The Extended Essay

The Extended Essay or EE, will be an exciting journey because of the fact of choosing a topic you are passionate about and writing about if in a lot of words. The topic I have chosen is a world studies EE where my interdisciplinary focus is on DT and ESS. The research question is

How have design principles of Tesla car designs and its fundamental environmental ideology, been so successful in Norway despite the influence of Big Oil and auto manufactures on politics and our society?

I might change the wording a bit, but the idea is that I would need an environmental and design perspective to see why Tesla has been so successful in a country like Norway despite and due to the conflicting perspectives between the oil industries that made Norway prosperous and the environmental values important in Nordic culture.

Reflection 1 (May 1):  So today I had a quick catch up on how the EE process is going and the outline as well. Going forward, first steps would have to be to really decide upon the three or four detailed concepts that I will be exploring and delving into and put these concepts in a structured and detailed outline of a plan. So sort of a paragraph by a paragraph of what evidence, topic sentences and analysis/points that I want to add so I have a very clear picture on not only my research but when I start the 1000 words. Other than that, a key thing to remember is to not make too many assumptions (so evidence to back up points), paint the picture clarity of the context and having an equal balance between ESS and DT. It can’t just be ESS and DT side points. So far I do not have any worries but that may change as time goes on. I feel like I have lots of thoughts all whizzing around already, and as I mentioned, the key thing is to focus all this down. My main worry is if I am able to fit everything I want to in the EE all from the case study in Norway and some of my insights on Norway and the rest of the world in terms of EVs, Climate change and even insights on culture, religion, fears and more than critically relate to the world studies issue. Also, since it is a world study extended essay, I need to have a balance between the two subjects. For instance, on the ESS side, I could examine through EVS, politics, pollution, human systems, human resources use, climate change, energy production, atmospheric systems and societies, and lots more topics. On the DT side, I can focus in on green technology, psychological and physiological factors, sustainability in terms of resource management and production, materials, innovation and design, classic design, UCD, markets, commercial production, business and more.  My main worry is if I am able to fit everything I want to in the EE and having a balance between DT and ESS.

EE writing day (May 12th): This was a great opportunity to get headway onto my EE where I did a lot in terms of writing more than my first 1000 words, getting the momentum and for the first time visually seeing how my essay will turn out. The difficulty now is that I realise the 4000 words can come quite quickly and what I need is to really focus on the most important aspects of the topic I want to discuss and make sure to cite the sources while having a clear a coherent structure.

Personal Statement

In the midst of the Midsummer’s day, or midsommarsdag as known in Sweden, and right at the coast of the southernmost point in Sweden stood a cottage so ordinary in Skåne (southern Sweden). Close to it, a juniper and moss-shaded green, and quite an ordinary forest shielded the fierce wind from the Baltic sea that day. However, what lay deep in the forest was a trädkoja, which in Swedish translates to a treehouse, but what was strange about it, wasn’t because it stood out, but rather because it blended right into the birches and ashes. You see, the treehouse was built with natural materials around it, no tools were needed in the construction except a saw, but there was a ladder from an old playground nearby. It gave a new meaning to sustainable architecture. Cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles from all over Skåne came, and either admire or aided the construction. Despite the few days when the logs from the second level fell down on unsuspected visitors or even one time when the whole structure broke down, we managed to build it up again and make it even sturdier. Hence, this expresses one of the fundamental passions that I have which has somewhat woven intertwined with each other is the environment and design.

Furthermore, in terms of academics, I don’t have any huge goals at the moment. I feel like the effort that I am putting in now is sufficient, sometimes even too much. Therefore, my “goal” in the academic side of things is to continue that effort and work that I am doing in academics. Of course, if there is anything that I in the future have trouble with, I will do as I have always done, to work hard onto improve that particular topic. As mentioned before my two passions are the enviornment and the design, or a least so far. Likewise, for service I am going to continue in Grade 10 to do the services that relate to the environment which are Climate Change and Clean Energy (college service), Urban Gardening (college service, East Solar Initiative (service started by a student) and Gili Eco Trust (Global Concern). Moreover, I used to play a great deal of sports, and a range of sports as well. I have been trying to balance academic and activities as well as service but it hasn’t worked out as I wanted to. Although I wish I could compete in a team, I don’t have time for that. This is why I have decided to do Floorball on Wednesdays and Badminton on Saturdays. Thus, for next year, I will do a similar sort of arrangement. In order to look slightly beyond my time in High School, I think it is safe to say, or at least at the moment, that my plan is to enroll in a university that considers environmental sustainability, and study/purse architecture (specialising in sustainable and “green” architecture) or something that relates to the environment. This isn’t the final plan, but I suppose it is good enough for now. The university that I would enrol in would probably be in Sweden, as I am Swedish and because they are free there, or possibly Canada, as I have a Canadian passport (my father’s Canadian)

