Category: Personal thoughts

Thoughts that I am willing to share with others.

Posted on

Air Pollution

When one lives in a rural area in Norway, one sees people cutting down trees for firewood. It is almost the end of the heating season, but many people still have wood stoves for heating their homes. Those who cut down trees themselves are often out at this time of year to get the wood necessary for the next heating season. Personally I am very glad that we have cut out burning wood inside our house. We’ve removed one old wood stove from our living room. No more bad air there.

I have read quite a bit in recent years about climate change and what we have done right and what still has to be done. I’d like to quote Bjørn H. Samset who writes in The Climate Book (published by Allen Lane in 2022):

“If you light a bonfire and look towards the sky, you will see a rising column of smoke. Spreading upwards and outwards, it twirls and thins until it fades to invisibility. But it’s not gone. Smoke particles – one example of what we call aerosols – can remain airborne for days, and in that time they can travel both far afield and high up in the atmosphere. And while there, they have a strong effect on both the weather and the climate.” (page 57)

Picture taken in Straumen, Inderøy, on 2024.04.03 at 18:55. Smoke stack from a wood-chip burning, central heating system at the busiest intersection in Straumen, our local municipal center.

If I am out walking, I can smell when my neighbors are heating their homes with a wood fire. A lot of the electricity in Norway is made with hydro power and some is made with wind. Neither of these types of energy production pollutes the air, though there may be other disadvantages. In this blog, I’m wanting to mainly focus on air pollution. With the rise of electricity prices in the last year or so, heating homes with wood has again became popular, as people are trying to reduce the cost of heating their homes. Their electricity bill might be lower, but is burning wood a good alternative to using electricity produced by water or air power? Electricity can be used for heating, either using space heaters or a heat pump.

If we look at historical methods of creating energy, burning wood is one of the oldest methods. Open fires inside homes for cooking food was still common in the 19th century. Baking ovens were used, but meat was usually cooked in large fireplaces over an open fire (i.e. roasted). In countries like England, wood became a scarce resource as trees were cut down and not replaced. The discovery of coal made possible the transition to burning coal instead of wood. But coal also pollutes the air when burned and was one of the causes of very bad air in London, England during the 19th century.

When I was small we had a furnace in our house that burned coal in a closed stove in the basement and sent heated air throughout the house. There was a storage space for coal inside the basement. Coal is very dirty to handle and there was an automatic feeder to get the coal into the furnace. This was replaced, probably in about 1966, with a natural gas furnace.

The house I grew up in was built in the 1920s and at that time, the City of Vancouver was piping natural gas to new housing as a cleaner alternative to coal or sawdust. As far back as I can remember, we had a gas stove and oven in the kitchen when I was a child. There was a constant flame, a pilot light, which then lit the burner that one wanted to use. As I think about this now, I am surprised that people accepted an open flame in the kitchen. Though gas is a cleaner burning fuel than either wood or coal, it is still a fossil fuel that creates air pollution.

I have always had a sniffy nose and though I now think of it as primarily a reaction to pollen. As I have been writing this, I have been wondering how much my physical development as a child was affected by the burning of “dirty” fuels in my home. When I was about 10 years old, I suffered a lot from constant coughing. Was it indoor air pollution, or pollen from the fruit trees in our yard?

Looking at Our World in Data, they separate air pollution in two categories, indoor and outdoor. Let’s look at some of the information that they have on these two categories.

Indoor Air Pollution

“Indoor air pollution is caused by burning solid fuel sources – such as firewood, crop waste, and dung – for cooking and heating. Burning such fuels, particularly in poor households, results in air pollution that leads to respiratory diseases, which can result in premature death. The WHO calls indoor air pollution “the world’s largest single environmental health risk.” (from OWID)

Note that indoor air pollution primarily comes from cooking and heating, and its severity would depend on what was actually being burned and how good the ventilation was. There is a distinction between solid fuels, such as dung, wood, charcoal, and coal, and non-solid fuels, such as kerosene, methanol, natural gas and electricity. Access to clean cooking fuels, such as electricity, improve as a family’s income improves and as the standards within a country improve. I see this also in my childhood, where heating was first coal, then natural gas, and cooking was natural gas, then electricity. The change came about as my parents were able to afford a better standard of living in the 1960s than in the early 1950s.

Looking at the charts available at Our World in Data, Europe and North America come out with the least indoor pollution as here there is better access to clean cooking and heating fuels. If you find looking at charts interesting, I suggest you go browse their website.

Outdoor Air Pollution

According to Our World in Data, outdoor air pollution is one of the world’s largest health and environmental problems. Outdoor air pollution is a risk factor for several of the world’s leading causes of death, including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Is the rise of asthma in European and North American countries attributable to worsening outdoor air pollution? I don’t know the answer, but I imagine there is a connection.

Some of the sources of outdoor air pollution can be:

  • industrial plants that put pollutants in the air
  • burning solid fuels to make electricity
  • vehicles that burn gasoline or diesel
  • wild fires which put a lot of small particles in the air

Many air pollutants contribute to the small particles that float in the air. As we age, our exposure to these types of pollutants accumulate and can affect our health. At the moment I live in an area with relatively low air pollution, so that most of the year I enjoy sleeping with a window open so that I get fresh air while I’m sleeping.

However, there are three types of outdoor air pollution that still affect me.

  • Wood smoke, or the burning of dry grass or refuse. Both of these can be common in a rural area in Norway. In winter, there are people heating their homes with wood fires. In spring, dry grass or garden refuse may be burnt so that it disappears. In summer, there is the burning of charcoal in grills, by people who think that this is a great way to prepare food outdoors.
  • Gases from animal manure, particularly as it is being spread on the fields near me. The older technique was spraying the manure in the air so that it spread over a wide area. This technique was terribly polluting and created bad air for several days, until the field was either plowed or it rained heavily. Fortunately, farmers here have learned new techniques with new equipment, whereby the liquid manure is forced into the ground rather than up in the air. Now there is much less of a smell of manure which I’m sure also means that there is less pollution from it.
  • Pollen, from flowers and trees, can also affect me. I don’t react to everything and how much pollen there is in the air will vary from day to day. Some years can be quite bad and other years I am affected a lot less. Many people have it a lot worse than myself. However I have stopped drying clothes outdoors so that I don’t get pollen on my clothes. Filters on ventilation systems can also improve air quality indoors.

Conclusion

I grew up in a house built about 1926 so the standards that were relevant at that time, have hopefully been improved by 2024. In fact, I have read that Vancouver is no longer allowing natural gas installations in new housing. Heating with coal and cooking with gas should be replaced with cleaner fuels.

I live in a house which was built in 1963 and we have improved it since then. There is more insulation now and better windows with three layers of glass so that we use much less electricity to heat the house now than we did even 10 years ago. We also use electricity to cook, using an induction stove top which uses electricity much more efficiently than older styles of cook tops.

