124 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 12.2.2022
Feb 13, 2022 at 11:59 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Consorcio, lendwithcare, Madeira, microfinance, toilet twinning
Hello Team,
Based on an idea from H., we watched a short animation on www.lendwithcare.org
and a video clip on Youtube:
(Another one here about supporting women in Bosnia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTaWMOqLfGQ )
Lendwithcare is a part of Care International, which after 1945, organized the CARE parcels sent from all over the world (also from Madeira Island) to the German population. Lendwithcare is asking for donations to keep the organisation going, but this is not a prerequisite to help an entrepreneur.
LendwithCare works in Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Georgia, Peru, Ecuador, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines and the Occupied Territories of Palestine.
This is lending without interest and it is not a handout, from person to person, with the help of a local, carefully selected supervisory agency. CARE has a Conduct of Microfinance agreement for these agencies and does Due Diligence on them.
M.J. was nonconcerted that the money given is not costing anything and if something is free, that the entrepreneurs would not pay it back or even feel that they ought to pay it back. But it seems that as the lending is local, there is peer pressure in a population to pay back, in order to keep a good name with the neighbours. The whole system is based on trust.
M.J. said that the Governments should do the job and support their people but many Governments don’t do this. Cl. said that investigative journalism is essential, to keep the Governments in line and that there are organisations which support this kind of journalism (https://fij.org/ and https://www.investigativejournalismforeu.net/)
Poor people would not get a bank loan, NGOs do it instead. Grameen Bank started loans a long time ago (https://grameenbank.org/, the founder received a Nobel Peace Prize.
Lendwithcare works with local agencies which are selecting the entrepreneurs and are strict on the payback in time. The entrepreneurs are aware that the money would dry up if the funds were not paid back.
The person giving the money receives regular feedback on the payback situation, When the money is repaid the/she can reclaim it from Lendwithcare or keep it in the system to support other recipients. The system is transparent for all. The numbers show that the risk for the “donors” is low.
Another idea is “Toilet-Twinning”: https://www.toilettwinning.org/ A donor can give 60 GBP and facilitate a decent toilet for a family in a Third World country.
The website says:
| Without proper toilets and clean water, people are trapped in a vicious cycle: They’re likely to become sick through sanitation-related diseases Illness means they cannot work or farm their land, so they earn less or grow less food Children often miss school, because they are sick or because they’re busy collecting water Girls often drop out of school altogether when they start their periods if there are no toilets or changing rooms Parents have to pay for medicines or food, so they may fall into debt Women and girls risk being attacked or bitten by snakes as they go to the toilet in the open, especially if the culture dictates that they have to go out at night Water and sanitation projects enable families to build a toilet, have access to clean water, and to learn about handwashing and other hygiene principles. Dignity is restored when the whole family can use a private, hygienic toilet at their home and no longer have to squat in the bush. |
The website also explains how toilets are designed and built. But yes, they are holes in the ground within a cabin… better than nothing!
122 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 23.10.2021
Oct 24, 2021 at 3:12 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: climate change, Consorcio, Madeira, nature, Portugal
We met in the Gallery as usual and watched this talk:
The Talk is about the fact that we define Nature too narrowly as a system that hasn’t been touched by humans. Nature can include reforested and replanted areas; new ecosystems develop in such areas as well. Weed is not necessarily bad.
C. said that Cistercian and Franciscan monks in the middle age, who farmed large spaces of land for the church, were instructed to leave a third of the land “wild”
In Germany, the farmers are instructed to leave the side-lines of their fields untamed so that wild plants can grow there and provide at least a small space for insects and other wildlife to settle there.
Rewilding:
Here is a link with more information:
In Portugal, a space on Vale do Côa is supposed to be re-wilded
https://rewilding-portugal.com/pt/oeste-iberico/
It makes no sense to cut trees into shapes, just because we find it better. Trees should grow unhindered in the shape they need to be in.
Apple trees should be used to grow apples for juice, if they cannot be eaten. This potential should not go to wasted even if the product is a bit more expensive.
