Thinking, Wondering, Dreaming

Entry (#8.1 and) #9

“Faith, Trust, and Stardust” is an appropriation I made of the Peter Pan quote: “Faith, Trust, and Pixie dust.” According to Peter, in order to fly, you will only need three things: faith, trust, and pixie dust. 

I say, “Faith, Trust, and Stardust,” to the wonders and magic of the universe and God. Though I do not claim to understand all fully (or even some fully), I am in awe by all of it --- by the possibilities that it has allowed, by the seemingly impossible, by the mundane, by the fantastical. By everything that exists and everything made to exist.

---

Entry #9: Evolution & Stardust

Evolution

I never quite understood evolution before. It confused me a lot. How could giraffes transform from having short to longer necks? Are they suddenly born with longer necks to fit their environments? Did they grow their necks longer because they stretched and stretched to reach their food?

Well, no. (But the last question/part was what boggled my mind for as long as I can remember.)

Evolution is “change in gene pool over time.” I remember back in high school when we were reviewing for a quizbee outside of school when my teacher (I don’t remember why) suddenly mentioned the Giraffe evolution thingy to us. She said that giraffe’s didn’t suddenly evolve from having short necks to having longer ones --- much of what I understood from discussions on evolution before --- but that there were giraffes with short necks, and after some time, giraffes with longer necks. The long-necked giraffes, for some reason, had more advantage and so they were “naturally selected” unlike the short-necked ones that died out. Finally, my mind was at peace.

So here natural selection is at work. Giraffes with longer necks were considered to be more “adapted” to their environment and thus had more chances of surviving their short-necked friends.

Here’s a handy link to a Ted-Ed discussion on Evolution, “Five FIngers of Evolution”: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/five-fingers-of-evolution#watch

---

Stardust and Magic

Today, we had our last Plenary Session for Sci10. And one of the things I learned, and really thought about, is that “we exist because of the specific way that the universe evolved from the very beginning.”

If other forces were stronger, gravity would have been too weak and not have brought matter together into sufficient clusters to form stars.

The universe would just have little bits of matter; no stars. The atoms and molecules in our bodies were formed in the stars.

Were it not for the precise balance of the four fundamental forces that govern the universe, we would not be here.

When Father was talking about this, while I was amazed by the fact of it, my mind remembered the first entry that I had for this blog: how the world is so wonderful and how life is magical.

Father talked about our being here as being made possible by either chance or, for the believers, by God.

I’d like to think that it would be the latter. I mean, there is the multiverse argument to it and the sliver of a chance that everything was just right - “not too hot or not too cold” but just perfect - for life to occur. But, wow, we’re that lucky if that’s the case.

I’d like to believe, or I do believe, that everything is the way that it is, that conditions are so accurate and precise and perfect for everything because of God. Like Father believes that God created the universal laws to grow and proceed as they do ever so precisely to allow us to exist, I do too.

And this brings me back to the magic that everything is. It’s so mind boggling but wonderful at the same time. To know that we are all so special and loved that certain conditions are the way that they are because of a Great Being.

And to add to that, look at all around you - nature, technology, love, happiness, rain, sunshine. Everything is so wonderful. So magical. Mundane but fantastical.

Which brings me back to our responsibilities as stewards of creation. There’s so much that allows us to live and to exist. So many forces kept at bay, at a certain level, for us to be here. So many. So, so many. The least that we can do is appreciate our existence, the magic of it, the wonders that are all around us, and take care of it. Of ourselves. Of the world. No matter how small a dot it is in the whole of the universe.

---- 

April 25, 2016 | Entry 8.1: People and Sustainability

I’d just like to share here a few (cool and amazing) inventions and nitiatives by cool and amazing people and companies.

(Click on the underlined words to view the respective websites.)

