seeing the world through another's eyes

The twins Krista and Tatiana, age 4, have different bodies but share the same brain. And for the surprise of doctors around the world, the girls can see through the eyes of one another and hear the thoughts the same way. This is because part of the brain that sends the physical sensations and motor is the same for both. Since the girls were born conjoined they’ve been receiving medical care. According to the pediatric neurosurgeon that takes care of them, Doug Cochrane, a mate can see what the other sees by receiving the electronic impulses from the retina of the opposite twin.
Last week, during the participation in training, the theme of the meeting was exactly this: Learn to see the world through the eyes of another person. I confess that this is a very, very difficult exercise: put on another one skin…I can say this because I have sought to exercise it whenever I am faced with conflicting situations that requires action; choosing a side.

It is not easy, because we have to take off any remnants of selfishness, putting ourselves in another's place is also a commitment. It is easier to judge, to give our opinion, without, however, even try to understand the reason of the other person. Only thus will you be able to understand and help, whether for love, friendship, respect, solidarity, regardless of the feeling we cherish to each other.
I think that whenever we try to understand the attitudes of others, why certain behaviors, we are faced with another universe. Everybody brings experiences in which make people special and unique. Ours not judge, but understanding will help whenever is possible. Often acting this way, we understand that deep inside we were the ones who needed to change and not otherwise.

Sometimes our hearing without giving any piece of advice helps much more than trying to solve someone else’s problems. Sometimes looking with another’s eyes simply makes us understand that the universe that is represented by someone else is much more complex than we thought.
We live in a world where we should care for each other, where each one of us should be a link to steadily strengthen these experiences, forming a large current. However, we’ve been living quite the opposite (or at least the vast majority) as if each one were self-sufficient and not dependent on anyone for anything.

It looks like a photographic image. It means, to me, I’m looking at it through the eyes of the one who captured it. Interfering in this same image is a way of revealing that I see it too, but with my own eyes, by my own way…

 In this project, we were supposed to see through the eyes of a person who used a wheelchair. how many problems would be faced and how we could improve the life stile of this person by adding attachments in the chair. 

Life has just begun!

I just completed forty years!
Wow, it seems like yesterday that I did eighteen ,and how long it took me to get eighteen ... how much anxiety!

When I was said that time would pass so fast, it never crossed my mind that everything would happen at that speed!
I must thank God for everything I have achieved! My health, husband, wonderful family, healthy daughter, caring loyal friends…
Above all, I’m grateful for the "balance conquered in harsh penalties", for being able to take decisions, setting goals and pursuing them with determination! Everything has been worth it so far!
My experiences, both good and limited leaders I've had (I’ve learned with them all!)
All the passages of my life are important and each one with its particular attention to the proper cleavage!
Some other day while going to a hotel and having to fill out the hosting job in the field, I came across the following comment:
They wanted to know who I am or what I've been doing differently for society. Then I had the absolute certainty of the magnitude and the size of my mission!
It can not be coincidence that I've embraced this cause!
No, it can not be coincidence so many friends and so many things I have done and heard...

John Lennon wrote and recorded "at home", at forty years, the song that inspired this article: "Life Begins at 40". He did not have time to write it in the studio because some months after completing forty years, he was shot in New York. The letter says something like:

"They say life begins at forty

Age is only a state of mind

If all this is true

So, I've been dead for thirty-nine ... "

That was John Lennon!
A little sarcastic, a little "seer" with humor and sensitivity!
In my view, Lennon meant he was ready and energized by the first forty years to forget and start all over again just like (“Starting Over"), the song that opened the album back in 1980!
Lennon showed a strong engagement in his previous forty years!
I need not and must not forget my early forties, but that's how I feel: Ready, steady and determined to follow my mission!
Transforming and improving the lives of human beings is my purpose!

Generating professional and personal reflections, I'm prepared for action and even for reaction .That's what moves me!
…Until the Father of Heaven wants to. I’ll do it with pure, genuine and intense energy!
May God bless us all!

And there goes humanity…

The universe and nature have a history. Since long ago, humanity studies the mysteries of the sky. Even before there were such modern telescopes and other devices that help astronomers today, the ancient people have turned their gaze to the stars.
Have you heard of the constellation "Orion" or the constellation Canis Major? Constellation names are associated with myths, legends and customs of society.
Like the rivers, mountains, forests tell their history, it is our task to learn how to listen and interpret the messages that is sent to us.
The Southern Cross is a constellation that was very important in a time of great voyages in the 16th century, having the shape of a cross it can be seen only in the Southern Hemisphere, mariners could be located through it. Despite being the smallest of the constellations that can be seen from Earth, the Southern Cross had a huge importance in the history of navigation.
We unlearn all that. With the use of science we read the history recorded in layers of each being. But that knowledge did not come into school curricula or turned into general culture. It has turned into technique to dominate nature and accumulate.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed to changing the superstitious and hostile vision that many had of Nature. His was the fashion to practice broad walkings around woodlands and forests in search of plants, that were ranked carefully in his herbarium, which is today at the Museum Carnavelet in Paris. Those walking exercises were always accompanied by philosophical musings, methodically recorded when each walk ended. After his death, these notes were published by the romantic title of “Les reveries du promeneur solitaire” (The reveries of a solitary walker), appeared with overwhelming success in 1782. The goal of those travels was to get purified. In Rousseau’s philosophy, nature provided a balm for us to exorcise the hypocritical life that we were forced to live in society.


