Is Climate Change a Fallacy?

Note about the non-scientific content of this publication, click here 

A broader view over the Earth's Environment

Back in 2010, when we launch our volunteer program of consumption downshifting – dfE - we did have some deep certainties based on our previous experiences. We stated in the first dfE post that “... the economical grow itself is a paradigm...”, “... such over accelerated economic boom, in latest centuries, had caused to Earth indubitable losses - such as global warming and its consequences -, planetary wide disequilibrium and Nature mass destruction.”

Even with these certainty in our backpacks, at that time we had a tiny little feeling that we could be possibly wrong. As “everything is possible”, Planet could be just copping with all human activities and to downshift would be a silly decision. But, in any case, the journey seemed to fit perfectly to either confirm of refrain our thoughts. And after all, what is better than check out on the spot and dedicate time for information gathering to defeat eventual doubts?

Well, after 20 months in the journey, about 15 countries visited, lots of observations, many books read, information gathering and reflection, we were exposed to many outstanding facts, which we previously ignored by ourselves. After all, our conclusion is that the Planet is indeed suffering with human activity.

Some of the most relevant facts leading to... 

   Read more...

3rd Footprint Downshifting Report

The graphic report.

3^rd Footprint Downshifting Report

Well, at this stage, the dfE's Footprint Downshifting Report doesn't look like we expected when our project begun. During the first three half we had indeed a great reduction on our carbon emissions towards the target of 2 tons/year/person. However, we couldn't actually reach and maintain such level mainly due to non-sailing displacements, which happens when we travelled in land, by air or sail without wind. Sincerely, we are not pleased with our current emissions but this is the true we have to face.

That reality incited our conscience that, even trying hard to avoid flights and unnecessary movements, whenever we travel using transportation based on fossil fuel systems, our emissions will be a way higher than accepted.

Since we have decided that traveling should be an important aspect of our quest towards simple and sustainable life, we now have to face and coop with this reality. One alternative we truly consider is to compensate our emissions when we would eventually settle, somewhere.

Another way to cooperate with our societies is actively participate in education.
For seven weeks we've been sharing knowledge on Ecology, Cultural and
 Natural World Heritage with over 250 young students in China,
in cooperation with UNESCO World Heritage and
CSETC (Chinese Society of Education Training Center)

The compensation shall ensure carbon sequestration in quantities at least equivalent to our overrun emissions. Thus, we are indeed committed to plan and achieve all the necessary counterbalance in our next settlement and, on the top of that, perhaps to offset all our emissions caused by ourselves since our birth. Why not?

Before we settle somewhere, we are volunteering in many different places with the aim of helping sustainable communities to flourish. Here we work in the construction of a green house, for winter food growing and nursery,  in the area of Lasio, Italy

The green house ready! Built with 100% recycled material,

found within the farm premisses.

Some people might now have the question “why so much concern regarding carbon emissions?”

Well, having that question or not, this debate leads to the very next post: “Is climate-change a fallacy”.

Thanks for reading!

Comments, criticism and feedback are always welcome!

DfE team

Return on line

Volunteering at the Temple of Confucius, in the

Three Confucius World Heritage site, Qufu China.

Here, dressed as Confucius' students, we worked bringing awareness

for tourists about the importance of preserving and continuing his teachings, indeed

the moral basis of Chinese culture.

Dear friends, distinct readers,

We've been without access to our blog while we were in China, which does not allow the use of blogspot. Nevertheless, we've been working really hard in three UNESCO World Heritage projects in : Great Wall, Mountains Sanqing and in Three Confucios, in Qufu. The work was in Chinese pace: 47 days almost without days ! Even if we had access to the blogspot, we wouldn't have time to write.

Well, we are now in Europe, still in different fronts. Raquel is another project of UNESCO, project in Sardegna, Italy, very focused on archeology, which has proved a great passion for her! I'm seeking knowledge on Permaculture, which I'll describe in a next post.

Hence, we will try, in the coming weeks, publish our best experiences and learnings of the last 5 months.

Warm regards to everyone!

