Nancy Pelosi to Speak Saturday at The Texas Tribune Festival, As Trump Impeachment Looms

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the keynote speaker, with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith as moderator, at The Texas Tribune Festival this Saturday.. Image via Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune.

By Chase Karacostas. First published on The Texas Tribune

Just a few days after declaring that the U.S. House of Representatives will begin a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will appear in Austin as the keynote speaker Saturday at The Texas Tribune Festival.

This is Pelosi's third time to speak at the festival, and it's one of her first major public appearances after Tuesday's impeachment investigation announcement. The California Democrat's interview, moderated by Tribune CEO Evan Smith, will be from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theater.

Impeachment is sure to be a major topic of discussion, as is Trump's July phone call with the Ukrainian president requesting an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

Before this week, Pelosi had fended off demands from members of her caucus to pursue impeachment, even after a long-awaited report from special counsel Robert Mueller was released. Much of her hesitation lay with the desire to protect her party's hard-won majority in the House. However, her tune changed this week after reports that the call with the Ukrainian president was the reason for an "urgent and credible" whistleblower complaint filed last month.

On Wednesday, the White House released a record of the call showing Trump implored newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden's son, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that Ukrainian authorities have investigated. While Biden was vice president, he urged Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, though the country's investigation into the company was reportedly dormant at the time.

Trump put nearly $400 million of Congress-approved security assistance on hold in the days before the call, leading some to accuse him of implicitly dangling the revocation of aid if Ukraine did not investigate Biden.

Pelosi's panel will be streamed live on the Tribune's website.

Jennifer Lopez + Shakira Take the Stage Feb 20, 2020 in Miami for Super Bowl LIV

Two giants in the music industry — Jennifer Lopez and Shakira — will take the stage on Feb. 2, 2020 for Super BowlLIV, in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The two superstars broke the news on Twitter, featuring each other.

Previously, the only Latin performers to take the Super Bowl haltime stage are Gloria Estefan (in 1992 and 1999 and as part of Miami Sound Machine in 1995) and Enrique Iglesias alongside a slew of other artists in 2000.

"Throughout the years, Pepsi has had a strong heritage in music, working with a range of artists from Britney Spears to Ray Charles to Beyoncé. The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show has become one of the most iconic and anticipated music performances of the year, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Jennifer Lopez and Shakira to the stage," Todd Kaplan, Pepsi's vp of marketing said in a statement. "These two remarkable artists are setting a new precedent for what this show can become, and we’re confident that this will be an incredible performance for the ages."

"We’ve been working closely behind-the-scenes with our longstanding partners at the NFL, and now alongside [Jay Z] Roc Nation to bring these mega superstars together. It is a testament to our partnership and commitment to push the envelope of what is possible," Adam Harter, senior vp of Sports, Media and Entertainment for Pepsi also shared.

Vox Media Acquires New York Media, Owner of New York Magazine, The Cut in New Media Vision

Jim Bankoff of Vox Media and Pamela Wasserstein of New York Media on Tuesday. Todd Heisler/The New York Times

On Tuesday, Vox Media agreed to acquire New York Media, owner of New York Magazine , one of the city’s premiere chroniclers of “highbrow, lowbrow, brilliant and despicable characters” writes the New York Times.

Neither company would discuss the valuation of the all-stock deal, that also included New York Magazine’s five online properties including The Cut — devoted to style, self, culture and power. The Wall Street Journal estimates the deal valuation of New York Media of about $105 million and Vox Media at about $750 million

While consolidations in the media industry typically mean cutting costs at the expense of quality journalism, Vox and New York said their combination was something different. They are bringing together a much-decorated print magazine, websites, a podcast empire and several streaming television deals — the very model, they hope, of a modern media company.

“No one had to do this,” Pamela Wasserstein, the chief executive of New York Media, said on Tuesday. “It’s a brilliant, in our view, opportunity, so that’s why we leaned into it. It’s not out of need. It’s out of ambition.”

Supermodel Iman Joins CARE CEO Michelle Nunn As First Global Advocate for Girls + Women

Iman and CARE CEO Michelle Nunn

Supermodel, entrepreneur, former Somali refugee, activist and Mrs. David Bowie, Iman officially became anti-poverty and humanitarian organization CARE’s first-ever global advocate. The role was created specifically for Iman by the esteemed CARE organization, founded in 1945.

