ps - I also half fell in the river.... but it was cool

Our second day on the project - my legs are starting to enjoy it. I have never been one for physical labour, and although the act of picking up garbage isn’t very strenuous in itself, the 4 hours of constant hiking up, down and through thick forest can be.

Today we focused on cleaning out the river, which means after an hour of hiking through unmarked path we got to get our boots wet. I could not believe the amount of garbage that we found, the majority of which were pop bottled of Coca Cola –not necessarily to my surprise. We spent numerous hours filling up bags and discussing the current issues surrounding proper waste in Mexico. There is currently no government supported recycling projects or plants and many indigenous communities have yet to fully understand the damage of waste on the land and environment.

Before industrialization, people were able to dispose of their waste naturally, as the majority of products came from the land and were able to self decompose. The waste would then be used to fertilize and it was a natural cycle. Since the majority of populations now use packaged products, the concept of ‘waste’ and pollution is still widely misunderstood. Leo, the local employee of the educational park, discussed with us in details the problems that occur from this and the need for new implementation of proper waste disposal. Many indigenous communities do not understand that products, such as plastic, cannot naturally breakdown and that it is dangerous to land and waste resources.

Another difficulty we learned existed in the park was the issue of logging. There are three small indigenous communities that surround the park territory, and problems with logging have become quite frequent. These communities use the logging to build homes and to gain employment, but have yet to accept the rules of the park. When asked, Leo said besides the lack of understanding with regards to the environmental damage of logging, part of the problem is there is more money in logging then there is in working directly for the park. We were told the park tried to make agreements with the communities where they could have access to log certain trees and although the communities agreed, are not abiding to the agreement.

We discussed the relationship between the park and the communities to try and understand if some of these issues could be resolved through effective communication. Although the park does employ a quantity of people from within these communities, it is often seen as offensive when the topics of waste disposal and logging are brought up, as in the past these have been aspects of indigenous culture. We asked about the different programs and learning opportunities for schools and families to come and engage in educational projects and we received the name of the Programs Coordinator at the park, who we will hopefully be meeting with Monday to learn about the different programs they have in place, such as the preservation of native plants such as flora and fauna and any plans for the future.

All in all, it was another great learning experience and having the opportunity to discuss these matters while being surrounded by nature was much appreciated. After spending a total of 8 hours picking up garbage, I am now noticing the quantities of waste EVERYWHERE and have since realized the necessity of programs that implement and encourage proper waste disposal, recycling, reusing and compost. I’m looking forward to returning to Canada and learning more about current projects that are directed to these issues and seeing how they compare and could be implemented in Mexico.