A happy place
US researchers describe A “first place” as one’s home, a “second place” as the work environment, and finally a “third place” as somewhere people choose to linger, a coffee shop, shopping mall, art gallery, museum, countryside, seaside, cinema, live venue, sports arena. “All three are keys to building social capital and improving quality of life,” the team reports. As such, they have investigated the ever-popular third place, the coffee shop. Their statistical analysis of experience in their local coffee shops reflects the importance of this particular “third place”. “The quality of the intangible coffee shop characteristics significantly correlate with higher levels of quality of life and social capital,” the team reports. On this basis, they suggest that “It is vital for business owners to celebrate the spirit of the place to improve the patrons’ happiness in the third place.”
Menon, R., Crawford, P., Lee, E. and Kotval-K, Z. (2018) ‘The coffee shop experience and its associations with social capital and quality of life’, Int. J. Happiness and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.159–180.
Methane munchers
Escalating atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are to blame for forcing upward trends in global temperatures through the greenhouse effect. Yet, another carbon-containing molecule, methane, is also a potent greenhouse gas. Researchers from Australia and India are now asking whether bacteria that can “digest” methane could be used to reduce global warming? Given that there are many sources of methane that add to the atmospheric carbon burden – including emissions from livestock and the leaking of methane from the earth itself as frozen stores at the ice caps melt and release their payload – this could be a useful tool in combating climate change if geoengineering could be carried out on a sufficiently grand scale. Indeed, the team’s model of the use of methane oxidising bacteria suggests that warming could be 0.22 degrees Celsius less than it would otherwise be over the next century.
Goyal, A. and Shukla, J.B. (2018) ‘Can methane oxidising bacteria reduce global warming? A modelling study’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.82–97.
Recycled coffee
People drink a lot of coffee. And, that means a lot of waste coffee grounds to dispose of. This organic matter could be repurposed though. An exploratory case study by researchers from Indonesia into coffee shop waste suggests that it would not be viable for an individual coffee shop to recycle its waste as the mass at this level is too small. However, a third party might be able to provide the technology and the human resources to take on such a task. Waste coffee grounds might then be converted and combined economically into useful environment-friendly materials such as agricultural or garden fertilizer. The team suggests that there is a “green” business opportunity based on collection and recycling of coffee grounds from coffee shops at least in the urban farming community of Surabaya.
Usman, I. and Nanda, P.V. (2017) ‘Green business opportunity of coffee ground waste through reverse logistics’, J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp.721–737.
Lifelong learning
“The more we learn and acquire knowledge, the more empowered and better would our lives become,” so suggest researchers in India who have studied the concept of lifelong learning. Their investigations suggest that people who “upgrade” themselves intellectually through ongoing education throughout their lives emerge as more emotionally resilient, better innovators and with a more positive attitude to social engagement than those who do not involve themselves in lifelong learning. “Life has to be lived not as a monotonous activity but has to be experienced from within and learning creates that path,” the team concludes.
Christie, L.G. and Kumar, G. (2018) ‘The need for lifelong learning’, Int. J. Learning and Intellectual Capital, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.93–103.
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