1782-2011


Unravel the secrets, thunder and lightning are no longer considered as a punishment from the Gods, we know they are natural phenomena. Nobody has time to hear the wind, listening to the ground, looking at the clouds anymore. We purify our vanities in luxurious baths with bagged smelling herbs, taken from what have remained from forests.
Indeed, the hypocrisy now enters the forest and gets lost in the woods. It is said that the stars were moved around or hidden by the pollution generated in large cities. We aimlessly go in circles.
I wonder why we need dominating. Get knowledge to dominate. We are not trying to interact with nature; we get evolved to take advantage of it mercilessly. We can not devote our time to life, but we use every minute to master time. 24 hours is not enough for us to do everything we want, because we always want more.
Mankind is part of nature, balance generates peace, fulfillment.

 

Photo credits , Kiran Poonacha photografy

Watch the eagles, they interact with the wind, get carried away by it. While the poor chickens flap their wings desperately and only reach a few meters.
Only when do we learn to harmonize ourselves with nature rather than dominate it, we will evolve.

Curiosity is an itch in the thoughts.

I was feeling impatient; I wanted to stop thinking…

To prevent myself from thinking, nothing better than start doing crafts. I grabbed my scissors, the needle and the threads, and started counting the squares of the fabric; The needle going in and out three times for the left and going in and out three times for the right. I got a perfect cross stitch.

Out of a sudden, came my daughter with a friend about her age or younger. She was a negress child, wearing braids in her hair. “She is the neighbor’s maid’s daughters” Amanda replied,” Her name is Evelyn.”

What I assumed was that they would get boring watching my work, but they’ve surprised me by sitting one at a side of me and starting making questions:

“What is this?” she asked.”It’s an embroidering in cross stitches” I replied. But the questions never ended.”What will you make?” “What are you doing now?””Why have you changed the color of the thread?””What are you counting?”Is this a square?”

And I felt good by her curiosity and answering her queries I kept on saying:” No dear, it is not a square. It is a measuring-tape.”

All those materials amazed her. She wanted to learn.

That was one of the greatest experience of teaching I had, it wasn’t necessary to use any kind of motivational argument to draw her attention. Her motivation was what I was doing, the stuffs I was using. Her eyes and thoughts were itching in curiosity.

Aristotle stress that mankind has a wish of acknowledgement. For children the world is a big amusement park. It is fascinating. It keeps teasing their eyes.

Around the world there are millions of children out of school though. Their precocious join in the market place prevent them from receiving education, blinding them to the amusing world around.

According to data from the International Labor Organization, worldwide there are about 250 million children working.
• The work is performed by children aged between 5 and 14 years.
• About 120 million work full time.
• About 80% do not enjoy the weekly rest.
• Most of these workers live in rural areas.


- In Portugal there are about 200 000 workers aged inadequate for the job.
- In Spain are approximately 500 000.
- In Germany, about 600 000.

- Latin America has approximately 7% of child labor worldwide.
- Africa accounts for 32% of child labor force in the world.
- Approximately 61% of children working in the world inhabit the Asian continent.
- In India alone about 120 million children and teens play some kind of work.
- In Oceania there are about 500 000.

From these data we can see that this is a problem that encompasses an international dimension. These working children could be at school and playing around, given that at this stage of life, they should be devoted exclusively to it.

As Evelyn, they want to learn at least to write and read. They need to have their queries answered.

the magic of trees!

The mere presence of them awakens a peace and quiet in the human soul. This is a secret that explains why - from the earliest times - in all corners of the world, the sages and mystics have used forests as places of refuge and inspiration. There is a natural and instinctive bond between trees and mankind. Even their breathing modes are complementary.


It's hard to imagine beings as beneficial as the trees. They beautify the landscape, providing shade, timber, fruit, and are the refuge and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Communicate underground with the atmosphere and purify the air. Attract clouds, regulate rain, stabilize the climate and ensure the soil moisture. Combat erosion and prevent excess of wind.
Every human being, as each tree is a miniature and a summary of the universe.
The English poet Alexander Pope wrote that a tree is "something nobler than a prince in his coronation costume".

Trees have a strong magical nature. They are universally regarded as a symbol of the relationship between heaven and earth. With its vertical structure - the trunk - the tree establishes a symbolic axis linking the physical world and the divine world. Moreover, its branches, twigs, leaves and fruits gather a whole community of birds, insects, reptiles and small mammals, which is a symbol of the infinite diversity of life.
Imagine the universe as an inverted tree that has its roots in heaven and their leaves and fruit on earth.
This tree represents mythological every human soul, and whose origins are rooted in eternity, but whose leaves and fruits are the practical activities of the concrete world.
Every human being, as each tree is a miniature and a summary of the universe. This is one of the reasons we have much to gain by living with the trees. The experience of communion with them is part of a larger communion with all nature and the human soul freed from their suffering.
There is nothing better to relieve the suffering of the soul than walking through the forest, feeling its energy to revitalize the spirit. Be baptized in the waters of a stream.
But mankind forgot to supply their forces in nature and go for searching consol in rampant consumerism that destroys forests.
In the ancient world, new civilizations appeared healthy in forested regions as well. Some time later, populations have multiplied and wood consumption grew excessively. The trees were used as firewood - something essential to melt metal - and also as material for building houses and boats.
Our poor human intelligence can only win when we realize the intelligence of the trees. The content of the lessons they bring to us, however, depends on our ability to put aside the little things that we think we know, and open ourselves to the magic of life ...
To the magic of trees!
 

