I do not make trash

or so is the translation of new Portuguese site hoping to encourage Portuguese to think about the trash they produce:

http://www.eunaofacolixo.com/

Save Sweden's Ancient Old Growth Forests!

Yesterday I signed this appeal for saving ancient old growth forests in Sweden.

To the Swedish Government:

- Protect all remaining old growth forest in Sweden,
increase the funding for nature conservation and fulfill the
environmental goals for the forest! (Living forests-levande skogar)

- We want to protect the forms of nature conservation that are
safeguarded by law: nature reserves, biotope protection areas
and national parks!

It is very important that the last ancient old growth forests in
Sweden are under the administration of a non-profit authority,
rather than forest companies.

- An important part demand is that all forests with high value for
biodiversity which were found during the inventory of state
forest shall by protected from forestry!

101 Ways, 360 and smoking ban

Internet is full of lists on how to improve your environmental impact.

Here is one with 101 points.

Would you use a bank that cannot count?
In Portugal the BES - the holy spirit bank (sic!) - has a commercial saying that if you want a new direction in life you should take a 360 degree turn with them. It is just than turning 360 is making a full circle so you are back where you started. If they really wanted to make full use of the angle analogy they would choose 90.

A recent Swedish report claims that non-smoking personnel that work in bars have much less problems with coughing and red eyes after the smoking ban in bars and restaurants were implemented in Sweden.

IKEA is one of the worst in Portugal in 2006

The Portuguese environment NGO Quercus has assigned IKEA as a worst case on their annual list of best and worst events in 2006. The list (In Portuguese). Or rather construction of a Swedwood factor in a environmentally protected area. Declassified by state or local government without much analysis, or so it seems.

The snippet which includes IKEA:
"Avanço de obras públicas e privadas em áreas classificadas
Ao longo de 2006 inúmeros foram os projectos públicos e privados viabilizados em áreas classificadas. Fazendo uso de instrumentos como as declarações de imprescindível utilidade pública e as classificações como projectos PIN (Potencial Interesse Nacional), o governo revelou ter como orientação base a viabilização de qualquer investimento mesmo que localizado em zona classificada como Reserva Ecológica Nacional (REN), Reserva Agrícola Nacional (RAN), povoamento de sobreiros e azinheiras ou Rede Natura 2000, sem olhar à existência de alternativas de localização.

Este tem sido o caso do IC9 (sublanço Carregueiros/Tomar), da fábrica do IKEA em Paços de Ferreira, das plataformas logísticas e da barragem do Sabor."

In short:
The Portuguese government has been very eager to classify many projects as being of national importance thus aiming to override several area protections such as "national ecological reserves", "national agricultural reserve" and Natura 2000 without even looking at alternatives (such as building on other sites). Natura 2000 is a very strict EU classification that usually has strong impact on making nearby large installations and has to be considered when making an Environmental Impact Assessment.

One of these instances is the construction of a Swedwood factory in Paços de Ferreira between Braga and Porto. Swedwood is a subsidy of IKEA.

IKEA is starting to build an image as being environmentally benign, but by this decision one can always wonder how serious about this they really are...