South Africa is home to some of the world’s best universities, but the average young South African likely won’t step foot on any of the country’s prestigious campuses. The legacy of apartheid has perpetuated an economic and education system inaccessible to the vast majority of youth. According to the Public Council of Higher Education in South Africa, only 16 percent of black South Africans go to college—the country is 80 percent black. Access to tertiary education has emerged as a common issue of discourse in South Africa’s political and social landscape as students across the country protest rising tuition costs and unequal access.

Infrastructure Week allows us to reflect on the modernization needed to drive the new digital grid. A comprehensive view of the infrastructure elements needed to create a more efficient and sustainable energy landscape should include communications networks and embedded computing. Utilities, technology vendors and community leaders will need to work in collaboration to ensure all elements are considered for the digital grid to thrive.

Black & Veatch has been selected to provide program management services to Denver Water on the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project.

The project is a major component of the utility’s comprehensive strategy to deliver safe, reliable water service and provide resilience to its system in the face of future threats including floods, wildfires and the potential impacts of climate change. The expansion will more than double current reservoir capacity and improve water supply dependability for the 1.4 million people Denver Water serves in the metro area.

PepsiCo has confirmed that its ambitious new target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction has been verified and approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative as being in line with what climate science says is necessary to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius. The global food and beverage company has committed to work to reduce absolute GHG emissions across its value chain by at least 20 percent by 2030.

While maintaining its historic feel, the Michigan Theatre of Jackson is embracing a flair for the future.Consumers Energy has donated more than $230,000 in energy efficiency products since 2013, including replacing the theater's boiler for $195,000 in 2016.

A group of Cargill employees collected 20 bags of litter from the brook near their place of work. The Big Tidy Up took place along Yazor Brook in Hereford and then continued on to Red Barn Drive, Grandstand Road, Widemarsh Common, Yazor Brook cycle path and Yazor Road.They also put up bird and bat boxes, sparrow houses and bee shelters and sowed wild flower seeds.

HP Australia has become the first organisation in the country to have recycled 10 million print cartridges via its partnership with Cartridges for Planet Ark. Cartridges for Planet Ark’ (C4PA) is an innovative recycling program that provides Australians with a free, easy-to-use and environmentally-accredited way to recycle their printer cartridges with a zero waste to landfill commitment. HP is a founding member of C4PA, which was created in 2003.

Among the many crises bearing down on our collective horizon, perhaps none is so uniquely threatening to populations worldwide as that of water scarcity. Tomorrow morning, more than one billion people will wake up without access to clean water, a number that is only expected to quadruple by 2030.

Environmentalist Liezl Maritz explains why she works at Namdeb and offers advice for women going into mining…