On November 8, 2016 you voted and made a choice.

I am not American but I love your country, I love what you represent the chance you offer to anyone who is willing to work hard and  believe their dreams. 

I am Swiss, my countries identity is rooted In a common historical background and shared values and a linguistic diversity. Switzerland was founded on August 1, 1291. We fought wars against the French that conquered us in 1798 and we resisted the occupation. When war broke out between France and its rivals, Russian and Austrian forces invaded Switzerland. The Swiss refused to fight alongside the French. In 1803 a pact largely restored Swiss Autonomy and in1815 the Congress of Vienna fully reestablished Swiss independence and the countries neutrality. 

Just as America, we fought for our rights.

The United States is a prominent cultural and political force around the world and a leader in so many fields and the creation of your country is at the image of what you are today, a mixity of ethnic groups and religions that work and live together and that is what makes America. 

Paleo-Indians migrated to what is America today, from Asia 15,000 years ago and Europe colonization began in the 16th century. After Spain sent Columbus on his first voyage to "the new world", the Spanish set up small settlements in New Mexico and Florida. France as well had settlements along the Mississippi River. You emerged from 13 British colonies along the East coast. On July 4,1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted,"Humanity is created equal" and your current constitution adopted in 1781. Differences of opinion, social orders between the North and the South especially regarding black slavery led to the American Civil War. Then came Abraham Lincoln, the first anti -slavery president. In 1865, following the Union victory three amendments were added to your constitution, the prohibition of slavery, the citizenship for 4 million African Americans and the right to vote. War remains the deadliest military conflict in American history with approximately 700,000 deaths .... wasn’t this enough?

And this morning as I was reading the article on Huffington Post, I saw the picture of this awful cross on a white wall somewhere in America, that brings us back to the Second World War, when this cross filled the streets of Germany of Europe.
It is a return to hatred, to bigotism, due to the prejudice of some... that brings your country centuries back to a place you, we do not want it to be ... to go.

I said in a previous post that Mr. Donald Trump must be given the benefit of the doubt, I still believe what I said, but he MUST become the president of all Americans and stop the crisis of extremism that has shown up in America, in a part of the community that is radicalized uneducated and intolerant. He is now responsible for the road your country will take, hopefully with justice and liberty for all.

History has shown that racisms and hatred never end well, we are all concerned.
Sylvia G

It’s 2AM and I can’t sleep.  I just copied and pasted two blogs on my Facebook page that I wrote a few years ago about "The illegal wildlife trade "and "the debate over climate change".As I was reading them it struck me that nothing has changed, well yes some agreements were adopted (Paris 2015) .... but apart from that, have we changed? Have our leaders changed? Seriously? ... I do not think so.

Yesterday I watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie " Before the flood"  capturing the dramatic changes our planet is facing due to "men  activity" and it profoundly moved me.  I ask you all to please take the time to watch it. It cannot be more clearer and I still do not understand that our elected officials around the world still have not taken the drastic measures that would be necessary to try and stop ( because reverting the damage done is sadly too late) the destruction of our planet.Yes, I know, the Earth experienced past climate change without the help from humanity. Models show past ice ages and periods even warmer than today, it is true, but in the last century alone the temperature has risen ten times faster than the average rate of ice- age recovery warming. NASA Earth observatory written by H Rebekah in 2010.

It is predicted that our planets temperatures will rise from 2 to 6 degrees in the next century. When global warming happened various times in the last 2 million years it took the planet 5000 years to warm 5 degrees, today the predicted rate is approximatively twenty times faster... can you imagine? I hope you can .... because only then will things can change .... or have we past the point of no return?

Nous avons besoin des océans , des rivières , des terres , des forêts , des animaux qui peuplent notre planète pour vivre , je ne veux pas devoir survivre dans un paradis devenu enfer , et vous?

With love & on & on & on
Sylvia G

Pythagoras ( 570-495  BCE ) was a Greek mathematician that founded a secretive philosophical society called " the Pythagoreans ". He also set up a mathematical school. He has not left any written books but believed that the relations between all things could be reduced to numbers.

His group called "The mathematikoi " aimed to discover these relations. The Islamic golden age started in the mid- 8th century and Lasted for 500 years. It saw the
birth of modern scientific methods and experimentations that began in Baghdad the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.

