Latest news with #Sonne
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Bangkok Chefs Gather To Raise Funds For Meals For Myanmar
A tasting menu for two persons (plus beverage pairings) at the first and only three-Michelin-starred Thai restaurant in the world, Sorn in Bangkok, is one of the experiences guests can bid for—with all proceeds benefiting Meals for Myanmar Myanmar's devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake last March 28 has resulted in over 3,700 deaths, more than 5,000 injured individuals and approximately 200,000 left homeless. With monsoon season encroaching on the region, there is a critical window to provide shelter before the rains make it nearly impossible. Bangkok Foodies, a media platform and online foodie community, founded by Samantha Proyrungtong, launched Meals for Myanmar (#Meals4Myanmar on social media), a heartfelt campaign to help rebuild lives after the devastation. Proyrungtong has a deep appreciation for the country, having previously visited in 2017 and fondly remembers 'exploring Yangon's culinary and beverage scene via rickshaw, the Shan State countryside and cruising the magical Inle Lake, with the charm and warmth of the people [leaving] a lasting mark on me.' They have partnered with some of Thailand's most celebrated chefs, culinary professionals and establishments— many Michelin-starred and ranked on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants— to create special dining experiences with every baht raised going directly to trusted rebuilding efforts on the ground in collaboration with Sonne. Some of these experiences include: tasting menus for two persons inclusive of beverage pairings; private chef interactions; off-menu surprises; artisanal baskets; winery tours; and food content creation. Meals for Myanmar follows a social media-online auction format. Vouchers are dropped progressively on the Bangkok Foodies Instagram and Facebook channels. When a voucher is live, interested parties are invited to place their bids in the comments of the Instagram/ Facebook posts (until the deadline stated). Bidding starts at 1000 THB, with 200 THB minimum increments. Winners will be contacted by the Bangkok Foodies team to arrange payment and connect the buyer with the vendor. Some of the confirmed participating chefs and restaurants include: Other offerings include a winery tour by GranMonte Vineyard and Winery; a professional food video production by Turquoise Truck; a professional food photoshoot by Diego Arenas; a Thai Cheese and Charcuterie gourmet basket by Vivin café grocery bistro; private chef classes by Hanuman Aspler of Thaifoodmaster; and a two-night stay and Chef's Tasting Dinner for two at The Siam Hotel Bangkok (worth over 100,000 THB). A two-night at the signature pool villa at The Siam Bangkok, ranked on the World's 50 Best Hotels, is also on offer, which also includes a chef's tasting menu for two. For more information— including which experiences are going live soon and which ones are sold— visit the Bangkok Foodies website.
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
Buena Park takes aim at air pollution from idling delivery trucks
Prompted by resident complaints, the Buena Park City Council considered drafting an anti-idling law to curb commercial trucks from leaving their engines on while parked for a set period of time. Councilmember Susan Sonne requested the study session at Tuesday's council meeting. 'Pollution is certainly a big concern here, because in my district, there's a number of commercial areas that back up against homes,' she said. 'There's also a noise consideration, and I've had residents who've reported large commercial trucks that have idled, not just for a few minutes, but for hours in the middle of the night.' According to a city staff report, vehicle idling is a major source of local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In California, an estimated 2.7 million tons of carbon dioxide is spewed into the atmosphere from idling every year while chugging 270 million gallons of fuel, the report stated. A handful of cities across the state have passed anti-idling laws. Palo Alto defines 'idling' as leaving a vehicle running for three minutes while parked. The Bay Area city has emphasized education over enforcement of its law, but includes penalties for egregious offenders. Santa Cruz limits vehicles to just 90 seconds before they are considered idling. In Cupertino, anti-idling efforts are folded into the city's climate action plan. Cupertino partners with schools and its local chamber of commerce to spread awareness about the environmental impacts of idling to encourage compliance, from parents picking up their children at school to delivery trucks parked outside of businesses or parks where people congregate. With Buena Park developing its own Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, Sonne saw an anti-idling law as compatible with it, but didn't want to fully emulate Cupertino's model. 