LIFE+ | Ecology: How can we save our lives by ourselves

The future of the Earth and its inhabitants has never been more uncertain, but there is still time for us to prevent further catastrophe. Environmental pollution is one of the key problems faced in our modern world.

Though there has been massive technological advancement in these recent days, it has also invited negative effects to the environment. By doing a simple thing like planting a tree, we shall be making the world a better place and for sure we shall always live to be proud of our achievement.

"The world is a garden, and we are all its gardeners” -Professor Daniel Janzen, University of Pennsylvania, about 1965

Save the environment to save Life.

We can start with simple changes.

Experts say that proper handling of waste materials, such as reusing or disposing of them properly, should constitute an important part of our efforts to preserve energy and protect the environment. Countries worldwide should use less coal and more reusable power like hydro or solar power.

Let us plan our cities according to the available water resources and not avail water for too many homes that have been crammed into development. Saving energy reduces air pollution and greenhouse gases. The less we pollute our environment, the more we prevent global warming. Let us check the seas from rising and submerging our lands.

Increasing number of organizations are being formed to prevent the planet from premature extinction. More and more corporates have joined the race to save the planet. We can simply begin by buying recycled products for our office, home or school. The greater the demand for recycled products, the more these companies will be encouraged to add recycled material to their products.

We can also make simple changes, like using reusable bags and containers. We should try and conserve electricity by turning off the lights, TV, or other electrical appliances when not in use. Use cold water in the washer whenever possible.

Buy fewer disposable products. Ban plastic. Buy more fuel-efficient cars (such as a hybrid or electric) and recycle your engine oil. Use public transit whenever possible. Let us walk more and drive less to conserve fuel and prevent auto-emission.

We should avoid littering our roads and highways. And prevent others from doing so. Always dispose your litter properly. Littering is not just bad for the environment; it is also an offence carrying heavy fines.We use more organic fertilizers. Our farms need less pesticides and more organic methods.

Plant trees to improve air quality. Take a stand against deforestation.

Losing our rainforests means losing millions of trees that would otherwise be cleaning the air for us. Let’s teach our children to respect Nature.

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By Vanessa Husaini

PEOPLE+ | How to act real doing an Erasmus+ project?

Going to an Erasmus+ project might seem like a scary thing especially for first-timers or introverts like me. Of course, it is natural to feel a bit worried when you are going far away from your country and you are going to spend a week with complete strangers. However, this is not a reason to not fully enjoy yourself and have a blast once you feel comfortable around the new people.

To begin with, it is vital that you feel self-confident and leave any concerns behind. You might be anxious about your proficiency in English, but trust me, there is a huge number of the people you’ll meet that will barely speak the language.

There is no need to worry about that, as you will have plenty of activities which will prove to you that you don’t need a C2 level of English in order to make friends and have fun with them. Just do your best and try to show your true self to the others without thinking too much about the right grammar and vocabulary, you’re not in your English classes, you’re there to relax and have a good time.

When it comes to self-confidence, try not to fret about the way you look or who you are as person. No one will care if you are not a skinny model with the perfect acne-free face. Usually Erasmus+ manages to gather only open-minded people at one place, after all most of the project are designed to combat discrimination. It is very unlikely that you’ll be judged by your appearance, skin color, gender, race, religion, beliefs, etc.

Personally, this was a very hard concept for me to grasp. I have been on 10 projects and in the beginning, I was constantly wearing make-up, I couldn’t leave my room without getting my hair curled or straightened just because that was the way I was feeling more confident. Luckily, meeting the right people, and spending some time in very humid weather showed me that all this effort is completely useless, and I could easily go without trying my best to look unrealistically good. Feel free to raise your voice on any topic, especially if you have sound evidence to support your claims, people will be there to listen and support you, or if not, you could have some very fruitful discussions out of an argument. Don’t try to hide who you are or what you think just because you are afraid you won’t get accepted.

When you’re getting to know the other people in casual conversations, don’t try to make yourself seem cooler. You don’t have to speak 5 foreign languages, have 10 hobbies, or possess any special talent in order to seem interesting.

Don’t make things up about your life, whether that would be personality traits, memories from the past or life achievements. Instead, live in the moment and try to make the most out of it without being stiff and constantly thinking how you could impress the others. If you meet someone special, with whom you connect on a deeper level, this someone might feel a bit betrayed if he or she later on in your friendship found out that you’ve lied about something. So, in conclusion, stay genuine and don’t try too hard. You’ll manage to attract the right people without thinking too much about it.

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By Rosana Petkova

VIE+W | How to get motivated easier?

1. Pick ONE certain goal. Don’t try to be a Jack-of-all-the-trades, it will sap your energy trying to take on too much and accomplishing too many goals at once. It’s impossible to stay on track when you have too much on your mind, so instead, create a plan which you could follow and fulfill your goals one at a time.

2. Figure out your ‘why’ behind that goal. Although this one might seem very obvious, actually looking for reasons behind the things you want helps your brain to stay on track. For example, if you want to stick to a workout routine and get fit in the following months, try to look for your personal benefits of getting fit, e.g. looking good is one of them but it’s not the only one.

3. Get support. It’s almost always easier to accomplish something when you see someone else struggling along with you. Talk to your friends and family about it, it’s very likely that you’ll find at least one among them who’ll agree to go on the journey with you, unless the goal is super specific. For example, if you’re trying to quit smoking and everyone around you smokes as well, maybe it’ll be a good idea if you asked them to try and stop or at least to abstain from smoking in front of you so you don’t feel discouraged.

4. Track your progress. When you’re doing one and the same thing every day and you’re still very far from your goal, it’s rather hard to perceive what you’ve actually managed to do on your journey. For example, if you are trying to recover from depression, chances are that you’ll need months and even years to go back to feeling normal again. That doesn’t mean you can’t track your baby steps you’re taking every day. Thus, you could realize you’re actually improving, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem so.

5. Reward yourself. This is a very heavily debated issue, because a lot of people think we’re not dogs and we don’t need treats for something we’ve done well. However, it’s stupid to deny the fact that we’re animals and as such we too could use some positive reinforcement if that’s going to help us achieve our goals.

6. Don’t feel bad if you’re not 100% all of the time. All of us need some time to recover and relax. It’s unnecessary and even counter-productive to try and hustle all of the time. If you do that, you’re doomed to experience burnout very fast and the recovery from that might actually cause you to lose precious progress.

7. Compare yourself with yourself. There are always going to be people who are miles ahead of you. Stop looking at the way others are doing; you have zero idea how much effort they put in to have it the way they do. After all, you’re experiencing your own life, it’s best if you focus on yourself and see how you’ve improved instead of degrading yourself because you’re not doing as good as someone else.

8. Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll succeed at your very first attempt. For example, if you’ve just taken up baking, maybe the first couple batches of cookies and cupcakes are going to suck and that’s totally fine. You’ll improve with practice. Just try to find the valuable lessons in each of your failures and ask yourself: ‘What can I learn from this?’.

9. Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. Learn to recognize negative self-talk and don’t degrade yourself. Just spend a few days becoming aware of every negative thought. Then, after a few days, try squashing those negative thoughts like a bug, and then replacing them with a corresponding positive thought. Squash, “This is too hard!” and replace it with, „I can do this!“

10. Stick with your new routine. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Even if you aren’t feeling any motivation today, or this week, don’t give up. Again, that motivation will come back. Think of your goal as a long journey, and your slump is just a little bump in the road. You can’t give up with every little bump. Stay with it for the long term, take your time and you’ll get there eventually.

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by Rosana Petkova