Team Earth

We all―humans and other species―live in the same planet: Earth. Each specie has its own way to contribute to the planet's balance. Be it regulating the insect population, or pollinating flowers, or even creating dams to prevent floods. Each specie, big or small, mammal or reptile, has a role to play. Each specie is a ring in a chain that links the species with habitats and ecosystems. The chain is an avatar of balance.

Remove a ring from the chain and the whole thing comes down.

Humans, being the way we are, have always thought of ourselves as a superior specie, but that's the wrong perspective to have. As a specie, we have been very irresponsible; we even have been the cause of the extinction of several other species. We are have the advantage of being  aware of our abilities and of what's going on around; we have power, which also gives us a responsibility. All the species in the planet conform a team, and we humans are the leader.

As leaders, our responsibility should be watching over the balance of ecosystems and habitats, so ours, and the rest of species, have a patrimony to inherit to future generations. As leaders, we should run to save endangered species, or suffer the breaking of the food chain and its severe consequences. As leaders we should strictly regulate pollution, since it affects all species environments. As leaders, we should make the world proliferate.

Sadly, we suck as leaders.

What should we do?

Lead. A leader gives the example. A leader does it first.

Kids draw a green place to live when they are in kindergarten. Why when they grow up, they forget about it and nonchalantly throw thrash in the streets? Because first, they are not educated. Second, they follow the example of what they see in the streets. The change must start with you. Change your habits, stop and wonder "Am I helping in the protection of the world's ecosystem? Am I being a good leader?"

Remember we are all in this, humans and other species, we are a team, even more than that; we are a family. Do something for the Team Earth, be a catalyze As Gandhi said: "be the change you want to see in the world."

Mario Duarte - Sao Paulo

Big. Heavy. Tall. Grey. Polluted. Crowded. Massive. Loud. Cold. Hot. Violent. Crude. Harsh. Fast. Strong. Rich. Poor. Broad. Rainy. Talented! Acessible!! Open? Nice?!? Beautiful?!?

What the heck is Sao Paulo about?

Nobody knowns what is more difficult, either try to explain Sao Paulo or to understand Sao Paulo. At first sight, it can feel like a punch in the face, like in the words of famous american chef and world traveler Anthony Bourdain:

"Sao Paulo looks like if L. A. throw up in New York"

But if you get past this first look, you understand why in his show "No Reservations" - where Bourdain travels throughout the world looking for unique places for food - he has choosen Sao Paulo instead of Rio, the well known postcard city in Brazil.

Sao Paulo is the perfect portrait of Brazil, showing its multicultural sides in every way possible, been in grastronomy,

Daniel - #5 - Humans & Other Species

Team Earth

We all―humans and other species―live in the same planet: Earth. Each specie has its own way to contribute to the planet's balance. Be it by regulating the insect population, or pollinate flowers, or even by creating dams to prevent floods. Each specie, bir or small, mammal or reptile, has something a role to play. it's part of a chain that links all species, habitats, and ecosystems into one whole so that there is balance.

Remove a ring from the chain and the whole things comes down.

Humans, being the way we are, have always thought of ourselves as a superior specie, when that's a wrong perspective. As a specie we have been irresponsible, we have leaded We are more aware of our abilities and what's going on around, which gives also a responsability. All the species in the planet are linked; all species comform a team, and we humans are the leader.

David-1-Humans&otherspecies

Our world: Where are we going?

All the animals have their special ability to give something good to mother nature. For instance, the butterflies fly from flower to flower to do pollination, bats eat some insects, fish's excrement help to reduce ocean acidity, worms eat garbage. Everything has a purpose, but what about humans? what do we do to help?

Human beings have the incredible ability of reason so we have the power of deciding what choice to make; we have conscience to know what is good or wrong. On the other hand, the animals are only lead by their instincts, they don't know if what  they are doing is correct or not.

Now it's time to talk about our world, if we have the greatest ability of reasoning, why there are so many problems in our world? There is pollution, global warming, racism, war, and an unending list of problems. Clearly, most of these troubles are caused by humans and they are getting worst. Why don't we do something to stop it? 

