Author: naturafutura

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in December 2014

In the legendary movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” we see Paul Newman having lots of fun riding a bicycle. That scene became famous, especially because of its background music, “Raindrops keep falling on my head”, an international hit by the ending of 1969 and 1970.

In the movie, the bicycle was a novelty. This is true also for children, who see it as an additional toy for them to play. They learn how to control it usually after some tumbles, and ride it with no definite course.

This initiation takes place most frequently in the backyard or in a park. What matters at this moment is prowling around, go back and forth, riding in curves. Only eventually they will be able to hold firmly the handlebar, ride in a straight line and follow some traffic discipline.

In another famous movie, “City of Angels” (1998), the protagonist Meg Ryan daydreams to her love partner while going home by bike. The happiness expressed in her face at that moment is unique. But the ending of the story shows that she was in a public way and in that situation… it would have been better to pay attention to the traffic.

We can envision here two different attitudes: riding around (moving in an unconcerned and pleasurable way) and street riding (managing a mean of transportation with respect to traffic laws). Always remember that to ride a bike safely in the cities, what matters most is to tell riding around from street riding. It is a matter of attitude.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in November 2014

In 1817, actually two centuries ago, a kind of wooden horse on wheels was created in Europe. It would move by pushing feet against the ground, like a toy.

During the industrial revolution, it was found out how to transmit human force to a wheel by means of a chain and pedals. It was then, by the end of that century, that the bicycle as we know it today was created.

Until 1885, roughly 68 years of attempts, sweat and creativity went by. The golden age of bicycles in Europe were the 1890’s, when the novelty started to appear in the streets and to become part of people’s daily life. Along with its spread, cities grew and a new way of life emerged.

In the first half of the twentieth century, it became an effective mean of transportation in Europe. The automobile, another novelty, was at that time the privilege of a few ones. During the 1950’s it started to occupy spaces in the middle class of some european countries.

In the current days, there is a lot of talk about accepting bikes as an effective mean of transportation in brazilian cities. It will be necessary to create a culture of peaceful coexistence among bicycles, pedestrians, automobiles, trucks and buses…

Unlike to what happened in european countries, in Brazil cars and buses have been adopted before bicycles were utilized as mass transportation. Namely, a stage was skipped. Now is time to rethink an urban brazilian culture so the bicycle can be included with all respect that it deserves.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in October 2014

Years ago, a newspaper published a fact happened in a small brazilian town. Men and women united, decided to cut down all the trees of the street were they used to live. Reason: women meant it was too much work to sweep the fallen leaves. By their turn, men got irritated with the dirt made by the birds, because it harmed the paint and the windshield of the cars parked under the trees.

Bad business. If momentarily they got rid of two cleaning tasks, on the other hand they have lost several services that trees do to us:

1. The city temperature rises in the presence of vast cemented and asphalted areas. The existence of trees helps to fight this thermal pollution (excessive heat).

2. Trees help to keep balanced the air humidity. The dryness sensation is softened in gardens, parks or in streets surrounded by many trees.

3. We need oxygen to live, and it is produced by the trees. The presence of more trees around means breathing a cleaner air, being healthier and enjoying more well-being.

4. Many birds build their nests on trees (they dwell there…). They have therefore a place to live, and help the reproduction of trees and other plants.

The list keeps going. It is regrettable, but even today there is no agreement that planting and keeping trees is more favorable to the human species than getting rid of them. Many put commercial interests, real estate increase in value or sheer convenience above everything.

It is a matter of attitude, and this is the most difficult thing to change, if we want to improve the quality of life in the cities.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in September 2014

From the window of your house, you can see a pool of water on the ground. After a while, it starts to vanish. Water begins slowly to evaporate and change place. Now it is in the sky. You look above and see a huge and plump cloud, carrying all the water that once was so close to you.

More time goes by, and rain falls in your city. The big cloud disappears and again you see close to your window, a pool of water on the ground ! It seems magic, but this transfer is another cycle of Nature, independent from human action. When we were children, we promptly learned what rain was, because we saw it, we heard it, and we felt its presence. Rain is in the lyrics of songs, in the movies and in poetry.

There are other cycles in Nature, less celebrated but equally important. Nitrogen, a colorless gas, is a component of the air we breathe. In the presence of a lightning bolt, it combines with oxygen, and comes to the ground. It then reacts with other substances and generates nitrates. Plants need nitrates… but they didn’t arrive in a sufficient quantity. Bacteria and fungi start acting: they are capable to generate nitrates and supply the needs of plants to live. Eventually we, human beings, will eat these plants !

In a very simplified fashion, we showed how a gas that we don’t see plays such an important role in our lives. This is a biogeochemical cycle (read “bio-geo-chemical”). It describes how a chemical element (nitrogen, in this case) circulates through living beings (bio), through the environment (geo) and takes part of chemical reactions with other substances. What a demonstration of the fantastic divine creation !

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in August 2014

There were so many materials discovered by humans along the centuries. Countless were the artifacts, objects and packagings created with these materials. Now, in the 21st century, we live day by day with this human creation. We are greatly benefited from the comfort that it all brings.