Johnnie Walker’s Earth Mode Extension for Google Chrome

In light of the Earth Day (April 22) Johnnie Walker created the Earth Mode. Earth Mode is an extension for your Google Chrome browser that tracks your online energy use. It calculates and estimates the carbon footprint you generate from your browsing, streaming, searching and social media. It does not only promote awareness on your part as a generator of carbon but it also makes your browsing/ computer activity carbon-neutral. How? Johnnie Walker plants trees for you. Johnnie Walker neutralises the carbon you generate.

Johnnie Walker will plant a maximum of 75,000 trees in total for the measurement period April 19 - May 16.

Cool, isn’t it? Get it for your Google Chrome now: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/earth-mode/bnngfkajcebapkeccnhgilaligcbpbmj?hl=en

Dave Hakken’s Precious Plastic

Dave Hakken’s Precious Plastic initiative is a wonder. He has built a whole program complete with blueprints and machines to boost plastic recycling! And the part I love the most is that he has shared it with the world --- free of charge. Everyone is welcome to reproduce his machines to recycle plastic and even make a living out of it.

He’s asking us to share it, so let us! Let us spread the knowledge to the deepest corners of the world!

G-Star Raw, Parley for the Oceans & Pharrel Williams’ Bionic Yarn: Raw for the Oceans

Raw for the Oceans is a collaborative project retrieving plastic from the ocean shorelines and turning them into denim.

Plastic from the ocean is collected and are pieced into smaller flakes or chips. These chips are shredded into fibers that are spun into strong core yarn. They are then mixed or “helixed” with cotton to make the Bionic yarn. The innovation is done when the Bionic yarn is weaved into Raw for the Oceans fabric.

Pharrel Williams, the singer of Happy, is the Creative Director of Bionic Yarn. Bionic Yarn’s slogan is “Stronger Thread. Greater Good.”

Bionic Yarn truly achieves sustainability without sacrificing quality. It uses something that (unfortunately) is destructively abundant - plastic in the ocean - into something that is useful.

Parley for the Oceans is “the space where creators, thinkers, and leaders come together to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of our oceans and collaborate on projects that can end their destruction.”

Adidas & Parley for the Oceans: 3D-printed Ocean Plastic shoe midsole

The 3D-printed Ocean Plastic shoe midsole is an innovative footwear concept by Adidas and Parley for the Oceans to demonstrate how the industry can re-think design and contribute to stop ocean plastic pollution. The concept shoe consists of an upper made with ocean plastic content and a midsole which is 3D printed using recycled polyamid and gill net content.

According to the article, Adidas has started to phase out the use of plastic in their retail stores. The initiative will be completed by the “end of Q1 2016.”

Not only that but Adidas also stopped using plastic bottles for meetings and will also end their use of plastic microbeads for their body products.

Racing Extinction by Discovery Channel

Racing Extinction is one of the greatest films I’ve seen. And it’s about the environment and saving it. I really love this film. It’s a must watch if you ask me. It opens your eyes to our current situation, and it makes you feel, and act. At least, that’s what it did for me. I am really happy I went to the screening of it in school.

Entry#8: The Road to Sustainability -- Mind over Matter

“It’s SOOO hot!” says every one in Ateneo. I’m guilty of saying this too because it is true. It really is hot. Well, it is the summer season already. It’s supposed to be hot. 

With the statement above comes the requests for air conditioners in the classrooms. Although that would technically “solve” our short-term problems of heat and all that come with it, it’s not really good for the outside environment. I mean, you’re cooling the inside, but you’re making it hotter for everyone else outside. I guess it would be greater for everyone if people didn't complain and just look over at the bright side. 

Entry #7: It Starts with You and Me

Viktor Frankl said in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, that “It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future -- sub specie aeternitatis.”

Unfortunately for the future generations, most people seem to look into the immediate future only, that is the future including only them and their welfare. Only a few consider the distant future, the future without them but the future of their children’s children’s children’s children and so on. Continuing and adding new thoughts from my previous post on sustainability, I will talk about here how the state of the future all boils down to and depends on today’s generation’s actions and decisions; what you and I choose to do and not to do. 

