Comments on: What do I want to do when I grow up

What do I want to do when I grow up

infini — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:52:54 -0800

When I grow up I want to be an environmental engineer. I want to work on projects that can provide potable water for people. I want to clean the polluted Mother Ganga [Ganges] who provides life giving water from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. Or the Nile, both blue and white, spilling fertility from her bunds on a regular cycle. I want to design products that use the least amount of energy and fuel, from recycled materials and are biodegradable. I want to seek alternative sources of energy, such as using biofuel to power cellphones. I want to design with maximum constraints. Call her mother earth, gaia, demeter, ceres or inanna, our planet is on the brink of no return. Or is it all just a matter of perspective?

By: Big_B

Big_B — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:05:18 -0800

Or be a geologist, do all the above without having to suffer through the calculus!

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:10:30 -0800

A little bit more perspective

By: thehmsbeagle

thehmsbeagle — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:20:56 -0800

Or perhaps you could participate in poetry slams, instead!

By: evilangela

evilangela — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:23:13 -0800

My opinion is that with the number of people on the planet, and the level of industrialization and resource usage, we're to the point that the only way out is through. In other words, our technology has gotten us into a mess that can only be solved by improving and applying new technology. Any other methods just aren't going to work. Essentially, we need clean sources of power (solar, fusion), and advanced nanotechnology to clean up existing pollution and develop non-polluting manufacturing and farming.

By: dsquid

dsquid — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:23:22 -0800

Me? I just want to make a lot of money. Then I can buy a Hybrid car, $5 coffee drinks, and a $500 iPhone and sniff on Mefi about how little everyone else is doing to save the world.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:29:18 -0800

Sustainability and green technology seems to have captured the imagination of sillicon venture capitalists the same way the .com boom did. That can only be a good thing, I guess.

By: Kwantsar

Kwantsar — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:41:21 -0800

That can only be a good thing, I guess. If you think that we live in a world without opportunity costs.

By: Doofus Magoo

Doofus Magoo — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:19:14 -0800

/eyeballs the trifecta of BusinessWeek links suspiciously

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:38:34 -0800

/eyeballs Doofus supiciously for not suspiciously eyeballing the five Beeb links

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:04:11 -0800

Barefoot College Barefoot, female and a solar engineer

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:20:03 -0800

In other words, our technology has gotten us into a mess that can only be solved by improving and applying new technology. Any other methods just aren't going to work. I think you're right, but often it's just reapplying old tech in a new way--that hand-cranked radio, or people-powered water pumps, etc. A lot of what we see as new isn't really anyway--windmills and engines begat wind turbines and windfarms.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:21:10 -0800

I remain confident that we can dig our way out of this hole.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:24:40 -0800

digging will actually be a solution, once warming makes it too hot on the ground, and holes and caves were always used as natural fridges.

By: infini

infini — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:58:30 -0800

/eyeballs with suspicion anyone eyeballing anything suspiciously/

By: anthill

anthill — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:54:16 -0800

The Malthusians say: Boulding's Three Theorems These theorems are from the work of the eminent economist Kenneth Boulding (Boulding, 1971). First Theorem: "The Dismal Theorem" "If the only ultimate check on the growth of population is misery, then the population will grow until it is miserable enough to stop its growth." Second Theorem: "The Utterly Dismal Theorem" This theorem "states that any technical improvement can only relieve misery for a while, for so long as misery is the only check on population, the [technical] improvement will enable population to grow, and will soon enable more people to live in misery than before. The final result of technical] improvements, therefore, is to increase the equilibrium population which is to increase the total sum of human misery." Third Theorem: "The moderately cheerful form of the Dismal Theorem" : "Fortunately, it is not too difficult to restate the Dismal Theorem in' a moderately cheerful form, which states that if something else, other then misery and starvation, can be found which will keep a prosperous population in check, the population does not have to grow until it is miserable and starves, and it can be stably prosperous." Boulding continues, "Until we know more, the Cheerful Theorem remains a question mark. Misery we know will do the trick. This is the only sure-fire automatic method of bringing population to an equilibrium'. Other things may do it."

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:47:46 -0800

Or be a geologist, do all the above without having to suffer through the calculus! Guess again. I have a geology degree, and took multiple semesters of calculus.

By: infini

infini — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:48:33 -0800

What if the whole world wide web went green?

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:18:07 -0800

This just proves that we're winning the War on Terra. Wait, what?

By: Mitrovarr

Mitrovarr — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:19:23 -0800

Big_B: Or be a geologist, do all the above without having to suffer through the calculus!" Actually, now that I think of it, isn't a geologist a physical science? That means lots of physics, which means tons of math. I bet you actually have to go past calc into linear algebra and differential equations, if not further. Biology is the science for you if you can't do or don't like math - at my college, you didn't even have to take calculus to get a degree in it (which I think is pretty lame.) Astronomy would be the other end of the spectrum, as astronomers have to take approximately eight times as much math as an actual mathematician.

By: Big_B

Big_B — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 09:00:13 -0800

Mitrovarr, monju_bosatsu Heh. Well I guess I was lucky then, I have a degree in geology and I only took one semester of calc! I work with several env. engineers who took 4+ sems, thermo, physics out the wazoo, etc. Funny part is we all do the same work. Not true in all cases above, I just like to poke the engineers whenever I can.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 10:03:46 -0800

/eyeballs the trifecta of BusinessWeek links suspiciously I don't find it suspicious at all, but I gave up after the first 3 links. I need a bit more direction. The Barefoot College stuff is interesting, but what is this? Open thread for "green" issues?