Denmark is A Lot of Work

Hi All,

I'm sorry to say that I really haven't done anything interesting since my last post.  I'm now pretty busy with research work and preparations for the COP15 Conference.  Since I'm already here in Denmark, I'm trying to help a bunch of Sierra Club folks find places to stay during the conference, no small task considering most all the major hotels are already booked solid.  Hopefully I won't end up needing to cram 20 people into my 25 square meter apartment.

I did get a chance to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (I suppose that qualifies as interesting) at a Fulbright reception.  "Her Excellency" invited me and another Fulbrighter (also a North Carolinian, also working on renewable energy) to come by the Embassy in the future to talk more about our projects.  My inflated sense of self-importance almost caused me to pop a button...

Aside from the UN Conference, I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in the Netherlands with family friend (and fellow Fulbrighter) Linda Rupert and her daughter Naomi.  Leiden, the city where they live, is where the Pilgrims hung out for a bit before setting sale for Massachusetts.  Consequently, it's one of the only places in Europe with an actual Thanksgiving celebration.  I plan on taking full advantage of the festivities (no word yet on whether there'll be turkey) and also spending a few days in Amsterdam.

I miss you all and GO PHILLIES!!!

Daniel

Denmark is a Case of the Mondays

Hi All,

I'm sorry about going almost two weeks without a blog post, I'll try not to let it happen again.

If you've ever seen the movie "Office Space" you'll know that one of the things the protagonist, a cubicle-dweller named Peter Gibbons (played Ron Livingston), detests is the phrase "somebody's got a case of the Mondays."  This phrase (usually delivered dripping with mock pity) means that the person is in a bad mood caused by the start of the work week.  I'm sure we've all been there.

After a great weekend in which I took a trip with the university's International Club to the chalk cliffs of Møns Klint (Denmark's answer to Dover), I was not relishing a return to school work.  However, Monday Oct. 20th, seemingly out of nowhere, turned about to be that most wonderful of things: A Great Day.

After a morning spent working on a project brief to submit to my research supervisor, I met up with a classmate to put the sections of the brief together.  It was a productive session, and I left feeling good about the direction that our research work is taking.

I swung by the grocery store on my way back to the apartment to pick up a few things.  The day was cold but sunny, which made for a nice bike ride.  I stopped to check my mail before going inside.  I receive a ridiculous amount of junk catalogues, coupon books and free newspapers, and as a result, don't really like checking the mail because it means I have to sift through a bunch of crap.  Today, however, there was a genuine letter underneath the trash. 

Usually this just means I got a bill, but when I opened the envelope, I found out that the Danish Government had seen fit to give me a monthly rent stipend!  My feelings about the Welfare State are the subject for another post, but at that moment I was lovin' the Scandinavian model.

After studying some Danish and making myself a hearty dinner of lentil stew, apples and grilled cheese, I watched an episode of Ken Burns new documentary on the National Parks.  Really interesting and definitely worth seeking out.  If you're comfortable watching full-length videos on a computer (read: under 35 or Uncle Richie) then all the episodes of "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" are available on PBS' website.

Before bed, I checked my email one last time.  I saw a message I'd been hoping to receive for quite awhile.  I'd been accepted as a member of the Sierra Club Student Coalition Delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.  I'm going to be able to attend COP15 with actual credentials! Woo-hoo!

I somehow managed to calm down enough to go to bed (really, COP15's big deal for me...) only to wake up three hours letter to the sound of my alarm.  It was 2 am, time for Phillies-Dodgers, NLCS  Game 4.  Almost 4 hours later, as the sun was beginning to peek above the Danish horizon, Jimmy Rollins belted a two-out, bottom of the ninth, two-run walk-off hit to beat LA 5-4.  No classes today, so I can sleep in comfortably knowing that I'd had myself a fine case of the Mondays.

The (Off) White Cliffs of Møns Klint

Denmark is Round Churches

Hi All,

I just got back from a week spent on a tiny little island in the middle of the Baltic Sea called Bornholm.  During this "field course" we did mini-projects using the island as a sort of test case for how different environmental policy/sustainability ideas could be implemented.  Our group looked at the potential for energy services companies (ESCOs) on the island.  An ESCO is a company that signs a contract with the owner of building to analyze how energy is used by that building and its occupants and then implements technological and behavioral changes to save energy.  This is all financed by the ESCO, which then receives an amount of money equal to the energy costs saved by its efforts for a certain period of time.

For example:  An ESCO retrofits a store that spends $1 million per year on energy with better insulation, more efficient lighting and solar panels on their roof.  The store now spends only $700K per year on energy.  The store pays the ESCO $300K per year for 5 years and then gets to enjoy the savings benefits free of charge.

ESCO are neat (and a lot more complicated than I make them sound) but they are not the subject of this post.  While I was on Bornholm, I visited one of the islands famous "round churches."

If you think it looks like a castle, that's because it kind of is.  Bornholm used to get raided all the time by Polish pirates so they built their churches as combo worship and defense spaces.  Denmark, and from what I understand Europe as a whole, is chock full of beautiful old churches.  I'm sure one could spend a lifetime traveling around and seeing them all.  The thing about them, however, is that they are now almost exclusively tourist destinations.  As you may know, not a whole lot of Europeans attend Christian churches anymore.

The Danes do know that Christianity is still very much alive in the U.S., and often ask me if I am religious.  When I reply in the affirmative, I can tell they are pretty surprised.  I think they assume anyone who is religious is a) fanatical b) uneducated and/or c) extremely conservative.  Come to think of it, I know a lot of Americans who believe this as well.  By the time the Dane has brought up religion, he or she usually knows me well enough to know that I am none of those things, so on more than one occasion I have been forced to explain my faith, something I am not very accustomed to doing in the U.S.  

I first have to dispel the myths that Danes often have about Christians, i.e., that we are all pro-life, anti-evolution, sinners-will-burn zealots.  I try to explain that even though I am Christian, I do not believe that everything in the Bible happened exactly as it is written.  One of the truly European fears about religion that the Danes often possess is the sense that being Christian means you are part of an establishment that has sought to suppress liberty and freedom for hundreds of years.  If you look at history, you can understand why.

On one occasion, after attempting to explain why I was religious, the Dane I was talking to nodded his head but, I'm pretty sure, still thought I was crazy.  He went on to say, though, that he felt he was a spiritual person and certainly wasn't an atheist, but had too many problems with the Bible to call himself a Christian.  Then he asked me how he could watch American Football on the internet.

There are some religions we can all agree on.

Alter in the Round Church