From our interview with Dr. Cuyegkeng for our English10 report on Ateneo’s green choices, Dr. Cuyegkeng mentioned how it is very hard to change our habits. And it is! She told us about BYOB’s start (Bring Your Own Baunan), the ban of plastic and styrofoam in the cafeteria and the implementation of reusable wares, and the emergence of the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), the Vermicomposting Facility, and the new trash bins. She told us how they overhauled the solid waste management of Ateneo. 

The beginnings of BYOB was not smooth. People weren't used to the idea, it was “hassle.” “It’s hard to get rid of our habits and to change our lifestyle,” she told us. But looking now at how BYOB is known by almost everyone, and the significant lessening of plastic and waste, it can be said that changes do happen -- it just takes time, will power, and determination. I guess my main point here is that we should all try to go up the mountain and see the big picture, to act not just for ourselves, but for everyone. We must choose to make decisions that does not satisfy our self-interest. Our decisions should be based on what is optimal for everyone else. 

The root of the problem is selfishness. And we must change it. The world is in some ways a common good, and we know from Economics the tragedy that unfolds concerning this common good -- exploitation. Humans, whether we like to admit it or not, usually acts for self-interest. Humans compete for common goods for fear that they are losing out and not getting as much of it as everyone else. Thus, even if they do not really need to, they use the common good, just to feel that they are not wasting the opportunity that it provides. This thinking should stop. Because if it doesn't what else will be left of the world? 

Entry #6: Father Jett’s Note of Hope

Climate Change is an issue I am very interested about. I believe that remedying, reversing, and preventing climate change’s effects from worsening is something that should be on everyone’s top priority list. After all, it’s also us that is affected - future us, that is. In fact, my research paper for English 12 is concerning climate change and humanity’s seemingly lack of action and attention on the issue. 

I very much enjoyed Father Jett’s lecture on sustainability. He delved on the misconceptions, the current state that we’re in - which, surprise surprise, is bad - and, my favourite part, aside from Father being so witty and funny, Father’s “note of hope.”

Father Jett showed several graphs and figures that illustrated our very problem. He talked about Ateneo and how even if it’s already clean, is 10 units above of the recommended, or rather, amount of PM2.5. But Father Jett did not end with fear. Father Jett ended with a “note of hope.” According to most of my sources for my research paper, the problem with social media’s coverage of climate change that unfortunately leads to indifference instead of action, lies in the way social media frames the issue - that is, negatively. 

More often than not, climate change is presented as a threat, and just that. It is framed with strong emotions of fear and shock. And according to studies, this does not work for people. Instead of resulting into actions of changes, the average person will most likely become desensitised and indifferent towards climate change if social media continues to frame it negatively. According to Andrew Fiala, “in order to stimulate prompt and effective action with regard to the ecological crisis, it is necessary to paint a grim picture of the future. But if this picture is too grim, then it appears rational to do nothing… In order to take a problem seriously, one must perceive both that the problem is significant and that there is hope that it can be solved.”

To my wonder, that is just what Father Jett did. He gave us hope. He told us that there is still a chance for a better, more sustainable life should we act, step up a hill and see the whole picture. 

There should be hope. In Father Jett’s words, “Fear is not sustainable. It will paralyse you. Love is sustainable.”

Entry#5: Food Diary: What I Ate Today

They say that by keeping a “food diary,” by keeping track of what you’re eating, by getting a good look of what you’re consuming, you’re more likely to change your bad eating habits into healthy ones.

A food journal should contain all that you ate and drank for the day, as well as your emotions with each consumption.

So here’s how my day went in terms of food:

7:00AM - I decide to cut PE (Running MWF 7-8AM) because by the time I arrive in school the class will have already started running and I will be too late. (This is my first cut for this semester.) I ran out of cereal earlier this week so I decided to eat the leftover slice of cake my cousin brought home last night. I drink a glass of water. Although I admit it’s not the healthiest breakfast, I was out of bread, and I was hungry. I needed to eat something before I went to school. I felt a bit sad because I started my morning with lots of sugar.

