TED Community » Jericho Jak

More About Me

I'm passionate about

eliminating our environmental impact, and empowering the poor and disadvantaged.

An idea worth spreading

According to psychological scientists at Harvard and U of Minnesota, being "in awe" expands your perception of time. In other words, you can live a longer life just by being inspired each day.

Talk to me about

environmental engineering, air pollution, air quality control

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.40 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Environmental engineers: do they do more for the environment than help solve our waste/water problems?

  Mar 12 2013: This is a great response posted by Nick Jeffries to a similar post on Quora:
  
  "I started working as an environmental engineer in the winter of 1999 walking down a river in the south of England, recording and commenting on structures and characteristics that related to and might affect flooding.
  
  There followed an approximate 4 year, mainly office based, period of design, detailing, specifying, impact assessments and other, what seemed at the time, quite dull activities. In retrospect one can appreciate, that necessary period was to allow the language, attitude and processes of engineering to be absorbed and become second nature. This successful completion of this training period was formalized through the award of a professional Chartership with an engineering Institution .
  
  Since then my craft has allowed me to:
  
  - Manage a village and infrastructure reconstruction program in Northern Afghanistan
  - Set up an engineering department for an NGO in tsunami-affected Indonesia
  - Design Uganda's National Aquaculture research and development centre
  - Construction manage a 5-island infrastructure improvement works in the Maldives
  - Design a fish landing site in Yemen
  - Set up and manage an Indian Ocean regional engineering office in Sri Lanka
  - Travel extensively around East Africa conducting needs assessments for new rural water supplies
  - Provide technical oversight for schools and infrastructure rehabilitation in the Middle East
  - Assist in the development of new low cost solar irrigation pumps in Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.
  
  In summary, environmental engineering requires structured thinking, a cautious professional attitude and an inquisitiveness for and knowledge of different techniques and technical solutions. All of this is in the context of the environment i.e. the world we live in. The only real limit to how you can apply the craft of environmental engineering, is your imagination. What do you want to do?"

• A reply on Conversation: Environmental engineers: do they do more for the environment than help solve our waste/water problems?

  Mar 12 2013: Robert, thanks for your response. I have seen those websites, but they offer mostly vague generalizations. I was hoping for more specific, real-life responses.
  
  For example, I have no doubt that environmental engineers are 'involved' in green energy but, from what I've seen, they are involved only tangentially (measuring the environmental impact of hydroelectric dams, which goes back to water issues), while the actual development of green energy resources is done by chemical engineers.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What is the solution to the phenomenon of divorce.

  Mar 7 2013: I somehow disagree with Pabrita and agree with Kate.
  
  I disagree with Pabrita, because I don't think the institution of marriage itself is the problem. Yes, it has many flaws. Marriage rests on a historical foundation of ownership and transferal of property. There are high divorce rates, especially when women are able to leave a marriage that isn't working for them. And there is the U.S. controversy where right-wing conservatives define marriage in a way that disenfranchises the GLBT community.
  
  But these flaws do not belong to the institution of marriage, they belong to us, the people who wield it. Speaking from a U.S.-perspective, marriage has improved significantly throughout our history - we now can have interracial marriages, women can leave unhealthy marriages, and in some states, GLBT people can also marry. We have decades (maybe even centuries) of research and wisdom to help strengthen our relationships. WIth these tools, even relationships that suffer massive betrayals can survive and grow into healthy relationships.
  
  I agree with Pabritas in that the best solution is to not get married; at least, not until you're ready. Many couples who end in divorce (especially Kate's 65%) married before the age of 25, before they had the emotional maturity to handle the responsibilities of marriage. Many approach marriage as a way to force their partner to commit, or some other insecurity. Probably more in the spirit of Kate's comment, you can have a relationship that is just as legitimate and committed without jumping through the political/religious/social hoop that is marriage.
  
  The solution to divorce isn't eliminating marriage, it's correcting our approach to marriage. We need to teach the next generation to hold off on marriage until they are ready for it, and to marry for the right reasons. And we need to teach them that when they run into those inevitable problems of marriage, to try to resolve them using all available tools *before* resorting to divorce.
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  A comment on Conversation: What is the most important thing you've learned on your own?

  Mar 7 2013: I learned (from an Anthony Robbins self-help book, no less) to identify my core values and to hold myself to them. Guiding myself by those values made working through the most difficult problems so much easier - not necessarily easy, but easier. When I look back on my history of decision making, the only regrets I've had are when I didn't stick to those values.