The other issue the speaker has is that children like to have wild nature to touch it and be in it. They have a right to find such spaces, not to be confined to State parks where they cannot interact with nature because it has to be protected. If humans interact with nature, they do so as a part of nature.
The Plumbago at the entrance of the Gallery is such a “wild space”.
There used to be many partridges on the island as well as rabbits and ferrets. They used to be hunted. Now, rabbits were re-introduced in the forest, only in order to be fodder for hunting…
Invasive species can be bad (the eucalyptus seeds are bad, and the trees grab too much water) but they also may very well turn out to become a blessing later (medicinal plants, protection for trees against specific insect threats etc).
Climate Change:
The 2021 COP – United Nations Climate Change Conference – will take place on Oct 31 in Glasgow. Avaaz will certainly ask for signatures or donations to pressure World Leaders to do something useful about the problem (I will forward the Avaaz message to you when it comes around, Ursula)
Russia and China didn’t get the message yet but more and more industry leaders are talking about strategies that respect nature and include it in their development of new products.
It will come down that we’ll have to curtail our personal footprint as much as possible. Medium distance flights within a country, for example, will have to be forbidden.
Other stuff:
Portugal got some refugees from Afghanistan, the female musicians from Zohra orchestra. There is a link to one of their concerts:
121 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 25.9.2021
Sep 27, 2021 at 4:08 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: mass, psychosis
We watched this talk:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1KmNKYC1l0stjctkGswl6g
This is quite a whopper, and the first 15 minutes were difficult, because the talk explains why populations go into mass psychoses. (The last 5 minutes are more optimistic.)
The talk explains how a population is being led by fear and manipulation to defer to the “elite” who rules over them. Social media as well as the Yellow Press support these changes. A new Hitler, in form of someone like Trump, may always creep up.
Such governing by the ruling class exploits the fact that we are social animals and need social structures. The Church and religions are structures. We are lucky to live in Europe where social structures still work.
Countries such as China rule by fear, whereas India, also a big country, is a democracy. Japan was seen as a threat to Europe decades ago, they are off the list now. It is not possible for Europe to ignore China; they are trying to take over power in Europe by economic means. It comes down to the way in which we are attentive.
Most of the European countries are ok, but Poland and Hungary are drifting toward totalitarianism.
We used to have three TV channels, now we have hundreds, plus the internet to manipulate the people.
Younger Tourists are coming now, they are the “me generation” and have a
worse attitude to the community. ”Thank you” is often not in their vocabulary (Our YouTubers have a better record.) So if we want to educate them, we can do it by saying “thank you”, then they might perceive that something is wrong in their behaviour.
Abbreviations in the communication via Smartphone result in the fact that the youngsters don’t know how to talk in whole sentences anymore. They lose the art of communication. Young people want to be seen in this system, so they try to show off only their best side, while they are emptier inside than before.
But there is hope: in the old movies, people were drinking alcohol, smoking inside, and sexist attitudes towards women were the norm. All these attitudes are now out, and society keeps evolving.
Still, children should have the right to grow up for a few years without social media and smartphones (https://eliant.eu/en/news/newsletter-archive/how-can-europe-be-of-value-to-our-children-and-grand-children)
The Talk ended on the tune that not being afraid is a good defence against totalitarianism, as well as ridicule and laughter. (Trump still has this coming to him). Parallel societies within such a dominated society can keep up individualism and reduce fear-based attitudes.
Following rules: The group thinks that things are good in Madeira and that it doesn’t hurt to keep the restrictions on the island longer because if the upcoming flower & wine festival.
Other stuff:
The “Mamma” Museum by Rui Sá is open www.mamma.museum.com (5€ entrance for Residents), it’s small, a bit overloaded but interesting. There are goods from Quinta Pedagogica in the Museum shop on sale.
120 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 24.7.2021
Jul 25, 2021 at 10:40 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentWe watched this TED talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy_learning_from_a_barefoot_movement#t-1096676 (NGO website: https://www.barefootcollege.org/)
A very inspiring (old) story about a movement in India, which spread to other countries, to use local talents to electrify villages by solar power and organize a better life for the villagers on all levels, mainly be empowering the women.
