May/June, 2023 Download

like a bug to the windshield of life.

Updates!

I’ve officially done it!  I graduated from UBC with a BS in Microbiology and Oceanography.  I will be using this newly acquired title to assert my opinions on topics which I have absolutely no standing… like all good college graduates. I’m not sure what the celebration for this academic achievement will look like, but I’m wanting to host something… My family and I are going to try and throw a graduation party at the end of June or beginning of July. The specifics are still up in the air, but I will send updates as soon as I know more! For a completely unrelated reason, I am going to link my Venmo (@Daven-Kuder)... because I feel like not enough people share their monetary transaction IDs these days and this newsletter is all about being genuine <3

I have officially signed a room in Berkeley, California. I will be moving down to the Bay area mid July and attempting to settle in before my masters program starts. I am enrolled in the M.Eng. Bioengineering program with a focus in synthetic biology. In the meantime, I will be in Hood River, OR for a couple more weeks.

I’ve started a summer engineering program which focused on solving medical issues in low-income communities. The program is a joint venture between UC Berkeley, The University of Nairobi, and Engineering World Health. I’m really excited to start solving real problems in a practical way! My team and I have decided to pursue a design concept I created to help minimize the difficulty of storing and transporting large Oxygen tanks. Many low resource communities cannot rely on O2 production within the hospital (like more developed countries), thus rely on O2 which is produced elsewhere and shipped in. The O2 tanks used in these health care settings can cause extensive damage (to the floors and walls) and pose a real danger (O2 likes to combust) when dropped. They are also very difficult to move and store safely. Our design hopes to solve all of these issues in a simple, robust way. I was actually interviewed by a newspaper about the program; you can read the article here!

Future Plans!

Right now I am only capable of planning for the coming year of academic slaughter and hollowing business-focused education. That being said, my current dreams of the future involve me, a pina colada(s), and sailing into the sunset (preferably in a country where student-debt collectors have a hard time finding me). Unrealistic? Maybe–but so is owning a house.

In more ~adult~ news, I currently have four research papers which are in the late stages of publication. Two of them are going through peer review at the moment, and the other two are about to be submitted with revisions. All this to say: Your googling of ‘Kuder’ is about to be a lot more academic and a lot less ‘better-clear-my-search-history-after’.

I also recently updated the projects page on my personal website! It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve uploaded some of my short stories, tattoo designs, and graphic design. I will continue to update this page with projects which I’m currently working on.

Insights/thoughts!

In Regards to the End of the Word,

This may feel a bit extreme, but if we don’t act right now, billions of people are going to die. We have, at most, 5-10 years to minimize the impact of climate change. I want to point out the use of the word ‘minimize,’ because there is no way to avert most of the coming disasters. If we were to completely stop all CO2 emissions tomorrow, we would still see millions of people dying from the damage we’ve done to the world (i.e. flooding, droughts, crop die offs, disease, heatwaves, increasingly extreme storms, wildfires, and the list goes on). That is the best case scenario. We will not be dealing with the best case. Just for perspective we can ONLY emit another 500Gt of carbon into the atmosphere if we want to keep warming below the 2 degrees C (outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement)... There is 3,500Gt of carbon in the reserves of oil already discovered and divided up for drilling and extraction… And just to put 2 degrees of warming into perspective: the global temperature difference between now and the last ice age (when all of Canada and most of the north US was covered in 2 miles of ice) was roughly 4 degrees celsius. The issue of carbon emissions and climate change is the most dire issue facing the human race. 

It’s really easy to slip into the ‘Okay, it’s hopeless. There’s nothing I can do’ state of mind when climate change is brought up, but I need you to STOP. That is not the mentality that is going to solve this. Climate change is a MASSIVE issue, and it’s going to take everyone to solve it. It might feel overwhelming, but that's why we need every single person in the world thinking about ways to reduce carbon emissions, how to stop oil companies, and how to completely revamp our society so this doesn’t happen again. By thinking, ‘it’s hopeless’ you’re writing the issue off. You’re writing off the future of humanity. To be completely candid, there aren’t a lot of definitive solutions to solve climate change, but that’s why we need everyone to think about it. Regardless of your background, you should be spending your time thinking about how we can improve sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.

