Every human being has a unique communication style using which he/she communicates and interacts with other people. Whether it is in real life or online, the way a person interacts, communicates, and expresses himself tells so much about his communication style and personality.

Basically, there are four communication styles; Passive, Aggressive, Passive-Aggressive, and Assertive. Every person has one of these four communication styles and a communication style reflects so much about an individual’s personality. 

Let’s have a look at the characteristics of each communication style and what each communication style tells about the people of that communication style.

1. Passive Communication

First, off the list, we have Passive Communication. People who are known to have a passive communication style or use passive communication while interacting with people are known to act indifferent. As the name suggests, passive communicators have a hard time expressing their feelings or needs & usually fail to do so, which gives others the chance to express themselves freely. 

Usually, people mistake a passive communicator’s lack of outward communication for the feeling of pride and it often leads to misunderstanding, where the other person gets angry because of the way a passive communicator speaks. While you can’t have a full-fledged, full-of-expression conversation with a passive communicator, such communicators are usually the best option to speak to in case conflicts arise because such people will avoid being confronted or deferring to others. 

Passive Communicators are not only poor with words but their body behavior is also poor. They are often afraid to make contact, their body posture is usually poor when talking to others and they have the inability to say no or reject someone. While a conversation with a passive communicator isn’t the most fruitful, such people are easy to get along with since they usually have the inability to say No and they follow others and the statement “go with the flow”. 

2. Aggressive Communication

When you will see an aggressive communicator then you will recognize him/her instantly. You will hear it, you will see it, and even feel it when you encounter aggressive communication. Aggressive Communication style is easily recognized and aggressive communicators usually speak in a loud, demanding, low-pitched voice, maintain eye contact, and try to dominate/control others through their actions which involve blaming, critiquing, and attacking others.

Aggressive communicators are aggressive when they communicate with others and they do so as to assert their dominance over others and make them listen. They are known to issue orders and usually talk in an aggressive tone, which most people find rude and they fail to listen to others. However, one of the traits of aggressive communicators is that they are considered leaders and captains since they have the ability to assert dominance and lead their team.

3. Passive-Aggressive Communication

Passive-Aggressive Communicators, appear to be passive on the surface and they lack the ability to express themselves properly in front of others but within, they feel powerless and build up resentment which leads to them acting in a different way. 

Most of the passive-aggressive communicators, instead of confronting any person about an issue, all they do is mutter to themselves and build up the anger and frustration within. They have difficulties acknowledging their anger and their body & facial expressions contradict and don’t correlate with how they feel. Even if there is a problem, they would rather deny it rather than confront it.

They are usually considered silent speakers. They usually communicate with someone through their body language and when they have an issue with someone then instead of trying to resolve that issue in person, they would give them silent treatment which includes spreading rumors behind someone’s back, backbiting, and sabotaging their efforts behind their backs. They appear to be cooperative but the inside anger and resentment leads to doing the complete opposite silently. 

4. Assertive Communication

Assertive communicators are known to be the most effective communicators because the assertive communication style usually features an open style of communication. Assertive communicators are known to express their own needs, desires, and feelings but at the same time, they also consider the needs of others and work for the benefit of the parties involved.

Assertive communicators usually try to make a balanced situation where it is a win-win for both sides. One of the best things about assertive communicators is that they usually don’t blame others. They are also good listeners and they respect the opinions of others. Assertive Communicators are confident about their own beliefs and opinions but they don’t degrade or insult someone’s opinions, although they may strongly disagree but they don’t degrade or insult someone.

Another key trait is that they are problem-solving and compromising. As compared to aggressive communicators, who will try to do everything for their benefit, assertive communicators are known to compromise in difficult situations to help others. 

A new Tel Aviv University on bats study found that, like humans, bats living in Tel Aviv enjoy the wide variety and abundance of food that the city trees have to offer, in contrast to rural bats living in the country, who are content eating only one type of food. The study was led by research student Katya Egert-Berg (below) and Prof. Yossi Yovel.

