Places to See Before You Die: Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus in Turkey is one of the most impressive remains of the ancient Greek empire.
You can walk around in what is basically a small village of ancient Greek ruins, but the library is clearly the highlight of this site.
The library wall is almost complete and many details are still clearly visible.
It is an impressive site, standing tall and proud.

As you walk around, you can learn about the various aspects of ancient Greek life and society. However, be prepared for the heat. As impressive as the experience was, I could not stay there very long. Many tourists chose to buy hats to protect against the heat as you are in a very exposed place, without trees around to provide shade. With the sandstone colors, the light is reflected and the heat is multiplied.

I believe this is one of the best preserved ancient Greek ruins that remain in the world and it is a must-see.

Places to See Before You Die: Maori Culture in Rotorua, New Zealand

It was raining cats and dogs when we visited, but it was still such a wonderful experience. I would advise doing the tour on a dry day if you can as we spent quite a lot of time meandering the village, which was clearly less enjoyable as it was really pouring down.

In Rotorua you can visit a Maori village built on hot springs. They will guide you through the village and
explain the many amazing ways the Maori cohabited and respected nature. It is a unique cultural experience.

The tour shows you the small Maori village with its distinctive architecture that actually seems to have eyes. They decorate their outside walls with shells that glimmer in the dark, looking like millions of eyes looking at you. I was told this works as a type of defence mechanism to intimidate intruders and unwanted visitors. They also show your their typical dance, serving a similar purpose.

In the tour they show you the area, which is impressive in and of itself, but the most fascinating part is how they use the natural thermic activity in their daily lives. The use their local hot springs not only for bath and leisure, but even daily chores such as cooking. It is inspiring to see how they interact with their surroundings, it is a natural and a cultural experience all at once, and I think we could learn a lot from them.

Sustainable Living: Computer Customs

Believe it or not, but sometimes it is better for the environment to get the newest gadget.
Particularly for computers there is a big difference between the good old desktops with the big screens and today's laptops.

Energy consumption by half by changing your old screen for a flat screen. If you switch to a laptop, you can decrease electricity consumption with 90%!
You might cause more waste, but 90% decrease in electricity consumption on a daily basis could be worth it.

Another matter to pay attention to is the power usage. You might want to look over your computer's power management settings, as a computer in sleep mode uses 10% less energy. It's all made very easy with the power management settings which can be set to a certain delay time, e.g. 10 minutes of inaction, after which it goes to sleep.

On your laptop you can set your computer to hybernate as you close the lid. This is my personal favorite as it is fast and efficient without risking that your computer goes to sleep when you don't want it to.

And finally don't forget to turn your computer off when you are not using it!
For laptops it can even be worth pulling out the charger if you don't need it. Obviously an empty battery is a nasty surprise, but modern laptops can charge rather quickly and thereafter be unplugged to save further electricity.

Sustainable Living: Conscious Consumption

With increased awareness on sustainability issues, we are looking more closely at the things we buy. We are more and more aware of materials used in production that are harmful not only to our natural environments, but even to us humans. Bio or Eco labelling are becoming increasingly common across the globe in order to provide a more sustainable alternative. 

There are various labels and brands now that certify specific ecological or social conditions. These are very important, not just as an indicator to us as the consumer, but also as an awareness campaign amongst consumers, producers and sellers worldwide. These brands are spreading and creating a very positive influence on the various parties in production as well as the consumers.  However, that said, there are limits to these.

Firstly, there are many different brands, but most of these tend to focus on either ecological/biological issues OR social issues. While I am of the firm belief that they are interconnected and not separable, few combine the two categories. Therefore you must choose if you care about the future of our natural planet or of the people in it. This can be a difficult choice to make.

Another issue is that in order to create an official label, you will have to set official standards. Official standards must in turn have specific definitions and delimitations. If we take a specific example; just because something is marked Bio or Eco doesn't mean that no pesticides were used. The use of pesticides is clearly delimited and regulated, but still possible. This doesn't mean that we should just ignore ecological branding because it is useless anyway, but we should be aware that it is not completely pesticide-free. 