8:54AM - I have been in school for a while now, with Mimi, working on our proposal for Research in the FA. I need real breakfast. Since I decided to give up chicken and juices for lent, I ordered fish fillet from Flavour of Asia, a stall in Gonzaga. Since a few days before lent, I have been a pescatarian. (I also have not been eating pork and beef for quite some time now. After lent, like beef and pork, I fully wish to not eat chicken. And then maybe after that, fish and seafood as well.) I bought bottled water because I lost my water bottle last week. The cafeteria has really big portions for food. I felt satisfied after my “real” breakfast because I ate fish and veggies. Although at the same time I felt a little disappointed in myself because I have been trying to limit my rice intake. And the particular store from which I ordered my breakfast serve a really big cup of rice that I had to finish because I didn't want to waste food. It’s really hard to control your food intake in college where food is expensive and where servings are big.

12:34PM - I’m not that hungry but I wanted to eat before our 1PM class, Economics, because classes would go straight from there until Sci10. I wanted something cheap and not as heavy as the breakfast I ordered, so I chose to buy food from AMPC where you can order half-rice! Luckily there were veggies that I liked: chopseuy! I ordered that and then half-rice. It cost me 49 pesos and it was enough to keep me from getting hungry until the end of Sci10. I was happy because it was cheap and it was good. I was sad as well, because the chopseuy had some chicken and ham which I didn't eat and therefore wasted. :( I had another 500mL of water.

6:15 - I’ve been in our “home” for at least 20 minutes and have bought from 7-11, a loaf of bread and C2. (Unfortunately I have broken my sacrifice to not drink juice since my little cousin’s first birthday, March 6.) I ate four slices of bread with a spoonful of nutella for each bread. After my third slice, I felt like I was hungry still, so I got another slice. Turns out it was just my brain telling myself that it wants to munch on something not really hungry. I felt disappointed again because I wasn't really hungry anymore, I just wanted something to much on, and I chose to munch on nutella and white bread. (7-11 didn't have wheat bread). As much as possible, I try to eat healthier but it’s really hard when there is hardly any time to prepare healthy food, and when healthy food is expensive, and fast food is cheap. Additional reflections: I need to drink more water and avoid sugary drinks like C2. (I want my pee to be transparent, hehe.) Overall, I’m more or less satisfied with my food and drink intake today, although I know I can do better if I really wanted to. 

*** I have been drinking water in between the indicated times. A litre of water at least. 

Keeping a food diary is really helpful if you wish to change your bad eating habits. It not only records your own personal and real feelings after each consumption, it makes you realise what you need to change. Plus, if you continue and do the entries religiously, you see your changes.  I hope to be able to continue this food diary and hopefully commit to all my food commitments. 

Entry #4: Thoughts on Food Waste: Date Labels

Best Before, Best By, Use By, and Exp, are confusing and misleading words on their own. Coupled with the dates, they are even more so.

A lot of times, I admit, I have thrown away bread, eggs, and other food that are otherwise still okay for consumption for fear that they have gone “bad” because they’re past the date written on their labels. Usually, these date labels, instead of being informative, are more confusing for consumers like me. There’s Best Before, Best By, Exp, Use By, and more. What does that say? Is it spoiled after the date? Is it still good? Until when? To add to that, there are labels with dates written in a format like this: 030416. Is this MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY? What should I do with this product, then? Throw it away? And what do people often say? “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” right? So what do they do? Throw away whatever’s past the dates on the label. They’re just being cautious, right? Well, maybe. But most of the time, they might be throwing away good food, too.