I'm going to cover some solutions which could be immediately implemented to slow down the impact of climate change:

Transportation networks: I want you to take a second and look around. Whether you're sitting at a coffee shop, or at your home, how much space around you is SOLELY devoted to cars? How much space is taken up by driveways, street parking, parking lots, parkades, roads, highways, etc.? Spoilers: It’s a lot of space. Imagine the things that could be done with that space! We could turn parkades into temporary shelters for the homeless (it’s not amazing, but it would be a designated space which is protected from the elements and has basic security infrastructure), we could turn streets and parking spaces into community gathering spots. If we got rid of, or at least limited the number of cars, we could reduce urban sprawl substantially. Not only that, but if we stopped defaulting to car ownership our cities could start to be designed around humans, not vehicles. Check out this city design concept for human centered cities called Habitat 67.

Now, I understand if you are having a visceral reaction to the idea of not owning a car; Capitalism is great at making you connect your worth as a human to the owning of certain commodities. I also understand that not owning a car, especially in our country, is extremely inconvenient. The way to achieve these human focused, car-less cities is through the development of a robust, convenient public transport system. We can look to Europe for inspiration, but the US system needs to be slightly different. I am imaging a diffusive transport system which utilizes multiple modes of transportation for different scales; High-speed railways to move across the country, regular trains and buses for across city transport, and car-share systems for commuting outside of the city. I just recently moved back from Vancouver BC, where EVO cars are very accessible and make driving while not owning a car very easy and affordable. There is some movement on the development of a US high-speed railway system, according to Forbes, but we will need a much bigger public transit overhaul to impact climate change.

Here’s an amazing video about how the US’ public transportation systems got so messed up.

Nuclear and renewables: Brace yourself, I’m going to say something that might be scary: We need nuclear power. Obviously if we could meet our energy demands solely through renewable sources, that would be great, but renewables (solar and wind) are inconsistent or geographically limited (thermal and hydro). We need nuclear power to fill in the gaps of renewable sources. Not only does nuclear have the ability to meet our power demands, but it is one of the lowest carbon footprints of any energy source (lower than hydro). Unfortunately, nuclear power has a very bad reputation in the public eye. The two main reasons for this tend to be safety concerns and cost; Both of these issues are solved through the implementation of Small Modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs are small enough to fit into the back of a semi-truck, and can be run in series to scale with energy demands. They employ a number of different energy types, but they ubiquitously allow for lower investment costs (they can even be installed in existing nuclear infrastructure) and more effective containment–thereby solving both the cost and safety concerns. 

Another common concern with nuclear power is the disposal and long term storage of nuclear waste. While there are many effective procedures currently in effect, a method commonly used in other countries (which is not legal in the US) is the recycling of spent nuclear materials. The spent nuclear materials still contain roughly 90% of their effective energy, and other countries (such as France) use a method which reactivates this ‘spent material’ allowing for it to be more efficiently used.

Aiding emerging countries and communities: The biggest thing we could do as a nation to combat climate change is to share our technology and resources with emerging countries. By helping emerging communities to avoid the pitfalls we (meaning the western developed world) made in regards to pollution, we would be removing billions of Gt of future carbon emissions. There’s a trick to this sharing of technology however: We CANNOT move into these countries as colonizers. We need to develop new methods of sharing technologies and resources which respect these emerging communities' cultures and allow them to incorporate the tech in their own way. We, as ‘developed nations,’ cannot move into these emerging communities and overwrite their culture/way of life. Seeing as the previously mentioned ‘developed’ countries are predominantly white, we need to be extremely careful not to start a second wave of colonization through the crusade of climate change. Practically, this would mean helping an emerging country develop the sustainable technological infrastructure and helping run it in the short term, but with the long term goal of this infrastructure being completely self-contained (within the local communities). This would be accomplished through local education and native job opportunities. 

Take away: There are things that we can do to mitigate climate change and its impacts on low resource communities. Please don’t give into hopelessness. I need every single person to help out, and through the participation of billions we can hopefully avert catastrophe. There is too much money in Fossil Fuels for companies to willingly stop. We need to show them there is a better way, and that we–as a species–want to pursue it. This means we need to TALK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. We need to talk about solutions, about the pitfalls ahead of us, and we need to be loud. Everyone is feeling the same way, but only a few are able to give that feeling words. I urge you to try and talk about this. The louder we are, the more likely they are to listen.

In regards to the masculine,

*I want to preface this section by saying that these feelings and opinions I am expressing are based on things I, and people close to me, have experienced. In no way do these ideas minimize or negate the feelings and experiences of others.

