Global Courant
Although some parties and office hopefuls are already beginning to withdraw their propaganda after they have failed or won office, they often continue to leave the problem to others, through mounds of plastic banners, vinyl blankets, or PVC-carton effigies left in flowerbeds. from urban areas. They almost believe that they are doing the communities a favor by not collecting their waste, without realizing the enormous pollution they have caused in their euphoric desire for elections.
Before the end of the campaign, there were multiple labels detached from frames, banners and improvised easels dragged by the wind or rain towards nearby basins. No one realizes their destiny and no one demands it either. The Ministry of the Environment should, ex officio, undertake the immediate preparation of a report on the environmental footprint of so many tons of plastic covered with faces, smiles, promises and logos that only add solid waste to an environment in increasing deterioration for that very reason. .
It would be good, it would be ethical, and it would be laudable for political parties and their leaders to make a voluntary, non-propaganda report about the amount of advertising collected and its possible ways of reusing it, in order to reduce its harmful effect on the environment. . But if they have not even been able to present accurate and proportional data on electoral spending, it is unlikely that they will act in favor of the ecosystem in which we live and move. In any case, this obvious indiscriminate waste of plastic to advertise profiles should lead to the issuance of regulations aimed at reducing its use.
We live in digital times in which there is a wide range of audio, text and video social networks. In fact, various parties made use of these channels to connect with various population groups, although not all achieved the same efficiency. Even so, it is notorious how some applicants managed to attract votes in this way and hardly using the support of billboards or signs hung on poles, trees and avenues.
Indeed, the issue of environmental conservation is one of the most relegated in the electoral campaign. In fact, practically no party in contention made reference to the strengthening of the government agreement that will force, as of next August, the mandatory classification of solid waste, a regulation that should become a law approved by Congress, so that it has more strength and significance. In several countries there are regulations —but not limitations— on political advertising so that it can be printed with biodegradable materials and inks, which facilitates its disposal as compost.
Proof that harmful propaganda attitudes and actions towards the environment can indeed be transformed has been the eradication of party graffiti on stones, slopes, trees, hills, ditches and roadsides, by express prohibition in the Electoral Law, although There are also several municipalities that have issued regulations. During the current campaign there was little transgression in this regard. Proof of its disastrous effect are the visible markings on various highways in the country corresponding to campaigns from 2015, 2011 and even earlier. Many of these parties no longer exist, as well as their leaders, but the traces of their disrespect for the environment are still there.
