Network New York!

Network New York was organised by Carnegie Mellon for alumni, students and potential employers. It was held afterwork on a Thursday afternoon in midtown Manhattan and hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers .

The night itself was rainy, I arrived with my friend and we picked up our badges. We quickly scouted the room, then retreated to the rest rooms  to tidy up (as it was pouring rain outside) and change shoes (walking in heels in the rain is not a past-time either of us considered to be fun and our flats were now dripping wet). We then returned to the room, introduced ourselves to different groups, chatted for awhile then went and got a drink. Drink in hand, we then browsed Carnegie Mellon (and one or two other employers) stands.

I was impressed with the way that Pricewaterhouse Coopers hosted the networking event in style. They provided an extensive selection of cold beverages, delicious and innovative appetizers. The room was packed with students, alumni and a limited number of potential employers. Their catering company was discrete, helpful and professional. The food and drink, plentiful. I especially loved the plantain / friend bananas. 

Pricewaterhouse Cooper staff mingled with the attendees in a relaxed and friendly manner. They shared tips, hints, and career advice. It was a great way to spend an evening, meeting new people and discussing different academic / career backgrounds.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers New York offices (the building itself) is impressive. It is decorated a little uncreatively. I loved the white walls and glass. I loved the minimal look. It was disappointing that their advertising / creative team (who ever came up with their logo and weird plastic semi opaque banners) that overlapped to resemble it (although a cool concept) had great vision that died on the delivery.

In my opinion, it slightly resemble's Gap's new logo that was apparently pulled due to widespread social media backlash. There are hints innovation in the marketing messages but in my opinion, it didn't deliver. I must have missed the point entirely. Unlike Accenture, messages that adorn the walls and banners are not catchy / interesting / memorable / clever. Yet they are an auditing firm, not a technology consulting firm. Therefore, the differences in branding are not unsurprising.  

Carnegie Mellon held a successful network event. It was fun, informal and yet assisted students to build a stronger network. It is a great idea and I wish them the best of luck with the other events they have scheduled for the 2010 / 2011 academic year.

Location: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Cafe (lower level), 300 Madison Avenue (At East 42nd street), New York NY, 10017-6204

FUTURE ENERGY LANDSCAPE??????

I like to imagine that even a primary school student in 2010 should realize that fossil fuels are unsustainable. Realistically, I know that most people are not aware of the cost of burning fossil fuels to the environment and I soothe myself by lying to myself that if they knew...they would stop doing it. I am hopelessly naive, I know.


Jeffery Sachs says that he "doesn't blame China" for burning coal or for not making an agreement. He notes that they are not an "annex 1 country" and have "a legal right to expect annex 1 countries to take the lead". The USA, as an Annex 1 country, is obviously not doing so. But how can't you blame countries when we all are going to suffer due to their reasoning? Just because someone else doesn't take the lead, does that mean that we are justified in doing wrong? Especially if we know what we are doing is wrong? Is it just me that feels that we are still in kindergarten?

So, what is the future energy landscape? I recently attended a seminar at the Earth Institute at Columbia University that made me seriously consider this question. The speakers stressed that wind and solar are technologically possible yet not completely reliable (due to their reliance on sun and wind). Also, crude oil refineries don't only produce oil...where will we get plastics, polymers, etc? I have always considered the energy issue in terms of replacements but never thought about the value chain. We need to think of a way to use wastes as a fuel....and bio-fuel is too precious to burn! So, what can we do? 

Subsaharan africa is already paying a high price for power and due to growth, we have to opportunity to introduce green energy from the start. I grew up in Tanzania and we relied on hydroelectricity. I remember that during droughts,we not only had water shortages, but electricity ones too. Iringa was windy, really windy and cold in the dry season. They could have easily used wind power and that would not have run out. But even wind energy has a major impact on the habitats that surround it. It makes me scared when I consider that we don't have alternatives that are completely safe or viable. We need one. Or am I being too simplistic? We could combine all the alternatives. The speakers at the seminar at the Earth institute said that the knowledge is here, the barrier is "access to intellectual property rights" and adaption.