The beauty entrepreneur’s new activist focus will be aiding refugee girls both domestically and internationally, including women and girls currently locked in detention centers at the US-Mexico border. The supermodel has a long history working with organizations like Keep a Child Alive, Save the Children and the Children's Defense Fund.

"This is the work that moves me. I have been involved with quite a lot of charities, but what moves my heart is women and girls. Since I was a refugee myself and because I've known the plight of women and girls myself, through my own journey in life, I was aware of what CARE does and I was aware of their long history," Iman tells The Hollywood Reporter of the agency, which originated the "care package" in 1946 during post-World War II relief efforts. "So, we came up with the global advocate role, where it's about finding out what really impacts women and girls around the world and here at home in America."

She adds, "We have to think of refugees collectively as humans. They're not nameless, they're not faceless, they're not just people who come from far away. These are people who are at the U.S.-Mexico border right now. I am one of them. People usually don't understand who a refugee is. I am the face of a refugee."

Iman will make her first public appearance as CARE's global advocate Wednesday at Advertising Week New York during an onstage discussion with Nunn. The talk will focus on the power of storytelling in the face of international crises.

In 2018, CARE worked in 95 countries, touching the lives of 56 million people globally.

In Kenya's SORALO and Shompole Lands, Samantha du Toit Takes Us to the Great Rift Valley

In Kenya's SORALO and Shompole Lands, Samantha du Toit Takes Us to the Great Rift Valley

Samantha du Toit (formerly Russell) was born and raised in Kenya. After completing secondary school in Nairobi she went to England to study Zoology and Psychology at Bristol University in England

Upon returning to Kenya, du Toit went straight into working in wildlife conservation with Dr. David Western, founder of the African Conservation Centre. Her first major task was to establish the baseline monitoring of the Shompole and Olkiramatian ecosystem, over eight years ago.

Today the Shompole Conservancy is a large privately operated conservation area in the south of the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is located between Lake Magadi to the north and Lake Natron to the south, on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The conservancy was registered in 1979 and is owned by the Loodokolani Maasi with over 2000 registered members representing around 10,000 Loodokilani Maasai dependents.

Today, Samantha du Toit can be found at the Lale’enok Resource Centre, which she helped establish and now plays a major role in its operations. Or we might find her in the Nairobi SORALO office, helping to manage the affairs of the South Rift Association of Land Owners. This network of shared goals and objectives operates with complementary decision-making and objectives.

Kylie Jenner Teams Up With Olivier Rousteing For Balmain SS20 Paris Runway Show Makeup Collab

Kylie Jenner and Oliver Rousteing Launch KYLIE X BALMAIN @kyliecosmetics collection

Kylie Jenner dropped news that she was named artistic director of makeup for Friday’s Paris Fashion Week Balmain spring-summer 2020 fashion show. The world’s youngest self-made billionaire has also created a capsule collection that includes a nine-pan eye shadow palette, matte lip kit and high gloss. Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing is a family friend and equally excited about the new partnership. The collab is Karlie’s first forray into a luxury fashion show.

The campaign photo features Jenner and Rousteing (above) posing in matching white ensembles in front of a lavender, holographic background. It’s sleek, modern but ultra glam with a caption that reads: “Paris is always a good idea 🇫🇷 surprise… KYLIE X BALMAIN @kyliecosmetics collection launching this Friday 9.27 on KylieCosmetics.com.”

Jenner previously wore Balmain to the 2016 Met Gala and the 2019 Grammy Awards. The young business tycoon was enchanted with the light pink shade of her dress for the Grammys, which ultimately inspired the packaging of the Kylie x Balmain makeup collection, which features Parisian street art. The eyeshadow names channel fashion week: Close the Show, Model Type, Attitude, Main Event, City of Love, Night Out, Top Model, Catwalk and PFW. The line will include new Parisian-inspired shades of fan-favorite products like High Gloss ($16) and the Matte Lip Kit ($29), as well as a brand-new, limited-edition KyShadow x Balmain Eye Shadow Palette ($42). You can also purchase the products in bundles for $38 and $75.

The collaboration is Balmain's second venture into beauty, following a lipstick line with L’Oréal Paris in 2017.

