We believe in climate change, but we don’t contribute to remediation

Alvaro Cruz Rojas – Editor-in-Chief

96.8% of Salvadorans believe The world is suffering and is experiencing negative impacts Climate change andNine out of ten Salvadorans believe El Salvador has had “hotter” temperatures in recent yearsThese are two of the findings of a survey conducted between July 26 and 31 by the Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) on environmental issues.

For example, the Salvadorans They perceive a decrease in animals and birds in their environment: 76.7% of respondents said they were observing fewer animals today; 16.3% said they were seeing the “same animals” and 6.5% were seeing “more animals”.

Residents of the country are warned of severe pollution pollute Overall: in rivers (89.6%), beaches (79.5%), air (80.7%), communities (73.3%), most attributed it to plastic waste (63.5%), but also to wastewater (16.6), industrial waste (11) and agricultural chemicals (8.3).

Most of the pollution is found in cities, rivers, streams and beaches; smaller amounts are found in neighborhoods, buses, lakes and rural areas.

Eight in ten Salvadorans (82.2%) believe More floods In recent winters, although the majority (62.2%) believed that this was due to “accumulation of garbage in the swallows’ bodies”, only 23.7% believed that it was due to construction and deforestation.

All of these findings are correct, but when it comes to finding someone responsible, eight out of ten people Salvadoran They believe government People in this country care little or nothing about the environment.

For example, no one says that pollution is caused by citizens, and that urban flooding – and sometimes river flooding – is caused by throwing garbage on the streets and clogging sewers. It turns out that surveys show that only a third of people separate their garbage at home (a figure that is still too high for me).

This is an important part of the problem. As long as we continue to blame the responsibility for climate change on others, be it governments, corporations, NGOs, etc., we will not contribute to the solution. We must take our own responsibilities, and the management and disposal of waste is a great example of how bad we are and how much we must correct.