Saturday, October 15, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Blood In The Mobile
Yesterday I went with some friends to watch an acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) documentary from 2010, "Blood in the mobile", directed by Frank Piasecki Poulsen. The documentary exposed the many horrors of the civil wars in Democratic Republic of Congo being financed by the electronics industry through the trade of minerals used for mobile phones and computers. It brought a huge human-rights problem to the attention of many unsuspecting users worldwide, however the movie itself was lacking and not very powerful as far as documentaries go. There was great potential, considering how much work is being done about this issue all over the world, but this film failed to meet the expectations.
Poulsen travels all over the world trying to talk to Nokia people (he focuses on this one company, as it is one of the largest. He usually got to talk to those who didn't make decisions); going to the illegal Bisie mine in Kivu, DRC, where the mineral casserite is obtained under extremely poor safety conditions; talking to various experts in mineral tracking and conflict minerals; and including politicians working towards having conflict minerals become illegal in the US. The questions he asked the interviewees often lacked the depth required to sound like he had done the appropriate research about conflict minerals beforheand. It seemed he just wanted to get the movie done and get the footage he needed for it, and although yes, the footage he got from inside the mine was very interesting and a great journalistic achievement, it was extremely irresponsible for him to take that boy, Chance, down with him to tour him around, especially considering all the negative reactions as the boy helped the 'white man'. Who knows what happened to Chance after he left?
It was saddening to see that although large companies have been aware about these issues for more than a decade, not much has been achieved in solving this massive problem, and I hope having this movie out there will speed up things. Of course, it all comes down to consumers and what WE demand. The Raise Hope For Congo website contains information about the terrible war going on far, far away, but so, so close at the same time, surrounding us, under my fingers as I'm typing this, and everyday as I use my phone. It explains what consumers can do about the problem, and it's a good resource to start off with if you want to become more informed about the place where people live under extreme conditions resembling slavery, where children stay inside mines for days due to the difficulty of going down. Down these poorly-built mines that collapse and kill people every day. Deaths that finance an inhumane war that leads to even more deaths. And suffering that cannot be explained through words.
Poulsen travels all over the world trying to talk to Nokia people (he focuses on this one company, as it is one of the largest. He usually got to talk to those who didn't make decisions); going to the illegal Bisie mine in Kivu, DRC, where the mineral casserite is obtained under extremely poor safety conditions; talking to various experts in mineral tracking and conflict minerals; and including politicians working towards having conflict minerals become illegal in the US. The questions he asked the interviewees often lacked the depth required to sound like he had done the appropriate research about conflict minerals beforheand. It seemed he just wanted to get the movie done and get the footage he needed for it, and although yes, the footage he got from inside the mine was very interesting and a great journalistic achievement, it was extremely irresponsible for him to take that boy, Chance, down with him to tour him around, especially considering all the negative reactions as the boy helped the 'white man'. Who knows what happened to Chance after he left?
It was saddening to see that although large companies have been aware about these issues for more than a decade, not much has been achieved in solving this massive problem, and I hope having this movie out there will speed up things. Of course, it all comes down to consumers and what WE demand. The Raise Hope For Congo website contains information about the terrible war going on far, far away, but so, so close at the same time, surrounding us, under my fingers as I'm typing this, and everyday as I use my phone. It explains what consumers can do about the problem, and it's a good resource to start off with if you want to become more informed about the place where people live under extreme conditions resembling slavery, where children stay inside mines for days due to the difficulty of going down. Down these poorly-built mines that collapse and kill people every day. Deaths that finance an inhumane war that leads to even more deaths. And suffering that cannot be explained through words.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Food post
Three really exciting things are happening this term too! And they are all related. So I'm part now of The Veggie Club, Common Energy's Food Subgroup, and The LFS Orchard Garden. WHAAAT are these things?? The Veggie Club and Common Energy are both UBC clubs, and they both deal with food and sustainability, and the Orchard Garden is a garden two minutes away from my place and Forestry (behind LFS building) where I volunteer every week. A really cool project is in the working, involving these three. Speaking of the Garden, I absolutely love it! When I started at UBC I was like, yeah I want to volunteer at the Farm! Well, guess what, the Farm is SO far away!! It's quite unrealistic for me to fit a Farm trip in my schedule. SOOO the Orchard Garden is the PERFECT solution! It's a joint-management thing between the Faculties of LFS, Education and Landscape Architecture. They grow many many delicious things, and most of the produce is sold to Agora, the LFS Café.