Kylie Jenner wore Balmain Couture to 2019 Grammy Awards

Yang Gang + Swing State Dems Challenge Justice Democrats As Voices of the People

The Justice Democrats may have a new competitor -- the Yang Gang. I don't have all the differences worked out in my mind, but I know I like the Yang Gang because I like Andrew Yang as a political candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Note, I have no candidate that AOC is endorsing, but Yang has definitely enjoyed far more success in his candidacy than anyone thought possible.

Jonathan Herzog, a 25-year-old former Yang staffer, announced his intentions to primary House Head of the Judiciary committee Jerry Nadler, entering an increasingly crowded Democratic race for the 10th Congressional District seat in New York

Jonathan Herzog, like his former boss, is running on a platform advocating for a $1,000 a month universal basic income (UBI), which he and Yang have both referred to as the "Freedom Dividend."

“My first priority will be to pass the Freedom Dividend,” Herzog said in a video Tuesday announcing his campaign launch.

AOC is so disgusted with Nadler's incompetency and ineffectual judiciary hearings, that I think the country would be better off with new and younger blood. NADLER CANNOT LEAD AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY.

Don't think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't juggling that hot potato as well, but we seem to be headed toward a special impeachment committee or commission, where Nadler is only one of the key members. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, head of the House Intelligence Committee, should head the effort, as far as I'm concerned.

The moderate swing-state Dems, who came out Tuesday night for impeachment and ALL legal means possible in the matter of Trump’s actions against Ukraine, tipped the balance in the matter of making Donald Trump the third president impeached in US history.

Unlike the squad, who is always calling Trump out (we will impeach the m#therf#cker), the swing state Dem women don't even mention Trump's name. These women — also first-term members of the House of Representatives — are all about protecting the Constitution, not seeking revenge on Trump. They are not involved in a Twitter war with Trump supporters, like members of the squad. It's very interesting to listen to the swing-state women Dems take a totally different approach. Yes, the fact that they have commanded navy war ships and large real-life squads of military men inspires my confidence in them.

The contrasts among these women: Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan just emphasizes the wide range of women in the Democratic party. All are important, but I am happy to see the swing district women (and a few men) begin to move in unison in their own squad. Progressive media is obsessed with the squad, as if they represent the entirely of the Democratic party, when they do not.

This is another reason why AOC is learning as much as we can about the Yang Gang, as an emerging balance to the as far left as they can go Justice Democrats, who want to blow up everything. Their voices are important but the equally innovative Yang Gang can be an important addition to the political mix among our young people.

Back to Nadler, who is ineffectual toast in my playbook, the Congressman has multiple challengers for his very important House seat. Besides Herzog,

Herzog joins a race in which Nadler has already attracted three women primary challengers. They are Amanda Pearl Frankel, Holly Lynch and Lindsey Boylan, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Boylan’s campaign so far is considered to be the more formidable, writes The New York Post.

The former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo raised $264,657 during the first quarter that she was in the race.

“I welcome all candidates,” she told The Post, responding to Herzog’s entry. “A healthy democracy needs more, not fewer candidates.”

Ghana’s Copyright Law for Folklore Hampers Cultural Growth

Ghana’s Copyright Law for Folklore Hampers Cultural Growth

Ghana has a rich folkloric tradition that includes Adinkra symbols, Kente cloth, traditional festivals, music and storytelling. Perhaps one of Ghana’s best known folk characters is Ananse, the spider god and trickster, after whom the Ghanaian storytelling tradition Anansesem is named.

Ghana also has some of the world’s most restrictive laws on the use of its folklore. The country’s 2005 Copyright Act defines folklore as “the literary, artistic and scientific expressions belonging to the cultural heritage of Ghana which are created, preserved and developed by ethnic communities of Ghana or by an unidentified Ghanaian author”.

This suggests that the legislation, which is an update of a 1985 law, applies equally to traditional works where the author is unknown and new works derived from folklore where the author is known.

The rights in these works are “vested in the President on behalf of and in trust for the people of the republic”. These rights are also deemed to exist in perpetuity. This means that works which qualify as folkloric will never fall into the public domain – and will never be free to use.

The 1985 Act only restricted use of Ghana’s folklore by foreigners. The 2005 Act extended this to Ghanaian nationals. In principle, this means that a Ghanaian artist wishing to use Ananse stories, or a musician who wants to rework old folk songs or musical rhythms must first seek approval from the National Folklore Board and pay an undisclosed fee.