Even though I live in an area with little air pollution, either indoors or outdoors, I can still have problems. How much of my problem is a result of pollution in my childhood I will never know, but I do think it is a possibility. However, every individual has to adapt their living conditions to their own sensitivity to air pollution. Parents also have a responsibility for giving their children a good environment to grow up in. For myself, living in a rural area helps, and getting rid of local polluting devices, such as a wood stove and a diesel car, have improved my living conditions.

Posted on

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

This non-fiction book tries to explain how poverty exists in the USA and why the number of people living in poverty does not decrease. It was published by Crown/Random House in March 2023. My daughter read this book and recommended it to others. It is a topic that I find interesting, though disturbing.

Poverty, as I define it, is not having enough money to have a decent life standard. By that I mean being able to afford sufficient food, a roof over one’s head (and one’s family’s heads), and the regular costs of staying alive, such as energy and clothing. If you live below the poverty line, you do not have enough money to do the above and something gets left out of the equation.

During my life I have had different levels of income. I grew up in a middle class family with one parent working for wages. We did not have a lot of money, but there was summer camp for me, music lessons for both my sister and I and holidays away from home. There was never a lack of food, and my parents owned the house that we lived in.

When I started living on my own, I worked in a shoe store and had a very low wage, but I wanted an apartment of my own, which cost me half of the money I earned. Thankfully, after a couple of months my wages went up and I had a bit more money for food and activities. But my first furniture was all taken from my parents’ home. I did not think of myself as poor, but I would have been on the threshold. Over the years I got better paid jobs, partly because I took more education at night school. One reason for me getting more education was seeing 50-year old women getting paid the same wages as me, that is minimum wage, and knowing that I should be able to do better for myself.

When my husband and I moved to Norway, we had to live very cheaply as we had no regular income. We lived on love and my ability to make the little money that we had stretch to cover house rent, food and electricity bills. There was no telephone or car the first five years of our life in Norway.

However, after a while, as we got more education in Norway and learned the language, we were able to get jobs that paid a living wage. When our two children were young, we did not have a lot to live on, but an inheritance allowed us to buy a house and with steadfastness and patience we now have a good life as retired people.

Many people may have periods in their lives when they are relatively poor, for example when studying full-time or when children are small and one parent is looking after them. However, this book by Matthew Desmond puts the light on how many people in the USA are systematically kept poor in spite of political efforts to reduce poverty. It can be a very disturbing book to read as it shows how everyone in the country contributes to keeping the poor poor. I was never poor like the examples that the author gives.

Organization of the Book

The book starts with a prologue, has 9 chapters and an epilogue. My summary is meant to show you what the book includes and I would encourage you to read the book and understand the examples that the author uses. He uses examples from different areas of the USA and makes comments about how things are different in other countries, especially European countries which have much lower poverty rates. I recently read a letter in the Norwegian national newspaper where the author was wanting us to think about who was actually paying for the “cheap” t-shirt one could buy. She too was concerned about poverty and those not making a decent income.

Chapter 1: The Kind of Problem Poverty Is – In this chapter, the author explains what poverty is for those who experience it – getting evicted from your apartment, not having enough food for three meals a day, not being able to pay the bills, etc. If you’ve never experienced real poverty, this chapter can be an eye-opener for how others experience life.

Chapter 2: Why Haven’t We Made More Progress? – Why does poverty continue to exist in the USA, in spite of attempts to lessen it. What has worked? What hasn’t worked over the decades? Why does a rich country like the USA have so many millions of its citizens still in poverty? Other countries have a much lower percent of their populations experiencing poverty.

Chapter 3: How We Undercut Workers – When we buy cheap goods, somebody has been paying for us to get it cheap. Many workers are grossly underpaid. Even working full-time may not give a person, or their family, enough to live on. Minimum wage may not be enough to live on. We all need to think about how we contribute to this problem by wanting to buy cheap things.

Chapter 4: How We Force the Poor to Pay More – From expensive rental housing to exorbitant interest rates on pay-day loans, the poor are forced to use a lot of their low wages just to get from pay-day to pay-day. Hopefully you have never had to experience this sort of exploitation, but it exists everywhere. The rich get richer by stealing from the poor.

Chapter 5: How We Rely on Welfare – I found this a very interesting chapter as the author shows how the rich take advantage of government handouts, which are often called “welfare” when given to the poor. But the government also gives welfare benefits to the middle class and wealthy people with things such as tax deductions for interest payments on mortgages. Tax avoidance and tax breaks, primarily used by the rich, is a type of welfare as the government “gives” money to the rich. It also reduces the amount of funds that governments have to create buffer programs for the poor and for upholding the infrastructure of the country. There were some very interesting examples in this chapter.

Chapter 6: How We Buy Opportunity – As mentioned above, I may have had periods in my life where I was relatively poor, but it was always a very temporary situation and most of my life I have had a middle class life. The author explains in this chapter how this works, or doesn’t work for the poor.

Chapter 7: Invest in Ending Poverty – The author does not think that it would actually take that much to end poverty, especially the type of poverty that people can never get out of. He shows where the money could come from and how it could be used.

Chapter 8: Empower the Poor – This chapter gives examples on what could be done to help the poor have a better life, including having better health and better education for children.

Chapter 9: Tear Down the Walls – Integration between the different levels of income would benefit everyone. However, many want to build walls around themselves to keep the less fortunate out. The author would like us to tear down these walls and gives examples of how this can be done. I have read other books which confirm that large differences in incomes is detrimental for everyone, both rich and poor.

My thoughts on poverty

I recently read a book about the rich, Limitarianism, so this book was a good contrast by looking at the opposite end of the income scale. There have been many suggestions as to how to end poverty over the decades. First of all, the poor need sufficient money to get out. Many have suggested a minimum monthly allowance that allows people to have an apartment, have sufficient food to eat, have healthcare and schooling. Living in Norway, where there is a welfare system that tries to do this, has given me insights in how much of poverty can be avoided. People that have a regular income from the government, in spite of poor health, will usually use most of their income and the money keeps circulating (which is what keeps the economy going).

I feel lucky to have lived in Norway for over 40 years as in Norway, people have a health care system that covers everyone. Though dental care for adults is not covered, it is for children. Getting the health care that is necessary, improves one’s life, especially if one has any long-term illnesses. Poor health as a child usually means that the child does not get a good education and therefore does not get a good job.

In Norway, schooling, even at university level, does not charge large fees. So to get an education, one may have to pay for school books and other supplies, but the tuition is mostly free. The key to getting a decent job is getting an education, whether it is a hands-on job such as carpentry or plumbing, or an academic job such as teacher or doctor. Though many people may be poor while they get this education, and one may have periods of one’s life where it is difficult to make ends meet, the chances of getting out of poverty are good.

Who are the poor in Norway? Young people that are studying. Immigrants that don’t have the knowledge skills to get a job that pays well. Those who have health problems, both physical and mental problems. Those who have problems getting a full-time, well-paid job because they are looking after children. Those who have not been able to get an adequate education. So, yes, there are poor in Norway, but for some it will be a temporary stage of their life. For others, there is at least a system that will help most of them live a reasonable life, even if they cannot afford many extras.