Piracy in modern times

The modern piracy involves many different products, from clothing, household items, medicines, books, software and any other type of product that can be copied.

The first pirate activity is recorded of beginning of the VII century in the Aegean Sea. At this time, the Assyrian king Sennacherib tried to expel some pirates at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

In the year 331 BC, Alexander the Great ordered the expulsion of the pirates of the Aegean, and asked to one of them why they made the seas unsafe. The pirate replied, "The same reason why you are making the world tremble. But as I do what I do on a small ship, I am called a pirate while doing the things you do with a large fleet, you are called Emperor. "
Modern pirates use the same tactics of pirates from the Golden Age.
Today, they no longer seek to bury their treasure in Islands where they mark the site with a large X, but they are seeking trade of illegal goods.

Almost everyone knows someone who cannot resist consumption and has the habit of buying what is not necessary. Living with joy over budget they make the sellers’ day.

Very often in order to satisfy their ego, they buy pirated goods, no matter from which source these goods come from. They ignore that behind all this there are: Child labor, drug trafficking and more.
Consciousness has a price, which not everyone agrees to pay, since that appears to be higher than we wish.
The main arguments raised by consumers of pirated products are the lowest prices. Most people think artists and manufacturers are already rich enough and are not harmed by the sale of pirates CD's and DVD’s, for example.
But behind these lower prices what is being hidden?
Modern pirates also arm themselves: They don’t use swords anymore. They use knives, machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers.
They do not kidnap  innocent maidens anymore. They kidnap our children, preventing them from a decent future.
They no longer mark with an X the place of the treasure; they use technology to determine the best targets and plan attacks.

Walking on the streets, I can see children on the corners 

They are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

They are on the streets; playing a role of workers 

CD’s…DVD’s…CDROM’s…candies, who wants some? 

And in their hands, sometimes can be found not a toy, but a gun. 

Everything flushes in their hearts, but childish feelings 

Poor children living a life of silence 

Homeless, they bear moments of violence 

Swings, tales stories, sweeties and chewing gum 

These all seem a reality lost in distance 

They are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

And in their hands, sometimes can be found not a toy, but a gun. 

Tears drop, bruises and suffering is all they can feel 

And in our hearts there are wounds that time can’t heal 

All these pains will be carried by us for all eternity 

They are victims of our society 

and we all contribute for their misery 

By keeping ourselves aloof of all what is going on 

They are on the streets, hard working on the ground 

And In their hands many times, no toys can be found 

Our children are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

They are hidden on the corners, 

Many times in their hands… 

A gun.

2011 is the International Year of Forests.

Throughout the bowels of the forest, happily flying are the butterflies and the moths; as pure as children, they welcome the happy faces of the daisies that for being so white dazzle the eyes; In the distance can be seen the yellow, purple and white Ipe-tree; multicolored natural arrangements that blend with the softness of the clouds hanging over their top.

The pervasive silence of giant conifers sprout from the incessant singing of the cicadas in their farewell to the brief life they have on surface.Years spent beneath the earth bring them above so as to sing their songs until face their fate; pure symphony. They join the birds in chorus toasting to freedom. They celebrate the harmony of colors and the funny  of dead branches where they make their nests and lay their eggs spreading life.

On the ground can be seen the mushrooms, ears of the forest, home of the toads. In the cri-cri-cri of the crickets mixed to the croaking are the crackling dry leaves fallen on the soil, where death is just a detail in the proliferation of life that turns rot into a perfect meal for the soil; This soil which holds hundreds of tiny beings invisible to the naked eyes, that ashamed hide behind big sunglasses.

From it, the sun, comes so much wealth. Without it there would be nothing but darkness, with it everything lights up, grows and gains colors; those colors play with our imagination; tones mingle making all things new. Green, red, yellow, blue and white when mixed create a magical kaleidoscope through the brush.

Mountain down, fearless clear waters wash the shores of the streams; transposing the obstacles boldly, without being beaten. Bowing down before the big rocks in respect, knowing of its hardness, its power to stall the flow, but bravely waters pierce the barriers cornering unimaginable in order to achieve its ultimate goal: The sea.

And above all, endlessly blue, the sky remains; as if watching this whole miracle of the lush forests.

2011 is the International Year of Forests.
Forests cover 31% of all Earth's land area and have direct responsibility in ensuring the survival of 1.6 billion people and 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. For their importance to the planet, they deserve to be preserved and valued more; therefore, the UN declared that 2011 will be the International Year of Forests. Do your part, care!

Let's change life style in 2011!

