With the Mobility Plan underway in many streets and avenues and the thermometers reminding us with record values of where climate change is taking us, the debate on health and the environment will occupy a central place in the electoral campaign, which begins this Thursday for the night. To set the agenda, the White Tide brought together experts in the field and representatives of political parties on Wednesday at a round table under the slogan ‘City and health’. Numerous neighborhood representatives and various groups attended.
The “change in the urban model has become urgent,” warned the architect Patricia Reus, a professor at the UPCT. “The impact of the urban environment on health is undeniable,” she reflected. As an example, the exposure to polluting agents and the impact of the city on the rhythms of life. The architect herself advocated creating green urban spaces “for coexistence”, which allow “mitigating heat, pollution” and also contribute to improving social relations.
Along the same lines, sociologist Marta Latorre, a professor at the UMU, stressed that “the way in which our cities are configured, how they are organized, what processes and activities they host, influences our lives and our health conditions.” In this sense, she advocated for public policies from the municipality to address “smoking” or bad eating habits. In addition, in the face of climate change it is “urgent” to act, she said. She called for a “great metropolitan park” in Murcia and lamented that there are “few quality gardens and parks.” The sociologist also recalled that social inequalities must not be lost sight of when designing the city. Faced with the myth that “Murcia empties out in summer”, she recalled that a good part of the population cannot afford to go on vacation, and has to face increasingly torrid summers in the city, with extreme temperatures that can affect the health. Faced with this situation, an “expansion of the network of public swimming pools” is required, she proposed, among other measures.
Pedro Belmonte, from Ecologistas en Acción, spoke about the impact of pollution. He denounced that air quality “has been deteriorating in Murcia”, and recalled a recent report that indicates that in most schools, children are exposed to levels of air pollution higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). ).
But environmental pollution is not limited to that produced by road traffic, warned Esther Merino, from Stop Quemas. She denounced a recent regional government decree that opens its hand to agricultural burning and demanded that the City Council act within its powers to put an end to this practice. Finally, Pedro Pérez, from No Más Ruido, criticized the parties for not putting an end to noise pollution and rejected plans to extend the hours of the terraces. “28% of citizens are exposed to noise levels higher than those recommended by the WHO,” he said.
In addition to experts and social associations, the White Tide also gave voice to the parties. PP, PSOE, Ciudadanos, Podemos-IU-Alianza Verde and Más Murcia-Verdes Equo attended. Vox was not present. Ascensión Carreño (PP) valued the pedestrianizations carried out during the period of José Ballesta in the mayor’s office and advocated establishing measures from “the consensus”, while Ginés Ruiz Maciá (PSOE) defended the “courage” of the current government team to undertake the works of the Mobility Plan in full campaign. “There are those who get angry and say that he does not have the freedom to move with the car, I prefer the freedom to be able to breathe clean air,” he stressed. Ruiz Maciá also stressed the actions to mitigate the high temperatures in educational centers.
From Ciudadanos, Luis Javier Martínez advocated “decentralizing” and bringing services to the districts, while Elvira Medina (Podemos) promised the “remunicipalization of the transport company” to promote this service, “with more buses and more frequencies.” Finally, Mario Jiménez, from Más Murcia-Verdes Equo, stressed that “the great metropolitan park of Murcia is its garden”, which must be preserved. He also proposed turning Fica into a green space and putting an end to agricultural burning.
#Experts #parties #address #unpostponable #transition #healthier #Murcia