The last year or so in Norway, prices have risen immensely and this affects the poor the hardest. Headlines about families needing food hand-outs from volunteer organizations is the most distressing for me to read about. It means that those at the lowest income levels are getting trapped into poverty by a society that doesn’t care enough about them. Governments are usually run by the relatively rich and they don’t understand how the poorest people have economic problems. Things have to change so that those who have the lowest incomes do not starve or are taken advantage of. There will always be differences in income, but those at the lowest level should be able to make ends meet.

I would like you to think about your interaction with the poor. How much do you support a society that systematically underpays many of its workers? What could you change in your life? What do you buy? Who do you vote for? What volunteer organizations do you support? All of these can make differences in other people’s lives. We do not need to support the rich who take advantage of all the rest of us. I hope you reflect on this problem in our world today.

Posted on

Earthstorm

I am fascinated by the weather and particularly extreme weather. I have watched this series of four episodes from 2022 on Netflix and recommend it to others. Our climate is changing, no matter where we live. In most places, weather is becoming more extreme than it used to be. Those that get a lot of rain may be getting a lot more. Those in dry areas may be experiencing longer droughts. Everywhere the air is on average warmer and the oceans are becoming warmer as well. These changes affect plants, animals, humans and our daily weather.

Taken on 2015.08.11 on the road between Straumen and Vangshylla in Inderøy, Norway. One can see rain showers in the distance but it was the storm front that was unusually clear as it moved in over Inderøy.

We have to accept the weather we get and there is little we can do to change what we get on a day-to-day basis. However we have to build infrastructure and housing that can withstand more extreme weather happenings. In Norway, these extreme events bring floods, rock slides and avalanches. Some areas are also experiencing drought that is bad enough to affect crops. We can have bad storms that rip roofs off buildings and floods that damage housing areas. So these increases in extreme weather affect us here. Thankfully, our house sits on rock and so far as withstood the weather that has been thrown at it.

This documentary series is very obviously American, and focuses primarily on what happens in the United States of America. The one exception is the episode about volcanoes, as there have not been any recent volcanic eruptions in the USA. One thing I did like about the series was how they interviewed people who had experienced the bad events but had survived. I felt that one of the purposes of the series was to show how these events affect people and the extent of the damage that was done.

Episode 1 – Tornado

We follow storm chasers as they try to document various tornadoes. There is an explanation of how tornadoes are formed and where in the USA they are primarily found. There are hundreds of tornadoes during the tornado season, but very few last very long, or are very large. However we did see the damage with one very large tornado that destroyed a large area housing area.

Included in this episode is some advice for those who live in tornado areas. Usually there will come general warnings, but where a tornado will hit can be difficult to predict. The winds in a tornado are very strong and one needs to protect oneself from flying debris and being trapped in a collapsed building. Everyone needs a “safe zone” where they can seek refuge if a tornado is headed their way.

Episode 2 – Volcano

This episode visited four locations, none of which were in the USA. They explained the different levels of explosivity and we started with the lowest one and ended with the most explosive one. Locations include Iceland, the Canary Islands, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The volcano they looked at in Iceland was a tourist attraction and at the time of recording did not affect human habitations, however in January 2024 a new eruption in a nearby area affected the town of Grindvik and there was another eruption on the 16th of March.

The volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands destroyed a lot of housing, though I don’t think there was any life lost. Evacuation was successful, but many lost everything to the lava flows. I remember seeing pictures of this volcanic eruption at the time it happened and feeling very sorry for those affected.

The volcanoes in Nicaragua and Guatemala affected a lot of people. Volcanic soil is very good for agriculture and in many countries people live very close to the volcanoes. This is fine until the volcano erupts and ruins everything in the path of the lava flows. These volcanoes have the highest explosivity, which means that you cannot outrun the ash flows and they cause the most deaths.

Episode 3 – Earthquake

This episode was primarily about Los Angeles in California and various places in Japan. There are many other places in the world that experience earthquakes, often with very fatal consequences. Earthquakes are very difficult to predict. Though where they will occur is known, it is difficult to know when. The recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland have been preceded by small earthquakes, so the occurrence of earthquakes can help predict volcanic eruptions.

One consequence of earthquakes is the production of tsunamis, large waves that can travel long distances over the ocean. Often it is the tsunami which is the killer, rather than the earthquake itself. When one looks at the pictures of the tsunami waves, one sees the destructive power of water.

Japan has done a lot to improve building standards, so that buildings do not collapse during an earthquake. I grew up in an area that had earthquakes every now and then, though none that I experienced every did more than shake the building and I never experienced any damage.

Episode 4 – Hurricane

This episode was about Hurricane Ida in 2021 which created a lot of damage in Louisiana in the USA. The storm continued for several days as it headed north creating a trail of damage. We see two storm chasers and their experiences during the storm and their efforts to document what actually happens during a hurricane. We also saw a lot of the damage that was done during the storm.

Hurricanes are usually predicted up to several days in advance so that people can either evacuate or find safe places to sit out the storm. However the storms are getting stronger and more often. More places are being damaged and lives are often lost.

My conclusion

Watching documentaries like this make me think about the safety of where I live. In the past we have experienced hurricanes here and our house has survived without any major damage. We recently watched a film about the bad flooding in England in 1953 where most people did not realize that there was bad weather out in the North Sea. Thankfully, weather forecasting has improved a lot in the last decade, so that when a major storm is expected, one can at least be prepared for the storm. In the summer of 2023, “Hans” created a lot of damage in southern Norway, flooding areas that weren’t used to being flooded. In January 2024, a storm in our area took the roof off a building on a farm not that far from us.

It is important that people have housing that tolerates the new types of weather we are going to get. We have to be prepared to be without electricity for up to several days. We have to keep a supply of food in the house so that one doesn’t have to go to a food store every day.

We all have to be prepared for extreme weather events. Where we live will determine what type of extremes we will experience. It is important to know the dangers and how to protect oneself during these types of events.

Posted on

“Not the End of the World” by Hannah Ritchie

Subtitle: “How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet”, published by Chatto & Windus, London, 2024

This is a newly published book and my husband read it first. He gave me all sorts of interesting information from the book as he was reading it, so I decided to read it myself. It has taking me a while to read it, as I find the author is a bit wordy, though interesting to read. Her message is that the problems that the world faces are not hopeless and that lots is going well with the world. Reading the media can be discouraging as they want to publish sensational stories, rather than the facts. But there is still lots going right and more to do.

The book is composed of an Introduction, 8 Chapters and a Conclusion.

Introduction

Hannah Ritchie is a relatively young person born in 1994 and she feels that she grew up in a media environment that tells “kids that they are going to die from climate change”. It might be a heat wave, a wildfire, a hurricane, a flood or mass starvation. This has created a great deal of anxiety. Young people are hesitant to have children. Many feel helpless, but the author wants to use this book to show that things are not as bad you might think. We haven’t solved all of the problems, but many things are better than they used to be.

