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Silver Society - The young old people

    The world is getting old! All over. People are reaching higher ages than ever before in industrialized countries as well as in emerging economies and even lesser developed countries. As older populations increase, many systems are under pressure to adapt. And it is already clear today that the impacts of an aging population will become more and more noticeable in coming decades.

    The fact is that the older generation is becoming more and more important as a consumer. And, companies also have to think about making changes to their employee structure and culture to embrace this generation.

    According to experts interviewed, there is concern that the generation of people who are 60 and over will no longer live up to today’s dynamic changes, are less efficient and do not have innovative thinking. Also, the elderly are not viewed as open to change. The rapid technological development and the everincreasing complexity are considered further difficulties.

    However, the trend clearly shows that more and more older people do not want to retire in the future, and they want to continue working because working longer can help you to stay fit and active.

    And that’s good, because one thing is certain: older employees have potential. Certainly, they bring a different kind of potential than someone who is just starting a career or a colleague in the “peak” of their career, but they are still important.

    Older people today live completely differently and they feel younger and younger. Surveys show that their perceived age is between 10 and 20 years younger than their biological age. Due to our medical advances, people today increasingly reach a ripe old age with few health concerns. As a consequence, the desire for a more active, self-directed life arises. The traditional ideas of elderly activities and retirement homes are becoming less common. Rather, people who are older seek to not only live as long as possible without help, but to also live consciously and well.

    All this shows how aging has changed. People beyond 60 years old today are socially interwoven differently than before. These changes contribute to the fact that “generation wars” are less likely to occur in companies than feared, because older people today have a completely different mentality, hence “are different” and use their potential to remain socially active.

    They are also, so to speak, “up for a challenge.” They are curious and inquisitive. That is why you should train older employees in dealing with new work techniques or technology and should establish systems that specifically promote the exchange between younger and older colleagues. This enables the shared transfer and receipt of experiences.

    So if we break away from traditional ways of thinking, both entrepreneurially and personally, we will most likely be able to reach more because we will be freer. We will not only view record sales figures as a success, but also a thriving corporate culture. A coexistence of different people.

Disponível em: https://otrs.com/otrsmag/silver-society-the-young-old-people/ (Adaptado)

Peter and David were on a train. Peter said, “See that Indian standing on the corner? If you ask him what he had for breakfast ten years ago hell remember.” “O.K.," said David, “Pl ask him.” He walked up to the Indian and said, “What did you have for breakfast ten years ago?” The Indian said, “Eggs." David did not believe the Indian. He thought that anybody could have said that. Ten years later David saw the same Indian he had talked to 10 years before. He walked up to the Indian and said, “How?” The Indian replied, “Scrambled..

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    Believe it or not, the sequins (small plates of shining metal or plastic used for ornamentation, especially on clothing) on this dress are made from 100% bioplastic. Now you might be thinking, what is bioplastic? In this case, bioplastic might be the answer to one of fashion’s most prevalent plastic waste sins: sequins.

    In a wider context, instead of relying on petroleum based fossil fuels as its key component (like traditional plastic), bioplastic is created from renewable materials. Like all trees and plants, algae sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. Creating bioplastic from this carbon reservoir results in a product that is carbon neutral. Heat is used to bind the algae together to form the bioplastic. This is then poured into moulds which become sheets. Once cooled, the sheets of bioplastic are finally cut into sequins.

    There are many advantages to bioplastic. Perhaps the most obvious is algae, which unlike fossil fuels, is not a scarce resource. Bioplastics also degrade far more quickly, taking 3 to 6 months to decompose fully compared to the hundreds of years regular plastic requires. The carbon released by bioplastic as it decomposes is also equal to the carbon absorbed by the organic material it was made from, so the overall impact on the environment is close to zero.

    There are some downsides to bioplastic, however. If not disposed of properly, bioplastic can end up in landfill, where deprived of oxygen, the substance could produce methane as it breaks down – a far more formidable greenhouse gas than CO₂ .

    As promising and forward thinking as these fashion initiatives are, it will take an adjustment of infrastructure to make sure the environment feels the full benefit of bioplastic. With the bioplastic market set to be worth $44 billion by 2022, perhaps that change isn’t a pie in the sky.

(www.globalcitizen.org, 11.03.2021. Adaptado.)