Other things...

It has been a long time since I did anything for this blog, and it probably will be another while before I do again. This is not because I am lacking motivation (though I admit I am not quite burning for this at the moment), but because I am working on a major project (if you will) for my other blog. Some time ago, I made a provocative post challenging science as a source of knowledge – mostly because I was seeking response to my writing – and that sparked a long debate with several friends who don't doubt the scientific method for a second. Not saying science is all wrong, I wanted to convey the message that we should not blindly trust scientific discoveries as 'the truth', for so many reasons I can't count them on my fingers.

As neither managed to convince the other, I decided to make my case in a structured, exhaustive blog post, and try to explain from the most basic forms of argument the limitations and also the strengths of the scientific method. I don't want you to get the wrong impression either, so I will say this again, as I have so many times before: I am not saying science is completely unreliable; I am trying to make a point that we should not trust science as blindly as many tend to do. It is the closest we can get to many truths about our world, but it is not the truths about the world.

Anyhow, this will take considerable time and effort, such which I then cannot devote to the cause of this site, but I am nevertheless a step toward becoming more of an intellectual risk-taker, which I set as a goal in my New Year evaluation. Thus, if this goes well, I will surely be more confident to approach more radical ideas in global issues topics! Indeed, maybe radical measures are what we need to save the Earth at this time...

It snowed today!

It is when you wake up in the morning, do your thing, and then step out and see everything covered in snow, that I feel stronger than ever that this world is so worth fighting to save!

When I think about how many people that have never seen such beauty, I feel so sorry for them. I just love snow, and even more here in Brittain, where it is not as common. Back home in Sweden, we usually get snow for months, so I can sometimes take it's splendour for granted. But today I witnessed my first snowfall in Bristol. What a wonderful day!

The university was closed from noon, due to the snow – something I thought I would never experience; that never happens in Sweden: only the busses and train services are paralysed – so there was but one thing to do: massive snowball fight!!

And the best part was when we ganged up to pick a fight with another group of students, whom we had never seen before (well, I recognised one of them a bit later), and it climaxed in an epic snowball fight at the battlements of a small tower. We had so much fun, and now I am so exhausted... I need to rest now, in case a new battle starts in our resident area.

Here are some photos I took during the day. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera to the fight site (for safety reasons), so I could not capture the ingenuity of the students there: some had constructed a snowball catapult, others had all sorts of genius platforms to ride down the hill. Snow not only brings out the child in us, but our creativity just as much!

 

This was taken in the morning, while the sun was still down. The weird light distorted the colours, but it looks really nice this too! 

A few jokes... to relieve the tension?

Perhaps not so funny when you think about the horrendous truths behind this...

But we could all use a good laugh sometimes! Laugh is hope! As long as we do not forget to think about what these people are living through. Laugh, but laugh with respect.


Ps. I did not produce these jokes; I found them on a FaceBook page (which normally posts rather daring jokes and the administrators keep getting temporarily banned for inappropriate jokes, so I will not link you to the source :p )

WaterAid – clean drinking water and sanitation

This is a truly heart-felt subject, since I simply cannot imagine living without clean water handily available in a tap. I do not have a sink in my room, and both the door to my room and to the bathroom are really noisy, so I notice easily how often I really go to use the water (since it makes so much noise every time).

Even when I was hiking in the mountains with my friends last summer, we were spoiled with plentiful rivers of fresh, drinkable meltwater, so there was never a problem.

This is not the case for one eighth of the world, who lacks safe drinking water. Imagine! One person in eight not being able to drink a glass of fresh water when he/she is thirsty, or worse, dying of thirst!

Even more shocking, 4 000 children die every minute because of lack of clean water. This is not so much that they die of thirst – water is abundant on Earth; it is clean water that they lack. Instead, they die of horrible diseases such as cholera because they have no other choice but to drink dirty water, full of bacteria and all sorts of other substances I cannot even imagine.

4 000 every minute. Children. Just try to fathom that fact! That means about three children die every minute, as I am writing this, and as you are reading it. Take a moment to look at the clock on your wall, follow the movement of the minute hand, and think about the three children somewhere out there that stop breathing for every turn it makes.

Now, we have wasted enough time! We need to get up and do something. There are people out there that work to help these people that are in so desperate need. WaterAid is one of the charity organisations that help the third world tackle the horrendous life without clean drinking water and proper toilets.

Although this is problem is spread across the globe, the solutions need to be local. WaterAid works mainly in the poorest areas, providing solutions adapted to the local situation. This might sound like an obvious thing, but it is important to have in mind that water behaves differently in different areas; in order to figure out a viable, practical solution, each area needs expert assessment. Before you construct a well, you need to know how the groundwater flows, and so on.

WaterAid mostly provides simple equipment to give easy access to clean water, such as local wells, and sanitation facilities (toilets, etc.), as well as free education about hygiene, its practices and importance. They work intimately with the local communities to teach them how to use and maintain the equipment, so that the people can fix any malfunction and repair damage. This is important for making them effectively independent of external aid once the facilities have been installed. This means that the people can make their own way from then onward, having been blessed with a help to get started. It also means that WaterAid can move on and focus resources on new areas!

In many cases, the nearest water source is a lake far away from home, and it takes a lot of time and strenuous effort to walk there, fill a container with the (usually muddy) water, and then carry it back home. By installing a simple well near a village, the life of its people can be transformed completely. They will not only have fresh, drinkable water and so evade suffering from horrible diseases and spending money on medicine (which can no go to buy food, clothes, books, house maintenance, etc.); they will also have more time to perform other, equally essential tasks, such as working, studying, cooking, building, caring, and so on.

The same goes for those who have no toilets: a public bathroom can transform an entire neighbourhood! There will be less diseases caused by contamination by faeces all over the streets. There is also a social aspect here: it is simply humiliating to have to fecate in the street, in front of everyone. Sanitation facilities will restore some dignity to the people as well as their health!

There is hope! This problem can be fixed, if we just work hard for it. It does not need greedy governments to wake up, it does not need social reform, it does not need anything more than a collaborative effort: people working together to create more wells and toilets.

I decided to do something to help these people. I have set up a monthly donation to WaterAid, and I strongly urge you to do the same, if you find this as touching as I do. For only £5  each month in a year, they can produce a hand-driven water pump for a village in need! I realised that is about the amount I spend on spontaneous purchase of cookies and other sweets… It did not take much discussion with myself do cut down that luxury and instead try to save lives! 

Here is a playlist of YouTube videos about WaterAid: 

Aquaponics – using fish waste to fertilise plants

Wow! I just discovered aquaponics, a farming technique where you farm fish and use the water they grow in, which is enriched with highly nutritious wastes from the fish, to water and fertilise plants. This sounds like a genius method of waste handling wast and easy, free fertilisation; moreover, you get double productivity: fish and vegetables!

At the moment, I am researching the issue of lack of clean drinking water in the third world, a more heart-felt topic for me, but I will surely look more into aquaponics later, since it seems like a potent solution to plant farming in areas without fertile soil.

Here is the YouTube video where I had the topic introduced.