She credits much of her change of mind to watching a television show with the Swede, Hans Rosling, showing how the world has gotten healthier and healthier. I wrote a bit about Hans Rosling in my blog, Gapminder, Hans Rosling was very concerned about how much of what we think we know about the world is actually wrong. With this new information, Hannah Ritchie changed the way she thinks about the state of the world and this book is a result of that change of thinking.

Hannah Ritchie is Head of Research at Our World in Data which is based at the University of Oxford, England. She feels that her job is to make use of what we already know, get that information out to the public and help people realize that things are not as bad as we might think. The world needs optimism in order to work with the problems that are facing us today. To do this, we need to know what is going right and what we need to work on next. She feels that “we can be the first generation to achieve a sustainable world”.

She has 6 things she would like us to keep in mind:

  • 1 We face big and important environmental challenges
  • 2 The fact that our environmental issues aren’t humanity’s largest existential risk doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work on them
  • 3 You will have to hold multiple thoughts at the same time
  • 4 Non of this is inevitable, but it is possible
  • 5 We cannot afford to be complacent
  • 6 You are not alone in this.

Hannah Ritchie is very concerned about “how we got to now”, “where we are today”, what to do next and “things to stress less about”. Each chapter takes up one problem, and I’m going to give you a very brief summary of the main points of each chapter. If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the book yourself.

Chapter 1 Sustainability – A tale of two halves

First of all the author maintains that the world has never been sustainable, and then she goes on to define what sustainable means: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The author believes that both halves of this definition ( the present … the future) have never been satisfied at the same time, except in very small groups of people.

About the present, she writes that “there is no better time to be alive than today,” and lists 7 things that have been greatly improved in recent years:

  • child mortality is lower
  • fewer mothers die in childbirth
  • life expectancy has increased
  • there is much less hunger and malnutrition
  • access to clean water, energy and sanitation has improved
  • more children get basic education
  • extreme poverty has been reduced.

However when writing about future generations she writes that there are seven areas that we need to work on and these seven topics comprise the remaining chapters in the book.

  • air pollution
  • climate change
  • deforestation
  • food production
  • biodiversity loss
  • ocean plastics
  • over-fishing.

Chapter 2 Air Pollution – Breathing clean air

Many places in the world still have very poor air quality and there are lots of historical examples of cities and industrial areas with air so polluted that it was difficult to breathe. Air pollution, in general, is caused by burning things, which generates small particles in the air. Over the centuries we have burned different things to provide heat, light and energy, but the main ones have been wood, coal, crops, oil or gas.

There are many examples of how air pollution has been tackled and the battle has been won. London’s air is much cleaner than it was a hundred years ago. Acid rain, which I remember as a big problem in Norway in the 1980s is no longer a major problem. In the 1970s there were holes in the ozone layer that was causing great concern, and there was international agreement to fix the problem.

Air pollution is falling in many places but there are still millions that die from air pollution every year. What do we need to get air pollution even lower?

  • Give everyone access to clean cooking fuels
  • End winter crop-burning
  • Remove sulphur from fossil fuels
  • Drive less; cycle, walk and take public transport
  • Ditch fossil fuels for renewables and nuclear

Chapter 3 Climate Change – Turning down the thermostat

This is one topic that gets in the media regularly. Already average temperatures are rising everywhere, some places more than others. How much the temperature will rise depends on what we do, or don’t do. Most of the discussion revolves around how much carbon dioxide is in the air. Carbon dioxide emissions come primarily from two main sources: burning fossil fuels and changing the use of land, for example, cutting down trees.

The author writes that total emissions are still rising, but that emissions per person have already peaked. In other words, things are on the brink of getting better. Many countries have already reduced their emissions as well as growing their economies. There are alternatives available and they are getting cheaper. Committing to change is the first major step for any country. Work needs to be done on how we produce energy, how things and people are moved around the world, what we eat and how it is produced, reduction of food waste, and reduction of over-consumption.

In addition we need to pull people out of poverty so they are less vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We need to improve the resilience of our crops to drought, floods and a warming world. We need to adapt our living conditions to deal with sweltering heat.

Chapter 4 Deforestation – Seeing the wood for the trees

Deforestation is not a new problem. Humans have been cutting down trees for centuries. Today’s rich countries lost their forests a long time ago. In some places, the forest is being allowed to grow back, but in many places the forest is being removed to create agricultural land. So deforestation and how we produce our food are linked together.

The author writes again that eating less meat, especially beef, would be good for the environment. Raising animals for their meat is a big driver of deforestation and is an inefficient way of producing food for humans. Crop yields can be improved with better seeds and better fertilization habits.

Chapter 5 Food – How not to eat the planet

Though in the past there was always a struggle for most people to get enough food, now the world produces enough food to give everyone at least 5 000 calories a day. In recent decades a lot has been done to reduce hunger. Though hunger and famine still exist, they are political and social in nature.

The use of artificial fertilizers, improved seeds, better irrigation and machinery have increased crop yields on agricultural land. We are able to produce more food on less land. However, much of the food that is produced is used to feed livestock and to fuel cars. This is not sustainable. Eating meat is a very inefficient way of making tasty food. I learned this back in the 1970s, when I learned about how meat was raised, using food that humans could use for themselves. Since then I have reduced the amount of meat that I eat to perhaps once a week. I actually prefer eating vegetarian dishes.

The main problems that producing food creates is in how much land is used. As the amount of land increases for agriculture, we lose forests with their biodiversity; greenhouses gases are produced, particularly from raising animals; there is a great demand on fresh water; and there is an over-use of pesticides which leads to water pollution.

The author recommends that to have a sustainable world we should eat less meat, improve crop yields in all parts of the world and waste less food with better storage and refrigeration. She does not think that eating local food or organic food which has lower crop yields per hectare will help. Plastic packaging lowers total food waste and is therefore good.

Chapter 6 Biodiversity Loss – Protecting the world’s wildlife

In the past, humans have hunted large mammals and many have been extinct for a long time. Agriculture has changed ecosystems. However whenever we meddle with ecosystems, things may not change the way we want them to. “You can never merely do one thing.” There is an intricate web of prey, predator and ecological connections.

The biggest threat to wildlife is connected to how we feed ourselves, and also how our population leads to urbanization, disease, pollution, etc. In order to protect what is left we need to have well-managed protected areas. We need to limit deforestation by being better at growing crops on the land that is already in use and we need to slow global climate change which is also changing ecosystems.

Chapter 7 Ocean Plastics – Drowning in waste

Plastic is a wonder material as it is sterile, waterproof, versatile, cheap, useful and easy to shape or mold. It makes things lighter. It prevents food waste. Most plastics can only be reused once or twice. The problem is how we dispose of plastic. Only a very small fraction, perhaps 0.3%, of the world’s plastics ends up in the oceans.

Rich countries have good waste-management systems. Most of the plastic in the oceans comes from Asia, where waste plastic gets into the rivers and ends up in the ocean. What is needed is better waste management, even in poor countries. Landfills must be sealed on top so that things don’t blow or wash away. There should be fines for fishing vessels that lose or dump waste. Floating debris can be intercepted in rivers before it ends up in the ocean. We need to clean up our beaches and shorelines.

