Enjoy… make it and share your picture here 😁😁😁
Olympic Games Rio 2016 – Green message to the world
At the end of this week, the whole world was concentrated at one place on this planet – Rio de Janeiro.
Games of the 31st Olympiad were officially opened, followed by stunning colorful ceremony where we have seen dozens of athletes representing their countries.
There is certainly one thing that came to my eye and to the eyes of the world – their sustainable message.
Athletes who were participating in the Parade of Nations were planting “Seeds of Hope” by placing seeds of native trees of Brazil into the cartridges in the large mirror towers.
The plant that each kid was carrying beside the athletes who were holding the flags was a mature version of trees that athletes planted.
“The towers which moments ago symbolized urban claustrophobia will house the seeds, which will grow into the Athletes’ Forest in the area of Deodoro. This will be Rio 2016’s legacy,” the official website of the Olympics explained.
We could see at the end of the Parade of Nations, the top of the towers were rearranged into five Olympic rings. The message is clear and the idea and creativity behind that is stunning! This way all the athletes could leave their mark behind.
But that is not the whole message coming from the Olympic Games, this event is doing much more for the environment than we think and than it has been told.
So what do the Olympics do for the environment?
Nowadays sustainability is an essential part of modern Olympic Games. The number of people who participate into making the event is impressive since there is more than 100.000 people involved in delivering the Games, without the visitors expected. So the sustainable mission of the Olympic Games is quite challenging. They take care and work on improvements in energy, water, waste management, more efficient transport and ethical supply chains.
Their environmental awareness include water treatment and conservation, use of renewable energy, air quality and transportation, protection of soils and ecosystems, sustainable design and construction, reforestation, biodiversity and solid waste management.
In terms of transportation during the Games in order to manage carbon footprint, several kinds of public transportation are provided, clean fuels and the shortest routes are being used.
There was also a sustainable plan for construction in order to minimize environmental impacts.
The idea was to minimize constructions of new venues so half of the venues that are used already exist, and the other half is constructed in a way so that they can be moved around and reused after the Games. Other efforts of sustainable construction that are undertaken are making compact designs, using recycled or renewable sources, reducing carbon emissions, rationalizing use of water, improving energy efficiency, minimizing removal and transplantation, preserving existing patches of vegetation, etc. Also environmental recovery systems are used for each area where the Games are held, as well as monitoring air, water and noise pollution.
Finally, it amazes me when famous events or people use their publicity in the right way – promoting something healthy. This event surely sent a very strong message to the whole world and used their publicity in the most appropriate way.
Additional links and sources to find out more about the sustainable plan of the Olympics 2016:
https://www.olympic.org/sustainability
Click to access Plano_Gestao_Sustentabilidade_EN.pdf
http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2725&ArticleID=9595
Tesla’s natural sources of energy – Interview
How to recycle your old clothes with H&M?
My first Vlog
It has been a while since I didn’t post anything, that is because I was working a little bit on the concept of my project. So I decided to switch from blog to vlog after consulting few of my friends…. So here you can find my first video and let me know what you prefer more.
Thank you!
Are people really the most intelligent species in the world as they claim? More intelligent than animals and their predecessors?
Human beings consider to be the most intelligent species in this world. I would say in theory yes, but if you look on practical examples….Humanity, you failed.
Massive deforestation in order to make space for plantations making palm oil we use in our everyday products. The fastest way is to cut and burn which produces enormous carbon dioxide released to the air. This is stupid in many ways. Firstly because trees are taking carbon dioxide from the air and storing them forever releasing oxygen. Secondly, when you cut or burn those trees, all that carbon dioxide stored for years in those trees is released. And last but not least, smog that is the product of burning produces carbon dioxide and pollutes additionally the air. So the amount of carbon dioxide is doubled. Smart,no?
