This year the second year students of Tecnodemos will have what we call eco themes, which have to do with technology and the environment. For this reason, Juan Alejandro Pastor, Ignacio Bernal and Sebastián Carmona wanted to interview Enrique Pino, who is an environmental educator. He worked in the Parque del Retiro and was a teacher for a member of the editorial staff when he was collaborating with Fundación Bobath, in training to be an environmental educator.
What does the work of an environmental educator consist of and what tasks does he/she have?
The figure of the environmental educator began in the late 1970s-1980s, as a person who told people about the values of nature, helped them learn about nature and value it. That figure has evolved to become a person who explains what are the problems of nature caused by human actions and how we, in our day to day, can help reverse those problems. The person who is engaged in environmental education explains how to live to people in a sustainable way. When we say it explains, we mean that it provides information, values, and helps to develop attitudes.
It depends on the context in which the environmental educator works. For example, if you do it in the school environment, you can develop projects related to waste, school gardens, saving energy and water, through mechanisms of: counting things, playing games, doing activities, even developing projects to transform the center itself. school.
How can we manage the waste generated by our technological equipment in a sustainable way?
First, try to use the least amount of equipment possible and speed up its useful life as much as possible. Always opt for the second hand as a first purchase option before buying it first. When there is no other remedy, take it to a clean point or to a specialized electronic waste collection company.
Could you tell us about your experience of working in the Retiro Park?
It was a wonderful experience, one of the most important experiences of my working life. First, because of the team that I had, which was a wonderful, interdisciplinary team; which had professionals such as: pedagogues, historians, graduates in environmental sciences... Which tells you about the importance of addressing environmental education from all areas. This team had a fundamental mission, to provide information about the park to the visitors who came to the Retreat, and secondly, to work in such an important place as the park. You watched the seasons go by, you ended up getting to know each tree and then you also got to know the visitors to the park.
As a curiosity to tell you that we got thousands of photographs that people brought us, and it was a wonderful testimony of how the park had evolved over time. Part of these photographs are published in a book on the website of the city council called "El Retiro en el objective de nuestra memoria", which can be downloaded in PDF.
What do you think is the biggest environmental challenge facing society today?
Climate change, and it is the biggest because it is a problem of extraordinary dimensions that we have to solve; also in a very limited period of time.
I am going to give you some information to clarify the matter. The Earth, historically, has had an average temperature of 18 °C, that temperature has risen since the beginning of the industrial revolution, that is, since we began to use fossil fuels, and due to the use of these energies 1.3 °C / 1.4°C. The scientific community tells us that if that temperature reaches 1 and a half degrees we will have enough climatic changes, because what this increase in temperature does is, to explain it in a simple way, drive the climate crazy; change how the weather works.
The scientific community also tells us that if we let the temperature rise to 2 °C, that is, if the average reached 20º instead of 18º, the consequences of climate change are going to be very serious. We would enter a phase in which climate changes would be unpredictable. What kind of changes are we referring to? Well, for it to rain, where it does not have to rain, for there to be droughts where it normally rains, for there to be very abundant rainfall in a short time... Catastrophic natural phenomena. What does this mean? Apart, of course, from the natural rise of the sea and global warming of the earth, it supposes economic losses, agricultural losses; it will greatly affect people living in the third world. In fact, it is already doing so, there are cities that are going to be flooded by the rise in sea level, we are going to suffer tremendous heat waves, among other things.
Do you think that the 2030 agenda responds well to the environmental challenges that currently exist?
The 2030 agenda sets goals that are very ambitious, and are enough to make the world a wonderful place. We talk about the objectives, another thing is whether or not we are capable of achieving them. The 2030 agenda is still a declaration of intent that must be translated into reality. What is being done in the environment is insufficient, that is, what the 2030 agenda sets out in terms of the environment is insufficient. Taking into account the urgency with which it is necessary to act, because in the environment we have limited time. There is a moment in which the deterioration will be such that we will no longer have anything to do. It is necessary to multiply the efforts in the environment to achieve the objectives that are set.
