Sasha on the Street

Is it going to rain today? You can usually look outside and tell if it might rain. There is something about the air, it’s heavy, it’s moist, it almost feels electric. But will it rain tomorrow? The next day? How about a week from now?

Isn’t that how you build a case? You load it with proven fact

Our ability to predict the weather, actually our ability to predict almost anything long-term, is feeble at best. I just finished Dan Gardner’s Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail – and Why We Believe Them Anyway and it was loaded with information and statistics about how our predictions about the stock market, housing values, human demographics … pretty much anything and everything, fail. Most of the time we would be as successful if we flipped a coin when making these decisions.

Towards the end of the book Gardner starts discussing climate change, a favourite topic of mine. Gardner believes in climate change but he is skeptical of the climate models to forecast changes in our climate years, decades or centuries out.

“Climate scientists are quite blunt that there is lots about climate that science does not understand, which is precisely why scientists find the field exciting to work in. Combine that ignorance with the almost indescribably complex interactions at work in the massive, non-linear systems that make up climate and there are huge uncertainties woven into every climate prediction. … These models may overestimate the extent of climate change and the damage it does. But the may also underestimate it…”

But even if science is underestimating climate change there are still some other benefits to doing projects that lower ones carbon footprint. Gardner argues the economics, social and environmental cost of carbon accounting schemes. ‘Carbon sequestration’ (pumping CO2 into the ground) will be a waste of money if our climate predictions do not pan out. But he argues the opposite case for methane capture off landfills – it’s win-win-win. Economically you make/save money by capturing a resource naturally emitted from a landfill. Socially, the harmful methane is captured from our atmosphere and has decreases our negative health impacts. And environmentally one reuses a gas that would otherwise be harmful to the atmosphere for electricity production.

Carbon taxes actually have a similar effect, or they can. Raise the carbon tax and cut other taxes. Under this scheme one then also raises the “effective price of fossil fuels thus making alternative energy more competitive.” Europe got it right. After the price crash of oil in the mid-80’s Europe decided to keep fuel prices artificially high with taxes. Thus research and development in conservation and alternative fuels continued. And what do we see today? Alternative energy in Europe is competitive, and they now rely on it and have to rely less on fossil fuels.

I enjoyed Gardner’s book. At times it was a little overwhelming with the amount of data he presented debunking our science of predictions, but again that was the point. He wanted to hammer the point home that we cannot make predictions about our future. The future is chaotic, non-liner … unpredictable, and as a scientist/engineer I find that exciting.

This summer I had an awesome time participating in the triathlon and duathlon series with MultiSport Canada, The Recharge with Milk Triathlon Series.

I wrote an article for them on Responsible Snacking and it was published in their October Newsletter (you have to scroll down to see my article). Here's what I wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m Sasha, and I’m a snack-a-holic. Isn’t admitting you have a problem the first step to recovery? But why does snacking have to be a problem? Snacking is not a problem when you snack ‘responsibly.’

I’m known as a ‘grazer,’ I eat several, small meals a day and I try to eat a variety of foods. From fruits and vegetables, to grains, proteins and fats I always make sure that I different foods to ensure I get all the vitamins and nutrients I need in my diet.

I do have somewhat of a traditional meal habit. I will eat oatmeal or red river cereal for breakfast. At lunch I usually have a salad with protein. And dinner is fairly conventional, from meat, to fish, to pasta, whatever I may be craving or depending on how lazy I am! And while my main meals are well balanced it’s the snacking where I really get my balance of the vitamins and nutrients I need. During the day I usually have 1 morning snack and 2-3 afternoon snacks depending on my activity load that morning and night.

Here are some of my recommendations for snacking:

• Pick fruits and vegetables that are filled with water: The more water it contains the fuller you will feel; apples, oranges, watermelon, celery, cucumber, etc. Try and choose fruits and veggies that are in season and have a lower amount of sugar. And I usually try to pick fresh over dried.
• Have some yogurt and fruit: Calcium promotes strong bones. Yogurt is an excellent way to get a quick boost of calcium each day. Instead of buying pre-mixed yogurt full of sugar or aspartame choose a plain yogurt and add some fresh or frozen fruit. If it is still not sweet enough for you add a dash of maple syrup!
• Make a smoothie: I have moved my magic bullet into the office kitchen. I keep the cups at home and everyday I fill them with what I want in my smoothie. My favourite smoothie these days is a banana, spinach, mint, vanilla almond milk and protein powder mix. SPINACH?!?! Try it sometime. Once minced up in your smoothie you do not notice the taste and you have added a full serving of green leafy vegetables to your day.

I keep other ‘snacks’ in my office in case of hunger attack emergency. In my snack drawer you’ll find a box of Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats, some sesame snaps and granola bars. I know that if I run out of my ‘fresher’ snacks from the day that I have some backup.

And while my calorie intake is probably higher than the average person I know that I also burn more calories than the average person. Weight gain or loss is simple, it depends on the amount of calories from food in and amount of calories burned throughout the day out. Therefore the more you exercise, the more calories you burn, the more calories you will need to intake. BUT, it’s about making responsible choices for those calories you consume.

I posted a new recipe this morning for Kale Chips. They are light, crispy and salty, just like regular chips, but they have way less fat, fewer calories and you can make whatever flavour you like!