​¡Hola! On the 23rd of April we celebrate the Spanish Language Day. The importance of this language around the world is notorious, as by 2023, 6.2% of the global population was Spanish native speaker; and 7.5% was a potential user of the language.
Spanish comes from Latin, just like Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Occitane, French, Italian, Romanian and others. It is, nowadays, the second language of the world by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese, and the fourth language of the world by number of global users, after English, Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.
Spanish originated around the IXth century AD, coming mainly from the Castilian Romance dialect, one of the derivatives of Vulgar Latin, specifically the one developed in the medieval county of Castile. That is why the language was originally called Castilian (it was associated to the County of Castile and afterwards to the Kingdom of Castile) and why today it is still called Castilian Language, taught as a subject in the Spanish schools. Moreover, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), despite saying Spanish and Castilian are both valid to name the language, considers the term Spanish is more appropriate for the common language of almost 500 million people around the world as of 2023, relegating the term Castilian to identify the dialect of the language spoken in some regions of Spain.
RAE stands for “Real Academia Española”, which is the oldest language institution in the Hispanic world. There is a total of 23 academies regulating the use of Spanish language, all under the coordination of the Association of Academies of Spanish Language (ASALE, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española).
As an official language, we find 21 countries around the world that gives Spanish this status, with Mexico being the most populated Spanish-speaking country as well as the country with more Spanish native speakers. Spain is only the third most populated, after Mexico and Colombia, and the fourth by native speakers’ number, after Mexico, Colombia and Argentina (as of 2023, Argentina had around 1 million of people less than Spain, but it had 6.7% more of native speakers).
23 countries have a Spanish language academy, starting with Spain, followed, from oldest to newest, by Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Philippines, Panama, Cuba, Paraguay, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Puerto Rico, United States of America and finally Equatorial Guinea.
21 countries hold Spanish as an official language. Here there are, sorted from the most populated to the least: Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Equatorial Guinea.
Tengan un buen día.
 
Hasta pronto,

Mario Formisano Fernández is a spanish volunteer involved in The International Spanish Language Day 

We have grown used to incorporating plastic into our daily routines to such an extent that encountering plastic products throughout the day is unavoidable. But what exactly is plastic, and why has it become so deeply ingrained in our lives that we tend to overuse it? 
While the concept of plastic emerged in the mid-19th century, it was not until the 20th century that the plastics industry truly took off. Many of the current challenges associated with plastic originated in the post-war period when plastic began replacing more costly materials.¹​  Nicola de Blasio, from the  Harvard University, highlights that the key characteristics of this polymeric material—its affordability, durability, and lightweight nature—have facilitated the development of modern life.We are confronted with staggering statistics: over 500 billion plastic bags were produced worldwide last year alone, equating to a million bags per minute. The amount of plastic production has grown up to over 380 million tons annually. Astonishingly, more plastic has been manufactured in the past decade than throughout the entire 20th century, and the industry shows no signs of slowing down, with plans for exponential growth in the foreseeable future.²
However, despite its revolutionary impact, the lack of consideration for its end-of-life and the exorbitant costs associated with recycling have transformed this versatile material into the primary driver of a global environmental crisis, commonly referred to as "plastic pollution." Projections indicate that approximately 220 million tons of plastic waste will be generated in 2024 alone, marking a 7.11% increase in plastic waste levels since 2021.³​
“Close to 50% of the world’s population currently live in areas where waste generated has already exceeded the capacity to manage it, with the figure projected to rise to 66% by 5 September 2024.”(Sarah Perreard.)

According to Sarah Perreard, Co-CEO of EA (Earth Action), one of the primary challenges in managing plastic waste stems from our reliance on single-use plastics. Take, for instance, plastic bags, which serve a mere few minutes-purpose but endure for centuries thereafter. Moreover, the degradation of plastic presents a significant environmental hazard, as the breakdown of this material into microscopic particles contaminates our oceans, air, and ecosystems.⁴​ Plastic pollution is now acknowledged as a threat to public health, with up to one million people per year succumbing to the consequences of mismanaged waste, as highlighted in research endorsed by David Attenborough. Specifically, microplastics have been shown to inflict damage on human cells when food or beverages are stored in plastic containers, as reported by the Journal of Hazardous Materials. For instance, heating food in such containers in the microwave can result in the transfer of these chemicals into our food and subsequently into our bodies. These chemicals pose various health risks, including potential harm to human hormones, reproductive systems, and early childhood development.⁵​

Thankfully, addressing plastic overproduction and consumption is within our reach. EarthDay.org has set a significant worldwide target aiming for a 60% reduction by 2040. These goals include:

