Short Stories

Saturday, 25th may 2024. Living, as we are now, in the heat of the climate crisis, when the forest in Portugal is on fire, we know exactly what we have to do to put it out. We call the fire department, and we quickly roll out our own hoses. It’s all quite clear, isn’t it? We don’t wait until 2035 …

Saturday 18th May 2024. The CO2 observatory in space has been in operation since 2023, because what can be measured can be reduced. Until recently, it was always claimed that CO2 could not be seen, smelled, tasted, heard or even touched. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in the USA has the largest collection of geoscientists on the planet. Their mission …

Saturday 11th May 2024. The history of paper has closely accompanied the development of humankind over the centuries: from the transmission of new knowledge in science and philosophy to the spread of education and the achievement of political and historical awareness through the invention of the printing press. We at ECO123 also print still on paper (The new ECO123 issue …

Saturday 4th May 2024. The way he writes is not as dry as I initially thought. Rather, it is characterised by a highly active scientific competence, coupled with a writer’s finely tuned sense of humour in its practical application. The author does not remain locked away in an ivory tower of theory. As well as providing us with reliable findings, …

Saturday 20th April 2024. Do you know the beauty of wild orchids? Have you ever made a tea from lime blossom? Do you know the lavender-scented pillows that help you sleep? Those who love nature move within it carefully and, above all, mindfully. Because two feet can easily trample a valuable plant, a herb or a small, recently-planted tree. In …

Saturday 13th April 2024.   Prologue: We had been vaccinated, twice in fact. When we all came down with Covid-19 at the same time, I had the growing sensation that something had gone very wrong. Either it was the vaccine from the small hospital in Monchique that gave me the shot, or we’d caught it at the EB23 Manuel de …

Saturday, 6th April  2024. Water is not only the basis of life for animals and plants, but is also expected to become a contested resource in parts of the world in the coming decades. Climate change, wars, conflicts and other crises are exacerbating the already unequal access to water. According to UN figures, global water stress, i.e. the proportion of …

Saturday, the 30th of March 2024. Electric mobility: in the first two months of the year, more than 797,500 charges were made on the Mobi.E network in Portugal. So far this year, this amounts to an increase of 65 per cent in comparison with last year. More than 398,000 top-ups were recorded in February, representing a 73 per cent increase …

Saturday 23rd March 2024. Market gardening – the worldwide trend of small-scale farming based on the use of organic and regenerative farming techniques has arrived in the Algarve. More and more farms are offering their produce at farmers’ markets from Lagos to Tavira; some even deliver a weekly vegetable box to your doorstep. If you haven’t come across the term …

Saturday 16th March 2024. The people’s sovereign voice has spoken. That’s the way it is in a democracy: the Socialist Party took a bit of a beating and emerged with a couple of black eyes. But the AD alliance of conservative parties didn’t win anything either. The democratic parties lost in these elections. Those who haven’t realised this yet will …