Study of Social Organization for the Use of Firewood Heating in Zones Where Polluting Material is Generated in the City of Temuco, Araucanía Region, Chile

Abstract

Temuco, capital of the Araucanía Region of Chile, presents the highest indices of pollution by smoke from wood-burning heating stoves in the country, specifically during the southern winter. Firewood combustion is the cheapest heating fuel available to the population of Temuco, and has resulted in considerable contamination in the city. There has been an large increase in the city’s population, while the winter months from April to September have been growing colder. The problem affects the whole population, and especially children and the elderly. The pollution indices present serious levels. The evening and night are the worst times to be outside, due to both poor visibility and the toxicity of the environment. This situation is a social problem which has not been fully investigated. More seriously still, the people of Temuco do not display particular concern about their collective health or about protecting the environment from the smoke produced by wood-burning stoves. In view of this serious problem, the present article proposes a strategic design for information and social organisation by sectors in the city’s residential districts, in order to generate awareness and communication in the community. The strategic guidelines are drawn with special emphasis on visual communication, in both printed and digital format, in order to organise social groups of people motivated to solve the pollution problem. The central object of this proposal is to offer a strategic model able to generate collective awareness to support and help the city’s housing estates and residential zones. Connection between community members, empathy and social assistance will be basic aspects for the functioning of the strategy when it is applied. Finally the proposal contemplates social organisation in pursuit of the common good: protecting the local environment, improving people’s quality of life, and promoting social coexistence in housing estates and communities affected by the problem of pollution by smoke from wood-burning stoves.