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How many things do you have?

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The next question might be: And how many do you really need? Very few, I would say. The problem is that we do not think about their purpose or the joy about having less stuff. We are educated to work more, to get more money, to buy more stuff without ever thinking what make us happy. The Minimalists leave their message: love people and use things because the opposite never works !

Destructive and scary fish

Quando temos um artigo do MEC como este no jornal Publico, a falar de uma forma tão simples de um assunto tão flagrante, pouco fica por dizer sobre os hábitos de consumo de pescado em Portugal: Nos restaurantes e nas praças grassa um peixe igualmente destrutivo e assustador: a perca do Nilo. Apesar de ser um peixe de rio, criado em condições deploráveis, é bastante mais caro do que muitos peixes selvagens do mar. Há, por exemplo, a sarda, o sarrajão, a solha, a safia e o safio, mencionando apenas os mais apetitosos com nomes a começar por S. Porquê? Não faço ideia. Não compreendo como é que um país com tanto peixe do mar relativamente barato gosta de comer um peixe de rio que sai tão caro. Será preguiça? Será ignorância? Eu também não compreendo mas acredito que o preço baixo é um factor atractivo e sim, pode ser ignorância porque a que a maioria das pessoas não deve saber o que está a comprar. É difícil de compreender como é que a  Perca do Nilo , um peixe de água doce que vem

Mr Smashing Hit

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Destroying the deep sea to get metals for our throw-away mobile phones and other e-devices? Seas At Risk thinks it is better to step up efforts on the circular economy – make devices repairable, re-usable, recyclable. Use mineral resources more efficiently and keep them in the economy loop instead of wasting them. Buy less, plan more and live simple.
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I found my interest in the ocean with you You taught me all you knew of the deepest blue It's all within us you said to me As we walked on black sands And you melted as an iceberg in my hands There's an ocean in your eyes I can feel the tidal waves Crashing down Beneath the skin Reynir | André Barros

State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)

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Every year FAO publishes the world fisheries and aquaculture data submitted by member states. It is a useful source to analyse globally the state of the oceans and to understand trends regarding the seafood production and consumption. One of the key messages from the publication SOFIA 2016 was that  world aquaculture production continues to grow and now provides half of all fish for human consumption. Source: SOFIA 2016 Pauly and Zeller (2017) just published a paper criticising FAO for reporting inaccurate data and giving wrong impressions about the seafood production overview. Here there are some of the statements that the argue against: 1. the catch of world marine fisheries is not "stable" We do not believe that this perceived ‘stability’ in marine fisheries catches is the case. One reason is that the catch reconstructions that have been conducted through the Sea Around Us over the last decade for all countries of the world and which will be discussed fur

Keystone dialogues

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As in other business areas, a few companies in the world control almost the overall seafood market. These key companies, responsible for most of the seafood production, are committing to move further to sustainability with science support. If they do, others might follow. This is an interesting initiative since apart from the scientific background it is based in "dialogues", "communication" and "connecting" different parts of the issue. The seafood production is a business above all the resources or environmental constrains and if we want to improve sustainable measures, it is not enough to use only science based policies or consumers' advice. We need to connect the parts. The word “keystone actor” is an analogy with the “keystone species” concept in ecology, developed by Professor Robert T. Paine. A scientific paper published in 2015 by Österblom, Jouffray, Folke et al. illustrates that the largest companies in a given industry can opera

Feel the beat, try to move the feet and eat eet eet

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It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song You can't believe it You were always singing along It was so easy and the words so sweet You can't remember You try to feel the beat Eet, eet, eet, eet Eet, eet, eet, eet You spent half of your life trying to fall behind You're using your headphones to drown out your mind It was so easy, and the words so sweet You can't remember You try to move your feet Eet, eet, eet, eet Eet, eet, eet, eet Someone's deciding whether or not to steal He opens the window just to feel the chill He hears that outside a small boy just starting to cry 'Cause it's his turn but his brother won't let him try It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song You can't believe it You were always singing along It was so easy and the words so sweet You can't remember You try to move your feet It was so easy and the words so sweet You can't remember, you try to feel the beat