So far, I've harvested onions and zucchini, and we are clearing the beds to plant cover crops for the winter. Last week we composted lettuce which was flowering and was therefore very bitter, and we could take it home if we wanted to. It was too bitter for me, but they looked spectacular - well rounded, fresh, giant. A girl working with me ate lettuce like a rabbit, as she worked. This week I took home the zucchini flowers and made zucchini flower and cheese quesadillas. I have a pepper plant at home (Pepe the Pepper, and Knickers has Pancho The Pepper) and eating the peppers from there is amazing, I just go to the living room and get a pepper from Pepe, and in exchange I only have to water him, clean him and love him. I think it's a good deal, so I decided my goal for when I have my own place is to have a garden with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and everything else! Taking care of the garden would definitely require work, but it is so relaxing, rewarding and connected with nature.
So far, I've harvested onions and zucchini, and we are clearing the beds to plant cover crops for the winter. Last week we composted lettuce which was flowering and was therefore very bitter, and we could take it home if we wanted to. It was too bitter for me, but they looked spectacular - well rounded, fresh, giant. A girl working with me ate lettuce like a rabbit, as she worked. This week I took home the zucchini flowers and made zucchini flower and cheese quesadillas. I have a pepper plant at home (Pepe the Pepper, and Knickers has Pancho The Pepper) and eating the peppers from there is amazing, I just go to the living room and get a pepper from Pepe, and in exchange I only have to water him, clean him and love him. I think it's a good deal, so I decided my goal for when I have my own place is to have a garden with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and everything else! Taking care of the garden would definitely require work, but it is so relaxing, rewarding and connected with nature.
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Zucchini and flower in LFS Orchard Garden |
Back in Vancouver
I'm back and I'm extremely happy! I truly realize how much I love UBC, especially after being away for so long.
2011 was a fantastic year for me and this term will be the perfect way to end it. The Christmas holidays will be spent in San Francisco with Leslie & Mike, and then maybe/maybe not I'll go to Singapore.
First of all, I absolutely love my courses. One of them is FRST 270 Community Forestry. It used to be taught by Ron Trosper, but now he left and we have a PhD candidate, Reem, and she's just amazing. We are learning what community forestry really entails by analyzing different viewpoints, and through case studies we explore how the broad concept of community forest is applied so many different ways all around the world. What is power? Who determines who gets power over the land? Is there a difference between access and property? How can success be defined in the realm of resource management? We explore questions like these ones through readings, class discussions, guest lectures and assignements. Plus we are 11 students, smallest class I've had at UBC!
Other two I really love are CONS 210 (Visualizing climate change) with Sarah Burch and Stephen Sheppard, and FRST 415 (Sustainable Forest Policy) with George Hoberg. We've had very interesting and inspiring lectures for both of these too. For example, we had Valerie Langer from ForestEthics come talk about the success in the Great Bear Rainforest - learning about environmental activism firsthand from and environmental activist was awesome. I have also been introduced to two things I hadn't used before: iClicker and PeerWise. iClickers are like remote controls for answering multiple choice questions and the Prof gets instant feedback as to whether the students are getting the material or not, and it also sparks interesting class discussion. PeerWise is an online tool designed for students to write questions, and then answer, rate and comment other students' questions - great question pool for studying for exams!
My living arrangement is also great. My house is made for someone on a wheelchair, so the corridors are huge and the bathroom is made for dancing with a wheelchair judging by its dimensions. It's first floor, and at first I hated this because I can't leave my windows open when I leave, but I've gotten used to this and my friends come visit my window all the time, which is fun. The residence, Ritsumeikan, is very quiet and organized. We have a tatami room and I was really excited but then Maki my Japanese roomie said she hates to sit there because she gets splinters all over, so I shouldn't wear shorts when I go to the tatami room...
