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?
Portugal is currently in quarantine due to the coronavirus, which has created chaos worldwide. Despite having to stay in his forties, it seems to be something simple, it becomes a harsh reality for which society has woken up and has shown difficulties in dealing with this new challenge that has been posed to us.
However, this new reality has revealed signs that some pollution indicators have decreased dramatically, motivated by the slowdown in industrial production and mass tourism. However, there is an aspect that is in the minds of many, the excessive exposure to external dependence on essential products. In light of this, there are small solutions that could make our society more sustainable. Some of these solutions include having a vegetable garden at home or even a chicken, which could alleviate the frenzy that causes hoarding acts that we can all easily observe.
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.
In the fight against the pandemic all ways have been used with a human effort never seen before in the world, proving that the human being is able, when united, to overcome many challenges ahead. This noisy epidemic contrasts with the epidemic that happens at sea and that influences the life of all living beings on the planet. The sea needs solutions, not problems!
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavírus (SARS-COV-2). This pandemic started three months ago and we are already feeling changes in our lives. But, what’re the environmental impacts of it?
Young Reporters for the Environment 