By Javier Emmanuel
Verdugo Meléndrez*

Puerto Penasco is our home! What are we doing to protect the environment we live in?

Sonora is our state! Are we meeting environmental and sustainability regulations?

The Gulf of California is our región! Are we protecting its natural areas? Its wetlands? Its flora and fauna within their natural habitat?

Mexico is our country! Are we really living sustainably?
Whatever the case, these events clearly show that if we don’t take adequate measures and pay enough attention to preserve what’s around us, we will just be leaving catastophes for our grandchildren.

 

The Earth is our planet! Where is humanity’s development and progress leading us?

The fact is that we are taking very few actions or measures to care for, to prevent, or to counteract the negative impacts that are occurring.

Of utmost importance is that at all levels—individual, educational, social, and governmental—we be conscious of the damage we are causing the planet due to our irresponsible actions in the course of development.

Our life originates from the elements of water, fire, earth, and air. In order for future generations to be able to lead, it’s necessary to add a fifth element, love for our planet.

However, because of the desire for     a     more     pleasant     and
Puerto Peñasco has gone from a fishing village to a tourist destination with one of the highest rates of population growth due to the real estate boom.
(Photo: Ernesto Bolado Martínez)

We could mention a long list of environmental     tragedies.    But why wait for bad things to happen before we do good things?

The squandering of resources has already led to global climate change. We even have a date to mark this: in 1995, September 16 was named International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Like other days of wordwide observance, this was created by the United Nations.

In the above case, the day is meant to help increase our awareness of the natural phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect which is being
Grassroots Bulletin on Sustainable Development in Northwest Mexico
Puerto Peñasco
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Puerto Peñasco

Opinion

Reflections on leaving behind a healthier world


comfortable life, humans are exhausting natural resources .

Very few people even know about National Environmental Awareness Day. It was designated following a disaster that occurred in a province of Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 27, 1993 when a cyanide gas leak caused deaths and great environmental damage.

Another important date this year was April 22, when a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico became the worst of its kind in history. But this date has not even been recognized as a day of remembrance of the disaster because it occurred on the very same day we already celebrate as World Earth Day.

Was mother nature telling us perhaps to take more care?

accelerated by irrational human consumption and contamination.

We need to apply greater effort towards these types of actions because the road to changing attitudes about caring for our planet is one of worldwide awareness and citizen participation.   
Like other communities, Puerto Penasco can do many things to help: recycle, reforest, conserve and educate.

This is a fishing community which has   become   an   impor-
tant tourist destination, where fishing and tourism are the major sources of employment.
Now we have to sow good things in order to reap them. The Earth, humanity’s treasure, is only on loan to us from future generations which is why we need to leave behind a healthy world.

*Student, Center for Marine Technology Studies (CETMar) No. 14

Finding a balance between development and the nation's natural heritage is one of the big challenges for Puerto Peñasco.
“Baja All-Exclusive”
New Documentary Film on Sustainable Tourism
Since 2000, Fonatur (The National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism) has promoted the Gulf of California as Mexico’s largest tourist destination designed around marinas and golf courses.  But within just 10 years, the lack of planning and regulations now threatens to put the region at risk, an area recognized worldwide for its biological and cultural wealth.

Baja California Sur, the state with the most accelerated growth in tourism, is also the best example of the social, economic, and environmental problems that this type of development causes in the country. 
The documentary film Baja All-Exclusive, shows this complexity by way of little known stories representative of what is happening along the state’s most dynamic coastal fringe.

In a journey from Cabo San Lucas to La Paz, 7Filos Productions gives voice to the local people affected, as well as the developers, inviting reflection on the future of tourism in the region.

The film will be shown in various localities
in Baja California Sur from
October 2010 through March 2011.