We can buy ready-to-drink yogurt packed in plastics, we can comfortably use nail clippers made out of metal, scribble some notes in a paper pad and so on. This is all human invention, combining materials with specific uses.

But time goes by. Nail clippers start to rust and we do not want them anymore. The notes we wrote on the paper pad are already outdated. The yogurt has been drank… and its packaging becomes useless to us. We want to get rid of all of that. Then comes the magic word: trash !

How nice that someone has invented the garbage truck, that someone collects from our street the useless stuff and brings it all far away. But remember that the metal of the nail clippers, the plastics of the yogurt package and the paper from your pad are recyclable: they can be used again.

When you discard, think big: you are not getting rid of your garbage, but ensuring raw material for the products and packages that you will be consuming tomorrow.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in July 2014

We know the word sustain. We know that children need care, and that parents support them. There will be a moment in their life when changing diapers will cease, handing them pocket-money will stop or paying college will come to an end. Children become independent and start self-sustaining, i.e., supporting themselves.

Observing Nature, we notice that an orange tree let its leaves and oranges fall on the ground. If oranges are not harvested, they will break off after a while. Leaves, peel and pulp will merge with earth and, with the help of microorganisms, will become soil’s nutrients. The seed will grow, and a new orange tree will be there, producing new oranges. This is a cycle.

An orange and its parts (peel, pulp, seed) are recyclable, and this process is conducted by Nature. No human action is needed; it will happen in an independent way. Therefore we call it self-sustainable.

In our daily lives, glass is an example of cycle. Used for thousands of years, it is a material developed by man. Today we use glass in packages, which after use, can be recycled. But human action in this cycle will always be necessary. Used glass cannot remain in the environment until it breaks off. It needs to be taken away to a recycling unit, to be molten and reused. Glass is recyclable, but this process depends on human action.

Tires are another case. Part of their raw material comes from the rubber tree. After its use, however, it is not possible to reuse this original material like we do with glass, for example. Old tires are used in new shoe products or are shredded and mixed as an ingredient of road asphalt. And this process also depends on us to be carried.

From these examples, the orange tree one is the most functional and complete. We, human beings, are challenged today to create materials and processes inspired by the self-sustaining examples of Nature. This challenge adds sense to the word s u s t a i n a b i l i t y.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in June 2014

To list the wonders of Nature is an easy task. It is nice to talk about the beauty of a flower, the miracle of life and the enchantment of a wave breaking on a beach.

But Nature is not only this. When we talk about the divine Creation, as described in the book of Genesis, we think of sees and mountains, plants and animals. But, what about the dengue mosquito, the Aedes aegypti, where does it fit in this theme ? Its name means “The hateful from Egypt”, perhaps as an alert about the dangers it might bring about us, humans.

Currently several brazilian cities are facing hard times, as a dengue epidemics reaches big proportions. Public campaigns constantly recommend that mosquito’s breeding points be eliminated, i.e., places that make its reproduction possible: clean water, standing in some location where the mosquito lay its eggs.

Dengue is a sickness caused by a virus and transmitted by the mosquito by means of a sting in our skin. Therefore it is important to fight the mosquito and its reproduction: if there is no mosquito there will be no sting, and without a sting, there will be no sickness. The dengue fever, as it is known, can be treated, but in some cases can lead to death.

Everyone is responsible to fight the dengue mosquito. In a time of an unprecedented urban growing, various kinds of objects, debris or spread garbage remain exposed to air and rain, and they end up by accumulating water, where the mosquito will later lay its eggs. As a conscious citizen, be always alert, and specially, if you are in a leadership position, let your actions be an example to others: strive to avoid the formation of mosquito’s breeding points.

To build dengue free urban spaces, which combine well being and respect to Nature, is a challenge in this 21st century. And at the same time, it means hope.

The thirtieth:
Time to remember

Article published in May 2014

While you walk in a street, you see a car that you have never seen before. You want to know its name, then you get closer to its rear part and see there, engraved in a tag, the model’s name.

With trees it is different. We use to know the name of some species, that are quite different among themselves: a pine tree, a palm tree or maybe a cactus. Other trees we can recognize by their fruits, like an apple tree or a mango tree.

Truth is that the amount of tree species in our planet is immense and its great majority has a similar shape. A professional who studies plants will know trees, and call them by their binomial name (scientific name). Example: Cedar of Lebanon, is called “Cedrus libani” by a botanics expert.

Ancient cultures assigned names to trees, which we still use nowadays and called them “popular names”. Case in point is the “Calophyllum brasiliense” (scientific name), which is popularly known in Brazil as “Guanandi” (indian name) or “Santa-Maria” (portuguese name).

It is important to know the name of something we want to protect and get to know better. A suggestion is to identify trees by writing their names in a handwritten style, by wrapping an aluminum wire. A good craftsman, using pliers, can carefully write this information for you.

You just need to put it on the ground and you will be able to read the name of a tree whenever you want to !