On Wednesday, several elected officials from the region participated in an unprecedented meeting with scientists.
The Transformations Marathon organised by the Florence Astronomy Festival on Wednesday was particularly dedicated to the transformations necessary to preserve the environment. Raising awareness and raising public awareness are the main objectives of the festival.
Festival scientists spoke for two hours with members of the municipal communities of Le Mans-Gersoise, Astarac-Arros in Gascony, the urban community – Grand Auch Cœur de Gascogne, PETR Pays d'Armagnac and the neighbouring town halls.
This initiative, carried out after discussions between Rony Guardia Mazzoleni, President of PETR Pays Portes de Gascogne, and Bruno Monfleur, President of the Festival, aims to establish a dialogue and share everyone's problems to start new ideas.
Scientists and elected officials shared their experiences and expertise. From the roundtable, the tone was set: “For us elected officials, engagement with the environment, land use planning and the need for science are daily battles,” said Florence’s mayor.
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“Decisions come from the top, but initiatives must come from the bottom,” declared the director of ecological transformation at PETR Pays d'Armagnac. “For us, astronomy is the distance, but I understood that infinity begins here,” agreed the mayor of Ramosens.
Scientists exchanged issues affecting their areas of expertise (forests, oceans, energy, etc.) and many links were soon established with those in local areas (mobility, agriculture, etc.).
Budget limits were mentioned, as were system limits, as well as the need to educate citizens about the change and support their demands.
Communications also occupied a central place in the discussions, raising the need for access to scientific information for elected officials so that they could better alert citizens, or look to a common discourse in order to agree on regional policies.
These exchanges are supposed to improve dialogue and perhaps even accelerate the environmental transition.
