Event: Stories of Antarctica, Leadership and Climate Change

Today is EarthDay! First celebrated 39 years ago, it marks the birth of the modern environmentalist movement... learn more at www.earthday.net/earthday2009

As part of the celebrations, my "action" today is to start sharing my experience in Antarctica. I'll also write some reflections down on my blog (meanwhile you can check the Official Expedition Website) and look for photos, videos and blog posts, where I was one of the official bloggers).

If you are in São Paulo, try to join us at The Hub, located at Rua Bela Cintra 409 (see map) at 19h.


Thomas Ufer e Henrique Vedana foram escolhidos entre jovens do mundo inteiro para participar de uma expedição para a Antarctica (http://expedition-antarctic-2009.com), em Março/Abril de 2009, com a intenção de ver os efeitos das mudanças climáticas acontecendo no continente mais remoto e mais intacto do planeta, e conectar-se com lideranças jovens e cientistas de ponta, buscando entender a crise onde estamos e quais as perspectivas, o que a gente pode e deve fazer.

Mostraremos algumas fotos, o filme da expedição e contaremos algumas histórias... venha pra bater-papo, fazer perguntas e refletir com conosco!

Inspiration is Magical

Inspiration is like picking up one of those blinky things in a video game that makes you invincible for awhile. You can do anything, go anywhere, and you don’t have to worry about it.

Those blinky things exist in real life too. It may be a picture, or some words, or a sound, or a idea, or a mistake, or a moment. Whatever it is, pick it up and run with it. Run with it like you stole it.

You can’t bottle up inspiration. You can’t put it in a ziplock, toss it in the freezer, and fish it out later. It’s instantly perishable if you don’t eat it while it’s fresh.

On Friday I was inspired by a few things. I swore off the weekend and dove into it. And I got about 2 weeks of work done in 24 hours. Inspiration is a time machine.

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.

PS: I wish I had written these words. I wish I had done 2 weeks of work over the last 24 hours this weekend. The original was written by Jason from 37signals.

Forget Travel Buddies - Hit the Road Alone

This article is fantastic. I decided to copy (steal) it and publish it here. I wish I had written this. It's so true!! Well, enjoy it... the bold parts are mine. My "rite of passage" was back in 1998, 11 years ago, during a 7 weeks trip into Bolivia and Peru together with 2 friends from college. My life has never been the same since then.

Myself traveling in China, alone, April 2008

You don’t need anyone to hold your hand.

Written by RoadJunky, published at Road Junky Travel, yesterday.

One of the great things about the Internet is that it’s brought travelers together; in forums and on social networks, backpackers and vagabonds can share experiences and tips, discover new places and ask questions about destinations they’ve yet to hit.

But in the end, the only real travel is done alone.

When you head out on the road by yourself there’s no longer anyone around to define you, no one who knows your personal history, no one who knows where you’ve been and where you’re going. You’re forced into the Now.

And unless you make the mistake of carrying a GPS phone and check into internet cafes every ten minutes to report back to friend and family, you digest your experiences by yourself. There’s no one to hold your hand when you get scared, no one’s shoulder to cry on when things go wrong. There’s no childhood buddy to help you decipher the train timetables and no one to introduce you to the cool bunch of travelers sitting at the other end of the hostel.

Travel should be a rite of passage, a sacred journey, a vision quest. It’s about leaving behind the cloying emotional support system of family and friends and learning to stand on your own two feet. Then, later on, you’ll be able to support others in their time of need.

Although we do our best to deny it, filling all our quiet moments with Messenger updates and shuffled tracks on the Ipod, life itself is actually pretty scary. It’s a blank slate for you to make what you will of it and no where is that more true than when you travel. You could get lost or injured, you might get married or change religion. You might even die: the greatest journey of all and one which is almost certainly a solo trip.

You can only find yourself on your own terms and that’s why just about everyone should leave home and head out on the road for a year. Your prejudices and values will be challenged, you’ll have to get by on your wits and find out who you really are.

Compare such a voyage of self-discovery with the gaggles of school leavers who head off i groups of 5, all armed with Eurorail cards and guidebooks, collectively bumbling their way from train station to hostel to local bar and back again. Each time something out of the ordinary happens they shrink back into the safety of the herd and they carry with them a mini-world from home with them as they go. Why did they bother leaving in the first place?

When you travel alone you’ll meet more people and move at your own pace. Sure, you’ll team up from time to time with other travelers and find yourself sharing a train carriage with an Israeli, a Finn and a couple of locals. Spontaneity and variety are what it’s all about.

Hitting the road alone you’ll grow in ways you never imagined. You’ll experience stuff that your friends and family will never be able to understand.

And nor should they. It’s your trip and it’s entirely up to you to make sense of it.

