Tag Archive for: pollution

Tagus

Tagus
Chronicle of an announced death?

‘Got a cold beer?’
The bartender from the restaurant Pedro dos Leitões in Mealhada looked straight into the weary eyes of a stocky man in a blue jacket with Ministry of Environment written on it
‘Sure man, here you are. Been busy?’
‘You say it. Took us ages to get decent samples.’
‘Samples? Whereof?
‘Of that paper mill nearby, in Vila Velha de Rodão. We first only got that stinking foam and had to go really deep into the river to get nice samples ’
‘Oh, you mean Celtejo?’
It had been in all the newspapers and every day on TV. Celtejo, the cellulose factory had caused a natural disaster last month by dumping enormous amounts of waste in the drought-inflicted Tagus, the country’s largest river. Thousands of fish had died and tourists fled the area. The excessive discharges had probably been going on secretly for years. The government had decided to a 50% cut in production until further notice and Francisco Ferreira from ZERO – the sustainable terrestrial system association – already claimed compensation from Celtejo of 150.000 euro for damage done. Cleaning of the mess was estimated to cost at least one million euro according to Portugal’s Minister of Environment,  João Matos Fernandes.
‘Yeah, that’s the one’, nodded the client and pointed to his empty glass.
‘But why more samples?’ said the barkeeper. I thought the case was closed and Celtejo the culprit. The party for People, Animals, and Nature (PAN) demanded yesterday immediate closure of the plant. At least that’s what I’ve heard on the news.’
‘It’s not all that easy’, grumbled the official. ‘We have to be very sure before we can shut down a big company like that. Imagine what is going to happen with its 300 employees? Vila Velha completely depends on that industry. Besides that, we have to verify if its production has been really halved.
‘OK, thanks for the beer. They are expecting the data in Lisbon as of today.’
He briskly walked around the restaurant but came to an abrupt standstill when he reached the parking lot.
‘Oh no’, he whimpered when he saw the rear window of his car smashed and his PC gone.

Computer with confidential data from the Celtejo investigation stolen in restaurant Pedro dos Leitões, Mealhada
[ Expresso 23-2-2018 ]

‘The Tagus is more beautiful than the river that flows through my village,
But the Tagus is not more beautiful than the river that flows through my village
Because the Tagus is not the river that flows through my village.

The Tagus descends from Spain
And crosses Portugal to pour into the sea.
Everyone knows this.
But few know what the river in my village is called
And where it goes to
And where it comes from.
And so, because it belongs to fewer people,
The river of my village is freer and larger.’                 (Fernando Pessoa, 1914)


Bom fim de semana            Have a nice weekend             ( photo Público)

 

 

 

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Plastic

85% of all waste found on beaches in the world is plastic.

Disposable cutlery (plastic plates, cups, forks, and knives) should be forbidden in the catering industry if it is up to Portugal’s left-wing parties.

A draft legislation thereupon was submitted in July 2017 and discussed in Parliament early this year. Heloísa Apolónia – MP of the Ecological and Green Party (PEV) – explains ‘our proposal is to ban the use of plastic disposables in restaurants and bars and to look for biodegradable substitutes within 3 years.’

The director of the Hotel and Restaurant branch organization AHRESP, Jose Manuel Esteves, is not happy with the proposition and has more confidence in recycling. ‘This idea doesn’t make sense at all. If there is one sector that is exemplary for a circular economy, then it is ours.  Besides, the main users of disposables are not restaurants but institutions, hospitals, and public festivals.’

António Fonseca, the president of the Association of Bars in the Historic Center of Porto (ABZHP) – that encourages the legalization of the use of alcohol in public places – believes that the plans are irresponsible in the light of the danger glassware can cause in nightlife.

The MP of the ruling socialist party (PS) Joao Torres agrees with the proposals but doubts if a timetable of 3 years is realistic. He is more in favor of a ‘gradual implementation to enable the industry to develop sustainable alternatives’. The socialist government has therefore set up a working group and intends to present a bill on the matter in May.

To mobilize the public opinion, the Party for Animals and Nature (PAN) has written an open letter to Al Gore – former US vice-president and author of the documentary Inconvenient Truth – to involve him in their campaign in the social media to reduce plastic cutlery in Portugal (#AlGoreReplytoPan).

‘We have written this letter given his engagement in the pollution of our oceans – where the ‘plastic soup’ has meanwhile reached a size that is equivalent to 17 times the surface of Portugal – declares Andre Silva, MP of PAN. ‘The problem is too big to wait because in 10 to 20 years there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans and microplastics (from cosmetics and cleaning agents) will not only have killed the fish but also entered our bodies via the food chain.’


The non-profit environment organization Quercus recently challenged the Portuguese not to use disposable plastic products for the next 40 days (#40diassemplastico), at least until Easter.


Bom fim de semana                                                  Have a great weekend

 

 

 

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Megavervuilers

Niemand minder dan de 82-jarige Sophia Loren doopte begin deze maand in Le Havre het – volgens de eigenaar – 8e wereldwonder.

De Meraviglia (‘Wonder’) is 315 meter lang,  65 meter hoog en kan bijna 6000 passagiersvervoeren. Het is daarmee het grootste in Europa gebouwde cruiseschip ter wereld.

Verleden week meerde het – op zijn eerste reis – aan in Lissabon.

Goed voor de economie

Volgens Ana Paula Vitorino, minister van Zee en Visserij, zullen dit jaar ruim 300 cruiseschepen en 500.000 passagiers de – binnenkort geheel gerenoveerde – terminal van Santa Apolónia aandoen. ‘We zien de laatste jaren een constante groei van het aantal cruiseschepen en de komende 10 jaar verwacht ik een verdubbeling van het aantal passagiers in Lissabon, aldus de minister. ‘Dat is goed voor de stad en goed voor de economie.’

Slecht voor het klimaat

Klimaatactivisten waarschuwen echter voor de enorme vervuiling, die deze megaschepen veroorzaken. ‘Bij het melden van emissies wordt de uitstoot van schepen – die dicht langs de kust varen – nooit meegerekend’, aldus Francisco Ferreira, directeur van milieuorganisatie ZERO. ‘Als de uitstoot van zwaveldioxide van deze boten zou worden meegerekend, zou dat de officieel opgegeven uitstoot bijna verdubbelen.’ ‘Met een wind, die in Portugal meestal uit het westen waait, breidt de luchtvervuiling zich over de hele kuststreek uit.’

Luchtvervuiling

Zeeschepen gebruiken stookolie, de goedkoopste en smerigste diesel die er is. Dat leidt tot hoge emissie van CO2, zwaveldioxide en stikstofmonoxide. Volgens de Britse krant the Guardian en de Duitse milieuorganisatie NABU stoot een middelgroot cruiseschip net zoveel broeikasgassen uit als 5 miljoen middenklassenauto’s, die dezelfde afstand afleggen.

Maar ook voor anker in de haven – waarbij de motoren stationair blijven draaien voor de elektriciteitsvoorziening – gaat de vervuiling door en wordt per uur ruim 6 ton CO2 de lucht ingejaagd. Dat is evenveel als een Hummer produceert in een heel jaar.

Watervervuiling

Een cruiseschip met 3000 opvarenden loost per dag meer dan 100.000 liter rioolwater en produceert 7 ton afval, meldt het Amerikaanse milieuagentschap EPA. Nieuwere schepen hebben tegenwoordig waterzuiveringsinstallaties en verbrandingsinstallaties voor afval.
Maar bij het merendeel is dat nog niet het geval.

Geniet van het weekend             Tenha um excelente fim de semana

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