Chapter 8 Overfishing – Pillaging the oceans

We really don’t know how many fish there are in the oceans. Some fish stocks are doing well, and some aren’t. Two thirds of the global fish stocks are being managed sustainably, and fish farming produces more fish than is caught wild. So things are not hopeless.

The problem of overfishing is reduced by implementing strict fishing quotas. This requires management and research to know what quotas the different fish stocks will tolerate.

The author takes up the problem with whaling which reduced the number of whales in the oceans drastically. In 1967, a global moratorium on whaling has helped whale stocks increase again.

Conclusion

In general the author feels that we know what to do to combat the problems mentioned in the book, and there are many countries doing it already. These problems are interconnected and much is connected to how we feed ourselves. Changes in how and what we eat will be necessary to reduce the impact on the world. Who you vote for, how you spend your time, and who you donate your money to are all ways that individuals can influence the changes that need to come. “We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone.”

Posted on

Being an Introvert

This photo was taken during a walk in Mosvik, looking west over Trondheimsfjord.

In 2017, I read a book by Susan Cain, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking”, published in 2012, by Crown Publishing/Random House. I found this book to be excellent because it helped me realize that introverts are probably one-third of the population. There are a lot of people like me, that prefer quiet times to noisy parties. Shortly after I read the book, I wrote a blog about it, which you can read here. I hope I’m not going to repeat myself too much, as this time I would like to write about my world as a 74-year old introvert with a hearing disability.

As my hearing gets worse, and it gets harder to be part of large groups, I find that being an introvert helps me cope with my disability. Hearing aids work to a certain extent, but all of the background noise of the world we live in is also increased in volume, not only the voices of the people that I would like to converse with. This has resulted in several types of changes in my behavior.

In particular, towns and shopping areas have a lot of noise pollution. The other day, I noticed that a neighboring child had an electric motor to his play tractor and I found that noisy too. Walking on gravel is noisy under my feet and can drown out conversation with the person I am walking with. I actually like doing things by myself as then I don’t have to use a hearing aid and I can enjoy the peace around me.

I now avoid almost all activities that include large groups of people in an indoor room. People are always talking, or at least some of them are, and when more than one person is talking, I hear nothing and it becomes very frustrating to not hear what people say. I still enjoy being with people, and enjoy having discussions about serious topics, but maximum four people in the room, with no background noise, is what I manage best.

One activity I really enjoy is walking in nature, either by myself or with someone. I have one girl friend who I walk with regularly. We avoid the places with the most car noises and in the summer months we often take some of the Inderøy walks where one can get points for getting to a particular place. Most of these walks are away from roads with cars on them. I also do a lot of walking with my husband, mostly in the summer months, but also in the winter. The photo above was taken in Mosvik on one of these walks.

As a retired person, I don’t have to go out to work every day, but there are still lots of things to fill my time. I enjoy cooking and often spend one to two hours a day on food preparation. I have to use hearing protection when using noisy kitchen machines, but that is usually just a few minutes of the processing time. I avoid using my hearing aids while working in the kitchen as even chopping vegetables is a noisy activity.

I love knitting and always have one to three projects on the go, plus all the ones that are in the planning stages in my head. Keeping my fingers busy while creating something useful gives me something meaningful to do. Knitting gives me lots of time to think while my fingers keep busy. To cut down on the overload in my head, from thinking, I often read while doing simple knitting.

A recently knit sweater for my husband who loves bright colors.

Reading has always been a favorite activity and I read both fiction and non-fiction. Most books are read on an electronic reader, but I have also started reading a few books on paper. The latter are not so easy to read when knitting, but newer non-fiction books are good for stimulating my mind. This has also been a reason for starting to write a few blogs again, at least until the gardening season starts. I’m currently reading a book about the state of the world, but the blog about it won’t be ready for another week, hence today’s topic.

Gardening is another hobby, which does not require much interaction with other people and which doesn’t require me to hear well either. In fact, with a lot of traffic on a nearby bridge, it is better to not be wearing a hearing-aid while outdoors working. I have a garden that is really far too big to keep in very good condition, but I have the rule, “what gets done, gets done” and I don’t worry about what doesn’t get done.

One of my favorite plants is the rhododendron.

Shopping is a necessity, but I choose to do my shopping when there are relatively few people in the stores, either in the morning, or the evening. It pays to learn when there are fewer people in the stores that one uses a lot. I started this in particular during the pandemic, but have found that whether I’m buying food, building supplies or yarn, the time of day, and the day of the week makes a big difference to how many people are in the stores.

Being an introvert has made reducing group activities easy for me. Contact with others is still important, but the situation has to be something I can handle. There are lots of meaningful activities for introverts and for those with a hearing disability. Life is for living and I hope to have many years yet.

Posted on

Gapminder.org

When I think of the changes that have happened in my lifetime, I often think of television, jet planes, computers, the Internet and electric cars. These are the things that have affected my life the most. However, when we think about how others’ lives have changed in the last 70 years, there are more important topics to think about. For example, what is the life expectancy of people living in India? How many children are vaccinated against common childhood diseases, such as measles? How have these figures changed in your lifetime and in mine?

I first came across Hans Rosling (1948-2017) a Swedish statistician and doctor, when I was teaching high-school English in Norway. He has made several videos that help explain how inadequate our view of living conditions in other countries is. I think the most important thing I have learned from watching his videos is that we have come a long way in solving some of the largest problems in the world. His statistics encourage optimism that we can make the world a better place.

Gapminder was founded in Stockholm in 2005 by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, and Hans Rosling. They developed interesting ways to visualize statistics and make it easier to understand the statistics and how they have changed over the years. Gapminder is an independent Swedish foundation with no political, religious, or economic affiliations.

This video illustrates how we often get the facts wrong. The link is to a Gapminder video and a TedTalk from 2014 held in Berlin: How not to be ignorant about the world, is about 19 minutes and features both Hans Rosling and Ola Rosling. Please note that this video is now almost 10 years old, so the numbers will have changed and things will have improved even more since then.

Another example: the book I wrote about last, Limitarianism, was concerned about the differences between the rich and the poor, but what is your understanding about how many rich there really are in the world. Look at this short video at the Gapminder website and see how Hans Rosling explains it. I find that he is very good at explaining things that we might not have understood correctly. Had you understood that most people have an income in the middle range? There are some extremely poor, and some extremely rich, but most aren’t.

Gapminder’s mission is to “fight devastating ignorance with a fact-based world view everyone can understand.”

Now look at a third video about how income relates to life expectancy and enjoy the bubble diagrams that Gapminder is known for.

Gapminder’s Projects

Gapminder has three main projects. The first one (“Find your misconceptions”) is to help educate people so that their knowledge is kept up-to-date. If you are reading this, you have lived a few years and things have changed since you went to school. Depending on your age and how long it is since you went to school, your knowledge about the world may be out of date.

