With a series of recreational activities aimed at the youngest and the participation of four King Jaume I Awards for Environmental Protection, the foundation has celebrated Earth Day, this year, from Castellón.

With the participation of the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón and the City Council of the Valencian town, four winners spoke about the sustainable development objectives and the environmental agenda of the Valencian Community.

Thus, José Antonio Sobrino, 2019 Rei Jaume I Prize, has spoken about the contribution of Remote Sensing to sustainable development objectives, “through sensors that allow us to have information on the earth’s surface, with nearly 11,000 satellites in orbit, the ESA (European Space Station) is a world leader in earth observation from space,” acknowledged Sobrino, who stated that, “with the Copernicus program, remote sensing from satellite, helps achieve the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals).” .

From de point of view of José Luis Rubio, PRJI of Environmental Protection of 1996 and president of the Environment Commission of the ACC (Advisory Council), “nowadays there are new approaches with a broader and more ecological vision in the protection , restoration and management of degraded areas. For Rubio, “you have to work with nature, as Epicurus said, without needing to assault it.” And he has mentioned cases such as those in Córdoba, Galicia, with the containment of pollution in the estuaries or the last case of successful intervention, the post-fire emergency interventions in Aragon.

For Xavier Querol, PRJ of 2013, “in Spain air pollution has improved by 70%” as a positive fact, but he has announced that “brakes and wheels are two sources of pollution in cities, such as Florence or Milan, where the burning of residential domestic biomass in homes represents as much pollution as road traffic,” and that is why he has defended the use of eco-certified boilers. And about the city of Valencia, he has reported that “70% of what a person breathes comes from what cars expel.”

The fourth winner, Damiá Barceló, PRJ of 2007, spoke about the global vision and actions in the Mediterranean against water and drought. Barceló has said that “the spring of 2024 is the hottest since 1870” and has denounced that “water is irregularly distributed” as a consequence of a global change but has recognized that “water is a problem if you are poor, if you are not, there is no problem. And so, he has explained the various variations to obtain water such as desalination plants and regenerated water. The winner has proposed “convincing people that solutions like those in California with regenerated, treated and reused water are possible in Spain” and has told how Israel is the country that invented and developed desalination plants for the first time, for which has proposed that Spain should imitate its use.

Finally, on the esplanade in front of the Menador Espai Cultural where the event was held, a series of recreational activities aimed at young people were carried out, as a form of awareness and social sensitization regarding the future of the Earth.