A wise old man from a nearby village once told me, "The hills are alive and I have seen the mountains grow over my lifetime." I chuckled at the musings of this weathered man who had toiled the soil all his life. That was 16 years ago but the hills are not the only things that have changed. Urban sprawl has etched its mark on the hillside and his words haunt me. How many farms or green spaces do you see along the lake? In his lifetime he had not seen what most of us take for granted. When we take that scenic drive around the lake, we are thankful for our piece of paradise. Yet I wonder how deeply our presence here has affected the villages and how it has affected the villagers' ability to maintain a sustainable lifestyle.
The hillsides now grow with gated communities with names that bear witness to the past, names like Arroyos or Rio del something or Riberas del some else, and our farmland is quickly vanishing. Fishing and agriculture once employed more than two thirds of lakeside residents. Agricultural systems were managed sustain-ably and fishermen netted enough to maintain their families. Furthermore, they are socially fragmented because the men are forced to seek work north of the border. The teachers I've talked to agree about the numbers of men, women and children who are seeking to go to the U.S. to sustain themselves and how it is eroding this culture.
Over the years I have had experience with some of the women and children left behind, who have had to sustain themselves by working in agricultural settings where they unknowingly are exposed to toxins. They talk of harvesting and tending produce shortly after spraying and before safe pre-harvest dates. Important reasons for continuing this work are to empower these women and to teach them how to protect themselves from toxic risk. Your increasing support of ecological action helps ACA Eco Training Center in Jaltepec incorporate a greater youth and gender focus and increase its impact for the youths and women who pay the higher price for being genetically predisposed to higher rates of absorption and who remain unaware of how to protect them selves from exposure.
Some progress is being made in establishing constructive ecological dialogue and green spaces around Lake Chapala. There are now ways to get involved in re creating healthy green spaces, a Green Group This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it meets regularly and has an online Yahoo group. One such recent post outlines a new effort by Xill Fessenden. A.V.A.: Areas Verdes Ajijic is a newly formed organization in our area. AVA is a new ecological based group of Mexican citizens. They are coordinating with very cooperative Ajijic and Chapala delegations to implement projects. The goal is to create green spaces of ecological consciousness in all possible areas of the Ribera. They are building a team of ecological engineers and support groups so that these projects may be realized. Already they have been given an area for a Botanic Garden Commons. We need support in the collection and planting of local medicinal herbs and plants in coordination with the local indigenous women of the community. Xill is hoping to form a F.C.S.G., a Foreign Community Support Group, a group of interested participants with ideas, projects and technical know-how related to ecological projects. Areas Verdes Ajijic, foreign community support group is where your input and expertise can be recognized as a vital part of the community and where your ecological concerns and ideas can be expressed. Those interested in participating may contact Xill Fessenden at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or attend the Sustainable Lecture Series at LCS sponsored by ACA. Xill is speaking on the second Tuesday of each month about engaging in this kind of positive social ecological action. There's a great line-up of speakers and topics every Tuesday and the schedule of speakers are posted at L.C.S. So do join in each Tuesday for various speakers, the lectures are from 12 to 2 at L.C.S (Lake Chapala Society) in the Gazebo.
This is so encouraging: the once insurmountable challenge we had 16 years ago in this area is no longer. There are such positive steps being made now; improving beach front quality, eco tourism and there's even toxicology testing of soil and water and there are increasingly more training opportunities to improve less than adequate environmental education.. It doesn't take a large amount of cleverness to counteract this situation. We don't have to continue saying "Wouldn't it be nice if..." because we now have simple, natural, and practical antidotes for this situation. There are ways to get involved which respect the culture and models in place at the ACA Eco Training Center in Jaltepec that could be implemented Lakeside with little or no innovation.
