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Home > English > Website archives > Globalization, resistance, immigration > Environmental Movement in the Global South: The Pivotal Agent in the Fight (...)
Environmental Movement in the Global South: The Pivotal Agent in the Fight against Global Warming
Friday 2 November 2007, by Walden Bello
The developing world's stance towards the question of the environment has often been equated with the pugnacious comments of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir, such as his famous lines at the Rio Conference on the Environment and Development in June 1992: "When the rich chopped down their own forests, built their poison-belching factories and scoured the world for cheap resources, the poor said nothing. Indeed they paid for the development of the rich. Now the rich claim a right to regulate the development of the poor countries...As colonies we were exploited. Now as independent nations we are to be equally exploited." (1)
Mahathir has been interpreted in the North as speaking for a South that seeks to catch up whatever the cost and where the environmental movement is weak or non-existent. Today, China is seen as the prime exemplar of this Mahathirian obsession with rapid industrialization with minimal regard for the environment.
This view of the South's perspective on the environment is a caricature. In fact, the environmental costs of rapid industrialization are of major concern to significant sectors of the population of developing countries and, in many of them, the environmental movement has been an important actor. Moreover, there is currently an active discussion in many countries of alternatives to the destabilizing high-growth model.
EMERGENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN THE NICS
Among the most advanced environmental movements are those in Korea and Taiwan, which were once known as "Newly Industrializing Countries" (NICs). This should not be surprising since the process of rapid industrialization in these two societies from 1965 to 1990 took place with few environmental controls, if any. In Korea, the Han River that flows through Seoul and the Nakdong River flowing through Pusan were so polluted by unchecked dumping of industrial waste that they were close to being classified as biologically dead. Toxic waste dumping reached critical proportions. Seoul achieved the distinction in 1978 of being the city with the highest content of sulphuric dioxide in the air, with high levels being registered as well in Inchon, Pusan, Ulsan, Masan, Anyang, and Changweon. (2)
In Taiwan, high-speed industrialization had its own particular hellish contours. Taiwan's formula for balanced growth was to prevent industrial concentration and encourage manufacturers to set up shop in the countryside. The result was a substantial number of the island's 90,000 factories locating on rice fields, along waterways, and beside residences. With three factories per square mile, Taiwan's rate of industrial density was 75 times that of the US. One result was that 20 per cent of farm land was polluted by industrial waste water and 30 per cent of rice grown on the island was contaminated with heavy metals, including mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. (3)
In both societies, farmers, workers, and the environment bore the costs of high-speed industrialization. Both societies, it is not surprising, saw the emergence of an environmental movement that was spontaneous, that drew participants from different classes, that saw environmental demands linked with issues of employment, occupational health, and agricultural crisis, and that was quite militant. Direct action became a weapon of choice because, as Michael Hsiao pointed out:
"People have learned that protesting can bring results; most of the actions for which we could find out the results had achieved their objectives. The polluting factories were either forced to make immediate improvement of the conditions or pay compensation to the victims. Some factories were even forced to shut down or move to another location. A few preventive actions have even succeeded in forcing prospective plants to withdraw from their planned construction." (4)
The environmental movements in both societies were able to force government to come out with restrictive new rules on toxics, industrial waste, and air pollution. Ironically, however, these successful cases of citizen action created a new problem, which was the migration of polluting industries from Taiwan and Korea to China and Southeast Asia. Along with Japanese firms, Korean and Taiwanese enterprises went to Southeast Asia and China mainly for two reasons: cheap labor and lax environmental laws.
ENVIRONMENTAL STRUGGLES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Unlike in Korea and Taiwan, environmental movements already existed in a number of the Southeast Asian countries before the period of rapid industrialization, which in their case occurred in the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties. These movements had emerged in the seventies and eighties in struggles against nuclear power, as in the Philippines; against big hydroelectric dams, as in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines; and against deforestation and marine pollution, as in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. These were epic battles, like the struggle against the Chico River Dam in the northern Philippines and the fight against the Pak Mun Dam in the northeast of Thailand, which forced the World Bank to withdraw its planned support for giant hydroelectric projects, an outcome that, as we shall see later on, also occurred in struggle against the Narmada Dam in India. The fight against industries associated partly with foreign firms seeking to escape strict environmental regulations at home was a case of a new front being opened up in an ongoing struggle to save the environment.
Perhaps even more than in Northeast Asia, the environmental question in Southeast Asia was an issue that involved the masses and went beyond being a middle-class issue. In the Chico struggle, the opposition were indigenous peoples, while in the fight against the Pak Mun Dam, it was small farmers and fisherfolk. The environmental issue was also more coherently integrated into an overarching critique. In the case of the Philippines, for instance, deforestation was seen as an inevitable consequence of a strategy of export-oriented growth imposed by World Bank-International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programs that sought to pay off the country's massive foreign debt with the dollars gained from exporting the country's timber and other natural resources and manufactures produced by cheap labor. The middle class, workers, the urban poor, and environmentalists were thrust into a natural alliance. Meantime, transnational capital, local monopoly capital, and the central government were cast in the role of being an anti-environmental axis.
The environmental movements in Southeast Asia played a vital role not only in scuttling projects like the Bataan nuclear plant but in ousting the dictatorships that reigned there in the seventies and eighties. Indeed, because the environment was not perceived by authoritarian regimes as "political," organizing around environmental and public health issues was not initially proscribed. Thus environmental struggles became an issue around which the anti-dictatorship movement could organize and reach new people. Environmental destruction became one more graphic example of a regime's irresponsibility. In Indonesia, for example, the environmental organization WALHI went so far as to file a lawsuit for pollution and environmental destruction against six government bodies, including the Minister of the Environment and Population. (5) By the time the dictatorships wised up to what was happening, it was often too late: environmentalism and anti-fascism fed on one another.
The environmental movement is at an ebb throughout the region today, but consciousness about threats to the environment and public health is widespread and can be translated into a new round of activism if the right circumstances come together.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS IN CHINA
The environmental movement in China exhibits many of the same dynamics observed in the NICs and Southeast Asia.
The environmental crisis in China is very serious. For example, the ground water table of the North China plain is dropping by 1.5 meters (5 feet) per year. This region produces 40 percent of China's grain. As environmentalist Dale Wen remarks, "One cannot help wonder about how China will be fed once the ground aquifer is depleted." (6) Water pollution and water scarcity; soil pollution, soil degradation and desertification; global warming and the coming energy crisis — these are all byproducts of China's high-speed industrialization and massively expanded consumption.
Most of the environmental destabilization in China is produced by local enterprises and massive state projects such as the Three Gorges Dams, but the contribution of foreign investors is not insignificant. Taking advantage of very lax implementation of environmental laws in China, many western TNCs have relocated their most polluting factories into the country and have exacerbated or even created many environmental problems. Wen notes that the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, the two Special Economic Zones where most TNC subsidiaries are located, are the most seriously affected by heavy metal and POPs (persistent organic pollutants) pollution. (7)
Global warming is not a distant threat. The first comprehensive study of the impact of the sea level rise of global warming by Gordon McGranahan, Deborah Balk, and Bridget Anderson puts China as the country in Asia most threatened by the sea level rise of up to 10 meters over the next century. (8) 144 million of China's population live in low-elevation coastal zones, and this figure is likely to increase owing to the export-oriented industrialization strategies pursued by the government, which has involved the creation of numerous special economic zones in these very regions. "From an environmental perspective," the study warns, "there is a double disadvantage to excessive (and potentially rapid) coastal development. First, uncontrolled coastal development is likely to damage sensitive and important ecosystems and other resources. Second, coastal settlement, particularly in the lowlands, is likely to expose residents to seaward hazards such as sea level rise and tropical storms, both of which are likely to become more serious with climate change." (9) The recent spate of super-typhoons descending on the Asian mainland from the Western Pacific underlines the gravity of this observation.
In terms of public health, the rural health infrastructure has practically collapsed, according to Dale Wen. The system has been privatized with the introduction of a "fee for service" system that is one component of the neoliberal reform program. One result is the resurgence of diseases that had been brought under control, like tuberculosis and schistosomiasis. Cuba, in contrast, has won plaudits for its rural health care system, which is ironic, says Wen, given that the Cuban system was based on the Maoist era's "barefoot doctor" system. (10)
Another big public health issue has been food safety. The combination of the industrialization of food production and the lengthening of the food chain from production to consumption is strongly suspected to be the cause of bird flu, which has migrated from China to other countries. The government has become an unreliable actor in dealing with new diseases such as bird flu and SARS, prone as it is to engage in minimizing the threat if not promoting a cover-up, as it did in the case of SARS.
As in Taiwan and Korea 15 years earlier, we see unrestrained export-oriented industrialization bringing together low-wage migrant labor, farming communities whose lands are being grabbed or ruined environmentally, environmentalists, and the proponents of a major change in political economy called the "New Left." Environment-related riots, protests and disputes in China increased by 30 per cent in 2005 to more than 50,000, as pollution-related unrest has become "a contagious source of instability in the country," as one report put it. Indeed, a great many of recorded protests fused environmental, land-loss, income, and political issues. From 8,700 in 1995, what the Ministry of Public Security calls "mass group incidents" have grown to 87,000 in 2005, most of them in the countryside. Moreover, the incidents are growing in average size from 10 or fewer persons in the mid-1990s to 52 people per incident in 2004. (11) Notable were the April 2005 riots in Huashui, where an estimated 10,000 police officers clashed with desperate villagers who succeeded in repelling strong vested interests polluting their lands.
As in Taiwan, people have discovered the effectiveness of direct action in rural China. "Without the riot, nothing would have changed," said Wang Xiaofang, a 43-year-old farmer. "People here finally reached their breaking point. (12) As in Southeast Asia, struggles around the environment and public health may be leading to a more comprehensive political consciousness.
