Election Prediction

So I have been predicting for a couple weeks that Clinton and Mitt Romney will be the two presidential candidates in 2008, so I will formally go on record with this prediction. Romney is definitely a mixed bag when it comes to green politics, with some commendable interest in renewable energy, but scepticism when it comes to global warming and carbon emissions.

What do you think about my prediction? If I am right, does that mean the green vote will go to Clinton?

High Expectations at Work

I found this Utne article to be very telling. Indeed, while I am a Generation X'er, I have found that my work experiences have met with similar frustrations. It is illuminating and a bit humbling to recognize how egotistical my peers and I have approached the workforce. Now 6.5 years into my working career, I can see how the following statement accurately described me only a few years ago.

Nurtured on a steady diet of self-esteem, the swaggeringly confident children of the ’80s and ’90s are flying the nest and starting to land in the workforce. They’re clamoring for quick feedback, meaningful involvement, and pumped-up recognition—and roiling old-school colleagues who dub them impatient, needy, and arrogant. The kids are frustrated too: Entry-level duties are a far cry from the dream jobs they’ve been made to feel are their birthright.

Indeed, entering the work force post-college can be quite a shock. After years of performance driven education, in which you received continuous recognition of your development (grades), you enter an often slower paced work environment, where fitting into the system is often more important than your individual performance. I thought the following comment was spot on:

Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford, says we’re too focused on
results with young people, and it has taught them to value performance instead
of process.

Valuing performance over process is something that I have definitely been guilty of. Indeed, I would say my education experiences trained me in this regard! So it comes as no surprise that many of us have a rough transition to the work environment, often leading to disillusionment or depression. The author notes that depression is now more common for those in their 20s and 30s than it is for older generations.

There is a silver lining to the changes that are afoot. Indeed, it is even exciting to anticipate the coming changes in the workplace as employers adapt to the needs of Gen Y'ers.

While previous generations rebelled against the cubicle-to-coffin mentality
and struggled for workplace flexibility and improved benefits, here’s a
generation that wants to get feedback, have input, and engage in meaningful
work. They want the companies to which they commit to be environmentally,
socially, and personally accountable. “I think young people are putting us
to task because they want managers to do their jobs—to develop people,” says
Martin. “We’ve got to make the distinction between unrealistic expectations
and high expectations that are calling us to be better.”

The sobering reality is that not all employers will step up to the challenge (I suspect mine will not). What this will mean for the long term viability of some companies remains to be seen, but I suspect that most creative and ambitious Gen Y'ers will not stick around at companies that do not embrace a new paradigm. Dynamic companies such as Google will attract the best and brightest of the current generation, the rest will depend on the aging baby boomer generation to keep their competitive edge.

Democrat Candidates - Las Vegas Debate

I finally got a chance to watch a full debate last night between the Democrat presidential candidates. With so much press about Hillary's recent slide and gains made by both Obama and Edwards, I was interested to see how the night would play out. Things certainly started out quite fierce, with real fireworks between Edwards, Obama, and Clinton. The interesting thing was the the crowd really influenced the debate by loudly booing both Edwards and Obama when they went into attack mode on Clinton's credibility. This pretty much cooled their jets and I was relieved to see the debate move into questions of policy and away from the personal attacks.

Hillary showed remarkable poise all night, and gave solid answers to the questions poised by Wolf Blitzer, she was clearly well prepared for the night. Edwards, on the other hand, came across as petulant in the debate and really lost steam IMHO. I supported Edwards in the 2004 democratic primary, mostly because of his focus on alleviating poverty. Based on recent events, including last nights debate, Edwards no longer holds my interest as a presidential candidate, although I do think he would make an excellent VP.

Barack Obama was a mixed bag in the debate. At times show fantastic poise and a presidential demeanor, he at other times appeared unsure and halting. I think his inexperience continues to show itself in this primary, as other candidates demonstrate a better grasp of the issues. He is very likeable though, and I think he would do well in a general election against the Republican candidate, but I think he will need to hone his message and show more internal strength if he is to win the nomination.

