As I sit here in my air conditioned living room (I will
never take this for granted again) with my omelet and home fries breakfast
(Variety is key!), I’m looking back through the 800 plus photos I took over the
past four week. I am trying to show and explain everything to my parents using
these photos but sometimes you just had to be there.
As the trip began from when we landed in São Paulo, I was
feeling very apprehensive to be in a completely new country with a language I
had little to no education in. However, from the start we had two amazing
guides with us, Angela and Louisa that led us on our four week adventures in
Brazil!
One of the first few
things I noticed about São Paulo was the attentiveness to being green. As a
whole there were many little things I noticed throughout the trip that showed
me ways that the U.S. can start to be greener too! All through the city there
are recycling bins. Not any ordinary bins though that the United States only
sometimes has around cities. There were bins that were labeled with every
different type of recycling: plastic, glass, metal, and paper. These bins are
everywhere when traveling around São Paulo and give convenience to the idea of
recycling and encourage the residents of the city to recycle because it’s everywhere!
It’s just such a small thing that can make such a difference!
Another cool way that
São Paulo is greener than the United States is the amount of plants they have
around the city! They use plants as a decoration on buildings and hanging from
buildings! I saw many stores that had small forest areas on the roofs of their
buildings. There were also hanging decorations that were small gardens that
decorate the sides of buildings! It looks very pretty and helps to lower carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere! This is another simple yet effective way to make a
difference.
Some bigger and more important ways that Brazil is heading
toward making it a greener country is using renewable energy. Having a class on
renewable energy while we were in Brazil and then getting to see these
technologies up close and personal at the same time really helps to reinforce
everything we were learning. A trip to a solar plant, hydroelectric plant, and landfill
all showed me and I’m sure the other students as well, that these technologies
aren't something of the future anymore. These sources of renewable energy are
the technologies of now and we need to learn about them, understand them, and
hopefully someday be able to improve them.
Our first trip was to the Tanquinho Solar Power Plant. Tanquinho Solar Plant was
built to be an experimental power plant using two types of solar panels and two
types of mounting systems. They will also be implementing windmills into which
will help create power along with the solar panels. The solar panels are
already in place and were able to go see them in person but the windmills have
not been built or put up yet. Because the windmills were not up yet our trip
was focused on the two different types of solar panels they were using, amorphous
crystalline silicon and poly crystalline silicon. The poly crystalline silicon
panels were more efficient yet they were also more expensive. While learning
about renewable energy on this trip this idea seemed to be common. The better
and more efficient way of getting energy is usually the more expensive one. With
this company they were doing the research to find out if the efficiency makes
up for the cost with these two types of solar plants so that São Paulo will
have a direction to take with solar energy. I personally think solar energy is
a good option for the future of renewable energy because for all purposes the
sun will never run out! However everything I have learned about it and all of
the research that I have done on it tells me that the technology needs to
improve drastically before it can be a practical solution for our energy
problems. Though solar panels are getting better they still do not have the
efficiency they need to have nor are they cheap enough to make up for their
lack of efficiency. They are also very impractical in areas with little
sunlight. Though I think they are a part of the solution for the future of
energy I’m not convinced it’ll be a big part of the solution.
The
next place we went to was the company Bosch. They gave us a tour and taught us
about the flex engines they produce for cars. Brazil is currently producing
over 80% of their new cars with flex engines! Brazil has put a lot of stock
into flex engines and the use of ethanol which the United States has not done. 60%
of people in the U.S. who have flex engines in their cars don’t even know they
do! This technology is being used in the U.S. but it’s not being publicized or
advertised at all! In Brazil I would see a price for ethanol at every gas
station we passed by while in the United States I have never seen that! This is
because ethanol is such a big market for Brazil and even more specifically São
Paulo. They have enough land to use sugar cane for food and for fuel (Milton
Flavio taught us that!). The United States does not have enough corn nor is
corn efficient enough to use for us to be mass producing ethanol! If we could
find a new way to make ethanol, a new crop or a better way using corn then
maybe this would be a more feasible option. If anything it’s a way to start a
transition from just gasoline to using a greener fuel and hopefully a cheaper
fuel!
The next place we went to
was the Henry Borden Hydroelectric Plant. Hydroelectric energy seems like one
of the best options we have as a nation but also a worldwide answer that could
help. It’s a relatively efficient source compared to other forms of renewable
energy and has less drawbacks. Though there are issues such as polluting other
river ways, destroying wildlife, and misplacing indigenous tribes and entire
communities, I think all of these problems could be fixed or solved. Right now
the focus should be on improving the current hydroelectric plants already in
place. If we can make them more efficient and to start producing more power
this could continue to be the number source of renewable energy.
The final site we went to
see was the landfill which uses trash to make energy. There were a few
landfills in the area, some of which had already been filled and were now being
turned into energy. The landfill we saw was not creating energy yet because of
money issues. This seemed to be the number one issue that I had with the waste
to energy idea. It takes years before there is enough to make energy from it
and there is a loss of money with this system. Because of this many people or
entrepreneurs would not want to start this business. Unless we can find a way
to make it more profitable and quicker to supply energy it won’t be a practical
option.
Besides
all that I learned about alternative energy I also learned so much about the
culture while I was there. We had many different field trips and speakers that
came to talk to us about Brazil and what it means to be a Brazilian. A major
part of Brazilian culture that you can see everywhere is their graffiti. It’s everywhere
and so well done! In the United States graffiti has a bad connotation and is
usually associated with gangs or ruffians. In Brazil it looks like true artwork
and really livens up the buildings in the city!
Another major part
of not just Brazil culture but most of South Americas’ culture is their love
and passion for soccer! You can find kids or adults everywhere playing in the
streets or the parks with a soccer ball. It’s not always games of soccer
either; sometimes they just fool around with a soccer ball and have fun. This
if different because soccer is not such a big sport in America and professional
soccer is hardly talked about at all. We had the opportunity to go to a soccer
game while there which was exciting and fun to watch. The fans are obviously
very dedicated to their teams and are very passionate about the players as
well. Things started to get a little heated when the home team began losing so
we left a little early. It’s interesting to compare Brazils love for soccer to
The United States love for football. The feeling at the game is very similar to
the feeling of being at an American football game and is the closest thing I
could find to their dedication to soccer!
Another
cool part of their culture we got to experience is their dancing. They have the
samba dance which takes a lot of hip and a lot of rhythm, both of which I don’t
really have! The samba class was so fun and silly because we we’re all just
trying to keep up with the teacher! I admit going to the samba bar was very intimidating
because everyone there looked like they belonged on Dancing with the Stars! It
was incredible to watch but scary to try and compete! I can’t believe how
naturally samba dancing seems to come to them! They’re all naturals and make me
look like a typical white girl trying to dance!
All
in all this was a trip that really opened my eyes to a culture I had never had
the opportunity to really see or learn about. It’s so similar yet so different
to the United States and finding out what those differences and similarities
are is all a part of the adventure. It’s fun and exciting to discover new
foods, new languages, and especially new cultural activities. Getting to
experience so much of their culture first hand is really what made this trip
special and something I’ll never forget.
