The Canadian in Europe (relevant title?)

Hey everyone! I'm writing this blog from the subway on my iPod, because computer access is minmal and just like everything in Poland you have to pay... I mean everything, even to use the bathroom in the train station -_- 
Anyway, everything is going well! It's been busy so far because I have been meeting up with family and friends from Canada that happen to be in Poland for vacation also. Tomorrow, I'm training it down to Kraków and meeting up with a friend there, then in the evening to Zakopane (wikipedia these places if you are not sure.. They're awesome). Lots to see and do here... And a month should be enough time to see famiy and travel around a bit. Mind you, everything here is expensive now... At least in the big city.. So good money management skills are an asset :p 
I've been taking advantage of the amazing European espresso... And refraining from Starbucks as there are mannny better options here. 
I even feel at home here, you can tell it is the homeland as many are also tall and skinny as me.. 
People here are funny also.. Because when I order a coffee or something, and the menu item happens to be written in english.. I say it with my normal accent... And people begin to speak English to me. It's hilarious, you'd have to be there ;)
So in canada I enjoy watching those judge shows... But the ones here are all dramatic soap opera acting.. Too funny.  "you're such a bad father! You lock your son in the house, and I have to feed him through the widow!" - that's my favourite quote from the show.


I'm writing this paragraph a day after the ones above, and instead of rewriting some parts... Im just going to continue aha.. Turns out Im not going to Kraków today, because of a 24 hour general train strike!! Just my luck.. I'm really hoping it is only going to be 24hrs, because I'm still planning on going to Zakopane tomorrow. Hard life I'm living here :p 
I'm writing this from the Subway again, I feel like a New York author or something.. I don't know why, but when I think of an author in New York, I can see them writing in the subway.. Weird. 
I always have something I want to talk about, random thoughts during the day.. But I forgot.. I need to jot them down next time. 
I'm out for now! Następna Stacja (next station) is Centrum (downtown).. That's where I'm getting off! Write to y'all soon! See ya.

HOLA FRIENDS!

Hey friends! So i'll be using this blog to keep you updated while I am away in Poland! Since I won't have access to the internets everyday (don't know how I'll survive), and can't tweet/facebook/youtube... so basically all my daily-doings will be clustered into a blog... wish I would be able to post pictures! Maybe when I'm back home. Anyway, adventure begins at 7pm tomorrow when I have to go allllll the way to Toronto to fly out at 11:00pm. I won't even be able to sleep in the plane, I'm too fascinated by flying ahahhaa! Right now, I'm packing, and I'll most likely be up half the night doing so and downloading music & that jazz.

So what are y'all up to this summer? Anything special?
We'll talk soon, gooood naighhhtt.

Here's a little something I have been writing for the past few days... It's a research essay on Oshima-Oshima, if you don't know what that is, don't worry, I didn't either. I haven't posted in a while, so here's the abstract to my essay.. maybe you'll learn something new!

Oshima-Oshima (大島), a small stratovolcano island situated 50km off the coast of Hokkaido in the Japan Sea is home to three violent volcanoes that have been dormant for approximately 1,400 years. The day of around August 18, 1741 was the awakening the central cone that spewed volcanic ash into the atmosphere blanketing the Oshima Peninsula. On August 29, 1741 the central cone had a violent eruption that is believed to have sequentially trigged an earthquake (magnitude 7.5 or higher) that caused the unstable slope of the island to collapse into a partial submarine landslide. The failure of the slope displaced the water generating a tsunami that swept along the costal regions of Northern Honshu and Hokkaido killing more than 1,475 people. The horseshoe-shaped landslide that created the tsunami swept along, and covered the coasts with sediment deposits that hypothetically were mixed with ash and ocean deposits, allowing researchers to analysis wave height.

What to Expect!

WOO, It's been a long time eh?? It has been a busy couple months with school, but It's 2011, meaning a fresh start to whole new set of blogs! Now the reasoning behind why there has been a little bit of a break is because most of my information that I blog about, is in fact course related. I didn't have school for a good month, thus the lack of information. Once I acquire course information, I use it as a foundation to brainstorm my opinions mentally, then present it in a blog.... then you know, I try to make it sound fancy and professional (which you know, I am...not).


With this being said, I have a WHOLE new course schedule, as the Winter 2011 term has recently begun. So be on the look out for topics that relate to: Earth Science, Natural Disasters and Physical Geography.... and Environmental Statistics, but I assure you I will not be blogging about stats. You can also still look out for my Environmental Sustainability blogs. Thanks for tuning in, I'll post something very soon!

The Evolution of Environmentlism

When people refer to someone as a "hippy", the initial sub-conscious reaction is the informal referral to Environmentalists. The 1960's may have been the revolution to peace-keeping, but as I personally contemplated about the "hippies" in the 60's, it was obvious to me that Environmentalists have changed significantly in terms of behaviour and action. We can now come to the conclusion is modern day "hippies" are, in fact, Environmentalists.