This is deeply problematic.

Agroforestry at 40: How Tree-Farm Science Has Changed the World

PEOPLE TERRACING SLOPING LAND TO CONTROL SOIL EROSION. PHOTO COURTESY OF CCAFS.

Agroforestry at 40: How Tree-Farm Science Has Changed the World

“Agroforestry” – the practice of having trees as part of farms – is as old as agriculture itself. But as a field of scientific enquiry and policy making, it’s now marking its 40th birthday.

In 1978 the International Council for Research in Agro-Forestry was created to document the use of trees on farms – as a source of income, food and for a healthy environment – and spread information about it. Research gradually became a stronger focus and today it is known as the World Agroforestry Centre.

It’s an important area of research because more than 40% of the worlds’ agricultural lands have at least 10% tree cover. Because the interactions between trees, soils, crops and livestock can be positive or negative, their relationship must be balanced and understood.

To mark this anniversary my colleagues and I from the World Agroforestry Centre, launched a book which takes stock of the science produced and what else needs to be done. A total of 80 authors looked at approaches to agroforestry and how it has contributed to the transformation of rural livelihoods and landscapes. (Note from Anne: you can read this entire book online for free, so follow the link.)

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott Lensed by Sasha Samsonova for PLAYBOY 'The Pleasure Issue'

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott Lensed by Sasha Samsonova for PLAYBOY 'The Pleasure Issue'

Recently crowned by Forbes as the youngest self-made billionaire — taking the crown from Mark Zuckerberg — Kylie Jenner smolders in ‘Wild in Love’: Kylie by Travis for the new issue of PLAYBOY Magazine. Photographer Sasha Samsonova is behind the lens for ‘The Pleasure Issue’ Fall 2019.

Travis Scott comes through this interview every bit as cool as Kylie. A major talent in his own right, Scott plays second fiddle to his woman — except the result is a well-balanced duet. I’m not sure Scott wants to be perceived as charming (such an old-school word) but he is just that, checking his own ego at the front door and getting down to the business of dishing on Kylie.

Let’s hope this sexy couple and Stormi’s parents make sweet music for years to come.

Really Good News: Jeff Bezos Announces Exciting, Sweeping Plans for Amazon's Climate Action Goals

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled a sweeping plan on Thursday, the day before 1000 Amazon Seattle employees will join colleagues at Google and Microsoft in walking off their jobs to support the September 20, 2019 Global Climate Strike and marches around the world. The sweeping new plan unveiled by Bezos commits the company to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement 10 years ahead of schedule.

As part of the announcement, Amazon will purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from vehicle manufacturer Rivian. They will be on the road as early as 2021, giving the company a big boost in keeping its climate policy promise to make Amazon carbon neutral by 2040. All 100,000 vans should be on the road by 2024. Note that Amazon has already invested $440 million in Rivian, which raised as part of its $700 million February 2019 round of funding.

Rivians will be built in Michigan in Normal, Illinois, alongside the SUVs and pickups Rivian plans to build in a former Mitsubishi plant, reports The Detroit News.

"This provides an opportunity for mega-tech, through the sheer size and capital available, to invest in electric vehicle and accelerate EV penetration," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a Thursday note to investors. Read on in New Day.

Youth Climate Movement Puts Ethics at the Center of the Global Debate

Youth Climate Movement Puts Ethics at the Center of the Global Debate

Even if you’ve never heard of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmentalist who crossed the Atlantic on a sailboat to attend a Sept. 23 United Nations summit on the climate, you may have heard about the student-led Global Climate Strike she helped inspire, planned for Friday, Sept. 20.

People from more than 150 countries are expected to head to the streets to demand climate action. According to the organizers, the strike aims “to declare a climate emergency and show our politicians what action in line with climate science and justice means.”

The strike was galvanized by a global youth movement, whose Friday school walkouts over the last year were themselves inspired by Thunberg’s own three-week strike in August 2018 to demand climate action by the Swedish parliament.

People of all ages will be joining this year’s protests at the United Nations, and adults – with their environmental organizations, climate negotiations and election campaigns – are gradually getting on board. The Union of Concerned Scientists even published an “Adult’s Guide” to the climate strike to help parents of participants get up to speed.

