In the early 1980s, the Coca-Cola Company, otherwise known as Coke, was nervous about its future. Once, it had been the dominant soft drink in the world, but Pepsi had been slowly catching up to coke. In 1972, 18 percent of soft drink users drank only Coke while Pepsi had 4 percent. However, Coke dropped to 12 percent whereas Pepsi had risen to 11 percent by the early 1980s.

Pepsi then began running television advertisements and went head-to-head with Coke called the Pepsi Challenge. Dedicated Coke drinkers were made to take a sip from two glasses, each marked with Q and M. Most of them preferred M, which was revealed to be Pepsi.

Coke privately did a similar blind taste test on its own. The result was the same: 57 percent chose M over Q. This was devastating news for the Coca-Cola Company.

A famous magazine in the U.S. featured the top 100 most important people of the past 1,000 years in 1998. One of them is Katsushika Hokusai, a famous ukiyo-e artist during the Edo period. The famous French painter Edgar Degas once said, “Hokusai is not just one artist among others in the ‘Floating World.’ He is an island, a continent, and a whole world in himself.”

The works of Hokusai and others were first introduced to Europe in the latter half of the nineteenth century. They had a great influence on Western art, which became known as Japonism. Another French artist, Félix Bracquemond, came across prints of Hokusai Manga around 1856. Paintings in Europe were usually about war, religion, and important people. Hokusai Manga, on the other hand, included all kinds of things, like common people, small creatures, imaginary animals, and ghosts.

Many artists were influenced by the works of ukiyo-e and Japanese art in general. Vincent van Gogh was a great fan of Japanese art; he collected hundreds of ukiyo-e paintings and used them as backgrounds for some of his paintings.

Jane Goodall is famous for her works on chimpanzees. She decided to go to Africa after reading the Doctor Dolittle and Tarzan books. When she was 11 years old, she knew she would somehow end up in Africa to live with animals, study them, and publish books about them. To understand animals, Goodall advises us to watch and observe their behavior. She also said, “It is important that you take notes and ask questions.”

Chimpanzees and humans have a lot in common. They learn much in their childhood like us, and chimp families are very close, often helping one another. They can also feel sad, happy, afraid, and angry.

Chimpanzees are generally friendly, but they can be cruel. For example, the males patrol their territories, sometimes attacking chimps from another community. However, they are also capable of showing compassion. A three-year-old chimp named Mel lost his mother and was left all alone, but a 12-year-old male chimp named Spindle took care of him. He let him ride on his back and share his nest at night.

Marty noticed Toni’s high stress level and asked her what he could do to help. Toni broke down into tears before she could answer. Marty then discovered that she hadn’t received any word of approval of her work, and went to Toni’s boss to tell him about the situation.

“A few words of praise for the rest of the staff could only help,” Marty told him. The boss acted immediately on his suggestion and called all employees into the conference room after an hour of talking to Toni in his office. On the table were sweets and coffee, and he proceeded to tell each person his appreciation of what they had accomplished.

Since then, the boss would praise an employee when a job was well done. Toni became the company’s vice-president and stayed in the company. “The boss learned a valuable lesson which he’s never forgotten,” Marty said.

The children in Cateura grew better at playing musical instruments. Favio then came up with an idea to form an orchestra. The orchestra started small with a few members that grew to over thirty-five. It gave a new meaning to the life of the children and their families in the small town. The Recycled Orchestra became famous not only in Paraguay but also in other countries in South America. Their concerts in Brazil and Colombia were a great success. The group plays the classical music of Beethoven and Mozart. “We are doing the impossible. The world sends us garbage. We send back music,” Favio says.

Movie producer Juliana Penaranda discovered the group and created the movie “Landfill Harmonic.” The film features Favio, Nicolas, and the children. The movie made a big difference to the people of Cateura, and raised awareness of global issues using the poverty and garbage management in the country. Some donated real instruments to the children, but Favio wants to use the recycled ones to learn more about the poverty in Cateura.