Now what is the difference between modern environmentalists and the environmentalists of the 1960's? It is a good question, and I will share my opinion derived from my critical thinking.

In the late 1960's, when the Baby Boomer generation ended, came a generation that were known as the Generation X. As the baby boomer generation prospered with education, and got high-paying, well respected jobs, the Generation X were left with the "McJobs" (low-paying, low-prestige that required little to no skills). The media played its role in promoting and portraying the Generation X as lazy people that show apathy and go against working in a social environment, or in some cases working in general; especially with their successful elders. The media ruined the reputation of Generation X, and labeled them as the music generation that express their sorrows though lyrics, this is where the concept of hippies was formed. This is how their extremist views of the Environment came to be, and later developing activism as a hobby.

Now, this is where the difference comes in. Traditional environmentalists (too cliche to say hippy now) were extremists, which are people who hold a extreme views on something specific, in this case the environment. Modern environmentalists are not extremists, although they hold strong views on the environment and environmental impact. This is because present day environmentalists speak out about the cause in a way to educate, and participate in a social movement, opposed to extremist where they protest against their beliefs. Today's environmentalists aren't afraid to share both sides of an environmental argument; when presenting both sides, it is more likely an issue will be resolved compared to participating in extremism.

Don't know if i shared my point clear enough, it's late ahaha!

Learned a lot of stuff about this topic from the book Generation X, and had to do an essay about it. Very comical and interesting, I recommend. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, new blog will be up soon!

Renewable Energy - Wind Energy - Brief Introduction

Renewable energy is energy that can be replaced at the same rate it is be used, and contrasts with non-renewable energy that either is not replaced by natural process, or replaced at a slower than the rate of use. A wind turbine is a renewable energy rotary innovation that generates energy from the wind. This genius piece of engineering is an amazing energy production alternative compared to burning of natural gas, and all that other dirty stuff! This alternative is CLEAN and our Earth LOVES it! If you live in Ontario, Canada the chances are the first turbine you may have seen was in Toronto at the Exhibition Place; where it was placed in the Central Business District of Toronto to signify the first URBAN-sited turbine to be constructed in North America. I feel placing a wind turbine in the CBD of Toronto really shows Canada's revolution to Clean energy! Of course this does not mean all of Canada is producing energy, but it's a great modern day monument to show Canada is innovative in the country's biggest city.


Many of the disadvantages of wind turbines are related due to physics and engineering difficulties; which shows there is no Environmental impact whatsoever, even the production of turbine itself! The Government of Ontario states: "Electricity generation  from wind farms reduces the emission of carbon dioxide by 99 percent over coal-fired electricity plants... This includes the emission created by the production of the turbines". With this being said, it is evident that this type of renewable energy keeps our atmosphere safe, and does not burden future generations with any risk. Wind generators are a great topic, and will be researched for future blogs! Great innovation if you ask me!

Global Climate Change is Natural, we're only speeding up to process

Lately on the radio I have been hearing the same announcement that there is "a truth to Global warming, and the Government does not want to tell the truth", and then it went on about how the Environment is polluting itself, and that it is just a natural occurrence. Now I only found this hysterically funny that they would advertise something like this on the RADIO? But it was very clear this was not a legitimate source of information, as we should all know by now the correct term is in fact 'Global Climate Change', not "Global Warming". My theory behind ad was since there were some sort of municipal elections in my city recently; the website they provided (which I regret not writing down) was some sort of running candidates trying to gain some votes. Hmm.. just sounds harsh and inaccurate to me.

If you live in my city, and heard such unreliable information; let me elaborate. And if you're interested to know the truth, and my knowledge on the subject; listen closely.  Global climate change is actually a natural occurrence to an extent, so the advert was in a way correct. We have been told through social media and written sources that we primarily have been the cause of the phenomenon of global climate change. There unfortunately is no misconception with that fact. Natural green house gases such as water vapor (I was surprised about that too), volcanic ash, methane (your farts), and such of similar consistency do accumulate in the atmosphere, causing that natural greenhouse effect. When we start doing the unnatural like burning natural gas, coal, oil and participating in deforestation, we begin to see the effects to our climate as our Earth does not do this in a natural cycle, it's us! Now you technically can relate overpopulation with global climate change, but I'm just focusing on the unnatural (procreation is natural if you didn't know :P) negative effects. With this being said, we are just really speeding up the Earth's natural process by bringing in the unnatural, and exposing those gas elements to our atmosphere.

What I am trying to convey is that the advertisement for whatever they were trying to prove on the radio, isn't legitimate. And the truth to the Earth global climate change phenomenon is being sped up by us. Although I understand why people may think the ad is true, because it's being said on the RADIO.... even I became curious.. but no, I know now! If we come back on the topic about the unnatural, prevention honestly can be done. I know this sounds cliche, but if everyone thinks in a pessimistic approach and has that negative mind-set thinking change is inevitable, that could very well be the outcome.