Toni Garrn Is Garden Beauty by Olivia Frolich for Stella Magazine UK September 14, 2019

Toni Garrn Is Garden Beauty by Olivia Frolich for Stella Magazine UK September 14, 2019

Photographer Olivia Frolich captures Toni Garrn in repose, wearing British garden femininity from Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Fendi, Rochas and more. Tona Stell styles the shoot for Telegraph UK’s Stella Magazine September 14, 2019./ Makeup by Anita Keeling

Senior Writer Charlie Gowans-Eglinton stops by the Stella shoot to chat with Tony, noting that “modeliing years are like dog years, and her CV reads like that of a woman who’s been working in the fashion industry for decades.”

Joy Comes With Justice As Bland, Mallory and Sarsour Step Down From The Women's March

The January 21, 2017 Women’s March was the largest single-day march in US history, coming the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Justice has come to The Women’s March, an organization launched with the unified, anti-Trump passions of millions of women and men worldwide on January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration . The Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

After that breathtaking launch, The Women’s March devolved into recriminations against Jewish women, in particular, and white women generally. The Women’s Marches scheduled in many cities for 2019 were either cancelled or were held after public rejections of the Women’s March National Board led by original march organizers Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist; Tamika Mallory, an African-American gun control activist; Bob Bland, a white fashion designer, and Carmen Perez-Jordan.

The pervasive attitude that The Women’s March team was focused — not on building a large network of pro-women’s rights women and men nationwide — but their own New York activists short list of priorities that prioritized racial, Palestinian and sexual minority issues over women’s issues was wide-spread. White women, in particular, had little place in The Women’s March group as it evolved.

Women's March Co-Chairs Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory speak during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The organizers preferred to remind Hillary supporters and Democratic women that the majority of America’s white women voted for Trump, as Tamika Mallory did during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. It was staggeringly depressing in the time of Trump to listen to Mallory use her platform not to rally the Hillary supporters, but denounce white women as pro-Trump.

College-educated white women voted for Hillary, but they were shunned and charged with not being true feminists, especially as Jewish women not being willing to denounce Israel over the Palestinian conflict.

Mallory, in particular, refused to criticize Nation of Islam black nationalist Louis Farrakhan, who made incendiary remarks about Jews, at an event in which she sat in the front row. Mallory is passionate in her support for Farrakhan, calling him a GOAT. Sarsour also refused to criticize Farakhan for his virulently anti-Semitic comments.

Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Bob Bland and Carmen Perez. Perez will stay on with The Women’s March group.

On Monday, The Women’s March announced that co-Chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour stepped down from the board July 15, though the organization has been slow to announce their departures. ,reports The Washington Post.

A diverse cast of 16 new board members that includes three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota nation will inherit an organization recovering from a failed attempt to trademark the Women’s March name and fractured relationships with local activist groups and the Jewish community.

A new operating structure will be put in place shortly, which is a good thing because in its totally destructive state, the national Women March leadership was a total threat in telling white suburban women — an important voting block in the success of Democrats in the 2018 midterms — to go to hell. After Mallory’s speech in Las Vegas, I simply can’t imagine what she would have said to white women in the presidential election campaign. .

The three members who have resigned — Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour — are avid Bernie Sanders supporters, which is a key reason why they refused to allow Hillary Clinton to be one of about 20 women honored at the maiden Women’s March launch on January 21, 2019. Despite their protestations to the contrary, the founders never sought unity with Hillary supporters, all but accusing us of electing Trump.

Words do not express my job at seeing these three women — especially Mallory and Sarsour — step down from The Women’s March organization. Now — let us rise in unity! We’ll cover the responses to this news in a followup article. Few will be as candid as my commentary, but these women totally crushed the Trumped-down spirits of so many women all over America .~ Anne

GlamTribal Jewelry Now Shipped by Amazon | PRIME Members Rejoice!

GlamTribal Jewelry Now Shipped by Amazon | PRIME Members Rejoice!

Our first 10 styles of GlamTribal Earrings are now shipped by Amazon USA. The goal is to move 90% of our GlamTribal inventory into Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon). International friends can buy the jewelry from Amazon.com, with shipping across the globe.