The strength of China's environmental movement must not be exaggerated. Indeed, its failures often outnumber its successes. Alliances are often spontaneous and do not go beyond the local level. What Dale Wen calls a national "red green" coalition for change remains a potential force, one that is waiting to be constructed. Nevertheless, the environmental movement is no longer a marginal actor and it is definitely something that the state and big capital have to deal with. Indeed, the ferment in the countryside is a key factor that is said to have made the current Chinese leadership more open to suggestions from the so-called "New Left" for a change of course in economic policy from rapid export-oriented growth to a more sustainable and slower domestic-demand led growth.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN INDIA
As in China, the environment and public health have been sites of struggle in India. Over the last 25 years, the movement for the environment and public health has exploded in that country. Indeed, one can say that this movement has become one of the forces deepening Indian democracy.
Environmental and public health struggles go way back, but perhaps the single biggest event that propelled the movement to becoming a critical mass was the Bhopal gas leakage on December 3, 1984, which released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate, killing 3,000 people outright and ultimately causing 15,000 to 20,000 deaths. (13) The struggle for just compensation for the Bhopal victims continues till this day.
There is today a proliferation of struggles in this vast country.
There is the national campaign against Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola plants for drawing ground water and contaminating fields with sludge. There are local struggles against intensive aquaculture farms in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, and other coastal states. There is a non-violent but determined campaign by farmers against GMOs, which has involved the uprooting and burning of fields planted to genetically engineered rice. And, of course, there are anti-big dam movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan movement. These struggles have spawned outstanding leaders, some of whom have become key figures in the international environmental movement.
In public health, the key issue has been the tremendous pressure from foreign pharmaceutical companies to get India to adopt patent legislation that would be consistent with the WTO's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs). The great fear is that this would affect the ability of the country's pharmaceutical industry to produce cheap generic drugs for both the home market and for export. With between 2 million and 3.6 million people living with HIV — putting India behind South Africa and Nigeria in numbers living with HI — and with so many African countries with large HIV-infected populations depending on cheap Indian drug imports, to comply or not to comply with TRIPs has become a life-and-death issue.
Two years ago, key amendments pushed by progressive forces were incorporated into the Indian Patents Act, resulting in what one influential journal described as "a relatively loose patents regime for now." (14) One key amendment was that Indian companies could continue to produce and market drugs they were producing before January 1, 2005, after paying a "reasonable royalty" to the patent holder. They were banned from doing this under the previous patent regime. Another important amendment made the process of exporting drugs to another country less cumbersome by eliminating the need for a compulsory license from that country. (15) Some have said that the amendments do little to offset the transnational corporations' offensive to privatize knowledge to the detriment of public health. Others contend that while the amendments may seem to be minor, in the byzantine world of TRIPs, the devil is in the detail.
It would be worthwhile, at this point, to look closely at what has become the most influential of India's mass-based environmental movement: the anti-dam movement.
Dams often represented the modernist vision that guided many Third World governments in their struggle to catch up with the West in the post-War period. The technological blueprint for power development for the post-World War II period was that of creating a limited number of power generators—giant dams, coal or oil-powered plants, or nuclear plants—at strategic points which would generate electricity that would be distributed to every nook and cranny of the country. Traditional or local sources of power that allowed some degree of self-sufficiency were considered backward. If you were not hooked up to a central grid, you were backward.
Centralized electrification with its big dams, big coal-fired plants, and nuclear plants became the rage. Indeed, there was an almost religious fervor about this vision among leaders and technocrats who defined their life's work as "missionary electrification" or the connection of the most distant village to the central grid. Jawaharlal Nehru, the dominant figure in post-World War II India, called dams the "temples of modern India," a statement that, as Indian author Arundhati Roy points out, made its way into primary school textbooks in every Indian language. Big dams have become an article of faith inextricably linked with nationalism. "To question their utility amounts almost to sedition." (16)
In any event, in the name of missionary electrification, India's technocrats, Roy observes in her brilliant essay, The Cost of Living, not only built "new dams and irrigation schemes...[but also] took control of small, traditional water-harvesting systems that had been managed for thousands of years and allowed them to atrophy." (17) Here Roy expresses an essential truth: that centralized electrification preempted the development of alternative power-systems that could have been more decentralized, more people-oriented, more environmentally benign, and less capital intensive.
The key forces behind central electrification were powerful local coalitions of power technocrats, big business, and urban-industrial elites. Despite the rhetoric about "rural electrification," centralized electrification was essentially biased toward the city and industry. Essentially, especially in the case of dams, it involved expending the natural capital of the countryside and the forests to subsidize the growth urban-based industry. Industry was the future. Industry was what really added value. Industry was synonymous with national power. Agriculture was the past.
While these interests benefited, others paid the costs. Specifically, it was the rural areas and the environment that absorbed the costs of centralized electrification. Tremendous crimes have been committed in the name of power generation and irrigation, says Roy, but these were hidden because governments never recorded these costs. In India, Roy calculates that large dams have displaced about 33 million people in the last 50 years, about 60 per cent of them being either untouchables or indigenous peoples.
India, in fact, does not have a national resettlement policy for those displaced by dams. The costs to the environment have been tremendous. As Roy points out "the evidence against Big Dams is mounting alarmingly — irrigation disasters, dam-induced floods, the fact that there are more drought prone and flood prone areas today than there were in 1947. The fact is that not a single river in the plains has potable water." (18)
Things changed when the government announced its plans to dam the mighty Narmada River in the late seventies. Instead of quietly accepting the World Bank-backed enterprise, the affected people mounted a resistance that continues to this day. The Narmada Bachao Andolan movement led by Medha Patkar at the Sardar Sarovar Dam and Alok Aggarwal and Silvi at the Maheshwar Dam drew support from all over India and internationally. The resistance of the people, most of them adivasis or indigenous people, succeeded in getting the World Bank to stop funding the project and saddling it with delays, making the completion of the dam uncertain. The Supreme Court, for instance, ordered rehabilitation for all those affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam's construction, and in March 2005 ruled to halt construction on the dam until this had happened. Construction of the dam has now been halted at 110.6 meters, a figure that is much higher than the 88 metres proposed by the activists, and lower than the 130 meters that the dam is eventually supposed to reach. It is unclear at this point what the final outcome of the project will be or when it will be completed, though the entire project is meant to be finished by 2025. (19) The fate of the Maheshwar Dam is similarly unclear.
Equally important was the broader political impact of the Narmada struggle. It proved to be the cutting edge of the social movements that have deepened India's democracy and transformed the political scene. The state bureaucracy and political parties must now listen to these movements or risk opposition or, in the case of parties, being thrown out of power. Social movements in the rural areas played a key role in stirring up the mass consciousness that led to the defeat in 2004 of the neoliberal coalition led by the Hindu chauvinist BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) that had campaigned on the pro-globalization slogan "India Shining." While its successor, the Congress Party-led coalition, has turned its back on the rural protest that led to its election and followed the same anti-agriculture and pro-globalization policies of the BJP, it risks provoking an even greater backlash in the near future.
The environmental movement faces its biggest challenge today: global warming. As in China, the threat is not distant either in space or in time. The Mumbai deluge of 2005 came at a year of excessive rainfall that would normally occur once in a hundred years. (20) The Himalayan glaciers have been retreating, with one of the largest of them, Gangotri, receding at what one journal described as "an alarming rate, influencing the stream run-off of Himalayan rivers. (21) Six per cent, or 63.2 million, of India's population live in low elevation coastal zones that are vulnerable to sea-level rise. (23) On the Gujarat coast, sea level rise is displacing villages, as it is many more places along India's 7,500 km-long coastline. One report claims that in the "Sunderbans, two islands have already vanished from the map, displacing 7000 people. Twelve more islands are likely to go under owing to an annual 3.14 sea level rise, which will create 70,000 refugees. Five villages in Orissa's Bhitarkanika National Park, famous for the mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles, have been submerged, and 18 others are likely to go under." (23)
As in China, the challenge lies in building up a mass movement that might be unpopular not only with the elite but also with sections of the urban-based middle class sectors that have been the main beneficiaries of the high-growth economic strategy that has been pursued since the early 1990s.
NATIONAL ELITES AND THIRD WORLDISM
The reason for tracing the evolution of a mass-based environmental movement in East Asia and India is to counter the image that the Asian masses are inert elements that uncritically accept the environmentally damaging high-growth export-oriented industrialization models promoted by their governing elites. It is increasingly clear to ordinary people throughout Asia that the model has wrecked agriculture, widened income inequalities, led to increased poverty after the Asian financial crises, and wreaked environmental damage everywhere.
It is the national elites that spout the ultra-Third Worldist line that the South has yet to fulfill its quota of polluting the world while North has exceeded its quota. It is they who call for an exemption of the big rapidly industrializing countries from mandatory limits on the emission of greenhouse gases under a new Kyoto Protocol. When the Bush administration says it will not respect the Kyoto Protocol because it does not bind China and India, and the Chinese and Indian governments say they will not tolerate curbs on their greenhouse gas emissions because the US has not ratified Kyoto, they are in fact playing out an unholy alliance to allow their economic elites to continue to evade their environmental responsibilities and free-ride on the rest of the world.
This alliance has now become formalized in the so-called "Asia Pacific Partnership" created last year by the US, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the United States as a rival to the United Nations-negotiated Kyoto Protocol. Having recently recruited Canada, which is now led by Bush clone Stephen Harper, this grouping seeks voluntary, as opposed mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. This is a dangerous band of states whose agenda is nothing else than to spew carbon as they damn well please, which is what voluntary targets are all about.
