Internationalization, education and technological innovation: three key factors to improve the quality of the environment and public health ; Internacionalização, educação e inovação tecnológica: três fatores chave para melhorar a qualidade do meio ambiente e saúde pública
The environment and the health of mankind are subject to strong pressures from pollutants. The ambition of a better quality of life is often frustrated by the increase in emissions as a result of the increasing consumption of resources and energy to satisfy the growth of the world's population and its expectations for socioeconomic development. At times, problems take on a planetary dimension, the best known example being greenhouse gas emission, with the resulting effects of climate change. Pollution highlights our failure to provide adequate education, which is essential if we are to become fully aware of problems and actively seek sustainable solutions. To this end, it is essential to set up an extended environmental and health education program in all communities that will accompany younger generations from the beginning of their education in order to make them conscious players in protecting the environment and their own health. The size of the problems requires that a joint effort be made at an international level in the political realm and in the scientific-cultural realm in order to share experiences and sensitivity and to seek joint solutions. It is necessary to assign an increasingly important role to scientific and technological innovation which, in the last century, from Marconi to Einstein to Fleming, to the most recent innovations in the fields of genomics and microchips, has allowed humanity to achieve a rate of growth of wellbeing never previously seen in its thousands of years of history. This innovation must rationally be entrusted with our expectations to provide a practical solution to the problems of pollution that threaten our everyday lives and the survival of the planet. This text discusses the types of progress most eagerly awaited in the fields of water supply, wastewater treatment, atmospheric pollution and waste disposal. ; O meio ambiente e a saúde humana estão sob forte pressão de poluentes. A ambição de uma qualidade de vida melhor é muitas vezes frustrada pelo crescimento das emissões, devido ao aumento do consumo de recursos e energia para atender à crescente população mundial e às expectativas de desenvolvimento socioeconômico. Às vezes os problemas assumem uma dimensão global, da qual o exemplo mais conhecido é constituído pela emissão de gases de efeito estufa e os consequentes efeitos nas alterações climáticas. Poluição tem as suas raízes na falta de educação adequada, como base imprescindível para uma tomada de consciência das questões e participação na busca de soluções sustentáveis. Neste sentido, é essencial começar, em todas as comunidades, um extenso programa de educação ambiental e de saúde que possa acompanhar a geração mais jovem desde as fases iniciais do estudo, para torná-los protagonistas conscientes do meio ambiente e da sua própria saúde. A dimensão do problema exige um esforço conjunto a nível internacional pela política e pela ordem científico-cultural para transferir experiências e sentimentos e também buscar soluções compartilhadas. Um papel sempre mais importante deve ter a inovação científica e tecnológica, que no século passado, a partir de Marconi a Einstein e a Fleming até as últimas inovações nas áreas de genômica e microchips, permitiu à humanidade alcançar uma taxa de crescimento do bem-estar nunca conseguida antes, em milhares de anos de história. Esta inovação está atrelada às nossas expectativas de fornecer uma solução prática para os problemas de poluição que ameaçam a nossa vida diária e a sobrevivência do planeta. No texto, são citados os progressos mais esperados nas áreas de abastecimento de água e tratamento de esgotos, poluição do ar e disposição dos resíduos sólidos. ; The environment and the health of mankind are subject to strong pressures from pollutants. The ambition of a better quality of life is often frustrated by the increase in emissions as a result of the increasing consumption of resources and energy to satisfy the growth of the world's population and its expectations for socioeconomic development. At times, problems take on a planetary dimension, the best known example being greenhouse gas emission, with the resulting effects of climate change. Pollution highlights our failure to provide adequate education, which is essential if we are to become fully aware of problems and actively seek sustainable solutions. To this end, it is essential to set up an extended environmental and health education program in all communities that will accompany younger generations from the beginning of their education in order to make them conscious players in protecting the environment and their own health. The size of the problems requires that a joint effort be made at an international level in the political realm and in the scientific-cultural realm in order to share experiences and sensitivity and to seek joint solutions. It is necessary to assign an increasingly important role to scientific and technological innovation which, in the last century, from Marconi to Einstein to Fleming, to the most recent innovations in the fields of genomics and microchips, has allowed humanity to achieve a rate of growth of wellbeing never previously seen in its thousands of years of history. This innovation must rationally be entrusted with our expectations to provide a practical solution to the problems of pollution that threaten our everyday lives and the survival of the planet. This text discusses the types of progress most eagerly awaited in the fields of water supply, wastewater treatment, atmospheric pollution and waste disposal.