The talk was proposed by U. who feels that after the Pandemic, people did not get to be more empathic or supportive but more egoistic.
The Barefoot Village approach cannot be transplanted to other, more developed countries, it only works in certain places.
We didn’t want to speak about Covid but we ended up speaking about the Pandemic. Some members of the group have the impression that especially young people sacrificed to help older people get through the Pandemic safely so they are not more egoistic, they did their part. We also spoke about the resistance by some to be vaccinated as this is an important tool to get group immunity at some time. It was also pointed out that some churches are telling their flock not to be vaccinated (not the Anglican Church). The impression was that many people decided to “wait and see”, and that many of them will change their idea and decide to get vaccinated later.
The most important argument for vaccination is for people to get more freedom back, such as travelling without hassle and going to concerts etc. In any case, it is a proof of solidarity to be vaccinated.
Vaccination may be made compulsory, some countries are discussing this, at least for certain professions.
It is important that the “rest of the world” gets vaccinated as well, some western countries are now starting to donate vaccines to third world countries – very late. We will pay the price for this with more variants coming up.
An interesting thought: C. said that WWII would have happened in a different way, if Facebook, Twitter etc had existed then. The voiced opposition of many people would have been detrimental to ending the war. Winning against the German might have been harder, if people had had such a big forum to disagree with measures.
It is important that a population can trust in the Government and in this Pandemic, most of the Governments did not perform well. Hindsight, to be fair, is always cleverer.
Also, we might be too comfortable in Europe with our way of life. We are complaining on a high level, compared to third world countries.
The EU: Poland and Hungary are not in conformity with EU regulations, they don’t respect and support the community. We have to hope that the Governments there will change, to get a better cooperation from them. There is no mechanism to throw these countries out of the EU.
The UK: Claus said that in the UK, persons can get “pinged” by an App, to go into quarantine because of a supposed Covid contact, with the Covid infected neighbour in the next apartment, even they didn’t meet with him. The UK now has empty shelves in the supermarkets, not because of Brexit but because so many people are in precaution-covid quarantine, that workers are not available to fill the shelves with goods.
For Madeira Island, tourists will continue to bring the disease; the higher case numbers are the price we have to pay to have tourism.
In any case, vaccinated persons have really much less change of a) getting the virus and of b) transmitting it to other people because their body does not provide a good environment for the virus to propagate.
Work: Going back to work is hard for some people, they are now used to being paid for sitting at home. Civil construction and restaurants are desperate to find willing workers. The Minimum Wage is always a problem, it is too low to offer people a decent way of living. Companies may not be able to afford a big increase, they might go out of business. It is a difficult line to walk.
It would be helpful for the population if daily costs went down. The only good action the Government in Portugal took in the last four years was to considerably lower the price of public transport. Instead of building bike lanes, they should lover the cost of electricity (which they are doing) and VAT (which is not going to happen); this would be helping the population best
So we closed on a somewhat positive outlook, that solidarity is here and that people are more helpful to each other that we can see
Other stuff:
Quinta Magnolia now houses an Art Gallery with modern art, go and have a look!
119 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 26.62021
Jun 27, 2021 at 12:20 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: dumpster diving, Portugal
The topic was Dumpster Diving.
We watched a talk by a youngster who learned of dumpster diving in the USA and then started it in Kopenhagen:
Additional info is here:
and here
https://life.dn.pt/comida-lixo-desperdicio-alimentar/comportamento/350232/.
“Too good to go” also has a website in Portuguese, and we have some restaurants who participate, to avoid leftovers going to the dumpster here
The intention of the participating restaurants is to attract more business during normal hours, by showing the clients what they have after hours.
We talked about the food rubbish situation in Europe.
In some countries, it is forbidden; in others, it is in a grey zone.
France has a law that forbids supermarkets with more than 400m2 to dump food into containers, they have to donate it to charities or to companies who produce animal feed from it.
In our supermarkets, it seems that the problem of dumpster diving does not arise because the rubbish containers are in the supermarket back area, and outsiders do not have access to it.