THE NEED FOR GLOBAL ADJUSTMENT
There is no doubt that the burden of adjustment to global warming will fall largely on the North, and that this adjustment will have to be made in the next 10 to 15 years, and that the adjustment needed might need to be much greater than the 50 per cent reduction from the 1990's level by 2050 that is being promoted by the G 8. In the eyes of some experts, what might be required is in the order of up to 90 to 100 per cent cuts from current levels-meaning zero emissions. (24) Whatever the real figure, it is inescapable that the South will also have to adjust, proportionately less than the North but also rather stringently.
The South's adjustment will not take place without the North taking the lead. But it will also not take place unless its leaders junk the export-oriented, high-growth paradigm promoted by the World Bank and most economists to which its elites and many middle strata are addicted.
People in the South are open to an alternative to a model of growth that has failed both the environment and society. For instance, in Thailand, a country devastated by the Asian financial crisis and wracked by environmental problems, globalization and export-oriented growth are now bad words. To the consternation of the Economist, Thais are more and more receptive to the idea of a "sufficiency economy" promoted by popular monarch King Bhumibol, which is an inward-looking strategy that stresses self-reliance at the grassroots and the creation of stronger ties among domestic economic networks, along with "moderately working with nature." (25)
Thailand may be an exception in terms of the leadership role for a more sustainable path played by an elite and, even there, the commitment of that elite to an alternative path is questioned by many. What is clear is that in most other places in the South, one cannot depend on the elites and some sections of the middle class to decisively change course. At best, they will procrastinate. The fight against global warming will need to be propelled mainly by an alliance between progressive civil society in the North and mass-based citizens' movements in the South.
As the North, the environmental movements in the South have seen their ebbs and flows. It appears that, as with all social movements, it takes a particular conjunction of circumstances to bring an environmental movement to life after being quiescent for some time or to transform diverse local struggles into one nationwide movement. In the case of global warming, the challenge facing activists in the North and South is even greater: it is that of bringing about those circumstances that will trigger the formation of a global mass movement that will decisively confront the greatest threat of our time.
* The assistance of my colleagues Afsar Jafri and Dale Wen in the preparation of this article is gratefully acknowledged. They are not, however, responsible for any possible errors of fact or interpretation.
** Walden Bello is Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Development Studies at St. Mary's University, Halifax, Canada; Professor of Sociology at the University of the Philippines (Diliman); and senior analyst and former executive director of Focus on the Global South, Bangkok, Thailand.
1. Mohamad Mahathir, Speech at United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 13, 1992.
2. The environmental crisis in Korea is treated at length in Walden Bello and Stephanie Rosenfeld, Dragons in Distress: Asia's Miracle Economies in Crisis (San Francisco: Food First, 1990), pp. 95-118.
3. See ibid., p. 195-214.
4. Ibid, p. 213.
5. Frieda Sinanu, "Coming of Age: Indonesia's Environmental Network Faces Dilemmas as it Turns 25," Inside Indonesia, 2007; http://insideindonesia.org/content/view/72/29/
6. Interview with Dale Wen, Focus on the Global South website, http://www.focusweb.org/interview-with-dale-wen
8. Cited in R. Ramachandran, "Coming Storms," Frontline, Vol. 24, No. 7 (April 7-20, 2007); http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2407/stories/2007042001609000.htm
9. Quoted in ibid.
10. Email communication, Sept. 25, 2007
11. Fred Bergsten et al., China: What the World Needs to Know now about the Emerging Superpower (Washington: Center for Strategic and International Studies and Institute for International Economics, 2006), pp. 40-41.
12. "Increase in Environmental Unrest Causes Instability in China," Green Clippings, http://www.greenclippings.co.za/gc_main/article.php?story=20060906170952367
13. ""Bhopal Disaster," Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_Disaster
14. V. Sridhar Siddharth Narrain, "A Tempered Patents Regime," Frontline, Vol. 22, No. 8 (2005); http://www.flonnet.com/fl2208/stories/20050422004602800.htm
16. Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living (London: Flamingo, 1999)
18. Ibid
19. "Narmada River,"Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmada_River
20. R. Ramachandran, "Himalayan Concerns," Frontline, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2007); http://www.flonnet.com/fl2404/stories/20070309006201000.htm
22. R. Ramachandran, "Coming Storms..."
23. Dionne Busha, "Gone with the Waves," Frontline, Vol. 24, No. 14 (2007); http://www.fllonnet.com/fl2414/stories/20070727000206600.htm
24. Catherine Brahic, "Zero Emissions Needed to Avert 'Dangerous' Warming," New Scientist, http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12775&print=true.
25. Thailand Human Development Report 2007: Sufficiency Economy and Human Development (Bangkok: United Nations Development Program, 2007), pp. 48-49.
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How Automotive Air Conditioning Works
by Kristen Hall-Geisler
Recharging a Car's AC
An assortment of automotive air conditioning gauges
Thinkstock/Comstock Images/Getty Images
Most of us start seeing ads in the spring for car repair shops offering deals on recharging your car's air conditioning in time for the coming summer. Which makes us ask, what is recharging the AC? Is it required, like an oil change? Does my car's air conditioning need to be recharged? Is this another scam that repair shops can pull on unsuspecting customers?
The answer to that last one is definitely no; recharging the AC is not a scam. It simply means that fresh refrigerant is added to the system. If the refrigerant is a bit low, it can be topped off, the same as if you were a bit low on oil in the engine. If it's really low, though, whatever refrigerant is still in the system needs to be drained out and replaced. This process of clearing out the system and adding new fluid is called recharging.
In either case, you've lost some refrigerant, which isn't so great. Even though R-134a is better for the environment than Freon, the Environmental Protection Agency would rather not have any air conditioning refrigerant leaking into the soil and rivers. If you're going to have the system drained and recharged, the EPA recommends having the technician take a look at the system to find the source of the leak and fix it. They don't require the repair, but they'd really, really like you to have it done.
This article has talked a lot about R-134a as a replacement for big, bad Freon, but there are others that have been approved by the EPA, too. R-134a has the distinction of being the refrigerant most tested and recommended by manufacturers, but there are others with names like Free Zone, Freeze 12, and Kar Kool that the EPA will allow in automotive air conditioning systems [source: EPA].
How Air Conditioners Work
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How to Maintain an Air Conditioner
Automobile Magazine. "Automotive Air Conditioning History." July 2010. (Feb. 1, 2012) http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1007_automotive_air_conditoning_history/index.html
Family Car Parts. "Automotive Air Conditioning Systems." (Jan. 25, 2012) http://www.familycar.com/ac1.htm
AirconCars.com. "How Air Conditioning Works." (Jan. 25, 2012) http://www.airconcars.com/html/how_it_works.html
AirCondition.com. "How Refrigerant Flows through the System." (Feb. 1, 2012) http://www.aircondition.com/tech/questions/13/
All About Auto AC Systems. "Orifice Tubes and Expansion Valves." (Feb. 1, 2012) http://www.autoacsystems.com/fasttrack/otubes.html
Environmental Protection Agency. "Recharging Your Car's Air Conditioner with Refrigerant." Aug. 19, 2010. (Feb. 1, 2012) http://epa.gov/Ozone/title6/609/recharge.html
Environmental Protection Agency. "Substitutes in Motor Vehicle Air Conditioners." Oct. 7, 2011. (Feb. 2, 2012) http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/refrigerants/lists/mvacs.html
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Ten States Where Gas Prices Are Plunging
By Alexander E.M. Hess and Paul Ausick	April 4, 2013 6:55 am | Last updated: December 23, 2013 10:43 am
March gasoline prices fell for the first time in 10 years. As of April 1, the price of gas had fallen in 29 of the previous 33 days. Nationally, gas costs 30 cents a gallon less than it did a year ago and 15 cents a gallon less than it did following the February run-up in prices. AAA predicts the average price of gas in 2013 will be lower than 2012's average of $3.60 a gallon — the highest AAA has ever recorded.
There are some significant reasons for the price drop. First, Americans are driving less — about 2.7% less, according to Department of Transportation figures, or nearly 90 billion miles since reaching a peak of more than 3 trillion miles in November 2007. Second, older, less-fuel efficient cars are being replaced by new ones that get better gas mileage. Third, refineries are finishing up their spring maintenance and turnarounds a bit earlier this year, so production is ramping back up sooner.
Click here to see the 10 states where gas prices are plunging
However, the main reason that gas is cheaper now than it was a month ago is that crude oil prices have dropped. Several of the states on this list had the highest gas prices a year ago: Illinois (fourth most expensive), Washington (fifth), Oregon (sixth), Indiana (ninth) and Michigan (10th). As of Monday, only two are among the 10 most expensive: Illinois, at sixth, and Washington at eighth.
According to Michael Green from AAA:
This year we have also seen an increase in North American crude, whether it's out of the Bakken or Eagle Ford, or out of Canada, and that's certainly helped with oil prices in the United States. It's affected West Texas Intermediate (WTI), but it's also affected some of the other blends, such as Western Canadian Select (WCS), and there's a Bakken blend price. So refineries are buying oil from different places, and that certainly helps lower their costs, having these lower prices.
Illinois is a major hub for Canadian crude oil, and the state's refineries have access to crude that is currently $15 a barrel cheaper than WTI and nearly $30 a barrel cheaper than Brent. Washington receives the cheaper crude by rail. As AAA's Green noted, "Whenever oil is less expensive, that certainly helps the cost of gasoline. If it costs refineries less to make it, they're gonna sell it to you for less."
The cheaper crude making its way to the Midwest and the Gulf States is traveling by pipelines where possible and by rail and truck where there are no pipelines. Railroads hauled 233,800 carloads of crude in 2012, up from 65,800 in 2011 and just 29,600 in 2010. The availability of lower priced crude to refineries in Washington, Indiana, Michigan and Virginia is directly attributable to rail transport.