Their second main project (“Understand a changing world”) show how the numbers have changed over time. In general, things improve. Humans are good at making things better.

Their third main project (“See the reality behind the data”) or “Dollar Street” is a large collection of pictures to show what the terms extreme poverty and poverty mean and what the differences are. We often understand things better with pictures.

Using their three projects, I would like to encourage you to explore the Gapminder.org website. I especially recommend looking at “Dollar Street”.

What would you like to learn about today?

Posted on

Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns

After not writing a blog for a long time, I have decided that I would like to share some of the things that I have been reading about, as I am concerned about the state of the world. This is something that I have always been interested in, especially since I first studied economics in my early 20s. Over the years since then, that is, over about 50 years, I have read various books and articles about the state of the world. I still have this interest and I would like to share some of the things that I have learned.

This blog is primarily about the book pictured below. As with many books, the author covers a limited topic and one must remember that the world we live in is complex. Many problems in the world have been solved and in later blogs I will come back to some of the things that we have actually managed. We must not be pessimistic, but we must also be aware of what problems there still are to solve. We must take ideas from many authors and researchers and put them together into our own view of the world, which is also influenced by where we live, how we have earned our living, the people we have known and what sort of childhood we had. I am currently retired, in my 70s, and was a high-school teacher for over 30 years. I have lived in Norway since 1980, but grew up in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

I would like to recommend this book which explains one of the problems that we are facing in the world today. I found the prose easy to read. There was some jargon, but not so much that I couldn’t understand what the author was getting at. Ingrid Robeyns lives and works in the Netherlands and works at the Utrecht University. She is concerned about inequality and injustice in the world. Her training is in philosophy and economics and in 2012 she decided to work on answering the question: “Can a person be too rich?” This book, a result of her research, was published in 2024 by Allen Lane (Penguin Books) and has been dedicated “To all activists who are fighting against injustice”.

The concept of limitarianism is that nobody needs an excessive income or to accumulate excessive wealth. When one is poor, getting a higher income improves one’s standard of living, but when one is wealthy, a higher income doesn’t really change one’s lifestyle at all. The author discusses how limiting extreme wealth is both a moral issue and an economic issue. She quite realizes that this idea is not easy to put into practice, but she would like people to become more aware of how this idea of limiting wealth would help everyone.

I agree with the author that inequality in the world has been increasing, as the poor stay poor, but the rich get richer and richer. Extreme poverty in the world has decreased in recent decades, but in relatively well-off countries, such as Norway where I live, there is still a proportion of the population where people do not have enough income to meet basic needs, including having sufficient food to eat. Local governments do not get enough income to pay for the services that they are expected to provide. Public investment in infrastructure, such as schools, healthcare and transportation are under-funded. And yet, the rich amass huge amounts of money and then feel that they have to store their money in tax havens and even move out of Norway to countries where they feel that their wealth is treated better, that is, not taxed as much. Why do they not want to contribute to the country that has helped them amass their wealth?

What is it that Ingrid Robeyns is really trying to promote in her book? She feels that there are too many super-rich people, that either avoid taxation or evade taxation, so that governments have less money than they need to provide the services to their population so that everyone can have a reasonable life. There should not only be a minimum wage, but there should also be a maximum wage. In addition, neither individuals, companies nor institutions should be allowed to accumulate extreme wealth. Wealth over a certain limit should be returned to the country in which it was “earned”.

In the last chapter, the author includes several ideas about what could be done, but also realizes that her suggestion of limiting people’s wealth is not something that will be accomplished easily or within a few years. However, it is something that activists should be working towards.

This book is meant to make you think about your own place in the world, and also about the people who live in the world with you. Will you make any changes in your life? What? When? This is highly individual. Below is a summary of the 10 chapters in the book.

Chapter 1 How Much is Too Much?

The author discusses her reasons for the limits that she suggests.

Chapter 2 It’s Keeping the Poor in Poverty While Inequality Grows

When the super-rich, the upper 1% or 0.1% of society do not share their wealth, it means that the distance between the rich and the poor increases. Because the rich don’t mix with the poor, the rich don’t understand the problems that the poor face. I feel that too many politicians, those who are making the rules and policies that we live under, have no understanding of what it means to not have enough. There are many authors who have written about inequality, but Ingrid Robeyns tries to show the reader about what happens to the top group.

Chapter 3 It’s Dirty Money

Not all wealth has been created by honest labor. Much inherited wealth was generated centuries ago based on slave labor. Some wealth is stolen, such as leaders in countries that steal the income generated from the country’s natural resources that belong to all in the country. Some wealth is created from criminal activities. The author gives some interesting examples of how wealth is generated or actually stolen from the poor.

Chapter 4 It’s Undermining Democracy

Having money means having power, both economically and politically. The wealthy have been undermining democracy by getting the rules changed to favor themselves. This is a serious problem in many countries where only the wealthy end up with the political jobs of making the laws in a country and administering these laws.

Chapter 5 It’s Setting the World on Fire

Climate change and global warming are being worsened by the super-rich who are not concerned about anyone but themselves. They can survive the changes and it is the poor who suffer the most. The author explains how the super-rich are contributing more than their share to this particular problem.

Chapter 6 Nobody Deserves to be a Multimillionaire

Personally, I think everyone deserves to have three decent meals a day, but I have to agree with the author that being a multimillionaire is not something that anyone “deserves” or has earned. Usually the super-rich have underpaid the people that work for them. In my opinion, the workers in any company “deserve” decent wages and living conditions.

Chapter 7 There’s So Much We Can Do with the Money

When the super-rich don’t pay their fair share of the taxes, then that money is not available to keep the infrastructure in a country in good health. Think of education, highways, healthcare and a lot more that governments provide for their country.

Chapter 8 Philanthropy is Not the Answer

There are rich people that share their wealth after they have spent years accumulating it. But letting the rich decide where their “extra” money should go, does not necessarily mean that the money gets used wisely. This chapter gives some examples of what happens, and also what doesn’t happen.

Chapter 9 The Rich will Benefit, Too

Being rich does not make people happy. Having less, may let them have a better life. The author is particularly concerned about children who grow up with rich parents, but are starved of the things that matter to children, including love and attention.

Chapter 10 The Road Ahead

Here Ingrid Robeyns comes with lots of suggestions on what can be done to make limitarianism more feasible and how it can be combined with other ideas to make the world a better place for everyone to live in.

I hope I have encouraged you to read this book, but even if you don’t, I hope my comments have made you think.

Posted on

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

I came across this concept in an article in The University of British Columbia Magazine for its alumni, Fall/Winter 2022. The article is called “Mind Matters”, is written by Roberta Staley and is found on page 44 of the magazine.

Why is this concept important? To quote the author of this article, “EI facilitates better stress management and decision-making, and emotionally intelligent leadership boosts employee engagement. This means improved worker morale and well-being, which leads to greater individual and organizational effectiveness.”

