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Diogo Silva Local Group Minho

EL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO – A JOURNEY TO YOURSELF

My name is Diogo Silva, I am from Portugal and in September 2019 I had one of the best experiences of my life.

history. In a conversation with my sister, she told me about

focus on their inner journey. the Caminos de Santiago. A walk of more than 100 km.

The Caminos de Santiago constitute a network of routes spread across the Old continent, adding up to 1500km, connecting many European countries with the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region. The final destination is an over 800-year-old Christian ourselves where we could eat, bathe and sleep

temple, where Santiago Maior (James the Great), one of Jesus’ disciples, was buried. We chose a part of the Camino Portugués.

It was 9th of September 2019 and our journey began in the North-most part of Portugal – in the town of Valença. In order to avoid the torridity of the Iberian summer, we got up at 6 am and moved motivations, but we were determined to do it and knew that it would leave something important within each one of us.

In the beginning, we were all full of energy, having lots of conversations and laughter, maintaining a constant pace. One of the first remarkable sights was the Valença fortress with its 400 years of

During our walk, the beautiful countryside was filling us with joy and each of us was starting to

After many kilometres, the exhaustion was starting to prevail and transforming into pain but we knew we had to push ourselves to the limit and keep walking.

Finally, the town of Redondela was just in front of us and it gave us a small burst of spirit and energy to reach the albergue – a shelter for pilgrims as on. We were 7 people and all of us had various

for a low price. We were eager to get in bed and get a good rest. As a team we achieved the first objective of 30 km in more than 7 hours. There was plenty ahead.

The fight against the Iberian summer and ourselves continued in the following days as we were getting up at the crack of dawn which was my favourite part of the day. We were going further along the paths through the woods. The connection with

nature was amazing, especially the feeling of isolation in the early hours of the day with the cool breeze and mystic silence.

The third day ended at noon with a good longawaited meal in the albergue in Caldas de Reis.

The next day we decided to devote time admiring the beauty of the town and the hospitality of the locals who offered us fruit and water. After the sightseeing of Caldas de Reis, we continued our journey with an accelerated but constant pace as we wanted to numb the accumulated fatigue cathedral. We got there and I felt it was worth all

from the previous days. We had gradually become accustomed to the exhaustion in such a way that it had become almost like another item hanging from our backpacks.

As we were approaching the end of our route for the day, we were surprised by the fact the town we would stay in had thermal springs. After having lunch in a hurry, we headed to the local thermal baths and had some great enjoyment of taking off the accumulated tiredness. We lost track of time. The image of Santiago was dreamy appearing in my mind, the much-desired destination was so close.

The last day was a real emotional rollercoaster – many thoughts were going through my mind, and with a great effort I was managing to close many This inner fight was noticeable in my other friends too. All of the pilgrims were finding the answers they needed.

As the final drops of our energy were leaving us, when the pain was no longer bearable, we saw the doors I had left open in my life.

the effort, I finally realized the reason for having taken this journey. What mattered was not the destination, it was not the cathedral itself standing before us, but all the paths we have passed, everything we went through to be there. Every small step led us there.

I realized at that moment looking at the cathedral that I had to take this for life. All that I had passed was the perfect metaphor I had to understand.

In the end, what really matters is not the destination, but the trip. It is not the moments themselves, but what we feel while we live those moments.

Pain, sadness, discouragement can always be overcome if we cross the line, always demanding more from ourselves, it is possible to take another step.

We embraced as a group that we always had been and ended one of the best experiences of our life.

NEW SECTION

Sonja Borota Local Group Novi Sad

ECOLOGY TODAY - INNOVATIONS OF

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

“Climate change is the environmental challenge of this generation and it is imperative that we act before it’s too late!”

World Statistics: Innovations:

During the Coronavirus pandemic, global deforestation accelerated for 77% compared to the average results from 2017 -2019, according to the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory at University of Maryland. Each year, New York City landfills around 100 000 tons of clothing, while just a small number of old clothes is being used to produce new garments. An average of 26,4 million people all around the world have been forced to move out from their homes because of floods, earthquakes, droughts or windstorms since 2008. This is equivalent to one person being displaced every second; In August this year, California Death Valley experienced maybe one of the highest temperatures ever recorded on our planet. It reached 54,4 degrees Celsius. Wasting food causes an economical damage of 2,3 trillion Euros in one year; Around 30 percent of the water used worldwide is used for the production of animal products. This is extremely high, because only 3 percent of global water is considered to be a drinking water, but around 2.6 percent is inaccessible to humans. Lucy Hughes - MarinaTex material: British designer Lucy Hughes won the international James Dyson Award for MarinaTex material. What is Marina Tex? MarinaTex is bioplastic made from red algae and fish skin waste designed to serve as a plastic alternative for many different applications, from bags to single-use packaging. It is translucent and stronger than low-density polyethylene (LDPE, commonly used in production of everyday items), but at the same time it is compostable and can easily degrade into a soil under 6 weeks. It is created not to do any harm to the environment or humans.

