It spins, it floats: Solar power generated on water and for garment trade

1. United States

A 3D rendering of a rare ceremonial garment is helping Alaska Natives preserve a traditional art form. Chilkat robes, made by the Tlingit and other Pacific Northwest Indigenous peoples, can take 3,000 hours to spin and weave. Skills are passed from one generation to the next, and now there are only about a dozen artisans who have made a Chilkat robe, an article that is taken to important tribal meetings and used in dances by those with permission.

But the new images of one fragile, 120-year-old robe provide a template of its complexity for people to examine and learn from. The robe, recently donated to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, is especially useful, as multiple techniques were used – something that would be less apparent if viewed only in the museum display required for its preservation.

Digital 3D imagery of other Native American artifacts, such as a library of baskets at the University of Nevada, Reno and sacred caves in California, is also enhancing the study of Indigenous cultures.

“We want our students to understand that tradition and culture aren’t separate from modern science and technology. ... The two are intertwined,” said Herb Schroeder, founder of the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program, which helped organize the robe scan.
Sources: Yes!, Alaska Business

2. Argentina

Argentina’s new national park promises additional protection for hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and South America’s largest salt lake. The 1.6 million-acre park, comprising the Mar Chiquita salt lake and its wetlands, provides habitats for a half-million Wilson’s phalaropes, three species of flamingos, other birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
Advocates say the national designation was important because many of the threats to the area originate upstream from the Ansenuza National Park and National Reserve, in Córdoba province. Work to get local communities on board includes helping schoolchildren learn about new species identified in the area with camera traps.

“It is one of the most important wetlands in South America,” said Lucila Castro, Argentine director at Natura International, a conservation organization. “Sadly, it is facing many threats: climate change, water diversion and pollution, hunting and deforestation. That is why we were fighting to give the lake and wetlands the highest protection as a national park.”
Sources: Re:wild, National Parks Traveler

3. Portugal

Europe’s largest floating solar plant is supplying power in southern Portugal for a record-setting low price, boding well for consumers and future floating solar projects around the world. The project’s 12,000 solar panels float on the Alqueva Dam reservoir and have the capacity to produce around 7.5 GWh per year. While Asia currently generates the most energy from floating photovoltaic (FPV) technologies, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated in 2018 that FPV on human-made bodies of water could account for 10% of U.S. power needs.

Solar plants are 18% to 30% more expensive to build on water than on land, but their footprint is modest in comparison. A study published this year showed that the benefits include a reduction in water evaporation under the panels and the cooling effect of being on the water, which increases efficiency.
Sources: Reasons to be Cheerful, Bloomberg, Reuters 

4. India

Solar power is increasing women’s productivity and earnings in the garment trade. The government of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has distributed 4,000 solar-powered spinning wheels since 2018, replacing hand- or foot-powered charkhas. The machines feature 12 spindles, a motor, and battery pack, and they connect to a 400-watt solar panel.

“With the additional income we can afford better nutrition, health care and even tuition for my children,” said Anita Devi, who was trained on her solar charkha in 2019. The machines expand economic opportunities in areas that don’t have access to existing electrical grids, and many women work either from home or at community spinning hubs. A local startup, Greenwear Fashion, is employing women on charkhas, looms, and sewing machines in its all-solar manufacturing company.  
Sources: Context, The Weekend Leader

World

“Environmental peace building” is reducing conflicts over resources amid climate change-induced scarcity. In 2017, when pastoralists in Senegal were in conflict with each other and with farmers over decreasing grazing grounds and water sources for the herds, the nonprofit AVSF recruited community members to form “pastoralist units” that could facilitate consensus on proper herd sizes, grazing routes, and compensation for farmers whose fields get damaged.

“When people’s jobs depend on the good health of the environment, well, then, they can find a way to work for all of their benefit,” says Samba Samba Dia, a community representative for AVSF.

Environmental peace building is not wholly new, but academics are publishing more peer-reviewed studies, and organizations are interested in proving methods and programs to increase funding toward their efforts. In North Darfur, Sudan, farmers stressed by climate change and war are trained in new techniques and conflict resolution by the group Practical Action, which is supported by governments, corporations, umbrella organizations, and others. And EcoPeace Middle East, founded in 1994, has notched successes in shared water sanitation issues that affect Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians. In March it received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to help continue its work.
Sources: National Geographic, United Nations Environment Program, EcoPeace Middle East