In 1995, Daniel Goleman published a book called “Emotional Intelligence” and the term seems to have become popular since then. I have not read the book and will be referring primarily to the article in The UBC Magazine and to the article in Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, there are certain limitations in the research done on EI so many do not feel that the tests that are available are reliable. I think one has to be aware of the fact that many ideas and training available have been promoted to make profit for individuals. On the other hand, I feel that the concept is certainly valid, even if it is difficult to measure. For many years we have heard about IQ (Intellegience quotient) which tries to test how smart a person is. The tests are usually designed for only a certain portion of the world population and have biases and limitations. I’m sure the tests for emotional intelligence have similar weaknesses, but I want to explore the concept a bit, especially as it pertains to leaders in the business world.

EI is a skill that can be taught and learned. People who want to function well in the workplace need to work on acquiring these skills. “Developing EI can help people in all types of professions learn to work harmoniously in teams, build relationships with customers and clients and handle stress more effectively,” writes Roberta Staley. This certainly sounds promising.

David Cory, president and founder of The Emotional Intelligence Training Company, based in North Saanich, BC says that “many men don’t learn about emotions, they ignore and deny them and, above all else, don’t show them to others… However, when given the opportunity in workshops, participants experience greater levels of trust and deeper connections through sharing their emotions.” Cory is obviously running a business that offers courses to make a profit. However, this does not mean that the ideas he is promoting are not valid.

What does Emotional Intelligence encompass? According to the article by Roberta Stavely, it encompasses:

  1. Reality testing – checking one’s perceptions and biases
  2. Social responsibility – the desire to make the workplace and world a better place
  3. Empathy – paying attention to the emotions of others and the impact you have on them
  4. Emotional self-awareness – being aware of your emotions, problem solving by leveraging the emotions involved in the application of logic
  5. Impulse control – understanding when either stability or spontaneity is appropriate.

I am neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist, though I have always found psychology an interesting academic topic. However, I was a teacher for over 30 years and I can relate to the importance of emotional intelligence in the maturing of teenagers. The teenage years are a time of change for all youth, both in physical development, intellectual development and emotional development. Most youth are aware of the physical changes that happen, but not all of them are aware of how the intellect develops in this time period as well. Many youth are also unaware of the need to develop their emotional intelligence as well.

Let me give examples, both from people that I know and from the fiction that I read. A child is often unfairly treated by his parents, by being told that they can’t do anything right. I was always a shy child, but was I taught how to hold a conversation? No, but I do remember being told what not to say or ask. I still have problems knowing what to say to strangers.

Children can have problems such as stammering or dyslexia. These problems can really hinder learning at school, particularly as the afflicted child will often be bullied by others. I am no expert on how to treat these problems, but I do know that methods have been developed to help children handle these handicaps. They are certainly not related to intelligence at all. The first student I had that told me she had dyslexia also got very good grades. She had been helped early enough in her schooling that she was able to work with the subjects (probably spending more time than many classmates) and coming out with good grades. Those who don’t get help become adults with large handicaps.

Learning emotional intelligence seems to not be something that our regular school system is encouraged to teach. As with any school subject, some people learn things easily and others strive with them. I don’t remember receiving any instruction in handling emotions, except to bottle them up and not show them. Even today, in my 70s, I would have problems putting the correct names on some of the emotions we regularly experience: anxiety, stress, anger, frustration, happiness, contentment, etc.

Emotional intelligence is something I would like to learn more about. I hope by sharing this concept with you, you too will both look at yourself and think about how well you have developed this type of intelligence. It is never too late to learn new things.

Posted on

Openness – a Virtues Pick

I first came across The Virtues Project in about 1993 and have used its principles ever since. Reading the latest facilitator bulletin that comes out roughly once a month, I came across this sentence: “Openness is the willingness to consider new ideas and listen to others with an open mind.”

Yesterday we had a neighboring couple come for a visit and the four of us enjoyed the conversation immensely. As one person commented, we went into depth in the topics we discussed. I felt that everyone was listening to each other and actually sharing ideas.

I want to share with you the virtue of openness and how it is something that is to be worked with.

The Virtue of Openness

The Virtues Project

The Virtues Project started with a book, a guide for parents on what to teach their children. There were 52 virtues, one for each week of the year. I read the book, became enthusiastic with the working method and started implementing the strategies in my family. My two children will remember the weekly family meetings to pick and discuss a new virtue and other family matters that needed to be dealt with.

In addition to the virtues themselves, the Virtues Project also encompasses five strategies:

  1. Speak the language – you have to use the names of the virtues to help children (or adults) learn what is the correct way of being and doing.
  2. Recognize teachable moments – children are only open for learning at certain moments and the trick is to learn when these moments are. These moments don’t always last very long.
  3. Set clear boundaries – children need limits on what they are allowed to do, but the adults must be clear and consistent. The boundaries will change as children grow older. Even adults must set limits as to what they are willing to do.
  4. Honor the spirit – we must respect children and encourage them to learn new things. This also includes creative work and reflection.
  5. Offering companioning – by listening one can help another person with their problems and let them find the solution that will work for them.

The Virtues Project has grown in the last 30 years and encompasses more than teaching one’s own children what is good behavior. The strategies and the language of the virtues are used in many schools around the world. A facilitator is someone who has taken training in how to use the Virtues Project and teach it to others. If you are unfamiliar with the Virtues Project and would like to learn more about their work, you can read about them here.

Willingness

But back to the quotation that I started with. “Openness is the willingness to…” How willing are you? What do we really mean by this word, willingness? Are you only willing, if it is something you already know how to do, or if it is your own idea? Or, are you willing to look at other people’s perspective and new ideas? Do you put yourself in situations where you are open to others who are different than you? Are you willing to try new things?

It is always easier to go along with someone who shares the same ideas as yourself. One of the problems in the world today is the fact that we tend to spend our time with people who share the same ideas as ourselves. We are unwilling to be with those who are different. But this unwillingness to be with those who are different limits our ability to grow and improve ourselves. Unless we listen to new ideas, how can we become better people?

Consider New Ideas

“Openness is the willingness to consider new ideas…” Are you stuck in a rut? Do you even want to get out of the rut? Are you willing to listen to new ideas and reflect on them, to consider them?

I am currently reading a book about the climate crisis. Too many people in the world today are stuck in the rut of “business as usual” even though it is killing the planet and is unsustainable. The Earth’s resources are running out. How willing are you to change the way you think about consumption and your contribution to the challenges that the planet Earth is facing today? I am trying to work with the ideas in the book I am reading and find new ways that I can reduce my drain on the world’s resources.

No matter our age, whether we are young or older, we can learn from other people, from books, videos and documentaries. We have to consider the source of these ideas, and whether they are reliable. We must also consider and reflect on the ideas themselves. Do they make sense? How does it all fit in with my view of the world? Does my view of the world need to change? In what way should I change? Where can I find new ideas to help me make better decisions about how to live my life?

Listen to Others

“Openness is the willingness to consider new ideas and listen to others…” When you read a book, or talk to a person, are you really listening to the author or the person? How open are you to changing the way you think, or to accepting new ideas?

