Deborah Deal-Blackwell, APR

     People involved in new business startups, inventors and innovators, even those that have been in business for some time – all can benefit by attending the free Denver Innovators Workshop session “Getting Started on Your P.R. & Marketing” on Wednesday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Cluster Studios. Presented by veteran marketer Deborah Deal-Blackwell, APR, the two-hour event will cover how to start marketing your product or service and what business owners should do first, explore what business owners can do on their own, and when and how to hire a public relations, marketing or advertising firm. In addition, the Workshop will also present the latest available information about business exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities at the upcoming Denver Startup Street Faire in conjunction with Denver Startup Week. To ensure a seat, attendees should RSVP for the event at: http://www.denverinnovators.org.

     Deborah Deal-Blackwell is an Accredited Public Relations practitioner (APR) with 30+ years creating and handling public relations and marketing campaigns for a diverse group of clients from the Caribbean to Moscow, Russia and all across the United States.  Her early career in television was followed by leadership positions at two of Florida’s top advertising and PR firms. She also owned an operated her own successful public relations firm and was the CEO of Angel Flight Southeast, a regional non-profit. From her home base outside Washington, D.C., she has represented clients, including the Hyperion Power Generation small modular reactor company, before the U.S. Congress, Department of Energy, and many other federal agencies. Currently, she is the CEO of the non-profit IX Power Foundation and consults with a handful of clients offering innovative new products. She is a member of the National Press Club and the Public Relations Society of America, both in Washington, D.C., the Friends of the Gum Spring Library, and other organizations.

The Denver Innovators Workshop is a not-for-profit group of innovators and inventors, scientists and geeks, business professionals and students, who came together in 2012 for the purpose of helping each other succeed. In this process, the Workshop participants aspire to actually raise the number of new products, services and companies in the Greater Denver area, while boosting the area’s reputation for innovation.

In addition to its monthly meetings at Cluster Studios, the Denver Innovators Workshop is hosting the Denver Startup Street Faire.  Billed as a “Public Science, Technology, & Manufacturing Faire for Adults & Kids of All Ages,” the Denver Startup Street Faire is being held in conjunction with Denver Startup Week, and with support from the Denver Office of Economic Development and the nonprofit IX Power Foundation. The event will provide inventors, innovators and new businesses the opportunity to showcase their products and services to the public downtown at the Wellington Webb Building on Saturday, September 21, 2013.

 Press Contact: Claire Paulette        Claire at IXPowerFoundation dot org or (505) 661-1000, ext. 902.

Extensive whole-body-counter surveys (n F 32,811) carried out at the Hirata Central Hospital between October 2011 and November 2012, however show that the internal exposure levels of residents are much lower than estimated. In particular, the first sampling-bias-free assessment of the internal exposure of children in the town of Miharu, Fukushima, shows that the 137Cs body burdens of all children (n F 1,383, ages 6–15, covering 95% of children enrolled in town-operated schools) were below the detection limit of 300 Bq/body in the fall of 2012. These results are not conclusive for the prefecture as a whole, but are consistent with results obtained from other municipalities in the prefecture, and with prefectural data.

Read the Full Report Here
Keywords: Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident, radioactive cesium, whole-body counting,
committed effective dose

Take a look at The Great Disruption by Paul Gilding. It makes sense to me that the planet has a finite amount of natural resources and we could run out …

Every year it comes and goes with not nearly enough attention from the mass media.  What am I talking about?  EARTH DAY.  Officially it’s Monday, April 22, although EVERY day SHOULD be Earth Day.  Contrary to deniers of climate change, the planet is changing.  Whether mankind is wholly responsible for this is something that’s been hotly debated.  But, while experts and subsidized deniers do their hot debating about who or what caused it, and whether or not it is a normal cyclical change, it continues to get even hotter, and we still have to deal with droughts, storms, loss of shoreline, loss of species, acidification of the oceans, reduced foodstock from the sea, lack of clean fresh water and more! AUGH!

