The reason I am optimistic

There have been a lot of posts here recently talking about problems in our world, like sexism, hunger or climate change. And, while it is important to be aware of these problems and to try to find solutions, I think it’s also important to look at the good things in the world once in a while ; if only to not lose hope in humanity.

            One of those is space exploration. Think about it : we have the capacity to leave our planet. This may sound trivial, but when you reflect on it, it is huge. We can send probes to any corner of the solar system, we can land people on the moon (which is 384 402 km away, almost 10 times the circumference of Earth), and we have even sent objects beyond the Kuiper belt. We are no longer planetbound, and the potential for scientific and cultural advancement is immense. And it also shows how humans can come together to achieve great things and push back limits, with structures such as the ISS or agencies like the ESA.

            In our lifetimes, we will probably see things such as the first human born in space or the first step on Mars. This will open new perspectives : a colony on the red planet would let us experiment with new forms of society and government without the limits present on Earth, experiments which may afterwards have a beneficial impact on our own society. Mining Helium 3 on the Moon could lead to a breakthrough in fusion energy, allowing us to have large amounts of dangerless, non-polluting energy.

            Of course, the changes these events would imply might be scary, but I am confident in humanity’s ability to make them work. After all, our society could have been destroyed countless times in the last century alone, but we are still here. And as such, we can all do our part to help a better future come about.

Florent.

We need to change before the climate does

 

Our earth, home to more than 7 billion people, is now suffering from human activity and its excessiveness.  Pollution of air, water, soil. Greenhouse gases. Climate change. The 6th continent of plastic. All these catastrophes are due to humans. The situation is getting worse and worse. According to the UNO annual environmental report of  2018, the world population only has until 2020 to react and act before the consequences of human activity become irreversible.

The truth is, much damage has been done and for some no solutions have been found yet; but for some others there are still solutions that we need to implement globally. And most importantly, we all need to work on to avoid worsening the situation of the planet.

First of all, awareness must be spread by everyone; people need to understand the depth of the situation. A general awareness is necessary to move forward. Then eventually individuals can start to act on their own. There are a lot of measures that can make a difference. Some simple, others which require going out of one’s comfort zone.

To begin with, we need to reduce our waste and especially single-use plastic which has terrible effects on the ocean, sea life and the earth in general. It might be hard to change habits but it’s necessary. We might also want to reconsider our shopping list and be more careful of the origin of the products we buy. Buying local is always better, for the economy and for the earth.

Here is the mantra of zero waste:

 

We also need to reduce drastically our meat consumption because of the impact it has on climate change. A kilo of meat takes 15,5 L of water to produce, which is an alarming number. The breeding of cattle causes a high rate of greenhouse gases and is also causing deforestation because the farmers need arable land to grow crops to feed the animals.

We also must pay close attention to our water consumption or else there won’t be enough fresh water for humanity, animals and nature in a few decades.

Little steps are encouraged in ecology because it is by starting with them that we can move forward and really make a difference. Don’t go vegan, just eat less meat. Don’t stop shopping for clothes, just buy from more sustainable brands or thrift shops. Don’t live a zero waste lifestyle, just cut out the plastic of your food packaging. And after a reasonable amount of time, you can start to implement more radical measures. It can be at your own pace but always remember that the earth is dying and we need to act.

(In such a limited format I can’t really explain more, but here is a short article from the Guardian that is really interesting to understand the stakes of ecology in our era if you want to know more)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/vegetarianism-save-planet-environment

You can also understand your impact on earth by doing a footprint test: https://www.wwf.ch/fr/vie-durable/calculateur-d-empreinte-ecologique

Romane Muller.

How to enjoy ourselves while struggling against discrimination

One of the things that drives me completely mad is discrimination. Injustice and discrimination are unbearable to me and make me incredibly furious. According to the Oxford Dictionary, sexism is defined as “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” This, in other terms, means that women (especially) are generally seen as inferior to men. Of course both genders are affected by sexism and suffer from stereotypes, but in my opinion (and in fact, really), women are the ones that endure the most discrimination. I could list a series of proportions and numbers that support my point, but I’m starting to get tired of repeating myself and hearing the same horrific statistics over and over again without witnessing a bit of real change in attitudes.

