Today, by a UN initiative in mid-1989, we celebrate another World Population Day. The date, which once celebrated the way in which the world population was beating population records, today has totally different objectives. We all know that we are many, that not all of us still have access to basic resources and services, and that poverty still represents a factor of imbalance. At present there is a globality that unites us and that assumes us as a single population. The one who inhabits this planet and who has the responsibility of coexisting and caring for it.

However, the different contexts, creeds, ideologies, etc ... make them particular. Unique. This singularity refers us to the question of our neighbor. How we relate to our small community and the impact it can have on such a global plan. There is also the parallelism with the chaos theory that states that :

"The flapping of a butterfly's wings could change the natural course of things and cause a typhoon on the other side of the world."
Edward Lorenz

It will therefore increasingly make sense to move towards Glocalisation, or rather to rethink and implement local actions that have a contribution to the next on a global scale. It will not undoubtedly be the key to all the societal problems and challenges we face on a global scale, but it will somehow hold us accountable and encourage us to take concrete and achievable measures.

Around here, the press and Pordata say, that in Portugal "we are less and older, we get married poorly and we are still poor." It seems like a trivial news, of the many that we are reading, and that we are categorized by certain statistical indicators (or metrics). On the day we celebrate today, I would rather hear and read about how we have come to oppose what seems inevitable. What has been done in every street, neighborhood or city to reverse this trend and that somehow allows us to respond to a constantly changing reality that puts us to the test every day. I would like to have awakened with the news that this population is capable of fantastic things and that despite all the setbacks is adapting to the new times and then resilient in the attempt to share a better space in a better period of time. After all, these are the parameters that classify us from time to time and that of many numbers, say little or nothing.

I would like to take this day to appeal to you what Opta has assumed to be the great challenge of behavioral change. I speak of the daily activism. The way we think about our actions and the impact (always positive) that results for the next. It is the butterfly flutter that I spoke to you above. It is to be aware that my behavioral change, in favor of a certain group (population) can generate such a positive typhoon. It is surely this replication of behavior and mutual help that will facilitate the reinforcement of alliance among all with a view to a population more balanced, inclusive, sustainable and above all happy in the environment where it lives. There is a long way to go in this direction, but everything starts in us and in the next, so that it is still worth being part of this population.

See you soon,

Hélder Teixeira

^{(founder & activist)}

^{Grid photo : Nathan Dumlao}