Back in Canada!

After an experience of a lifetime - a 6 month internship in Kolkata, India with renewable energy startup, ONergy, I've arrived safely back in Toronto! I visited friends in London and Germany for a few weeks before heading home, then made a beeline north to the cottage to spend a relaxing week with family. I decided to wait a few weeks before writing a final post on India, allowing me to clear my mind and sort out my thoughts about the fellowship and India in general.

Relaxation.

Georgian Bay - gotta love it

Working with ONergy was exactly the type of experience I was looking for- international, challenging, exciting, and in the renewable energy field. My work consisted primarily of project management and business development, and the opportunities for learning and responsibility I was given by far exceeded my expectations. I cannot thank the ONergy team enough- the three co-founders, all under 30, are some of the most inspiring and hardworking entrepreneurs I've ever met, and I have no doubt they'll be successful and meet their goals.

In the past 2-3 years I've been to 30 countries, studied in Sweden, cycled across Europe, climbed mountains, and worked in an exciting industry in India, while meeting lifelong friends along the way. 

I loved everything about being nomadic and 'on the road'- constantly exposed to new surroundings, seeing both the best and worst of humanity, observing how economics and social structure varies from one place to another, experiencing different cultures, meeting incredible people, and encountering extreme environments. 

I didn't mind sleeping in airports, frantically rushing to catch the next place/train/bus/rickshaw/ferry, going multiple nights with next to zero sleep, wearing clothes more than a few times before washing, and even the few bouts of sickness I encountered in India weren't so bad in hindsight! They're all part of the experience and looking back are hilarious memories.   

Despite all the excitement the road has to offer I'm thrilled to be back in Canada and appreciate it more than ever. My travelling days are not over, but for the time being I plan to keep my feet firmly planted on Canadian soil. I missed the NHL playoffs AND the federal election this year, so am quite excited to catch up on news and see what 2012 has to offer. The current European financial crisis is proving to be pretty intense, and it will be interesting to see how Canadian banks manage to weather the storm this time, after emerging relatively unscathed during the last recession in 2008. 

I think I can fairly say that I've encountered and overcome quite a few physical and mental challenges these past few years, and doubt I'll ever forget these kinds of memories. 

Now for my next equally tough challenge- finding a job in Canada! I plan on staying in Toronto or possibly going out west so if you know of anything or anyone, hit me up with connections! I love renewable energy, finance and banking, and marketing. 

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer and I'm sure I'll catch up with you at some point in the near or not-so-near future! 

Red squirrels have taken over the bird house!

Music Monday: Summer Tunes and Solar

Celebrating summer with a chill song by Natty. It's officially monsoon season! Last week Kolkata finally got hit with the heavy rains that cooled the city down and brought a refreshing breeze for a few days. On Thursday, the main road I walk along to get to the metro was flooded, so I ended  up wading through a foot deep, very questionable murky water. Ugh.  

Two cool solar related articles from my new favourite website, Good.is:

Google's newest clean energy project: solar leasing. Google announced this week that it’s investing $280 million in SolarCity, a company that installs and maintains residential-scale solar panels. Customers pay a fee for this service, either up-front or at a monthly rate—and end up saving less money on electricity than they would if they were to buy and install the panels themselves—but they avoid the risk and long-term commitment of ownership. It's good to see solar becoming more accessible and affordable on the consumer level.

"If you’re like me, Google already backs everything else in life; why not let them help you save on your electricity bill as well?"

In NYC, The Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning Sustainability, sent a plane over the city  to capture its every contour with a system of lasers, which created a map showing how much energy rooftops would be generating if they had solar panels installed. If the city’s solar potential were realized, the study showed, New York City could get half of the electricity it needs at peak times from rooftop installations. However, due to the high cost of solar, in many cases the resulting savings per apartment per year aren't yet substantial enough to motivate landlords to invest in rooftop systems. The good news though, is that the city is beginning to offer a new type of lease that would allow landlords to earn back their investments in green improvements quicker. 

