It's been a year since I started blogging for Ci and I would love to continue it by writing about the things that I've learned so far about sustainability. When I started reading and learning about it, I got a different idea of the whole thing. For example before, I wouldn't thought that sustainability has a lot to do with society and how we all interact with each other or the way you feel spiritually. Now, basically to me sustainability has become a way of respecting and caring, not only about the planet and the creatures on it, but to myself and anything that I have around.

Also while reading and researching on this subject for the Latin society, I realized that people from South America, Spain, Mexico, etc... they all do care about sustainability and they fight in their own ways and means. There's a big growing concern about it and there are new and great organizations that are trying to translate what sustainability is and matter for all of us. If it's not the main concern in general for the Latins, I do believe that it will be and I'm proud of it. Everything has a beginning and people is finally realizing that we no longer can live without paying attention to the big important issues, and they can no longer live without caring about themselves and the nicest things in life, the ones that will make this a better place.  

Just to name some of the things that are happening in Mexico we have that right now, sustainability is a major concern in the tourist market since it's one of the main incomes the country has. Also architecture it's becoming more sustainable since it's the country is still growing. Lowing the Carbon emissions and lowing pollution it's also a big concern in Mexico. Mexico number 13 in the list of countries that have big carbon emissions and is responsible for 2% of the pollution in the world. Inside the country the governments from different states are competing against each other on having a better sustainable vision for 2009. Overall I think It will keep on getting bigger and louder so we can all make it happen.

A Mexican scientist won first place at an eco design contest set up by FTF Freescale Semiconductor.  The winning design was for the Digital Sun Distiller, and it was developed by Jose Luis Rojas, Iluxon S.A de C.V from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Based on Freescale's technology, the distiller has been designed for cleaning water and reusing it at home, saving tons of water and energy since it uses solar panels.  The winning entroes were determined by attendees at the Freescale Technology Forum attendees voted. The Digital Sun Distiller received the most votes, and Rojas was recognized on stage as the winner. He received $10,000 USD and an invitation to compete in the Grand FTF Challenge with other first place global winners to vie for $50,000.  "Sustainability is the next challenge in technology development as it places considerations like power consumption and environmental impact at the forefront of embedded design," said Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO of Freescale. "We're delighted to see the level of engineering innovation and ingenuity displayed by the top FTF Americas Design Challenge finalists and congratulate Rojas on his success with the Digital Sun Distiller".  Incidentally, the second-place winner in the green FTF Design Challenge was a Canadian, Mark Donkers from OES, Inc. London, Ontario. The Clean Water Diverter is based on Freescale's technology as well. Donkers also received a cash prize.  "The world's fresh water supply is becoming scarcer everyday," Donkers said. "Using fresh water for such purposes as flushing waste water is a terrible use of a valuable resource.  Significant energy is consumed in the sterilization, transportation and post-treatment of our drinking water. The Clean Water Diverter will allow people to not only reduce their water bill but also reduce their environmental footprint."         The third-place winner is the ZigBee®-based wireless sensor network for Greenhouse Automation developed by Alfredo Cabral from CODE Ingenieria in Toluca, Mexico, and teammates Fernando Gasca, Jaime Sanchez, Jose Maria Ruiz de Velasco, and Marco Tulio Gonzales.  "Greenhouse management involves continuous monitoring and activation of different units to maintain a suitable environment for plant growth," said Cabral. "Greenhouse control is a rather difficult task to be performed manually and is susceptible to inefficient energy management and suboptimal performance. Therefore, greenhouse automation systems have become a standard for optimal performance in terms of energy consumption, costs reduction and productivity."  There are many smart and hard working people in my country. Most of the time they don't get the support from the media or the government support they should. I'm very proud and happy to see Mexican scientists developing such great ideas and of course all in favor for a better life.  For Spanish speakers, here's the link to the El Universal article(http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulos/47888.html)

In keeping with recent efforts, this blog will share some insight into how sustainability is coming to life in the Spanish-speaking world.

SPAIN & PORTUGAL

Spain and Portugal are very ahead in terms of using solar panel and wind energy, there's many houses in Galicia, Spain that are heating water with solar panels, 3 to 5 square meters is good enough to heat 250 liters. They became popular because the electricity prices have been increasing a lot lately, as well as social consciousness among the people in the importance of saving energy and fighting global warming. Every home will save around 2,000 euros per year by making this change, and though the price of the solar panel is not cheap they estimate that its a long term investment that will bring savings after 2 or 3 years.

By the end of this year, Portugal will start using the biggest solar panel central with 250 hectares that will collect energy for 30,000 homes. This is located on a city called Amareleja, the city that is known for getting more sun heat that any other.

In terms of natural resources, fresh drinking water continues to be a major concern globally. 5000 families from Portugal and Spain will have drinking water thanks to the solar panels that transform salty water into drinking water. The companies that are making these panels are called "Ana Tinox" and "Grupo Unisolar" and they have signed an agreement with Spain to spend 300 million euros, producing 1 million liters of fresh water every day. Similar desalination plants have been in use in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In spite of the widespread value for some of the world's poorest countries, there remains a credible amount of concern because of the potential damage it presents to marine environments.

ARGENTINA

Argentina is also getting in on the act. The federal government is subsidizing several renewable energy projects, including investments in wind turbines, tidal energy (a form of hydro electric) and solar power.

MEXICO

Finally!! Next Monday will start a law in a small town close to Mexico City called Amecameca, that will force people to separate organic and non organic garbage. There will be a fee for those that won't do it and the garbage truck will not pickup non-separated garbage. The report says that this idea started voluntary, and 90% of the people were already doing it. Hopefully recycling will be a next step and also to continue with the rest of the Mexicans.

