BPE - Paris I
Aug 18...
After sleeping during our flight from Dublin to Paris, we were ready for Paris! except for the fact that we couldnt speak a word in French... :p
We took the bus from the airport to Porte Malliot from we were supposed to take another bus to go to the camping site... oh yeah, even in Paris we camped! they say Paris is a city of parks so why not stay in one of its parks??? :D after we got down the bus we tried to ask the driver where to take the other bus, but he couldnt understand English... :s luckily there was a Venezuelan girl who translated for us, but still the bus driver didnt really now where we were going... I guess most people dont really think there is a camping site in the middle of Paris... but hey there is! After looking at the map at the bus station we kind of knew where we were, and so we finally got to the Camping du Bois de Boulogne and after waiting in line for quite a long time, we pitched our tent and we were ready for going out to make the most of the rest of the day...
After buying our first authentic Baguette at the minimarket of the camping site, we ate lunch in the park, and we started our long walk all across the park, toward the Arc de Triomphe and then all along the Champs-Élysées and all the way to the Louvre... long long way.... :p
On our way across the park we saw a wonderful, educating, and touching photo exposition called "Vivants" created to educate people about Biodiversity, its fragility, and the impact humans have on the planet and on themselves... it was organized by WWF and goodplanet.org (if you go to this page and then to "vivants" you can see all of the pictures and the messages that were written behind the pics (in French... :s)).
I really found it a wonderful way to make people think about the problems humanity and the planet are facing, while at the same time seeing how wonderful and amazing the planet we were given as home is...
(the pics below of the expo were not taken by me... I took them from the internet)
Here you have some of the messages written behind the pictures... (and a translation by me :s did you read the first sentence up there about my french?? :p but hey it is very close to spanish so...)
*Dans le monde, l'agriculture biologique ne concerne que 2 % de la surface agricole totale
->The amount of land used for organic agriculture around the world is only 2% of the total agricultural land. (this means 98% of the agricultural land is not-organically cultivated = they put lots of chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides... etc... that then go to the rivers, and to the soil)
*Aujourd'hui, les habitants des pays développés (20 % de la population mondiale) détiennent 80 % de la richesse de la planète.
->Today, the habitants of developed countries (20% of the world population) have 80% of the wealth ot the planet. (another one said that in the same proportion 20% of the world population consumes 80% of the energy produced)
*En France, 80 % des déchets sont recyclables. Seuls 12 % sont recyclés.
->In France (and I guess in other countries is probably the same or worst) 80% of the wastes are recyclable. Only 12% are actually recycled.
*En 2005, les dépenses militaires dans le monde se sont élevées à plus de 1000 milliards de $, alors que l'aide au développement des pays pauvres n'a représenté que 60 milliards de $.
->In 2005, the military expenses around the world were more than 1000 million dolars, the money used for helping poor developing countries was less than 60 million dolars.
*Les victimes des guerres actuelles sont à 90 % des civils.
->The victims of (today's) wars are 90% civilians.
*1 être humain sur 2 a moins de 25 ans. Plus de 90 % des enfants et adolescents du globe vivent dans un pays en développement.
->Half of the human population is 25 years or younger. More than 90% of infants and adolescents live in developing countries.
*Avec les techniques actuelles de production agricole, la Terre pourrait nourrir 12 milliards d'habitants. Or, 800 millions de personnes souffrent de la faim dans le monde, alors que nous ne sommes que 6 milliards.
->With the agricultural technology we have today, the Earth could nourish 12 million habitants. Today, 800 million persons suffer from starvation around the world, even when we are not more than 6 millions.
*Il faut plus de 1000 litres d'eau pour fabriquer 1 kg d'aluminium, 8000 litres d'eau pour une paire de chaussures et environ 15 000 litres d'eau pour 1 kg de viande de b'uf.
->(I used a free-translator for this one...) It is necessary more than 1000 liters of water to make 1 kg of aluminum, 8000 liters of water for a pair of shoes and about 15 000 liters of water for 1 kg of beef meat.
Even when all of these are global problems, and probably there is not much we can do about them, we can start by realizing and thinking the way our life affects the earth, the environment we live in, and so many people around the world. And even just as one person, our voice and our actions do matter...
And now back to Paris...