Foodstuffs close to the expiry date are offered in Pingo Doce with an orange label for sale at reduced prices, this reduces waste (provided the buyers then eat it all).
Food waste in landfills produce a hight amount of Methane
Cl. said that the problem arises because we produce too much food for the demand. The supermarkets price in a loss of around 20% of foodstuffs due to expiry dates and freshness. Then they don’t mind that they have to throw food away. The consumer would have to accept that food is only produced in the quantity that will be needed (based on experience and sales numbers) And the food prices should be higher, to give an incentive to the consumer to buy only what he needs. But the consumer would not like to have less of a choice and would to go other shops.
It should be possible to have more of an in-time-delivery system for foodstuff as in the automotive industry, to avoid that food gets too old to be sold.
It will help that the state, in order to get more money, will add higher taxes on processed food which contain too much sugar, salt and fat.
The cost of transport is another waste-of-energy factor.
Farmer get subsidies in Germany if they leave a filed unfarmed, in order to curb overproduction in the country. Cl. said that farmers should even have to plant forests on the land, in order to offset the CO2 problem.
Quinta B doesn’t have a buffet, they serve the breakfast to order. Fruit that is not consumed gets turned inti delicious marmalade.
The Buffet in Quinta do Furão (the “leftover” from the Hotel guests) is offered to local guests at a reduced price, in order to avoid waste. The client do not get to serve themselves; the staff hands out the food and cooks eggs to order, so that what ends up on the plate, gets consumed.
Plates in general, should be smaller.
The homeless used to get “leftover” food from hotel buffets until this had to be cancelled due to Covid. Now a simple meal is offered in “CASA” at night, and “Sopa Cardoso” offers soups at lunchtime, and food bags which people can pick up. CASA and Caritas collect food in the supermarkets and pack baskets for needy families (these families have to register to be included)
Other stuff:
Freshbio (with happy chickens laying happy eggs) is at
http://www.freshbio.pt/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=19 .They deliver of baskets to your home and if somebody has a composter, they also collect fruit peels etc for composting.
118 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 22.05.2021
May 23, 2021 at 3:10 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: business, ethics
After a long break (since November), we finally had a meeting again in the Gallery.
The Topic for this month was “Business Ethics”:
https: //www.ted.com/talks/alexander_wagner_what_really_motivates_people_to_be_honest_in_business
Alexander Wagner is a researcher and economist, the talk was interesting, even a bit uplifting, but it should have a had a psychological part as well which an economist cannot deliver.
Mr. Wager tested people on their ethics and found that they have “protected values” which the participants respect even if they forego a money gain if they ignore the values. Good news..
Business can give Rules of Good Conduct, or incentives which may backfire and lead people to digress, or they can hire god people who have these protected values.
He didn’t answer the question how to look into people’s brains and find out what their ethics are.
There were some big ethics failures in Companies, from BBC to Chernobyl, maybe now also AstraZeneca. Michael J said that the decision makers want to avoid being caught, and their good name is in danger if they get caught but everyone has a price. A coffee shop owner was put on display in 1990 in Portugal because he had overcharged 5 escudos to some clients, and still today, such a rip-off happens to tourists (or people who look like tourists) in small businesses. On the other hand, in Kenia, due to the Pandemic and the loss of tourism, local people pay less in tourist spots and learn to see the beauty of their land because the prices are affordable for them.
The big corporations have no such qualms, look at the German auto industry scam with the help from Bosch software. Darwin rules, it is a fight with the competition, and every company wants to survive and gain profits. Michael J say that the Devil made the 20th century …
How to counter such tendencies? By educating the children well and with a functioning religion.
People have become more egoistic, it is a “me” economy, self-care, especially for the young people. But in middle age, persons usually turn toward “inside” and perceive that egoism doesn’t serve them anymore
Christianity asks for sacrifices, for the good of others. We also spoke of confession. It is often misunderstood as a “carte blanche” which it isn’t. You are only forgiven in Confession if the priest believes you are repentant. Again, can we look into the person’s head?
