A magical fairy prince lives up in the heavens and he fell in love with the kindest and the sweetest girl on earth. Watching her from the sky was not enough and one day he decides to fly down to meet her. Every time the prince flew in the sky, his green fairy dust would light up the sky. Gleaming and magical!
Little did the girl know that the sky was lit for her. She watched the lights in awe, “what is this magic in the sky?!”, she thought to herself. Now the fairy prince spots this girl with wonder eyes and his fairy dust turns red, lighting up the dark yonder. With sparkling green and red fairy dust, the prince danced all over the sky. So beautiful, so romantic and so enchanting….
Hey Folks, I’m talking about the northern lights here! A story I completely made up! The lights are so magical that I had a million fantasy stories in my mind while seeing the charm. Perhaps, “At the end of the northern lights, there is a chest full of treasures :D”, Ah! that’s the rainbow, right? Anyway, I’m stunned!
Last week there was an amazing show of Northern Lights in the sky. It was around 11.30ish when my friends called me up and asked me to go to the Lappis beach. I had my Lab the next day and I was super lazy to go. But, when I opened my room door to see if there was anyone else going. I saw the doors of my entire corridor banging open! So much so that one guy already caught the lights in his mobile camera from his room! yes, his room! Am not even kidding! And, I knew that I cannot be missing this night. So I put my jacket on and headed straight to the beach.
Oh, My! Oh, My! What a show that was. The green lights took over the sky. There is nothing more magical than this! Right when I was wishing for a red version, the sky turned green and red, a magical celestial dance!
A dance you would wanna watch all your life!
A thousand births wouldn’t suffice!
A dance that will make you question everything
about the universe and our existence!
A dance that’s pure magic and brilliance!
A dance that will blow your mind and soul!
A dance that will make you respect the nature even more!
A dance that will make you realize how blessed you’re
to be standing there and watching it,
how blessed you’re to have this beautiful world,
and will give you the realization that
It’s your duty to preserve the nature that we have.
It’s everything and the only thing you wanna see in this life!
Oh man! Just come here to Sweden to watch the Northern Lights!
It was truly MAGICAL! I’m so grateful for living this life and being here in Sweden. A true blessing! 🙂
I was even able to click some pictures from my mobile phone. LOL. For once my phone proved its worth! Haha! Sometimes, I do feel the need to own a DSLR camera, to click those special moments. I hope I’ll be able to buy one soon 🙂
Anyway, here are some pictures, I hope they’ll make you feel the magic in the sky!
These are from my phone’s camera…
I know right, it just kept getting better! Now, this is one thing ticked off from the bucket list. But hey, I am traveling north to feel more of the magic!
And here is a DSLR picture captured by Dhruv Bhatt…
So, Keep an eye on the Kp index and you can drop by at Lappis beach for a spectacular aurora treat!
Have fun! Enjoy Life! Don’t forget to appreciate it!
As an energy engineer, achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030 is something I look forward to ( look at goal 7 😉 ). To this end, when I saw an event tagged – Global Sustainable Goals: Connecting Columbia and Sweden. I knew I had to attend.
There were different people that brought this event to fruition and so, we were enlightened on the roles they played and are still playing generally when it comes to sustainable development. These organisations include: Impact hub, Swedish Institute and the Colombian Embassy. The guest speakers for the night were:
Paula Gutiérrez Gómez: Co-founder and CEO, Impact Hub Bogotá. Entrepreneur, change maker In Colombia and around the world as an expert associate of the impact hub network and a great connector whether through the Global Shaper network or building long-lasting bridges between ecosystems like the ImpactXchange program between Sweden and Colombia.
Gustavo Marquez Castellano: Master in Sustainability and Environmental Management (SEM), Harvard University. Entrepreneur, Impact investor and sustainability expert with a special focus on clean energy.
Assad Jater Plenipotentiary Minister of the Diplomatic Mission, Colombian Embassy.
If you’re reading this post, this might cross your mind – “this event looks centred around Colombia. What is the main aim of reading this post anyway?”For me, the event was for anyone who had any interest in the “global sustainable goals” and would like to broaden their knowledge by sharing with like-minded individuals on how these goals can be achieved.
Year by year, we see how various actions taken by the different countries of the world affect everyone. Due to this, world leaders are beginning to see that the steps taken by each individual in the world has a ripple effect on our planet. To this end, we are forced to look beyond our countries and ensure we make the world not only suitable to meet our present needs but capable to meet the needs of the future generation.