I am not that type of person who wants to be the best at everything (although it may seem like it to some people, I really wish it weren’t true that I am good (not perfect or best) at a lot of things) or the person who does extra work, doing internships or anything like that. However, maybe I should consider doing some work that relates do what I am passionate about. In addition to that, at times, I feel like I have too many services that I commit to. Furthermore, I am in the High School Symphony Orchestra because I like that type of music and playing the cello (although I really want to try some jazz instruments because that is also something I’m interested in). In fact, I had real trouble deciding whether to do RM (resistant materials) or Music. I want to be that type of person at the High School concerts who is in the background and plays a range of instruments. My goal for music is to play in the orchestra for High School Musical next year and to perhaps try a range or a different instrument, and be more involved in the school concerts.

For me, except for my passion and the importance of environmentalism, I think that one of the most profound belief that I have is that everyone should have some purpose, something that is significant, even it is small, it has to have some impact. Of course, I would hope that one would do something good, but even it is bad, it should be significant. I don’t believe in any higher deity, but I feel like if your alive, you have to do something that is worthwhile. In the back of my mind, I sometimes feel hatred toward obnoxious jerks or if I feel like some person doesn’t care about the environment or other people. That they are selfish or that if they didn’t exist (I am sorry about this, but this is truly how I feel sometimes) nothing would change, or that the world would be a better place. Of course, if all humans didn’t exist, the world would definitely be a significantly better place, but I think you know what I mean. Thankfully, I don’t lash out or do something mean to them, but this is a problem but also a deep belief that I have.

Tesla Roadtrip

Two years ago, my family and I rented a Tesla Model S for a road-trip across Western (although I wish I could see more of the Eastern) Europe starting from Sweden and ending near Spain where my relatives live. This year, we are planning to do the same thing however we are going a more eastern route. However, we haven’t got a Tesla yet so the best thing we are planning is to rent a hybrid (of course, not the best solution to climate change) and for a huge chunk of the trip, ride a train with the car inside it to minimise our carbon footprint.

So…What is a Tesla?

Well, Tesla is an American company that specifically specialises in electric vehicles, energy storage and solar panel manufacturing. Image result for tesla logo

They are an amazing company and they do amazing things. For example they have the solar roof, which looks like a roof but functions exactly like photovoltaic panels:

Image result for solar roof

Image result for solar roof

Image result for solar roof

As well as battery storage:Image result for battery storage tesla

Image result for power wall

They have several cars and vehicles. Such as the Tesla Semi, Tesla NexGen Roadstar, the old Roadster, Model S, Model X, Model 3 and the upcoming Model Y (images shown in the order listed) We drove the Tesla Model S two years ago, and we would like to try the Tesla Model X. Image result for tesla semi

Image result for nexgen roadster

Image result for roadster

Image result for Model s

Image result for Model x

Image result for Model 3

Image result for Model 3

References:

Tesla Roadster next-gen: Elon Musk considers 0-60 mph target under 2-second for ‘Maximum Plaid’

http://www.thedrive.com/polizei144/7242/2011-tesla-roadster-sport-3-0-review-the-worlds-best-fourth-car

https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/25/13403520/tesla-consumer-reports-reliability-ranking-model-x

https://www.tesla.com/en_CA/solarroof?redirect=no

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108774_3-california-battery-storage-sites-come-online-one-from-tesla

3 Home Battery Solution Providers

Tesla Logo

https://www.tesla.com/en_CA

 

GPers Essays and Summative Task

During my Global Perspectives or GPers units, we have always had a summative task, usually an essay, that sums up the unit. For our first unit, we looked at ourselves so we wrote an essay about our creation of our Mandalas. In the second, we explored faith, ethics and ideologies and chose one topic we were passionate about and looked through the lenses of those big ideas. Here are my essays:

10/10 2017 – Teacher: Sanjay Perera

Mandala Reflection

By Oscar Landgren

In our first unit in Global Perspectives, we learned about our personal culture. We have conducted research into sexuality, gender, stereotypes, identities, cultures and the debate of nature versus nurture. For our reflection and summative task, we were asked to create a Mandala in which one side was our sun side and the other the shadow. Similar to the concept of the Yin and Yang in which there are two components that represent a whole, the sun side represents what’s visible and projected while on the other hand, the shadow represents the side that’s hidden and may be deeper in meaning.