We are be able to change it, but we need a little change in our mind. This article is about it, it's a small thought but we can make it better, otherwise why do we have this wonderful gift? So let's think about it and how we can change it!

Mario Duarte - Human & Other species

Red alert: World's endangered species

Today there is a lot of talk about the subject of extinct species, a lot of curiosity behind it, and with the advances in computer graphics, there have been some movies released portraying Dinosaurs and other extinct animals.





The Siberian Tiger is
critically endangered

But another topic that should be in people's minds is that of the ENDANGERED SPECIES, animals that are still around us, but are facing real threat of disappearing, due to low population numbers or environmental and predation parameter changes.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the international agency that has the difficult task of cataloguing the number of all endangered species throughout the globe, and it is specially known for its IUCN RED LIST, that has attracted attention with the recent inclusion of the Panda Bear as an endangered animal.

A endangered Panda cub

But although the IUCN has got some attention with the release of the Red List, they can only provide information, and the reponsibility lies with countries which have their own laws regarding the subject. What has happened in recent years has been an increase in the awareness of the general public about the subject, due to strong movements from environmental groups like The Greenpeace and the WWF.

Governments, agencies, environmental groups and the general public have their share of work in how we are going to perceive this topic in the future, and work together to prevent the possibility of future generations having to go to the movies to see what a Panda looks like. 

Nick-5-Human beings and other species

Humans are the present rulers of the World, but they shouldn't ignore the others living with them. I want to talk about how  they have wiped out some species and what they should do about it.

 Habitat Destruction: Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity is mainly for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for industry production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture is the principal cause of habitat destruction. Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, trawling and urban sprawl. Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary cause of species extinction worldwide.

Habitat loss

All species have specific food and habitat needs. The more specific these needs and localized the habitat, the greater the vulnerability of species to loss of habitat to agricultural land, livestock, roads and cities. In the future, the only species that would survive are likely to be those whose habitats are highly protected, or whose habitat corresponds to the degraded state associated with human activity (human commensals).

Hunted to Death: Numerous species have been wiped out primarily by human hunters in the last couple hundred years alone. Here are some of those extinct animals;

Tasmanian Tiger                                                   Passenger Pigeon 

                                 

   

 Great Auk                                                                             Quagga

                                                           

                              

Although it is illegal to hunt endangered species, most of the hunters don't care about what will happen to the animals. We have to increase the fines for the hunting laws so that people won't break them.

We can't stop hunting in a short period, but we can start banning it in small states and countries. Also if we can manage to show people that hunting is bad and hunters are even worse, we will be able to create a negative view about hunting and that will help us to slow down the process.

 

Vlad - 5 - Make a wish

All people have dreams, and they usually dream a lot. Sometimes it helps to relax, and sometimes to escape from reality. Personally I love to dream. But my dreams  mainly concern  events that might happen in the future. There is an expression in Russian: people can be disappointed by two reasons: when their dreams do not come true and when they do. But I have never thought before what would happen if my dream would come true . Let's follow our imagination and see what happens if our dreams came true.

ONE WISH

You can trust me that my wish list is really long, and  it would take a long time to choose the most impourtant one. In my opinion it’s really the hardest part. How can I decide either I want to win a million dollars or to become a Kung Fu master!  But now I'm not sure if I would want my wishes to come true! Getting a lot money or new skills, means that your life changes completely! This wouldn't work for me! So keep thinking…

Now I know!! I would like to have a dinner with 5 people I would choose. And it doesn’t matter if they are still alive. They should come! I have chosen all of them yet, but for sure it will be people of different occupations and fromm different ages. For example having Da Vinchi, Mozart, Einstein and couple more interesting guys for dinner together. That would be fun!!!!    

Michelle-5-Make a wish

I WISH... I had enough money to travel around the world. It is very interesting for me to know about different cultures, languages and life styles of other countries, that's why I really want to go everywhere around the world.

  If I had the opportunity to visit a country, the first one I choose would be Cuba. I think that Cuba is a very interesting country - cuturally speaking-; the music has been very important in my life, and I really enjoy to listen to cuban music because it always reminds me of my grandmother.