Personally, I loved the flow of the event as it brought to mind that to make these goals achievable, everyone has to be on board: investors, universities, the government, financial institutions, individuals, and the list seems endless. The event started with a short introduction on Columbia and the treasure that lies within. Gustav shared his story as an entrepreneur and the various projects he is involved in; all with the aim of achieving a sustainable lifestyle in Colombia.Then, the event ended with a fishbowl panel. Personally, I loved this section of the event the most and I think it is something any conference or event channelled in getting the most out of its audience should try to fit into their programme plan.
If your mind is brewing ideas that fit with making sustainable impact in your community, I would like to leave you with these quotes:
The value of an idea lies in the using of it- Thomas Edison
I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work – Thomas Edison
Those who have the priviledge of knowledge have the duty to act – Albert Eistein
Everyone has a part to play in achieving the seventeen sustainable goals. What are you doing in your little world?
Did you read about my trip to Oslo part 1? If not click here 🙂
Although it was just a one day trip, we did visit a good number of places. I think it would be nice to stay in the place for two or three days to soak in the spirit of the city. Anyway, one day trip isn’t a bad idea either. I am looking forward to the most talked-about road trip to Norway 😀
One thing that fascinated me in Oslo was that I found a Tesla car in every direction! There were a greater number of Tesla cars in Oslo than in Stockholm I guess, hmmm. It is so nice to see the people being able to accept electric cars. Well, it’s a Tesla, what can I say!
Oslo has a very rich Viking history. In fact, Oslo is one of those cities that are claimed to be founded by Vikings. A walk into the Viking ship museum of Oslo will blow anyone’s mind. The museum is one of the world’s best-preserved Viking ships and findings that were excavated from the Viking tombs at Gokstad and Oseberg. The museum also has other discoveries from the tomb like sleds, small boats, household utensils and textiles. Here are some pictures…
This Viking ship was so enormous. can’t believe that the people who lived so many years before could actually engineer such a humongous marvel. The museum also plays an awesome movie that takes the viewer back in time and gives an immersive Viking experience. Check it out in 360 mode below 🙂 My favourite part comes at 3.57 in the video. Don’t forget to drag around the video if you’re viewing from your laptop.
Oh wait, this wasn’t all! we went to the Norwegian maritime museum, The Polar Ship Museum, Akershus castle, Nobel Peace Centre. We even walked past the City Hall and the parliament. The Holocaust Centre was the most depressing one. Pictures and information about the Auschwitz concentration camps made us feel so sad. So much so that we had to sit down somewhere to get back to the mood. Here are more pictures!
And now its time to see things in 360 again! Also, its time you meet my bestie, Nishita. The girl who inspires me!
I hope you enjoyed Oslo with me. It’s very funny that I have visited so many museums in Oslo but not in Stockholm yet. I am saving all that indoor stuff for the winter. What do you think?
From the title, you might be wondering, “Innovation night” what is it really about? An exhibition for young entrepreneurs? Remember my post on “raining opportunities” at KTH? This is one of those opportunities.
Tekniska Högskolans Studentkår (THS) has been organising various events all leading to the biggest fair at KTH – ARMADA. (You would get more details on Armada later;)). The innovation night was one of such events. I was so glad I was able to attend this. Keep reading to know why.
Amir Sharifat – Co-founder of Shortcut Labs AB
The event started with various speeches from different company representatives. The first speaker started with INNOVATION AS A MINDSET. These are the things I learnt:
Be curious
Be passionate: Nothing comes cheap. You have to put in a lot of hard work if not, you would lose focus once the slope hits.
be determined: Listen to people but sometimes, you have to go with your guts.
Do not be afraid to fail
I like the fact that these points were not just listed but Amir Sharifat shared details from his experience as the co-founder of Flic to prove how these points would help you keep your head above the water if you choose to become an entrepreneur.
The other speakers talked about their various companies (what they do and how they started) and then Niklas Arvidsson (an associate professor at KTH), pointed out the need for innovation in the area of payments.
So, after an hour thirty minutes of listening to the speeches, we divided into groups for the case study workshop. For the case study workshop, we were divided into four groups to work together with either Sogeti, Karma, MAD or KTH Innovation. I worked with KTH Innovation.
With my group at the case workshop section. Photo credit: Nayanika Bhalla
The next session after the case workshops was a panel discussion with Andrew Hennigan, Niklas Arvidsson, Emelie Ekblad, Johan Båth and Gustaf Josefsson Tadaa.
In between this session, students presented the different cases they worked on during the workshop. It was very good to see that in a short time, students came up with awesome ideas and you could easily tell the role diversity can play in brainstorming for the best ideas.
