International agencies and scientific research have been calling for the inclusion of children in disaster preparedness and risk reduction, to hear their voices in order to address their specific needs and vulnerabilities and harness their capabilities in terms of building community resilience. This article assesses the roles ascribed to children in policy and education for disaster risk reduction in Portugal. The approach is based on a scoping methodology that encompasses document analysis and interviews with national and local stakeholders and policymakers in the disaster risk reduction field. The research is carried out within the scope of a European funded project, CUIDAR Cultures of Disaster Resilience among Children and Young People. More specifically, the article provides an overview of the discourses on the roles ascribed to children in urban disaster risk reduction (DRR). The authors maintain that although children are often taken as a target group in urban disaster prevention and management, they are seldom considered in terms of active participation in disaster risk reduction programs in the Portuguese context. Nevertheless, our analysis shows that there is a growing awareness of the relevance of active participation by children in order to create successful DRR.

In a time of economic crisis the need to adopt energy conservation practices comes to the fore. It is helpful to evaluate the role of young people as both consumers and potential agents of change bridging the gap between school and family to encourage lower household energy consumption. Based on two surveys of parents and students of a secondary school in Lisbon, plus in-depth interviews with parents, this article analyzes the complexity of this challenge, highlighting adults' perceptions of their children's contribution to energy saving. Results show that parents see young people as major energy consumers. Young people's engagement with electronic equipment as essential components of their lifestyles and their belief in technology as a solution to energy problems thwart them from being promoters of energy saving. In this context of scarcity, parents try to protect their children's well-being and opportunities in life by accepting their children's unrestricted energy use.

Nos últimos anos tem-se assistido em Portugal ao crescimento exponencial do número de parques eólicos, respondendo às pressões políticas e económicas para atingir metas ambiciosas no que concerne à produção de energia através de fontes renováveis. A nível geral, este desenvolvimento tem-se pautado por discursos consensuais-mitigação das alterações climáticas, diminuição da dependência energética face ao exterior-, mas ao nível local e situado os conflitos tornam-se visíveis (destruição visual da paisagem, impactes nocivos nos ecossistemas rurais, nas atividades turísticas, na saúde). Este artigo tem como objetivo explorar os conflitos em torno da energia eólica, com base num estudo de caso exploratório realizado na aldeia histórica de Sortelha, acompanhado da análise de variadas fontes empíricas, tais como dados estatísticos, estudos de impacte ambiental, artigos de imprensa e de blogues.

a b s t r a c tThe article examines how social practices of charging and managing the power of mobile phones are formed. The usefulness of the concept of distributed agency as a tool for the understanding of the dimensions that constitute social practices related to energy consumption is explored. Based on findings from interviews and a survey conducted with adolescents, three moments in the formation of these practices are identified: emergence of elementary battery use, acceleration of rhythm and establishment of links, and normalization. The article provides empirical evidence of the distributed agency of bodies, objects, and socio-cultural contexts in the development of these practices.

This article attempts to explain the swift development of renewable energy, in particular wind energy, in Portugal, by assessing the socio-political, community and market acceptance of renewables. We examine, on the one hand, the institutional and policy framework, the approaches to planning, and the ownership of facilities, and, on the other hand, the attitudes of Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations and citizens towards renewable energy in general and local windfarms in particular. Results show that a highly attractive feed-in tariff system and a system of planning decisions at the national level has led to an expansion of wind power, regardless of a less than enthusiastic public opinion and a sceptical environmental movement.