Forgetting Africa

It is so easy in the wealth of our daily lives, with all of the "small" luxuries we enjoy, to forget just how hard life is for the poorest five billion people in the world.

My First Dental Filling

It finally happened, 27.5 years of no dental work, aside from cleanings and check-ups, ended with a couple fillings on my lower back teeth. For some reason my lower teeth have worn faster than my upper teeth, no one has had a good idea why yet. The best I can come up with is I drank too many sugary drinks for so long.

It's depressing, first having anything done to my teeth. Second, now it feels like I have a lump of cement on top of my teeth, however I can't "feel" it like I do my normal all real teeth. Third, enamel and dentin are two rather simple structures when it comes to the human body, we can't develop a paste or veneer sort of matrix that promotes regrowth? (They are actually working on such things around the world.) As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" and it could refer to both more bushing and eating less sugar instead of a filling, or getting a filling instead of a root canal or whole new tooth. Either way, I could do better. Less sugar, more brushing and flossing, more vegetables, and more calcium, it's a simple list, but aw with any endeavor, easier said than done.

Forestry Management: Logging and Environmental Sustainability

I work for the largest manufacturer of mechanized forestry equipment in the world.  I am also a conservationist, so much a conservationist that I call myself a tree hugger and environmentalist depending on the context. How does one reconcile the image of destructive clear cutting with that of the pristine wilderness? Well, there are a number of ways, I support the creation and protection of national parks as places where the ecosystem is relatively undisturbed, preservation land management. I also support land actively managed for productivity and sustainability. I also recognize that there are parts of my life that are currently only found through localized exploitation practices, in other words, I know where my smart phone comes from. (Read yesterday's article for more information.)

I enjoy conservation because it seems like a great use of land. We get to use the resources from the land, yet do not take so much away from it that future generations can not use it. Forests are a great example of this. On my recent trip to Canada we visited a logging site and the view behind us of the government owned hillside was a great example of conservation in action.

Example of Canadian Forestry Management

See what I mean? The tops of ridges are left intact to act as wind blocks for soil erosion so that newly planted tree saplings are not uprooted. They are also left intact so that animals have places to run and forage. The rest of the forests are cut in patch style rotations so that trees of three or more ages are in one place. For example, in the immediate foreground the trees were cut in the last week, about 200 meters away the trees were in the 10-15 year old range, and on the opposing hillside I have labels for the different areas. Seed trees are also left every 30 meters or so to help reseed the forest and act as land stabilizers as the young hand planted saplings take root. The sapling trees are all planed by hand by seasonal workers in the summer. The large seed trees left are of the type that is most productive for lumber. The smaller trees left, seen in the foreground and of varying species, were trees too small for any economic use so they were left, run over several times, but otherwise undisturbed.

When I explain the exploitation, conservation, preservation continuum to people, often people think think of one extreme or the other, but between removing every single tree and not removing any of the trees is a medium that is economically productive, on land that aside from hunting is otherwise economically unproductive. The negative aspect is that in this part of British Columbia the trees are in the neighborhood of 70 years old when they are harvested. With growing cycles that long sustainability takes on a complex meaning. It is good to know that somewhere in the world people are attempting to plan environmental practices decades into the future, and not only for the sake of recreation, but for an economic benefit, every year.

Finally, it is worth noting that increases in carbon dioxide levels and rising global temperatures will increase the rate of growth of northern (and I suppose far southern) trees. In other words, the CO2 levels have gone from about 310 ppm to 390 ppm from 1960 to 2010 so a 70 year cycle in the past might only be a 50 year cycle going forward. The negative of this is that the wood will be less dense, and thus a slightly lower quality. The positive is, there will be more wood available to harvest. In a perverse way higher CO2 levels and warmer temperatures will help the logging industry reduce the time between harvest cycles.

Clearly, forestry, and wood, paper and related products, are one tiny aspect of the global resource pool yet a complicated topic whose best practices we are still learning. In short, Canadians, nice job, it seems like you are thinking about all of these things in a proactive manner!