Before, I used to throw away food on the spot the moment I realised they’re past the date on the label, whether or not it’s label says EXP or Best Before. In college, however, one incident lead me to investigate:

I was on my computer, probably doing homework, probably on Facebook. I don’t remember the details exactly, but I went to the pantry to get some wheat bread and nutella. After preparing a slice of bread, I took a bite and went back to my seat. One slice was not enough. I went back and started to prepare another one when I saw the label. The label indicated that the bread I ate and the bread I’m about to eat has been expired for two days already. I quickly checked for anything green on the slices of bread left in the bag, and on the bread I was about to spread nutella on. Nothing. I went back to my seat, on the internet, and did some research.

I found these:

Date labels were originally meant to be indicators of the freshness of a good. It does not indicate whether a good has spoiled or not.  Date labels have different kinds: Best By, Use By, Best Before, Exp, Sell By. Date labels are confusing and vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and from good to good. There is no consistency. Date labels are indicators of freshness, not of safety.

After researching and hearing this podcast episode on date labels (see bottom for link), I now have a hard time believing these date labels. For the longest time, I have been lead to believe that when a good goes past its date label, it’s bad and you’re going to get sick from food poisoning. Date labels, unfortunately, are made confusing. They’re not consistent and they lead to food waste. Sometimes I even think that these date labels are made especially so not to benefit the consumer but the producer (to make people buy more of their good).

It’s good to be cautious, yes. But knowing that there are people dying from hunger and malnutrition, it’s very offensive to throw away good food or have leftovers. Food that could've been given or donated to them are instead thrown in the trash, thus turning perfectly good food into contaminated ones.

What we need today are consistent and clear date labels that are made for consumers (and not for the producers). Food waste is offensive to people who die of hunger. Food waste is a problem. Date labels are a big contributor to this problem and I believe that a redesign and a clearer take on date labels would greatly lessen food waste.

----

*Illustration by me

*Check out this podcast from 99% Invisible on date labels, Best Enjoyed By: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/best-enjoyed-by/

Technology, without a doubt, has changed the way we live. Everything we do and everything we have can be amazingly connected to technology one way or another. Everything nowadays is easy and instant - information, communication, and transportation, among others. We can call, send a message, and see whoever we want wherever they may be with just a simple click or tap. Technology has linked lives that are physically distant and it is both impressive and fascinating. How far we’ve come!

Alongside the advancements of technology, came the issue of being too much engrossed in gadgets, in the Internet, and thus being neglectful of reality. It has become an issue that although technology connects us virtually, it separates us physically. Certainly with technology, people from the other side of the world can easily catch up with those from the other side but with it, most people at the dinner table have become nothing more than shells, there physically but not really there, busy updating their virtual reality. Today we can say that we live in two worlds - the virtual world, and the real world - and to some, it seems that people care more about their virtual reality than their real, natural reality.

It is unfortunate when we see the people we know more absorbed in this virtual reality (in ways that they care more about how people perceive them in Facebook or Twitter or Instagram) than in their real lives. (Although of course the two realities certainly intersect and blur with one another.) I, personally, have seen it happen to people I know, to me even. Instead of “living in the moment,” people tend to document what is happening, and update the people in their friends list how happy they are or how much they’re having fun, when in fact, they’re far from being in the moment, and from feeling what is really happening.

Technology has allowed us a faster lifestyle. There is no doubt that we are living in a fast-paced world where everything is instant, where everything is wanted and needed asap, where workload so great is expected to be done within a day. Chop chop chop! Time is moving and so we have to be. Every minute has to be accounted for; every minute has to be productive. Every minute has to count. And we forget that we are only humans - needing of rest, of breath, of time to ourselves.

I am not blaming technology for what our lives have become today. In fact, I am thankful to the advancements in technology for all that we have today - the seemingly impossible science fiction of history has now come true and it is a leap for mankind. That is certain. What I am trying to say is that our use of technology should not be an escape from reality nor a reason for us to become more tired and grumpy and mad. Technology should make our lives better. We should use technology to make our lives better - to heal the earth and not destroy it, and to heal ourselves.

