Our Local Environment

During this past week we had the opportunity to meet with two progressive environmentalists. Our first speaker Laura Kuri, spoke on bioregionalism. Bioregionalism incorporates three aspects which include trying to create a sustainable culture, organizing against globalization and educating as many people as possible to take action within their region. One exercise in particular that we did forced us to think about the immediate environment that we live in. On a piece of paper we were told to draw our home and within it list native plants and animals, the direction the wind blows, the type of soil that exists, the sources of water in the area and the path of water drainage. While many of these aspects may seem like “no brainers”, it was evident that none of us actually know our environments as well as we thought we did. While we appreciate and recognize that our physical environment is essential, this exercise showed the importance and relevance of knowing concrete facts about our immediate surroundings.

Our second speaker, Juan Manuel Zaragoza led us on an ecological tour of our very own neighborhood, San Anton. We first visited a gorgeous waterfall that at first glance is breathtaking, though unfortunately contains 17,000 kinds of bacteria for every 100 meters of water. As part of a project to preserve this waterfall and conduct education on wastewater, dry toilets have been installed. Not only do these dry toilets produce zero waste, but the feces are actually recycled to be used as fertilizer for soil.

Next we visited a local secondary school. Within the month, a bio-filter was installed on the school grounds in order to safely and cleanly dispose of the waste water that is produced every day from the school. The typical cost for a project like this is 1.5-2 million pesos. Because of the growing interest in these bio-filters, leaders from other facilities and schools are currently meeting in hopes of replicating this same project in their own communities
Lastly, we visited a community that has recently set up a recycling center in their neighborhood in order to decrease the amount of waste in their river. Jovita, one of the leaders in this recycling project, showed us the large bins that have been set around the area for separation and the makeshift recycling center for further separation. This project, primarily started and followed through by women, is successfully underway. As we toured, the local government official of the neighborhood, called an ayudante, joined us to listen in. As Juan Manuel explained to us, most people don’t trust the government as a whole, though more trust is placed in this local official, as their job is to listen to the concerns of their constituents on a local level.

There was a common theme that linked both Laura’s and Juan’s talks and this included the importance of participating in environmental awareness and change on a local level. This begins with simply being aware of the physical environment around us. For instance, this means knowing basic facts about our natural habitat around us as well as knowing where our waste water and trash go. Once we are familiar with these aspects, we are able to participate in the preservation of our environment on the local level with steps for change within our own neighborhoods.