Francis

SPLIT PROJECT FRONTS

Split for a while, for a noble cause.

dfE had, for the first time in 19 months in this venture for sustainability, split the team. As it's reaching an abroad traveling cycle completion and, what we learned so far led to the need of gathering more specific and further knowledge, to work in different fields has proved to be necessary for this.

History, archeology and anthropology are clearly fundamental aspects for understanding the contemporaneous societies and their issues, either social, environmental or spiritual.

Therefore, Raquel has headed to China to spend about 3 weeks in the Xi'an, where ancient chinese culture can still flow in the air. There's also the Terra-cotta warriors, an impressive monument, indeed relevant for understanding China's dynasties, historical development and today's context.

I'm staying this period in Thailand, to attend to a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) by Panya Project (If you are in Thailand, tickets still available), in it's new site located in Sikhiu, a farm called Rak Tamachat. Permaculture is a great concept, "discovered" by us not long ago and seems to be one of the outstanding alternatives for many human issues such as social disorder, global and local environment deterioration as well as spiritual (not religious) emptiness. It might sound "magic" but is not. Is natural.


Soon we'll release a comprehensive dedicated post about Permaculture, which seems to be a great holistic endeavor we want to get deeply engaged with, and share, of course. Don't miss it!


As part of a new initiative, part of the trip to the farm where the the PDC will take place, about 20 km, will be accomplished on foot. This initiative can be called "Santiago de Compostela wherever you go".  I personally love the idea of traveling long distances on foot, and this is the first one. I'll surely report how it went.

Gotta walk...

In July, the 9th, dfE will re-join in Beijing for the UNESCO sponsored World Heritage Volunteers program, were we will act as volunteers in three different sites: The Great Wall, Mount Sanqingshan, and Qufu. International an Chinese vollunteers will teach teenagers about the history and significance of the sites, their importance as World Heritage, as well as Confucianism. Also practical work in the site will be carried out, such as site development and maintenance. We are very excited to learn how UNESCO approaches important historical heritages and turism!

New posts coming soon!

Francis (in Thailand, with an eye on Rio+20)

AN ISLAND AMONG 7000 - SPECIAL BOHOL

How a community can flourish among less aware neighbors

Bohol is an island (or archipelago) in the central Philippines (Visayas). A tourist destination for many Europeans, Australians and ultimately, Russians, Chinese and Korean. The main spot is the Alona beach in Panglao Island. Bohol is best known for its interesting geological formation, small mountains called the Chocolate Hills and for the endemic presence of the Tarsier, one of the smallest primates on the planet.

Sunset in Alona beach: fancy tourism destination

Wonderful menu in Alona. But beware: this is not cheap!

In Panglao is possible to stay in a reasonable quality double bed room, very close to wonderful and pristine beaches, with the rent of a small scooter included and still make three meals of local food, all for less than $ 50 per day for 2 people.


We also observed that the inhabitants of the island and its large volatile population of tourists still rely heavily on external supplies. Despite of having fresh water rivers, the islands are dependent on stable regimes of precipitation.

Nature preserved along a good portion of Loboc River.

The urban areas of the island already have serious problems of water supply. In the first inn where we stayed, all the water was supplied daily by truck at a cost probably high, since there is no feasibility for public pumping systems.

Other recurrent problem in Asia:
There's no public drinking water!
Every drop has to be bought... The best solution we found to avoid the ultra-polluting plastic bottles is ALWAYS carry our own bottle and refill it whenever is possible.
It pollutes a lot less and is, in average, 20 (TWENTY!) times cheaper.

The nature is relatively preserved. Much of the main island is protected in the National Park where the Chocolate Hills are. But the big island's mangroves are under pressure by the culture of palm, a tree that grows in salty swamps. It is used for the production of edible oil and fuel that, despite its low quality, is consumed in Asia. The devastation by the housing industry also threatens natural systems of the island, mainly near the coast.

Natural Park, center of Bohol Island

The Palm being grown for cheap oil: Mangroves degradation.

The main town in the archipelago has an airport and seaport. We arrived there by ferry from Cebu City. The city, though small, is polluted and traffic is chaotic, common in Philippians cities.

