Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – I will do my best to refrain myself from using a white elephant idiom in the next couple of hundred words, though tough, I will try. Futebol, aka “soccer,” is the most popular sport in Brazil for good reasons: people love it and it is part [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The bicycle is the most efficient form of locomotion ever invented. Biking itself signifies a strong statement of solidarity for those wanting to reduce and eliminate our dependence on hydrocarbons derived from fossil fuels. For every bike you see on the road, you can most likely [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro State is trying to get a facelift by introducing a new law that penalizes people for throwing away litter on its streets. This seems like a fair law. After all, over R$16 million or US$8 million are spent every month sweeping the streets [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – It is common sense among anyone in tune with the environmental challenges of years to come that water will be more precious than gold. Brazil is endowed with 10 to 12 percent of the fresh water resources in the world, but is not managing such richness [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – They say that if we don’t know our own history we are not only bound to repeat our mistakes, but also that someone is going to tell it and write it for us. After attending a symposium with environmental historians speaking about United States and Brazilian [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Back in my January winter breaks at Hampshire College, I learned that the words “free-range chicken” could mean more than a cruelty free, certified organic meal in a world that slaughters fifty billion-plus chickens a year. Students that stayed on campus for extra classes and credits [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Sounds can be beautiful, like the bioacoustics sounds produced in the Amazon Rainforest where animals, emulating musicians, perform independent parts and make specific voices that complement each other forming a glorious symphony. Or the installation “Sounds of the Earth”, by Doug Aitken, where you can hear [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ash Wednesday has arrived but Carnival is not over. “Blocos”, or street parades, will continue until the end of next weekend. The “desfile das campeãs”, the official samba school winner’s parade, and the decompression post-parties are just a few of the events still taking place throughout [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – We use more rock today in the form of petroleum than we did during the Stone Age. The technological cavemen tactics used by the hydro-fracturing industry to borehole into the substrata and harvest one hundred million year-old dead animal and plant flatulence is really hard to [...]
Opinion, by Alfonso Stefanini RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – There is more to water than meets the eye, especially with the apparent abundance of water in some areas and the lack of it in others. Sometimes we just have to know where to look for, not necessarily with divining rods, but rather with good inquiry [...]
Recent Comments