Canadians are circulating fresh air into their homes with the help of chemical consultants who sniff out potential toxic hazards.
My contention is that this industry is about to get a lot more attention.
The environmentalists will flock (or are flocking?) to this issue, but as for everyone else? While the environment is a public good, health is a private issue – take care of yourself.
I’ve blogged about them before, but Method says it best:
To get out and fight dirty, take deep satisfying breaths all day and sleep easy at night. We’re the kind of people who’ve figured out that once you clean up your home, a mess of other problems seems to disappear too.
It’s also my contention that Method’s sales will be going up;)
The film Seeds, Hope, and Concrete (US, 2006, Documentary, 14min by Will Hommeyer) shows how the uncommon scenario of growing arugula, squash, and snap peas on concrete is cropping all over the US due to the efforts of Heifer International. Communities are learning sustainable agricultural solutions, even where concrete is the norm.
Great article given to me by Jay. (If you don’t know who Jay is, start reading my comments!) It’s an essay about the connection between economic inequality (the gap between the rich and poor) and taking risks (i.e. the startup/Venture Capital world). Slightly on the long side but highly worth reading.
To give you a quick synopsis on the author’s (Paul Graham) argument:
Giving to the poor decreases people’s appetite for risk (creating/investing in new businesses) because we get lower rewards if we’re giving our money away. Essentially, economic inequality drives people to start businesses because people want to be richer than they are now and/or richer than other people. BUT… we can still help the poor become more productive. His argument is that the rich still get richer by doing this so it’s not a shift of money from the rich to the poor (i.e. not closing the gap between rich and poor.)
Ok…perhaps it’s better if you read the whole article. It makes more sense that this little bit here.Here’s why I liked it.
I care about people. I care that people are dying of starvation, disease, natural disasters etc. If you don’t, then I suggest you take a course in empathy;)
I think that we need to give back to those that are in need. I understand that we weren’t all born with the same opportunities. I think that it’s important that for those of us who are more fortunate to assist the developing world in improving their welfare. (Also to note: we created a lot of their problems)
BUT…
Capitalist
I equally agree with the economics of capitalism not just because it drives the economy, but because it can drive the economy, society and the environment (mind you…it has also destroyed all three too)
we need incentive, innovation, entrepreneurship, competition to thrive
we can’t all be equal (umm… communism – great in theory (somewhat…) and awful in practice)
I loved it when he says:
If I’d been forbidden to make enough from a startup to do this, I would have sought security by some other means: for example, by going to work for a big, stable organization from which it would be hard to get fired. Instead of busting my ass in a startup, I would have tried to get a nice, low-stress job at a big research lab, or tenure at a university.
I completely agree. Why put down the people who are working hard? And…. government jobs? I lived in Ottawa. Enough said.
I have more thoughts on this so stay tuned for the next post. (I hate writing lengthy posts.)
I’m just bringing up the question. Don’t really have an answer for it…. but are we being presumptuous to say that we’re in the “knowledge economy”?
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not disagreeing with the concept of the knowledge economy at all. See excerpt from Wikipedia (how I love that site!)
Various observers describe today’s global economy as one in transition to a “knowledge economy”, as an extension of “information society“. The transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in an interconnected, globalised economy where knowledge resources such as know-how, expertise, and intellectual property are more critical than other economic resources such as land, natural resources, or even manpower. According to analysts of the “knowledge economy,” these rules need to be rewritten at the levels of firms and industries in terms of knowledge management and at the level of public policy as knowledge policy or knowledge-related policy. [citations needed]
Agreed. We need smarts to move up that ladder. There’s even a talent paradox (read the Manpower report here – great graph on pg. 5) going on right now in almost every country. We’ve become so smart that we’ve automated all of the low-skilled jobs to cut labour costs – leaving those that are not so educated unemployed. Consequently, we’re facing extreme shortage on talented (note: knowledgeable) people to take on the top jobs. I’m not concerned about the automation process- we need to move forward- but it’s my conviction that the education system is to blame for the lack of intelligence. When we say we’re in a “knowledge economy” then why are we teaching to the lowest common denominator of intelligence? Why are they being so easy on us? Why aren’t we forced to do more math and science? As you can tell….I’m quite passionate about this.
But here’s the presumptuous part:
What comes after the “knowledge economy”? Doesn’t it seem like we’ve put ourselves on a pedestal? Forget the Agricultural Age or the Industrial Age; we’re smarter than all of you and we’ve entered the Knowledge Age.
BUT… what happens if, after all this, it turns out that we weren’t that smart. Say our generation uses up much of the resources (both natural and capital) and we essentially rob our future grandchildren of ever living our type of lifestyle. Will they laugh at us in history class when they hear that we called ourselves “knowledgeable”?
Hmmm….something to ponder.
I’m reading (well should be reading…) my Environmental Science book and the author suggests that we need to move into a Sustainability Age. I agree.
So, I’ve been here now for three weeks and I love how I finally just have time to think.
I’m surprised that school has been pretty laid back so far but I love having the free time to just do my thing. Whether it’s reading, listening, writing or just thinking, it’s incredibly refreshing. Even when it comes down to doing the homework readings, I can get really into it (i.e. for those that don’t know me in a school setting – I’m a huge nerd!) Who knew Corporate Environmental Management books could be so interesting!