Traffic jam in the small town of Tagbilaran, the bigger urban center in Bohol

But moving out of town, things change. The inhabitants of these islands show a special development. There are museums, study and conservation centers, environmental parks, etc. Even tourist enterprises, such as inns and hotels, often created and managed by foreigners, present here less environmentally degrading characteristics compared to other regions where foreigners invest only to exploit the resources to exhaustion, and leave.

The "Reggae" guesthouse in Panglao, owned by a French couple mainly made out bamboo and other local material.

Bohol is a tangle of beauty. Driving a motorcycle around the island is an adventure full of beautiful scenery and interesting places to visit like the Tarsiers' Preservation Park, the Chocolate Hills, the Butterflies Sanctuary, waterfalls, the Loboc village and its huge and interesting bridge to nowhere.

Wonderful landscape in the countryside, in Bohol

Very refreshing waterfall!

The Tarsier's center.

In daylight, Tarsiers are very sleepy and pretty much motionless.

At, night, very agile on the hunt for preys. At its birth, is about a thumbnail size.

The Tarsiers aren't kept in captivity.

The intriguing formation of the Chocolate Hills. Here the view of the Conservation Park.

The forming matter of the Chocolate Hills can be clearly seen in some cliffs in Bohol shore. Corals, shells and other sedimentation material of what was once, the bottom of the sea.

Floating restaurants in the charming Loboc Town.

An old historical building in Loboc, where the today's "bridge to nowhere" would have landed. 

The famous "Loboc Belvedere" or an obvious "bridge to nowhere".

This is actually the aborted construction of a bridge that would force de demolition on the historical building at the other side of this road. This pretended belvedere is surely world's strongest one, and possibly the most expensive too. 

In the Butterflies Sanctuary...

is possible to watch the breeding and ...

to grown butterfly wings!!

Despite we find all that interesting, what really amazed us were the sustainable initiatives in Bohol, such as organic farms, which are also development centers of social, cultural and arts. Projects that attract many young people in the community, promote local production, values knowledge and ancestral wisdom from the elders.

We visited the Bee Farm, a spectacle of awareness and sustainable development. A Philippine idealist, believing that something was very wrong in the social and ecological society where she grown up - in Hawaii (USA) - decided to return to her country of origin and "do something".

She set in a hut for six months on her parents' land which was in some way, abandoned. That was a contemplating and reflection time. She than idealized and conceived the Bee Farm, which is now a model farm, with over 200 employees who proudly show their talents to visitors and their areas of responsibility in the project.

In just over 10 years, they collectively developed a sustainable complex comprising beekeeping, garden, farm, hotel, convention center, restaurant, studio arts, weaving, kitchen and a fair trade shop with all sort of organic products. We could visit and fraternize with the hand-loom weavers, artists painting and sculpting.

View of the guesthouse in the Bee Farm

Canvases made out of coconut leafs, painted by Bee Farm's artists.

Bee Farm fairtrade shop.

Delicious organic products.

Great fun fraternizing with the weavers.

Wonderful fabrics come out of the hand-looms.

We also visited the organic garden with lots and lots of herbs, fruits and vegetables that go straight to the non less wonderful farm's restaurant.

Bee Farm's comprehensive garden: supplies all farms needs

Beautiful and yummy flower salad by Bee Farm

A wall, decorated with coconut shells: natural reinforcement and beauty to a building. 

We feel that in this island, things are thriving in this way because some smart people, imbued with ethics, holistic knowledge and courage to work outside the system, have got their small sustainable projects started, grew and inspired many others in the community to follow such initiatives. The air is filled with different social and environmental perspectives. People are more optimistic, sustainable and energetic!

It is also easy to see in the face of those who visit these farms - and they are many - a feeling of inspiration for their own lives. Maybe to carry out similar projects in their countries and even inspiration to reevaluate their lifestyles and goals. It was no different for us, we feel very inspired by the Bee Farm!

The good vibe of Bohol Island!

We hope that everyone could reflect a bit and feel inspired to seek for something new and optimistic for life, as we did!

A big sustainable hug to everyone!

Provocation: have you ever calculated your carbon footprint?

REREFLECTION ABOUT PHILIPPINES ENVIRONMENT

From the environmental point of view, Philippines has a lot to do. Although many Philippians seem to be aware of climate change, their explicit wish for consumption signs there is a lack of understanding about the interrelation through individual demand and it's impacts; just same as most of industrialized and developing countries inhabitants. 