Could Science tell us if our attitudes are good or bad, if science itself seeks for ethical concepts in its base and when it declines these concepts there are great controversies? To what extent can we make decisions based on technological achievements, forgetting ethics?
Everything that comes from the heart as emotions, feelings, sensitivity has been set aside to follow reason; it is Reason over emotion.
This becomes more understandable when you consider that we humans are not merely rational animals, but rational mammals. According to the science itself 125 million years ago mammals appeared, broke the limbic brain, responsible for affection, care and love. The mother conceives and carries within herself life. The child is born in care and cuddles. Only in the past 3-4 million years came the neo-cortex and with it the abstract reason, the concept and rational language.
Then I think we should reclaim what is most ancient in us: The affection and tenderness.
Without sensibility, such a technological progress is insufficient. But science with conscience and sense of ethics can find liberating ways for our crisis.
Peace begins within our hearts.
Today is World Peace day; Peace is a gift that demands our responsibility, because it must be cultivated. This year, let’s change lifestyles.
We must not forget the fact that many, who find peace and quiet, feel renewed and invigorated when they come into direct contact with the beauty and harmony of nature. There is here a kind of reciprocity: when we take care of nature she cares for us.
I wish in 2011 that “caring” becomes the key word of our speech and that from it we can find peace within ourselves and take it to the world.

Happy 2011 to all.

Christmas: Seeing by the eyes of the heart

We've been living in a world where the goods are the most explicit object of desire for children and adults. The goods must have brightness and magic, otherwise nobody buys them. They mean more to the covetous eyes than to the loving hearts. It is within this dynamic, which fits the figure of Santa Claus. It is the commercial development of St. Nicholas, whose feast day is celebrated on December 6. He was a Bishop born in the year 281 in modern Turkey. He inherited the family fortune. At Christmas he used to dress himself in red- bishop dress - wear a cane and a bag with gifts for children. Giving them with a note saying it came from the Child Jesus.

Our children are not the same they used to be anymore, they know what they want and make lists to the good man. Long lists encouraged by the advertisements in the media.

 I came to know about a seven years old girl that scared her mother to death when asked for condoms as Christmas gift, once she saw on TV that it would prevent her of having babies; so she came to the conclusion that if she used it, she wouldn’t get any other dolls as gift, because she already got five barbies…

Santa Claus was a creation of American cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1886, later released by a certain Cola's company, once on this cold season consumption diminished.

 The image of the good old man in red clothes and bag in the back, good-natured, giving good advice to children and giving them gifts is the predominant figure in the streets and in stores in time for Christmas. His country of birth would have been to Lapland in Finland, place of  heavy snow, elves, dwarves and gnomes, and where people move in reindeer sledding.
Nearly a century ago, did the party start to become a way of heating the consumer market at a time when there were not many sales, due to holiday season, in the northern hemisphere, or the holiday in the southern hemisphere. It is worth it to remember that in south hemisphere is Summer time, but our Santa Claus wears those heavy dresses and boots and everything, as if he was in Winter time.

Thus, the celebration of Christmas is becoming increasingly important as a marketing tool by encouraging consumption, once this is the most profitable holiday for shops in predominantly Christian countries, although trading in this period also reaches other countries.

What we need mostly today is the ability to rescue the creative imagination, the innocence of children stolen by the media; start seeing with our heart’s eyes in order to design a better world. Had we rescued those values, there would not be such violence, neither abandoned children nor the suffering of Mother Earth being completely devastated.

Sustainable development

photo credits Rodrigo C. de Souza

When we talk, our words are often best understood not only by the meaning itself, but also by the tone of voice we use. I believe, it occurs the same thing to the written words, depending on who writes.

It reminds me a couple just married gazing the horizon. The bride commented:” Oh, those clouds covered the moon!” And then the groom replied: “No, it was ashamed of your beauty and hid itself!”

Thirty years later, the same couple, beneath the same moon…Hey, dear look, the moon has hidden itself…

“Don’t be stupid! Can’t you see it is going to rain!!?”

Thus the term "sustainability" when written by someone of the capitalist system means you can dispose of land and resources to continue shameless to serve the consumer market, to the profit without measures and to the technological development for palliative solutions.
In order to maintain this cycle, they should avoid by all means, that new emerging countries rapidly deplete the assets of the land and threaten the level of consumption of the richest nations.
Imagine if Africa with its millions of people entering the wave of consumerism. The cake of global wealth will have to be shared into smaller slices to serve everybody. Sustainability in this sense means restricting new consumer markets in order that the feast of the rich countries is extended.

On the other hand over the viewpoint of a writer from a developing country, sustainability takes on a tone to share with more justice, restraining wasting in rich countries, especially with the surplus, avoiding excessive consumption, restraining the arms industry and using oil for individual transport.
Those can only accept a development that is present for all humanity and ensure the future of new generations; because the leftovers from the tables of the rich people are in lack on the tables from the poor ones.

Maybe the groom should have known better and if instead of the first answer just have replied: “Let’s get inside” He could still use the same answer thirty years later without any problems.

Will we be able to enjoy our natural resources in thirty years, being kind in our answer to the situation we’ve been facing in our planet today?

Remember that nothing lasts forever and we should face the reality without romantics’ feelings that lead us to disappointments in the future.

