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Leisure time for university students Over the last years, it is apparent to be a steady but considerable decrease in the time the university students dedicate to outdoor and leisure activities. Multiple are the explanations, but none of them seems to be capturing entirely the nature of the problem (if the reader considers it so). Certainly, the last decade was characterized by an exponential increase of the competitiveness while seeking for a job. With thousands of universities and educational institutions, nowadays having a degree it is not enough to fill a job vacancy. Therefore, students face this pressure, without even being in the job market, to stand out from the rest and be remarkable and to do so, they enroll additional classes, participate in countless curricular activities and, of course, simultaneously they need to get excellent marks. in order to achieve this goal, the students have to willing to make a sacrifice and get energy out of nowhere to follow a routine that might have only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. In addition, mankind has never been so knowledgeable and the scientific resources available are larger and larger. Trying to get tuned in with all this brand new information requires time and effort and once again, the students must reduce time spending in leisure and recreational activities. Several experts have pointed out the phenomenon, considering it a problem in some cases or a normal expectable change in others. Those ones, who consider it a problem, have based their arguments on the subconsequent problems that come along with reducing leisure time. For instance, a recent study showed that students at one university in England sleep, in average, 4 hours a day and by the time they graduate, the physical effects of that brutal schedule include inexplicable tiredness, insomnia and sight problems. Nowadays, students have multiple opportunities to get aside from the study and relax. Most of the universities have clubs, gyms and several facilities, that students can visit for free. New approaches should include time management classes and the implementation of special resting areas inside the university buildings. To conclude, it is worth mentioning that this leisure time doesn't have to be ridiculously long and also people must remember that an effective learning process should include 40 min of studying and at least 20 min of rest. In contrast with general opinion, resting does play an important role while learning.
October 6, 2016
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Towards Carbon neutrality by 2021 Right in the middle of the Americas, there is a small country with only 5 million inhabitants that lately has been an example for the entire world. During this year and almost for 200 days (in a row!), Costa Rica's electricity has been produced only by using renewable sources of energy, such as: water (hydro-power), wind and geothermal heat. This impressive achievement has an underline story that goes back to the end of the 50's. Back in the day, Costa Rican government made an important and consequential decision: the abolition of her military forces. The money, that until that time had been directed to fund military operations, started to play a whole different role in the policies of the small country. Their leaders decided to invest in social projects and energetic innovative proposals. Thus, the first hydro-power plant started working in 1966 and today, 50 years later, is still fully operational. Today Costa Rica's dependency on fossil oils (for electrical generation) is less than 1%. Nevertheless, the situation is the opposite if the transportation system is analyzed, since almost 95% of it is fuel-based. A couple of years ago, Costa Rica hit the headlines all over the world for making an outstanding announcement: Costa Rican government is in the run to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2021. Multiple efforts have been put into this project and today new policies are being introduced every day and new taxes are to be applied, which will encourage the use of hybrid cards and environmentally friendly initiatives, such as: No Car day, vehicular restriction and etc. Most of the work is still to be done and many stones have been found already on the road, but ideas like this one are living proofs that we can dream big and achieve even bigger if we put our effort in it. As a former teacher of mine used to say: Boost your stamina and believe the improbable is possible!
September 28, 2016
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