I’m someone who can’t always sit down and look at the minute details of something but I love looking at the big picture and last night I had one of those wonderfully deep conversations with one of my friends here. It was great to finally discuss the ideas that were in my head and realize that although unconventional, I’m not in left-field somewhere. And it’s always so inspiring to feed off of other people’s passions.
Throughout all of this pondering, I did come to one conclusion though…I’ve got to keep working on this blog.
Aside from a few, I don’t really know who reads this blog, but if you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to send my way. I’m always looking for ways to improve it. (And one way would be to write more frequently….so I’m working on it;)
Kippis ja hyvää viikonloppua!
(That’s “Cheers and have a great weekend” in Finnish – my Finnish on the otherhand…needs some work!)
You read something terrible (or inspiring!) on the news and you get that itch to go out there and act on it.
I feel like what we’re missing is the outlet for people to act on their emotions.
Think about it… what “outlets” do we have?
I get pretty disappointed when I see the options:
Give money to a cause
We can’t always be philanthropists, especially those with no income… (i.e. me)
Plus, giving money to causes gets tiring – everywhere you go, someone’s trying to take a piece of the philanthropy/charity pie – and I don’t see it getting any bigger…
Write a letter to someone who cares (i.e. media, government etc.)
Can’t say letter writing is the oomph that makes something roll…
And essentially, you’re just passing on your opinion to someone who will hopefully act on it. So, again…not exactly action.
Research the cause to become more knowledgeable about it
Yes, this is important, but nor is this equal to actual ACTION.
Buy the product/service
If it’s a valuable product/service that’s a start but I wouldn’t label being a consumer taking actual action either.
Change personal behaviour
This is true action and the most difficult. I think all disciplines have something on this topic.
Also, unless that person is a connector (quoting Malcolm Caldwell’s Tipping Point theory) – the action is limited to stay within his/her personal bubble. Good, but not good enough for spreading the action to the mass market.
Do Nothing
The most obvious and most common answer and of course the one with the least impact
Now, I’m not saying that you have to act on everything, but there should be better outlets for people to actually DO something. Like I said before, I seriously think that our society has the intellectual capacity to solve a lot of today’s issues (and tomorrow’s for that matter), but we’re missing a huge key to the solution: the action aspect.
This is where smart marketing comes in. We need better marketing to the mass market to make society understand how best to do their part in making this world a better home. Thoughts run through my head on this topic daily. It’s still a fuzzy picture but hopefully someday I’ll do my part on taking action too. I’ll keep you posted when that glorious day comes;)
On a personal note – Finland is starting to feel more like home. Yesterday I finally got a bed (only a mattress before) and curtains. Tonite’s sleep should be good. So, hyvää yötä everyone!
“If you can do something about it, do it. If you can’t don’t worry about it.”
That phrase is one that my Dad said to me often, and it is one that I live by. (It works quite well when you’ve just lost something that you know you can’t get back!)
Anyways, it comes to mind while I’m doing my studies.
There are so many terrible stories we hear day in and day out. Be it about the environment, human rights etc.
I’m more focused on the environment right now (readings for Environmental Science) and I’ve seen numerous case studies, examples of products/systems that could replace old, less-environmentally friendly ones.
Some of the great inventions/ideas are:
sustainable sewage systems
sustainable housing projects
eco-friendly funerals
micropower projects
many more but I’m in a rush to go on a boat cruise:)
We have the knowledge about what’s wrong with the environment. We almost have info-overload!
We have a lot of clean technology available for providing the solutions
We have the spark (or so it seems) to get things moving. – i.e. never has the environment been in the picture in this capacity before. People have passion in them to make a change, I’ve heard them talk about it. I’ve listened to their stories. We just now have to find a way to really get the “ACTION” ball rolling.
So, in terms of “If you can do something about it, do it. If you can’t don’t worry about it.” We can obviously do something about it.
To quote my Dad once again: “A problem is just an opportunity in disguise.”
I was walking downtown (keskusta) today before lunch and in the main square there was a sort of soup kitchen set up with loud traditional Finnish music playing in the background. Homemade hearty soup, rye bread and juice. I asked who it was for and they said it was for people who didn’t have jobs…..but really for anyone. He said the government does it every once in a while. Tomorrow it’ll be in Helsinki
I can’t see this working at home…. free education (for as long as you want) and free food for umm…everyone?
Wow. There are amazing benefits in being part of the blogging world.
Update on the last posts about social network privacy: RapLeaf has changed their opt-out policy.
Read their blog about how they’re changing their privacy policies. (Note the part on opt-outs)
In retrospect, this doesn’t make sense, as highlighted by Matt Roberts. Since we’re already removing information off the Rapleaf.com site when we get an email, we should just delete the information. So we amended our privacy policy to make it much easier to get out of Rapleaf’s system if you want to.
You know what? Still can’t say I like their business model but I do give them props for being transparent. Their blog post is even entitled: Start-ups, privacy, and being wrong. You can’t really hide in the blogosphere I guess. This change in policy made me realize the power bloggers actually have. I knew the bigger bloggers have more say, but who knew that little old me could instigate something too? (Well…through Matt I guess) Matthew Ingram has a post on it as well.
On a personal note:
Just had my first sauna in Jyväskylä. It was beautiful..small serene lake in the middle of nowhere. There’s nothing more refreshing than getting steamy from a hot sauna and jumping in a cold lake:) Reminds me of home.
