Recycling Your Mind

Do you know how much of the things you throw in your bin everyday could be recycled? 50%? Maybe 70? In fact 80% of everyday waste materials could be reused. That's a lot, right? But unfortunately not everyone knows or cares about it.

The environment is suffering and we are responsible for this because of our bad habits. The uncontrolled consumerism produces a lot of garbage and that’s why our health is threatened by several diseases. The best solution to solve these problems relies on the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse & recycle. Also, reflecting upon the necessity of things we buy is a way of becoming a more conscious consumer.

We can see everywhere people saying how recycling is a key component of modern way to reduce waste. However, not many know how to do that. Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who works with garbage and different kinds of materials is a great example of how to transform trash into treasure by recycling things. He brings a creative solution to garbage making extraordinary works-of-art. He is recognized all over the world and has produced recently a film called “Wasteland” that tells the story of the landfill in Jardim Gramacho, Brazil. It shows the reality of the garbage pickers who make money collecting garbage in order to support their families with this hard job. It also shows how difficult and precarious their life condition is. The film, which  won a lot of awards, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary and teaches us an important lesson.

All in all, we believe that Vic Muniz’s work stimulates the recycling of materials and gives good solutions on how to reuse them. He leaves us a final message: it’s really necessary to rethink about our life quality as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late to change this cruel reality.

For more info: http://www.vikmuniz.net/
http://www.wastelandmovie.com/

P2 Tue/Thu 17:30 Raquel Dantas

Every water drop counts.

            Are you thirsty? If you are, why don’t you stand up and get a glass of water and drink it? If I were you, I’d do it. Do it while you still can. Water is one of the natural resources we need the most and also one that we take so little care of. Why aren’t we more careful about the water we consume?

            It is a scientific fact that the human body can store enough water to live up to three days without it. After that period of time no man can survive without some water to drink. Although drinking is the most obvious use, we depend on water to many other things. For instance, we use it to grow plants and breed animals that’ll serve as food for us later on. We really need water to survive and there’s no way to live without it. There’s no possible substitute to it.

            If we need it so much, shouldn’t we take better care of it? Shouldn’t we use it more consciously than we do now? Even though 70% of our planet’s surface is covered in water, most of it is saline. We cannot drink it. Although there are so many warnings and campaigns being broadcast by the media, there are some people who still use water in careless ways. Sometimes those people don’t even realise that they’re wasting water. For instance, do you turn the water tap off when you brush your teeth? Do you use a broom instead of the garden hose to clean the pathway in front of your house?

            Human race is increasing in number and it’s getting harder to find potable water to all those people. We need creative and effective ways to save water. Small measures such as the Japanese houses, designed to reuse the bathwater to flush the toilet, are definitely what we need at the moment. Do you have any good suggestions to save our water? Leave a comment and share your ideas.

Life and rebirth

Much is said about the 3 "R's" (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Many people alarm us with bombastic news saying that if we don't do something NOW, our children will suffer horrible lives in a future that grows darker after each newspaper that is thrown to the garbage bin and not recycled.

And they are right.

Brazil is a developing country, one of the richest countries in the world. As a consequence of uncontrolled growth, we have uncontrolled consumption of goods and resources... and we don't worry so much about the future of all the garbage that we generate.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. The solution is simple, isn't it? We have one of the most creative peoples in the world, capable of converting almost anything into money. Nowadays, only about 2% of our garbage is recycled... but that which we recycle, we transform in profit. For the past five years, Brazil has been the leader in aluminium recycling, with over 96% of the available material actually transformed in $$$.

But is that all?

Take a moment to think about it.

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Ok, by now you have an opinion about these topics, and may have considered for a moment how you could participate. That's good. But that's not the issue anymore.

Let me share what I believe will happen in the long term; it's simple, really: I believe that nature will find a way. It's in our power to be a part of that or not. To live on breathing the blue air that gives our planet its true colour (did you know that? Yes, air is actually blue). To eat and not to worry about cancers (in the plural). To go to the beach and have a real salty bath, knowing that the water is clean.

Or we can simply be a future memory of people that didn't do the right thing when they could. Yes, NOW we are part of the problem. But as we realise that, we have the choice to become part of the solution. Part of a future when we will be able to look back and laugh at the mistakes we had once made.

As nature renews itself, so can we. For us, is a matter of choosing.

Which path will you take?



(If you are a pessimist, stop watching at 5 minutes. If you believe, as I do, in choosing change to make ourselves better, keep watching, and enjoy)

Live long and prosper. ;-)