'I really don't want to go after parents who are sitting and waiting to pick their kids up from school,' she said. 'I don't have any interest in that, at all.' Matt Foulkes, Buena Park's community and economic development director, told the council members that if they wanted to craft their own law, they would have to define 'idling' while also determining exemptions for issues like emergency vehicles or drivers keeping the air conditioning on to prevent a health hazard on a blistering hot day. Foulkes also said that state law already prohibits commercial vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds from idling after five minutes. 'Any delivery truck is going to exceed that [weight],' he said. Sonne backtracked on pursuing an anti-idling law after learning about existing state law, as she felt more awareness of it could directly address the complaints of her constituents. Councilmember Connor Traut also highlighted complaints about commercial trucks aired at a recent council meeting and asked what the city would inform residents to do. 'Obviously, it's not [call] 911, but [should they call] non-emergency line to report excessive idling by large trucks?' he asked. Foulkes responded that residents can call the police department's non-emergency line or code enforcement during working hours. 'If there are specific businesses or specific residents that you guys have in mind, we would do a very directed enforcement,' he said to Sonne and Traut. 'And then we can kind of spot check around the city where we have similar situations, where those residents might be having those same frustrations, but just might not have brought it to an elected official's attention.' Buena Park Mayor Joyce Ahn asked that information about the state law prohibiting idling and what numbers to call be placed on the city's website. 'That sounds more targeted and effective,' she said.
Vogue
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
There's More to the Danish 'Fashion' Band Fame Hunter Than Their Glam Style
We have Jørgensen to thank for the emergence of Fame Hunter. In 2024 the designer was creating clothes in a Y2K revival vein under her label Iconic Visions when she was selected as one of 10 creatives to reinterpret the Adidas Superstar. She envisioned her campaign with a live band; not finding one ready-made, she created one. The team having been formed, they wrote the songs 'Low Moral Superstar' and 'Sugar Violence' (the latter is included on the EP) to perform at the launch event. The performance was so well-received that the 'band' booked gigs and the four friends decided to become legit—after a fashion. Fame Hunter is an electro-pop act with danceable and infectious tunes sung in falsetto. Sonne and Vaupel have quippily described their sound in a kind of word picture as 'the sonic equivalent of smudged eyeliner and cigarette smoke.' Visuals, on which Sonne works in tandem with Jørgensen, are so integral to Fame Hunter's core, that when I got the front people on the phone, one of my first questions was if they were a fashion band—apart from the fact that they premiered 'Disappear' at Nicklas Skovgaard's fall 2025 show at Copenhagen Fashion Week. 'Yes and no,' said Sonne, 'because there is something about the words 'fashion band' that gives me the icks. But then again, I'm also like, 'Fuck, yeah, we're a fashion band.' Fame Hunter's two leads come from very different backgrounds. Vaupel studied sound design and was in the music industry releasing cassette tapes under various aliases. Sonne was trained as a dancer before getting into modeling and art direction and had never sung before. While they both embrace OTT glamour, you might say Sonne is the Barbie to Vaupel's Bratz doll. 'I really love the whole princess vibe meets the gothic vampire chick,' notes Vaupel, a trans woman who says 'femininity is super important for me.' Blonde, with a penchant for big hair and sunglasses, Sonne has an androgynous style that leans into the ladylike and pastels. When we Zoom, he's wearing a robin's-egg blue Miu Miu coat with a prim bow, while the dark-haired Vaupel is in a printed black metal tee cut to reveal her shoulder, with black lace tights. Sonne often wears Skovgaard's poufs, while Vaupel is partial to the work of Alectra Rothschild/Masculina.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists sound alarm over silent threat lurking in region's food supply: '[It's] really a hotspot of human contamination'
