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Eco News Article: For Immediate
Release in Eco Watch On Christmas morning last year, from the Punta Palmilla to La Ribera, a span of over hundred kilometers, something was in the air. Unfortunately for Los Zacatitos resident Max, it was not magical reindeer sparkles, but instead a thick, brown, noxious cloud that grew darker all day until he couldn't see across the road. So Max's family loaded up their presents and headed around Punta Gorda to seek cleaner air. The Grinch turned out to be another eruption of the long-smoldering Palo Escopeta "Tiradero," which in Inglés literally means "dump." As in not a groundwater-protecting, double-lined, leachate-resistant geotextile, methane-recovering, modern sanitary facility. Instead, the greater San José area relies on a classic third world pile on the ground as its "away." In alarming close proximity is a large, rapidly growing collection of worn out tires. Perhaps part of the problem is that the word tire in Spanish means "throw away?" In any case, throw away is what residents, visitors and businesses have been doing in increasing amounts over the years, on pace with the area's torrid rate of development. Despite the region's attraction for eco-tourism, most visitors are unable to experience the good feeling of recycling like back home because there haven't been any recycling programs to speak of, for visitors or residents. Sure, nearby ranchers have long collected food scraps for their pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. And glass blowers have served gallantly as recyclers of many a local botella, but a basic integrated waste management plan has proven elusive in Los Cabos. And don't even ask about the sewage treatment plant's too-close relationship with the sensitive estuary. (We'll look at that in a future article.) Amidst this challenging mire, at ground zero of the dump's smoky plume, which has been burning periodically for seven years, change is blowin' in the wind. For historical and current information on how to get involved with local recycling efforts see loszacatitos.net, loscaboscontaminacion.com, email recycle@raisesybrazos.org or call 624 142 3794. In self-reliant Los Zacatitos style, a committed number of off grid, solar-powered neighbors have organized a new recyclables collection that may have the many spy hopping ballenas offshore wondering what is going on. Answering that question, and to teach the children well is the reason that Jimena Centeno started a recycling program at the elite Mission Colegio a couple of years ago when she served as the primary school's ecology teacher. Her successor, Estrella Lopez, is currently working with a diverse group of recycling advocates in San Jose. She is trying to restart the school's recycling program by identifying collectors and processors to take materials from as many as 200 families to begin with. Meanwhile the local government has sought to appease residents who have demanded action by talking about future plans for closing the dump and developing area recycling yards for transferring materials to a new "landfill." A growing green network of interested individuals and other stakeholders is starting to shift the status quo by developing pilot programs with local recycling workers and haulers. These programs likely will be models for expansion when government and business get seriously involved in doing the right thing for the planet, for Los Cabos and para los ninos. |