Today we had a lot of free time in the morning and we decided to go as a group to Lagoa. We went to a havaianas store and bought some of their flip flops which are very popular in Brazil. After walking around for a while we ended up grabbing lunch at a buffet place called Margues da Lagoa. I must say that I am pretty glad that we can find buffets all over because it is much easier to just pick out the food that I think I will like rather than trying to decipher a menu and hoping that I can eat whatever is brought out to me. We have also been pretty lucky in finding an employee at each place that speaks English.
After lunch we went to a shop called Easy SUP (stand up paddle) and decided to try our luck at paddle boarding.I was pretty afraid at the beginning since I have terrible balance and can not swim. Overall I think I did pretty well, I didn't even fall off the board!
During the evening we attended a lecture on renewable energy which was presented by Dr. Baltazar Guera. I enjoyed meeting him because he was a very personable guy and a good presenter. During his talk he spoke about the need to diversify the country's energy matrix. Currently, Brazil relies mainly on hydropower and they are having problems because some areas have been facing droughts. He also pointed out that sustainable development depends on social progress, environmental protection, and economic development. All three are needed for it to be successful.
As we all should know, global warming is a reality. I don't understand how people can sit there and say that there is no such thing as global warming. During our lecture, Dr. Guera stated that some evidence of global warming in South America is the occurrence of hurricanes. I believe they had their first one in 2005 or 2006 (catarina). This was evidence of climate change because science had previously said that hurricanes were impossible in South America.
Dr. Guera also stated that our biggest concerns in terms of countries emitting the most CO2 emissions are China and India. These two countries have large populations and their energy demand is only expected to keep growing. One concern is that China did not sign the Kyoto protocol so they have no obligation to decrease their emissions.
Something that was mentioned during the presentation was 7th generation biofuels. I will have to look up more information about the topic because it seemed pretty interesting. I guess Germany is already doing it which has something to do with using biomass (leaves) other than food (corn, sugarcane) for fuel.
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