Thank you Walmart…

for bringing traffic to my site:)

I swear, everyday, people find my site because in one post I added the Walmart logo.

Based on the “Search Engine Terms – These are terms people used to find your blog“

• 18 came from “Wal-Mart” yesterday but at least 5-10 come daily for this picture.

• “naked greek gods” is another popular search term -this nicely brings up my naked David Suzuki picture

Meh, all visitors are welcome!

(I’ll post some better posts soon…. many ideas, just little tiime to write)

The twenty-something “What now?” stage

As a young twenty-something I know plenty of other twenty-somethings. It’s a funny stage of life and yet I’m only 2 years in (going on 3;) …

We’re all searching. We’re searching for an answer to “what now?” Granted I have another year of school left, that question is still undoubtedly the single most rehashed thought in my brain.
I think that our generation is a little different from times past. We’re not willing to just settle.  For our grandparents, life was hard, childhood was most likely during rough times (i.e. depression, war). With this upbringing, a decent job with a steady paycheck sounded pretty good. And for the most part, our baby boomer parents got it better but still wanted the ‘good’ job with a steady ‘good’ paycheck. But most of today’s emerging working class want something even better.  Money and job security isn’t the big shtick anymore; studies have shown this time and again.  We’re greedy little suckers that want it all… the well paid, fulfilling job, the nice home, the family… essentially, the beautiful life.

So, what now?  I’ve had plenty of deep conversations with friends that have absolutely no effing idea what to do now. It’s not that these people are not capable of getting a job and it’s not like they have no options.  From my observations (and from being there myself, occasionally) we’re looking for inspiration. There’s a reason why the young adults heading back to their parent’s couch is becoming a trend. (In Italy they’re actually paying some kids to leave the nest)  We’re not willing to settle for the decent job with a steady pay check -we’re waiting on the career or the life that just clicks with what we care deeply about… and we’re just not there yet.

The problem is, waiting it out won’t accomplish anything. And if these people don’t do something… we will end up being the “generation that had it all and blew it”.

A boss once told me that he loved the fact that all these newbie graduates had so much aspiration to be the “big bosses” – but he  scoffed at the idea that our “making it” started with “I’m going to travel the world first and then somehow, I’ll make it big” attitude.  Essentially, his point was what these new grads are missing is the drive to actually put in the hard work that comes with future success. The time and effort that it takes (i.e. your twenties) should be spent climbing that ladder. I remember one specific quote “If you want to be Donald Trump, I’ll believe you – but not until I see you pour your heart, soul…and time into your dreams -otherwise; I can’t.

I agreed with him, there in his office. But, at the same time, I’m somewhat one of those people.  I wrote most of this post when I was sitting on a cruise boat taking me back to Helsinki from Tallinn. (It was one of those last minute decisions to see a new city before the school season starts). So…I agree with him, yet I too want to see the world and enjoy my young adventurous adulthood.  You see, I’m one of those greedy suckers who wants it all;)

The death of mass culture… so what?

There’s an article in the Ottawa Citizen today about the death of mass culture. I beg to differ on Mr. Denley’s viewpoint.

What happened to mass culture? It seems to have died without anyone even noticing. You will no doubt remember when there were songs, television shows, movies and books that most everyone had heard of. These shared cultural reference points helped us communicate by doing things like citing an incident from Seinfeld to illustrate a point. Or Shakespeare, if you are more cultured.

Well, that’s disappearing fast and we’re all the poorer for it. I blame changes in technology, the stunning lack of talent of so many of today’s “artists” and cultural industries that have forgotten how to connect with customers.

So, we’re becoming more individualistic.  Why are we ‘poorer’ for it?

And while he blames technology for it, I praise technology for allowing me to express my opinions, read more than the daily (edited) news sources and connect with people.  It’s not necessarily a good thing thing to have everyone watch/read/do the same things – that’s called being sheep. Our society is not going to fall apart because we can’t sit down and re-hash our favourite movie together?  We end up bringing new things to the table with different viewpoints. Believe it or not, we can connect and communicate in other ways. And even if it’s a smaller crowd, technology is allowing us to reach over borders to connect with like-minded people, forming many ‘micro’ cultures.

