let me illustrate.

we had just finished touring denmark’s biggest waste plant, copenhill, and our group of students sat down along the canal, in the sunshine. one would think that at 3 p.m. people would be at work or resting in their homes from a long day. no, everyone was outside. the sun was a sweet treat.

today, with the sun, was an extra special day: it was one of my classmate’s birthdays. lauren was turning 21 in europe. she is such a kind and caring person; i was not surprised that the sun decided to show its face today out of all days. for lauren, our class wanted to celebrate in the best way we knew how: going out into the city!

the sun beamed down on us. the clean air filled our lungs after breathing in waste at the plant. and the wind whipped our jacket tails to remind us that we were still in the northern hemisphere. people sat along the canal almost dipping their feet in the water, the smell of cigarettes and beer afloat around them. i could smell chocolate from a nearby shop, the lagkagehuset, and decided this would partner well with the sunshine. i bought lauren the most chocolaty cake i could find to surprise her.

our group followed along the canal to find a small park on the outskirts of the city center. we sat in a circle together sharing stories and learning more about one another. the cake and clean air paired perfectly with our laughs and birthday songs.

and that’s where i end this memory. sitting with my friends, along the canal, eating our chocolates, listening to the song of bike bells, and of course, basking in the sun.

bats have always been shrouded in our own fearful projections. in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, this comes to a head. but it is important to remember their place on our planet: vital supporters of our ecosystems and overall well-being.

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but we might lose a lot more if ‘physical-distancing’ measures keep us inside, away from the outdoors, and glued to our computer screens for school or work.

“people didn’t evolve in front of a computer screen. so the computer screen has some problems, because what it does is it basically tricks our mind in a lot of ways, in what’s often times called ‘mismatch’ and hijacks our mind,” said psychologist stephen colarelli.

in 2016, colarelli and other researchers from central michigan university investigated the effects of natural elements and sunlight in the workplace on employee mental health and wellbeing. the researchers surveyed over 400 respondents from both india and the u.s. with a set of eight questions that assessed each respondents’ office environment in relation to sunlight and natural element exposure.

questions included, “overall, i am satisfied with the amount of sunlight exposure i get at work,” and “i make time to go outdoors and be in the sun while i am at work.”

as workplaces and education in 2020 transition to online platforms and states declare lock-down measures, exposure to nature and sun are harder to fit into daily routines.

the effects of carving out time to spend outdoors or in the presence of natural representations are nestled within each other; the study found that exposure to natural elements decreases depression and anxiety and increases the attentional capacity of employees in the workplace. as a result, psychological well-being is increased and more emphasis is placed on future goals and ambitions, which was linked to an overall healthier lifestyle.

the brain, just like any other muscle in our bodies, gets fatigued after it is directed to mental tasks (such as those encountered in work environments) for long periods of time. after such extensive and directed focus, it needs time to recuperate to function effectively, according to the study.

what the brain really desires is to hark back to its days when humans roamed the earth as hunter-gatherers and found solace in trees, mountains, and soil.

“despite the fact that evolution has continued to work on us a bit we are still the same bipedal hominids that we were back many, many thousands of years ago to a very substantial degree,” said dr. neal barnard, founder of the physicians committee for responsible medicine.

for work environments in urban areas, it can be harder to find rolling hills and scenes of rural landscapes. the good news? humans do not necessarily need to go outside to get their nature fix.

the study found that photographs of landscapes (something as mundane as a picture of mountains on a desktop) has equally calming effects comparable to a window view of nature. when focusing on these natural scenes, the basal ganglia, or the section of the brain that is associated with pleasure, is activated all the same.

“it’s tricking your mind. it’s making your mind think that you are in nature. and basically what natural images do is—it relaxes your mind,” colarelli said. “images of nature tend to require indirect attention. and that tends to give your mind a break because the elements don’t require direct attention, and they basically inspire a degree of fascination and relaxation, generally.”

wielding an even stronger influence on mental health and general well-being is sunlight and, by proxy, good old vitamin d. according to barnard, sunlight is not only beneficial to bone health by boosting calcium absorption but increased production can also lower cancer risks.

in addition, direct and indirect exposure to the sun can elevate mood and increase alertness. sunlight also affects our sleep cycle when sun rays reach the retinas of our eyes and influence responses in the brain.

“exposure to sunlight triggers the brain to release serotonin. and serotonin has a couple of effects. one is that it helps you sleep. and the other is related—it can affect your mood,” barnard said.

lack of sunlight not only negatively affects how we feel about ourselves and the organizations we work for—it also has adverse effects on how we fuel our bodies. by taking sunlight out of daily routines, we only point ourselves in the direction toward processed foods.

“it’s not a surprise that we not only have physical reactions to it, such as weight gain or higher cholesterol or diabetes, we also have mental reactions to it as well, where we can have anxiety and we can have depression. ” barnard said. “it comes really from feeling that our lives are no longer under our control.”

solar panels are a common way to get renewal energy, especially in sunbelt states like arizona. but one company is using solar panels to pull water straight from the air. this technology is helping arizonans as well as people around the world.

washington — in his second state of the union address, president donald trump focused heavily on foreign policy, immigration, and the need for a border wall while completely ignoring the environment and climate change, reflecting the issues important to his supporters.

the only time trump mentioned natural resources was when he said, “the united states is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.”

sen. edward markey, d-mass., brought environmental activist varshini prakash to the state of the union as his guest. prakash is a co-founder of the movement sunrise, which gained national attention when hundreds of activists protested outside house speaker nancy pelosi’s office after the midterm elections demanding that congress support their green new deal. incoming freshman rep. alexandria ocasio-cortez, d-n.y., upped their visibility when she joined the protesters.

the three core principles of the green new deal are creating a carbon-free economy, investing in green jobs and promoting environmental justice, especially in poor communities. markey and ocasio-cortez are expected to introduce green new deal legislation as early as this week.

