Beautiful beaches and crashing waves on rocks..
Remnants of tourism and local fishing that once brought in business and economy to a local community….
Industrial plants now appear within the landscape photo as the backdrop to the sea…
The coast of Quintero and Puchuncavi was once a popular tourist destination with some of the best fishing. The arrival of industries brought high levels of contamination to the region both in the air quality and water quality. Chile’s petroleum enters the country through the port of Quintero and the copper mined in the north is processed through this region. Now fisherman catch fish not healthy to eat and just breathing in the air is a health risk. This region has the highest quantity of deaths due to contamination and in fact is declared as the Zona de Sacrificio. This is the backdrop and context of the towns where we worked with children’s environment workshops during the exchange program in Chile.
During our children’s camp in Quintero, when students were asked if they had gone to the hospital from being sick from air pollution, all of them raised their hands. Children shared with us that there are 23 factories condensed in this small region! Resources are scarce in this town, and while industries and factories continue to produce, levels of contamination rise. This is an example where the environmental impacts are affecting vulnerable populations, who might not have economic means or ability to leave the region. On days when the air quality reaches emergency alert status, schools close for the day. This past year, multiple school closures happened in June, and while we were there we were waiting to see if the air quality would be healthy enough for our lake clean-up day. The children of Quintero are very aware of their surroundings and the environmental risks within their hometown. The situation is unjust and unfair and opens the question to what can be done to change the environment and to support Quintero…