Swings: A Simple Happiness

Love this video - a weekend project to set up 50 swings around L.A to bring spontaneous joy to passerby's:

o

They plan to bring it to Bolivia and are currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter: Swings in Bolivia.

Teen's Invention Makes Solar Panels 40% More Efficient

Eden Full, a 19 year old Canadian girl attending Princeton invented the SunSaluter, which makes solar panels more efficient by orienting them to always be getting the optimum amount of light from the suns rays. 


Two awesome things about this that make it affordable is that it is cheaper than the motor-driven tracking systems which rotate the panel as the sun moves across the sky throughout the day, and also that it can be built using local materials sourced in developing countries, thereby avoiding expensive shipping and import duties, not to mention creating job opportunities in the countries themselves. 


Impressive.

My World Environment Day, 2011

A few days late, but here's an overview of what I did last Sunday on World Environment Day here in India. ONergy kicked off a project in partnership with a local Rotary chapter (RC Calcutta Mid-City, District 3291) on an off-grid island in the Sunderbans, which is in East  India. 


The Sundarbans wetlands and mangrove forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Evidenced by a devastating cyclone in 2008, it is extremely sensitive to changing weather patterns. Electrification and water purification are critical issues. A majority of the villages are without grid access, using kerosene and diesel generators for lighting, electrification and pumping water for de-salination and agricultural irrigation.  Relying on fossil fuels for these purposes is detrimental to the surrounding environment, unhealthy, and incredibly costly.  

The event was organized and held at the site of a local NGO who works with and runs programs with villagers to promote income generation through skill building and sustainable development. 

A small training and awareness session on the benefits of solar and how to use the lamps was given to a group of school children.

"Who know's how solar works?"

Ekta from ONergy mesmorizing the group with how their
mobile phones can be charged directly from the panel!

Solar LED study lamps were provided to selected students from Classes 5 & 6 who were regular attenders at school and high achievers. 

The first two students chosen, all dressed up, so cute.

A group of students them performed a skit on stage, which was adorable. They were dressed up as elders- wearing grey powder in their hair, traditional dress, and fake beards/moustaches. Though I couldn't understand what they were saying, what I gathered was that it was a generational progress, with the elderly teaching the youth the importance of taking care of the surrounding environment. 

Love the girl in the middle with the straw beard. Some of the kids
twirled their mustaches at the ends - great style.

Students on stage performing a group skit on the importance
of managing the environment.

As always, the teacher was at the side of the stage feeding lines
to the kids who forgot or got temporarily distracted.

This purpose of this pilot was to get the program started in the community, and also for Rotary to gain awareness for the project as they look to secure funding to expand it. The plan is to set up a  "charging station" at the local school and provide subsidized lamps to 50-100 school children. They could then bring their lamps to the school to get charged during the day and be brought home to study with at night, thereby preventing them from having to study beside dim, unhealthy, and unsafe kerosene lamps.


Very entertaining Sunday, although extremely hot with lots of travel involved (trains, buses, ferries), and I suspect the heat played a part in taking me down on Tuesday. All better now though!

TED Tuesday - The neurons that shaped civilization

Very interesting TED by neurologist V.S Ramachandran The neurons that shaped civilization. He's a great speaker, describing complicated theories of the brain in concrete and simple ways, and has a few other talks that are definitely worth checking out.

In this video he talks about his investigations into phantom limb pain, synesthesia and other brain disorders allow him to explore (and begin to answer) the most basic philosophical questions about the nature of self and human consciousness.