The two badasses of the night were Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Senator Joe Biden. Kucinich was spot on with a majority of his comments, often correcting the presuppositions in Wolf's questions. A genuine liberal, in contrast to the rest of the candidates, Kucinich would be my top pick if he had a snowball's chance in hell of winning the election. Unfortunately he is too far from the general populace to even win the primary, much less the presidency. Pragmatism steers me away from Kucinich, even if I find my views are closely aligned with his (he was my closest match on the candidate calculator).

Biden was calm and relaxed all night, showing significant knowledge about the issues and an ability to connect with the audience. He may be a dark horse in this race, given additional national exposure I wouldn't be surprised if he moves up in the polls.

Governor Bill Richardson (NM) and Senator Chris Dodd gave unimpressive performances and are not likely to see a lot of traction from this debate. I was very impressed by Richardson's sensitivity to the immigration issue, as well as his expertise on energy. I really like Richardson, but he comes across in a grandfatherly way, instead of as a presidential leader. Dodd, on the other hand, is the Democratic version of John McCain. Very straight spoken, a bit crunchy, and not able to connect with the audience. I expect both of these guys to fall out of the race early in the primaries.

For a brief overview of the Democratic candidates, see the wiki entry.

After we are gone...

Okay, this is just fascinating. While it seems unlikely that the human species will ever disappear suddenly and cataclysmically, it is very interesting to consider how the earth would (slowly) recover from our presence. Check out the graphical time trend based on the book by Alan Weisman. What is so amazing about the lingering effects of humanity is that almost all of the long term negative impacts are from the last 100 years alone! It is just crazy how quickly we have degraded the earth, when you consider that humans have been around for over 3000 years and for the most part lived in cooperation with the environment. In just three generations we are facing major environmental crisis, including deforestation, global warming, air and water pollution, extinction of animal and plant species, etc.

I am not trying to be a doomsayer, indeed, I find that overly negative thinking is paralyzing and ultimate not productive. Rather, I think that if we could get ourselves into this mess so quickly, there is no reason we can't turn things around rapidly, if we get enough people committed to significant change.

War - And Its Terrible Cost

Viewing the Reuter's slide show portraying President Bush visiting a center for veterans badly injured during the war left me feeling both sad and outraged. Of course, the Iraqi people have borne a far greater cost than U.S. soliders, with over 70,000 civilians killed as of September this year!!!

I personally found the images disturbing, as I watched a cheerful Bush visit with men who had lost multiple limbs or were severly scarred as a result of this terribly misguided war. My limited consolation is that I believe history will not be kind to Bush and the legacy he created, but that won't bring back all the lost lives and alleviate all the suffering.

Gore Gets Involved in Green Investing

I continue to be excited about the potential for green and socially responsible investing. While it may seem counter-intuitive to enlist the help of the business world in combating problems that are often of their own making, I actually believe that this approach will be more effective in achieving real, sustainable change then grass roots efforts or policy changes. That is not to undermine the importance of the latter two, not in the least! But if we really want to impact the world in a meaningful and tangible manner, we need to go after the "big guns," in the arena's of energy, manufacturing, transportation, etc.

In an NPR interview yesterday Al Gore discussed a new alliance he is forming with a venture capital firm based in California. They will seek to invest in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and other green opportunities. Gore makes a very important point when he notes that "We've now reached the stage where this shift is going to happen with or without new government policies. ... The business sector is ahead of the policy maker community in recognizing this shift toward a low-carbon economy has to take place." This development, while clearly profit driven, is exciting.

Capitalism and the drive for profits clearly has many, many shortfalls when it comes to social justice and sustainable living. However, if we reach a point that it becomes profitable curb pollution, develop renewable energy, engage in ethical business practices, etc, the impact on the world will be staggering. Indeed, it now seems plausible that the industrial revolution will be followed by a sustainable living revolution!

What do you think? Can the power of the profit hungry business world be harnessed to do good for our planet and its people?

Dumpster Diving Panera

This past weekend my family finally took the plunge. After hearing the success stories of several locals who are professional dumpster divers, here and here, we made our first raid on the dumpsters behind Panera bread in Gainesville (we stayed away from Chantilly lest we run into our competition and start a fierce turf war!).