Drug abuse has increased (although there always was alcohol abuse) because people don’t know their purpose in life. Contemplative prayer, which is being taught by Father Richard Rohr (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rohr ) to young priests, should also be done in church. (Listening prayer and contemplative practices are done in the Anglican Church.)
Cl. sad that studies showed that in all big world religions, suicide, drug abuse and adultery are evenly distributed, which shows that the big religions do not have the answers for these people. With our western lifestyle, pressure on people makes them do things they would not do if they didn’t have to feed a family and keep the job.
Cl. said that Codes of Conduct in companies are bullshit, they don’t work Banking is the worst cheating industry. And corruption is a slow process: people may start out optimistic in a company and slowly be converted by the company culture to accept wrong behaviour.
We have to make compromises in life. Cl. and K. want to visit their daughter in Germany and have to take the flight, although they would want to avoid the CO2 emission.
C. told the story that after the 2010 flood, people couldn’t use the tap water and Hiper Sà increased the price on bottled water. The people never forgot that behaviour and the company went down from then on.
But: There are positive economist models e.g. the Doughnut economy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_(economic_model)
Some cities (Amsterdam) are already using this model.
We also spoke about measuring the economy. We should get away from the Gross Domestic Product (in the Pandemic, the measure R(t) is not that important anymore, the number of intensive beds used it now more preside to measure the situation etc.)
The state of Bhutan makes surveys and uses a Happiness Index of their people, this is how the Government checks if it is doing a good job:
Madeira Consorcio – break
Jan 7, 2021 at 9:38 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentWe didn’t have a meeting in December, but a lovely Christmas Lunch and we won’t have one in January, either due to the higher Covid numbers.
We are planning to reunite with each other in …May. with luck!.
117 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 21.11.2020
Nov 23, 2020 at 4:35 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentWe had our meeting in the Gallery again.
The Topic for this month was “in Praise of Conflict” by Jonathan Marks:
We found many examples where, as the speaker said, the Government is collaborating with private companies, to the detriment of the tax payer. In Madeira, the Via Rapida was built 70 cm too small, and miraculously, the savings on material went into the construction of the Savoy hotel. Similar things happened on the mainland with the construction of the highways.
A construction company in Madeira removed rocks and sands out of the riverbeds for bulding. This was exposed in the Diario, and stopped. However, the Government should ask for payment for the material taken so far.
U. said that we as citizens should be more in control of government. The Diario used to report about court cases in the court in Ed 2000 building, they don’t do that anymore. But the Public should be there, to check up on the judges and the proceedings, and the newspapers should report about, for example, a delay in procedure just because a lawyer failed to show up. We should challenge things, from sloppy service at Horarios do Funchal to the courts.
Cl. said that FB and Google need to be broken up because they cannot be controlled by the governments anymore
An ex-manager of Dupont, one of the biggest chemical companies in the world, has been nominated by president-to-be Biden to lead the environmental agency in his cabinet. Thus, the fox is let into the chicken coop. We should be wary of what Biden will do there.
We all admired the protesters in Belarus, Thailand and other countries who risk their lives and health for democracy. We in the west don’t have the need but might not have the stamina to do this.
We handed the control mechanism in our countries to the state, and the state is not fulfilling this role. Authorities must be challenged as well.
Altogether, as wars and conflict in third world countries persist, we shall have more and more refugees which have to be accepted by the advanced countries. If we let them in and give them work, they will want to succeed in the new country. Refugees challenge our status quo and create anxieties but they also contribute to a host country.
On the other hand, if the Syrians don’t manage to get rid of Assad, he will lay waste to the country. Because of dictatorships and cronyism, half of the world will be uninhabitable for normal people. Dictators need to go.
Democracies should not trade with these countries at all.
M. told the story that, some years ago, he paid an IMT of 10.000€ for a property purchase. The Tax office, however, had made a mistake; the amount was only to be 9300€. Instead of giving him 700€ back, they asked him to pay 9300€ again. He had to do this in order to proceed with the purchase of the property. They gave him the 10.000 € back much later. This, however may not be happening nowadays anymore.