"Ramachandran is a latter-day Marco Polo, journeying the silk road of science to strange and exotic Cathays of the mind. He returns laden with phenomenological treasures...which, in his subtle and expert telling, yield more satisfying riches of scientific understanding."Richard Dawkins

Into Thin Air: A mini Himalayan Adventure

5:30am wakeups to witness the sunrise, an everlasting hope the clouds would clear and give a glimpse of the mighty Kangchenjunga massif, staring in awe when they did, chai breaks in remote settlements, strings of colourful prayer flags, being out of breath, gulping fresh thin air, sounds of silence, scent of evergreens, thin clouds flowing right past my face… 

I recently got the chance to take some time off work to head to northern India for a week of trekking in the Himalayan Mountains. An overnight train followed by a 3 hour jeep ride up countless switchbacks brought us to Darjeeling, ‘Queen of the Hills’. The fresh, cold air of the mountains was a glorious relief from the heavy heat of Kolkata summer (40C these days with monsoon season fast approaching).

rooftop restaurant

Darjeeling is a fairly developed and bustling town near the Nepali border, sitting at 2100m with spectacular views of the surrounding mountain ranges. Largely developed by the Brits in the 1800’s as a hill station and tea distribution centre, it’s now widely famous for the quality of the tea which grows on its steep hills (and the Sherpa community). This region is comprised of a very diverse culture with a unique way of living (primarily agriculture). The majority of the current occupants are Nepali, along with many other communities such as Bengalis, Bhutias, and Tibetans, with Buddhists and Hindus forming the religious majority.

The 5 day, 55km trek to Sandakphu at 3600m took us along the Singalilla ridge which followed the Indian/Nepali border. A few of the days were spent in Nepal, which was monumental personally as it was country #30 visited for me, one of my major goals. Also, it was a step up from 2600m which previously was the highest altitude I had reached in Austria on my European cycle tour last summer. Getting up in the clouds was unreal – I want more! Looking forward to heading back up to this region in a few months time on my way home to Canada. 

Got clear skies our first morning - Kangchenjunga Range 
(Everest to the left of this range) 

Sherpa lodge in Sandakphu

4:30am, 3600m, waiting

here comes the sun...

glorious.

I put a bunch more photos up on my Picasa Photostream as well, the link can be found on the right side of this page.

Maxims for Mavericks

Great new ebook ‘Maxims for Mavericks’ is a quest against mindless conformity which provides motivation to create and enjoy an uncommon life, a life on your terms.

Once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.
– Alan Keightley, Author

What is a Maxim?

According to the eighteenth-century Russian philosopher, Immanuel Kant, a maxim is a self-created rule or belief that composes our internal playbook; it’s part of a code that we consult when making the very decisions that shape our life. Our maxims lie behind every action and, therefore, contribute to every outcome we experience.

 “May you live your life as if the maxim of your actions was to become universal law”
-Immanuel Kant (From Groundwork to a Metaphysics of Morals.’ 1785

If you found this ebook inspiring and want more where that came from:

• Charlie Hoehn’s “Recession-proof grad” – has a free ebook that advises actions recent grads should take to get noticed and start doing the work they want to do, rather than settling and taking what they can get as an entry-level job. (hint: it’s the exact opposite of what you’re probably doing now). His recent TEDx talk
• Chris Guillebeau and The Art of Non-Conformity – his work covers broad strokes of living an unconventional life, building your own something, world domination, and travel. Chris also spoke at the same TEDx conference
• Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You to be Rich – excellent and entertaining tips for young people on personal finance, earning more money, great interviewing and negotiation tactics (including scripts), and the psychology of effective behaviour change.

Great work like this is largely what has motivated me to follow through with various travel adventures and plan how to steer my own life, both personally and professionally.

Never settle.

Issue: Indian Farmer Suicides

A fellow intern in India posted this graph on their blog, so I thought it would be relevant to share here. Pretty shocking.

From SaveFarmers

Music Monday and the power of crowdsourcing

Howrah Train Station - Kolkata, India (May, 2011)

Well I'm back from my insane 65 hour round trip train journey! I felt very old and British as I drank copious amounts of chai while reading a copy of Reader's Digest. At night the rolled up magazine then double as a cockroach swatter as more than a few bugs came crawling out of various crevices in search of the samosa crumbs scattered on my bunk.
Once in Mumbai I met up with interns, got out to see the city for a few nights, and attended a social business conference at a fancy hotel. True to my cheap backpacking roots and eating skills gained from the bike tour, I took full advantage of the amazing (and free!) buffet meals served over the 2 days. I enjoyed the conference which was my first major industry event, and took away a lot of insights from the various speakers, panelists, and people I met.