At the same time Europe was far behind and several hundreds of years were to pass before science was to overcome the Catholic Church restrictions. For centuries the view of our universe was based on Aristotle's belief that the earth was the centre of the universe "the centre of all celestial bodies" . It was only in 1532 that Copernicus the polish physician completed his work that had the sun at its centre.  He knew that it would be regarded as heresy. Fearing for his life he waited until his death to have his work published. His work won many followers over the years and opened the way to  Astronomers such as William Gilbert who published " De  Magnete"  in 1600 suggesting that earth is a magnet, German astrologer Johannes Kepler  in 1609 who suggested that Mars has an elliptical orbit, the Italian polymath Galileo in 1610 who observed the moons of Jupiter, the  english philosopher Francis Bacon  in 1620 who published "Novum Organum Scientarum and the new Atlantis",  Evangelista Torricelli inventor of  the barometer in 1643 and so many more. New discoveries followed fast.  Boyle, Newton, John Ray, Max Planck the pioneer of quantum physics and so many other brilliant minds laid the groundwork for the modern scientific disciplines of chemistry, astronomy, geology and physics. They have made the understanding of our world possible.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. "Galileo Galilei "

With love & on & on
Mtg

Laudato Si

I have just read an article over the uproar on Pope Francis document on the environment and the threat of climate change called “Laudato Si” or “Praise be to you on care for our common home”. Our planet has become an immense trash can, yet we do nothing. The relation between humanity and our planet has been broken, why can't we understand that more is not more?

Humans have caused environmental degradation since the industrial evolution started at a pace never seen before since Earths creation.  Our seas our oceans our forests are dying our wildlife disappearing yet we do nothing.

Industrialists and politicians are fuming at the release of his encyclical document  “the pope should stick to religion” yet what do these gentlemen do?
I am a fervent admire of this holy man of his spirituality, inspired by the life of St Francis of Assisi whose name the pope adopted. At the speed we are destroying things I believe that there is sadly not much time left for human kind to realize that we are all connected to each other and to our planet.

This  rupture as the pope calls it in his Encyclical release“ is a sin against the environment” an ecological sin. I hope that his message will be heard and followed.

With love & on & on & on

MTG

The illegal wildlife trade has to stop. It is threatening to overturn decades of conservation gains.

Wildlife crime is a big business ....

Officials have estimated that close to 25,000 elephants were killed in 2013 to supply the illegal ivory trade, with ivory reportedly priced over US $2,200 per kg on the streets of Beijing ,China. In 2011, Ivory representing the amount of 2500 elephants was  seized in the 13 largest seizures of illegal ivory. Poaching also threatens the last wild tigers. In 2013 just 3,200 tigers were left  ...yes 3,200 ...the current number today may hover closer to 3000... Rhinos are being slaughtered for their horn because these same horns are supposed to cure fever cancer and liver problems.  These beautiful animals are often left in agony with their horns cut off and as their population is drastically diminishing ,the price for a horn climbs even higher and higher.  Rhino poaching increased 5000% between 2007 and 2012 with one animal killed by a poacher every 10 hours.

Last year the last black rhino was declared extinct.

A poacher will get USD $300 for a horn, that same horn will be sold for USD $1,000 in the nearby village and by the time it gets to  Hong Kong it will have reached up to USD $300 000.  Who is to blame? The poacher that maybe does not know better or the person that ordered that horn? Today illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth US $50-150 billion a year. We must understand that the loss of all these species will have devastating consequences. Our planet has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years .
Animals are being decimated by humans. We are polluting and destroying their habitats. Currently we are cutting down trees faster than they  can grow.  We are catching fish faster than the seas can restock. we are pumping water faster than rainfall can replenish and emitting more climate warming carbon dioxide than ocean and forests can absorb. We..all of us, are responsible  for not doing enough for not really caring for not realizing that this will have an impact on all of us. Animals ,trees, plants , and oceans are part of an eco system that we are destroying. The ice is melting and within a matter of years the Artic sea will be completely ice-free during the summer months. As ice melts, the oceans rise. Global sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1870. If this trend continues, many coastal areas, where roughly half of the Earth's human population lives, will be under water.

The dramatic effects of climate change due to  our selfish behavior, the destruction of wildlife, of the seas, of the oceans and rivers and the deforestation of approximately 18 million acres ( the size of Panama) every year is and will be devastating for human society for our planet.

