Hello Readers,
A couple of weeks ago, I was hired to work at a new job after a summer of unemployed job searching. I am still working in the renewable energies industry, but I have moved from one end of the industry to the other. As I've mentioned in the past, I was working as a solar PV installer and developer. However, now, I am working at National Grid as a Technical Support Consultant, which is code for a reviewer of renewable energy interconnection applications.
Over the past few weeks, I have been quickly learning and re-learning the regulations, requirements, background, and software systems needed to process complex interconnection applications. (Thus, my lull in posts on this blog.)
I also bought a car, and had to deal with an internal struggle regarding my own preference for avoiding car ownership and using walking, biking, and public transportation. However, as I was facing a choice between a public transportation based commute that is over 90 minutes each way (and twice as long as a car based commute) I had to relent and make the purchase. Hopefully, in the next few weeks I will be able to post some thoughts on that struggle.
In the meantime, this car based commute did result in me hearing a frustrating interview on NPR, which I have embedded below, entitled Are Today's Millennials The 'Screwed Generation'?.
In this interview, Michel Martin (NPR) and Joel Kotkin discuss the book and concept of the 'Screwed Generation' - a derogatory, underwhelming description of the Warmest Generation (otherwise known as Millennials). Kotkin does point out a few systemic issues that the Warmest Generation has had to deal with as they enter college and later the workforce. However, he also makes relatively discouraging claims about the motivations of those of us born in the 80's and 90's.
I recommend listening to the interview, but I certainly would not take Kotkin's opinions as facts (or even correct in many cases). Instead, I would take his bashes against the character of our generation as untrue, and the burdens and debts laid upon us by older generations as a challenge of which we were all well aware and working to overcome. Furthermore, I would like to stress that the interview fell far short by only focusing on the economic challenges faced by our generation, rather than mentioning the social and environmental challenges that our generation has already started to address.
Regards,
Sean Diamond