• Promoting widespread public awareness of the damage done by plastic to human, animal, and all biodiversity’s health and develop the side researching be conducted on its health implications, including the release of any and all information regarding its effects to the public,
• The rapid elimination of all single-use plastics by 2030 and completion of this elimination project in the United Nations Plastic Pollution Treaty in 2024,
• The requirement for laws, rules or regulations to end the scourge of fast fashion and the large amount of plastic it produces as well as a huge amount of water used,
• Investing in innovative technologies and materials to build a plastic-free world.⁶​

We have both produced and become overly reliant on plastic, reaching a stage where managing its waste poses a significant challenge. Now is the time to shift our approach and take decisive action, as every day should be regarded as Earth Day in our commitment to preserving our planet.
​

¹Science Museum ( 2019) The Age of Plastic: From Parkesine to Pollution. Retrieved from sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/chemistry/age-plastic-parkesine-pollution
²​ EarthDay (2024). Planet vs.Plastic Global Theme for Earth Day 2024. Earthday. Retrieved from https://www.earthday.org/
³ Perreard S. (2024). It’s time to break the cycle of plastic overshoot. Euronews. Retrieved from https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/04/11/its-time-to-break-the-cycle-of-plastic-overshoot 
⁴ Science Museum (2019). The Age of Plastic: From Parkesine to Pollution. Science Museum. Retrieved from sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/chemistry/age-plastic-parkesine-pollution 
​⁵ EarthDay.Org. (2022). Plastic Pollution Primer and Action Toolkit. End Plastic Pollution. EarthDay. Org.
⁶​ EarthDay.org (2024). Earth Day 2024 Action Toolkit. EarthDay.org. 

Health is defined by a person’s mental or physical condition. The WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, has found that at least 140 countries recognize health as a human right in their constitution, because it is. The World Health Organization proclaims that every human have the right to; have access to a safe and quality health care without any discrimination, having privacy and confidentiality of your health information, having informations about your treatment with informed consent and finally, the bodily autonomy which represents « my body, my choice »: a fundamental right. Health, is a ressource for everyday life. 

On the 7th of April, we are celebrating the international day of health. The theme of the year is: « My health, my right ». Every human being has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. All of the different countries have a legal obligation to develop an health awareness, from the individual scale, to community scale. 

Physical health, is how well your organs and body systems function; we all know how to take care of it: by doing health activities, sleeping, eating and drinking well, doing sport, maintaining our body. Despite that, which is also part of human rights, is mental health. It represents a state of well mental well-being emotionally, psychologically and socially. It affects how we think, feel, act and helps to determine how we handle stress, related to others and make choices.

Mental health is determined by a set of individual, social and structural pressure, it makes us contribute to community life. Our personal, social and economical development is related to it. Having a well mental-health, is not about the absence of mental illness. The reality is more complicated, subjective with different degrees, of different sufferings with social and clinical manifestations. It is important in every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence trough adulthood. As life goes on, factors can combine themselves to protect or compromise and then modify the state of our mental health. These are what we call: risks factors. To reduce the amount of people who are suffering from mental problems, protection and prevention factors must be used. 

Individually, mental health is manifested by a combination of psychology and biology: emotions, substances and genetic. Those determinants can increase the vulnerability. Socially, economically, environmentally, this is more linked to poverty, inequalities, violence, and deprivation off good conditions. Those can increase the risks of having mental problems because the environment is linked to our mind. The risks manifesting during childhood are risks factors for later. Hopefully, protective factors throughout life strengthen our resilience. They represent our individual and social skills and attributes. These include emotions, social interactions, a good education, a serene environment and community cohesion. Risks and protection that influe our mental health depends of the society, from different scale: local threat is a risk for the human, family and community. Mondial threat, which is the economical and climatic situation today for example, is more linked to the population in the globally.  It is really important to identify the individual, social and structural factors to reduce the risks. We need programs of promoting and prevention and they must intervene in education, work, justice, environment, social protection. 


For now, what's most effective in all countries are social-emotional learning programs in schools. Not only must we protect and promote the mental well-being of all, we must also meet the needs of those who are suffering.  At present, we have gaps in the treatment of common mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety. Countries need to find an innovative way. The World Health Organization has established a global action plan for mental health between 2013 and 2030. This is a call for all countries to help the mental health of the population. To achieve this, they have identified 3 factors: increasing the value given to it by individuals, communities and governments. Also to act on the physical, social and economic characteristics of family, school and professional environments in the community at large, in order to better preserve mental health and prevent problems. There's also the matter of strengthening mental health care. WHO focuses on the protection and promotion of human rights in a multi-sectoral approach. We want a world where mental health is recognized equally as physical health.