Interviews

ECO123 spoke to the inventor of a completely new method of producing recycled paper, the biologist Dr. Philipp Althöfer (47). He studied natural sciences at the universities of Düsseldorf, Bonn and Cologne. The topic for his diploma thesis was: Biotechnical treatment of process-water using the example of a paper factory processing scrap paper in a large city. And his 2001 doctoral thesis: Softening and re-use of biologically treated circulation water from paper manufacture. Althöfer is a lecturer at the University of Cologne, teaching the course “Biological Cleaning of Wastewater”. Just before this edition went to press, Althöfer showed ECO123 the …

If there is one person who takes the maxim “think globally, act locally” literally, it is Tom Bauer, founder member of the NGO Surfing The Nations (STN). Based in Hawaii and founded in 1997, STN allowed Tom to combine his two passions: surfing and humanitarian work. The aim is to counteract the idea that surfing is something done by egomaniacs obsessed with personal fulfilment. But also to motivate practitioners to go out of their comfort zone and provide hope and change for local people who are in need of both of these things. But exactly how can surfing contribute to …

Despite the difficulties, there are many Guineans – both residents and emigrants, in which Portugal plays an important part – who are looking for ways to improve the country, trying to reverse the trend towards political, military and economic fragility. To this end, a group of Guinean women resident in Portugal decided to join forces drawing on the experience of Filomena Djassi. She is a woman with well-founded ideas, and, despite her youth, she is already taking on a leadership role. After a training course with a group of women in Lisbon, she spoke to ECO123. ECO123: Who is Filomena …

Imagine you wake up one fine morning with a dream in your head that won’t go away. No matter how much you try it just stays there. Now your dream begins to take shape. Your idea is joined by shapes, colours, sounds. You start to feel it crystallise in your imagination, to hear it, to see it before you, to smell it in your nose and taste it on your lips. Your idea grows. It’s time to get up. The day begins and you imagine that everything was just a nice dream. Because however good the idea was, it’s just …