Tomorrow is the big opening of "Expo Zaragoza 2008" which is "the biggest water festival on earth" as they call it. The inauguration ceremony will take place tonight in Zaragoza, Spain. The ceremony will be presided by the King and Queen of Spain, in the presence of the President of the Spanish government, and the royal family.

The spectacle of this first part is titled "El gozo del agua: las cuatro estaciones" (The Joy of Water: The Four Seasons). One hundred different countries will have their own platform to explain their own concept, culture and importance of water in their region and how can we all help preserve it for future generations with sustainable solutions.

There's going to be something called "The Water Tribune", and its role is to provide intellectual foundations and platforms to more than 2000 international experts in the field of water, ten different themed weeks divided into 25 major themes. Climate change, the geopolitics of water, health and education are elements that are presented on these themes. All of this to put forward proposals for public policies, debate and solutions to the new paradigm and the future of water. An international Symposium on Water and Sustainable Development will take place next 11th of September.

About Zaragoza, Spain

Zaragoza is a city in Spain that it's all surrounded by water, it has amazing old architecture but also some of the newest technology on buildings that are creating an amazing completely sustainable city. This international Exposition site is located in the west side of Zaragoza City, surrounded by the banks of the River Ebro. The Expo will be open from June 14th to September 14th and it's expecting 7 million visitors during this period.

This international Exposition site is located in the west side of Zaragoza City, surrounded by the banks of the River Ebro. The Expo will be open from June 14th to September 14th and its expecting 7 million of visitors.

Tomorrow is "Mexico's day" and every day a different country will open it's platform to the public. The Mexican platform will show the importance and diversity of environments that exists in the country, making consciousness and showing to the public the beauty of it. The Mexican president will be there tomorrow, as a Mexican learning more about 'sustainability' by the day I am very interested to see how this amazing project develops. Here's the website for more information about it.  

Environmentalism gaining traction in Mexico

Last week was environment day celebration in Mexico, there was a big organic fair placed at "El Zocalo" which is the main plaza in the center of Mexico City. It was full of national organic farmers' crops and the idea was to induce people into buying organic grown food. There were also many stands made for kids to understand the importance of eating vegetables and information to explain all about recycling. Mexico is one of the biggest garbage makers, especially Mexico City, and there's a big campaign in Mexico at the moment about recycling old batteries, cell phones and electronics which will make a big difference in terms of waste and garbage.

There were also photographic expositions and different conferences talking about global warming. The event was organized by a company named "The green Corner" which is a Mexican company focused on selling organic national products.

Also with the celebration of environment day a new book was promoted, this book talks about CO2 and how to reduce the carbon footprint with small changes. For example, use a mechanic alarm clock instead of an electric one, less use of the dryer machine and instead hang up clothes (anytime the weather lets you), do not use electric toothbrush since there's no need to have one or carry a lighter luggage, if everyone reduced it to a maximum of 20kg it will reduce 2 million of tons of CO2 in a year! This book is out on sale now in Mexico.

‘No Corn, No country’ campaign

Another topic that was discussed on this day, especially by the Mexican president, was the food shortage and mainly the corn situation, which I already discuss on a past blog but it's still very interesting, and after doing some research I've found a website from an organization called "No corn, no country" (it rhymes in Spanish though). This was made by farmers and other different organizations and people interested on the subject with all the important issues around it. It has news and all the information Mexicans should read to be more aware of this problem. I really like it, not only because they update it very often, but because it also has pictures, videos, events and art related to it. It helped me understand better what's going on and what's going to happen with the food that's made all over my country.

The main subject of this organization is to eliminate corn and beans from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between USA, Canada and Mexico. It is asking to make new regulations on importation and exportation and the prohibition of transgenic cultivation. They issued a petition with 438,000 signatures from people supporting this changes and they sent it to the Senate Chamber. This was delivered in March of this year and they are still waiting for a response from the government.

There's pictures on the website of the day that was delivered and they were taken by people from Greenpeace, one of the organizations that also support the letter.

 I've been chatting with my friends, mostly from Mexico, and so now most of them know that now I'm all about sustainability and trying to know as much as I can about it. So one of my friends sent me a link for a project that I will like to share today.  

Ecoogler.com is a new search engine that works exactly as Google or Yahoo but this one helps reforesting trees and safeguard water resources in the Amazon area with every search you make on it. A non-profit association called "Aquaverde" created it. A photographer and a former delegate International Committee of the Red Cross founded it in Switzerland in 2002; both of them have traveled around the world and have a big concern about the enviroment. This association "concentrates its efforts in priority to the safeguard of water resources in the Amazon region, which constitute today one fourth of the fresh water reserves of our planet " as stated on their website.  

I now invite you to start using ecoogler.com instead of using regular google.com or yahoo because for every search you do there, you contribute symbolically to reforest one leaf. For every 10.000 searches, Ecoogler and Aquaverde plant a tree in the Amazon. As simple as that. 

Today I want to talk about a big controversy that has been going on while we attempt to reduce the gas emissions and instead we are using more agriculture-based biofuels. These "solutions" are now creating food shortages, increasing prices and turning into a potential crisis in countries like my - oh so missed - Mexico.

On this post I want to focus on an issue related to personal sustainability. In the current green rush it’s very important and interesting to not forget the key issues around personal sustainability, specifically the big problem that is happening all over the world called obesity.

We all know how important social responsability is for North American companies ,but I wanted to know how much importance they give to it in Latin America ("LA") especially Mexico, and this is what I found.

Over the past 2 weeks, and after going to a show named "The Green Living Show" at BC Place, I've been thinking about creativity and this new (for me) "green market".

This blog is dedicated to the journey I am making as I set out on a more sustainable life.