Ignoring, evading, denying, and mocking the problem is not helping and all this takes precious time and resources away from actually doing something to prepare for the change that IS coming.  

The problem for most Americans is that we live our luxurious lives (compared to that of other nations) in air conditioned offices and homes far, far removed from the processes of farming, water purification, and energy resource extraction.  We don’t have to get our hands dirty.  We are only affected by increased prices.

But, this somewhat blissful shelter from the realities of climate change is not going to continue for long for Americans.  Soon, it will no longer be a problem for “the poor folks in Africa,”  Nope, the problem is going to come home and hit us hard, and not just in the form of an extra dollar per gallon of gas.

i’ve been reading “The Great Disruption – How the Climate Crisis Will Transform the Global Economy” and I would suggest it be read by everyone. Basically, the author talks about how climate change is just one of many factors that is going to affect the way we live on this planet.  It’s the kickstarter that people notice, but there are other factors such as the gobbling up of natural resources in the making of “stuff” that is going to change our idea of a successful and productive life.  Simply, we won’t have the natural resources to keep making stuff; we’re going to have to recycle to get even the basic materials and everyone is going to have to live with less stuff – particularly less “throwaway” stuff.  It’s a good read, but I’ve also added photos here of some of my other favorites.  

Take a look; pick up one of these books. Knowledge is power. Sticking your head in the sand will just irritate your eyes so you can’t see the truth.

Happy Earth Day everyone!

See more books and links to Earth Day websites below, including one where you can get the great bumper sticker that says, “It’s the Green Economy Stupid!”

Another insightful book discussing a proactive approach to climate change and dwindling natural resources …

T-Shirts, posters, and my favorite bumper sticker “It’s the GREEN Economy Stupid.” can be found on the home page of http://www.earthday.org

 http://www.earthday.org

http://www.epa.gov/earthday/

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/earth-sciences/

Earth – Making Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben – more suggested reading!

The End of Growth is another good read.

Holding place

In the interim, please take a moment or several, on Friday, March 22 to observe World Water Day – it will remind you just how important this resource is for everyone, everywhere!

Thanks to the art department at IX Power, we have some attractive graphics that will provide you with a view of the worldwide water picture for freshwater and surface water.  It’s interesting information!

Only 1% of all the water on the planet is freshwater. This pie chart illustrates how that 1% is divided up.

This chart further breaks down how the fresh surface water on the planet is categorized. Graphics courtesy of IX Power Art Department.

But as the “lucky ones,” relatively speaking, I think we owe it to our sisters in other parts of the world that don’t have it so well, to observe this day and do something to help those women with less opportunity.

From my travels, experience, reading and just years of life on the planet, three of the things that strike me as core issues for women today, particularly in countries with emerging economies are:

*  Water (and subsequently health)    

*  Literacy / Education

*  Violence         

International Women’s Day March 8 2013 – will these girls have a future as adult women? Will they even survive to become women?

Lack of Clean Water – and therefore health

Of the 1.3 billion people living in abject poverty, the majority are women and children. With this poverty, most often comes a lack of access to clean water.  In addition to the physical harm that comes with having to carry heavy loads of water (and its often not even somewhat clean water) long distances, women in poor regions with no access to running water lose a lot of time – time to take care of their children, educate themselves and their children, and time to to spend on a livelihood to improve their lot in life.

But, they also lose their health, which continues the cycle of poverty because they are too sick to work at jobs or raising food.

According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), “37% per cent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 780 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.  

The majority of people living in poverty are women and children.

In fact, every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.  

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because  their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.”

 Violence Against Women 

It is when trying to transport water to their villages on unprotected trips down to water sources that women are often subjected to violence via regional conflict. This violence against them often involves sexual brutality and horrendous acts. But, one of the biggest segments in violence against women is domestic violence. Statistics from the United Nations state that in far too many countries 7 in 10 women can expect to be beaten, raped, abused or mutilated in their lifetimes. Aside from the obvious results – death or obvious injury – this violence can result in physical, mental, sexual, reproductive health and other health problems, and may increase vulnerability to HIV.  