The Dash (a poem)

The Dash (Copyright Linda Ellis 1996)

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning... to the end.
He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth.....

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?

An inspiring story

Last December I traveled around Europe with couchsurfing, and I stayed at Bartek's flat in Krakow, as I wrote earlier in my blog. Bartek wrote a welcome note for all couchsurfers, recommending to check one book on his bookshelf. And I did.

The book was called "Led by Destiny" and wrote by Kinga Freespirit, based on her 5-years journey hitchhiking around the world with Chopin, the love of her life, from 1998 to 2003. The book is a precious collection of stories from the road and from all the places they visited and people they met. They flew from Poland to New York and arrived with $600 in their pockets. That's it!

Their motto: "Every dream is given to us with the power to make it come true."

Not satisfied with the trip, there was one continent missing, so in 2006 she left, this time alone, hitchhiking towards Africa. Months later she passed away, from Malaria. As Chopin wrote in her website: "Kinga lived her life to the fullest and passed away at the peak of fulfilling her dreams, in the happiest time of her life. She left us with the great power of inspiration to live a meaningful life and cherish each of its precious moments. Kinga passed away peacefully, strong and well prepared for her next and greatest journey... and such readiness I wish us all from the bottom of my heart."

As the Tibetan saying goes:
"You never know what will come first: a new day or the next life."
I wanted to share this story, because it's just so powerful. At least for me. I rather live my own life (as more difficult it might be sometimes) than live other people's expectations. Hope you like it too...

Ilha das Flores (best documentary/short film ever)

For years and years I've been searching for the subtitles!! Subtitles that would enable me to share with the world this piece of art. Ilha das Flores ("Isle of Flowers") is a Brazilian short film/documentary by Jorge Furtado, shot in 1989 in my hometown Porto Alegre.

The film got many awards over the years. According to IMdB votes, it's the best Brazilian short movie and best Brazilian documentary ever made, and it's the global #15 and #11 (respectively). According to wikipedia, "chosen by European critics as one of the 100 most important short films of the century".

So, today I finally found them - the subtitles :D

Enough said, just enjoy 13min of your time and watch it. And maybe you want to watch it again. And again. Reflect about it. I also would really invite you to post your comments and thoughts here...

Ilha das Flores-sub Eng
Uploaded by Simud

As the closing lines of the movie say (quoting Cecilia Meirelles):

"Free" is the state of those who enjoy freedom.
"Fredom" is a word that feeds the dream of humanity;
that no one can explain, bu everyone understands.

PS: a lot has changed in the Isle of Flowers over the last 30 years. Still, this is the reality of most of our population in the planet today.

Powerpoint

I got this message from a friend. It reminded of so many PPTs that I have seen (and have made myself). In a simple way, this is so true, the naked truth. Keep your eyes closed if you prefer, and enjoy your Christmas shopping! :P

Originally published here.

Click here to read Google's translation...


Vou fazer um slideshow para você.
Está preparado? É comum, você já viu essas imagens antes.
Quem sabe até já se acostumou com elas.
Começa com aquelas crianças famintas da África.
Aquelas com os ossos visíveis por baixo da pele.
Aquelas com moscas nos olhos.
Os slides se sucedem.
Êxodos de populações inteiras.
Gente faminta.
Gente pobre.
Gente sem futuro.
Durante décadas, vimos essas imagens.
No Discovery Channel, na National Geographic, nos concursos de foto.
Algumas viraram até objetos de arte, em livros de fotógrafos renomados.
São imagens de miséria que comovem.
São imagens que criam plataformas de governo.
Criam ONGs.
Criam entidades.
Criam movimentos sociais.
A miséria pelo mundo, seja em Uganda ou no Ceará, na Índia ou em
Bogotá sensibiliza.
Ano após ano, discutiu-se o que fazer.
Anos de pressão para sensibilizar uma infinidade de líderes que se
sucederam nas nações mais poderosas do planeta.
Dizem que 40 bilhões de dólares seriam necessários para resolver o
problema da fome no mundo.
Resolver, capicce?
Extinguir.
Não haveria mais nenhum menininho terrivelmente magro e sem futuro, em
nenhum canto do planeta.
Não sei como calcularam este número.
Mas digamos que esteja subestimado.
Digamos que seja o dobro.
Ou o triplo.
Com 120 bilhões o mundo seria um lugar mais justo.
Não houve passeata, discurso político ou filosófico ou foto que sensibilizasse.
Não houve documentário, ong, lobby ou pressão que resolvesse.
Mas em uma semana, os mesmos líderes, as mesmas potências, tiraram da cartola 2.2 trilhões de dólares (700 bi nos EUA, 1.5 tri na Europa) para salvar da fome quem já estava de barriga cheia.

Perceptions of time...