I've missed a few weeks of posting new songs but after listening to heaps of music on the train the past few days I was inspired to bring Music Monday back. Canadiana, bumpin' track, cool video - BOOM HA!

Cool Story: The Power of Crowd Funding
This new company Lunatik shattered Kickstarter records when they attempted to raise $15,000 in 30 days and ended up with nearly $1 million. Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, inventors, explorers, etc. to use crowd sourcing to fund their projects. Lunatik makes beautifully designed (minimalist Apple style) watch bands that transfer the new ipod nano into a multi-touch watch. More about their Kickstarter story on Lunatik's site.

TED Tuesday - plus 60+ hours of train ride this week!

PLEASE give me suggestions for online articles or TED Talks to download that I can pass the time with. In a few hours I'll be departing for a 33 hour cross country train ride to Mumbai for a conference. I'll have plenty of time over the 60+ hours of train travel this week to read some interesting articles and watch movies. 

My bookshelf in India - big fan of Penguin books!

Heres a TED by Salmar Khan, founder of the Khan Academy. His idea is to use video to reinvent education. Now that computers are just as affordable as textbooks, and the internet is becoming more available in developing countries, this could be revolutionary for improving education in places that previously could not afford the infrastructure of large schools, skilled teachers, and multiple textbooks. 

I'll be attending the Sankalp Forum, a conference that brings together companies, speakers, and investors in the social business field. ONergy has been nominated for an award in the Clean Energy category, one of the high impact sectors they focus on, along with: Agriculture, Food & Rural Business, Education, Health, Water & Sanitation, Technology for Development.

I'm really looking forward to the conference and interested to hear talks from some of the leaders in their respective fields.The social enterprise space is still developing, with new business models required and everyone collaborating together to learn from each other what works and experiencing the hard way what doesn't. Scale is the buzz word, with many ventures having been in operations for 3-5 years and still working on proving their model can achieve profitability and scale. Many large investors and VCs are still skeptical, obviously wanting to see proven results before they fund, creating a Catch-22 since companies often are unable to run large-scale pilot projects without additional funding.

I don't think I can call myself a blogger and not comment on the results of the Canadian Federal election. India is 9.5 hours ahead of Ontario, so I just found out the results this morning: Conservative majority, ouch, definitely did not expect that. I have no problem voicing my political opinion, and disappointed is a bit of an understatement. Though I believe he has done a decent job steering Canada through these "tough economic times", his stance on many social and environmental issues enrages me. I am distrustful and worried what he'll do with his new-found power. As I posted a few weeks ago, our international reputation has been blemished by some of our recent stances and lack of support for climate change mitigation policies, and I doubt this will help. 

Cheer me up and post something I should read, watch, listen to on the train! I'm almost done 'Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinback and will be scouring the used book stalls in Mumbai for my another good read. 

Looking for an exciting work experience? Internships in India and how I ended up here

If you are in a situation anything like I was over one year ago: graduated university and not ready to settle right into a career at home, I've got good news! If you are at all interested in living in another country for 6 months-1 year to gain relevant work experience, here's some currently available Internship opportunities in India:

• mDhil Internship (AIESEC-Artemisia) -  social media and SEO marketing related
• Babajob - 6 to 12 month long internships from Computer Science students, graduate students in economics, development, informal sector labor, etc. and MBA candidates who wish to work at our offices in Bangalore.
• Waste Ventures - business development position

The deadlines for these may be quite soon, but AIESEC internships are always available, and Artemisia has two rounds per year for both India and Brazil. 


This is a monster post that outlines what I've been doing the past few years and how I ended up working in India in a business development role with ONergy.