Arc de Triomphe
Champ Elysses
After sleeping during our flight from Dublin to Paris, we were ready for Paris! except for the fact that we couldnt speak a word in French... :p
We took the bus from the airport to Porte Malliot from we were supposed to take another bus to go to the camping site... oh yeah, even in Paris we camped! they say Paris is a city of parks so why not stay in one of its parks??? :D after we got down the bus we tried to ask the driver where to take the other bus, but he couldnt understand English... :s luckily there was a Venezuelan girl who translated for us, but still the bus driver didnt really now where we were going... I guess most people dont really think there is a camping site in the middle of Paris... but hey there is! After looking at the map at the bus station we kind of knew where we were, and so we finally got to the Camping du Bois de Boulogne and after waiting in line for quite a long time, we pitched our tent and we were ready for going out to make the most of the rest of the day...
After buying our first authentic Baguette at the minimarket of the camping site, we ate lunch in the park, and we started our long walk all across the park, toward the Arc de Triomphe and then all along the Champs-Élysées and all the way to the Louvre... long long way.... :pOn our way across the park we saw a wonderful, educating, and touching photo exposition called "Vivants" created to educate people about Biodiversity, its fragility, and the impact humans have on the planet and on themselves... it was organized by WWF and goodplanet.org (if you go to this page and then to "vivants" you can see all of the pictures and the messages that were written behind the pics (in French... :s)).
I really found it a wonderful way to make people think about the problems humanity and the planet are facing, while at the same time seeing how wonderful and amazing the planet we were given as home is...
(the pics below of the expo were not taken by me... I took them from the internet)
Here you have some of the messages written behind the pictures... (and a translation by me :s did you read the first sentence up there about my french?? :p but hey it is very close to spanish so...)
*Dans le monde, l'agriculture biologique ne concerne que 2 % de la surface agricole totale
->The amount of land used for organic agriculture around the world is only 2% of the total agricultural land. (this means 98% of the agricultural land is not-organically cultivated = they put lots of chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides... etc... that then go to the rivers, and to the soil)
*Aujourd'hui, les habitants des pays développés (20 % de la population mondiale) détiennent 80 % de la richesse de la planète.
->Today, the habitants of developed countries (20% of the world population) have 80% of the wealth ot the planet. (another one said that in the same proportion 20% of the world population consumes 80% of the energy produced)
*En France, 80 % des déchets sont recyclables. Seuls 12 % sont recyclés.
->In France (and I guess in other countries is probably the same or worst) 80% of the wastes are recyclable. Only 12% are actually recycled.
*En 2005, les dépenses militaires dans le monde se sont élevées à plus de 1000 milliards de $, alors que l'aide au développement des pays pauvres n'a représenté que 60 milliards de $.
->In 2005, the military expenses around the world were more than 1000 million dolars, the money used for helping poor developing countries was less than 60 million dolars.
*Les victimes des guerres actuelles sont à 90 % des civils.
->The victims of (today's) wars are 90% civilians.
*1 être humain sur 2 a moins de 25 ans. Plus de 90 % des enfants et adolescents du globe vivent dans un pays en développement.
->Half of the human population is 25 years or younger. More than 90% of infants and adolescents live in developing countries.
*Avec les techniques actuelles de production agricole, la Terre pourrait nourrir 12 milliards d'habitants. Or, 800 millions de personnes souffrent de la faim dans le monde, alors que nous ne sommes que 6 milliards.
->With the agricultural technology we have today, the Earth could nourish 12 million habitants. Today, 800 million persons suffer from starvation around the world, even when we are not more than 6 millions.
*Il faut plus de 1000 litres d'eau pour fabriquer 1 kg d'aluminium, 8000 litres d'eau pour une paire de chaussures et environ 15 000 litres d'eau pour 1 kg de viande de b'uf.
->(I used a free-translator for this one...) It is necessary more than 1000 liters of water to make 1 kg of aluminum, 8000 liters of water for a pair of shoes and about 15 000 liters of water for 1 kg of beef meat.
Even when all of these are global problems, and probably there is not much we can do about them, we can start by realizing and thinking the way our life affects the earth, the environment we live in, and so many people around the world. And even just as one person, our voice and our actions do matter...
And now back to Paris...
Arc de Triomphe
Champ Elysses
Comments
btw... 've got a correction to make.... I was translating "milliards" and "millions" as millions... but milliard is one thousand million (what we call billions in spanish... you see numbers and languages are so confusing! :p)...