GlamTribal Jewelry and Anne of Carversville are passionate about elephants . . . like forever . . . like since I was a little girl. It was decades later in 2010, when I learned about woolly mammoths after seeing our adored former First Lady Michelle Obama wearing woolly mammoth ivory jewelry as part of a symposium on saving elephants.

At GlamTribal, we’re only talking mammoth bones beads in our jewelry. Nada ivory. Never.

Debate ensued from day one — noted then on Tree Hugger — that promoting long-dead woolly mammoth ivory as an ecological, sustainable and ethical alternative to murdering elephants was a win-win for all parties involved in the debate. Almost a decade later, the significant supply of woolly mammoth ivory on the global market has not stopped the killing of elephants for their ivory.

AOC has tracked both sides of the debate for years now, most recently with the decision at the August 2019 CITES conference — also known as World Wildlife Conference — in Geneva to table the Israeli proposal to declare the long-extinct woolly mammoth an endangered species until the 2022 meeting.

GlamTribal Jewelry only uses woolly mammoth bone beads, and bone beads from other mammoth species.

Nicolas Valois Snaps Military Fashion As Madame Figaro France Inspires Delayed 9/11 Reflections

Nicolas Valois Snaps Military Fashion As Madame Figaro France Inspires Delayed 9/11 Reflections

Model Loane Normand suits up in utilitarian military looks so fancied in Europe. Cecile Martin styles Normand in images by Nicolas Valois for Madame Figaro France August 31, 2019.

Speaking of taking a fancy to bad-ass military women, it’s Madame Figaro France who just introduced me to the new Valerie Plame Campaign video. Plame is a well-known CIA agent who was outed in the Bush administration and had to leave the service. She’s now running for Congress (the House of Representatives) as a Democrat from New Mexico. We have multiple new military and CIA women in Congress elected in November 2018 — and I love them.

Now that Madame Figaro has set up this nod to America’s women , let me share more of my favs. Next up, Amy McGrath running in Kentucky to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Amy narrowly lost her House election in November 2018.

Fast fashion lies: Will they really change their ways in a climate crisis?

Fast fashion lies: Will they really change their ways in a climate crisis?

By Anika Kozlowski, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Ethics and Sustainnability, School of Fashion, Ryerson University. First published on The Conversation.

Recently Zara introduced a sustainability pledge. But how can Zara ever be sustainable? As the largest fast-fashion retailer in the world, they produce around 450 million garments a year and release 500 new designs a week, about 20,000 a year. Zara’s fast-fashion model has been so successful it has inspired an entire industry to shift — churning out an unprecedented number of fashion garments year-round.

We live in an era of hyper-consumption in the middle of a climate crisis.

Clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014. The average consumer bought 60 per cent more clothing in 2014 than in 2000, but kept each garment half as long. Apparel consumption is projected to to rise by 63 per cent in the next 10 years. And less than one per cent of all clothing produced globally is recycled.

With production numbers like these, can any fast-fashion retailer claim sustainability?

Dutch Museum Faces Protest Over Exhibition on Nazi Design

A picture taken on September 8, 2019 shows a Swastika formed with red carpets by artist Ralph Posset during the opening of an exhibition entitled "Design of the Third Reich" at the Design Museum Den Bosch, in 's-Hertogenbosch, central Netherlands. - The exhibition will show the contribution of design to the development of the Nazi ideology. (ROB ENGELAAR/AFP/Getty Images for Smithsonian.com)

The show focuses on how design furthered the ‘development of the evil Nazi ideology,’ but critics worry the show glorifies Nazi aesthetics.

By Brigit Katz. First published on Smithsonian.com.

Swastikas hang from the walls. Nazi propaganda films play across the gallery. Photos display the imposing choreography of Hitler’s rallies. They’re all part of a new show in the Netherlands seeking to place Nazi design under scrutiny. The exhibition at the Design Museum in Den Bosch explores how aesthetics fueled “the development of the evil Nazi ideology,” as the museum puts it. But the show, which was met with protests on its opening day, also shows the challenges of presenting Nazi iconography within a museum setting.

As Daniel Boffey of the Guardian reports, “Design of the Third Reich” includes a 1943 Volkswagen Beetle, images from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, films by the Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl and a piece by Arno Breker, reported to be Hitler’s favorite sculptor. The exhibition uses the artifacts to explore the contradictions of Nazism’s grandiose, romantic aesthetics, which sought to convey an image of prosperity and “purity” while its adherents were carrying out the most heinous of crimes.

