October Newsbytes #2

By: Staff Writer Kylie Cheung 

Local: Hydrogen Fuel Car Dilemma 

In San Francisco, as car show season approaches, many eagerly await the first mass market hydrogen fuel cars by Toyota and Mercedes. The Mercedes B-class fuel cell model has generated excitement with its clean fuel efficiency, operating at about $40 per tank of hydrogen fuel for every 200 miles. However, as reported by locals who experimented with the model in their daily lives, one major setback is the lack of fueling stations in the area. According to local Bill Holloway, who was recently interviewed by CBS,  a station in Emeryville is the only one offering hydrogen fuel in the whole Bay Area. Shell and many other dominant gas stations have withdrawn from the Fuel Cell Partnership and have released no public statements about the possibility of introducing hydrogen fuel to their Bay Area stations.

National: Bullying Awareness Month

To celebrate national bullying awareness month, on October 6, the Stomp Out Bullying organization invited everyone across the country to don blue shirts and create a “sea” of both blue and support. The organization leads this event and many others throughout the month of October in a staunch effort to raise awareness and support for victims of bullying. As they enter their sixth year of campaigning, Stomp Out Bullying is collaborating with Ubisoft’s Just Dance to incorporate messages of positivity and encouragement central to antibullying. This month, they are also planning to place greater emphasis on cyberbullying than they have in previous years due to a prominent rise in social media use among youth.

International: 10,000 Girls Initiative Fights Illiteracy 

In an effort to reach out to the world’s illiterate female adults, the United Nations will introduce its International Day of the Girl this Saturday on October 11 to raise awareness about all issues of gender inequality and to promote rights and opportunities for girls everywhere. This movement was sparked by new research that indicates that 64% of the world’s 793 million illiterate adults are female and only 30% of girls across the world receive education. The movement is supported by the US nonprofit, LitWorld, which introduced its 10,000 Girls Initiative campaign earlier this year to teach thousands of girls across the world how to read.

Quirky: Raise Desks to Raise Productivity 

To fight midday, productivity-slowing energy burnout typical in offices around the world, Heldergroen, a design firm in Amsterdam, has recently introduced a new method for ensuring that its employees go home on time and rest. Every day promptly at 6PM, everyone’s desks are raised to the ceiling by iron cables, and the space is then transformed into either a dance floor or yoga studio open for free to the community. In an interview with Fast Company, Heldergroen creative director Sander Veenendaal stated that this new measure has not only improved workers’ lives, but helped to build up its brand as well. Enforced rest time is becoming a serious priority in offices around the world hoping to achieve similar results.