The health of residents in a remote part of eastern Greenland may be in jeopardy as toxic chemicals from everyday household items are brought to the region by sea and air currents. A new study published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability found that the Ittoqqortoormiit hunting and fishing community had "forever chemicals" in their blood 13 times higher than the risk threshold, per Study author Christian Sonne, from Denmark's Aarhus University, explained that this area of eastern Greenland has some of the highest levels of forever chemicals in the world, as the planet's currents carry the toxic substances across long distances, where they ultimately contaminate the air and water and end up in the bodies of animals. "East Greenland is really a hotspot of human contamination because you can both eat polar bears, which you don't hunt in Russia or Svalbard, and ringed seals that accumulate PFAS and other harmful substances," Sonne told Agence France-Presse, according to the report. Also referred to as PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, forever chemicals earned their often-used nickname because they don't readily break down. As it stands, the forever chemicals that contaminated eastern Greenland will be around for some time. "These substances are so persistent in the environment and in the body that the concentrations will still be very high over the next 75 to 100 years," Sonne told the AFP, per In fact, they can linger for thousands of years and accumulate in our bodies. Unfortunately, these chemicals are more common than some might realize, as they are found in common household items such as nonstick cookware, food packaging, and makeup. Exposure to PFAS is linked to severe health complications, including thyroid, liver, and kidney disease, cancer, higher cholesterol, reduced immune response, and reproductive difficulties. Sonne suggested the Inuit community in eastern Greenland should diversify its diet to lower exposure to PFAS and advocated for stricter regulations involving the toxic compounds, as reported by For its part, the U.S. has outlawed polychlorinated biphenyls (a type of forever chemical) since 1979. And last year, the Food and Drug Administration banned grease-proofing PFAS in food packaging. Many states have also outlawed or restricted PFAS use in children's products, plastics, personal care products, firefighting foam, and more. Do you worry about having toxic forever chemicals in your home? Majorly Sometimes Not really I don't know enough about them Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. If you want to limit your exposure to PFAS and support a cleaner future for communities disproportionately endangered by the accumulation of these chemicals, supporting PFAS-free products is among the most impactful things you can do. You can also contact your representatives to advocate for policies that prioritize public health. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Diet puts Greenland Inuit at risk from 'forever chemicals': study
Scientists warned on Thursday that the long-term health of Inuit hunters in eastern Greenland was under threat, due to so-called "forever chemicals" in the atmosphere and their diet of polar bear and seal meat. Christian Sonne, from Denmark's Aarhus University, said the Ittoqqortoormiit fishing and hunting community had levels of the chemicals -- also known as PFAS -- in their blood 13 times higher than the risk threshold. The remote zone is particularly affected by the contamination because the chemicals are carried there by nearby sea and air currents, said Sonne, author of a study of the issue published in the journal Cell. "East Greenland is really a hotspot of human contamination because you can both eat polar bears, which you don't hunt in Russia or Svalbard, and ringed seals that accumulate PFAS and other harmful substances," he told AFP. "These substances are so persistent in the environment and in the body that the concentrations will still be very high over the next 75 to 100 years." The area, home to just 300 people, has the highest PFAS levels in the world, excluding those affecting firefighters, factory workers and that linked to groundwater contamination in Sweden and Italy, said Sonne. He attributed that to the long-range transfer of the chemicals in the air and water, which end up in the bodies of animals, particularly those that are then eaten. To lower their levels, he advised the Inuit community to diversify what they eat. He also called for tighter regulations to force industry to manufacture fewer toxic compounds that are less likely to be spread widely. - High mercury, PCB levels - PFAS are synthetic chemicals first developed in the 1940s to withstand intense heat and repel water and grease. They have since been used in a vast range of household and industrial products, including food packaging, make-up, stain-proof fabrics, non-stick cookware and flame retardants. Studies have suggested that exposure to PFAS chemicals is associated with increased rates of cancer, obesity, thyroid, liver and kidney disease, higher cholesterol, low birthweight and even weaker response to vaccines. Polychlorinated biphenyls -- banned by the United States in 1979 -- are industrial chemicals, which affect immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems, and are likely to cause cancer. They also bind to sediment, threatening fish and wildlife. Depending on ocean currents and winds, the situation varies across the Arctic territories. Sonne said Inuit hunters also had very high levels of mercury and probably the highest levels of toxic man-made PCB chemicals in the world. cbw/phz/jj/rlp