It is very possible — some might even say very likely — that the highest pump prices for gasoline are behind us for this year. Most analysts do not see prices rising to February levels again this year, barring some shock to the system, such as major political turmoil in big oil producing regions like the Middle East or Africa, major shutdowns due to bad weather or some major accident. That is the good news. The better news is, there really is no bad news.
To identify the 10 states where gas prices are plunging, 24/7 Wall St. considered data for April 1, 2013, and April 1, 2012,from AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Refinery capacity figures came from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and are as of January 2012. We also considered figures from the EIA on daily crude oil production, which are current as of January 2013. Figures on 2011 median income came from the U.S. Census Bureau, while fourth quarter 2012 cost-of-living comparisons are based on data from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC). We also reviewed tax figures from the American Petroleum Institute. The effective tax rate given here is current as of January 2013, and combines each state's excise tax and other state taxes and fees. The 18.4 cent per gallon federal surcharge was not included.
These are 10 states where gasoline prices are plunging.
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Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/088cc290060748e1b704d52a3ce0dda1
Mark Brunell
Philip Rivers
Ryan Tannehill
Melvin Gordon
The Latest: Rivers has record-setting day for Bolts
By The Associated PressNovember 26, 2018
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers prepares to throw against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo )
The Latest on Week 12 in the NFL (all times EDT):
Philip Rivers was nearly perfect in the Chargers' 45-10 victory over Arizona, completing 28 of 29 passes for 259 yards in only three quarters of work.
That completion percentage of 96.8 percent surpassed Kurt Warner's record of 92.3, set for the Cardinals in a game against Jacksonville. Warner was 24 of 26 that day.
Rivers hit 25 straight passes over the first 2 1/2 quarters to match Ryan Tannehill's NFL record, set over a two-game stretch in 2015. He also broke Mark Brunell's record for consecutive completions to start a game — Brunell hit 22 straight for Washington on Sept. 24, 2006.
Chargers running back Melvin Gordon has gone to the locker room after sustaining a knee injury during the third quarter of their game against the Cardinals.
Gordon was hurt when he was catching a flip from Austin Ekeler on an end-around and a Cardinals defender tripped him. Gordon went down and immediately grabbed his right leg below the knee.
He had carried 10 times for 61 yards and two touchdowns when he left the game.
Ben Roethlisberger was 25 of 31 for 221 yards in the first half at Denver, but the Steelers' lone touchdown came from kicker Chris Boswell on a fake field goal as time expired.
IT'S A FAKE!
And it's SIX!@Steelers K @WizardOfBoz09 just threw a TD to Alejandro Villanueva 🙌🙌
📺: CBS #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/bH5eV2TcCw
— NFL (@NFL) November 25, 2018
Boswell took the direct snap and hit left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a wide receiver during his college days at Army, with the tying touchdown pass. He's the first Steelers offensive lineman to catch a touchdown pass since Ray Pinney did it against the Browns in 1983.
The Steelers had frittered away a couple of scoring chances.
Justin Simmons blocked Boswell's 48-yard field goal attempt, and Will Parks punched away the football just as tight end Xavier Grimble was about to score on a 24-yard catch-and-run, the ball going out of bounds in the end zone for a touchback.
— Arnie Stapleton reporting from Denver
The Chargers' Philip Rivers tied Ryan Tannehill's NFL record by completing 25 consecutive passes in their game against the Cardinals before misfiring on a dump-off to Austin Ekeler.
Rivers was 19 of 19 in the first half Sunday, then connected on his first three passes in the second half to break Mark Brunnell's record for consecutive completions to start a game.
Rivers added two more completions to match Tannehill's record, the 25th a short touchdown pass to Keenan Allen that withstood a video review to see whether it was caught inbounds.
Tannehill's record was set over two games with Miami during the 2015 season.
Philip Rivers has been perfect in the first half for the Chargers, going 19 of 19 for 187 yards and two touchdowns in helping the Chargers to a 28-10 lead over the Cardinals.
Melvin Gordon also has a pair of TD runs for the Chargers.
The Chargers (7-3) are trying to keep pace with the Chiefs (9-2) in the AFC West.
Another one of their AFC West rivals, Denver, is helping both of their causes when it comes to playoff positioning. They're giving the Steelers (7-2-1) all they can handle in the first half.
Miami's Ryan Tannehill took his first snaps in a game after missing the previous five with an injured throwing shoulder and looked like he hadn't missed a thing in Indianapolis.
Was @KDx32 even touched?!
📺: CBS #FinsUp pic.twitter.com/diZ0hFOAfZ
Tannehill completed his first two passes for 34 yards, capping the drive with a screen pass that Kenyan Drake took 33 yards for a touchdown — ending the Dolphins' nine-quarter stretch without a TD.
The drive took just six plays and came five plays after Colts linebacker Darius Leonard injured his knee and walked straight to the locker room. Leonard came into the weekend leading the league with 104 tackles. His return was listed as questionable.
— Mike Marot reporting from Indianapolis
Rookie quarterbacks ruled the early games in Week 12 as Lamar Jackson had two touchdowns to lead Baltimore past Oakland, Baker Mayfield threw for four TDs in the Browns' win over the Bengals and Josh Allen had scores on the ground and through the air in a win over Jacksonville.
Tom Brady and Sony Michel had big days to lead the Patriots to a 27-13 win over the New York Jets, and Russell Wilson led Seattle from behind for a 30-27 win over the Panthers.
That spoiled a big day by Carolina's Christian McCaffrey.
In the other early games, the Buccaneers routed the 49ers 27-9 while the Super Bowl champion Eagles came from behind to beat the Giants, 25-22.
The Cardinals scored on their opening drive as Josh Rosen threw a 25-yard touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald to take a 7-0 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Rosen, who grew up in Manhattan Beach and went to UCLA, completed all four of his passes for 56 yards on the drive in front of his hometown fans.
The StubHub Center also marks the 41st different NFL stadium where Fitzgerald has caught a pass.
The Tennessee Titans have downgraded wide receiver Taywan Taylor, who hurt his foot a few weeks ago against Dallas, to out for Monday night's game in Houston.
Taylor had been limited in practice this week.
The Titans also added starting outside linebacker Derrick Morgan to the injury report as questionable with an illness. Left tackle Taylor Lewan did not practice with an illness, but he was expected to play Monday night.
— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee
Christian McCaffrey has 10 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown along with 17 carries for 125 yards and a score, making him the first player in Carolina history with at least 100 yards receiving and rushing in the same game.
His total of 229 yards and counting against Seattle is also a franchise record.
Meanwhile, quarterback Cam Newton completed his first 14 passes in the first half and was 21 of 24 for 216 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers built a 27-20 lead on the Seahawks.
— Steve Reed reporting from Charlotte, North Carolina
Jacksonville running back Leonard Fournette and Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson have been ejected after trading punches along the sideline late in the third quarter of their game.
Leonard Fournette and Shaq Lawson were ejected from the game after this scuffle 😳
📺: CBS #JAXvsBUF pic.twitter.com/XGPpr8KrtR
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 25, 2018
The fight began after the Jags' Donte Moncrief caught what was initially ruled a 30-yard TD pass at the left pylon. He was battling for control of the ball with Levi Wallace when a Jaguars player struck Bills safety Jordan Poyer from behind, and then Lawson ran in and hit Fournette.
Lawson and Fournette pushed their way to side of the stands where they traded punches while Jaguars running back Carlos Hyde and Bills defensie end Jerry Hughes attempted to separate them.
The two were then escorted off their respective sidelines and began yelling at each other as they reached the tunnel. Lawson had to be held back by a Bills official while Fournette was asked to wait — he was then struck in the left shoulder by a fan, who had reached out from the stands.
— John Wawrow reporting from Orchard Park, New York
Tom Brady has reached 3,000 yards passing for the 16th straight season, tying Peyton Manning for second in NFL history behind Brett Favre's streak of 18.
The New England quarterback surpassed 3,000 early in the fourth quarter with a 17-yard completion to a diving Josh Gordon. Earlier, he became the NFL's career leader in total yards passing in both regular-season and playoff games.
Brady entered the game against the New York Jets on Sunday needing 147 yards to pass Manning's mark of 79,279. He accomplished the feat with a 16-yard pass to Gordon early in the second quarter.
Brady He had a chance at setting another record, needing four touchdown passes to top Manning's 579 for the most in NFL history, including postseason games.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton hurt the thumb on his passing hand while trying to recover a fumble early in the second half of their game against the Cleveland Browns.
Dalton chased a snap that went over his head and got caught in a pileup. He immediately headed to a locker room for an exam.
The Browns recovered the fumble, and Baker Mayfield threw his fourth touchdown pass for a 35-7 lead. Dalton was 10 of 17 for 100 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Dalton broke his right thumb late in the 2015 season and missed the playoffs.
— Joe Kay reporting from Cincinnati
Arizona quarterback Josh Rosen wore a black T-shirt during early warmups supporting the Los Angeles Fire Department and asking fans to text donations to the Red Cross for wildfire relief before Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center.
QB @josh3rosen warming up in a @LAFD shirt. pic.twitter.com/PY3advShqb
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 25, 2018
Rosen is a Southern California native. He grew up in Manhattan Beach and went to UCLA before he was chosen 10th overall by the Cardinals in the draft last April.
— Joe Reedy reporting from Los Angeles
When the Jets' Jason Myers made a 55-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining in the opening half against New England, he became the first kicker in NFL history to hit five field goals from 55-plus yards in one season.