The researchers explain that despite the intensification of urbanization processes, which tend to lead animals to leave the city, there are animals that are able to thrive in an urban domain. One such example is the fruit bat. These bats, like humans, live in a variety of environments, including the city and the countryside; there are even some that forage in the city and then go home to roost in the country.

Prof. Yovel: “How animals cope with urbanization is one of the most central and important questions in ecological research today. Understanding the ways in which animals adapt to urban areas can help us in our conservation efforts. The urban environment is characterized by much fragmentation, and we currently have little understanding of how animals, especially small animals, like the bats, move and fly in such areas.”

The urban environment is fundamentally different from the rural environment in terms of the diversity and accessibility of food. Although the city has a larger variety of trees per area, there are many challenges that bats have to face, such as buildings and humans.

In rural areas, on the other hand, most of the trees are concentrated in orchards without barriers, but have less diversity – the trees are mostly of one type. Because of the fundamental environmental differences between the city and the country with regards to the distribution and variety of fruit trees, the nature of the bats’ movement when foraging in these areas differs as well.

In this new study, the researchers compared the nature of the movement of rural bats and city bats as they foraged for food. They used tiny GPS devices to track the bats, to see if the way they moved while searching for food was affected by their living environment, or the environment in which they were foraging.

They found that fruit bats foraging in the city are much more exploratory, enjoy the abundance of the urban environment, visit a variety of fruit trees every night, and feed from a wide a variety of trees. In contrast, the rural bats focus on only one or two fruit trees each night. Moreover, the researchers found that among the rural bats who roost in the countryside, there were many who left their rural homes every night in search of food in the city, and then flew back to the country after their meal. During their stay in the city, such bats share the same flight patterns as those of the bats that live in the city around the clock.

The study’s findings led the researchers to assess that even bats that live in rural environments their entire lives will be able to orient themselves in an urban, industrialized environment. They explain that there are animal species that are flexible – for them, the ability to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment such as an urban settlement is an acquired skill. Such species, of which the fruit bats are an example, will in many cases be able to adapt to life in urban areas.

See also bunkers for bats

COVID-19 has had some terrible and tragic consequences, killing millions of people worldwide. The tiny virus has had an enormous impact on the way we live, revolutionizing how we develop vaccines, for example. Another revolution has come about with the way that we work. The “new normal” of working from home was forced upon us thanks to the pandemic, but many remote workers want to continue working from home to some degree, even when it’s safe to work back in the office. 

Remote Work – Is it a Good Thing?

Pre-pandemic commutes to work across the world were getting longer each year. Long commutes are rarely seen as a positive thing- two-fifths of those surveyed considering the commute the worst part of the day. A significant cause of stress, a long commute means less time at home, less exercise and fast or faster, processed food. Some studies have even found that commutes that last longer than one hour are correlated with a higher risk of divorce by as much as 40%. 

With more than 25 million pre-pandemic Americans commuting over 90 minutes every day, the data do not add up too well. Remote working and a hybrid approach to work, combing remote and office-based work, is likely to result in much higher satisfaction for workers who, in the main, are keen to continue working from home to some degree.

Remote Work & The Environment

Remote working does cut carbon emissions, but it can significantly increase individual utility bills and carbon emissions generated at home. However, according to this Ted Talk presented by Jackson Carpenter, it is possible to drastically cut your carbon footprint by signing up to a renewable energy supplier.

 By signing up to an alternative energy supplier, one that uses renewable energy as the energy source, you can cut your carbon footprint today by 15%. In addition, if your AC unit runs on electricity and your heating runs on electric you can reduce your carbon footprint by an additional 17%

Using biodiesel for other heating appliances and converting your car to use alcohol or biodiesel can cut your carbon footprint by an additional 28% – for those days, you are working from the office or taking the kids to soccer practice.

