How pollution is changing the ocean's chemistry (https://www.ted.com/talks/triona_mcgrath_how_pollution_is_changing_the_ocean_s_chemistry)

In the video Triona McGrath, a chemical oceanographer, explains how human activities change the ocean’s chemistry. Most human activities emit a high amount of CO2 in the air which causes global warming. However, 25% of the CO2 we emit is absorbed by the oceans. When the CO2 enters the water it starts a chemical process which causes the water’s PH level to drop. In other words, the water in the oceans is turning more acid like. This process is called ocean acidification and it affects all of us. The oceans provide 50% of all oxygen we breathe, they moderate the climate, they provide jobs (fishing for example), medicine and food so we all depend on them.

Personally I had never heard of ocean acidification before and thanks to this video I know what it is. I’m sure most people have also never heard of it yet this is just as important as climate change. I think the speaker explains really well what ocean acidification is and what its effects are. In my opinion ocean acidification should be mentioned every time we talk about climate change because now it isn’t but its effects are just as dangerous to us as the effects of climate change.

The brain-changing benefits of exercise
(https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise#t-770996)

In this video Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscientist, talks about the short and long term positive effects physical exercise has on your brain. These effects include having a better mood, feeling more energetic, have better attention and have a better long term memory. Besides these effects regular exercise also decreases the chance you’ll be affected by incurable neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

Almost all of this information was new to me. I knew physical exercise increases your dopamine levels which causes you to feel better but I had no idea it also had such positive and long lasting effects on your brain. When people talk about the benefits of exercise they always talk about the physical benefits but you never hear somebody mention the benefits for your brain. I think that health campaigns that try to get people to exercise more should mention these effects more instead of mostly the physical ones. This video has been a real eyeopener for me and I think it might also convince a lot of people to start exercising regularly when they hear all these benefits you get on top of the physical ones.

Business-oriented activities

On 15/03/2018 the BAM student congress was organized in Hasselt. I made sure to choose some English seminars so I could practice my English and learn something more about the companies that gave them at the same time. The first seminar I attended  was that of Deliveroo.

Deliveroo is an organization that delivers meals from local restaurants to your home and they do this by bike to limit their environmental impact. Because all deliveries are made by bike this means you can only choose from restaurants that are only a few kilometers away. Because of this Deliveroo is unfortunately unavailable for 75% of the Belgian population. Despite this limitation they still manage to grow in the major Belgian cities like Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. The speaker also explained how the orders are processed, how they do their marketing and so on. I think it was an interesting seminar, however sometimes it did feel like the speaker was trying to promote Deliveroo instead of explaining how the company works.

The second seminar I attended was that of Jupiler. It was given by two speakers who were both in their mid to late twenties and who are fairly new to the company. Even though they only work there a few years they do know a lot about it. The main focus of their presentation was of course the marketing of Jupiler. They explained how Jupiler tells the customers what they want to hear and how they try to respond to the market. Some examples of this were the name change to “Belgium” for the football world championship and the Jupiler 0,0% alcohol. Besides explaining the marketing strategies of the company they also gave a lot of information about different job opportunities and how every employee has the chance to grow within the company if they perform well. Thanks to this seminar I learned that AB InBev (the company that makes Jupiler) is a really interesting company to work for.

Below you can find a print screen that proves my registration for this event.

Additional efforts