Lightyear One car: Lightyear One is a prototype solar car founded by a group of former students from University of Eindhoven who won the World Solar Challenge race with their solar cars. The cars are electric vehicles made of lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber, covered in solar panels that can charge the car’s battery with up to 70 km of range per day. Lightyear claims their solar cells are 3 times more energy-efficient than traditional models on the market. According to their plans, vehicles could be delivered to their owners starting 2021.

Mr. Trash Wheel: Mr. Trash Wheel is a sustainably powered trash interceptor invented in Baltimore, Maryland. This floating device sucks up plastic from polluted harbours, and since 2014 it has collected between 1.200 and 3.300 tons of trash. The most Mr. Trash Wheel has ever collected in one day is around 17 kilograms of trash. What is interesting also is that on a sunny day it can produce 2,500 watts of electricity. Europe hits the record - new installed power of

PETase - Enzyme that breaks down plastics in hours Around 1 m of plastic bottles are sold each minute around the globe, with just 14% being recycled. It is definitely a fact to be concerned about.The good news though is, that maybe we have found a solution to the global plastic pollution crisis. Scientists have created a new bacterial enzyme - PETase that is able to break down plastic polymer PET to simple chemical elements in hours. What is even better is that leftover material is good to be recycled into high-quality new plastics.

Waterproof Stone Paper: From rock to paper to rock again. Trust me, this is evolution! If someone tells you to use the stone paper instead of a traditional one, you would probably feel as one of the Flintstones family, but this material has some attractive characteristics, as it does not use trees, water, chlorine, petroleum, so take some time to consider it. Companies using stone paper claim it is a better alternative, durable, oil resistant, waterproof with the ink writing just as well as the normal paper. And definitely, it brings more environmental benefits. If you decide to give it a try, do not forget it still has a small amount of HDPE (type 2 plastic) mixed together with the as long as everyone in the recycling process is knowledgeable of that.

Did You Know?

Madrid is building a ‘clean air factory’! Madrid City Council is planning to build the 74 km long forest belt in order to improve the poor air quality of the city and reduce as much as possible the CO2 emissions, so the temperatures get lower and at the same time improve citizens life during hot summers.

The term “Carbon Footprint” Have you ever wondered where it came from? Believe it or not, it was coined by the world’s 6th largest polluter and represented as the most deceptive PR strategy at the time making companies benefit from polluting.

calcium carbonate, that makes it recyclable, offshore windparks In 2019, European countries have installed a record amount of offshore wind capacity. The offshore wind installations in European waters got improved compared to the results from 2018, with the amount of over 3.6 gigawatts (GW). The United Kingdom leads with almost half of the capacity (1,8 GW), followed by Germany (1,1 GW) and Denmark. It is expected for the capacity to grow 6 times more by 2030.

Protecting nature might create around 400 million jobs One of the post COVID-19 solutions would be investing in nature positive solutions by many industries worldwide. Not only would it boost the country’s economy, but it would reduce the risk, improve the unemployment, enhance their reputation, add value to the company’s portfolio and bring up to the general sustainability of industries.

Circular Economy: The circular economy is a model of production use resources that cannot be replaced and that

and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. (Definition by European Parliament)

Greenwashing: Behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is. (Definition by Cambridge Dictionary)

Someone’s carbon footprint is a measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide that their activities produce. (Definition by Cambridge Dictionary)

Greenhouse gasses: Gasses that cause the greenhouse effect, especially carbon dioxide; one of the several gases, which prevents heat from the earth escaping into space, causing the greenhouse effect. (Definition by Cambridge Dictionary)

Sustainability: The quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore being able to continue for a long time; the idea that goods and services should be produced in ways that do not

Carbon-footprint: do not damage the environment. (Definition by Cambridge Dictionary)

1. Tips/Hacks

Choose reusables (bags, bottles): saves money, zero waste;

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Say no to paper receipts (unless you really need it): it’s not recyclable, avoids paper waste, saves water; Go thrift shopping: will save you money, saves water, fights fast fashion, it is sustainable and surprises you every time; Put ‘no junk mail’ on your mailbox: you will avoid a lot of paper waste; Buy food without any packaging: you are going zero waste and looks nice in your kitchen; Invest in a tea strainer, instead of buying tea bags: compostable, tastes better and you are avoiding ingesting microplastics; Switch from non reusable to rechargeable batteries.