I feel extremely lucky to have amazing male role models in my life. These men are strong, intentioned, loving, and courageous. They aren’t afraid to show emotion, but feel their emotions to the fullest. They are respectful towards others and very sensitive to how their masculinity makes others feel. Unfortunately, these men are not the norm in our society. The connotation of ‘ a man’ in today's world feels negative, and I understand why. There is so much toxic masculinity in our world that all connotations of the ‘masculine’ have been tainted. This really hurts me. I see so many men my age trying to do better, and so many who fall into the ‘alpha male’ toxic tar pit. It feels increasingly hard to explore one’s own masculinity. You either are shunned by the majority of men (by embracing healthy masculinity you are labeled as feminine or ‘gay’) or you feed into the toxic, aggressive male culture and get shunned by every other group. Boys today are forced to choose between having male friends or being healthy and ostracized. Things are starting to shift, and it is becoming more and more acceptable for men to talk about their wounds and feelings, but this is mainly happening with none-male friends. This is because a lot of men still see emotions and vulnerability as a weakness with other men. 

I predominantly see these wounds in my father’s generation; the genXers who are trapped between the ‘good-ol-days’ boomers and the ‘existential-depression’ millennials. I am in complete awe of my dad and the work he’s put in to show me what it means to be a healthy, caring man. I also feel so much pain for the young men out there who never had the role models I had. I’ve talked with men in their 40s and in their 20s who are trying to find their way to healthy masculinity and they consistently tell me how alone they feel… There is an aversion to talking about their feelings with other men (they fear being cast out), but there is also an aversion to talking about their feelings with none male individuals (for fear of minimizing their experiences of oppression). These men are so aware of the social weight of masculinity that they’d rather drown in loneliness than make another human feel uncomfortable or minimized. 

I listened to a podcast recently that talked about the impact of the patriarchy on all genders. “Men are also repressed by the patriarchy. For when they try to move away from the  toxic male ideal they are pushed down and trampled.” (that’s not an exact quote, but it’s something like that). I find it hard to embrace my own masculinity because I fear my friends will love me a bit less. I am often told that I am a “he/him lesbian” or ‘not thought of as a man,’ and while these comments are meant as compliments they also undermine my identity. As a man in today’s world we need to be aware of how our actions impact others, but we also need to understand that OUR EXPERIENCE IS VALID.

To the men reading this I want to let you know that you are not alone. So many of us are feeling isolated and misunderstood. I can’t promise a magical pill that will heal your feelings, but I can tell you that there is hope. We need to start changing the way society views masculinity. WE get to share our experiences and talk with other men about our feelings. Only through the development of caring, strong communities can we begin to heal the wounds we are all forced to carry. I am here if any of you need/want to talk, and I would love to share some resources which have really helped me in understanding my masculinity. Just let me know :)

Podcasts

If you’re looking for some fun, nerdy information of a smattering of different topics: Ologies with Alie Ward | Podcast on Spotify thanks Tessa ;)

Music

Vibingly funky: FKJ | Spotify

Main character anime energy: Work by Millennium Parade | Spotify

Readings

I just finished re-reading Contact by Carl Seagan (my favorite book). If you haven’t read it I would definitely recommend it (the book is unsurprisingly much better than the movie). It's about humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence, but that's just the tip of the literary iceberg. It delves into the philosophical, political, and theological implications of extraterrestrial life while still artfully exploring what it means to be women in science in the late 80s-late 90s. Carl Seagan uses such vivid imagery and powerful themes; Every page feels like a wave of nostalgia which crashes into me, sending me swirling into the depths of a philosophical, meaning filled ocean.

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanely Robbinson is another sci-fi book which I’ve been slowly working my way through. I can only handle a chapter or two at a time because the book feels too real. It's about the collapse of our world due to climate change. The book details 5-10 years into our future, opening with a mass heatwave which kills millions of people in India. If you have a hard time keeping Climate Change in focus I definitely recommend this book. It makes the problem feel so much more tangible… 

Closing Remarks!

It’s been almost two months since I sent out the last newsletter. I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding that life gets ‘fuckin’ hectic eh.’ I want to give a special shout out to my friends Charlie and his awesome e-bike tour business, Sol Rides, in HR. I also give everyone reading this a big thank you. Every one of you has impacted my life in some way and I hope we can continue to revolve around each other for a long time to come! May you all roll nat 20s today (a DnD reference for all you oldies)!

Begrudgingly being an adult,

Daven