Creating a Green Home Office

 Using a renewable energy supplier is a great idea, but if you want to make renewable energy a step further and learn some new skills at the same time, creating a solar-powered home office might be a project to consider.

Always remember to get a qualified installer to check your work during and after installation. Consulting a professional can also be a great idea before you buy any solar equipment. If you are self-employed, you can run a business from your garden shed, especially if you are willing to outsource phone answering duties and maybe even a virtual office address.

If you don’t have an outbuilding, then a shed can make a brilliant home office. For example, a Tuff Shed or summerhouse can be easily converted into a home office, with a few additional pieces of furniture. If you don’t have a spare room, outbuilding or shed, you can always build one. Another viable alternative is to convert a large van into an office and attach the solar panels to the van’s roof.

 In addition to a building with a roof sturdy enough to take the weight of several solar panels, you will need:

– Solar Panels (4 x 100w)

– Mounting Brackets

– Charge Controller

– Battery

– Inverter

– Fuse block

 You will also need the necessary cables to connect relevant parts and sections of equipment together, for example, the solar panel to the charge controller. You can buy solar panel kits that have all of the essential equipment. For example, the 400 watts solar panel kit from Renogy comes with four solar panels (100w each), wires, a charge controller, a blue tooth connector, mounting brackets and screws.

It is usually recommended to install solar panels on the side of the building that faces south to maximize exposure to the sun. Of course, if you are using a van, it doesn’t matter too much!

Step by Step Solar Panel Power

 Disclaimer – always get your work supervised and checked by a professional electrician or solar power installer.

Before you start, ensure that you know the dimensions of the solar panels and the roof on the shed or outbuilding – to make sure that they fit! You may also wish to mark on the roof exactly where the solar panels are to be placed.

You may also need to drill some holes so that the leads/wires from the solar panels can be fed through from the roof, into the building or the van. You may also need some kind of mount, for example, a wooden board attached to the inside of the shed’s wall, to place the charge controller.

The batteries can also be relatively large, so finding a safe and sturdy way to mount and store the batteries is important if you are using them.

We recommend not attaching the main cables to the solar panel until the rest of the kit is set up and in place. 

1. Mount the charge controller & batteries safely inside the building
2. Screw the mounting brackets onto the panels, ensuring they are tight
3. Place the solar panels on the roof.
4. Connect the wires to connect all of the panels
5. Use a drill to screw the solar panel’s brackets to the roof (typically 3-inch screws)
6. Without attaching them, feed the wires into the building or van – you may need to drill a hole.
7. Attach the wires to the charge controller – red wire to the positive inlets, black to the negative*
8. Tighten the wires into place with a screwdriver
9. On the charge controller outlets, attach the red and black wires to the positive and negative outlets, respectively.
10. Attach the wires coming out from the outlets on the charge controller to the terminals on the battery. The battery will have a negative inlet that will have a negative symbol, or it will be black. The positive terminal will be red or have a positive symbol (+).
11. If you wish to test everything – attach the relevant wires to the solar panels and inspect the lights on the charge controller to ensure power is coming into it.
12. To attach the invertor, we now need to remove one of the solar panel cables to remove the power source and then remove the wires from the battery (more info here)
13. Separate from the battery – attach the wires for the invertor to the invertor. Always connect the wires to the inverter first before attaching them to the battery. You can add a fuse to the positive cable if you wish.
14. Attach the negative wire from the inverter to the negative terminal on the battery and the positive wire (usually red) from the inverter to the positive terminal on the battery. They may be a spark when you attach the positive.

If you are screwing holes into the top of a van, be sure to use the necessary sealant to ensure that water does not leak into the van. Here is a step-by-step video detailing how to add solar panels specifically to the top of a van.

*Be sure to double-check that this is the case; some solar panel kits may use a different system or identification for positive and negative. 

And that’s it! Again, we emphasize the need or at least the recommendation that you use a qualified electrician or installer to guide and sign off your work. Here is an excellent step-by-step video that also takes you through the process.