Gilad

Background Born in Israel. Lived in Asian countries including Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong for many years some recently and partly as a kid. I've travelled extensively through East Asia, Europe and Central America. My "official background" is Computer Science and Economics, but really, I've spent most of my time around the theatre stage, and playing/teaching music. The travel bug bit me as soon as I finished my military service, and is still headstrong.

What matters to me? I'm interested in exploring problems and solutions in 3rd world and developing countries. Especially nowadays, technology can come almost too fast to locations which may still not be ready. This may result in wasteful and inefficient behavior, which usually also is extremely harmful to the environment (e.g. waste and plastics dumps along the Nepalese Himalaya tourist trails, water & air pollution around Taiwan and in Mainland China, and so on). I am fascinated by the intersection between culture and technology, and would like to explore low-tech solutions to similar problems from different cultures around the world. (not completely sure about the specifics here yet...)

What annoys me most about this? I usually get annoyed by the superficiality that can be found, when confronted with these topics, but I feel that its difficult to judge it. Especially coming from Israel, where sustainability and environmental issues are pushed down the stack, since the country is still fighting for its survival. I feel like most developing and third world countries have much bigger fish to fry - such as getting food on everyone's plates, making sure the youth are educated, etc. The hole in the ozone layer may be very low in the Chinese people's priorities, but pollution is taking its toll, and people are starting to react. Talking to a not-so-elderly person in Hong Kong, he reminisced how he used to be able to swim in the harbour, and how blue skies were frequent. Skies are mostly grey nowadays. But is this sustainability? To me in a way, it is. Maybe these topics aren't as popular as gloabal warming or recycling. But they are all intertwined, and essential to creating a healthier planet.