Myers also had 55-yarders against Miami, Minnesota and Buffalo. He made a 56-yarder at Miami, which is the second longest for the franchise. Chandler Catanzaro had a 57-yard field goal against Cleveland last season.
Myers also tied the Jets' home field-goal distance record for the fourth time this season with the 55-yard boot. It tied the score at 10 at halftime.
— Barry Wilner reporting from East Rutherford, New Jersey
Saquon Barkley hit the big 5-0 again against Philadelphia.
The Giants' rookie running back had a 51-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter to give New York a 19-3 lead over the Super Bowl champion Eagles.
Barkley has mastered the art of the long run against them.
He had a 55-yard gain on a screen pass and a 50-yard rushing TD in the first game this season between the NFC East rivals. Barkley had 130 yards rushing and caught nine passes for 99 yards in that game last month, and he had 94 yards rushing in the first half Sunday.
— Dan Gelston reporting from Philadelphia
Browns safety Damarious Randall predicted on Friday his team would drub the Bengals if wide receiver A.J. Green didn't play, and so far Cleveland is off to a 21-0 lead.
Randall just picked off Andy Dalton near midfield, ran out of bounds and handed the ball to former Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson, now a special assistant in Cincinnati.
Meanwhile in Baltimore, Cyrus Jones returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown to give the Ravens a 10-7 lead over Oakland. It was the Ravens' longest play of the year.
The Ravens' field goal also was the product of a big play: rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson hit tight end Mark Andrews to set it up. Jackson has run only once while carrying 27 times in his first NFL start last week against Cincinnati.
— Joe Kay reporting from Cincinnati and David Ginsburg reporting from Baltimore
Tom Brady has become the NFL's career leader in total yards passing in both regular-season and playoff games.
The Patriots quarterback entered Sunday's game against the New York Jets needing 147 yards to pass Peyton Manning's mark of 79,279. He accomplished the feat with a 16-yard pass to Josh Gordon early in the second quarter.
Brady also came into the game needing 252 yards passing to reach 3,000 for the 16th straight season, tying Manning for second-most behind only Brett Favre's 18 seasons.
Brady had a chance at setting another record Sunday. He needs four touchdown passes to top Manning's 579 for the most in NFL history, including postseason games.
— Dennis Waszak Jr. reporting from East Rutherford, New Jersey.
This year's rookie quarterback class is off to a good start in Week 12.
Josh Allen threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Robert Foster to help Buffalo jump to a 14-0 lead over Jacksonville, while Baker Mayfield has a touchdown pass for Cleveland as the Browns leaped to a 14-0 lead over Cincinnati.
Josh Rosen leads the Cardinals against the Chargers later in the day.
Meanwhile, the Patriots' Rob Gronkowski has announced his return from an injury by hauling in a touchdown pass from Tom Brady to forge a 7-all tie with the New York Jets
It's not quite Showdown Sunday in the NFL in Week 12.
Of the 11 games on deck, none involves two teams with winning records. The closest is the early afternoon visit by Seattle (5-5) to Carolina (6-4), while a pair of 5-5 teams meet later in the day when Miami visits Indianapolis.
Elsewhere, the Jaguars visit the Bills, the Browns visit the Bengals, the Patriots travel to the Jets, the Giants are in Philadelphia, the 49ers head to Tampa Bay and the Raiders visit Baltimore.
The Cardinals visit the Chargers and the Steelers visit the Broncos later in the day.
Perhaps the most important matchup comes Sunday night, when the Packers (4-5-1) visit the Vikings (5-4-1) in a matchup of NFC North rivals competing for a wild-card playoff spot.


Sri Lanka Hit By key Player Injury Blow
Sri Lanka batsman Chamara Kapugedera was ruled out of the rest of the Champions Trophy after suffering an injury in practice on Wednesday.
Kapugedera sustained what the International Cricket Council later confirmed was a knee injury on the eve of Sri Lanka's second match in the tournament against India at the Oval on Thursday.
The ICC said its event technical committee had approved Danushka Gunathilaka as a replacement for Kapugedera in the Sri Lanka squad for the tournament.
Read More: Most Handsome Cricketers XI Of All Time
Gunathilaka, a 26-year-old left-handed top-order batsman and off-spinner, has represented Sri Lanka in 19 one-day internationals in which he has scored 420 runs and taken five wickets. His last ODI was against Bangladesh in Colombo earlier this year.
Earlier, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews revealed Kapugedera has gone for a scan to determine the extent of his injury.
"Yeah he just got injured at training, so we sent him for an MRI scan," Mathews told a press conference at The Oval on Wednesday.
Read More: Cricket ground provided to Saeed Ajmal Academy
Kapugedera's injury is the latest blow to Sri Lanka after stand-in captain Upul Tharanga, deputising for the injured Mathews, was banned for the remaining two group matches as punishment for his team's slow over rate against South Africa last weekend.
The 30-year-old middle order batsman, who made his international debut in 2006, was dismissed for nought against the South Africans as Sri Lanka lost their Group B opener by 96 runs.
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Organic Product Blacklist


14. La belle France… a dodgy, birdy day! Labenne to St. Emilion
On Sep 15, 2015 Sep 21, 2015 By anneandchrisbIn Uncategorized
Monday September 14th
A dodgy day indeed, but in the sense of dodging things! I am ashamed to say that the first thing we dodged was the fee for the aire we stayed on last night at Labenne. It was a large area under trees and nice and quiet, but all the listed facilities were shut and locked. Apparently a man comes round between 8am and 12am to collect your 9 euros , so we missed him because we left at 7.30 to go to the bird reserve! We thought 9 euros was rather pricey compared with the many free or 3 euro ones we have used.
On to Marais d'Orx reserve. A large lake with a small road across the middle and an interesting history. It was a huge area of marshland, and centuries ago local people tried to make a living here, but were plagued by mosquitoes and disease. Napoleon III was very concerned for the welfare of his rural population, and he had dykes built, and pumps installed to drain the land, so it could be farmed. These are still there today. However the sandy soil meant that it was still a constant battle, and when, in 1984, the dykes were breached, they finally gave up. The land was abandoned for farming and gradually the space filled up as a lake. The natural vegetation returned…and so did birds! Hundreds of them using this as a stop off on their migrations north or south. The LPO, France 's equivalent of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), took it over and it is now protected. Their biggest spectacle is from November to March when hundreds of Crane stop here to overwinter before flying back north.
We had to dodge some violent showers
Moody picture of violent shower!
by timing our walks between the hides, but had a good walk and were rewarded with seeing an adult booted eagle training a young one to swoop and dive, as well as Spoonbill, sooty tern and one of my favourites, Snipe. There was also a hide set out on a boardwalk into the lake area which gave great views of a good variety of wading birds.
We then set off on the long and rather boring flat road North, with more rain forecast. We were heading for the Arcachon basin and another reserve we had seen advertised. Reserve Ornithologique La Teich.
It was a pretty area on the river estuary, and as we went into the reserve we noticed signs everywhere saying "Gates shut at 19.00 hours". It was only 15.30, so no worries there.
We received a reduction on the admission charge because we are RSPB members!
Well, what a reserve it is. A brilliantly maintained, raised path winds for over 4 miles between lakes and tidal flats, and visits 20… yes 20 hides. All the hides were large with plenty of seats, and windows at different levels.
And the birds. It was without doubt the most amazing bird reserve we have ever visited anywhere. Every hide seemed to reveal a new astounding vista. In one location over 200 curlew were roosting, another had 40 + cormorants all on posts. We saw Kingfishers, Spoonbills, Avocets, and every wading bird you could wish for. Not 1 or 2 but in large flocks, close to the hides, and very relaxed despite nearby gunshots and low flying aircraft.
We met a french couple who were obviously new to birding, and at each hide I pointed out one new bird and told them a bit about it. I was rather proud that my french was still up to the job, and we ended with me explaining how all the waders have different lengths and shapes of bill, so each feeds on different organisms in a slightly different layer of the mud and water so they can all feed together, which led to a discussion on biodiversity!
It was a super place. 2 heavy showers came while we were in the hides, so again we dodged the rain.
So…. guess who only just made it back to the exit by 7pm? Yes, us and a lot of other people! It was nearly a sprint! Great to see so many french people there enjoying the birds.
We were later than we had planned but decided to press on with our plan to drive round Bordeaux to an aire at Chateau Gerbaud in St Emillion, a very famous wine producing area. Guess what we will be doing tomorrow!
We drove through a torrential downpour and seemingly under the arch of a rainbow, and arrived at dusk to find a ring of campers arranged in a circle reminiscent of wagons in an old Cowboy film! They were Dutch campers, and the owners were sat in the middle of the circle having a grand singalong. We interlopers parked around the edge with the Polish, French and Slovakian campers and got on with cooking a rather late dinner. All was silent by 10pm and we slept soundly, literally surrounded by vineyards!
Aire near St Emilion
13. The rain in Spain stays mainly on the Plain… nearly! Itxaspe Spain, to Labenne France!
15. A day for oenophiles and fans of pancakes! St. Emilion


'Hysaj & Rui will leave Napoli'
The agent of Napoli pair Elseid Hysaj and Mario Rui has confirmed that they will seek moves away this summer.
It is shaping up to be something of an awkward summer for Mario Giuffredi as another of his clients, Empoli full-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo, is set to join Napoli as one of the duo's replacements.
"For three years, Elseid was the best right-back," continued Giuffredi to Radio Marte.
"In his final season under Coach Maurizio Sarri, Juventus came calling but the lad said 'no' because he wanted to win the Scudetto with Napoli.
"While it's true that in the last year his form has dropped, he wasn't the only player to experience a decline.