In total, the old boys’ networks are still functioning. New competitors in the building sector, for example, cannot succeed because the old established companies are settled in with the Government.
The Government needs to be reminded that they work for us; it needs to be in conflict with private enterprises. Conflict is productive!
Other stuff:
U. entered the “Free the birds” campaign idea into the Orçamento Participativo in Funchal (the Government had already turned it down), it was turned down again. Will try to the Ornithological Society interested in it
116 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 17.10.2020
Oct 18, 2020 at 5:29 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentWe are now part of the TED Circle community in the World (https://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/ted-circles), this is interesting as TED proposes 4 talks to the individual groups each month; we then choose one and use it as a basis for our discussions. We have used TED talks for some time now, and I have the feeling that TED is copying us in what we already did.
The Topic for this month was “Everyone’s Environment” and we watched Per Stokes at
He sketched 5 defences that people have to avoid doing something about climate change:
Distance vs new social norms, such as adopting the use of solar panels in the home, as the neighbours are doing it, too
Doom vs supportive measures e.g. changes in lifestyle, eating vegetarian, not using the car, etc., recycling
Dissonance vs. pointing out that climate change creates entire new job areas
Denial vs. transition to energy savings in each household
Identity vs. better Stories
Storytelling seems to be very important to people. He suggested a new story about climate, change, an image, really:
Climate is living air, the air that surrounds us, is a fragile skin for Earth. (5 – 7 miles thick /thin) and we we all breathe the same air all over the planet
The discussion was about how our changes in lifestyle could make a big difference, as in many countries in the world, especially emerging countries, haven’t got the luxury to try to stop climate abuse in their country, and they have the biggest growth in population and energy need.
Climate change will only work if countries like Brazil, Africa and India can create enough jobs for their populations.
Rich countries may be able to afford looking at it.
Ursula von der Leyen wants Europe to be a carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
Madeira is is ahead of Portugal mainland and other areas, we have around 27% renewable energy already, and many projects that will increase the percentage of climate friendly energy production.
Cl. is hopeful that Germany will be at the forefront of climate change. He thinks that the new government to be voted into office next year, will have the Green Party coming in. Green parties should be more prevalent in the EU governments.
The positive points:
Emerging countries can skip steps in their development, e.g. landlines were never an option in Africa, they went right to mobile networks. They can skip R & D costs.
Covid shut down countries for 2 months, if that can be done, climate change can be done as well. In needs goodwill.
“Social Distancing “should be called “solidarity distancing”, “social Distancing” is at its root, unsocial; it separates people, and humankind is very social.
Such names are important: in South Africa, power cuts were called “power shedding”, to make these service shutdowns more amenable to the people.
What we could do:
We could dim the street lights a bit, we already have LEDs for Christmas decoration. Office buildings should not be lit dsring the night
Fireworks are a no-no, really.
The Madeira Government is doing a good job in education; the people to not dump “monsters” (old fridges, sofas etc) in the riverbeds anymore,.
An Eco-School has a deposit container for recycling but nobody considered that old people may not be able to open the trap doors on the containers because they are too high for them
Fines usually do the trick when the environment is being abused by the population. Barcelona hat a serious dog poo problem which has been solved because the fines are very high
Would it help if climate do-gooders tout their horn?
Cl. explained to us that the debt we are amassing via the European Bank (about 4000€/head) is really our debt because the bank is ours. One day, when inflation rises, the debt can be written off, and nobody will have to pay it because we can cancel it out. Money in itself has no value, it’s just in the books.
Other stuff:
U. entered the “Free the birds” campaign idea into the Orçamento Participativo in Funchal (the Government Orçamento turned it down). We’ll see which projects they chose on Oct 28.
There is a very charming Unusual Guide on corners in Funchal which are little known to the public, have a look. https://novemil.org/unusual-guide/
Nice tips for return clients who want to explore more.
The new petition for the Ferry
has only around 1400 signatures so far, we need 10.000 to be heard by the Government in Lisbon.
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