Looking back to a year ago (May, 2010), I had just arrived in Europe preparing to start a self-supported bike tour that would take my friend and I across the continent. I finished my undergrad a few months prior and was in planning mode for the upcoming year of adventurous travel. 

During my entire 4 years at university I was mostly unsure of what path I wanted to take career wise. Well, by unsure I mean I was sure I didn't want a conventional 'office job' that I may end up despising, but was unsure about what other options were even available for business students (did I pick the wrong major?). But now that I had my degree I knew that 1:  I had some more travel and adventure goals to fulfill first before I started a 'real' job (thanks to my semester on exchange in Sweden during 4th year for giving me the travel bug!), and 2: The job that I eventually did get would not just be a 'job', but something I was passionate about and in a field I wanted to get fully immersed in. 

So, I hit the road and hoped that the career thing would sort itself out along the way. I somehow decided it would be a good idea to cycle across Europe, riding 6200km from Lisbon, Portugal, to Istanbul, Turkey through 15 countries over 70 days.  It was an extreme challenge that allowed me to learn a lot about myself over the countless hours spent on the bike while breezing by beautiful landscapes. I learned what my limits were both mentally and physically, and then proceeded to push way beyond them day in and day out while facing adversity over what was sometimes grueling terrain and hot summer days. I never would have made it without my cycling buddy Colin who kept us pedaling and is one of the most intense and motivated people I've ever met. 

One of the main insights I took away from that tour was how great the bike was as a form of sustainable transportation. Switzerland was especially impressing as they have bike paths that crisscross the entire country, including dedicated bicycle lanes in the cities, something which Toronto is in desperate need of (*cough, Mayor Rob Ford). 

After the bike tour I made a brief trip back to Canada in August for just 3 weeks. It was kind of tough to go home only to immediately leave again, especially because my university roommate Hattie was recovering from a double lung transplant at the time. I was there to attend the Couture Fashion for a Cure Found, a fashion show organized by Hatts that would combine her passion for fashion (she designs rad vintage jewelery and writes a fashion blog) with fundraising for Cystic Fibrosis. An amazing group of girls dedicated heaps of their time over the summer to planning the event, which was extremely successful - selling out the venue and raising over $30,000 for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! 

Then I hit the road again, this time to New Zealand with a working-holiday visa. I worked at Burn Cottage Vineyard, an organic, biodynamic vineyard run by awesome people who treated us exceptionally well. I had a blast living with our crew of backpackers, spending weekends road tripping, rock climbing, hiking, trail running and mountain biking. I was blown away by the sheer beauty of the country and friendliness of the people, can't wait to return. 

Waiting out the storm before heading up Rob Roy Glacier

While in NZ I was going through the process of applying to AIESEC, a student-run global internship organization (most universities around the world have a chapter on campus- check it out!). I completed skype interviews with the review board from my alumni university, was accepted, and began searching the international jobs available. I was looking for an unconventional experience that would combine skills gained from my B.Comm degree with my interest in sustainability and renewable technologies, and on top of that take me to a new, exciting place. 

Then I found it- the Artemisia Social Business Program! At first I was confused by the term Social Business (basically a fusion of the business and development fields), what does this mean and why was it not in any of our textbooks or mentioned in university? Wait, a business can follow market driven for-profit models with the intent of effectively solving social/development/environmental/health issues? Sign me up! 

I was browsing the openings for the upcoming round of Artemisia-AIESEC internships and saw ONergy, a renewable energy venture specializing in distributing solar lighting to rural off-grid communities in India. Fortunately, I made the shortlist, received an interview, and found out on Christmas day that I got the job! I changed the dates of my round-the-world ticket, left NZ, stopped in Australia for a few weeks, and once again found myself back in Canada for a short 3 week stint. Sorted out my visa, vaccinations, did some snowplowing for extra cash, said hellos and goodbyes, then rocked over to India. 

