Expanding possibilities for renters who want solar, and for animation in Africa

|
Jacob Turcotte/Staff

Arts groups are using new funding models to escape gentrification

As property values skyrocket in the United States, artists are often pushed out of neighborhoods.

But in Chicago, Heaven Gallery’s Director Alma Weiser opted to establish a perpetual purpose trust that will allow a new nonprofit to pursue grants to support artists and operate their building for profit at the same time. The large, remodeled space will host a retail tenant to help pay the mortgage.

Why We Wrote This

In our progress roundup, opportunities emerge for German apartment renters who want to hang their own solar panels, for arts organizations fighting gentrification, and for animation fans looking for African content.

In Greater Boston, an estimated 2 million square feet of cultural space has recently disappeared as it has been developed. Operating the nation’s first democratically controlled investment fund, the Boston Ujima Project has disbursed $1.6 million to assist artists and small businesses in communities of color.

And a group of Boston volunteers called the Art Stays Here Coalition has orchestrated deals with the city, developers, and nonprofits to help musicians and artists gain more control of their spaces. Advocates note that better policy would support the arts so that unique arrangements are less necessary and good results are more replicable.
Sources: Bloomberg, The Boston Globe

Labor law against mansplaining and “manterrupting”

In Chile, mansplaining and “manterrupting” are among the kinds of conduct prohibited by a new law targeting workplace harassment. The “Karin Law” is informally named for Karin Salgado, a nurse technician who died by suicide in 2019 after experiencing months of a hostile work environment. Almost 18% of women ages 15 to 65 living in Chilean cities report having experienced violence in the workplace.

Amendments to Chile’s existing labor code incorporate standards of the 2019 International Labour Organization Convention No. 190, which require employers to prevent violence and harassment and establish reporting and investigation procedures for workers. Those who pressure someone into sexual activity may face sanctions, and the law expands the definition of harassment to include single instances, rather than requiring repeat offenses. It also requires employers to establish sanctions for offensive language and sexism, and requires confidentiality in investigating gendered offenses. The law applies to public and private employees alike.
Sources: El País, Government of Chile, International Organisation of Employers

DIY solar panels are making solar more accessible for urbanites

Germany must triple its photovoltaic capacity by 2030 to meet its climate goals. An influx of cheap, high-quality solar panels from China and new legislation have driven German consumers to install more than half a million balcony units since 2023.

Christian Charisius/Picture-Allience/DPA/AP/File
Two solar panels hang from a balcony parapet of an apartment building in Hamburg, Germany.

The units plug into a conventional power socket and can be easily hung over balcony railings, feeding electricity to appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and laptops.

Reforms have made it harder for landlords to refuse permission and easier for apartment dwellers to install balcony panels – a significant step in a country where more than half the population rents its home. A Berlin subsidy program, to which 10,000 people had applied by May, provides up to €500 ($546) for a single panel. Not including an inverter, cables, or storage batteries, one panel costs as little as €200.
Sources: Bloomberg, The New York Times, Reuters

More streaming services offering animated stories created in Africa

Via an increasingly popular storytelling medium, a wave of artists and production studios is increasing representation both on the continent and around the world. In Zambia, mostly self-taught animators developed “Supa Team 4,” a superhero show focusing on four teenage girls. Produced in South Africa by Triggerfish, it became Netflix’s first African animation story last July. In another first that month, Disney+ debuted the Pan-African “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire.”

Netflix
A screen grab captures a moment from the second season of “Supa Team 4.”

Nigerian and Ugandan filmmakers created the 2024 Disney+ show “Iwájú.” And “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” will premiere next year on Africa’s Showmax. The shows have worked to incorporate authentic aspects of African culture, such as accurate accents and languages, even as they imagine futuristic and fantastical versions of African society. “Iwájú” has been celebrated for its depiction of socioeconomic divisions.
Sources: Semafor, Deutsche Welle

Shenzhen restores hundreds of hectares of mangroves

The city of Shenzhen has restored hundreds of hectares of mangroves, increasing climate resilience and creating habitat for wildlife. Shenzhen’s rapid expansion in the 1980s from fishing village to international metropolis drastically contracted coastal mangroves to about a fifth of a square mile.

Marc Fernandes/Nurphoto/AP/File
Mangroves stand in the sea just beyond Shenzhen, China. Coastal trees are a natural defense against flooding.

But through regulation and public-private partnerships, the city has reversed course. Nonnative trees from a 1993 reforestation strategy were thinned, aiding native species. A 2018 national ban on land reclamation is being enforced, and a 2021 wetland law includes penalties for violations. Futian Mangrove Ecological Park is the country’s first government-mandated park managed by a nongovernmental organization. West of the park, restoration of gei wai fish ponds supports a population of over 13,700 birds.

A rise in the popularity of bird-watching has also increased public awareness of mangroves, leading some citizens to successfully oppose a dredging project for cruise ships in 2020. Between 2000 and 2022, mangrove coverage in Shenzhen Bay nearly doubled to 526 hectares (2.03 square miles).
Source: Dialogue Earth

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Expanding possibilities for renters who want solar, and for animation in Africa
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Points-of-Progress/2024/0916/German-apartment-solar-African-arts
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe