college better connect its programs and events with the broader community, and to help its robust arts and science programs have more opportunity to overlap and intersect. Our job was to make sure that there’s fluid connections between them, Gang says. [Photo: Tom Harris/courtesy Studio Gang] The four-story building is a mashup of labs, studios, and collaboration areas, with a publicly accessible performance hall on the ground floor, and college-only learning spaces above. There are design spaces, a recording studio, galleries, faculty offices, and a tech-filled Innovation Lab for experimentation and prototyping. [Photo: Tom Harris/courtesy Studio Gang] All this is built around a central atrium that’s lit from above by a large skylight and either visibly or physically accessible from nearly every other space in the building. This central space, known as the Forum, is meant to be used for events, gatherings, exhibitions, and, most often, design critiques for students studying a range of creative disciplines. [Photo: courtesy Studio Gang] Even if you’re not walking right through the middle of the crit space, you’re always circulating around it, Gang says. So it’s a way of giving character to this space where these interactions happen. [Photo: courtesy Studio Gang] Giving so much of the building over to a central atrium was a decision informed by Gang’s own design school experience, as a student, as a professor, and as a seasoned designer with several university buildings in her firm’s portfolio. People are comfortable staying in their silos, she says. How can you make it natural for people that are from different disciplines to interact? That thinking extends to Spelman’s expansion beyond its campus gates. Located directly adjacent to the campus, the Center for Innovation and the Arts was intended from the start to be a way for the college to spread its impact past its historical edge. After the project had to pause for a few years during the pandemic, this aspiration felt even more relevant. Gang says that during the early research her firm did for this project, they found a smattering of small art galleries in the surrounding Westside neighborhood. By the time the project picked back up a few years ago, those had grown and more had followed. It has really developed into a more full neighborhood, she says. It made sense to us for this project to be a center. [Photo: courtesy Studio Gang] It also stands out. The 84,000-square-foot building is a large square peeking out through the neighborhood’s tree cover, and bordering n a popular public plaza. Gang says the building was designed to counter Atlanta’s heat, with its upper floors forming a shaded canopy over the ground floor, creating what she calls a porch-like feeling. [Photo: Tom Harris/courtesy Studio Gang] The rest of the building is wrapped with a slitted facade of sun shades that resemble a woven basketa notable departure from the traditional brick buildings that make up much of Spelman’s campus. The baffles are specifically tuned to block sunlight and glare from each part of the building, with a tighter weave on the south and southwest. They’re very functional but also makes it feel more friendly, Gang says. It’s not a hard exterior of solid brick, and this lets it be more in the environment, breathing. All of which helps the building foster connections with the surrounding neighborhood. But the main users will be the students of the college, and Gang says the fluidity of the spaces inside were essential elements of designing a building so focused on collaboration and innovation. The building creates the relationships that you’re going to have with other people, other creators, and your own work, she says, so it’s really important to get it right.
Category:
E-Commerce
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