"I'm not saying it was Carlo Ancelotti's fault, but it's normal if you suddenly begin to play a different style of football.
"I do wonder why only Hysaj and Mario Rui are criticised, it seems wrong to just single them out.
"We've had a lot of interest from other teams. The intention now is for both boys to leave.
"Hysaj's contract will expire next year and I think the time is right for a change of scenery.
"Atletico Madrid have asked me about his availability, and they are not the only club interested.
"Fabio Paratici, the Juventus sporting director, is also a fan. The lad will certainly move to a big club."
"Mario Rui, on the other hand, I thought had a good season, and I'd like to see him stay for another season as I don't think Napoli will find a stronger left-back.
"However, he will leave too and there's been plenty of interest from clubs like Torino, Milan and Benfica. Benfica would be his dream move."


Things to do today in Bengaluru
A show of classics
Tabla wiz Ustad Zakir Hussain, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, V Selvaganesh on kanjira, Patri Satishkumar on mridangam and U Rajesh on mandolin will play together at a concert tonight. The concert is being presented by Pancham Nishad, a platform that has been showcasing the rich musical heritage of India for 20 years now. So don't miss 'Classical and Beyond – An evening of Indian Global Music'.
WHERE: Dr BR Ambedkar Bhavan, Kaverappa Layout,
Vasanth Nagar WHEN: 7pm, December 4
ENTRY: `300 onwards, bookmyshow.com
Comedian Ramya Ramapriya will confront some of her worst fears – from poor ratings to pesky pachyderms, serpentine shenanigans and the perils of being a thankless Tambrahm – in this standup show. She will also spill the beans about the weird boys she's met in the engineering college and on dating apps, and how she handled the weird compliments.
WHERE: Flax-healthy Living, 80 Feet Road, HAL 3rd Stage,Indiranagar
WHEN: 8.30pm, December 4
Demon in the city
Baka is the story of Bakasura, the demon who tormented the town of of Ekachakra with his power and might. How the town experiences political and economic turbulence after the demon's entry is what forms the crux of the story. It is directed by Vinay Shastry and written by MSK Prabhu.
WHERE: Ranga Shankara, 36/2, R K Colony,
2nd Phase, JP Nagar WHEN: 7.30pm onwards, December 4
The midweek gig
Have a musical Wednesday with this gig. On the line-up are the progressive jazz and funk fusion band Kelvikkuri as well as Kochi-based progressive rock quartet Chidakasha. While the former is a nine-piece band that conveys various emotions by painting a portrait in real-time on stage, Chidakasha's music transcends genres and languages and takes the audience on an unforgettable trip.
WHERE: Fandom at Gilly's Redefined, 100 Feet Road, 4th Block, Koramangala
WHEN: 8pm, December 4
ENTRY: `300 onwards, insider.in
Matters of the art
Journey into the imaginative and visual world of Bengal art with a solo show by Stuti Laha. For her show Coral Lights, this prominent Bengali artist and art restorer at the Archeological Survey of India, has devised a unique style of wash, which results in a semi-transparent layer of colour.
WHERE: Gallery g, Shanthala Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Lavelle Road WHEN: 10am-7pm, on view till December 24 CALL: 22219275
Play with clay
Have you always wanted to learn pottery and did not know where to go? Look no further than this hand building and wheel course. Here, you will learn to make vases, plates, tiles, cylindrical vessels, miniature pottery pieces and many more articles using the techniques of pinching, coiling and slab-making. It's a six-day course, which you can complete by joining on any six Wednesdays.
WHERE: Lahe Lahe Indiranagar, HAL 2nd Stage, Kodihalli
WHEN: 11am-1pm, December 4
ENTRY: `5,000, eventshigh.com
Learn the art of natural soap-making with different techniques such as pencil-thin line, swirls, peeks, hanger swirl, layers and botanical colourants. The session includes the detailed study of cold-process soapmaking with oil infusion, natural colorants, French clays, use of micas in soap, the difference between hard and soft oils, types of clays and more. After all the hardwork, you will get to take back the soap you will make.
WHERE: Swati Nest, 2nd main, 2nd stage, Vinayaka Layout, Vijaynagar
WHEN: 10.45am-4.45pm, December 4
ENTRY: `4,000
Tales to tell
Attend the book launch of We, of the forsaken world, written by Kiran Bhat. The book tells the stories of four worlds falling apart through the structure of four linguistic chains, drawing from the lives of 16 strangers. These 16 stories connect along subtle lines, dispersing at the moments where another story is about to take place, and then they flow into each other
WHERE: Champaca Bookstore, Library, Edward Road, Vasanth Nagar WHEN: 6pm-8pm,
December 4 ENTRY: Free
One for the Earth
Echoes of Earth, Bengaluru's very own eco-friendly music festival, is coming up this weekend. In its fourth season now, it will feature world music, live electronica, techno and acoustic and pop-up performances for children as well.
To prove that large-scale events can be executed sustainably and responsibly, the entire festival is made using upcycled and recycled material. Along with a solar-powered stage, Echoes will be powering many areas of the festival with renewable energy. And since this year's theme is 'The Sanctuary',
it will highlight the splendid yet endangered species of flora and fauna in
India and the world.
Watch out for some of these highlights: The Mahseer installation by the Wildlife Association of South India, a flea market selling organic and sustainable products, opportunity to dress up as your favourite animal, chance to have brunch with your favourite artists, a highball lounge,
a food court, a pet zone and a Nat Geo Wild Zone.
WHERE: Embassy International Riding School, 149/223, next To Stone Hill International School, Tarunhunse Village WHEN: 1 pm onwards, December 7 and 8 ENTRY: bookmyshow.com
To feature an event on this page, send the details and photographs to mybangaloremirror@timesgroup.com with the subject line 'Unwind'
HAL's credit rating takes a hit
Light Combat Aircraft impress Russians


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Training and Resources for Parents: Ravenswood City School District Parent Academy
Important note: The following recommendation was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 4, 2015:
DISTRICT 4 (Supervisor Warren Slocum)
FY 2015-17 Measure A Request Ravenswood City School District Parent Academy $60,000 one-time
The Ravenswood City School District's Measure A Collaborative (Collaborative) will strengthen family engagement, supporting parents and caregivers to be more involved and effective in the lives of their children. By providing training and resources that are rooted in the cultural strengths of East Palo Alto's rich diversity, Ravenswood City School District (RCSD) and its Collaborative will provide meaningful community engagement for youth and families, and improve youth opportunities for success within East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park.
The Collaborative will hire and train three community members to engage and work directly with parents as Promotoras (community outreach workers). Each of the three community members will bring skill sets and cultural understanding of the African American, Pacific Islander, and Latino communities. The promotoras will provide direct support to parents, as well as help connect them to community resources. In addition, the promotoras will help recruit parents to participate in the six-week Parent Academy.
The Parent Academy will serve 60 parents comprised of 3 groups of 20, with each group learning parenting and personal development skills within the cultural context of their respective communities. The Parent Academy will target parents of middle school youth. Workshops will be designed to meet parent needs. During the parent workshops, children of the families will also be engaged in a Youth Academy, engaging in activities that promote character development, community service, and academic success.
The $60,000 requested for district Measure A funds will be used for 60 families to go through the six week Parent Academy. HSA will work with Ravenswood City School District staff on building performance measures and targets into the agreements.
Important note: This is a copy of the official report -- item 5 on the Board's agenda.


Male Celebrities Who Are 6'6" (198 cm) Tall
The list of male celebrities who are 6'6" (198 cm) tall includes Anthony Joshua, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Rob Gronkowski, Wladimir Klitschko. Famous personalities featured on this list, include actors, basketball players, baseball players, american football players and from other domains of life. This list of male celebrities who are 6 feet 6 inches includes people from United States, England, Spain, Canada and many more countries.
6'6" (198 cm), British
6'6" (198 cm), American
6'6" (198 cm), Ukrainian
6'6" (198 cm), British, Welsh
Novelist, Short Story Writer
Shaheen Afridi
6'6" (198 cm), Pakistani
6'6" (198 cm), Dutch
Singer, Actor
6'6" (198 cm), German
General, Second President of Weimar Republic
Felipe VI of Spain
6'6" (198 cm), Spanish
King of Spain
J. R. Smith
Uday Hussein
6'6" (198 cm), Iraqi
Saddam Hussein's Son
Josh Richardson
Sergei Rachmaninoff
6'6" (198 cm), American, Russian
6'6" (198 cm), Canadian, American
Christopher Boykin
Bill Fagerbakke
Former United States Senator
Speculative Fiction Writer
James Packer
6'6" (198 cm), Australian
Business Tycoon
6'6" (198 cm), Argentinian
Ime Udoka
6'6" (198 cm), Nigerian, American
American-Nigerian Basketball Player
American Football Tight End
Martellus Bennett
Nik Stauskas
6'6" (198 cm), Canadian
Musician, Musician, Peace Activist
Lenny Montana
Victor Williams
6'6" (198 cm), French
Abdou Diouf
6'6" (198 cm), Senegalese
Ben Phillips
Thomas Clayton Wolfe
Andrew Glennon
Stuart Broad
Travis Kelce
Singer-songwriter, Musician, Singer
Alun Wyn Jones
Radio personality, Actor, Novelist, Circus
Actor, Film actor
Diamond Dallas Page
Mitchell Starc
Edwin van der Sar
6'6" (198 cm), British, Scottish
Mike Glennon
Nwankwo Kanu
6'6" (198 cm), Nigerian
John Layfield
Entrepreneur, Professional wrestler, Actor, Radio
Composer, Pianist, Radio personality
Singer, Singer-songwriter
Television presenter, Rower
Owen Benjamin
Omar Benson Miller
Screenwriter, Television producer, Science fiction
Professional wrestler
Don Drysdale
Geoffrey Holder
6'6" (198 cm), Spanish, Trinidadian, American
Timothy Simons
Courtney Walsh
6'6" (198 cm), Jamaican
Jamaal Wilkes
Geoff Capes
Athletics competitor


Election Fighting Fund!