Preservation, Conservation, Exploitation

There is a small continuum of possible ways to use land. On the one hand is preservation, do not disturb the land at all. On the other hand is exploitation, get every little bit of value out of the land as possible. In the middle is conservation. Using the land for productive capacities, but aiming not to deplete it and thus lose one's livelihood. In graph form:

Preservation, Conservation, Exploitation

That's the spectrum of how to use land, energy, and just about all material objects. The examples I give below the line are only that, examples. I realize that calling farming "sustainable" (in quotes) may rile some readers but it is worth noting that we aren't entirely sure the century long results of our environmental impact, specifically when it comes to agriculture in the midwest United States. Also, listing Superfund sites as anything other than pure exploitation may make others angry, but the fact is many superfund sites are successfully reclaimed to nontoxic levels.

Every person has an opinion on where we should stand on average in the world. The truth is the world is finite. It is very big, and has a lot of resources to offer, and gets bombarded with more sunlight, adding energy every day, yet it is finite. I tend toward the preservation side of conservation, but I know what materials my cellphone and laptop require, which come from open pit mines and future Superfund sites, and I recognize those are a fact of our world. Yet I worry that the impact we have on Earth right now may not be realized for decades or centuries to come, and for that reason I suggest we attempt to reduce our consumption of resources and enhance our use of more renewable resources. Land use and land management, not to mention energy use and management or resource use and management, are complicated topics. No one person has all the answers. I simply want to point out there is a spectrum of opinion and use of land, energy, and resources and with a continually growing global population more tough choices will be demanded in the future. For your own good, and the health of us all, think about this now in your own life before someone else makes the choices for you.

I Live in Iowa: Week 131

A busy week it was! It started with Sunday, and while a "standard" Sunday for me it was, it included a 51 mile bicycle ride. Bicycling is so easy, you sit down 99% of the time. I mean I can go out and ride for three and a half hours, and the next day not be very tired from it. Maybe that speaks to my fitness, but compared to running, it doesn't take nearly the effort for me.

Monday started well before daylight, picking up a coworker for the drive to Madison, WI. Then we flew to Denver, CO, another flight to Spokane, WA, drove through Idaho to Canada, and ended our journey well after dark in Cranbrook, British Columbia. The trip took around 14 hours total, and we had little downtime between segments.

Tuesday started with breakfast and coffee at Tim Hortons and a day at the dealership fixing the problem we were sent to Canada to fix. I would show pictures because I'm pretty happy with what we did, but that is definitely not my own personal intellectual property, but my company's so I won't. We also had a chance to get out in the field and see some machines operating. My fourth time in the field but my coworker's first. It's always good to get another engineer out into the field to see how our equipment is used.

Wednesday was more time at the dealership finishing fixing the first problem and fixing a second problem. Ultimately we documented 24 "issues" with our prototype that we took back to the office. That night we drove back to Spokane, hoping to catch an early flight. We stopped for great steak at Lou's in Ponderay, which I highly recommend, if for no other reason than to see a building made largely with beetle kill wood. I also had the chance Wednesday night to see two of my friends from Dubuque that moved to Spokane. It's so nice to see friends after moving away. People grow and change, and often it's surprising, and usually for the better.

Thursday, the early flights were full so we slept in and took a quick tour of Spokane before a flight and working on our five page trip report for an hour and a half in the Denver airport.

Spokane, with a Hydroelectric Plant on the Right

Friday I was into the office for a ultimately tiring seven hours before a 21 mile bicycle ride. Four hours of sleep is not enough for me. However, we sent out our trip report to our engineering team and I felt very good about that. Not everybody who travels sends out a report, but I feel that as the company pays thousands of dollars for us to travel to these far away places it is my duty to put together a few pages so that those who do not travel can have a glimpse of our products in action.

Saturday was leisurely, beginning with 12 hours of sleep, but did include a few pitches of rock climbing, a two mile run, and a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings. It's only the third time I was out rock climbing in 2013 and my right leg is healing, slowly but it is healing. A busy week, and a good productive week. I am so blessed!

Happy Veterans Day!

We Improved the World

It's late, but it's a weekday so I will post, this week, we improved the world. Actual problems were fixed. Communication was improved. These things happened in a measurable way. 

The feeling of a concrete problem solved is so rewarding. The feeling trumps any material possession gained. You can't eat and drink your way there. 

This week we, certainly not just I, made the world a little better. Whatever happens next week, this week we had success.

Traveling is Tiring

Enough said.