Portugal

and decarbonising transport 2016 was the hottest year since records started being kept of the planet’s temperature in the nineteenth century. Governments now seem to be facing the problem head on at an international level, and, following the agreements established in COP 21, COP 22 in Marrakesh has accelerated the implementation of those processes by the countries involved. José Mendes, State Secretary to the Minister for the Environment, told ECO 123 what is being done in Portugal, and in different parts of the world, in an attempt to slow down global warming. In addition to electrifying the transport system, producing …

You only become aware of the advantages of living in the countryside, in a village, and definitely a long way from the city and the coast, when you’re out walking, for example on a hike. Who wants to own a plot of land beside a beach that is flooded with salty water, or clean their teeth with water that tastes of salt or chlorine coming out of their apartment’s taps? Towns like Aveiro, Olhão, Faro, Albufeira, Portimão, Setúbal and Figueira da Foz lie more or less at sea level. With a spring tide at a time of climate change or …

Does Monchique really need a cable car? When organising a town or a city, the most fundamental requirement is, first of all, to define a strategic concept, however utopian this may be, that will enable everyone to understand what sort of human activity is essential there. The house is the first cosmic concept of organised and potentially positive space in the town’s dynamic construction, with all of its dreams and aspirations. Utopia is a necessary part of any visionary reform that can appeal to the town’s social imagination. The town mirrors the way in which social and personal relationships are …

Rolf Disch, who was born in 1944, is an architect. He lives and works in Freiburg, Germany. Disch became well known thanks to his special architectural achievements in the field of solar house construction. In 2003, he won the Global Energy Award for this. He is the inventor and designer of the energy-plus houses. In 2009, he won the Utopia Award. Characteristic of his renovated and newly-built houses, housing schemes and office buildings is the fact that they are CO2-neutral and architecturally unique. They produce more energy than they consume. ECO123 visited this pioneer in the cabin of his “sunship”. …

I recently bought myself an Interrail ticket for 224 euros. I used it to travel for five full days within a fortnight through half of Europe. The idea that I could stop here and there, get out and take my time, increased the sense of anticipation. And so I consulted the timetables of Portuguese and Spanish railways CP and RENFE. In doing so, I was amazed to discover that there is only one rail connection between Lisbon and Madrid (and back). Why? For the 600 km between the two cities, the train needs 13 hours. I realise that we in …

Käthe Tag | It is never too late to learn Born in Germany in 1938, and a nature-lover, Käthe Tag today lives in the southern Alentejo as a German among Portuguese. Her four children Sylvia, Oliver, Svea and Ines visit her regularly. At the beginning of the 1960s, she lived in Paris and London to learn French and English. After the early death of her husband in 1981, she started several types of medical training and later opened her own practice for biological medicine in the south of Germany. But at some stage she began to find it too cold …

Marcelino Vicente | The Hermit from Barbelote Next spring, after the end of winter, there will be a moment that’s well worth celebrating. On 30 March, Marcelino Zé Vicente will turn 80 years of age. For 67 years, he has lived in Barbelote, a small historic village, now in ruins, close to Foia, the highest point in the Serra de Monchique. For the last ten years, he has lived alone in a small house built of local stone. In 1949, when his parents bought the plot of land and moved up into the hills with their children, they also took …

Zé Pedro Mira | Shoemaker‘s Apprentice José Pedro Luís Mira Nunes (aged 23) was raised in a family of artisans. His creative side was stimulated from a very early age through handicraft, drawing and painting and, although his educational background was in Science, he always dedicated his spare time to creative activities, based mainly on what nature had to offer. His family have been engaged in the art of making shoes by hand in Monchique since the nineteenth century. Everything started with his great-great-grandfather, José Francisco, who handed the trade on to his son, José Andrés Mira, his great-grandfather, who …

Madan Thapa Magar | Emigrant The country of Nepal is 800 km long and 180 km wide, covering 147,181 square kilometres. Its land area is 50% bigger than Portugal. It is home to 27 million people, two and a half times as many as in Portugal. In the north, the country borders Tibet, in the south India. Southern Nepal, known as the Terai, consists of river landscapes, jungles and vast areas of agricultural land, and is densely populated. Most rural villages and small towns are located in the water-rich south. Agriculture and small industries dominate the economic picture. The north …

Carlos Bernardes | ECO Mayor Torres Vedras is on the coast, 50 km north of Lisbon, and it is in a strategic location for taking advantage of renewable energy. With 57 wind turbines in twelve different farms, this municipality is self-sufficient in energy and its policy of sustainability means that it has received a number of European environmental and sustainability certifications. Carlos Bernardes, aged 48, has been in the local authority for 20 years, and, after being the councillor in charge of the environment for ten years, he became President of the Council at the end of last year, after …