#FollowtheMusicaLuca: My Stroll with Luca Berardi

Luca Berardi is 12. He has released 3 songs, one of which he performed at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2014. Luca is also founder of an organization called YARH which stands for, Young Animal Rescue Heroes through which he advocates for wildlife and environmental conservation.

Luca joins me from Nairobi, and we discussed among other things, his plans for music, the support he receives from his Mom and Dad (who are Kenyan and Italian respectively), and his plans for teenagehood as he clocks 13 next year.

You can listen or download this interview on #TheStrollPodcast or read a summarized transcript below.

YOU ARE INVITED: WRR Literary Festival 2015 [Saturday, 12th Dec, 10AM]

As part of activities to commemorate the third year anniversary of Words Rhymes & Rhythm (WRR Limited) and celebrate the gains of 2015, a year which has seen remarkable growth in Nigerian literature, WRR is holding the ‘WRR Literary Festival 2015’.

The theme of the Festival is ‘FIST (FEAST) OF WORDS’:

DATE: Saturday 12th of December, 2015

VENUE: ARTS THEATRE, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan

TIME: 10 am – 7pm

#SocialUN: My Stroll with Nancy Groves, United Nations Social Media Team Leader

The job of UN Social Media Team leader is as complex as you can imagine. From overseeing global social media campaigns to explaining complex diplomatic concepts and ideas in 140 characters all day-all year in all time zones, Nancy and the social media team go through a lot to keep us all engaged with the work of the United Nations around the world.

In course of this stroll, Nancy, who has worked for over a decade at the UN, takes us into the daily routine of the United Nations Social Media team and also shares some advice for young people hoping to work in the International Development sector.

You can either listen or download this interview on #TheStrollPodcast or read a summarized transcript below.

OPPORTUNITY: The Saraba Manuscript Prize

Nigerian writers resident in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world are invited to submit completed fiction or non-fiction manuscripts. Please note that each writer is expected to submit only one manuscript for either the fiction or non-fiction category. The contest will produce a shortlist of ten writers, five in each category. All shortlisted manuscripts will initially be published as e-books and audio-books. In addition, Saraba Literary Trust will look to partner with one of the foremost literary publishers in Nigeria to publish the winning manuscripts from each category.

After publication, the shortlisted works will be promoted over the period of a year across major cities in Nigeria. Readings will be held at cultural centers and on university campuses. An intensive online campaign will also follow, which will feature collaborative social media interaction.

The prize includes an award of N100,000 to the winning manuscripts in the fiction and the non-fiction categories. All shortlisted entrants will receive a publishing deal from Saraba, including N100,000 advance against royalties.

#WriteSDGs: A Letter to COP21 Delegates -- Kingsley Ireh

Dear Delegate,

Understanding evidence from the past is important. So is making sense of recent trends. The real challenge, however, lies in understanding the complexities well enough to predict climate change.

Is global warming a scientific certainty or just a political liability? Why is the continued destruction of the Amazon rainforest relevant to the chemistry of global warming? The answer has to do with how Earth’s climate system is regulated and responds to change. There are many parts to the climate puzzle including incoming solar radiation, outgoing radiation from the earth, wind, and water currents, atmospheric gases, clouds, snow, and ice, volcanic gases and human activities. To fully understand global warming, we need to consider the rate at which changes is taking place and whether the climate system can respond at a similar rate. For example, we know that the Amazon rainforest is vanishing at these three times the rate it was less than 10years ago. By some evidence, 80% of Brazil ancient forest is already gone. How will these rapid changes affect the “steady-state” balance of climate regulation?