July 2021 Issue 109 FREE
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The Eye Beach, Village + Urban Living in Oaxaca July 2021 Issue 109 FREE The Environmental Issue Spanish Classes online Ask for the 20 hours pack – “Basics of Spanish” "We look and listen to the mortally wounded nature ... where the worst is yet to come.” Zapatista Manifesto Attend the first class with no compromise, if you like it: welcome on board! e have been waiting in sweltering humid days for drops from the sky to give us a Send me an e-mail or WhatsApp for more information: respite. We move through the world [email protected] masked-up, struggling to breathe and 55-2109-4869 wondering when relief will come. Grey Wskies that yield not a drop and thunderous sounds seem to taunt us. May and June on the Oaxacan coast are months filled with longing and anticipation. The landscape is brown and thirsty, its hunger mirrored by the people, who after an anemic tourist season, are also in limbo. This month our writers explore the environment. To most of us, this means nature but it is also a state of being. We accept in nature the cycle of life which inevitably leads to death; dry tree branches or a fish that ends up on our plate. That which once danced through Salt Available the fantastic blue depths of the ocean eventually stops at Café Juanita swimming, whether by having fulfilled its allotted time or by being prematurely snatched up in a net. For the past year we have lived in a collective environment, whether you are in Calgary or Delhi, we have all been moving towards a common purpose and defeating a common enemy. Humanity has become a school of fish that moves in sync like some other worldly dance. Yes, there are still so many things that we disagree about, but we are like the great network of trees Editor: Jane Bauer that communicate through root systems; united by our Copy Editor: Deborah Van Hoewyk fears and worries. Writers: Verity Brink, Jan Chaiken, Marcia I have never felt greater reverence for nature than I have Chaiken, Julie Etra, Randy Jackson, Carole this past year. The symphony of birds is like the voice of god, whichever one you believe in, majestic trees have Reedy, Alvin Starkman, Deborah Van Hoewyk been reminders of our own individual insignificance. How can we ever improve our environment more than a Cover Image: gurzart tree does? Photography/Art: Various Artists The world is slowly unfolding into its previous normalcy. People say it will never be the same but I believe they are Distribution: Renee Biernacki, Maggie Winter wrong. We will slip back into our minutiae of concerns; Layout: Jane Bauer getting more stuff, more power, just more for the sake of more. Will this time have been in vain? I hope we will Opinions and words are those of the authors remember the importance of nature when contrasted and do not necessarily reflect with the human experience and revere the one that has the greatest importance. the opinion of The Eye. Then the sky opened, rain fell and suddenly everything is We welcome submissions and input. green. To get involved send us an email. [email protected] See you next month, Visit Us Online Jane www.TheEyeHuatulco.com The Eye 3 In This Issue Huatusco Showcases Bamboo at Its Best By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D. Page 5 Mexico's Reckoning with NAFTA and GMO Corn By Julie Etra Page 6 Sembrando Vida – Seeding Life? By Julie Etra Page 8 Mexico's Green Energy - Potential, Promise, Problems By Randy Jackson Page 10 Novels That Inform And Entertain By Carole Reedy Page 12 Mexico's Natural Wonders By Deborah Van Hoewyk Page 14 Ten Simple Steps to Help Preserve Mexico's Ecology By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken Page 16 Poem By Verity Brink Page 17 Mercadito del Mar Page 18 EDITORIAL PAGE 3 The Eye 4 Huatusco Showcases Bamboo at Its Best By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D. tanding in the midst of a massive 3. A processing factory where the bamboo is grove of bamboo is a sensuous treated and then fabricated for home and experience. The beauty and power c o m m e r c i a l / i n d u s t r i a l u s e . T h e of the fastest growing plant in the natural/renewable resource can be world is breathtaking – literally. substituted for other building materials, to TheS genus Bambusa regulates the balance of the extent that entire homes are now being oxygen and carbon dioxide, and so one feels built using bamboo rather than reinforced a sense of rejuvenation simply being steel and other manmade construction amongst the vast expanses of bamboo. A products. simple grove of bamboo releases 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. In the course of a tour of Bambuver, one inevitably begins to appreciate and consider Bambuver the use of bamboo in construction, given that it is available in a variety of