I really loved the panel session as it was an eye-opener to the world of innovation and personally, I feel its main purpose was to juggle our minds to always think outside the box.I loved the way Gustav moderated this session – asking questions that were very relevant and making the panellists address core issues.
Then, it was time to mingle. An opportunity to network with all the speakers and share your ideas! This event surpassed my expectations and I can tell you I had a great evening.
Some keynotes as I round up the post:
Find your passion and do not let money get in the way of it
Always have an open mind
When building your team, find someone smarter than you; bring someone with a different knowledge and hire for attitudes also.
These are some pictures from the event;)
Students presenting their casesPhoto Credit: Nayanika BhallaPhoto Credit: Nayanika Bhalla
Sustainable development is not only about knowing in which can your trash goes, it goes way deeper than that. It’s about equality, health, poverty and so many other facts that policy makers must take into consideration to have a proper leadership. That’s why the aim of this post is to present to you how Sweden is one of the top leaders following UN’s 17 Sustainable Goals 2015-2030. Do you know them by heart? Well, here they are…
1. No Poverty
0.09 is Sweden’s ratio when it comes to poverty as reported by the OECD (2014).
2. Zero Hunger
Less than 3.5% is the amount of Swedish people at risk of not having enough money to buy a proper meal every second day as reported by Eurostat (2016).
3. Good Health and Well-being
As of 2015, 82.5 years of life expectancy at birth in Sweden. One of the top 5 countries in the field.
4. Quality Education
Sweden comes at 4th place when it comes to USD/Student ratio on spending money for eduction.
5. Gender Equality
In the Gini Coefficient, where 0 means complete equality and 1 complete inequality, Sweden ranked in 2014 0.274.
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
87% of Sweden’s population were connected by 2014 to a waste water treatment facility, meaning that they treat water, a lot!
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
Renewable energy accounts for more than 50% of Sweden’s energy production.
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
Sweden has the highest GDP from all the Scandinavian countries.
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
5th country with the highest %GDP spent on R&D in 2015.
10. Reduced Inequalities
2º place in the “Women in Politics” index with 52.2%… those Finnish people -.-
11. Sustainable Cities
Växjö, Malmö, Umeå, Stockholm… more info? Click here.
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
Less than 1% of household waste ends up in a landfill in Sweden.
13. Climate Action
Committed country working towards a sustainable future by being part of the Paris Agreement.
14. Life Below Water
Baltic Sea Action Plan member for a better environmental status by 2021 regarding the eutrophication of the zone.
15. Life on Land
Committed to environment and the responsable use of Sweden’s lands, they rank 11th in the list of the countries with more trees in the world this year.
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Sweden has not actively participated in a war since 1814.
17. Partnerships for the Goals
To reach and keep improving all its goals, Sweden has been member of the UN since 1946 (The UN was founded in 1945 :D).
Did you like this info? Would like to know a little bit more about how’s your country doing? Click here and search for your country.
Stockholmers, what a great spectacle we had last night! Incredible nature’s show right above us, green bright lights dancing over our heads thanks to solar’s winds disrupting Earth’s magnetosphere. This amazing spectacle that people seek mostly by traveling northern Sweden paying a significant amount of money just to see what we had here for free! Yesterday! HERE IN STOCKHOLM!… Oh wait, you didn’t see the northern lights? It was too bright in hype Södermalm? Well, then say thank you to what scientist call “Light Pollution” and enjoy these 2 pics from IG users living in Lappis, northern Stockholm.
As many of you, me and my roomies were unable to actually see the lights last night (we live in beautiful Älvsjö, southern Södermalm). The bright illumination surrounding us, whether it was from our own building or the street, didn’t let us see this incredible phenomena. So light pollution is the one to blame. As presented in the “Dark Sky Organization”, this type of pollution is the result of our industrialized civilization and is composed by:
Glare – excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort
Skyglow – brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas
Light trespass – light falling where it is not intended or needed
Clutter – bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources
Sometime inefficiently located, light instruments cause the reflection of natural dark night-light. Wasting energy, poorly targeted and sometimes extremely bright, this instruments block the amazing view of our Galaxy, the Milky Way.
According to the 2016 groundbreaking “World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness,” 80 percent of the world’s population lives under skyglow. In the United States and Europe 99 percent of the public can’t experience a natural night!
Want to know more about how lamps block natural light? Click here. Remember that unnecessary lamps don’t only stop us to seeing amazing starry nights, but they consume energy 🙁
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4. Quality Education