The World Health Organization has concluded that violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women – are major public health problems and violations of women’s human rights.  A World Bank report, which estimates that more women aged 15-44 are killed violently than die of malaria, HIV, cancer, accidents and war combined.

Studies have shown that for both perpetrator and victim, attitudes accepting of violence and gender inequality, and low education or illiteracy, play a major role in the problem.

Illiteracy

Which brings us to illiteracy.  In my neighborhood, we just celebrated the opening of the new long-awaited Gum Spring Library. On the first day over 6,500 people visited the library – many of those were women and couples with young children. More than 14,500 materials were checked out the first weekend. But, in way too many countries, a library – even the ability to read – is a luxury people will never live to see.  And this lack of literacy fosters not only conditions that lead to violence, but help to keep women, and men, in a cycle of poverty that includes a lack of access to clean water, which makes people sick and keeps them from working to pull themselves out of that poverty.

In spite of the fact that most development agencies identify women’s literacy as the single most important factor in development, one out of every three women in the world cannot read and write. And, in some countries, men would like to keep it that way.  Remember the attack in October by the Taliban on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai for her attempts to promote girls’ education in Pakistan. 

Lack of water. Violence. Illiteracy.  They are intertwined in keeping women around the globe from achieving their potential and contributing to the betterment of the human race, the environment, and the planet.

On Friday, March 8, please observe International Women’s Day – make a vow to take a step – even just one small one within the next week – for the benefit of a woman somewhere who’s suffering, and for women everywhere. Make a donation, write a Congressman, talk to your daughters or a class at school or church about women’s issue such as domestic violence … if we all did SOMETHING, we could make a difference 

Read more at the following web sites:

Amnesty International   

International Center for Research on Women      

UN Women – the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women     

World Health Organization    

CNN – “interesting story on women by the numbers” 

Loudoun County’s new Gum Spring Public Library has been years in the making, and now it’s finally here!

The new Gum Spring Library will open February 23. It’s a beautifully open and sunny facility packed with brand spanking new books.

Water prices going up?  

You may think Europe has enough clean water. After all, they get a bunch of snow every year! But, that doesn’t mean they have enough good old H2O …

As the planet struggles with the fair distribution of clean water for all, and the cleaning of dirty water, it’s inevitable!  In Europe, they have a problem that must be dealt with immediately.

IX Power’s expert on all things Europe, Dr. Edward (Ned) Swan, has found another interesting article to share on the topic of the coming price of water.

Please visit the London School of Economics & Political Science blog   

Dummkopfs!

NUCLEAR POLICIES: Trillion-euro cost of German energy transition
Germany’s plan to transform its energy system to one reliant on renewable power as it phases out nuclear energy could cost up to €1 trillion, German energy and environment minister Peter Altmaier has publicly admitted.

The High Costs of Free Water

Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents

Be sure to visit Dr. Swan’s LINKEDIN Group “Water Market” for other news . . . 

Dr. Edward Swan, IX Power

Matt Damon, star of the “Bourne” movies, is on strike for clean water.

According to the United Nations, today 2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.

That’s why at IX Power Clean Water, we’re working to develop technologies that can turn otherwise un-usable water resources into clean water that can be safely used by people, livestock and in agriculture.  Let’s end the unnecessary suffering, let’s fix this problem!

We’re with you Matt …!  We agree providing clean water for everyone is probably the single most important project that civilization can take on.

Unfortunately, I doubt any of us can “hold it” like you. But, we’ve signed up for the strike program and we’re with you in spirit, man.  We are with you in spirit …

To join the strike, if only in spirit, click here.

Story in Los Angeles Times

Matt Damon’s Water.org web site

U.N. Statistics on Water