Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
reduce them is still somewhat unclear as their demands are seen as being rather
contradictory. For example, if car pollution in a given town is a major problem, then
why are none of the inhabitants of this town capable of leaving their cars at home?
This issue highlights the public's inability of being able to live without a car, and
also shows the limits of power that the local authorities possess. The decrease in the
gap between knowledge and politics is a major issue which can be resolved by the
directors of pollution management networks, since it is these directors who have
access to the tools which can be used to evaluate the methods used for pollution
prevention. The directors also need to work on removing the collusion that exists
between the media and the technical systems that are in place to monitor air quality;
they also need to replace information with speech and to restore pride in political
policies that are introduced, in both the scientific and technical works, and whose
main aim is to reduce pollution levels. Finally, the directors of the pollution
management networks also need to introduce a new type of democracy into today's
advanced technological societies in order to respond to the issues that these societies
are faced with
25
.
If new public policies are created, this will mean that politicians will have to
make more difficult decisions. Different debates need to be held so that the people
can work together in order to decrease the toxicity levels of the invisible pollution
that exists in the atmosphere. The views and opinions of the people involved in such
debates will not always be unanimous, and some people may even be seen as being
unpopular, especially when it comes to responding to different criteria to improve
public health. The information available and produced from different studies that
have been carried out cannot be used as an excuse to explain why there been no
decrease in the levels of pollution that are present in the air. The government is
going to have to take control of what is happening as far as the interests of the
general public are concerned [ROU 04].
6.5. Conclusion
Monitoring atmospheric pollution can be considered as being symbolic of
techno-science that has been supported by the State. The alliance that exists between
the two entities (the State and the world of science and technology) is typical of a
strongly centralized country that benefits from the support of large state bodies,
such as the groups of state-funded engineers who also work as directors [CAL 05]
and who work to develop powerful tools that can be used to monitor atmospheric
pollution. Combining these two entities allows different parties to work together; on
one hand, there are the agents and technicians who work for the State, and on the
other, there is the general public
26
.
25 P. Roqueplo, Critical and Perspective Thinking in Ruptures créatrices, section Trends,
Les
Echos
, p. 567-597, 1999.
26 C
OANUS
T., P
ÉROUSE
J.F.,
Villes et risques
, Economica Anthropos, p.27.