We have been betrayed on Brexit. That is clearer now more than ever, and it means our government is unstable. That's why we're planning for a snap election that could happen any minute, with our new Fighting Fund. Please donate now!
For Britain is the only political party in the UK that offers the most effective solution to our Brexit crisis. We must work with our European partners to bring down the entire EU project. Leaving the EU isn't enough, as this monster will always be on our doorstep, trying to wrestle back control, and undermining the will of the European peoples.
We want to take this message, along with our common-sense manifesto, to the people of Britain – but we need to be able to support our candidates.
That's why we are launching our Fighting Fund. Through a new social media campaign, we'll be aiming to raise up to £100,000 to ensure we are ready to fight this election.
And I hope you can help us with it
For Britain faces a great challenge in a snap election. We must make ourselves visible to the public, and do so on as national a scale as possible. We must stand as many candidates as we can, and make full use of the election to increase our profile.
Make no mistake – if a snap election happens, it's the most important battle that For Britain has fought to date. It will be our first chance to introduce ourselves and prove that our policies resonate. We must let people know that we are here for the long term, and that we represent the future of this great country.
Want to help? Here's what you can do.
Consider donating to our fighting fund in the form on this page. If we can raise £100,000, we can provide our candidates with as much financial support as possible. This is essential.
Share the link and share our graphics! Head over to our Facebook and Twitter, or the members section of the website, where you'll find our Fighting Fund imagery and posts. Please share them far and wide, and help us make this election count.
Become a member! If you're not already a paid-up member of our party, why not join us? Your data is always safe with us, so nobody will ever know. Your small monthly membership fee will help our party grow at this essential time.
Are you in? This is our most important battle yet. We can only make an impact with your help – and we need your support more than ever.
Thank you for being such a valued part of this party. You're making this happen. Let's go into the next election fully prepared and ready to win!
Anne Marie Waters
Leader, For Britain
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For Britain is a political movement formally Registered by the Electoral Commission. As a registered Party the regulations covering donations are governed by the Political Party and Referendum act 2000 (PPERA) which states that you must be on the electoral register in the UK excluding the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in order to make a donation in excess of £500.
To make a donation above £500 please contact us as we will need to ensure that certain criteria is met.
If you wish to make a donation of more than £7,500 to the party, we have an obligation under the Political Parties and Referendums Act 2000 to report such a donation to the Electoral Commission, who will publish the fact that you have made a donation over £7,500.
For further information please visit the Electoral Commission here.
For Britain reserves the right to not accept an application for membership or a donation.


The Science Museum Richmond
The museum's operating budget for the 1970-72 biennium. measure to the financial and volunteer support provided by the Junior League of Richmond. Many other civic and science-related groups and.
. be established in partnership with the Fairfax-based Children's Science Center and an extension of the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond. Located on donated land at the Kincora development in.
About Through experiential exhibits, awesome artifacts, interactive technologies, innovative programs, dynamic films, impressive live animals and interesting lab demos, the Science Museum of Virginia inspires hundreds of thousands of guests each year to enrich their lives through science. The Museum is a catalyst for inspiration, a place that sparks curiosity, encourages discovery and.
What: Spring Camp-In Overnight Adventures Where: The Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad St., Richmond Cost: $45 per child, $20 per adult.
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The museum features permanent exhibitions on space, health, electricity and Earth — and more — along with visiting exhibitions. The Dome theater is enormous at 76 feet and shows IMAX films like "National Parks Adventure," "Pandas: The Journey Home," and many more.
Sloan Science and Film is a website devoted to exploring the intersection of science and film, and enhancing the public understanding of science and technology.
Richmond's chief academic officer, Tracy Epp, told the School Board that the district would try to give students similar experiences through partnerships with the Science Museum of Virginia and other.
The sellers are Patti and Allan Herbert, who represent the third generation of the family that has owned the hotel since its inception, according to the Richmond's website. The Herberts are major.
Free. Open 365. Today Until 5 pm. Museum Hours. Open 365 days a year. Daily: 10 am – 5 pm Thu and Fri until 9 pm. Address. 200 N. Boulevard Richmond, VA 23220
The insatiable curiosity of Curious George – the little monkey who has captured the imagination and hearts of millions of children and adults for 65 years – comes to life at the Science Museum of Virginia on January 19, 2019!
Businesses along Richmond Row are transforming their. sound is made and how it works at the London Children's Museum. The Science of Sound provides resonance bowls, tuning forks, boom.
Children's Museum of Richmond 2626 W Broad Street Richmond, VA 23220. Central Phone: 804-474-7062 Chesterfield Phone: 804-474-7075 Fax: 804-474-7099 Email Children's Museum of Richmond Children's Museum of Richmond Website. Hours Daily 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Memorial Day – Labor Day 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. Service Definitions. View a complete list of service definitions.
Science Museum: the Science Museum of Virginia has three floors of. Listen in and Join USA Field Hockey on ESPN Richmond To help kick off NIT action in Richmond, USA Field Hockey will be on the air.
5-8 p.m. at Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad St. $10, members free. www.smv.org or (804) 864-1400. More than two dozen restaurants will participate in this year's Richmond Black Restaurant.
Evans, of Richmond, as vice-chair. He is a research associate at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, and a research.
The Virginia Holocaust Museum aims to educate about the Holocaust, to memorialize and document the atrocities with exhibits, programming, and outreach. Hours Monday–Friday: 9am–5pm Saturday & Sunday: 11am–5pm Closed New Years Day, Easter, First Day of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve.
Since its founding by the Virginia General Assembly in 1970, the Science Museum of Virginia has become the premier center for hands-on science education in Virginia. The Museum has permanent exhibitions on health, energy and natural science and includes hundreds of interactive exhibits, fascinating artifacts, live animals, a theater company and cutting edge technology.
Inside the museum, visitors will find a variety. p.m. Guests are also invited to venture outside with the Richmond Astronomical Society and use telescopes to see glowing stars in the night sky.
For further information on accessibility for adult audiences, contact us via email or call the receptionist at 718.727.1135. Hours & Admissions. Wednesday – Sunday 11am – 5pm. The Museum is closed on National Holidays: on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
Apr 30, 2017 · Da Vinci Alive Debuts at the Science Museum of Virginia May 13 – September 5, 2017. Da Vinci Alive – The Experience, the most comprehensive traveling exhibition on one of history's greatest minds, opens at the Science Museum of Virginia on Saturday, May 13.The exhibition celebrates the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci as an inventor, scientist, engineer, architect, artist and musician.
The Science Museum oversees operation of the Aviation Museum, which is at Richmond International Airport in eastern Henrico County. After the plane is broken down into seven main pieces over the next.
The Richmond area is full of fun parks & playgrounds. The ones listed below are the Completely Kids top picks – they have something special, even out of the ordinary, to offer kids of all ages.
The science championship qualifiers are held each spring in cities across the world! – sponsors are assigned qualifiers at registration based on location – any participant who participates in the qualifier competes in multiple rounds, answering quiz questions for points and ultimately qualification for the 2019 Science world fair! compared within their division – 4th – 12th grade!
Children's Theatre of Richmond presents its final performance. Shakeup: Preserving What We Value at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC explores the convergence of earthquake science and technology.
they help us bring science to life for curious young minds." The Staten Island Children's Museum is located on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, 1000 Richmond Terrace,
In Richmond! The University of Virginia grad and "Saturday. Let's Get Curious" at the Science Museum of Virginia. Geared toward younger kids, the exhibit recreates familiar scenes from "Curious.
Apr 27, 2019 · RICHMOND, Va. — Capitol Police have made an arrest in the theft of a $5,000 saxophone from the Science Museum of Virginia earlier this month.
Home > Students>Who Was Edgar Allan Poe>Poe's Biography. Biography. The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Raven," and "The Fall of the House of Usher."
RICHMOND, Va. — At just 15. Their robot needed a redesign, so they were quickly working before other students arrived at the Science Museum of Virginia. "I've always liked working with my hands,".
Other local attractions, such as Maymont, the Science Museum of Virginia and the Richmond Children's Museum are just minutes away. In addition, there are two restaurants in the art museum and numerous.
Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. RICHMOND, Va. – Host Jessica Noll recently took a trip to 'The Mix' at the Science Museum of Virginia to help Mix Master.
Organic Chemistry Bruice Pdf 63 Lerner, R. A. 91 Bio 63 Miller, W. H. 91 Theoretical 63 Parrinello, M. 91 Theoretical 63 Wang, J 91 Analytical 67 Breslow, R. 90 Organic 67 Haddon, R. C. 90 Organic Outside catalytic sites, organic substrates are resistant to oxidation and reduction. Michaelis,L. in The Enzymes, Chemistry and Mechanism of Action (eds Sumner,
The Science Standards of Learning identify academic content for essential components of the science curriculum at different grade levels. Standards are identified for kindergarten through grade six and for a core set of middle and high school courses – life science, physical science, Earth science, biology, chemistry and physics.
Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. RICHMOND, Va. – Immersive Experience Specialist Justin Bartel from the Science Museum of Virginia invited Host Jessica Noll.
The Museum of Life and Science—previously known as the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science and the NC Children's Museum—is an 84-acre (340,000 m 2) acre science museum located in Durham, North Carolina, United States, featuring an array of largely hands-on exhibits intended to spark curiosity and wonder.With a focus on STEM learning, the Museum's mission is to create a place of.