Many people don’t really participate in a conversation, they just wait for the other person to finish talking so that they can talk themselves. Listening to others means really taking in what they are saying, reflecting on their words and meaning and then actually discussing the ideas that have been presented.

An Open Mind

“Openness is the willingness to consider new ideas and listen to others with an open mind.” When you listen, do you listen with an open mind? Are you willing to change the way you think? Are you willing to learn about new ways of doing things?

Especially as we get older, we may think that the way we have always done things is the best way. I used to tell the teenagers that I taught that one of the advantages of traveling is to see that there are many ways of doing things and that none of them is “the right way”, they are just different. During life we pick up some of these different ways from others. We don’t always have to do things the way we were taught as children. All people have room to grow and develop even when they have acquired many years of living. This ability to change and improve ourselves is what keeps us young in mind, no matter how old the body is.

We really have to be open to change, if we want to live a healthy and rewarding life. In order to know how to change, or what to change to, we need to be open to new ideas which we reflect on and adapt to our own lifestyle. Sometimes we make big changes, for example, cutting back on how much we drive, and sometimes we make smaller changes, for example, whether we eat local food, or imported food.

The Practice of Openness

“I am honest and transparent. I am direct and candid in sharing my perspective. I appreciate new ideas and possibilities. I sincerely want to communicate. I have no hidden motives. I care about the views and feelings of others. I am willing to receive life’s bounties.”

Today’s challenge to you as my reader, is to find something new and different to read about, or to find a person outside of your usual social environment to converse with. Have an open mind and be willing to really listen to the ideas that others have.

Posted on

Having a hearing disability

I have been using two hearing aids (one in each ear) for over 27 years and my hearing will not get any better. In fact it gets worse as time goes on. The range of sound that I have lost includes the human voice, which makes having spoken conversations with people very difficult and tiring. I have just recently gotten a new hearing aid, which helps, but hearing aids do not replace good ears, they just help make difficult situations better, perhaps.

My newest pair of hearing aids. They now come with a case that holds them both and they get recharged while in the case. The case needs to be plugged in about every three days.

Having a hearing disability is a handicap. I often get very frustrated with trying to follow what other people are talking about. Different people have different qualities to their voices, some are easier for me to hear than other ones. Background noises also influence how much of a conversation I can hear. For example, if more than one conversation is going on in a room where I am, I will probably not be able to hear any of them.

Let me give an example from a television program that I have just been watching. There were several people explaining a subject. The main host had a very soft voice that was very difficult to hear. I turn up the sound to hear him. The first guest was a woman with a very sharp voice that was easy for me to hear. I turn the sound down to normal. But what was very irritating for me was the applause as that sound level hurt my ears and made me turn down the sound level even more. In the end I spend my time reading the subtitles as it became too complex to adjust my hearing aids to the differences in sound level, in the same program.

A hearing aid is a wonderful, technical aid for those with hearing disabilities. However, my experience (based on almost three decades and several hearing aids) is that they amplify all the noises around me, even the ones I don’t want to hear – car traffic, cutlery rattling in the drawer, power saws, rustling clothing, etc. I often enjoy walking on my own, just because I then don’t have to wear a hearing aid and not get all of those other noises amplified.

Another problem that I have is that my level of tolerance of loud noises is much lower, even without wearing hearing aids. Sound intensity levels are measured in decibels. For example, 20 decibels is 10 times as loud as 10 decibels. Most people will find that 60 decibels is an okay level of noise to tolerate, and at 80 decibels the sound level is unpleasant. Hearing protection should be used if you are exposed to high levels of decibels over longer periods of time, for example, for several hours in a working situation. I will generally find that sound at 80 decibels is painful for my ears and that 70 decibels is the maximum I want to experience.

Now that I am no longer working outside the house, I do not wear my hearing aids constantly. I put them on when I am with others so that I can hear what they say, but I avoid wearing them when I am alone or doing noisy activities. But this can cause problems too. I don’t hear the tap running in the kitchen and forget to turn it off. I don’t hear someone approaching me and I jump when I become aware of them. I don’t mind not hearing the seagulls in the summer, nor the traffic on the bridge near us.

Situations I find difficult

There are quite a few situations that happen on a regular basis where people try to give me messages or information, but I am just not able to understand what is being said to me. It is important that I am aware that someone is speaking to me. I may not be listening all of the time

I have tried to teach the people that live with me to make sure I am wearing my hearing aids when they want to say things to me. However, if I am working in the kitchen, chopping vegetables (a very noisy job), I may have my hearing aids on “mute” and don’t either hear someone approaching me or hear what they say to me. Washing dishes is a similarly noisy job that is louder than normal conversation.

Using the vacuum cleaner is a noisy chore, though necessary. When the children were small, they would disappear very quickly when I turned on the vacuum cleaner. This is the sort of sound that I do not need to have amplified with a hearing aid. Thankfully, we now have a central vacuum cleaner and the machine itself is tucked away in a cupboard on the lower floor of the house. However there is still the noise of the suction which can be at my limits of toleration.

Walking outdoors near traffic can cause problems hearing a conversation. For me, all types of mechanical noise will always be louder than human conversation.

Large groups of people create a lot of noise. For a while I was enjoying attending a knitting cafe for two hours every two weeks. Fifteen to twenty ladies would get together, pack themselves into a small room and begin talking to each other. My guess would be that at least half of them were talking at the same time. After an hour, my ability to concentrate was used up, and I sometimes had to flee the room to regain my sanity. Sometimes I even went outside with the smokers as it was so quiet with them. So now I avoid this type of social activity as it is just too tiring for me.

Things to do when talking to someone with a hearing disability

  • Look at the person you want to talk to and make sure they have understood that you are going to say something. You can start by saying their name, so that they know that you are wanting to talk to them. If you don’t get a reaction, maybe they need to turn on the hearing aid.
  • Stand close enough that what you are saying will be heard. How close you need to stand depends on the person and the level of background noise.
  • Make sure you speak distinctly and don’t mumble or swallow your words. Many people start a sentence distinctly, but the ending disappears.
  • If you are giving important information, check that the message has been understood, perhaps by asking a question.
  • When you are pointing to something, make sure you are still facing the person you are talking to and not facing what you are pointing to.

Things NOT to do when talking to someone with a hearing disability

  • Don’t start talking to someone until you know that you have their attention.
  • Don’t turn away from someone that you are talking to.
  • Don’t walk away from someone as you are talking to them.
  • Don’t try to compete with a lot of background noise, such as water running, traffic noise, or background music.
  • Don’t assume that because you see a hearing aid in the ear, that it is actually turned on.

Like everything else in life, we learn to adapt to situations. The person with a hearing disability has to learn to live with the handicap and figure out what is important to hear and what can be ignored. People talking to a person with a hearing disability have to learn how to talk to them so that they are heard and understood.

Loosing one’s hearing is common as one gets older. Some of us started the process when we were younger. The degree of loss will influence a person’s ability to adapt to social situations. I now find social situations difficult when there are more than about four people. Please be considerate when you are in a social situation with a person who has a hearing disability.