Opinion Sur Joven

Although it’s been a frequent subject in some spaces of written press and TV since the 90s, now global warming and transformations of the ecosystem as a result of human activity have made an impression on people’s conscience.

Climate change was the issue of the year. Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was a worldwide success and had an enormous impact on the media, helped by an Oscar and by the Americans, who seem to have finally become aware of the fact that their country is one of the main originators of the problem, therefore they’re the ones who can do the most to solve it.

TV, movies, newspapers and magazines... The issue was everywhere and this allowed even the most unaware ones to realize our big house, the Earth, is sick and we can’t wait much longer to start curing it. Why? Because, just like we’ve been showing it to you in our Opinión Sur Joven’s Environment section, not only does climate change cause ecological imbalance, but also health problems by increasing possibilities to cause diseases such as skin cancer, as well as social problems like desertification, pollution, floods and forced evacuation of population.

In Argentina’s particular case, there were two related issues worth to mention. On the one hand, there was the paper mill conflict with Uruguay, in front of the Argentine coast: notwithstanding political discussions and different opinions, it was useful to bring on a debate on the balance between industrial and environmental development. On the other hand, the final sanction of the Forest Law (Ley de Bosques), which aims at moderating native forest logging and clearance, is a big step not only for militants -who struggled constantly until they got it sanctioned-, but also for all Argentinians.

2007 has come to an end with an appropriate closing: Al Gore and the scientists at the IPCC (the UN agency in charge of studying climate change) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Although granting the pacifist icon to the former US vice-president immediately raised a debate, we should bear in mind said decision had to do with giving an award to the mass diffusion of the problematic we should worry about the most in the 21st century, as well as poverty.

We will continue to do our bit from Opinión Sur Joven for 2008 to be yet another year of awareness.