I watched a video a few days ago and I got totally blown-away. First of all the creativity, the imagination that allowed someone to come up with such a simple concept. Second, at the end, an amount of thoughts came to my mind and today I can't look at stones with the same way I used to!

First watch it yourself, it's the German animation video "Das Rad" (The Wheel), from 2002. It's only 8 minutes long:

What is my perspective of time? Is it real? What is time afterall? When we think a fly has a lifespan of 24-48 hours, who does't think "what a stupid short life!". How stupid short life is OURS, compared to our brothers from the movie... For sure short, too short to think it's important at all, but not stupid, to think it's not relevant. It's all we have!

Today as I get closer to my thirties, I realize that instead of thinking of time I rather think of timing, instead of hours, moments, instead of days, experiences... and stop worrying too much with the moss in my head! :P

CARPE DIEM :D

Hiking mountains in China...

I love Nature. In special mountains. Irony or not, I've lived for the last 2.5 years in Netherlands and Denmark... can you get more flat than that?? ;-)

As I'm in China, I had to explore life outside those 15 million cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Last week I visited Tai Shan, considered one of the best National Parks in China and one of the 5 holy mountains for Taoists and Buddhists. It's easily accessible by train, between Beijing and Shanghai.

I knew that this mountain, as many others, used to be routes for pilgrims for over 3,000 years, and the stair-steps reach all the way to the top. I was also expecting to find "some" visitors, although late March is still low season and a Friday is still working day...

What I found most surprising was the amount of Chinese visitors. The place was full of locals visiting and hiking the mountain. I thought I would be sort of alone and able to enjoy some silence. Ahah! Welcome to National Parks in China.. or should I say "Amusement Parks"? People seemed to enjoy the place almost as much as people enjoy Disneyland, shouting everywhere, gift-shops and people selling all kind of crap literally every 300 meters all the way to the top. Once you reach the summit, you find a little village full of restaurants, more shops, some hotels, cable car and buses to take you down. I must say it was a bit frustrating.

Even though, a little bit of exploration allowed me to find a little path where no tourists found interesting, and I found myself completely alone in the other side of the mountain (which also meant no sounds from humans at all). It was a long 1-hour walk around and back to the croud. I felt satisfied in my own pilgrimage.

I don't want to sound negative or complaining about the tourists, it's just a different perspective on being around Nature. For example, the whole path was surrounded by a dozen temples, where travelers would leave locks, money, candles and incenses for their gods. These locations were absolutely silent, calm, and peaceful, a perfect short stop while walking the way up. I loved it! That also makes me think about what people respect and why...

I met only 1 laowai (foreigner) during the whole day. Ed is from UK and he joined me on the way down, where we searched for some adventure, through the West Route. Basically no path indication, among the trees and crossing small roads, no people there, except a few local farmers...

In the end, my legs were completely destroyed, they felt like jelly... and I reeeeally enjoy the hard-sleeper on the way back to Shanghai!

Endless Sea (Mar sem Fim)

Today I found on YouTube a video-clip of one of my favourite quotes, and it translates amazingly well what I feel today being in China for almost one month and a half... hope you enjoy it and feel inspired :D


In Portuguese:

"... Hoje entendo bem meu pai. Um homem precisa viajar. Por sua conta, não por meio de histórias, imagens, livros ou tv. Precisa viajar por si, com seus olhos e pés, para entender o que é seu. Para um dia plantar as suas próprias árvores e dar-lhes valor. Conhecer o frio para desfrutar do calor. E o oposto. Sentir a distância e o desabrigo para estar bem sob o próprio teto. Um homem precisa viajar para lugares que não conhece para quebrar essa arrogância que nos faz ver o mundo como o imaginamos, e não simplesmente como é ou pode ser; que nos faz professores e doutores do que não vimos, quando deveríamos ser alunos, e simplesmente ir ver". (do livro Mar sem fim, de Amyr Klink)


In English:

"Today I undertand well my father. A man needs to travel. By himself, not through stories, images, books or TV. He needs to travel on his own, with his eyes and feet, to understand what is his own. So that one day he plants his own trees and treasure them. He needs to get to know the cold in order to enjoy the warmth. And the oposite. Feel the distance and the lack of protection in order to feel good under his own roof. A man needs to travel to places he does not know to brake this arrogance that make us see the world as we imagine it, instead of simply as it is or can be; that make us professors and doctors of what we haven't seen, when we should be students, and simply go and see it."

(excerpt from the book Endless Sea (available on Amazon.com), written by Brazilian adventurer Amyr Klink)

Thanks Anita Roddick!

Last week Dame Anita Roddick passed away. She was the founder of The Body Shop almost 30 years ago, and a great inspiration for me. She still is and will continue to be...

A beautiful article was published on ODE Magazine today:
One Hell of a Woman and her Mosquito


On BBC News...