Career day

Two or three weeks ago I found a voicemail from someone who worked at my old high school asking me if I would be interested in participating in career day. Evidently alumni were being invited back to participate in small panels of 2-4 people to represent a particular field such as nursing, law enforcement, and the arts. I was invited to join the science and technology panel with two other people. Excited at the chance to give back in this small way to my alma mater, I said yes.

I hadn't really worked out what I'd say until yesterday when the nerves started to kick in. My public speaking experience is limited at best, and as far as audiences go, I figured high school students could be rough. I tried to stay optimistic that I'd be able to present to them as I did to my peers in my oral communications class about 4 years ago.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I found I was about 40 minutes early: Plenty of time to build up my nerves before taking the floor. Still, as people trickled in and conversations sprouted, I started to relax. I caught up with old teachers and classmates, and then went on an expedition to find a video adapter for my laptop. Five minutes before A period, it was evident that I'd be skipping the audio-visual portion of my talk -- fortunately I only had 4 slides, 3 of which were stolen from colleagues.

That nostalgic *bong* sound came over the intercom signalling the sound of A period, and Chris, Steve and I found ourselves standing in front of a class of about 20 kids between the ages of 13 and 18. We had 20 minutes each. Chris, the mechanical engineer would go first; then me; then Steve, a genetic epidemiologist would go last. Chris' talk was short and sweet, but he did manage some interaction with the classroom which was promising. I did my best to stick to the outline I had made, and used the whiteboard when necessary. I taught them the basics of high throughput microscopy screens, and then went on to explain how my group helps scientists analyze the images from these experiments. I told them a bit about the work environment, ups and downs. Lastly I wrapped up with the best advice I could give anyone interested in entering this or any field of study:

1. Do what you feel passionate about. If you can't, find a way.
   
2. When someone asks "what do you do" talk about your interests and goals. The best career opportunities come out of networking. Having good character is just as important as talent.

The talk couldn't have gone smoother! I left Steve exactly 20 minutes without feeling rushed or like I was trying to fill time. I didn't even get snagged in a tangent as I tend to do when I'm excited about something. Best of all, I was getting some good eye contact, even nods, and questions during and after the presentation.

Part of the reason the A period class was so un-intimidating was because the majority of the students were on the younger end of the spectrum; B period, on the other hand, consisted of about 25 students, most of which were juniors and seniors. Nevertheless, the presentations went off without a hitch: More good eye contact, and honest questions. After the bell rang, a couple of the guys sitting towards the front right were still hanging around so I gave them a look and they came over. Both were interested in engineering, but seemed a little apprehensive about the math required. This was a common theme for both periods. I explained to them that when I was a senior, I had only taken elementary functions, an "advanced" class, but still way behind the honors curriculum. When I got into college, it just meant I had to start a semester behind for math and physics. NOT the end of the world. They seemed relieved and thanked me before shaking my hand and heading off to their next class. Those two students made my day.

Green links

Driving While Taxed (Thomas Keown)
http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/03/04/04/0446-82/index.xml

I finally watched An Inconvenient Truth.
http://www.climatecrisis.net

The Lazy Environmentalist
http://www.lazyenvironmentalist.com/pages/2005/06/the_book.php

Non-toxic household cleaners:
http://www.greenworkscleaners.com/

...aaand one more:
https://www.recyclebank.com/

The Green Post

Over the past few months I've been steadily increasing my weekly intake of sustainable lifestyle and design knowledge. To those who are interested, here are some of the highlights...

Cradle to Cradle [link]
Of all of the books I've read this year, this may be the best. The authors argue that any system that requires regulation to do less harm, is a system in distress and in need of redesign. Simply put, they are pioneering the next industrial revolution, one where the very concept of waste is eliminated. Here's the copy & paste from mcdonough.com:

William McDonough's book, written with his colleague, the German chemist Michael Braungart, is a manifesto calling for the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design. Through historical sketches on the roots of the industrial revolution; commentary on science, nature and society; descriptions of key design principles; and compelling examples of innovative products and business strategies already reshaping the marketplace, McDonough and Braungart make the case that an industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes" can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value.

The Story of Stuff [www.storyofstuff.com]
When we throw something "away", where exactly is "away"? How is it possible to buy a cute little green radio for $4.99 at Radio Shack, when the materials and labor to create and sell that radio should cost way more than $5? This short video provides some perspective on the lifespan of products. Again, here's a blurb:

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Time: The Clean Energy Scam [link]
I read this article in Time magazine published a year ago, and hope that views on ethanol and biodeisel as "green" fuels have started to change since then. The big picture is much dirtier than the emissions would indicate.

"People don't want to believe renewable fuels could be bad," says the lead author, Tim Searchinger, a Princeton scholar and former Environmental Defense attorney. "But when you realize we're tearing down rain forests that store loads of carbon to grow crops that store much less carbon, it becomes obvious."

Promising news:
Here are a few links to things that will make you feel better about the future of sustainable industry.

• Car-Free Suburb Planned for Melbourne, Australia
• Greenest Eco Resort in the World Coming to California? ...this looks like it could be incredible! Check out the overview pdf.
• TED Talk: Willie Smits: A 20-year tale of hope: How we re-grew a rainforest

Places to Start

Try this:

1. Create a bookmark folder in your web-browser called "Save the Planet"
2. Check out "21 links to save the planet" on PlanetGreen, and put all those links in your new bookmark folder.
3. Once a day, maybe when you get to work, right-click on the your "Save the Planet" bookmark folder, and select "open all bookmarks in tabs."

Bam! You just planted trees, funded education, protected oceans, saved baby seals, saved several square feet of rainforest, removed some CO2 from the air, gave children free books, gave free food to the hungry, helped to provide free child healthcare, and helped fight breast cancer... all by opening and closing a few tabs in your browser, and maybe clicking a few buttons! And if you're feeling especially kind, you might even take a look at some of the sponsors on those sites. I've been doing this for almost 2 months now, and even added some links of my own. Suppose each each site only planted a single tree for every visit I made, I still would have helped to plant about 1500 trees over the past 2 months!


Of course, clicking links only goes so far, so here are some other resources to broaden your view and give you ideas for how to me more resourceful and less wasteful:

• http://www.treehugger.com/
  
• http://planetgreen.discovery.com/
  
• http://www.ecofabulous.com/
  
• http://www.ecogeek.org/
• http://www.inferknow.com/green (firefox extension that offsets CO2 output)

You might try using Google Reader to organize all these for you as well as other blogs that you like reading (like mine!) Check out the quick tour here.