But I do agree on some points… there is a lack of ‘good TV’ out there. I’ll post another one soon about my disgust with the ‘reality’ phenomenon – which to me, has formed quite the mass culture;)
Enjoy your Sunday:)

Talk about a waste of energy…

As promised, here are some of the shocking stories about our energy use…

Remember that heat is energy – so any waste of heat is a waste of energy. (I’m sure this is ‘duh’ for a lot of you… but I’m just starting to get back into the whole science thing since I left it in Grade 10)

The waste heat generated from power plants is enormous to the say the least. And usually this hot water is deemed a ‘by-product’ and the most economic way to get rid of it is to pour it into rivers and lakes or use (energy intensive) cooling towers to evaporate the hot water into the atmosphere.

Hmmm… just a question from a very unscientific person… but at a time when the world is struggling with it’s energy supplies (and still can’t come up with a better mix of renewable fuels) doesn’t it seem ridiculous that we’re pouring heat into water and air – effectively killing aquatic life and causing air pollution? But no, this is what we usually do…

But there is a better way. Cogeneration is when we take that heat that would otherwise be thrown out like bath water and re-use it for useful purposes – like heating houses. Instead of having two plants – one for energy and one for heat – there’s one combine heat and power (CHP) plant – and much less waste heat, fuel and emissions.

We haven’t all figured this one out though. Those countries that have though – seem to be gaining.

Denmark is a great example. (So if Finland.. but I’ve talked a plenty about Finland;)

After the oil crash in the 70’s, the Danish knew that they couldn’t keep going with such an unstable and unsustainable source. They expanded the use of CHP plants, phased out their heating plants and invested in a better district heating networks, improved their insulation standards and expanded on their renewable energy supplies.

The result? Energy consumption for the country has remained relatively stable SINCE THE 70’s! (in comparison, the US consumption increased by over 40% – and America’s energy losses are more than twice that of UK’s energy demand!)

….

Ok, had to do another quick one.

Oil shale in Estonia for electricity use:

• about 93% of the country’s electricity generation is from oil shale (NOTE: VERY SIMILAR TO CANADA’s TAR SANDS!)
• the plant is the largest polluter in Estonia and the whole region…
  • 80% of solid waste and 70% of atmospheric emissions created by the oil-shale energy complex
  • huge amounts of water go into producing the energy (again, similar to our oil sands

There are some improvements but umm.. this was just a sad story.
Don’t want to get too techie for you but if you’re interested in these topics, it’s worth taking a look at. Who knows, maybe some of you readers will be inspired to enter into this huge area and make some real changes:)

Energized on energy issues

Just did an exam this morning on energy and the environment. I had to review world energy statistics, different types of energy production and fuels and well, just how we use energy in general. It was pretty interesting and pretty eye opening in a lot of ways.

Thought I’d share some of the findings because I think that energy issues are important for everyone and we can’t expect everyone to read International Energy Agency stats etc.

BIRD’S EYE VIEW: FOSSIL FUELS VS. RENEWABLES

• About 80% of our total energy supply comes from the fossil fuels: oil, coal and gas (factsheet here)
• 13% goes to renewable energies… but wait, before getting to excited about that number:
  • 10% goes to combustible renewables and waste - i.e. developing countries that have to burn wood (usually by clear cutting in very unsustainable ways) or worse, cow dung to do their basic cooking and heating – without pollution controls, this is an incredibly inefficient way of getting energy and smoke pollution and CO2 levels are dangerously high
  • 2% goes to hydro (big thing for making electricity) – although good on a small scale, there are some serious environmental problems when the dams get too big (think Three Gorges Dam in China and then think no more happy thoughts…)
  • Sorry… anything that has little impact on the environment has 0.5% of the total supply… combined.
  • 
    

SO HOW MUCH ENERGY DO WE ACTUALLY USE?

Think about when you turn on a light. The useful energy (light) came from the socket in the wall (electricity) which was distributed to you via a huge network of power lines and cables from the electrical power unit in your community. The fuel that powers the company most likely came from coal, natural gas or hydropower. In every single transition, there’s a loss of useful energy. These losses are not small either…

From the coal that goes into the modern coal-fired power plant to the incandescent light bulb that you use – at the end of the day, you may only be seeing 2% of the actual energy in the coal. WHAT?! That’s a loss of 98%! UNBELIEVABLE!

(This is from my textbook – but for those that are questioning the metrics behind this, coal plant’s are usually about 35% efficient and the incandescent bulb turns only about 5% of this into light)

Even I didn’t fully understand the importance of this energy conversion efficiency… now it’s making a lot more sense and definitely opening the eyes.

Most of us go through our daily lives without ever thinking about where our energy comes from. And granted, why should we? We pay the bill and that’s it. How can we, as consumers, start asking for better solutions when most of us have no idea what’s going on in the first place?