Cop-16

Another year comes to an end and next week I am on vacation ...Here in southern hemisphere we will enter summer time. Lots of sun, beaches some heat, by the way, “hell’s heat". Last year we reached 50 ° C here in Rio de Janeiro. But Brazil is so good ...In the morning the blue sky gives us a sense that paradise is just around the corner, around noon white clouds cover the entire scenario and a fresh wind blowing through the trees. At three o'clock the white clouds become black and that goes down storm with thunder and lightning. At 8 pm ... Moon and many stars. Let me enjoy while we still have beaches once due to the increasing level of water on the oceans our beaches are disappearing… check this post:

http://panchtatva-blog.blogspot.com/2010/09/ecosystems-threatened-by-global-warming.html

Travelling would be great. Spending my vacation in Cancun who knows? 

Speaking of Cancun, it ended yesterday the meeting of world leaders to discuss the reduction of carbon emissions and all that stuffs. What they were trying to settle was a mechanism that would ensure transparency by major emerging countries. These countries in turn said they would only accept such measures, were adopted another type of transparency - Financial - from the part of industrialized countries.
The deal is this: Nobody wants to give up economic growth because of global warming. Let the glaciers melt or the oceans to warm up.

Ivo Morales, Bolivia's president, warned that if they send the Kyoto Protocol to the rubbish bin they will be responsible for genocide and ecocide because they will be sending many people to their deaths.

Mexico has proposed they include the establishment of a new "Green Fund for Climate" to help the world's least developed countries, payments for the protection of tropical forests and another agreement to share technologies with low carbon emissions.

Jairam Ramesh India’s Minister of environment says there should be an initiative to stipulate that all countries whose emissions account for more than 1% or 0.5%, of total global emissions, submit a report every two years. The frequency would be lower for others.


Apparently, Transparency will come only from the water that runs down the mountain due to the warmth up there, because not even our river water is so transparent anymore due to pollution. But this is subject for another post.

See you there!

Is it worth it palliative solutions for global warming?

Global warming is here knocking on our door. It seems to be here to stay. And what scares me most in this story are the attitudes of some scientists and others who no longer talk of avoiding it or do it backwards, but try to adjust our lives to what is understood as inevitable.
What leaded me to this conclusion was some news I read in Internet and will transcribe part of it for you here:

"The Agriculture Ministry of Japan announced that they will develop a new type of rice resistant to heat and lack of water, in anticipation of shortages caused by global warming. The measure is part of a study that foresee decreases in rice production and loss of forests if the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere duplicate and increase the level of mercury. "
The news showed also the increasing average in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the end of the century, but to me, a laywoman like most who read it, caused a deep malaise. I could not applaud the efforts of scientists to try pulling rabbits out of the hat in order to the human species continues to survive despite the damage it causes to the planet. Are we right in our final days or will we adapt and survive? Despite all the intelligence, will we perish like the dinosaurs?
These are issues that alarm us all today and much more will alarm our grandchildren in 30 or 40 years if instead of action to stop this insanity that is the pollution and devastation of our planet, we prefer palliative to live with it.
I fear that they perform the feat of not only develop a rice more resistant to heat, but also taking advantage of the excessive heat of global warming, and get this cereal produced already cooked.

While leaving my worries to overtake me and wandered into daydreams, my daughter - who was sleeping on the couch - woke up and came to me in search of caring. She is 8 years old and is one of those who will inherit this beautiful planet and the changes carried out by us that are slowly changing the Earth’s face. She came, rubbing her eyes with the back of the hand, yet drowsy and yawned long while nestled in my lap. She looked at me and smiled gratefully by the reception and care received . But she said something that made me gloomy and thoughtful, "Mom, I dreamed that in 2100 the chickens will lay fried eggs.”
I frowned, said nothing to her, but here to myself I thought: "It makes sense”!

UN Climate Conference in Cancún

The UN conference on climate change, inaugurated on Monday in Cancun (eastern Mexico), opened 12 days of discussing and intends to restore credibility to a process of international negotiations weakened by the failure in Copenhagen last year.

Army troops and police in Mexico, supported by three warships, part of the security arrangements around the hotel Moon Palace, a complex on the seafront, where is the conference to be held for the next 12 days.

The word Cancún means "golden snake", but there is no poison in this Yucatan paradise kissed by the sun. Mexico's most famous destination, Cancun delights with its incredible beaches with crystal waters and white sand: You can ride along the coast, diving free canoe in a reserve and swim with dauphins. Along with various bars and restaurants can be found.


But more than a walk on the beach, there are advances that must occur from now on in Mexico. Opened the meeting which follows the failure of COP-1, environmentalists charge seriousness in the work; despite being almost impossible to establish a legal and valid agreement in Cancun to limit temperature increasing to 2 ° C - considered by scientists as a relatively safe level.
U.S. and China are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, and charge each other more effective measures to reduce their emissions. A new failure in this year's conference will launch serious doubts about the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which stresses the importance of the market for carbon emissions as a form of control.


One possibility for global climate policy would be to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which requires reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases by developed countries.
The U.S., the largest emitter among developed countries do not participate in this treaty. The signatories say they would accept further reduce their emissions by 2020, replacing the use of fossil fuels by renewable energies, since the U.S. and large emerging economies like India and China, also assume the obligation to make reductions.
The big developing countries, however, argue that reducing emissions - and therefore power consumption - would undermine its efforts to combat poverty. They argue that rich nations have benefited from more pollutant emission, and therefore should bear the burden of fighting climate change.





