Molecularist

As being in large part culturally American (Northern and Southern), I am always awed by ancient living cultures, such as Hindi or Chinese. These traditions have accumulated over the centuries small changes to words, dress, and protocols that when seen for the first time seem elaborate beyond belief – that is, who could have thought of such a set up? But the cultural trick is Time.

Evolution is an amazing process – changes accumulate slowly for such a long period of time that in the end there is a big change from the original. It is this incremental evolution over long periods of time that has given us rich cultures all over the world, a wide range of living organisms, and an inability to forecast the future of the real complexity we live in.

Hmm, complexity…

You can’t avoid it – waste.

No matter how thoroughly you scrape your plate, food will be left on it. Same with your glass, silverware, pots and pans, packaging, cutting board, or sink – food will be left on it.

Now just stop and do the math: when you add up all that food that is left behind from buying, preparing, and eating, it might seem like a small amount per meal, but add up all the meals for the whole world for the whole day for generations and – well, you get what I mean.

Sheesh, what a sum.

How can people live so far north where the winter temperatures are way below the freezing point of beer and the winter sun rarely shows it face (too cold, of course)? Or how can anything grow properly when the summer is so short? If you think about it, there’s some sort of strange balance to living so far north.

The months of December and January have short days and long nights, but it is in November, weeks before the Winter Solstice, that the shortening of the days is most felt. In Finland, I think the main reason is that it is overcast and there’s no snow. Once it snows, even the long nights aren’t that bad. The snow adds to the brightness, even after dark (especially in the cities). And with snow on the ground, December and January fly by. February and March can be really bright, as the days are rapidly getting longer and there is still plenty of snow around.

Then, in the summer, it takes a while for the green to come alive, but when it does, it is sudden. While the summer might be short, June and July feel like one long day.

So in a way the wierd balance is that the snow helps on the short days, and the long days compensate for the short summer.

Of course this could all just be rationalizing why people live in Lapland.