“on the most important issue facing our country and its people – climate change – president trump’s state of the union was as empty as his schedules,” markey wrote in a press release after the speech. “while temperatures rise and wages fall, president trump continues his climate denial, letting big oil, king coal, and the koch brothers dictate an energy agenda that endangers public health, national security, and economic prosperity. instead of trump’s climate raw deal, america needs a green new deal that transforms our economy, delivers justice, and unleashes the greatest blue-collar job creation program in a generation.

“so, when donald trump talks about compromise, what he really means is capitulation,” markey wrote.

the trump administration has pursued a policy of rolling back environmental regulations in order to spur economic growth. “my administration has cut more regulations in a short time than any other administration during its entire tenure,” trump proudly told congress tuesday night.

national geographic has tracked over 80 changes to science and environmental policy throughout the first two years of the trump administration. 

the environmental protection agency has eased sulfur dioxide regulations on coal plant emissions. the interior department has eased restrictions on oil and gas drilling on protected habitat in western states. the bureau of ocean energy management issued the first permit to begin drilling in the arctic’s beaufort sea. and a ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which is in the same class of chemicals as sarin gas, was quashed by the scandal-plagued former head of the epa, scott pruitt, in one of his first acts as director of the agency. 

one day before the government shutdown in december, trump issued an executive order to the interior and agriculture departments to ramp up logging on federal lands to 4 billion board feet, an increase of 31%. trump has repeatedly stated on twitter and in interviews that poor forest management is responsible for wildfires, though experts disagree.

like markey and ocasio-cortez, the military and intelligence communities have consistently been more concerned about climate change and the environment than the president.

last week, director of national intelligence dan coats testified before the senate select committee on intelligence about the 2019 worldwide threat assessment. coats oversees the office of the director of national intelligence, which integrates the work of 17 organizations including the cia and departments of state, defense, justice, energy, homeland security, and treasury as well as the coast guard and drug enforcement agency.

for the third year in a row, the odni report highlighted global threats posed by climate change alongside threats posed by china, russia, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism.

“climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea level rise, soil degradation, and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infrastructure, health, and water and food security,” the report stated.

the threat assessment also cited the dangers to military installations posed by rising sea levels.

“damage to communication, energy, and transportation infrastructure could affect low-lying military bases, inflict economic costs, and cause human displacement and loss of life,” odni found.

this already happened when hurricane florence caused $3.6 billion damage to the marine corps’ camp lejeune in north carolina in september 2018, followed one month later by $5 billion in damage to tyndall air force base in florida after hurricane michael, according to the union of concerned scientists.

a january 2019 report on climate change risk by the department of defense reviewed 79 military installations and found 53 at risk of recurrent flooding, 43 vulnerable to droughts, and 36 at risk of wildfires, with many installations threatened by more than one risk factor. desertification and thawing permafrost were other risk factors.

“congress needs to use the power of the purse to ensure that our federal spending prioritizes clean energy, climate change, and science, and restricts the ability of the trump administration to take actions that would move us further away from our climate goals,” markey wrote in a dec. 7 op-ed in the boston globe. “in the 116th congress, we will have that chance to make history. now is the time for a green new deal.”

with cities and counties struggling to emerge from the down economy, clean energy development has been an economic and environmental bright spot. as berkeley law and ucla law discuss in the 2009 report “in our backyard,” california possesses numerous opportunities to deploy solar and wind energy facilities in existing urbanized areas, such as along highways and on large commercial rooftops. governor jerry brown is working with berkeley law to develop policies to achieve 12,000 megawatts of such deployment, underscoring the state’s commitment to this issue.

our device meets the basic requirements:

1. protection of the metal roof of transport of heat by solar radiation in hot climates, reduces the heating of air temperature inside the cabin of transport and provides additional comfort.
2. the device can be used simultaneously in different modes – in the parking lot of transport, in slow traffic in urban traffic jams or at high speed above 120 km per hour.
3. the device does not require re-assembly or disassembly in the parking lot or in traffic.
4. the device reduces the workload of the air conditioner, resulting in reduced fuel consumption by motor transport and reduces harmful co2 emissions into the atmosphere.
5. the device can be permanent in the summer, or folding during the winter.
6. the device can be mounted in standard mounting the device on the roof of
vehicles.
7. a simple device is designed to provide low cost of production of 25
euros.
8. the outer surface of the device can be used for advertising.
9. the above-mentioned advantages of sunscreen devices as well as the absence of such a device in the world can provide the high demand of 1 million to 10 million units per year.

trtl is being blessed by the former chief of the piikani nation dr. reg crowshoe, through 4 ceremonies preceding the competition. the traditional ceremonies have resulted in the project’s blackfoot name—spo’pi—which means turtle, and translates directly into ‘lives on stilts’ (very fitting given the competition and final foundation design strategies).the 1000 square-foot house is currently being built on the university of calgary campus before it is disassembled and shipped to the national mall in washington d.c. and put on display for the competition (september 23-october 2, 2011), which attracts upwards of 150,000 visitors and widespread media attention.

the cenovus trtl is the university of calgary’s second entry in the solar decathlon, following the 6th place finish of the award-winning solabode in 2009. canada’s team includes a collaboration of of students from the university of calgary’s faculty of environmental design, the schulich school of engineering and the haskayne school of business, as well as a native cultural advisory council, and a steering committee. over 100 individuals have come together to make the vision of trtl a reality.

looking to keep track of team canada?

for access to the entire archive of the university of calgary’s solar decathlon 2011 videos: visit the member page