 

Are we able to preserve the planet we live on?

Upon discovering a small island in the South Pacific, on Easter Sunday 1722, Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen felt impressed. Not by the beauty, because he had seen much more idyllic islands. What raised eyebrows were giant stone statues scattered around the island. 3600 km distant from the nearest continent, South America, and 2,000 km from the nearest island, Pitcairn, Easter Island is one of the most isolated spots on the planet. In the 150 years that followed, at least 53 more European expeditions reached the piece of land. The logbooks of explorers reported that, on each visit, unless those enormous figures were spotted in the distance: they were all being cut down. Until in 1825, the crew of an English ship did not find any more standing.
According to European explorers, the statues, called moai, seemed to witness a society in collapse. Roggeveen himself wrote in his diary: "The destroyed look could not give another impression beyond poverty and unproductive individuals." In the mid-18th century, the Rapanui people, who inhabited Easter Island, was already in decline.
Well before the arrival of Europeans, the island had experienced centuries of progress, with booming plantations and abundant food. At some point, however, something went very wrong. The population has grown too, the forests are gone, the soil was eroded, agriculture did not prosper more rapanui and villages went up in wars. For a large number of researchers, the collapse was caused by the careless actions of man over nature. No wonder that Easter Island is currently indicated as a kind of metaphor of Earth's future: what happened to the Rapanui is more or less what can happen to us.

The stone statues were built in honor of someone important to the clan who had died. Its strategic location - backs to the sea, looking for the village - that was for, right from the afterlife, the deceased continued to look for his people.


Between ages 11 and 14, the company Rapanui lived his glory days. The volcanic soil favored the cultivation of various foods. The efficient agriculture resulted in a growing population - estimated that the island once had 15 thousand people. Then the problems started. A greater number of people demanded that more areas were devastates. Planting on a large scale requires an open field, were other demands for wood for use as fuel and the structures of houses and boats.
The palm trees were used to build canoes that the islanders used at sea to fish an important item of their diet: dolphins. As the marine life around the island was not as abundant, only the most experienced fishermen, with their double canoes, could bring dolphins to the table. The meat of the animal was greatly appreciated, as well as seal and 25 types of wild birds. Guess how it was all cooked? With the burning of wood removed in the forests.
But not only was the food that caused deforestation. It was intensified by a dispute that has engulfed the island: The obsession with building moai. The different villages were creating ever bigger statues. The first moai, which would have been made around 1100, were between 2 and 3 meters tall. The highest put on an altar, carved some 300 years later, is 10 meters and weighs 82 tons. At the foot of the volcano Rano Raraku, where all the moai were built, there is a statue with more than 15 meters and about 270 tons, which was never completed.
But what do moai has to do with cutting down trees? The researchers, lead a moai from the volcano to a village and leave it standing up was a job that required lots of wood In addition, one quarter of the food of Rapa Nui was consumed in the production and transportation of the moai - activities that involved between 50 and 500 people each time.
As the palm trees were uprooted, a number of problems on the ground began to appear. "The farmland was exposed to sun, wind and rain. The soil was eroded and many villages were uninhabitable because nothing flowed around them. With the destruction of fertile soil, it is not difficult to imagine dramatic famines in Rapa Nui.
In a period of warfare between villages, when defeated members of a particular clan, the winners toppled the moai face down to the ground - the ultimate humiliation that could be made. The European expeditions that visited Easter Island helped to worsen the crisis, spreading epidemics and taking people as slaves.

The Rapanui people no longer exists because it was not able to preserve the island where they lived. Their legacy serves as a grim warning.




Are we able to preserve the planet we live on?

Scientists will drill the Dead Sea in order to study Climate Change.

DOSECC view of drilling on the Dead Sea, photographed on November 17, 2010. At the time of the photo equipment was ready to be towed to the location of the perforations, approximately 6 km to the northeast. 

About 40 researchers among Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians began the task of drilling the Dead Sea in search of the sediment and sludge that will reveal histories until 500,000 years ago. The samples will help to understand issues from the ancient Middle East geology, archeology to climate change on Earth.
The project that took a year to be approved by Germany will cost 2.5 million dollars and will last 40 days. The drill used in scientific research the world has the capacity to reach up to 1,500 meters deep.

The Dead Sea, actually a large lake of 402 square kilometers, is located in a valley surrounded by the West Bank, Jordan and Israel. Only do the river Jordan flows there, which causes the accumulation of sediment in the deep interior virtually intact over millions of years.
Read more about the Dead Sea and Jordan River on my post:  
 http://panchtatva-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/sea-of-galilee-or-lake-of-galilee-is.html
The sludge withdrawn from  the Dead Sea will reveal through its layers of light and dark, ancient and recent periods of rainfall, droughts and floods and therefore the dominant climate on Earth and the effects of global warming .In the bed of the Dead Sea two layers of sediment accumulates each year.
Another interesting finding is the evidence of earthquakes where the sediment layers are not aligned.
For anthropology the study will help in the theories about the migration of primitive man, which many researchers believe have passed through the area of the Dead Sea basin.
In another aspect, the researchers want to understand the significant decrease in the lake has suffered in recent decades. The level of water it receives is slightly higher than evaporation and thus its level increases slightly. Today, we know that increasing the extraction of water from the Jordan River by Israel, Palestine and Jordan can be a major factor of it decreasing level of water.