Jeffery Sachs stated that we live in a "completely incoherent climate environment". I agree. Helle Bank Jorgensen stated "children are the change agents of the future...but can we wait that long?"


See The Danish Commission on Climate Change's most recent report

THE WATER CHALLENGE

Useable water is a limited resource and demand is increasing. According to leading scientists, climate change will hit us first through water. If we consider how reliant on water the world is, this is not surprising. Paul Block discussed how "wet places will get wetter" with heavier rainfall and rising sea-levels and flooding. The dry countries will become "drier" with more severe and frequent droughts, increased deforestation and increased desertification.

Shama Perveen and Shiv Someshwar both discussed how supplies of clean drinking water and water management are already essential to development in the developing world.

Anders Baekgaard mentioned that projected shifts in H2O availability and its uncertainty need to be considered but it is not all. Scientific research, and technological analysis must also be include socioeconomic models that allow for regulatory and climate adaptation approaches.

The speakers were interesting, but they didn't tackle the real questions that I felt we could have benefited from discussing. What tangible, concrete steps or policy recommendations would they make, could the problem be solved, how much would that cost? and when could this be achieved by? I was disappointed by the lack of new stats, I was frustrated by the lack of innovative solutions or concepts, and the narrow regional / country focuses. Perhaps, I was hoping for a miracle? lol! Lets rewrite our future. Please tell me how and I will work towards making it happen. It reminds me of Someday by Nickleback.

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/videos/watch/260

Speakers: Paul Block, Anders Baekgaard, Henrik Larsen, Shiv Someshwar and Shama Perveen.

Moderator: Mariette DiChristina

NYU: International Careers with NGOs and Volunteer Organizations

"THE WORLD IS WAITING FOR YOU!"

This provocative statement blared at me from NYU's Center for Global Affairs website. It is an interesting concept that a lot of my generation buy into. But is the world waiting for anyone? I think not. I believe that is an incredibly naive and slightly narcissistic  view of global society. It is important to be part of something bigger than oneself. It is vital to get along with people and together attempt to make change. It is true that one person can transform the world but think of how much more we can achieve together?

I have always been interested in an international career. Primarily because I grew up all over the world. My parents taught me how to pack light, I taught myself how to assimilate fast, my little brother taught me to believe in values like justice, fairness, equality, hope and courage --life taught me that everything is in a constant state of change. But that that is a good thing. 

Technology evolves at a rapid rate and I am fascinated by it. New York City keeps moving and changing. News changes and events blurr. Dreams adapt. Nature moves. Hearts beat. It is pointless not to move, not to grow, not to welcome transitions. If you think of anything that remains static and unchanged....there are few examples that come to mind. Most things seem to fall apart if left alone for long enough. Water stagnates, bricks crumble...etc. Time moves. Attending the event at NYU made me realise that time doesn't stop. Age doesn't matter, happiness does and so does results. 

The career event at NYU focused on practical advice of career insiders on how they got into their careers. But times have changed. The economy has changed. I am not them. The world is out there and I can't wait for it to come for me. I have to be innovative and go out there and get it. I know what I want. A career that I can excel in. I do not want to be self employed. I enjoyed attending this event. It is preparing me for my future. Regardless, I know what I need to do next.

CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is and will effect all aspects of all our lives. It is undeniable (unless, like me you are in the USA...where the denial seems to be pervasive). It is blatantly obvious. Even if you deny science, you can see it in the shifting patterns of habitats, rainfall, floods, droughts and the increase of natural disasters, higher sea levels and extreme weather. It impacts our lives our lives because of the implications for biodiversity (loss), agriculture and food production, the increase of disease (human health), extreme weather (threat for where we live--especially if we live in coastal towns like Cork or Port au Prince).

Today, I attended an event hosted by the Columbia University Climate Center and the Consulate of Denmark titled ' Revitalizing the Debate'. The distinguished expert speakers (academics, and private/ public sector professionals) all stressed that the problem needs to be approached from a myriad of angels to be effectively tackled due to its widespread impact. They noted that humanity as a species has begun to adapt to climate change (and will continue to do so). Yet it is not enough. We need to develop strategies to cope with current and future risks. It has to be our choice and we have to decide the terms with which we will embrace this challenge efficiently.