Sexism is considered by a lot of people (by men as well as by women) as a myth, and feminists are often described as hysterics that fight for inexistent problems. I want this opinion to change, which is why I really advise you to look up a channel on YouTube called “Studio 4” and to watch the episodes of the series named “Martin, sexe faible”. In these short episodes, the world is reversed and women exchange roles with men. This perspective shines a light on everyday life details that don’t bother anyone but that look extremely shocking when the genders are exchanged. This series made me realize in a very funny way how unequal society still is, and how bad I wanted it to change. I sincerely hope that it will be the same for you.

Léa

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCWlLCe8vKtX-BfOQxZbd7kV_9JVVJZdd

Why dance class is just as important as maths class

I was reading different articles from TEDtalks when I read this title which aroused my curiosity as it reminded me of our previous spider-web discussion on failure at school.

Sir Ken Robinson, who works with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations,

stated in You, Your Child and School : Navigate Your Way to the Best Education, one of his latest book : « Dance can help restore joy and stability in troubled lives and ease the tensions in school disrupted by violence and bullying. »

What I read is just an extract from this book, praising the positive impact of a specific dance program that was implemented in some schools in the USA.

One specific case that can be seen in the article is the one of a young female student that was completely transformed by going through this program. Indeed she changed her attitude towards dance itself and her whole behaviour in school or at home.

It has been observed that dancing together definitely improves the abilities to cooperate and collaborate as well as it encouraging the notion of acceptance and respect among the children.

For some schools that had followed this program it was also discovered that reading skills or even grades in maths had been improved, showing that both art and physical activity might have a real positive impact on memory, concentration and classroom behaviour.

Do you think that school should focus more on dance or another form of art/physical ed in order to improve the students’ way of learning and thinking ?

You can click on the link below to have a broader view on the question and access the full article.

https://ideas.ted.com/why-dance-is-just-as-important-as-math-in-school/

Enjoy !

Flora

Something has to be done...

I wanted to use this weekly blogpost to talk about a paradoxical issue. Indeed, nowadays more than 842 million people are starving to death. Many families around the world have nothing to eat and go most of the time to bed (if they have one) hungry. Solving this problem should be the priority of every country but unfortunately, as you can imagine, it is far from being the case. It sometimes gets on my nerves to see that in the media, journalists are most of the time granting more importance to random things such as the Hallydays’ inheritance instead of talking about burning issues and launching awareness campaigns to try to help the people in need… But there is even worse than that. In fact, we are living in a dangerous society in which we are pushed to buy more and more. Therefore while some people have no food nor clean and safe water to drink, others are wasting a huge amount of still edible food and some are overweight or suffering from obesity. How can one explain this huge gap? Personally I can’t.

Solving the hunger problem is a huge challenge but everyone can, should, must contribute for we, you have the lives of those people in your hands…

M’llal-Boulaguigue Yasmine.

A whole new type of theatre

Bored of learning lines? Of repeating over and over again the same sentences and gestures under the yelling of an unconvinced stage director? Of having all your new ideas rejected because they would “alter” the idea people have of a play? Let me introduce you to improvisation theatre. 

Improv is a type of theatre in which a whole show is performed without any script. To make it simple, comedians go on stage without knowing anything about the stories they are going to tell, and the turns events can take. Nowadays the most common representations of theatrical improvisation are matches in which two teams of six improvisers play with/against each other to earn the audience’s vote. Matches can go from casual and friendly when happening between two small teams to very serious and important during official tournaments -because there are national and international improv tournaments with professional players-. Of course the audience doesn’t see this serious aspect of a representation ; watching a match is always a lot of fun, and you’re right to feel privileged knowing that only you and the people in the room will ever get to see those exclusive scenes. Nevertheless, if you think Improv is completely free from rules, you are very mistaken! There are many of them, and the referee is always there to give you and your team a warning if you try and break them. But these rules are far from making you forget about good aspects of Improv. You can express and develop your imagination in total liberty, learn how to control your stress and of course develop acting skills, but you can also meet new people and become more confident, in yourself and in others. And believe me, there’s nothing more thrilling than going on stage without knowing anything about what you’ll be doing, and nothing more satisfying than having an audience react to something -from a lame joke to an emotional story- you came up with in the moment.

My intentions here are not to dis classical theatre by saying it is old and boring and that it’s annoying to obey a stage director’s orders (even though that’s the opinion I got from my own experience, I totally understand that some people enjoy it as much as I enjoy Improv), but to open views on another way of seeing acting. In the end, I would highly encourage you to go and try Improv, or to just sit comfortably in your spectator seat, prepare your voting cards, and enjoy a nice show…

Solène