So what are we waiting for ...Isn' t it time to act?

With love & on & on & on
MTG

I't's been almost 2 weeks that Lester died. He was my friend, my little pooch, my love. He traveled around the world with me, shared my life my pains and my joys. A few years ago as I was going through a rough time he never left my side and for a few weeks even lost the hair around his neck as he took my stress I guess. He was a little 3 pound chihuahua but thought he was a lion. He was never afraid, had a real temper, showed his teeth when he would not travel with me when I d have to leave him home, and for the last 11 years every night as I'd give him a kiss goodnight on his round head and say "good night Lester" he would growl at me. We had "this thing" you know my  dog and I.

When we traveled to America he would sleep the whole way through snoring during half of the flight. I would be asked "do you give something?" No, I never did. He was just the best traveller! He would hide in the bottom of my hand bag when I told him "Lester hide" when I sometimes took him with me in restaurants in the U.S. ( I know .. It's not allowed) I am sure he knew that otherwise he would have to stay in my hotel room .....in Europe it was easy as dogs are allowed in restaurants. When I was recording he would lie next to me or on the couch with his pink earplugs not a care in the world... yes .... I  know .... Pink.  He traveled with me to Rio Bresil and to so many other places he loved lying on the sandy beach under an umbrella he loved being on a boat and when was wet he looked like a white rat. People always wanted to touch him he was a real charmer I think he liked all the attention but when he was in my handbag he became a tiger. Lester was the best anti pickpocket "Alarm" I guess.

I miss my dog every day. The emptiness is hard. I still see him running up the stairs rushing in the kitchen when hearing the magic word " food, stealing my german shepherd's food. She was terrified of him ...mad! I miss not having Lester sleep, lying on my bathrobe, in my bathroom. I miss Lester not sleeping between my feet under the blanket anymore.  I have cried so much these last few days I could not have written this blog before, I tried but the words just would not come.

If there is a doggy paradise, I know that my pooch is there. His little heart free of pain .
Lester, you made me a better person. You showed me what unconditional love is and your memory in my heart will never die. Thank you for having been by my side all these years I will never forget you.
Be happy my dog.

Sylvia

I was shocked today to see pictures on Twitter of the Jordanian pilot burning in a cage. I do not understand that some people need to tweet or share these horrible pictures. For what purpose? Information? Someone answered me and said, "you cannot deny reality" my answer is, what reality? What about the family of this poor man?What if you were his mother or his father? Would you want these pictures shown? What about respect of not showing the pictures of a man dying in atrocious sufferings? What about not making publicity over death? By showing such images you give the authors of this crime exactly what they want, media coverage .

"The Climate Debate Change Is Long Over And There Is Nothing We Can Do"

I just saw a scene from " The News Room" series on HBO. It is sadly so true to look around and see that we are getting to this point. We have... we are destroying our planet and all of it's living creatures. We have been told repeatedly 30, 20  and 10 years ago that we must stop polluting. We were told that there will be consequences, that we must stop our selfish and greedy behavior before it gets to a point of no return. So what have we done? Pollute even more!

Are we on the brink of extinction? I do not know, but we have certainly taken a first class ticket to what resembles a quick way to hell...

The problem with humans, is that the majority are only interested in what happens on their footstep or in their village, Okay let's go as far as their city. Beyond that ... Who cares... Sure what happens in the world is terrible ...but it's not happening "to me" ... So basically, who cares, as long as "I'm fine", as long as "I make money", who cares that rivers are polluted, that the ice is melting, that wild life is disappearing, that our planet is sick...sick of us.

Leaders of the wealthiest countries are not even capable of signing the Kyoto agreement. Have they never thought that it would have been the right thing to do? Are they that blinded by the power of money, of always wanting more, that they do not get that everything is connected, that we are all connected? We are connected because we share the same planet, the same air, the same water and oxygen.

Do you seriously believe that borders will change anything ....that what happens in Asia will stay in Asia, or in Africa, or in Europe or in America? If tomorrow there are no more forests there will be droughts, fires, food shortages & millions of people dying. Revolutions and wars that if the ice continues to melt at its present speeds there will be floods in a way we can't even imagine ...what will borders be of use then? It will be too late if it isn't already...

