“Caring for the health of Mother Earth in the context of climate change” is one of the axes of six days of activities in Rosario, where indigenous peoples, socio-ecological groups and scientists will come together to exchange knowledge about the environment, popular organization and responsibilities. In the face of the climate crisis. There will be dozens of workshops, talks and discussions addressing topics such as the energy transition, agroecology and the role of environmental feminism. Rejecting agribusiness and already holding a placard chanting “stop us smoking” will also be taking to the streets of the city.
Functions (which can be consulted is the connection) are held within the framework of two double spaces: the VII International Congress on Socio-Ecological Health and the IV Intercontinental Meeting “Mother Earth, One Health”, between June 12 and 17. Damien Verzenazzi, director of the Social-Environmental Health Institute of Rosario, evaluated: “Social movements can meet face to face with the creators of scientific knowledge that can strengthen their struggles, and scientists must also be there. Resist the progress of destructive ways that are more connected to people in the regions, which often appear in university classrooms.”
The meeting will be attended by Marcos Pastrana from the city of Diacuta, Tucuman; Maristella Zwamba, Educator and Researcher and Verzenacci. Gianni Tognoni (Italy) promoted the concept of social epidemiology. Elizabeth Bravo (Ecuador), co-founder of the Union of Scientists Committed to Health and Nature in Latin America (Uccsnal); Milena Sergeeva, coordinator of the Latin American Health and Climate Change Network; Nicola Defarge (France), Vice-President of the European Network of Socially Engaged Scientists; and Cristina Rosero, Coordinator of the Center for Reproductive Rights of Colombia. Additionally, there will be guests from Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Spain.
Scientific articles and artistic proposals will be presented and the “Argentine Days of Critical Thinking in Health and Health Sovereignty” will be held. In addition, there will be National Parade of Chinstraps and plurinational and national meetings of smog cities.
On Friday the 16th, in the afternoon, there will be a space dedicated to the creation of a “sentence of ethical and popular experiments against environmentalism”. It is an experience promoted by the Ecofeminist organization Pañuelos en Rebeldía, and social organizations and affected people tour different cities in the country to report how the extraction affects the territories.
The Socio-Environmental Health Congress was born in 2011 to open the doors of the public university as a meeting place between the scientific and academic community, social movements and political decision-makers, and to promote gatherings. “After being forced to virtually hold Congress due to the pandemic, we will meet physically again this year and embrace each other with colleagues who are trying to develop critical thinking,” Vercenassi said.
The purpose of the meeting is to collectively reflect on the reality and responses of communities to the climate crisis. “The main epidemic that the planet is experiencing is the climate crisis, because it causes deaths, environmental refugees, forced migrations, severe changes in geography and climate in many parts of the earth and changes in production methods. We cannot. They continue to deny it from the health sector,” the doctor and researcher added.
It is organized by the Social-Environmental Health Institute, National Network of Ecological Action, Médicos del Mundo, Stop Ecocidio, Salud sin daño, Uccsnal, Network of Food Sovereignty (Red Calizas), College of Nutritionists. Province of Buenos Aires, Rosario College of Physicians, Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLASO), Global Alliance for Climate and Health (GCHA), Acción Ecológica, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Paraná Ecologist Forum, Foundation Rosa Luxemburg, Center for Reproductive Rights, Argentina Sin Ecosidio, People’s Health Movement, Stop Smoking Us and National Directorate of Agriculture.
“We protest in these times of alienation, in territories where states are complicit with corporations. What are we here for? To spend our lives protesting or thinking of other ways that give us hope or future horizons. Worthy of pity?” Vercenassi is surprised. And, from the point of view of health, they understand that they are fighting because they firmly believe that “you can’t have healthy people in sick territories.”
Smoked Villages: Meet to brainstorm common strategies
Since 2019, smoky cities have held rallies under the slogans “Health is non-negotiable” and “Emission-free zones”. This year, activists are invited within the framework of the Congress. Sergio Gorosito, a member of Paren de Fumigarnos from Santa Fe, explained: “Each country, each locality has its strategies on how to fight it, different situations and different laws that protect them. What we want is to find a common strategy. In line with this year’s Congress, at the educational level It seemed like a good opportunity for people to learn how to work”.
On Monday the 12th, the Fumigated Towns regional meeting was held at the La Tomao Cultural Center, attended by activists from Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. Tuesday the 13th is Barbejos’ Plurinational March, culminating in Parque Nacional a la Bandera. And on Saturday the 17th from 9am to 6pm there will be a National Meeting of Smoked Towns in Toma.
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