Like many students in those days, I had already learned that money does not grow on trees. So I needed value for what money I had in my pocket. Fortunately some locals gave me helpful advice:

"ALWAYS EAT AT THE PLACES THAT ARE CROWDED"

There were 18 of us and that is what we did for ten memorable days. Of course just like Rotary exchange students, we knew we had to be good ambassadors for our country.

Had I intended to spend all ten days on one single premises, the happy crowd alone would not have been sufficient an attraction.

DINING AREA -------------- Full of happy people
STORE ROOM -------------- Full
KITCHEN --------------------- Hum of activity
BED- & BATHROOMS --- Simple, but neat and tidy

All adds up to a good environment for a party animal.

"ANCORA UNA BIRRA FREDDA PER FAVORE." ("One more cold beer please.")

As my command of Italian was restricted to ordering another cold beer, the simplest way to have worked out what I was letting myself in for, would have been a quick glance into the store room, the kitchen, the bedrooms and bathrooms. That would have given me enough information to know what questions needed translating.

Now for any living organism, the stay on this planet is a life-sentence and not many of us have the privilege to choose our environment. Each and every one of us however, does get to choose how we influence it.

Because we share our environments with so many other living organisms, all we really do, is influence them. Very much of what we see happening around us is the result of living organisms reacting to change. As far as I know, we humans are the only organism that can choose to be proactive as well as reactive. Whether we have a tantrum playing toddler, a hormone effervescing teenager, the city planner, the farmer, the corporate executive or a political figure-head, "change" remains a part of the deal.

In nature we find "change" in what we call the carbon cycle (= the cycle of life);

We also find "change" in the dynamics of the physical forces that surround us...

"CHANGE" WE HUMANS CANNOT INFLUENCE DIRECTLY

TIME ---------- SEASONS ---------- EARTH-QUAKES -------- ETC. DAY/NIGHT ------ VULCANOES ------- EL NINO

This constant change brings about complexity, and thus a real challenge if your desire is to control it. - The wish to play a controlling part in one's destiny is not something we humans hold a monopoly on. It is apparent in other life forms. Ever tried leaving the dog behind at a family outing? Or watched all the things a dolphin can do to get rewarded in a zoo? Well it does not stop there. We have things in common with every other living organism on the planet.

Every organism needs: AIR + WATER + FOOD Every organism wants : COMFORT If we make any organism feel uncomfortable in any way, we must expect a reaction. (Just because we may not notice it, does not mean it does not happen!)

If we accept this fact and also acknowledge that we do not have a clue as to how many organisms exist on this planet, that is a very good start to environmental literacy.

There should be over 600 million organisms in over 15'000 different species in one gram of healthy soil alone. Apparently there are over 1.75 million types of species that we know of... we do not know if there are 10 million or over 100 million species on the planet. All stuff we learn in the information age, but it is totally irrelevant unless you want to give a speech, write book or specialise in some particular industry.