Transgenic, or genetically modified, crops are a marginal issue for most people in the United States. This is not the case in Europe, where the issue of transgénicos is very much in the forefront of the public's mind.

Comercio Justo, or “Fair Trade” products are often seen in “socially conscious” retailers like health and “whole” food shops. It presents a novel approach to doing business that takes into account social and environmental factors in its pricing to consumers and directly compensates commodity food producers, like coffee and cocoa farmers. Here proponents explain the philosophy from several different vantage points.

Can an educated public really create a kinder, gentler, consumer society? Do informed buyers make decisions more sensitive to their world? Can you have your cake and eat it too? Some activists think that voracioius consumers need not be subdued, but only that their desires be tweaked, redirected…

Do those who control the wealth in a society also dictate its desires? In this segment we’re able to listen in on the discourse of Spanish intellectuals critical of the modern consumer culture, which they see as something of a Svengali-like oppressor and manipulator of the masses.

Can a consumer-driven market be replaced by an informed system of mutual cooperation by a like-minded populace? Is the market always at odds with the well being of the planet? Is it true that otro mundo es possible? Let’s find out what some experts think…

She loves Barcelona, but lovely Tatiana’s accent quickly gives her away as a colombiana (from Bogotá, to be precise). Until the Olympics came to town and spurred a facelift, Barcelona wasn’t really living up to its potential. But now it is fully exploiting its great location on the Mediterranean Sea.

The game of brisca uses 40 cards known as the “Spanish deck.” One aspect of play involves using body language to reveal your hand to your partner. This is why the gentleman says “we blink an eye and we do like this…” He is making a joke about this body language/cards relationship when he says “your head aches when you have the ace of oros.”

The feisty Sevillian María La Mala Rodriquez talks about her career as a Spanish hip-hop artist. True to her “southern” roots, she often drops her “s” sounds, the way Carolina mentions in her clip on the various accents of Spain.

Patricia talks about ways to stay active in Coro, Venezuela, patrimonio cultural de la humanidad. She enjoys the gym and classes in Tae Bo, an exercise phenomenon that seems to know no political boundaries. She also enjoys going out on Friday nights with friends to the local disco. As far as boys go, it seems a young man named Leopaldo is winning the race to her heart…

Medical student Patricia Martí tells us about the study she is conducting in the village of Adícora. The study is a look at the incidence of skin problems caused by sun exposure in this town where many people work outdoors, including quite a few fishermen.

Patricia will soon be a full-fledged doctor of medicine, but first she must complete the internship she is doing in the rural Venezuelan community of Charaima, on the Peninsula de Paraguaná. She tells us a little bit about the road she’s travelled to get to this point in her academic career.

In a time of pretty sharp political divide in Venezuela, Patricia, gives a frank middle-of-the-road explanation of the current political climate and her place in the country’s politics as apolitica.