Then comes the water pollution… Seems like animals were not using objects on those pictures and left all the garbage behind themselves. Nature also didn’t… So who did? Maybe the most intelligent species, who knows…
Industry waste
Landfills seem to have the same situation. Is that a zebra driving that dredge behind? 80% of waste in this world is recyclable so I don’t understand why smart species choose this kind of options…
So, the questions is why the smartest species destroy homes of less smart species? Is that a proof of intelligence? These animals lost their natural habitats for no reason. Ok, there was a reason – to serve people’s egoistic wants (not needs), but that part we can skip as always. Look deeply inside the eyes of those animals and tell me what you see. They lost their homes and it’s not their fault. When we lose our homes, it will be completely our fault.
Injured orangutan due to the burn of rain forests
So world, beyond you can see animals, species that are less intelligent than we are. After this text I see judgment in eyes of this monkey. They are not smart enough to make money, use natural resources for their selfish needs, kill for additional penny. They are smart enough to know how to show love and humanity, that we once used to know.
Between themselves…..
….and others….
Even this tree now looks smarter after those pictures,no? Trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into oxygen, more practical than any factory I can think of. And it’s created by nature.
*All pics are taken from google images
Mobile phones and the environment. How can we contribute to this problem? What is planned obsolescence? How are we manipulated by our favorite brands?
According to the eMarketer Mobile Media is today greater than Desktop and other Media. Why is that surprising when our phone is actually a pocket computer. Unfortunately the most common used technology has the shortest lifetime. One of the reasons is that brands are encouraging us to always strive to have the latest model.
How many spare phones do you have in your house? Did you know that, like plastic bags, mobiles and other electronic devices can take up to 1000 years to break down?
Searching the Internet there is a common term called planned obsolescence. It claims that mobile phones are programmed by producers to have 2-3 years lifetime so you always have to renew your device. There are thousands of people on the Internet who had complaints about their phone breaking right after the 18 months contract.
Throwing away your old phones is extremely dangerous for the environment because phones are mainly made of toxic materials such as arsenic, lithium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc. These poisonous substances may leach from decomposing waste in landfills, reach the groundwater and contaminate the soil. Metals that are found in the soil can enter the food chain and in sufficient presence may cause health problems.
But throwing your old phone is not the only danger for the environment. The production of new mobile phones also leads to climate change by using up energy and virgin materials, which release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
How can we contribute to minimize this problem?
Wool is cool
People were using wool as clothing material since the Stone Age because of it’s various advantages. Wool is absorbing water vapor when humidity rises and falls, that is the reason why it works like a natural insulator. Wool can also serve as a UV protector. Since it’s a natural fabric, it’s in harmony body mechanisms and it isn’t causing allergies. It absorbs moisture and keeps skin dry. Wool lasts very long, much more than cotton or other material, and it is comparatively stronger than steel. The biggest wool producer in the world is Australia; on the second place is China.
Using wool is environmentally friendly because it is reusable and biodegradable.Once a year sheep must be sheared anyway and the most important thing is that there are no killings or victims in order to take something useful from animals as usual. Besides clothing, wool can be used to replace insulation, which causes much less energy consumption. It is also sound proof and fire resistant. One sheared sheep can bring you 5 new sweaters or 70 pairs of socks.
Natural sources of energy
Even though I’m Tesla’s fan, Thomas Edison had some smart moments in his life. He believed that the Sun is an inexhaustible source of energy and if he could invest his money in something, neither more or less it would be the sun. So far, the researches confirmed his story.
Since carbon dioxide is the number one enemy of air pollution, carbon and petrol as the most common pollutants used for producing energy must be replaced.
Scientists are finding the best solution over the past decades to build renewable, inexhaustible sources of energy by using what nature gave us: sun, water and the wind. I am mentioning “only” these kinds of energy (even though using only one of them is enough to supply the whole world with energy) because they are the smallest emitters of carbon dioxide.
Then come the questions -:
“Why don’t we use then these sources of energy instead of using the ones that are harmful for our planet?
Why do we pay for the electricity when there is plenty of it in the nature?
Why the government doesn’t use these sources of energy for their countries?
Air pollution
Why the mask? The air is everywhere around, we can’t hide from it or avoid it. It is the number one living “tool”. And guess what? It’s polluted like crazy. And if we don’t change something, everybody will wear masks eventually. Considering that, gas mask industry will grow rapidly in the eyes of moneymakers.
Become Nika 