Project2final
- 1. Bernardo Castiço nº4 Inês Martins nº15 Margarida Martins nº18 Patrícia Lima nº24 Tomás Martins nº30
- 2. In this presentation we are going to adress many subjects related with nature with the aim of sensitizing people that the nature is a really precios thing and if we don’t take care of it the consequences can be harmful. The main topics of our Project are the following: ● Top 5 ecological cities; ● The weirdest greenest houses; ● The organic life; ● Top 5 Eco-friendly burials; ● Enviromentaly friendly diets.
- 3. The word and the concept of ecology have gain a big importance and preponderance in the society. Since the different countries realized that the pollution problems are real, many cities around the world have adopted some preventive and control measures to avoid the bad function of our planet with the goal of leave it better after us. Eco- friendliness has become a huge part of cities’ lives, and it has started to make an impact on citizens’ lives as well.
- 4. We can’t talk about the top 5 of ecological cities without knowing the meaning of that. Cities are urban ecosystems, so like a natural ecosystem, they bring in energy and materials and process them through their components as they flow through the system. Urban ecosystems, unlike the natural ecosystems, include concentrations of people, cars and huge infrastructures. Once that, an Eco city looks to function in a sustainable way. These cities seek to function without producing more waste than it can assimilate or recycle for new uses or than nature can dilute and absorb harmlessly, and without being prejudicial to itself or neighboring ecosystems. The Eco cities want to give healthy abundance to its habitants without consuming renewable resources than it replaces.
- 5. In the first place of the list we have Copenhagen, the capital of one of the Vikings’ country, Denmark. It´s worth mentioning that Danish people were nominated as the happiest people in the whole world for many years and it’s obvious that the environment where these people are inserted has a logical ligation with the mood of the habitants. Copenhagen has everything to be consider the most ecological city in the world once the people who live there have a perfect relation with nature, enjoying the best of it instead of destroy it. The bicycles, the most popular way to travel, substitute the cars and a big part of the buses are electric. This fact contributes to reduce, on a large scale, the emission of CO2, making a huge step forwards greener Earth. Also many stores just sell ecological clothes and food.
- 6. The appearance of this city in this list is probably a surprise for the majority. Curitiba is outstandingly the most ecological city in America Latina. The city and its habitants can and should be proud of amazing 70% city’s waste recycled and one of the first ever recycling initiatives back in the 1980’s. This city has a bus system hailed as one of the world’s best that makes three-quarters of the habitants travel by public transports. There are also many municipal parks benefiting with the work of a flock of 30 lawn-trimming sheep. This city has a lot of green spaces with over 580 square feet of green space per habitant. Surveys say that around of 99% of Curitiba people are happy with their city.
- 7. San Francisco is actually consider one of the most ecological cities in North America and in the world. It was the first city in the United States to introduce the color recycle bins into homes and workplaces. San Francisco also banned the non-recyclable plastic bags and plastic kids’ toys laced with questionable chemicals. The fact that half of the habitants take public transports, walk or bike and over 17% of the city is devoted to parks and greens spaces are factors that influence positively the city. It´s worth it to say that once San Francisco is a place with many infrastructures, the city´s nomination as a leader in green building with more than 70 projects registered under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification system is a huge point that makes that city as one of the most ecological in the world.
- 8. Freiburg in Germany, can be consider a city with a green soul. The city has constructed itself as a sustainable city by actively committing to its target areas of energy, transportation, and to its three pillars for sustainable development: energy saving, new technology, and renewable energy sources. The big cause of the success of Freiburg was the citizens’ opposition in the 1970’s to local nuclear power that led to a campaign for sustainable solutions for the city. It has also a long embraced solar power and for example, a football stadium with its own solar power plant and the world’s first self-sustaining solar energy building. Freiburg has over 500 km of bicycle paths and more than 5000 bicycle parking spaces as well as car-free centers. It’s important to mention that 43% of borough area is woodland and that with all the measures that the government took the levels of CO2 in the air were reduced 25%.
- 9. Singapore is the greenest city in Asia. Asia is a continent very associated to pollution and the inclusion of Singapore in this list may surprise some people. However Singapore with a huge revolutionary public transport system has reduce the emission of CO2 and the number of water wastage in the city is pretty small compared with the numbers of the others cities in Asia. If Asian index of water waste is 380kg per person, then Singapore’s is only 307kg. To complete, the fact of every household in the city can recycle easily once the city distributed special containers for free, contributes to make Singapore a better city, especially in the ecological side.
- 10. In this topic, there are going to be shown a few weird houses that are ecologicaly friendly. These houses are one of kind, and in our opinion they’re a great option if you want to leave a small ecological footprint.
- 11. This small cottage was built by a couple who wanted to live an authentic and exciting life. With no experience, they built their home with natural resources and materials, which they found to be cheap, quick and fun to work with it. Their "hobbit house", which went viral, is made of timber, clay and stone from the land where it's located. That land provides the couple water, electricity, firewood and building materials, besides that, it supplies them with heir foods needs (such as vegetables and meat) and with mending materials like leather and wool. This low impact house was unfortunately reduced to its foundations on new years day 2018.
