The year before 2012

It will be a pity if this year remains in history as the year preceding 2012. Only 'God' knows what's going to happen in the next twelve months, but I hope it's going to make us think of 2011 as the more important year. It was apocalyptic enough, and the word 'crisis' was heard every day.

In the cheerful expectation of Christmas, I am trying to remember what impressed me this year, what happened, what was new, exciting for our society. Everyone has their personal experiences and lessons learned, but they are for another blog...

So how did I perceive the last year? The first 3 months were almost scaring for me. All the protests and changes happening in the Middle East, and then the tsunami and Fukushima - come on, it really sounds like the beginning of any of these apocalyptic movies like 'The Day After Tomorrow'! Only that it was all true, and it's still continuing! Even if we don't get a lot of news about it - people are dying in Libya and Syria, and others are still fighting against the outburst of radiation in Japan.

The radiation rates around Fukushima in July 2011 (80km radius)

What about the Occupy Wall Street-movement? It's become a symbol of a new way of thinking. Actually, this thinking is not new: it's about consuming less, speculating less, it's about (mostly) young people wishing to change something in the system. But it crystallized as a movement with a name and a face in 2011.

And the first big crisis of the European Union - all the questions suddenly popping up. Beginning with the Greek problem, slowly it became clear for everyone that it's not an issue of a single country but rather of a whole continent and philosophy. Will the Euro survive? - Will the EU survive? - Is Europe ready to accept the challenge and see the Union not only as a limitless economic advantage, but also as responsibility and idea of a united rather than split in many puzzle-like pieces continent?

The mask from 'V for Vendetta' which became the face of the Occupy movement

But crisis also means opportunity. So I hope we can now say: Nuclear energy is not safe, we need to continue looking for other options and need to consider them seriously. Arabic countries need change, and there are many bright, awake people striving for it - and stop putting negative labels on everything from this region, following the US-example of a 'war against terrorism'. Our consume habits need change - we and our countries shouldn't live on credit. Our financial system needs renovation. Our European Union needs to show that for the first time, the Old Continent is having a common future.

This is not summarizing the important events of 2011. It's only a brief perspective over the past months, and the only task it fulfills is to state: it was a difficult year. But we have a lot to learn from it, and it was needed.

'cause the power you're supplying, it's electrifying!***

How popular do you think that going to the fitness club is? Try to guess before you scroll further!
- Have you ever gone to a fitness club?
- How many friends and relatives do you have that practice it?
- Is it regularly or only occasionally?

In 2007, 22% of the Germans stated they do fitness or jogging activities often or very often. Another 29% said they do it from time to time. It means that almost half of the population between 14 and 64 years is familiar with the idea of going to the fitness club and that a big part of it also practices it.

This is the point where we should understand that fitness clubs play an important role in the lifestyle of today's people. So it's very probable that they also start using innovative ideas and technology to reach sustainability and ecologically friendly service. This is the logic, how does the reality look like?

Well, there are clubs like Eco Fitness in Berlin and Cologne, Germany, that focus on sustainability in their processes. It means that they try to be CO2 neutral, to use energy-saving electric devices, to cooperate with partners on green projects etc. This is really cool and it should be a task for every fitness club, especially for big chains here, like McFit or Jonny M..

But there is also an idea combining the core of fitness = *movement*, with being *green*. You've probably already guessed what it is, if you've read my previous post about sustainable dance clubs and converting energy of movement into electricity.

Does it work for fitness clubs? - Yes, the muscle power used to do all the exercises on different devices, can be converted into electricity with a generator or a dynamo. There are clubs that are already applying it, for example greengymberlin. Why should we lose all that energy if we could use it to power the electricity in the gym?

Here is a cool video from the Deutsche Welle (in English), explaining how it works



Of course, the energy produced is not so huge - in order to supply only one micro-wave oven, you need 8 people cycling at the same time. But as little as it is, it doesn't mean it's useless! What's more, it can enhance people's awareness about the amount of electricity they use every day. So I'm curious what would be the next exciting idea!

***quote from 'You're the one that I want' by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Jump, jump, jump

Imagine yourself going to a dance club on Friday night. Having a drink, talking to your friends or meeting new people. Imagine dancing on the floor, lights playing with your senses. Now imagine the floor and lights connected in a circle, and the power for these lights provided by YOU. It's your movements that produce the electricity!

The creators of the Sustainable Dance Club in the Netherlands had this vision and made it happen: in Rotterdam. WATT, the first SDC was opened in 2008 - so if you're visiting Rotterdam, don't forget to check it out!












The idea of the Sustainable Energy Floor is to use human power to produce electricity where lots of people are gathering. It's composed by a number of modules, as big as 75x75x20 cm, that contain an internal generator. The size and the shape of the design can be customized, according to the preferences of the customers.

It has already been visiting places all over the world, for example San Francisco, Hamburg, Miami, Jakarta, Vancouver, Toulouse, Australia, Rio de Janeiro... Here's a video showing how the Dance Floor and other concepts like that were applied at a Rock Festival in Rio.



If you're wondering if there's a SDC near your place, maybe you can find some more information here.

I am pretty amazed how creative people can be. It's only another example that the solutions to our energy issues are sometimes right under our nose - or our feet ;) Next time I will be writing about sustainable fitness clubs and the concepts that are used there...

Give more than you get

I was thinking of posting about AIESEC in my other blog since some time. Always gave up, because I didn't know what would be so interesting for external people - only if you've been working for that organization, you'd know how it can change you. I have been very excited about it, I've been even extremely sceptical about it, I've been feeling like *not giving a damn about it*. Only the fact that it brought me so many different perspectives, is making it worthy to continue exploring!

*AIESEC is the biggest student-run international organization, working in 107 countries all over the globe. It's engaging students in order to enable international exchange, help developing society with diverse projects and also develop leadership qualities. More info on http://www.aiesec.org/

Once I stumbled upon this video in Youtube. I really liked it, though everybody's already heard most of those things. I liked it because I can connect it to AIESEC and it's just amazing that it was also one of the factors in the last year that made me realize a lot of things about life and the universe :P

So if you have 5 minutes, you can watch it, too.
I hope we all have much more than that to check if we're really living like that :)

StuttgART

The city where I live and study is not one that you connect with art. Especially in Germany where you have favourite metropolitan areas like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or smaller cities with a lot of tradition like Heidelberg.

But attitudes are mostly a result of perception, and perception is mostly a result of marketing. Stuttgart is known for its industry (Daimler, Porsche, BOSH), for the second biggest beer festival in Germany and for the unique Swabian culture.

Last Saturday I decided to experience something new here and visited an exhibition organized by the students from the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. It was one of those things that you do and have the feeling you have just nothing to lose. Usually those are the things that in the end exceed your expectations.

The concept was to present the works of students from different courses on one joint platform: all of them on the same level, standing or lying on the ground. I felt like an adventurer who's wandering through the cave of Ali Baba, finding different treasures. There are no lines, no order, except the ones you find for yourself.

I liked most:

The Safe Playground

The Hair Lady

The Mattress matching to your body

http://www.gesamtausstellung.abk-stuttgart.de/