Next… SAD STORIES on the energy front

(Don’t worry after that I’ll bring up some happy news:)

The art of being a generalist

Now that I’m specializing in environmental management… the more I realize thatI want to be a generalist.

When I was 17 and deciding on what I should do for university, I was really hard pressed to pick something -anything. I didn’t like English, or languages for that matter, wasn’t a math or science person, didn’t want anything in the social sciences,  the list goes on.  The only thing that somewhat clicked with me was business marketing.  What can I say, I like people:) With international business as my undergrad degree, I can’t say that I’m too disappointed either.

But now, in round two of university life, I can’t stop thinking about what I don’t know yet.

I’m learning that I am interested in psychology, philosophy, politics, geography, history, technology, sciences, (well, still not math yet… need to get over the numbers phobia), art, languages, the list goes on. And this is showing in my course options: business, environmental science, sociology, technology, Finnish, Spanish.

Even in my free time I like going to my new favourite site  www.freedocumentaries.org. I think of it as being a nerdy couch potato;)

I think that knowing a little bit of a lot goes a long way. And one thing is for sure… being a generalist sure makes for great conversations – especially over a round of pints

Is reducing world poverty the end goal?

While studying here I’ve joined a student committee on International Development Cooperation. I wrote this article for the magazine (see below). For those readers in Jyväskylä, Development Cooperation Week is held from March 6-10. (English Master’s program info here)

……………………

When talking about international development cooperation, we usually concentrate on helping developing countries get out of poverty, or in other words, grab hold of the development ladder.

There are a thousand ways to reduce poverty and millions of people out there with their own ideas on the best approach to help countries achieve this goal.

From an economic point of view, many economists believe that breaking down international trade barriers and donating more foreign aid is the key to reducing poverty. The World Trade Organization insists that free trade is a vital tool for assisting the developing world. Giving these countries fair access to the western markets and assisting them develop their own markets surely promotes economic growth for struggling economies.

From a business perspective, many marketers are now looking further than the usual rich markets and have begun targeting developing countries as possible consumers. Some have argued that multinational companies must shift their focus from high profit margins to high volume. Even with little money to spare, a market of four billion people should not be ignored, especially when these people have so many needs to be met. (blog about this here)

But is alleviating poverty the end goal? Is closing the gap between rich and the poor our main objective for international development cooperation? When you think of world peace, do you think of everyone living the same lifestyle as people in the developed countries?

The sad truth is that we can’t all live on this planet consuming the way the developed world does. There are numerous studies out there that tell us we’re already living beyond the world’s carrying capacity. We only have to look to the big emerging economies to see the truth in this statement. We applaud China and India for their amazing economic advances, but in looking at the environmental track record associated with this growth we start to understand that a billion more cars on the road is not such a good idea.

What we need is not just development -it’s sustainable development. (blog about it here, here, here… let’s just say it’s a frequent topic)

The goal is not to just help developing countries achieve the same lifestyle as developed. That’s a disaster in the making. And the answer is not so simple either. Our rich lifestyles are contagious. Once developing countries start having money, they’ll want to imitate western consumption patterns, and businesses will surely make that an easy process. Looking at this from another perspective, who is to say that people in developing countries who have suffered from poverty shouldn’t enjoy the same luxuries we have had for decades? Tapping the massive developing market is not the big challenge. Doing so in a way that does not lead to mass consumption of non-renewable products while still maintaining a high quality of life is the real challenge.

How do we do this?

This is one of the biggest challenges facing our generation today and most likely, no one has the perfect answer to this complex puzzle. However, I have some ideas on the matter.

For business and government leaders in the developing markets: Introduce goods and services that actually fill a need. People need transportation, but do they need private cars? Would an effective public transportation system based on renewable energy be a smarter choice?

For you, me and everyone in between: Start changing your own consumption patterns! Helping the world’s poor doesn’t always involve giving money. Being a good role model can go a long way.

Here’s the mag – can be found in library, Lozzi etc. – there are only a few articles in English but worth it – nice pictures of JYY’s initiative in India too.

Open-doors in winter… not so welcoming

Why oh why do storekeepers choose to leave the door open on cold days? I saw this in Stockholm, I saw this in Milan, I saw this in France, I saw this here in Finland, and in Canada I know they do it too.

PLEASE. For god’s sakes, you’re wasting enormous amounts of energy by blasting the heating to counter the cold air that’s coming in. And the same goes summer – open doors in air conditioned places while +40?

Honestly, I know that a door open means “Welcome!” but seriously, I think I should start boycotting those places out of their own stupidity.