Is possible to be green nowadays?

The Earth is asking us for help, most of all after the Industrial Revolution, when the humans began to produce in factories and, with that, to pollute the planet more and more. But, despite that a lot of people realize about the ecological situation of our world, there are not many people that do things to resolve it.

Actually there are not many information about environmentally friendly practices, I mean, there is not a lesson at school about things that we can do for help the planet, there are not many institutional contributions or initiatives in this area. The only way to make aware the people about the great problem of pollution and destruction of the world is through internet or self-organized activities, and of course, the education begins at home: it is important to teach the news generations to take care the planet.

Personally I do little things for our planet, one of these things is recycle white paper (photocopies, old copybooks and scholar books, etc.). I do this since my second year at University, when I knew about a box, in Bachillerato, when you could put your white paper and San José Foundation would recycle it to obtain nappies. Also I use the public transport or walk instead use my car, I use it only when it is necessary and I try to reduce the paper I use (I bought a kindle to read instead to print texts). 

I know an eco-organization, Greenpeace, but I don't agree with  join them, because I think that the change and the ecological responsibility should begin from common people and no just ask authorities for solutions or do isolated things in far places. 

I think that we are far from become a Green society, because there is not a culture about recycle, reuse and reduce: on the one hand, there are not places when you can leave your recyclable/reusable garbage and the large-scale recycle almost don't exist, at least in our country; and on the second hand, there are not education about ecological habits, at University for example, there are trash cans for different types of things: tins, bottles of glass and paper (I think), but nobody use it correctly, everybody throw away any kind of trash and don't care in which trash can... 

Well, I hope that people, all of us, begin to do things before it is too late. And obviously the task begin at home! :)

Why Psychology?

The first reason I had to study psychology was that I always advised my friends and advices help them with their problems or worries. So I thought "I could to be a good psychologist". Then I started to be interested in the human mind: how do people make decisions? How do they form their beliefs? Why do people join with others? etc., and I thought that Psychology will give me the answer. This last point was the decisive reason to apply to Psychology. So I think my motivation is at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs haha.

Actually I feel completely satisfied with my career, because despite it have not answered all my questions about human mind, it have given me the arms to answer them by myself. There are many theories to analyze the human mind or human behavior: behaviorism, psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, psychology of personality, between others. But the one I like most of all is social psychology, because it places the person in relation with others and explains the human behavior from that position, and it makes me sense because we live all our life in contact with others, we are insert in a society. 

Respect to practical applications of psychology, I think that it can be applied to every aspect of the life, so it can to be any other discipline, since education until engineering or economy. I personally want to work in Human Rights from critical social psychology and I like educational and community psychology too. The good thing is that these applications of psychology are very compatibles! :)

The dark side of Psychology

Psychology is a beautiful discipline, but sometimes it is used to do things that are not so good. This article present us one of this situations: when psychologists use their knowledge against the physical and moral integrity of people.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/05/the-dark-side-of-psychology-in-abuse-and-interrogation

The Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) published a study of the role of psychologist in the War of Terror: they collaborated with the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the CIA and the CIA to develop a range of interrogation methods used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay. Methods like exposure to extreme cold, sleep deprivations, prolonged stress positions, sexual and religious humiliations, between others. 

The official psychologist's role was to identify vulnerabilities of prisoners and collaborate with interrogators in exploiting that debilities. They worked in Behavioral Science Consultation Teams and were selected for their professionals training in clinical and forensic psychology. They are considered "combatants" rather than health professionals, so they could avoid normal ethical standards. 

In other way, the American Psychological Association (APA) supports the role of psychologist in interrogation: "It is consistent with the APA Ethics Code for psychologists to serve in consultative roles to interrogation and information-gathering processes for national-security related purposes". 

So, the report recommend to the APA to clarify its ethical policy and reject the participation of psychologists in interrogations. Also recommend to apply more strict prohibitions on the use of  interrogation methods that violate international standards.

Finally the article ends with the next question: "At  what point is it morally acceptable for psychologists to be deployed as weapons of war?", and suggests that this question may to be answered for the psychologist and all society.  

On holidays...

The holidays are very important for workers and students, because we need to rest after work hard all the year, so I think all of us look forward for the holidays. At the same time, you can travel and know other places during the holidays where you can know new friends, have a good time and try new things that you can not to do during the rest of the year. 

My first favorite activity of holidays is sleep: I sleep a lot, until 12:00 pm sometimes. I like to read too and try to read several books, specially fantasy, mystery, science fiction and dystopian books. Also I like to go out to parks with my boyfriend.

My favorite place out of Santiago is Valparaíso, I fall in love with it the first time I went and I have to go every year on holidays, at least one time. I don't like the places where all you can to do is go to the beach all the day long, because I don't like much the sand haha, so I like to go to the beach for a time (one or two hours) and swim in the ocean. Then I like to visit parks or craft fairs, eat ice cream, walk around the place (city, town or whatever) and do things like that. 

I always travel with my family, this year we went to Los Queñes and Pichilemu with my dad, my siblings and my boyfriend. And I went to Las siete tazas with my mom, my sister and my boyfriend. Also I went to Valparaíso with my boyfriend.

The next year I would like to go to Valparaiso again with my boyfriend, to the south with my mom (to Lago Lanalhue) and to Argentina with my dad. But I just to know I will go to Valparaiso, obviously haha.