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Short Stories

Nº 105 – Minimising the Risk of Forest Fires.
An essay by Uwe Heitkamp

Saturday 18th September 2021. By now every serious democratic candidate has been given the chance to air their views on the forest fires in a 30-minute unscripted interview. Their replies to the question of what they are intending to do to break the cycle of forest fires in Monchique, or to stop them altogether, makes it look as if they didn’t really have a solution in mind. José Chaparro, Bruno Estremores, João Duarte and Paulo Alves are the four candidates who all want to become mayor, and all of them still have a real chance to make this happen. Unless …

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Nº 104 – After a forest fire is always also before a forest fire
The CDU’s André Varela is shirking his responsibility

Saturday 11th September 2021. It was in the wake of the major forest fire in September 2003 that I first launched an appeal in the newspaper I was running at the time to help the victims and initiate a reforestation project in Monchique. I visited the new owners of an area called Covão de Águia, who had bought those woodlands, spanning over 60 hectares and including houses and ruins on 5 September 2003 at the notary’s office, with no inkling that their land might burn just one week later. It was a miracle that the house itself hadn’t burnt down …

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Nº 103 –
First part – Rural exodus
Second part – Interview with Paulo Alves PS

Saturday 4th September 2021 Modern life has caught up with Monchique too, a little while ago already actually. However, the old traditional life remains alive on the Monchique mountains, at an altitude of 500 metres above sea level. The novelties came creeping up the hills and mountains over the past decades, on their way from Portimão and Lisbon, but also with tourism from abroad. According to the tourism authority, the mountain summit of Foía, with an elevation of 902 metres, is the second-most visited spot in the Algarve. The best example for Modern Life is fashion and its sometimes erratic …

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Nº 102 –
First part – Men Only, is it?
Second part – Interview with João Duarte CPM

Saturday the 28th of August 2021 Not a single woman candidate in sight. Really, is it only men on these election posters? Over half of humanity isn’t standing in this election. This is just not on. I am observing the local elections with the eyes of a journalist, a foreigner from a EU country, not in Afghanistan, no, in Portugal. And what is being offered to me, dear Politics, in Monchique and many other communities across the country, is not the representative choice of female candidates I’d like to see. On top of that we have that guy from our …

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Nº 101 –
First part – We’re at war again …
Second part – Interview with Bruno Estremores PSD

Saturday 21st August 2021 when what we urgently need is peace. Last Sunday there was a fire not even a kilometre away from our Botanical Garden project in Caldas de Monchique. Someone had deliberately or negligently thrown something inflammable out of a car window. A cigarette, a glass bottle? Who knows? The helicopters are flying attacks on the fire just like in a real war. They are throwing water-filled bombs onto the flames, flying one sortie after the other. It’s like a film about Vietnam. They need two hours, aided by ground troops, to win the battle with the enemy. …

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Nº 100 –
First Part – A tree needs time to grow.
2nd Part – Interview with José Chaparro CDS-PP with Podcast

Saturday 14th August 2021 We should, all of us, try and bring ecology and economy together in a practical way, make peace. As awful as forest fires are, on a second glance, once the shock and trauma subside, they do provide a huge chance. Planting slow-growing mixed forests from scratch takes time, yet is eminently important. Many of the forests that fell victim to the heat and forest fires of the past few years had their roots in an era where the forest only served as a quick self-service for business. This is starting to change as we speak, whether …

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Nº 99 – Basta! (Let’s nip this in the bud!)

Saturday 7th August 2021 An inner compass is the most important thing in life. Is that true? ECO123 is planning to ask the various mayoral candidates fighting the coming local elections about their vision of politics. We had intense discussions about whether we wanted to provide the candidate representing the new fascist party with an opportunity to voice his ideas. As democratic journalists we have our doubts. But yes, in the event we would have some questions ready. For instance this one: „Have you ever visited the island of Santiago in Cabo Verde?“ To holiday on the Cape Verde islands? …

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Nº 98 –

The Clown.

A new take on the eponymous novel by Heinrich Böll, reworked by Theobald Tiger

Saturday the 31st July 2021 If this was a comedy at the theatre and if we could just have a good old laugh about it, heave a sigh, or just find some distraction, then this story could feature a proper happy ending. Maybe it might result in a success story, if we were able to use it to solve the major problems alongside all the little ones. Isn’t that right? But do we even want to read a story like this here?   Life needs a certain direction, the Clown calls out into the ring, referring to the four seasons …

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Nº 97 – Will we be able to change our attitude towards nature?

Saturday the 24th July 2021 Avoiding emissions, reducing our footprint… – life today is really a lot about mindfulness. Mindfulness? asks one of ours volunteers who comes in on a Friday morning to water the trees she looks after in the Botanical Garden. What is it I should be mindful of? The birds in the forest, for instance. Listen to this nightingale over there singing its song. Remember its song, make it your own. This, claims 84-year-old German professor Gernot Böhme*, is to find art in ecology. Böhme is virtually unknown in Portugal to date, his many books not available …

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Nº 96 –
Ten steps to climate neutrality.
Make big climate gangster pay.

Saturday 17th July 2021 At the moment, several climate lawsuits dealing with the pollution of the atmosphere by emissions of CO2 and other gases are either pending before the European Court of Justice, and other national European courts (the Netherlands, Germany, Austria etc.), or have already been won. The plaintiffs, mostly young people active in the global www.fridaysforfuture.org climate justice movement, see their very future threatened by climate change. Oil production companies and refineries like the American ExxonMobil (BP, Shell, Galp etc.) and banks such as the English Standard Chartered which continue to finance the construction of coal-fired power plants …

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