 

Water, precious water ...

Water is an increasingly and precious topic of discussion worldwide. The irrational use and pollution from major sources (rivers and lakes) can cause a lack of fresh water very soon, if no action is taken.
Soon there will be a lack of water for irrigation in many countries, especially in poor countries. The continent hardest hit by water shortages are: Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The need for fresh water increased about two times more than the world population. This was caused by high consumption of water for industrial and agricultural areas. Unfortunately, only 2.5% of Earth's water is fresh water.

The main causes of deterioration of rivers, lakes and oceans are pollution and contamination by pollutants and sewage. Humans have caused all this damage to nature, through the waste, sewage, industrial waste and mining without control.
Aquifers (large underground reserves of fresh water) have already been explored. In South America, we have one of the largest aquifers in the world. Much of the water of this aquifer is located in the Brazilian underground.
Studies of the World Water Commission and other international agencies show that billions of people on our planet are living without the bare minimum of health conditions. Millions of persons have no access to drinking water. Given these serious problems, several diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis and many others are spread.

Haiti

According to the Center for Infectious Disease Control (CDC), based in Atlanta, United States, approximately 1.3 million Haitians are still living in relief camps after the January earthquake, hindering access to drinking water, health conditions and health care.
The first cases of the disease, transmitted through contaminated water or food, were recorded at the river Arbonite, in the north. Cases of cholera have been identified in all ten regions of Haiti. About 1,100 people have died from the disease last month. In total at least 17 000 cases of the disease have been recorded. It is necessary that the public be informed that the disease is treatable. Cholera causes diarrhea and vomiting, leading to acute dehydration. The disease can kill quickly, but is easily treated with antibiotics and hydration.
Simple measures can help us avoid the water-borne diseases:

 Bathe daily;
 Using the toilet;
 Wash hands thoroughly before and after using the toilet;
 Wash hands thoroughly before eating;
 Trim fingernails and keep them clean;
 Only drink water that has been filtered and / or boiled;
 Wash fruits and vegetables before eating them;

It is estimated that 76% of Haitians live on less than $ 3 per day and 50% have less than $ 1 a day. A bar of soap costs in normal times,   $ 0.50 in most markets and Haitians, for many families, washing hands turned a potentially fatal dilemma between using the little money to buy soap or buy food.

The head of the NGO Doctors without Borders in Haiti, the Italian Stefano Zannini, in a tone of relief and frustration in an interview last Wednesday, said that the workload is stressful. It is not easy to work with the smell, the noise and pressure of so many patients. He said they are working 24 hours a day and they are overloaded. Zannini also says none of the measures to contain the epidemic is meant to doctors. They depend on washing hands; have clean water and be provided by suitable target to corpses and human feces.

The religious festival of the sacrade ice in the Andes no longer uses the ice due to global warming..

Peru depends on the defrost water to nearly all of agriculture. Therefore, it is one of the most sensitive to climate change. The religious festival with 30,000 people in the Andes no longer uses the ice.

Tropical glaciers. 

The northern half of the highest mountain on the planet is so close to the equator that contains ice only on the top, more than five thousand feet above sea level, because of the cold air. But now, even at these altitudes, the air is warmer. And the Andean people already see their reserves of frozen water melting before their eyes. Scientists have warned that with the disappearance of glaciers there will be a shortage of water for the neighborhood and in the future in big cities.
Increased temperature also affects the volcanic activity, as in the case of Tungurahua (135 km south of Quito), who last August reached its peak eruptive since 1999.

In the Peruvian Andes, 800 years ago, the Inca raised their empire.
Changes in climate have always been decisive in the history of mankind. Now, also threaten the windows that allow us to look to the past. Machu Picchu, center of the Inca civilization, is already feeling the effects of changes in rainfall patterns.
The scientists' predictions are that this region will face more and more, periods of extreme weather, extended droughts, which destabilize the soil, followed by torrential rains, causing landslides.

As seen earlier this year, blocked roads, isolated villages, thousands of stranded tourists in the mountains; Machu Picchu custody evidence that the Incas were able to predict times of bad weather. They were able to predict a year of arrival of El Niño only watching the stars, one method that has been confirmed by modern astronomy.

The Incas:

The name El Niño is a reference to the Christ child because it occurs close to Christmas in some years, water from the Pacific coast of Peru, is warmer, causing changes in climate across the continent. People still enjoy the valley's water system deployed by the Incas. But from Venezuela to southern Peru, the tropical Andes are losing ice. The warming has changed the El Niño, a phenomenon that has always existed, but is more frequent and intense. And the consequence is that the rain fell and the heat increased which causes the glaciers melt much faster.

The ritual consists in climbing the mountains to search the holy ice above 5.000m above sea level. The problem is that this glacier ends at 5300 meters and is still shrinking. This, scientists say, means that in 20 years it will have completely disappeared, along with all the ice in the tropical Andes below 5400 meters.
People of all ages go through the darkness into the early morning light reveals the contours of the barren path, about 30 thousand people. It is the biggest pilgrimage of the native peoples of the Americas. Many others have turned cold night up there, on top of the glacier, talking. The topic: the meaning of life.
Until recently, all these confraternities descended bringing ice blocks, ice sacred, which was taken to the city of Cuzco to be blessed in another religious party, the Corpus Christi.

