Movin' On

In a few weeks, I will be packing up my life and moving to Baltimore, Maryland. In one month, I will be graduating. A little over a month from now, I will be putting my degree to work at my full-time job.

This imminent series of events is definitely a wake up call on what's to come. After four years in State College, PA, I'm definitely ready to split from this great place and begin the next chapter of my life. Lately, I've been beyond psyched to move to another state and city, start my job, explore, and begin "living" in a comletely different way. The idea of being totally independent and on my own and is such a refreshing thought. I'm pumped to see where my new home and life will take me.

I got a place near Federal Hill in a neighborhood called Otterbein. I'll be living with two good girl friends from Penn State. Although our careers in business, civil engineering, and law are very different, our personalities definitely mesh. We all share one thing in common: our love for our future kitchen. Its retro spledor is enough to put a smile on anyones face and make you want to cook in bellbottoms and plaid. Other than that groovy spot of the house, the rest is pretty awesome. I'm definitely looking forward to grilling outside and being soo close to the water..

My friends find it unusual that I'm not sad to be graduating from college, but to be honest, I'm over the scene here at Penn State. I've had some great experiences, met amazing people and friends, and took advantage of as many educational/social opportunities that I could. I'm completely satisfied with my college career, reached all of my goals, and did everything that I wanted to do. Now, I'm positively ready to move on.

Bring it on, world.

Emission Mission or Bust?

Global warming due to human activity is a fact. The Stern Report proves that world emissions of GHGs are increasing at a terrifying rate and a global movement needs to be sparked to curb energy related (and non-energy related, i.e. agriculture) pollution. Basically, if nothing is done, current energy demand will skyrocket (depleting fossil fuel reserves AND resources), devastating phenomenon such as El Nino, melting ice caps, and a dried up Amazon rain forest will severely affect certain ecosystems, and human life will be in even more danger.

Internationally, different groups, organizations, and governments are starting to implement programs and projects to start reducing harmful greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol is seeking results by 2012, and suggested solutions in the Stern Report will see significant results by 2050, if implemented. Things such as carbon taxes, less reliance on imported fuels by use of alternatives or domestic sources, using energy star labeled appliances, using renewable energy, etc are all ways to start cutting back on emissions. Former Vice President, Al Gore, has taken big initiatives in spreading the message on the climate crisis to the world. His movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", surely got the word out. Now, he, along with some musicians, plan on holding a concert to continue spreading the word on the issue. This, I have a problem with.

LiveEarth will be held on 7 different continents for a total of 24 hours on 7/7/07. The message: Stop fucking around and save the earth from human destruction. Although using popular music to get the message across (predicted 2 billion viewers), the whole ordeal is somewhat contradictory. Over the whole course of planning and executing this event, how much energy do you think is used? How much energy used do you think is "clean"? And do you really think that every stage's light show will soely use CFLs, if at all? My thoughts are doubtful. Here's another thing.. Leonardo DiCaprio said at the 2007 Oscars that the Acadamy Awards, from that day on, would be a "green event". I don't think celebrities showing up to the red carpet in Hybrids is enough to make the show green. A completely carbon neutral show would convince me of it's greeness. Going back to LiveEarth, it's true that it is a great way to educate the public on the severity of the situation..but, the money used to make the event happen (especially since it surely wasn't done by using wind or hydro power, etc) should have gone to something more constructive and effective; buying emission credits! Also, those 2 billion viewers will be using electric energy, the biggest polluter, to watch this concert. The amount of pollution created from planning, execution, and then viewing seems a to be a large price to pay for the result that they probably won't get. It also sounds really stupid: Let's emit a couple billion tons of CO2, methane, and VOCs so that people and nations will start cutting back on their own emissions? They are setting their goal farther from reach. Different approaches and measures could have been taken to spread the word in a more eco-friendly way.

Of course, this could be argued many ways and I am open to different opinions. However, the climate change is the greatest market failure the world has ever seen, and I feel promoting by polluting just doesn't make sense.

Ode to Blog

This is my first visit to the blog in a long time. I regret not taking time to put my thoughts down on a regular basis and I hope to change that. Since my previous posts were basically full of nonsense, I am going to start taking a more serious approach to this whole thing.