- 12. This wooden UFO-like home, is located in the middle of a 28-acre forest, and it's a three bedroom house designed to be eco-friendly and engaged with nature. This dome has large windows and solar panels and it can rotate 360 degrees using a remote, taking advantage of the sun in order to control indoor temperature and produce energy.
- 13. The Roundhouse is a wooden framed ecohome, with recycled window walls and a straw-insulated turf roof. The electricity is provided by solar power and wind turbins and this house possesses a compost toilet. It's a low impact roudhouse, that can go unnoticed in the middle of the nature.
- 14. These houses are eco-friendly buildings made of wood-pallets, which is a cheap, reusable and easy to recycle material. It also allows the creation of a unique and energy-efficient home. Besides this, these houses can can be designed to create something more permanent.
- 16. The majority of people think that living an organic life means eating organic food, that is, you buy foods that are free from pesticides and fertilizers and that’s it. But living an organic lifestyle means so much more, it means you need to do your best to live a healthy life while doing your part to take care of the environment.
- 17. There are many ways to live an organic life: ● You can use cleaning supplies that are made of organic products; ● You can start to build your own organic garden; ● You can reduce the amount of waste you produce; ● You also can find ways to travel around without leaving a huge carbon footprint. But living this lifestyle also means you need to spend a bit more money than you would otherwise, but think that as an investment.
- 18. If you need any help to turn your life into an organic life there are many sites you can go that can help you making it happen. For example: ● If you want healthy recipes, help with gardening or even help with taking care of your pets, click here ● If you want tips on how to shop healthy foods, cooking or planting, click here
- 19. In the topic of Eco-friendly activities, even in the event of a death you can spare the environment with eco-friendly burials that are less poluting then the regular boring one. In this part of the Project we will show you some of this options and talk about them. ● Coffin-less burial; ● Pinewood box; ● Aquamation; ● Shrouds; ● Rock Salt Urns.
- 20. This is the most natural option available. With this method the body is buried without a casket, allowing it to decompose faster, with less contamination and pollution to the soil and at a minimal price. The only expense is the plot to bury the body.
- 21. A pinewood box is very Eco-friendly. Its lightweight, and its way cheaper than a regular wooded coffin. It is also easily sourced. The downside is that it’s not very pleasant to look at.
- 22. Aquamation or water cremation, consists in placing the body on a stainless steel vessel filled with a solution of 95 percent water and 5 percent potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide. When this solution is heated to 177 degrees Celsius, the body dissolves in 20 hours. The remains are than given to the family. This method is five times more ecological than a natural cremation.
- 23. In this case, the body is wrapped in a large piece of fabric called shroud. It can be made of cotton, linen or silk and it can have different patterns, like plain colors or elaborated designs. Most shrouds are biodegradable, and therefore Eco- friendly.
- 24. Rock salt urns are made of, as the name suggests, rock salts. These urns can be used for both, an earth burial or to be used on water. After the body is cremated and placed on this urn, it can be disposed on the water, where it will dissolve over time, living no remains.
- 25. It’s very important to figure out a way to eat in a way to help the environment. Even if we think that our small decisions don’t make impact, they do. And they can have a huge importance in the environment and make the difference. There’s a several ways that we can help our environment and eat in a healthy way, for example, from the plastic bags we buy in the groceries to the water we drink and use. People think that if they eat in a green way they can’t eat the foods they love and appreciate. However there’s ways to do the both things. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” Gandhi
- 26. ● Strip down the products you use. Look for packaging that uses the least amount of materials that could fill up landfills. This is going to help the environment as there will be less amount of garbage. ● Try to purchase locally grown produce. It is also extremely environmentally friendly because it creates less transportation energy which means less gas is used for trucking. ● Eat a lot of what you buy. Try not to waste the food that you purchase. It’s good for the environment and your body. Over 40% of the food in the U.S. goes to waste and ends up in landfills. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, over 1.3 billion tons of food ends up in landfills every single year.
- 27. ● Make sure you are eating foods that are in season This will ultimately save you on transportation costs. Some of the foods that are in season in Florida in January are oranges. ● Try growing vegetables of your own By adding potted plants or a small plot of vegetables, you can have easy access to fresh food which ultimately saves you a trip to the grocery store which saves you gas as well.
- 28. ● If at all possible, eat foods raw Not all foods should be eaten raw, but many vegetables can be eaten raw which saves energy on gas from your stone. It is yet another environmentally friendly way to keep you and environment healthy. ● Just like with every other type of food, it is also best to go organic with your dairy products It is not only good for your body but it is good for the environment. ● Recycle your food You can turn a lot of your waste into resources. You can turn food scraps into compost for your garden. There are a lot of options that are available that you can use to go environment friendly.
- 29. In conclusion, there is no excuse now for you not to live organically. We hope you learned something about ecological options in different aspects of human life and use that informations in your favour. Cartoon made in Toondoo