There are plenty of scientific or non-scientific literature out there discussing the pros and cons of this so I will not go further into the details of that, but suffice to say that things are complex and imperfect even if you chose all your purchases carefully after branding. There is room for improvement. However, we can still assume that the majority of the goods labelled with sustainability indicators are better from and environmental and social standpoint than the generic goods we buy.

The way I see it, the most important result of sustainability branding is awareness. Consumers are seeing a difference and given the chance to choose. Even those who are not interested in sustainability issues (though in my opinion we all should be) will be exposed to this information in they daily tasks. It might not change the behavior of those who do not particularly foster these opinions, but it creates an awareness and spread of information.

As they say of most problematic situations; recognition of the problem is the first step to recovery. 

Sustainable Living: Turning off the lights

Most of us have been told to turn off the lights when we leave the room since we were small, even if it was mostly for financial cost. However, the financial cost effectiveness of turning off the lights varies according to what type of bulb you use and the cost of electricity. We all know that different lightbulbs have different efficiencies and this will obviously impact the cost of leaving the lights on.
However, did you know that different bulbs have different operating lives? The operating life is in turn influenced by how many times the light is turned on and off; i.e. the more they are turned on and off, the shorter their lifespan.

Incandescent lights are the least effective and release approximately 10 % of their energy as light and the remaining 90% as heat. Turning the lights off is therefore extra beneficial in warm climates as it could save you some energy on the airconditioning.

Halogen lights are more efficient, but it is still best to turn these lights off when not needed as they are not as efficient as CFL or LED lights.

CFL lights are very efficient, making the financial cost calculation a bit more complicated, and should be turned off if you are leaving the room for a longer period of time (>15 minutes). As their lifespan shortens with turning on and off, you will have to buy new ones quicker, therefore spending not only more money, but also creating more waste. These lamps also tend to use a lot of energy to get started so even in this regard it is best to turn them off only if it is for longer periods of time.

The operating life of LED lighting is not affecting by on and off switching and they almost instantly reach full brightness. This is therefore the most advantageous lighting for both financial and environmental sustainability.

When in doubt, turn off the lights if you are leaving the room for more than 15 minutes. If you are a forgetful person like me, you have plenty of automated options. There are timers, motion sensors or light sensors available to enable the light to turn on or off under certain conditions.

Most importantly, switch to LED lights whenever possible.

Sustainable Living: Public Transport

The amount of energy consumed per person per km is significantly reduced if you take public transport compared to a private car. This effect is multiplied if it is a public transport vehicle using alternative fuels or electricity. In addition, it is often cheaper than owning a car. The further your daily travelling distance, the cheaper it gets. In certain countries the price will be more or less equal, but this is not taking into account the investment in acquiring a private vehicle nor the maintenance entailed. In many cases the government will subsidize public transport, making it even more profitable.

Public transportation can save 340 million gallons of fuel and 37 million metric tonns of CO2. Even those who do not use the public transportation system benefit from it as it greatly reduces congestion and therefore also travel time. Public transportation also reduces energy consumption and the general air quality.

Despite its reputation, it can actually help reduce stress. Instead of being stuck in traffic, you can use your travel time to relax, talk to a friend, read or listen to music.

 

Sustainable Living: Vegetarian Day

The amount of fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet is three times more than that of a vegetarian diet. One calorie of meat protein requires 78 calories of fossil fuel as opposed to the 2 calories of fossil fuel required to produce one calorie of protein from soy beans.

Deforestation is aggrevated by livestock production. The rainforests are especially sensitive and 55 square feet of tropical rainforest is consumer in every quarter-pound.

Meat is inefficient as 90% of protein is wasted by cycling grain through livestock. Livestock eat 80% of corn grown in the US as opposed to the 20% eaten by people. It is following Pareto's law perfectly.

Regardless of personal views or dietary preferences, it is clear that a vegetarian diet is more environmentally sustainable. However, even from a human perspective, slaughters are one of the professions with the highest turnover and a high risk of injury.

However, humans were made omnivores and many of us find it difficult to completely eradicate meat from our diets. So why not instate a vegetarian day? Start small, set one day in the week where you skip the steak. One day is not so difficult. We can all do one vegetarian day per week. It can improve our health and reduce our carbon footprint. In an age of obesity and high cholesterol, I think we could all gain from one vegetarian day per week.