Portugal

In the heart of the Lower Alentejo, an ecological village, practically self-sufficient, plans to show the way and offer local solutions for global problems, in harmony with the environment. A community which wants to do more and better, at a time when resources are increasingly hard to come by. The bell rings. Once, twice, three times. It’s the signal that lunch is ready. It’s time to rest one’s body and placate one’s stomach. Gradually, the people who have been involved in different tasks throughout the community start to arrive for lunch. Their faces, flushed from working in the scorching heat, …

Carob, the fruit of the carob tree, is part of the history and traditions of certain regions in Portugal, especially the Algarve. These days, despite its huge potential, its use is practically limited to animal fodder. Characteristics of carob Carob is recognised as being very rich in anti-oxidants, with a 2011 study (1) having found them in carob flour. It also has anti-carcinogenic activity, and has shown a capacity to attack cervical cancer cells and to assist in repairing damage caused by free radicals. Another investigation (2) dating from 2010 compared two groups of people with high cholesterol; one group …

O importante não é apenas a atitude interior. A perda de peso não deve estar em primeiro plano. É fundamental uma preparação adequada. Abstenha-se do consumo de álcool uma semana antes do início do jejum. Três dias prévios de renúncia a todas as proteínas de origem animal como carne, peixe ou produtos lácteos são recomendados. Ao invés, consuma arroz, batata ou fruta. A limpeza dos intestinos é aconselhada, por exemplo, através de um clister. Se necessário, um bom suco de chucrute, com o estômago vazio, é o suficiente. Escolha uma altura conveniente. Durante esse período, não aceite convites, viva com …

Sustainable food production – the example of the success story of Risca Grande  It is a cool Saturday morning at the end of October. A group of six students from the Beja College of Agriculture and their lecturer in olive growing are heading for Santa Iria, 30 km away. Shortly after leaving the village, they turn on to a gravel road. A road sign shows them the direction: Risca Grande – extra virgin olive oil. The destination for the trip was carefully chosen by the lecturer Carlos Filipe: after all, Risca Grande has become a model business for organic olive …

from Dr. Eusébio Conceição Every year, a kindergarten in Olhão used to be ravaged by flu and colds. Today, the children are healthier and do their activities in airier rooms with improved air quality. It doesn’t involve any magic, improvisation or divine intervention; but is rather the fruit of a scientific study and the application of such simple measures as strategically opening some windows and, in the future, planting trees and constructing strategically located shade structures.

Rcicla was the first shop in Portugal devoted to building and repairing customised bicycles by recycling material from other bicycles. Now it is also the first to build a bike entirely out of parts from a disused car, everything from the bodywork to the upholstery. The challenge was set by the Leo Burnett advertising agency, which produced a promotional video of the “Karma Project” (1). The aim is to submit a moribund vehicle to karmic purification, and to demonstrate that, apart from being a sustainable and enjoyable means of transport, a bike doesn’t have to be expensive and can be …

“Since the start of the Garbags project in 2009, we have collected 28,456 coffee packets, 21,450 milk and juice packets, 1,180 shampoo bottles and toothpaste tubes, 1,265 coffee capsules and 2,350 assorted used packages, stopping them going to land-fill,” said Tânia Sofia Moreira Anselma, the manager of Garbags. This is the equivalent of transporting all the furniture from a three-bedroom apartment. Garbags inspires people to think about their daily waste and to regard it in a different way. Garbags recycles waste, transforming it into nice fashion accessories that are durable, tough, practical, fun and make people dream. It is collected …

Getting international business, innovating and creating sustainable value. Cova da Beira was on show in the Arab world in November and got everyone talking. The olive oil with its flakes of gold, rose-flavoured jelly, wine, cured meats, cheeses, jams and the famous cherries whet people’s appetites in the food market in Abu Dhabi and awoke the locals’ curiosity. To such an extent that the region welcomed a group of investors from Qatar in February who are interested in acquiring businesses for the exclusive production of certain products. “Participating in international fairs in selected markets is part of the strategy of …

In 2008, the team led by Professor Elvira Fortunato of the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT) of Lisbon’s Universidade Nova publicly announced the creation in a laboratory of the first paper transistors. Since then, they have participated in international projects with companies aiming to develop a paper with suitable properties for electronics. This discovery was regarded as being revolutionary worldwide because “for the first time it was proved that cellulose paper could be considered an electronic material. To make a transistor, you need insulating, conducting and semi-conducting materials. In this particular case, the cellulose represents the transistor’s insulating material” …