In towns, a lot of vehicles

The Philippines cities we visited now seem very much like many occidental ones with regards to atmospheric, sound and visual pollution. Towns are crowded, jammed and dirty - we even recommend masks.

Little tinny island, over-crowed with houses with very poor sanitation conditions.

However, some aspects of culture preceding the western invasions remain, e.g., food. Philippians eat a lot of rice and fish.

Intercity bus: sharing the seats with buckets filled up with alive crabs.

Motorbike are used to move all sort of odd items.

All our luggage on a motorbike!

Bike included in the guesthouse rate (USD 13.00 for double bed  room). But breaks maintenance  is to be carried  by the guest. Fun anyway.

Moving away from urban centers, traditional building technics are predominant, mainly on bamboo and palm leafs.  The nature is still exuberant, even though a relevant part or forests had already felled or, dynamite fishing is tolerated.

There is a population explosion happening here. About 100 million people live in Philippines and they're mostly young. This is more than 340 people per sq km (880 p/sq mi) spread among the 7000+ islands. Impressive. Even though Philippines is a Island country, we did not spot any local sailing boat or canoe. All passengers and cargo transportation are based on fossil fuel vehicles. Fast boat fares are normally pricy, so a common choice is to fly through islands.

On the other hand, another view of transportation in Philippines should be highlighted. We did travel a lot using as much as possible the most popular means. Jeepney is one of them. It's an extended jeep - legacy of the world war II: jeeps were left behind and soon enlarged to fit much more people - with entry by the back of the vehicle, two long alongside seats and wide windows, coverable with tarps. Very common. We enter one jeepney, payed USD 0.50 for about 40 km, and bet there was room for about 12 passengers. When the driver stopped collecting people, there was 32 inside! Shrank? A lot! But it was so much fun! It isn't rare to make good friends when these things happen.

Tricicle: can "fit" twelve people and a couple of bags.

We were so lucky and met Infinity's Captain Clemens and his family in Cebu Island! And of course, we adventured a tricycle ride together, on the way to some springs!

This is a Jeepney. We couldn't count how many on this one.

We were among 32 people in this jeepney! And made good friends during the journey! 

Tricicles: we could count up to 12 people in (and on!) a tricicle in Cebu City.

Also very common are the tricycles. A seats/trunks/roof-baggage sidecar attached to a motorcycle, in general a 125 cc. Again, we estimated, at first glance, a 4 people load vehicle. After a while, it's not difficult to spot 12 ( T - W- E - L - V- E ) Philippians in (and on) a single tricycle. Maybe some bags too.

Although all this seem to be dangerous, specially when traffic rules are "honk written", during our 2 months stay we did't witness any accident. Majority of drivers are careful and do not rush. At the end, the "overpacking" scores positively to Philippines on the way to refrain greenhouse gas once people give up comfort in benefit of energy usage.

Tricycle ride with Rhian, Infinity's Captain Clemens and Sage's daughter, the girl who was born  in May, 2011, in the deck of Infinity! She is amazingly cleaver and healthy! 

Garbage is an issue. Disposables utensils and excessive packaging for small fractions are largely used for any purpose. Little of disposed plastic is recycled. Every kind of food come packed in plastic bags; plastic gloves on to eat as many don’t use cutlery, plastic sausage to serve drinking water, plastic bag to cover the plate, plastic straws for every drink, plastic, plastic and plastic... argh!. Although typhoons and floods are more frequent every year, authorities keep postponing climate discussions and people stay consumption-driven.


When snorkeling in Malapascua we noted lots of plastic, algae and crow-of-thorns outbreaks, as the natural enemy is over-harvested.

Crown of Thorns outbreak - natural enemies over-harvested

Crown of thorns eat corals twice their size a day, what drastically threats coral reefs eco-system. Micro-particles of plastic mix to the plankton affecting all the sea food chain. Dynamite fishing also destroys a lot of the sea life. 

Now we are on a ferry heading to Bohol, island of chocolate hills, rice terraces, pristine beaches and the tarsier - 10 cm tall, the smallest primate in the world. Gotta see...