To travel around the world I need to now many languages

 so I wish I could learn a lot of languages to be able to

understand what people say, how they live and also it will

be a huge advantage for me. I would be very successful in

 my carreer.

I would like to share all of this with my family. I'm sure they will anjoy it as well as I do. We can have a lot of fun :D

Raina-2 Make a wish

My dream is having my own big family and lovely house. I have been living with my parents and my only  sibling so it is quiet small family. I always wish I could have a big family since I was young. Besides, my relatives live far away and it was hard to visit them or to be in touch with them. Since I started to work after graduating from university, I had to live apart from my parents and live by myself. My sister had to go to Japan to study in Tokyo university as well. Now my family have been separated from each other for a long time and we can get together just twice a year. I always dream of  having a big family so if I get married I will suggest to my parents to live with us. I love my parents so living without my parents was really hard for me. It's the time to find my Mr. right and make my own family. I wish my future husband had a big family as well. I hope my long cherished desire can come true at last.

Having a lovely house is my another wish . I will buy a house in the suburb because I'm not a city person even though I have been raised in a big city. I like nature and I think human is also part of nature. I'd like to raise my children to live in  nature and have beautiful minds. I will plant different fruit trees in my garden to let my children see flowers and pick various fruits and eat them. One day in spring time, enjoying the beautiful weather, having lunch in my garden with my family and  reading children books to my kids on the grass would be my the happiest moment in the future.

 

Lorena-5-Make a Wish

 

I wish I were a backpacker

Backpacking is one of the things I would love to do before I die. Backpacking is a cheaper way to travel around the world that includes the use of a backpack or other kind of luggage that is easy to carry around for long distances or long periods of time;  you can also use the public transportation and stay in hostels (like a hotel, but much cheaper). Another fact about backpacking is that the duration of the trip is longer in comparasion to a normal trip and usually you spend less money in it.

If I had the opportunity to travel around the world, the first country I would love to visit is the Netherlands because they have amazing places to go, and its capital, Amsterdam  is so beautiful itself and it has a lot of history. I would love to learn about and also to explore Rotterdam and go to the Euromast which is an observation tower when you can see the whole city.

Another city I would love to visit is Barcelona because I would love to visit La Sagrada Familia which is a church of the Holy Family. It  has a lot of history and importance for spanish people, and then explore each church they have, and after that I would like to visit Germany and see all the good things they have, but before I start to make my backpack I need to realize that I need money and time to do so. I hope I can do it in some near future.

Mario - I wish...

I wish I were on my bed right now

I wish I could spent the whole summer just being lazy, slacking and sleeping, eating and napping, all day, all summer long.

The everyday life has driven people to their limits, creating a stressed society beyond any limits seen before. In big cities, the effect is even worst, because there's traffic, crime, pollution, and a series of factors that bring the quality of life into very low marks.

The social-financial-career obligations has made us forget or overlook the importance of taking some time of and relax, rebuild our strengths, to recharge our battery.

In modern world, people living in massive urban areas get used to live in average to poor conditions and often tend to accept it as a sign of a new era, where everything is faster, colder and only benefits those who are stronger or in many cases have more money.

That's why I'll say: Lets get a little lazy!

Jessica-5-makeawish



Make a wish

If I could have only one wish to make, I would wish to have more time and money to see all the world.



I would like to see every part of the world, because I love to travel and I find very interesting the traditions in every country.

There's a lot of awesome places that I would like to go, and have some fun with my family.

 

I like to go to new places and learn more abourt their culture, because it's a once in a life experience, we don't know when we're going to have this opportunity again, so that would be so awesome, if I could travel all my life and have  enough money to do it.

I would like to go to Bora Bora, Dubai, Tokyo, Australia, Las Vegas. Those are very beautiful places to go, but they are so expensive to travel to, so if I could have more money, I would go there, and have an amazing time with my family.

In Bora Bora, we could go rest in the beach, have a gorgeous house in the beach, go swimming, and at night we could have an enourmus dinner, and wath a performance. Then we could