With my son sitting in the car chattering about being "sneaky," my wife on the look-out, I managed to snag several large bags of bread, bagels, and rolls! We brought our loot home, where we sorted it out and packaged it for freezing. It was an impressive haul! I have heard it said "once a dumpster diver, always a dumpster diver," I am afraid that may be the case for us! The one point of frustration encountered was the fact that I started a low carb diet last week, so I cannot partake of any of the goods for a couple weeks, and only in limited quantities after that... I guess it is time to dumpster dive behind the local steak house!

Here is a pic of our haul.



And here are my dumpster diving companions standing proudly in front of the haul.



Previous post on dumpster diving.

Election 08 Candidate Comparison

Well, we are officially into the countdown to the 2008 presidential elections (361 days left!). I created a matrix of the most important issues from a social justice and sustainable living standpoing. John Edwards and Barack Obama have the highest "scores" given the criteria I used, with Hillary Clinton the runner-up.* You can create your own custom grid using the issues most important to you, it is a very cool feature!

What are the most important issues to you in the 2008 election campaign?

*Note -There are candidates that score higher on these issues, but I excluded candidates that do not have a reasonable chance of winning the primary (<10% support).

Organic food shown to be healthier

There has been much debate in recent years about the actual health benefits of organic foods. While it seems rather intuitive that foods created without the use of hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, and other chemicals would be much better for you, most scientific studies on this subject came up inconclusive. However, a large study done in the UK confirms that natural foods are significantly healthier for you, both in the reduction of bad stuff (pesticides, hormones, etc), and an increase in nutritional value (minerals, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and other nutrients).

Razoo - Social Networking to Change the World

There are a growing number of social networks on the web, with the most popular being the familiar MySpace and Facebook, both platforms for meeting friends, goofing off, and staying connected. I also use LinkedIn, a social network for professionals to leverage connections, find new jobs, etc.

Needless to say, I was very excited to hear about a new social networking site that focuses on finding your passion, connecting with others who have a similar passion, and then finding ways to take action to change the world! This is way, way cool, it takes the power of social networking to a whole new level. It makes me very excited about the days and years to come, when people will be able to combine their individual efforts in a far more effective and powerful manner!

Check out Razoo and if you are interested, join up! Be sure to add me as a friend, just search for my name (Ken Tennyson).

Dumpster Diving

Recently a group of friends went on a top secret night-time mission to the local Panera bread. Their target: Bags of discarded pastries and bread that are thrown out each night. Having enjoyed the "fruits" of their labor for several weeks, I am a firm believer in the benefits of "dumpster diving." Browsing through the blogosphere today, I found a great article written by another D.C. local about his dumpster diving experiences and "philosophy." Check it out, it is a great read and entertaining!

I am not sure I have ever dumpster dived, unless you count grabbing old couches for my college dorm rooms. However, after the experiences of my friends and reading this article, I realize that dumpster diving is very consistent with my growing commitment to sustainable living, a cheap way to get great food that I would not otherwise purchase, and it appears to be (mostly) legal! I will draw the line at sushi though, even cooked it would pass my food risk assessment radar!

Squashed Philosophers

I enjoy philosophy, but I have found that lately my time available for philosophical reading has been a little crunched (can you say "two year old!"). I found the following website gives a condensed oversight of the history of "Western" philosophy (European and U.S.).

Of course, not everyone enjoys philosophy as much as I do, but come on, who could resist a twenty minute abridgement of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus! For those who like an even broader overview, there is a "very squashed" version that sums the philosopher's perspectives in a single page (if that isn't too much of a slight to a philosopher's life work!).

Green Glass Co.

I was really impressed by this company at Green Festival DC. They take used wine bottle, cut them in half, and then turn the bottom half into a glass (polishing the sharp edges), and turn the top half into a wine glass (heating the neck and stretching into a stem).

I can't imagine many things more satisfying then drinking from an attractive glass that is 100% re-used material. We haven't order glasses yet as they are currently a bit spendy at ~$30 for four glasses (hopefully they will become more reasonable as sales pick up).

Check out their products at the Green Glass Co. website. With the holiday season upon us, this would make a great gift for your sustainability oriented friends!