One of the first CLD_STEM programs was a Mobile STEM Workshop at the Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, VA. The two-day.
From trains and fruitcake to a unique New Year's celebration – the Science Museum of Virginia has. at one of the world's largest fruitcakes (the Museum's fruitcake balloon, of course) at Richmond's.
Visit Richmond, Virginia on your next vacation. Find details and maps for hotels, events, restaurants and things to do in Richmond, VA. Get a free guide!
According to sources at the museum, the ultimate decision about disciplining Richmond was made by paleontologist Michael Novacek, AMNH's provost of science, who also convened the lengthy search for.


Peloton Is Thriving, Living Her Best Pandemic Life
Shannon Melero
Image: Ezra Shaw (Getty Images)
Peloton, a company that caters to affluent exercise fanatics and less-affluent exercise fanatics willing to assume debt, is, at best, a frivolous business. But perhaps the time has come to prostrate ourselves before the might and unstoppable force that is a company that seems to have proven itself indestructible. Peloton survived the fallout from the horrible commercial of 2019, stopped its competitor Flywheel from moving into its turf with a home bike, and now is about to emerge from a global pandemic richer than ever.
As CNBC reports, in a fiscal report released Thursday, Peloton's CEO stated, "fourth-quarter sales surged 172%" with the company's signature bike and treadmill becoming huge sellers as a result of the global pandemic.
While the original Peloton bike costs $1895, the treadmill starts at a little over $4000—costs which do not include a monthly subscription to Peloton's classes at $39 a month—which means you're essentially paying for this bike for eternity. On Wednesday, Peloton dropped the latest jewel in its crown, the Bike+, which I have been staring at every morning since the announcement was made. The bike, which looks just like the original bike, boasts a bigger screen that swivels out, a subwoofer, Apple Watch connectivity built into this big fucking screen, and instructor controlled resistance. It's the most elite pedal to nowhere that could be imagined and the timing couldn't be better as SoulCycle is smack in the middle of promoting their at-home bike and app, Variis.
Finally, You Can Masturbate on Your Peloton
Between class prices and the exorbitant cost of having a home spin bike, indoor cycling is the…
It is blood boiling that a company worth millions before the pandemic was able to multiply its wealth the worse the pandemic got? Absoutely. Yet, I can't get that mad, since I find myself seduced by Peloton's beautiful, high-gloss ads, which force me to entertain the perfectly reasonable idea of building a costly gym inside my home. Peloton even has a "value calculator" on its website to break down, in numbers how much money I could save by spending $2,495 on a bike. Even though I've never been on one, I lust after the Bike+ in the same way Leonardo DiCaprio lusts after young supermodels. I talk about this bike to my editor, half -convincing myself to buy it and half-reminding myself that it's not affordable and attempting to finance this thing would push my partner over the edge and into a divorce.
Peloton, in this moment, is like the Cobra Kai dojo from the first Karate Kid movie. Dressed in all black to attract the babes with a motto of strike first, strike hard, no mercy and an ethos that can either break or improve your legs depending on how hard you go.
keregi
Sigh. Is it too much to get someone who actually likes exercise (we exist!) to write about exercise and products that support it? There are valid criticisms to make about big fitness companies - but there are also pros to these products/services. I have never considered buying a Peloton until realizing 3 months after my CycleBar studio reopened that it will be a long time before that environment is safe enough for me. Of course they are using this to their advantage - hey, that's how capitalism works! I will likely end up buying one soon since I live in Ohio and we are rapidly approaching our too cold for outdoor activity season. As for the comparisons with an average exercise bike and a Peloton - you get what you pay for. I had a Fitbit for years until I finally made the jump to an Apple watch. And I paid more for the technology I don't need but it was a decision I made because it was worth it to me. Apply that concept to exercise and you get Peloton.


License to Forge
by Justine Iaboni | Posted December 7, 2011
Topics: 2.55 flap bag, Alexander McQueen, Anonymous, Bernard Arnault, Christian Dior, Christopher Kane, commentary, couture fashion houses, couturiers, Cristobal Balenciaga, Dana Thomas, Edward de Vere, Fernand Leger, Francois Pinault, Gabrielle Coco Chanel, Gianfranco Ferre, Gucci Group, Hermes, John Galliano, karl lagerfeld, licensing of brands, luxury fashion, LVMH, Marc Jacobs, Max Ernst, Nicolas Ghesquière, Prince William, Rive Gauche, Roland Emmerich, Salma Hayek, Sarah Burton, Shakespeare, skull clutch, Tom Ford, Walt Disney, Yves Saint Laurent
Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, founder of Chanel, is buried in Lausanne, Switzerland. The image on the right depicts Coco in her usual attire: pearls, a cigarette and black jersey". (Source: Flickr, Ballyshannon).
A Cologne court recently sentenced a group of four art forgers to prison for painting, and later selling, art works they falsely claimed were by famous artists Max Ernst and Fernand Léger. Similarly, earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, Roland Emmerich premiered Anonymous, a film that attempts to flesh out the age-old suspicion that Edward de Vere is the real author of Shakespeare's oeuvre. In the art world, authenticity is contingent on the recognized artist being the sole creative entity behind a work of art bearing his or her name. But in the fashion industry, it's possible for Sarah Burton to design an Alexander McQueen piece. On April 29, 2011, Catherine Middleton married Prince William wearing a dress McQueen himself never saw or touched, given his shocking death one year earlier. And yet, Middleton's ivory gown with the V-neck décolleté, long lace sleeves and colossal six-foot train will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most important dresses to ever bear his name. Instead of being condemned for forgery, Sarah Burton, the actual designer of the dress, was hailed a fashion messiah. In fact, the dress snagged Burton Harper's Bazaar's prestigious Designer of the Year Award a few months after the royal nuptials.
The posthumous success of a fashion designer is a game of surrender for both the house left behind and its new creative director. The real question is: who wins?
So why do fashion designers get a pass whereas other artists do not? Blame it on Mickey Mouse. In Dana Thomas' Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre, she painstakingly explains how the phenomenon of licensing was one of the first steps towards the end of couture's golden age, and the subsequent death of that rare thing called luxury. Christian Dior was a licensing pioneer. Upon seeing the success of Walt Disney, who enlisted other companies to turn out Mickey Mouse paraphernalia, Dior envisioned a similar model for his fashion house. During the 1940s, he licensed the Dior name and its designs to middle-market manufacturers in the United States. The manufacturers would pay Dior a one-time fee of $2,000, plus royalties and then produce and sell authorized replica dresses and suits for $50. The emergence of the middle-market and its newfound desire for luxury propelled designers into a licensing frenzy. Dior had his name on everything from perfumes to eyeglasses. Yves Saint Laurent introduced his ready-to-wear line, Rive Gauche, which targeted those who were too young - and too poor - to wear couture. "With the advent of licensing names, the fragrance business began to grow, and couture diminished rapidly," writes Thomas. Whether they knew it at the time or not, veteran couturiers opened the door for business tycoons to take licensing and ready-to-wear to the next (financial) level. In a matter of a few decades, the establishment of luxury groups - an umbrella term used to define a group of brands owned by one company - transformed what used to be an industry of small couture houses run by couturiers and their families into billion-dollar corporations. People like Bernard Arnault, LVMH's crowned king, bought out multiple brands, gave original owners the boot, hired young designers to revamp brands, pushed handbags to the fore, cut down on quality, moved production to China (unbeknownst to consumers) and exalted the possession of luxury pieces to the level of godliness through million dollar advertisements.
Craftsman cutting crocodile at the
Hermès leather factory
(Source: Jonathan Blair/CORBIS).
Luxury, as we've come to know it today, is all about profits and very few houses, Hermès being one of them, have resisted the temptation to streamline production in order to increase profits. The Birkin bag, for example, is still made entirely by hand at the Hermès special workshop in Patin, a Parisian suburb, and requires about fifteen hours of workmanship per bag.
The posthumous deification of the leading names in luxury fashion is a curious phenomenon. Designers (or creative directors as they like to be called) brought on board from the outside have changed the meaning of authenticity and, not unlike the above examples of the forged paintings and Shakespeare, authorship. In the fashion world, the definition of authenticity goes beyond the transient lifetimes of Coco, Cristobal, Christian, Yves and Alexander. Thus, an Alexander McQueen piece is still 100 per cent authentic after McQueen's death if designed by Sarah Burton and produced (hypothetically) entirely by a few girls on an assembly line in China with all profits going to Gucci Group. A McQueen is not authentic, however, if a skilled silk-screen artisan makes a replica that he or she later tries to sell on eBay. It can be argued, however, that both scarves are forgeries, albeit of different degrees: the former just happens to protected by the law while the latter infringes upon those protections. Jeffrey Monteiro, Creative Director of Bill Blass, told style.com that for the S/S 2012 season, he "as always, turned to the considerable archives when putting the collection together". In the fashion industry then, a designer's name is of utmost value - even after death - so much so that other people are enlisted to continue producing collections long afterwards. These "other people" are given incredible creative access to designs, materials, archives and, of course, the name.
There's no denying the talents of Karl Lagerfeld, Nicolas Ghesquière, Sarah Burton, Gianfranco Ferrè, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christopher Kane and the slew of other designers hired as creative directors. In fact, some of the greatest designs have come out of luxury fashion houses long after their founders have passed away. However, could Monteiro make the kind of clothing that is, each season, rooted in the historical milieu of 20th century American fashion without the name Bill Blass? It was never called the Lagerfeld 2.55 flap bag or the Ghesquière Giant City bag, or the Sarah Burton skull clutch.
It's a catch-22, at best. The posthumous success of a fashion designer is a game of surrender for both the house left behind and its new creative director. The real question is: who wins?
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