Only three years ago, have the brotherhoods realized that the ice before it reached the site had already collected more than a mile, uphill. Then, the withdrawal of the ice was prohibited so they could preserve what they have most sacred, that is water. And so the tradition does not accelerate a process that nature is already doing too fast. They haven’t heard this from scientists. They are seeing with their own eyes that the ice is decreasing.

Two huge bubbles that emit gamma rays have been found billowing from the center of the Milky Way galaxy

Gamma rays are the most energetic forms of light, and in space they tend to come from violent events such as supernovae or from extreme objects such as black holes and neutron stars.

Further studies will be required to get at the true nature of the energy source blowing the bubbles.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101110-science-space-mystery-structures-gamma-rays-bubbles/

Reading this news I couldn’t help thinking of the Mayan cosmology which has already created such speculations among people even a movie on the subject, that by the way, has many flaws.

According to Mayan cosmology, the Earth has five major cycles or eras, each with about 5125 years. For them, four have passed. The four previous cycles ended in destruction. The Mayan doomsday prophecy refers to the last day of the 5th cycle, at 21 December 2012.

Every 26,000 years the Sun aligns with the center of the Milky Way. At the same time, there is another rare astrological phenomenon, a shift in the axis of the earth about the celestial sphere. The phenomenon is called precession.  Due to disturbances in the sun's magnetic fields that generate huge solar storms will affect the polarity of our entire planet. Result: The geomagnetic field will reverse at once, with catastrophic consequences for humanity.

Have you ever stopped and wondered why you should recycle?

Today, with time dwindling, a lot of times we forget to do basic things in our lives that perhaps can reflect negatively over the years.
The amount of trash and other things that we daily waist is immense, that’s why we must have the goal of recycling and reusing materials.

Many are the benefits of recycling such as energy saving, greater preservation of natural resources, reduction of waste land filled, reduction of environmental impacts among others.

Have you ever stopped and wondered why you should recycle?


1 – Because we help prevent waste of valuable stuffs discarded;
2 - We avoid waste that will pollute our natural resources;
3 - Maintenance costs are reduced and landfills, whose costs are supported by our taxes, are not    created.

4 - We avoid deforestation and loss of ecosystems;
5 - We reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect.

Mother Earth

"I am the earth, I am life.

Came the tree and came the source;

Came the fruit and came the flower.

I am the original source of all life.

I'm the ground that attaches to your house.

I'm the reason of your life.

You came to me by the hand of the Creator

and will you return to me at the end of the deal.

Only you and I shall find rest and peace

I am the great Universal Mother, 

Your daughter, your bride, woman and the womb that fruitful.

I am the plot, the pregnancy, I am love.

Your plow, your sickle, your ax…

I am the cradle of your little son…

…The cotton in your clothes

and the bread of your home.

And one day far away you will return to me.

And in the bed of mother earth peaceful you’ll sleep.

Let's plant a garden.

Plow the farmland.

Let us take care of the nest and the cattle, 

abundance we shall have

And site owners will finely win the battle.”

"everything is worthwhile if the soul is not small"

A very small grain of beans were among the others, for the same purpose, taken by the conformism that his end would be cooked in the pan and served to satisfy the hunger. A glorious destiny, by the way, to satisfy the hunger of someone does not cease the sublimity , but he would be one more grain among many, many others who would have similar fate. 

One day the beans had an idea, brilliant idea, thought, dreamed and decided to be different and no longer have a finite destination, a destination that would end there, at the plate, among the others, he decided he wanted to be sown on land, but not any land, he was seeking for fertile land, healthy, and that would give him hope of a different fate.

He dreamed, he dreamed, he dreamed ... Endless ideas emerged, he was creative, however, felt alone, because he realized how hard it is "trying" to change what is already written, what it was pre-destined, the new often intimidates, frightens. He felt so bold about facing it!

The beans, which only stubborn, faced terrible obstacles, the relentless rain, the freezing cold, scorching heat, most cruel winds, however, was not deterred, then did something extraordinary happened on a bright sunny morning, the gentle breezes, found his object of desire, a land cute, cool, appearing to be waiting for that small bean, the tiny and fearless small bean, at first thought - "More than I've daydreamed!"After a few seconds, the beans felt that there was another of his dreams coming true, the soft earth in front of his eyes was so real that he had no doubt ...

He threw himself into the midst of the earth, thinking of nothing and spent a few days ... Flowed strong and full of life and hopes to produce, produce, and was infinitely so in a quiet spring evening, warm bean sprout that he was showered with a clear, cold water, showered with love and affection and was sure it was worthwhile the penalty ... 

Well, the bean, is all of us, in our journey in search of professional and personal growth.
Do not give up, dream, the dream makes life truly lived the impossible happens and comes true, "but dream a lot, be creative, bold, do not be daunted by the loneliness, the obstacles, just walk and get faith, persevere, believe and one day you will be like beans, bean witch wanted sprout, he wanted to produce, not just be one more in a crowd.
So, your dreams will flourish on a beautiful sunny morning with a gentle breeze touching your face, which will be watered with care and love and you will be assured that "everything is worthwhile if the soul is not small"