How important is environmental information and awareness-raising in the work of organisations such as SIGAUS, whose main activity is the correct management of waste?

Environmental education begins at school and in the habits acquired by children in their homes, and everything surrounding us since childhood influences our environmental awareness. And we must carry on with environmental education among the adult population. Therefore, the work of organisations such as SIGAUS is essential and very necessary for society to receive the clear message that we are all involved in preserving and looking after the environment and that it’s everyone's job to have environmentally-friendly behaviours. Environmental awareness must be inherent to all companies and, in the case of SIGAUS, citizens must know how their waste is properly managed.

How do you rate initiatives such as the SIGAUS Environmental Classroom to bring training in this area closer to this sector’s future professionals, and this year, as a novelty, also to environmental journalists? What role do the media have in protecting the environment and collaborating with other sectors, and the Public Administration to make this possible?

Training through the SIGAUS Environmental Classroom is an excellent initiative to publicise how the sector works and how waste, such as used oil, is managed. To be able to write rigorously, you need access to good sources of information and you need to know first-hand how everything works, particularly in a subject as specialised as waste management. It is essential that those of us journalists who write about environmental issues are acquainted with the technicians and facilities where this waste is recycled.

As media, we are part of the environmental education, and a rigorous report is going to help improve citizens' knowledge when it comes to knowing how to recycle: also fostering environmental awareness in society, in companies and public administrations.

Movements such as #fridaysforfuture are now in the media. Do you perceive a change in the visibility that environmental issues such as climate change or pollution have in the media compared to 10 years ago?

Less than 10 years ago, climate change information was residual, practically only appearing 15 days a year during the UN Climate Change Summit (COP), or when a report by the IPCC Expert Panel was published. We didn’t link extreme weather events with climate change, nor did we discuss the effects of pollution on health. Climate change wasn’t a part of everyday life. The COP was attended by about twenty journalists from all over the world, while now there are hundreds of journalists with accreditations.

Environmental information is experiencing an exponential increase due to the seriousness of the situation: with a loss of species, degradation of ecosystems, marine litter, forest fires, increased pollution, furthermore, increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and aggravation of global warming. A rise in social movements such as “Fridays for Future” has also produced an increase in environmental information, managing to put on the agenda issues that were known but were not part of the discourse of companies, or public administrations. APIA awards its ‘Via APIA’ Prize every year to the best information reporting on environmental communication issues and the ‘Via Crucis’ Prize to the organisations that most hinder journalists’ reporting work, and this year, “Fridays For Future” obtained the ‘Via APIA’ Prize.

Is informing about the environment simply a trend? To what extent are we mixing awareness and sensationalism?

The environment is in vogue and we must congratulate ourselves because it has taken a lot of time and effort to achieve the interest it deserves. However, we journalists must be critical and remain vigilant so that it doesn’t become ‘green-washing’ and ‘everything goes’, namely, that the environment be used to carry on as always, and not actually change anything. We journalists play a key role as reporters, not salespeople, and that is why journalists are so important in a world dominated by information on social media, because writing rigorously and using good sources is the work of journalists. And in this way, we’ll avoid sensationalism.

Meanwhile, climate change denials, or theories denying that such change is caused by man, have also gained some prominence. What do you think about these positions?

Fortunately, such positions are residual and no longer occupy pages in the written press or air time on radio or television news, particularly in the Spanish press. As in everything else, there will always be critics, but giving a voice to minority groups and unscientific theories, says very little of what good journalism is about: rigorous information based on sources of recognised prestige.