The problem is there. The problem is growing. It is an identified risk. It is not a risk that can or should be ignored. There is always uncertainty surrounding risk. However, it is clear that Climate Change is a risk factor that is increasing. Do you really want to wait until it is a crisis before we act?

I do not. I believe that climate change can and needs to be reversed. We have the technology. People know about it. We have the capacity. We can build our resiliency to the risks involved.  So, why aren't we?



You don't need me (or an expert) to tell you that the world is at a critical crossroads. We are using the uncertainty about future projections to deny there is a problem, we are in denial that there is a cost effective solution, we are refusing to accept that we can make a lasting or useful change. We are using the uncertainty about possible projections to avoid dealing with it. If climate change was a relationship....it would be a toxic one. Humanity is like a intelligent, gorgeous, sexy, sweet, caring, funny, young woman who knows that her loser boyfriend is cheating on her sleeping with prostitutes or having one night stands, but is a stupid ostrich refusing to deal with the possible fall out or possible STDs in-case the guy comes to his senses and realizes he loves you all along (or in-case it was all a misunderstanding). Relationships don't work that way. So, why do we expect this mess to be any better?

The world has the knowledge, ability, technology, resources and capacity to raise living standards in a sustainable way. Humanity's most urgent problem is climate change. We keep trying to treat the symptoms--waste management, sustainable consumption and production, environmental degradation, pollution, and green house emissions. But we are just masking the real growing darker cancerous core that will lead to our eventual death.

There are practical solutions. A combination of adaptation, incentives, infrastructure, fundamental transformation of behaviour (institutional as well as societal).

There are good reasons for implementing the solutions. Governments can save billions (or trillions) of dollars by reducing energy waste, global security will increase (due to a reduction of tensions due to an increase of self supply of energy needs), millions of jobs can be created worldwide (both increasing government incomes and decreasing unemployment), it will improve the quality of living (health due to clearer air, water etc), and most importantly, in Ambassador Jarl Frijs-Madsen (Consul General of Denmark) words, it will "save the environment".
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An article by Poul Krugmann in The New York Times goes behind some of the economic debate and theory behind climate change. It among other things argues that reducing carbon emissions can be looked upon as a public investment project and that the costs of doing something are almost known and manageable. 
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An article written by Saba Loftus for the website Sustainableyouth outlines how youth can get involved, how I have and how you can make a difference.
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Read the Danish Commission on Climate Change's most recent report.

NYU: International Careers in the Private Sector

From Farid Bidardlel's Doesn't matter if your black or white FB Album

Last night, I attended a seminar at NYU titled "International Careers in the Private Sector". This event was organised by the Center for Global Affairs at NYU.

The Center for Global Affairs at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies educates and inspires students to become global citizens capable of identifying and implementing solutions to pressing global challenges. This popular series considers international careers in three areas: the private sector, NGOs and volunteer organizations, and U.S. government opportunities abroad. While, I am not eligible for the last one, the other two interested me and I will be attending them.

NYU's International Careers in the Private Sector evening show cased international insiders from Pret Mange, the Economist and others---who offered practical advice, dazzled and shared their real-life experiences.

I came away from the event with some key lessons that are obvious, logical yet hard to apply in real life.

1. Networking plus organisation is vital in landing my dream career.

2. Anything is possible if you play towards your strengths and passions. "You have to want to get up in the morning"

3. Flexibility and adaptability is vital.

4. Careers are no longer lineal unless you are terrified of losing what you have or have too much to lose....

The 1st point terrified me as it is difficult to build your network...but I have been learning some key lessons on how to do that since arriving in NYC. The second point is not hard for me (primarily as that is what I am doing at the moment). The third is also something I am adept at. I have always loved to challenge myself, learn new skills and remain competitive. Therefore, I have to remain flexible and adaptable. The fourth isn't really relevant to me. At the moment, I have no ties to locations and I love my family & friends but I know that they will (and can) survive without me but are there if I need them. Therefore, there is hope!