Museum officials have taken steps to ensure that the exhibition’s artifacts are not taken out of context and glorified. Photography is prohibited in the gallery, so visitors are unable to post pictures of themselves with sensitive materials, and the museum has hired extra security to patrol the exhibition spaces, as Dutch News reports. The museum has also recruited people to monitor what is being said about the show on social media. Additionally, a spokesperson tells Catherine Hickley of the Art Newspaper that museum staff held a “very fruitful conversation” with members of the local Communist Youth Movement, which had requested demonstration permits before the show’s opening, to explain the purpose of the exhibition.

But that did not stop communist activists from protesting near the entrance of the museum on Sunday. The Association of Dutch Anti-Fascists has condemned the show as “provocative” and called on authorities to shut it down.

Timo de Rijk, director of the Museum of Design, is sensitive to criticisms of the new exhibition. “They are concerned that maybe we are glorifying it all,” he said of the protestors. “I would not be doing this if I thought we were, but I can understand that they are aware of that kind of evil in history.”

The museum insists that it is important to take a critical look not only at the “good side of culture,” but also its more sordid chapters. “The Nazis were masters in using design to achieve their goal, to both convince and destroy huge numbers of people,” the museum states. “If you wholeheartedly want to be able to say ... ‘[N]ever again,’ you must take time to analyse how the influencing processes worked at the time.”

Hanna Luden, director of the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel in The Hague, seems to agree. She tells Stefan Dege of Deutsche Welle that the Museum of Design is walking a “tightrope act” with its displays of Nazi paraphernalia—but that ultimately, exposing the terrible, manipulating power of Third Reich propaganda is "fundamentally good."

Kristen Stewart Talks 'Charlie's Angels' + Gender Fluidity in Alexi Lubomirski Harper's UK Editorial

Kristen Stewart Talks 'Charlie's Angels' + Gender Fluidity in Alexi Lubomirski Harper's UK Editorial

Actor Kristen Stewart is styled by Miranda Almond in ‘Looking Ahead’, lensed by Alexi Lubomirski for Harper’s Bazaar UK October 2019./ Hair by Adir Aberg; makeup by Jillian Dempsey

Why We Need to Protect the Extinct Woolly Mammoth | A CITIES Conference Update

THE VENUS OF BRASSEMPOUY (FRENCH: LA DAME DE BRASSEMPOUY, MEANING "LADY OF BRASSEMPOUY", OR DAME À LA CAPUCHE, "LADY WITH THE HOOD") IS A FRAGMENTARY IVORY FIGURINE. IT WAS DISCOVERED IN A CAVE AT BRASSEMPOUY, FRANCE IN 1892. ABOUT 25,000 YEARS OLD, IT IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN REALISTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF A HUMAN FACE. THE VENUS OF BRASSEMPOUY WAS CARVED FROM MAMMOTH IVORY. VIA WIKIPEDIA FRANCE.

Why We Need to Protect the Extinct Woolly Mammoth | A CITIES Conference Update

By Zara Bending, Associate, Centre for Environmental Law, Macquarie University. First published on The Conversation.

An audacious world-first proposal to protect an extinct species was debated on the global stage last week.

The plan to regulate the trade of woolly mammoth ivory was proposed, but ultimately withdrawn from an international conference on the trade of endangered species.

Instead, delegates agreed to consider the question again in three years, after a study of the effect of the mammoth ivory trade on global ivory markets.

Why protect an extinct species?

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement regulating trade in endangered wildlife, signed by 183 countries. Every three years the signatories meet to discuss levels of protection for trade in various animals and their body parts.

The most audacious proposal at this year’s conference, which concluded yesterday in Geneva, was Israel’s suggestion to list the Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) as a protected species.

Specifically, it aimed to list the woolly mammoth in accordance with the Convention’s “lookalike” provision. Once woolly mammoth ivory is carved into small pieces, it is indistinguishable from elephant ivory without a microscope. The proposal is designed to protect living elephants, by preventing “laundering” or mislabelling of illegal elephant ivory.

Had it passed, it would have been the first time an extinct species has been listed to save its modern-day cousins. Most populations of woolly mammoths went extinct after the last ice age, 10,000-40,000 years ago.