I saw a trailer for the movie "Interstellar" a few days ago. Now let me see If I get this right, let me get this into context ..... Humans find another another planet to save humankind ...from  the effects of humankind ...what do you think they will do with that new planet? Their last achievement was to destroy the previous planet  "Earth" do you think they would do better with this one? Sadly history shows that we forget, that we do not learn from our mistakes, our memory span is very short... As soon as things get better we start again and take the same path that let us to chaos.

It can be seen over the centuries, open any history book, have we learned anything? We still fight, we still kill, over religion, greed, envy & lust. Look at the economy, look at our personal lives, have we learned? Will we ever learn? I mean really learn and change? Mars actually could be the example of what our planet is going to look like...Apparently there was life on that planet before. Wouldn't that be a great scenario! Mars was similar to our a Earth light years ago than men came... destroyed it ...and looked for another planet ... Hey I need another pair of shoes.

Bon ...because I am an optimist. I still wish for a miracle, but it needs to come fast. When it will be too late nothing will make a difference anymore ...it will be over.
Do we really so not care to let that happen?

The Scene That Inspired The Blog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CXRaTnKDXA&app=desktop

With love and on & on & on
Un bacio & ciao
Mtg

I am a vegetarian but not a vegan.

Since I was a teenager I have been a vegetarian.  At first it was not because I loved animals, I mean I loved animals as far back as I can remember. At age 4, I had a bunch of baby lions sleeping on my bed, 2 chimpanzees and other exotic creatures running around me as well as dogs and rabbits. In case you wonder the rabbits died of old age. At that time I did not understand or think that eating meat or not had anything to do with loving animals.

The reason I became a vegetarian was because as a kid I had to have a piece of meat everyday and I still remember these endless hours in front of my plate trying to find a way out hoping that piece of meat would vanish or run away if I concentrated hard enough, obviously it never happened. Today it is a different matter. I am glad to be a vegetarian. When I see the way animals are treated...how they are killed, when I hear how domestic livestock are being slaughtered or cows being stunned unable to walk to their deaths, hoisted up by their legs onto conveyor belts, even if the animal is still alive...I could never eat meat again but I do not judge those that do.

I do not think that I could become a vegan though, drinking milk or eating eggs  occasionally does not bother me. I was raised on milk and yogurts .There was a farm next to my house up in the Swiss mountains. The cows lived (they still do today) in the fields and in the high mountain pasture in summer and would only return late September. I would have fresh warm milk almost everyday from, believe me, very happy cows. We also used to have fresh eggs once a week from the farmers chickens that were running free all day long in the fields on the hills around my house, on my door step, and in front of my dog's nose who could not care less. So definitively no no... I could not become a vegan for the simple reason that I love chocolate and that there is nothing nicer than a hot chocolate drink with crème chantilly on a stormy snowy day when it is freezing outside.

Un Bacio & A Kiss & On & On & On

Mtg

Pakistan and India share the 2014 Nobel prize for Peace. The Nobel prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian committees in recognition of cultural and /or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895.

It is a wonderful message that these 2 people send to the world. A message of love, determination, courage and perseverance. Two countries that are not best of friends share a nobel prize, in todays world with all the turmoil going on it shows that there is always a way.

A candle shining in a room but covered daily with veils of darkness will not be seen anymore. It is hidden under these layers of darkness similar to the veils we have added over our lives over the years. When we remove these veils, the light of the candle will shine again.

Malala is a wonderful young girl. She is a Pakistani female education activist.
In 2009, aged 11, she wrote a blog for the BBC under a pseudonym explaining her life under Taliban occupation. On the afternoon of 9 October 2012 she boarded her school bus in the Northwest Pakistani district of Swat .A gunman asked for her by name and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of her forehead. She survived. She was shot because she wanted girls to be allowed to attend school to receive an education to learn to write and to read. She launched “The Malala Fund”, a non profit organization focused on helping girls go to school and promoting their right of education. “They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams” Malala said

Kailash Satyarthi has been fighting child slavery for decades in India. Since the last three decades he has used undercover operatives and camera crew to find the airless workrooms and mine shafts where children were being kept. He is the eighth Indian to win a Nobel, and only the second after -Mother Teresa- to win the Peace Prize.

A 17 year old young girl and an indian child rights activist show us that nothing is impossible. This is a lesson for us all.

With love & on & on & on
Mtg