João Fonseca, Portugal, 14 years old The Douro Demarcated Region is suffering climate change’s impacts with serious consequences for the region’s economy. Earth’s termical balance is being compromised due to the acumulation […]
Marie Drahoňovská, the Czech Republic The Wenceslas Square slowly fills up with the curious ones, who came to see the non-traditional New Years Eve celebration. Instead of traditional firework, the Municipality of […]
Matthew, Malta, 18 Economies grinding to an abrupt halt. The masses purchasing a maddening amount of toilet paper and non-perishable foods. The bewildering number of people sharing fake news on social media. […]
Luís Martins, Portugal – 13 years old The ‘Jornada Principal, environmental association, promises to intensify the protests against the landfill in Sobrado, in the municipality of Valongo. The movement will spread black […]
On March 11th 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the Coronavirus a pandemic, leading to many changes in our habits. As we were forced to take a series of preventive measures, our lifestyle saw a complete overhaul. Now, we have to learn as a society a new way how to socialize in spite of the anxiety and uncertainty about our future. How does this pandemic affect us socially and individually? Should we stick to our past (wrong) ways of living or do we reinvent ourselves?
Since November 2019, COVID-19 has strongly hit China and, shortly after, the whole world. Portugal was one of the affected countries. Europe even more. The USA even more than Europe. An epidemic that quickly became a pandemic changed the behavior of almost everyone.
The Sobrado landfill, in Valongo, continues with the business of importing waste, but this time there is an added concern as it is receiving hospital waste from various parts of the north of the country and also from Italy. This situation caught the attention of the “Jornada Principal” association, which, for fear of the spread of the Coronavirus outbreak, demanded, as a way of mitigating risks to public health, the incineration of such waste with a classification related to its hazardousness of Group 1 and 2 (Group 1 being the lowest degree of danger).
It was relievingly that this week the much awaited Antonov plane landed in Porto with medical help to support the national health system. This time 3.5 million masks, 300,000 caps, 100,000 gowns and other protective materials arrived for the doctors, urses and other health professionals who are on the front line in fighting against covid-19. These 80 tons of disposable personal protective material will end up in a landfill and this will obviously have various repercussions.
The recent outbreak of Coronavirus, a disease declared a pandemic, has had enormous repercussions not only at the national level, but also worldwide. From stopped cities, closed borders to paralyzed factories, there are numerous obvious consequences that the “plague” has caused.Despite these misfortunes, it is possible to verify some positive impacts, environmental issues, showing an opportunity to rethink our lifestyle.
Advantages and disadvantages of a pandemic that has made 25 countries declare a state of emergency.