Firstly, in order to show what’s visible and projected, I have focused on three characteristics. In the beginning of constructing my Mandala, I thought that although I am not the smartest in the grade, many see me as knowledgeable and intelligent. Therefore, there are many elements of intelligence on my sun side for example, in many cultures such as Ancient Greek and Mayan, the owl is a general symbol to describe intelligence (Dawn, Farmer, Andrew, 2017). In addition to that, wearing glasses and reading a book is also a symbol to describe intelligence (Weller, 2017). Therefore, the owl wears glasses and has a pile of books near it. On the contrary, it was my own choice to develop this passion for learning proving how I also partly identify myself with free will. Furthermore, later on in the process, I decided to add a map of the world with flags from the places I am from and those I have lived in, to show how I identify myself as a collectivist. The map is a representation of a worldwide community showing how I am not a citizen of just one place, but rather a citizen of the world. I believe that we are in a sense, made up of places and my nationality and the cultures I have experienced are definitely aspects of my identity that is widely shown. Therefore, the globe represents a worldwide community that I am apart of, but also how I have become a third culture kid (Lily, Liu and thenativeforeigner, 2017). Moreover, through this Mandala project, I have realised how important determinism is to my identity. On my sun side, I have drawn a seed which connects to a plant on the shadow side through a green line. This green line is there to connect the two sides of the Mandala making it connected. Likewise, this seed represents the things that I cannot change, the things that I am born with which is a part of my identity. That seed and even the plant on the other side look healthy because a part of my nature and nurture have contributed to create a very privileged me. The seed and the plant are similar to the Yin and Yang concept and in this case, the seed symbolises my nature and my genes.  Despite the fact that some individuals are born with lower privilege than others, I believe that it is important to understand the privilege we have and to then take actions that benefit both ourselves and others. Furthermore, I have also focused on three characteristics to show what is more hidden but more deeply rooted in my identity. The education that I have had has impacted on my identity in ways that have made me extremely privileged. These schools that I have attended to have opened my mind to new possibilities and strengthen my passion for the environment and design. To show that gratefulness, I’ve decided to draw the logos of three schools in the Mandala to all symbolise…

Continue reading “GPers Essays and Summative Task”

Launching My Portfolio

Which of your courses could do the most to help you understand this (Self-Driving Cars) problem why?

This is an area that I got interested not too long ago, but this interest didn’t start just that. I’ve always been interested in helping with the environment and always felt passionate about being “green”, being sustainable. At first, you might think how has sustainability got anything to do with self-driving cars, but I’ll show you. You see, 2 summers ago, my family decided to try a Tesla (an electric car) and this amazed me. This is because a Tesla is so much better than an ICE car (Internal Combustion Engine), sustainably wise. An electric car is more efficient than a regular car and if you were to power the electricity from renewable sources then the car has zero emissions. In other words, Teslas have the potential to be the car of the future and the company advocate this idea a lot. When we were driving the Tesla, the car had a feature called autopilot in which the car could drive itself but was only limited to the highway. However, as of today, all new Tesla have full capabilities for fully self-driving. You should really go check out their site here because they are just amazing.

Anyways, I think that most subjects in one way or the other help me understand self-driving cars. For instance, mathematics can tell me how much safer a self-driving car is compared to an average driver. Science and DT can help me understand more about how a self-driving car works. But more importantly how English and the Humanities an help me understand more about the ethical dilemmas of self-driving cars. This is because being a good writer also means that you need to be a good thinker which means that there are many ways to interpret this and raise many different questions. For me, I think we do need self-driving cars because statistically speaking, there are much safer. However, when the car is faced with a problem, we have to accept a system of rules that prioritise certain things. To sum up, many subjects can help me understand self-driving cars, but in an ethical point of you, the Humanities and especially English can help us discuss what all of us think is morally right to us. Thank you for reading.