The articles written by the PÚBLICO Brasil team are written in the variant of the Portuguese language used in Brazil.
Free access: download the PÚBLICO Brasil application at Android or IOS.
Fires, gigantic floods, extreme droughts, hurricanes… The famous climate changes, announced many years ago, are happening. The world seems to be collapsing! To give you an idea, in 1859, English physicist John Tyndall discovered and explained how the greenhouse effect worked. With a series of experiments, he showed that CO2 emissions in the atmosphere absorbed radiation and heat from the sun, which caused changes in the climate. In 1859! Since then, let’s face it, the situation on Earth has only gotten worse.
Tyndall’s discovery is 165 years old. We weren’t even born. We are not to blame for the current catastrophic conditions on our planet. So who’s to blame? And, if we are not to blame, should we stand by while the world ends in fire or water?
It’s not just our fault, of course, because individual actions are a grain of sand in the face of the changes that need to happen. An example: according to the Annual Report of Water and Waste Services in Portugal (RASARP 2023)the country’s water supply network loses 27% of the distributed volume every year through leaks and diversions. That’s 184 million cubic meters per year.
Now, let’s see: the average monthly consumption of a citizen is 3.3 cubic meters. Your 10-minute shower uses approximately 120 liters of water, or 0.12 cubic meters. Cutting your shower time to five minutes, or 0.6 cubic meters less, won’t change anything, right? Shall we do the math? If Portugal’s 10 million inhabitants decided to take a five-minute shorter shower, the annual savings would be almost 2.2 trillion cubic meters.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)10% to 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to what we do in our daily lives. The value varies depending on the country’s level of development. Therefore, if everyone, everyone, takes responsibility for doing what they can on a daily basis to reduce the impact of climate change — reducing water consumption, not buying unnecessary products, avoiding food waste, eating less meat, switching from cars to bicycles, avoiding plane trips, among other things — perhaps it will be possible to begin to see some improvement in the situation on Earth.
Unfortunately, our individual efforts will not be enough. Why? Because a large part of the decisions on the issues that lead to climate change are in the hands of governments, companies and agribusiness. This doesn’t mean there’s no point in doing anything. We, ordinary citizens, have the power and obligation to, in addition to taking our part, demand that those responsible do theirs.
If we know that a company does not follow the necessary standards to mitigate climate change, emits a lot of CO2, pollutes water, etc. we can avoid giving her money. Just don’t buy their products and report them. If a government official ignores or encourages the deforestation of forests, promotes fake news about climate change and approves those who act irregularly, we have the power not to vote for him.
It is often difficult to know what really happens, because production chains are complex. Therefore, an active concern with this fundamental theme is necessary: the end of the world. A friend has a son with a rare disease. The degree of knowledge she has about the problem and the way she fights on all fronts to guarantee the boy’s future is impressive.
In the same way, fathers and mothers, uncles and grandparents around the world should be fighting with all their might so that their descendants have a better future than the one we are envisioning. I know life is hard and we have other worries piled on top of the idea that our world is heading towards the end. Either way, we can always try to do the best we can.
As food is also important in this process, as livestock farming is responsible for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, here is a delicious recipe from the profile @fitgreenmind To reduce meat consumption:
Tofu meatballs with barbecue sauce
– 250 grams of tofu
– 1 small red onion chopped
– 5 cm of chopped ginger
– 1 handful of chopped parsley
– 1 handful of chopped mint
– 3 or 4 spoons of wheat, oat or chickpea flour
– Salt and pepper to taste
Break the tofu into small pieces by hand or with a fork and mix with the other ingredients until it forms a compact dough. Shape the meatballs into balls and fry in a little olive oil until crusty on all sides. Then, place them in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.
Barbecue sauce
– 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
– 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
– 2 tablespoons of date honey, syrup or honey
– 1 tablespoon of ketchup
– 1/2 teaspoon of powdered or liquid smoke (in spice or Arabic product stores)
– A little water
Mix everything in a frying pan (you can use the one you used to fry the meatballs) and let it reduce and thicken a little. Serve over the meatballs.
They are delicious accompanied by baked or fried potatoes.
