Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a high tower and she was not allowed to leave because of her mean mother. One day she chose to leave but her mother would not let her. The princess climbed out the window of the high tower and climbed down the south wall when her mother was sleeping. She wandered out a good ways. Finally she went into the forest where there are no electric poles but where there are some caves. There she met a young man who was running. His name was John. John asked the princess why such a beautiful woman like her was out in the middle of a forest. She said that she had been trapped for her whole life by an evil woman who said she was her mother. The man said that he would take the princess to a castle that was near. He also said that he thought that she may be the missing princess. As they go through the forest they run into many problems. They see that they are lost and have no way of finding where to go. After several days pass, the princess climbs up to the top of a tree in order to find out where they are. She sees that the castle where they want to go is not that far away and near a mountain. After thinking of the best way to get there, John and the princess go to the castle where they live for the rest of their lives.

Who are the two main characters in the story?

Reducing resource use means just what it says using fewer resources. There are lots of ways to reduce our use of resources. Buy durable goods. Choose items that are well made so they will last longer. Youll buy fewer items in the long run, so youll save money as well as resources. Thats a win-win! Repair rather than replace. Fix your bike rather than buying a new one. Sew on a button instead of buying a new shirt. Youll use fewer resources and save money. Buy only what you need. Dont buy a gallon of milk if you can only drink half of it before it spoils. Instead, buy a half gallon and drink all of it. You wont be wasting resources (or money!) Buy local. For example, buy local produce at a farmers market, like the one in Figure 2.20. A lot of resources are saved by not shipping goods long distances. Products bought at farmers markets use less packaging, too! About a third of what we throw out is packaging.

How does buying only what you need to avoid resource waste?

To protect its seagoing interests and trade routes, Portugal established strategic garrisons in Goa (India), Malacca (East Indies), and Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Portuguese explorers then embarked upon Macau (now Macao), the Congo, and various other parts of Africa, including the Sudan. The Portuguese policy was to avoid armed strife and to develop a trade empire, rather than to conquer nations. To this end it succeeded with relatively few blood-soaked episodes in its colonial history. Adventures abroad, however, proved disastrous during the second half of the 16th century. In 1557 the 14-year-old boy-king Sebastiao ascended the throne, the beginning of a calamitous reign that was to end at the battle of Alcacer-Quiber (Morocco) in pursuit of a vain crusade. Sebastiao's untimely demise, alongside some 18,000 ill-prepared, badly led followers, set the stage for a crisis of succession. For many years afterwards, legends and rumors bizarrely insisted that the king was still alive, and imposters turned up from time to time claiming the throne; those who were plausible enough to be deemed a threat were summarily executed. In fact, the only rightful claimant to the crown was the elderly Prince Henry. But after two years of alternating between the throne and his sickbed, he died, heirless. Surveying the situation and smelling an opportunity, Spain occupied the power vacuum, and Portugal's neighbor and long-time antagonist became its master. Spanish rule dictated Portugal's inadvertent involvement in Spain's ongoing wars. In 1587 a squadron of British ships commanded by Francis Drake attacked the Algarve (now a "legitimate target" as Spanish territory) and sacked Sagres, thus depriving the world of the relics of Henry the Navigator. Nine years later Faro was torched. The 1386 Treaty of Windsor, by which Britain and Portugal had pledged eternal friendship, seemed a distant memory. Portugal's empire was gradually eroded, and many of its trading posts (with the notable exception of Brazil) were picked off by the British and Dutch. Finally, after 60 years of Spanish rule, Portuguese noblemen (aided by the French, then at war with Spain) organized a palace coup and restored independence. The Great Disaster Portugal's greatest misfortune struck on All Saint's Day, 1 November 1755.
What policy played an important role in helping Portugal to have relatively few blood-soaked episodes in its colonial history?