Technology has helped mankind come a long way, but I believe that it can take us even further, solve problems, and more -  we just have to learn how to utilise it. Science, as we recall, does not tell us how to use the knowledge that is made available to us, that The key that opens the gates of heaven can open the gates of hell. It is up to us which door we choose to open.

Banana Chips: Too Plain for TM

The product photographed above, according to the guidelines of Trademark Registration and Protection, cannot be entitled to one. Why? The product name is simply descriptive and generic -- describing plainly what the product is. For product names/marks to be entitled a TM will have to be more creative and less of just describing the product. A descriptive and generic name/mark cannot be registered for a Trademark because it doesn't distinguish (one of the main functions of a trademark) the product, in this case, banana chips from others that sell banana chips as well. 

Therefore, the product above is too plain, too descriptive, and too generic to acquire a trademark. 

While walking to or from school, when travelling in cars or trains, or when I have nothing else to do, I think. I spend these times thinking and observing. Asking questions to myself and racking my brain for explanations. Talking to myself. Wondering, and then being amazed by the world that we live in. By every thing - by the universe, life, the human body, the brain, nature, technology and so much more. And no matter how many times I think about the same questions and phenomena, I still cannot fathom how every single thing is working as it should be or, how every thing is in its and has its own place in this exceptional and wonderful place.

I wonder how language started, or who was the first bilingual person in the world and how that came to be. I think about the discoveries Science has made and are continuing to make. I think about how far we’ve come - how we have computers, how we can store so much memory into something so tiny. I think about wireless connections, and videos, and cameras. I think about babies and how they form in the womb. I think about our bodies - how every part has a specific and significant role to the whole of the body - to its main function - how our body protects us, how they know when to form scabs to stop the bleeding, how to repair themselves, and how perfectly it is designed. I think about the wonder of medicine and how they are able to cure diseases and relieve pain. I think about the wonderful and magical and become so fascinated, so curious. 

I think about the world, I think about life and I think how and why. I think of Science and I think of God. And in some ways, most of these inquiries are more or less answered. 

Science answers a great number of hows and my curiosity is indeed very grateful for that, but not every thing can be answered by Science. There are just mysteries that Science will not be able to fully answer e.g. questions on the supernatural and the divine - topics that can only be sufficiently answered by Religion.

Sometimes I wonder if this is real. Are all the people around me as complicated as me and have as complex a life as mine? Is this a dream? Is this a test? How do I pass? Will every thing just suddenly end when I die? What does death feel like? Will I even remember anything? How does life begin and why does it begin? What about consciousness? What’s after life? Are the colors I see the same colors that you see? Is everything, in some ways, a social construct? What should people really focus on? Why does the world and how did the world came to (unfortunately, disappointingly) revolve around money? What is our greater purpose?

Religion does not directly answer some questions as well, but implications can be taken from the Word of God, from Scripture, Tradition, the Church, and of course, there is Faith. Faith in a greater being - Who has given us life, Who has created the world the way it is, Who has redeemed us. There must be a great being out there Who has thought of every thing in this world and in this life - from our bodies, to nature, to technology, right? We could not have just started out of nothing and popped out of nowhere, could we?

Although we will not be able to fully understand God (as I learned in Theology). Sometimes, not knowing is OK - it leaves more to the mind and faith. Faith that when the time comes, we will understand.

Questions of how and why cannot be answered solely by Science or Religion. Rather, it is a partnership of both. Science and Religion as complements and not opposites. The world indeed is full of questions and mysteries and wonderful things, full of things that incite curiosity and fascination. I think about the world and I think about life. I think about the little miracles of waking up and being able to communicate, being able to walk, being able to heal, being able to help. I think about the plants, and the trees, the sun, and the stars, and how they are placed just right and how they seem to know what they’re doing. I am amazed and I am filled with wonder and excitement and happiness. I am sure that there is something greater out there, some plan and purpose as to why everything is the way it is - how we have Science, Art, language and more. It really is as the song goes, “what a wonderful world.”

- Kim Co