thicknesses, A visit to the nonprofit (or A.C., Asociación strengths, textures and colors (natural and Civile) Plantación Bambuver in the tropical dyed). It is used for building frames and town of Huatusco, Veracruz (only 4 ½ hours beams, roofs, flooring, walls, windows, from the city of Oaxaca), teaches about not decorative interior panels, home bars, only the environmental importance of the furniture, craft products, and much more. 1,200 or so species of bamboo (the most common being Bambusa vulgaris), but also Interesting Stops En Route to Huatusco the multiplicity of diverse uses and Starting from Oaxaca (or perhaps the applications: from commercial/industrial to Puebla-Cordóba-Acayucan route to artistic/aesthetic, from domestic/home to, of course, Huatulco), consider a 2 – 3 day driving trip. The route north horticultural. Within the context of a three-hour tour of its and east on the toll road from Oaxaca passes through several installations, one cannot help but be impressed, through appealing towns and regions, some steeped in history learning of the plant's remarkable versatility and its (Córdoba), others producing crafts using materials native to environmental and ecological value as a sustainable industry. the particular area (San Antonio Texcala for onyx and marble), still others showcasing environmental attractions (the water Bambuver works in collaboration with the state of Veracruz, museum near Tehuacán, the biosphere near Cuicatlán, and the national forestry commission, the national science and the thoroughly impressive snow-capped Pico de Orizaba). And technology advisory board, and other national as well as state for the home garden aficionado, you'll be passing through and local government branches. Its mission centers on the Fortín de las Flores, noted for cacti, succulents and ongoing development and promotion of an integrated bamboo anthuriums, to name just a few. industry. The Drive The Bambuver facilities are spread over three main locations in Take the toll road north from Oaxaca until reaching the and around Huatusco, all easily visited in an afternoon. junction of 135D and 150D. Exit to the right, towards Orizaba / Córdoba, and continue along 150D. Leave the toll road when 1. The green area consists of expansive forests comprising you see the Fortín / Huatusco sign. After paying a toll, keep several species of bamboo, and includes a science and research right, and then left at the Huatusco sign, then left again at the center in addition to greenhouses for propagation. There is also next Huatusco sign. This takes you to Mexico 125, on which a sales component so visitors can purchase small plants in there will be clearly marked signage to downtown Huatusco. plastic sleeves, and three-meter lengths of mature bamboo also suitable for growing back home. One can also buy large sacks Lodging and Bambuver Contact Info of compost, with or without lombrices (earthworms). Lombrices Hotel Huatusco has underground parking, a restaurant, and create the compost from feeding off the exterior casings of even a conference center. It's clean, with reasonably priced coffee beans. Nearby coffee plantations (which can also be rooms (including a floor fan for the asking): Av. 1 Ote 399, visited) provide Bambuver with the outer bean casings, Centro Huatusco 94108 (tel: 273 734 3852). otherwise waste, to use as feed for the lombrices. You'll learn of the symbiotic relationship between the bamboo industry in Bambuver A.C. is located a few blocks from the hotel: Av. 4 Ote Huatusco and the current as well as historical presence of the 336 (tel: 273 734 0680 – both their website page list other region's coffee plantations; each and every bamboo forest at numbers); you can learn more at www.bambuver.com. Bambuver has been nurtured with the aid of this natural fertilizer. You can even buy a bag of lombrices enabling you to Tours are available for 6 – 20 people, but smaller group / kick-start or enrich a compost bin! private tours can be arranged with sufficient notice, in either case at a nominal charge. 2. A showroom in downtown Huatusco displaying examples of the plethora of uses for bamboo for domestic/home The one three-meter length of mature bamboo Alvin applications. Starkman purchased at Bambuver several years ago is now a small forest. Alvin operates Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca (www.mezcaleducationaltours.com). The Eye 5 Mexico's Reckoning with NAFTA and GMO Corn By Julie Etra ndrés Manuel López Obrador (aka AMLO), president of Mexico, recently called on Mexican farmers to stop using the herbicide glyphosate by 2024. By his final executive order of 2020, AMLO made a surprising decree to phase out both Agenetically engineered corn (GE, maíz transgénico), often referred to as GMO, or genetically modified, corn, and the use of the herbicide glyphosate.