The clincher for me being selected was the bike tour I had just completed, confirming to myself that doing unconventional things are effective in standing out against the mass of business students that have the same entry-level banking or marketing experience. Luckily, I've got a great father who is always supportive of my next adventure, the odd jobs I work to finance them, and not pushing me to immediately settle into a career.


I credit many of the personal development bloggers that I follow in nudging me along this path. They aim to motivate people to do something unconventional, put in a real effort, stand out, don't settle for the norm, and quit whining about how hard it is to get a job or save money. It's not hard to do, but people think it is and therefore do not try (making it easier for those who do!). 


Blogs I follow:

• Chris Guillebeau - The Art of Non Conformity
• Seth Godin - blogger and author of many great development books such as Linchpin and most recently, Poke the Box
• Tim Ferriss - another great blogger to follow regarding making your life awesome
• Ramit Sethi - I Will Teach You To Be Rich
• Charlie Hoehn and his Recession-Proof Graduate free ebook

This internship has been an incredible experience for me so far as I've been learning so much about the industry, exposed to companies working in the social business field, and am continually meeting inspirational people who have left their Wall Street jobs and brought their MBAs with them to solve social and development problems in innovative, financially sustainable ways. Many companies, and the social business field in general, are still facing many challenges  in proving long-term financial viability which makes working with them to drive progress all the more rewarding. Talking with fellow interns we all agree that its both inspiring and intimidating at the same time, which is totally a positive thing because being surrounded by such intelligent and successful people/organizations has served to set the bar higher for ourselves.

I'm still unsure exactly what I'll be doing after my internship which is about half-way done, and am just taking it one step at a time. I've certainly found an area I'm passionate about and intend to pursue. I'll squeeze some more travel out of my bank account (thank you tax return!) before heading home in the fall, where I'm looking forward to keeping my feet planted firmly on Canadian soil... at least for the short term. 

If you scrolled through this post, here's a too long; didn't read summary: 

In the past two years I've: spent a semester on exchange in Sweden, biked across Europe, worked on a vineyard in New Zealand, now interning with an exciting social enterprise in India while meeting super cool people and couchsurfing along the way

You can do this too! There are current job postings for AIESEC-Artemisia internships in India, or if you want to work in a different country, still check out AIESEC as they hook up interns with jobs in over 100 countries! Artemisia also runs the social business program in Brazil as well. 


Thunder and lighting storm as I've been writing this-

While listening to new Explosions in the Sky album

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care.

Update: Ruined temples, monkeys and a conference

A few weeks ago I flew to Bangalore in the south of India for a 5 day conference hosted for the Artemisia Social Business interns currently in India. Amazing time, met the other interns from Argentina, Russia, Portugal and Canada, and got put up in a hotel (with AC!), while also managing to get sick from the restaurant food. 

Heading to the airport- off to Bangalore!

It was an incredible learning experience- sharing ideas, hearing about the social businesses in India using innovative technology, and discussing the potential for social business to drive social change in a profitable way both in India and around the world. I came away from it with so many ideas spinning in my head and inspired by all the developments going on in India!

Rooftop meeting at the shared office of Babajob and mDhil. Got to meet the founders, ask Q's and discuss the social space in India

Hammocks and couches - such stressful meetings

L to R: Caroline, Diego, Mutembei, Vinay, Katia, Celina, Ricardo -
Tomorrow's social entrepreneurs!

After the conference a fellow Canadian intern and I boarded an overnight bus with bunk beds (surprisingly comfy) and hit the bumpy road to Hampi. Hampi is a village surrounded by temple ruins from when it was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire between 1336 - 1565 (thank you wikipedia). The landscape is mindblowing, made up of massive piles of stones (think Bedrock from the Flinstones), which were used to make the temples and statues of Hindu deities. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Booted around on for a few days

It was incredibly hot, but delicious fresh fruit drinks were readily available and awesomely cheap. 

lots of these

Saw this guy getting a bath - loved it!

Climbed up the Monkey Temple for a jawdropping panoramic view

Bedrock?

Great trip.