Food and Energy observations

Earlier this year, there was a Clean Energy conference in Vancouver which discussed investment opportunities in clean energy through different industries.

The interesting thing I observed in all he discussion panels was that there was only one woman out of twenty speakers.  I questioned the organizers at the end of the day why there wasn't a more balanced representation and it boiled down to lack of women in the clean energy industry.

But when I went to a Metro Vancouver Sustainable Breakfast panel on creating a Food Hubs in the Metro Vancouver region, all the speakers were women.  And the majority of those attending the event were women.

It is strange to me how the issues of food (and health care) attract women while energy and finance attract men.  The issues are so intertwined in that it takes energy to transport and grow all the food we eat.  And perhaps it is because of the gender imbalance in the industries of food and energy that creates some of the tensions we see in increasing the importance of food security.  Food doesn't generate the profits and pay the high salaries that energy and finance does.  Perhaps this is why men seeking power and riches aren't as interested in positions surrounding food security?

Just my thoughts and observations.

How to deal with gloom and doom

Apparently the IPCC Working Group 2 report was leaked a while back and predicts (as titled by the Independent):

Leaked draft of UN IPCC report predicts global warming will cause violent conflict, displace millions of people and wipe trillions of dollars off global economy

Scary stuff, but I think it is time to come up with a different way of delivering the message as I am concerned that many people are simply tuning out these messages of gloom and doom.

 A sense of hope, a sense of dialogue, a sense of collaboration to work ourselves out of the problem need to be passed along.

 The big trouble is everything takes time and we need to act sooner than later.  Perhaps having these "shocking" messages is necessary to get people to act quicker.  However, the actions people can take must be made readily available so that when the are ready to act, the necessary resources are available for action.

If you believe that climate change is a serious problem then do something.  Waiting for others won't work.

 

Do urbanites walk more?

So, my wife works on the weekends and uses the car as transit doesn't run early enough in our neighborhood for her to get to her work by 7:00 a.m.

So, my son and I will take transit or our feet to different things during the day.

Today, we had my nephews over and we walked over to a Chinese restaurant for dim-sum which as about two kilometers away.  It took less than 30 minutes but they both thought it was a bit of a long walk.  For my son and I that's not very long as we do tend to walk around to different things a lot.  Usually we go one of the closer establishments as we live within a 10 minute radius from about ten different restaurants or coffee shops, and a skytrain station.

Now, my nephews live in Maple Ridge in one of those sub-divisions up in the hills away from the city center as it allows them to have a large house and nice yard.  The only issue is that they have to drive everywhere, even to get groceries and there are definitely no restaurants within a 30 minute walk.

So, even though they live in a nice quiet neighborhood with woods nearby, it is ironic that they find walking a bit of a chore.  While us city dwellers are able to walk everywhere for most of our needs - groceries, pharmacy, public transportation, food, liquor store, 7-11, school, parks, and only by chance - a hospital.

I will have to add to my list of things to research an inquiry into whether city dwellers actually walk more than those that live in the suburbs, hidden away in their homes and depending on a car to even pick up a jug of milk.

Junkyard Planet, a book by Adam Minter

Where does all the plastic go?  How big is the recycling industry?

These are some of the questions that Adam Minter tries to answer in his book Junkyard Planet.

There is an interview with the author on the CBC Radio show The Current, which can be found here.