“Super Recycler” or “Bio Guardiã” use the power of youth to create a more sustainable world

Super Recycler, Capitão Climão, Bio Guardiã, Ocean Oracle, Super Gota, DIVArsidadde, Ambienta-te, CincoR or Circularis are some of the superheroes created by about two hundred young people who accepted the challenge by the Porto Municipality to celebrate International Youth Day, on the 12th of August. Under the theme defined by the United Nations as “Green Skills for Youth: towards a sustainable world”, some dozen other young people used their power to pick up litter in harmony with the practice of physical exercise.

“If you were an environmental superhero, what would your name be and what superpowers would you have?”. To this question there were several answers: being able to accelerate the natural recovery of species and ecosystems, being telepathically connected with sea creatures allowing for a better understanding of the ocean’s needs and the creatures that live in it, turn all trash and waste into trees and purify the atmosphere, turn all plastic from the oceans into fish with a single touch, bring awareness to all of the urgent need to not pollute the planet, turn cars into bicycles, manage the amount of water waste and reduce water pollution, filter all air and water, save the bees and make all trash disappear, accelerate the reproduction of endangered species, automate the circular economy with a wand, among many others.

“The challenge, issued online, has the purpose of stimulating in a fun way the creativity of young people and to better understand their environmental preoccupations, allowing for reflexion and work”, the councillor for Health and Life Quality, Youth and Sport asserted.

However, more than a utopia, International Youth Day means concrete action and a proposal for a networking plogging activity. According to Catarina Araújo, the idea was to “make young people run in the street while picking up trash they would find along the way, whether they were in the city or in vacation. They would also have to, of course, separate the trash. This way, they are active agents - in the more literal sense of the word - in the search for sustainable solutions for the environment”, the councillor added.

The Municipality of Porto believes that, by committing with the environment, young people will be making a difference in the future of cities as citizen promoters of healthy environments, leading to an increase of the life quality and well-being of all.