Fun stuff that has been going on:
- I went to Seattle with Sharon for a outlet-shopping-spree (I don't understand brands like Juicy Couture... felt sweat pants with GLAMOUR written on them with gold and Swarovski crystals...really??) and had my first Taco Bell meal
-I went paddleboarding with a bunch of friends to Jericho Beach. Oscar and I decided it would be a good idea to share a paddleboard and stand on it at the same time, so we tried that for quite some time, until I fell on top of some hidden aquatic rocks and scraped my leg.
- We went to the FarmAde at the UBC Farm and watched people square-dancing to the beat and following the instructions coming from the speakers
- I completed one of the unofficial graduation requirements - Day of the Longboat! We were the Shockers and we painted our faces like Kiss, with black and white. So I think every occasion is a good occasion to paint faces, and I especially love it when people let me do their faces! It was a team with random members but we had so much fun and we came fourth, which was good as we were eight instead of ten people. I need an arm and neck massage now, though.
2011 was a fantastic year for me and this term will be the perfect way to end it. The Christmas holidays will be spent in San Francisco with Leslie & Mike, and then maybe/maybe not I'll go to Singapore.
First of all, I absolutely love my courses. One of them is FRST 270 Community Forestry. It used to be taught by Ron Trosper, but now he left and we have a PhD candidate, Reem, and she's just amazing. We are learning what community forestry really entails by analyzing different viewpoints, and through case studies we explore how the broad concept of community forest is applied so many different ways all around the world. What is power? Who determines who gets power over the land? Is there a difference between access and property? How can success be defined in the realm of resource management? We explore questions like these ones through readings, class discussions, guest lectures and assignements. Plus we are 11 students, smallest class I've had at UBC!
Other two I really love are CONS 210 (Visualizing climate change) with Sarah Burch and Stephen Sheppard, and FRST 415 (Sustainable Forest Policy) with George Hoberg. We've had very interesting and inspiring lectures for both of these too. For example, we had Valerie Langer from ForestEthics come talk about the success in the Great Bear Rainforest - learning about environmental activism firsthand from and environmental activist was awesome. I have also been introduced to two things I hadn't used before: iClicker and PeerWise. iClickers are like remote controls for answering multiple choice questions and the Prof gets instant feedback as to whether the students are getting the material or not, and it also sparks interesting class discussion. PeerWise is an online tool designed for students to write questions, and then answer, rate and comment other students' questions - great question pool for studying for exams!
My living arrangement is also great. My house is made for someone on a wheelchair, so the corridors are huge and the bathroom is made for dancing with a wheelchair judging by its dimensions. It's first floor, and at first I hated this because I can't leave my windows open when I leave, but I've gotten used to this and my friends come visit my window all the time, which is fun. The residence, Ritsumeikan, is very quiet and organized. We have a tatami room and I was really excited but then Maki my Japanese roomie said she hates to sit there because she gets splinters all over, so I shouldn't wear shorts when I go to the tatami room...
Fun stuff that has been going on:
- I went to Seattle with Sharon for a outlet-shopping-spree (I don't understand brands like Juicy Couture... felt sweat pants with GLAMOUR written on them with gold and Swarovski crystals...really??) and had my first Taco Bell meal
-I went paddleboarding with a bunch of friends to Jericho Beach. Oscar and I decided it would be a good idea to share a paddleboard and stand on it at the same time, so we tried that for quite some time, until I fell on top of some hidden aquatic rocks and scraped my leg.
- We went to the FarmAde at the UBC Farm and watched people square-dancing to the beat and following the instructions coming from the speakers
- I completed one of the unofficial graduation requirements - Day of the Longboat! We were the Shockers and we painted our faces like Kiss, with black and white. So I think every occasion is a good occasion to paint faces, and I especially love it when people let me do their faces! It was a team with random members but we had so much fun and we came fourth, which was good as we were eight instead of ten people. I need an arm and neck massage now, though.
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| Jason my Longboat Shocker friend looking awesome |
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