Sesc SP

Water crisis – The drought that has afflicted part of the country until recently has left water reservoirs empty and, for obvious reasons, is causing a water shortage, particularly in metropolitan areas. In face of this, people set out to seek alternative solutions, for example drilling wells and collecting rainwater.

Epidemics – Dengue fever, a disease that is being dealt with as a public health problem, has granted Brazilians, especially those living in Midwestern and Southeastern states, no respite over these days. In the state of São Paulo, the most developed in the nation, mosquito Aedes aegypti has become a major danger, spreading the viral disease to an incredibly high number of people.

Economy – The Brazilian toy industry is going through a market adaptation process due to the growing presence of imported goods, especially from China. However, according to Synésio Batista da Costa, chairman of toy industry association Abrinq, “the quality and safety of the toys manufactured in Brazil owes nothing to similar goods made abroad”.

Urbanism – Today Liberdade, once a Japanese-only district in the city of São Paulo, is also inhabited by the Chinese and their offspring, and more recently though more timidly, by Bolivians. Street vendors coming from Evo Morales’s country can be seen selling their wares on São Paulo downtown’s Osaka City Viaduct.

Interview – Engineer Carlos Buch Pastoriza, chairman of the Brazilian Machinery and Equipment Industry Association (Abimaq), reports that over the past three years his sector, a bellwether for Brazil’s overall economic performance, has shrunk by 22%. According to him, an overvalued FX rate, high interest rates, and the outrageous “Brazil Cost” are hindering the progress of the transformation industry.

Travel – Expenses by Brazilians traveling abroad have declined as a result of US dollar appreciation, yet departures still outweigh total expenditure by foreigners visiting Brazil. In 2014, Brazilian tourists left US$ 25.6 billion abroad, a record since 1947, the beginning of the time series data.

Agriculture – Pests have been a serious problem for Brazilian orange producers, who, nonetheless, keep on leading this fruit’s world supply. For the 2014/2015 crop, Brazilian citriculture is expected to harvest some 317 million boxes, each one weighing 40.8 kilos.

Patents – Since the days of Santos Dumont, who created the airplane and the wristwatch, until, more recently, the invention of the electronic voting machine and of the flex-fuel engine, which can run both on ethanol and gasoline, the creativity of the Brazilian has become famous. Still, inventing is not enough, as patenting is of critical importance.

Health – Named in the 1980’s and defined as chronic widespread pain, fibromyalgia affects 2% to 3% of the world population, especially women. The disease includes such other clinical symptoms as sleep disturbances, fatigue, impaired memory, and depression.

Culture – Brazilian television production is being watched farther and farther and by a growing number of viewers. For example, TV network Globo’s soap opera “Avenida Brasil”, aired in Brazil from March 26 to October 19, 2012, had its broadcasting rights sold to 125 countries until last year.

Cities – Formerly, a poor town, with unpaved streets and lacking medical and other urban services. All of a sudden, a modern urban center, coveted by wealthy Brazilians and foreigners. The turning moment that transformed Búzios, in Rio de Janeiro State, into a major world tourist attraction was the visit made by French actress Brigitte Bardot to the city in the summer of 1964.

Memory – Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon – Marshal Rondon –, a military and frontiersman, anthropologist, ethnographer and explorer who was born 150 years ago, dedicated his life to the cause of the integration of the indigenous population, having conceived the Xingu National Park and the Indian Protection Service. He was also responsible for installing telegraph lines over a vast region of the Brazilian territory.

Books – A research study conducted over nearly two decades at the University of São Paulo (USP) by architect and urbanist Nabil Bonduki has reached the publishing market in three thick brochures under the title Os Pioneiros da Habitação Social, freely “Pioneers of Social Housing”. Destined to become a classic on the bookshelves of specialists in the field, the work is richly illustrated.

Thematic panel – With a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of São Paulo, Alexandre Nascimento discussed with the members of the Economics, Sociology and Politics Council of the São Paulo State Federation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism, of Sesc and of Senac about the worrying climate conditions the country is going through. Below-average rainfall is seriously affecting water supply and causing energy-generation problems.