The impacts of climate change tend to be unevenly distributed, affecting mostly urban poor communities. This research analyses the case of El Colli, a community with high levels of marginalization and urban poverty in an area characterized by informal settlements in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (state of Jalisco, Mexico). The main objective was to analyse the vulnerability to climate change in El Colli, focusing on the flood risk it is exposed to and using a mixed-methods design with various research tools. The findings show the specific aspects of vulnerability in a context of urban poverty, in which basic municipal services are scarce, government action is inadequate and residents show a high acceptance of risk. Based on the data, we state the need to incorporate local urban challenges into the debate on climate change, particularly those affecting informal settlements. Keywords climate change / flood risk / informal settlements / urban poverty / vulnerability

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Este trabajo destaca la importancia de la conexión entre la salud ambiental y la alfabetización científica. A través de un enfoque histórico se describen las aportaciones de la salud ambiental a la alfabetización científica y se analiza un caso contemporáneo: la contaminación del aire y la salud humana en las zonas urbanas. Destacamos la importancia de aprender acerca de la exposición diaria a la contaminación del aire y los efectos sobre la salud humana, cuando la calidad del aire se deteriora. Establecemos al aire como un indicador de la salud ambiental y un punto de referencia que deberá figurar en la alfabetización científica para que las personas sean capaces de tomar decisiones responsables para su bienestar, así como para el de las comunidades.

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This is a preliminary study conducted to analyze the presence and concentration of pesticides in honey obtained from honey bee colonies located in two regions with managed ecosystems that differ in the intensity and technification of agricultural practices. Fourteen pesticides at variable concentrations were detected in 63% of the samples analyzed. The pesticides most frequently found at higher concentrations were insecticides (neonicotinoids, followed by organophosphates), herbicides, and fungicides. The number, frequency, and concentration of pesticides were higher in samples collected from hives located where intensive and highly-technified agriculture is practiced. Forty-three percent of the samples from that zone had residues of imidacloprid, compared with only 13% of the samples from the less-technified zone. Furthermore, 87.5% of those samples had imidacloprid concentrations that were above sublethal doses for honey bees (>0.25 ng/g) but that are not considered hazardous to human health by the European Commission. The results of this study suggest that honey can be used as a bioindicator of environmental contamination by pesticides, which highlights the need to continue monitoring contaminants in this product to determine the risks of pesticide impacts on pollinator health, on ecosystems, and on their potential implications to human health and other non-target organisms.

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