July 2004
by Mauricio Bautista

The project United Community, which works in the production of art with recyclables and in the separation of inorganic wastes in the schools, has closed for the vacation period. Activities will begin again August 12, with discussions about the sensibility of adequate management of our natural resources, along with visits to the study areas so that we will have a better understanding of what is seen. The project will continue with recycled art and separation of recyclables, with the goal to establish these practices with the teachers, children, and their families.

The Environmental Education Program has been given the responsibility to share information about CEA’s programs to a children’s club named “Club H20” in Playa del Carmen, which is organized by the state Water Commision (CAPA). They have been taught about the management of wastes that are generated, and how they can help solve the problem, and also in the protection of the marine turtle which is one of the most susceptible species in our time. The dynamic that has been utilized to convey the message to the participants has consisted of a presentation of the theatre Guiñol, of memory games that address these themes, and of the adoption of learning techniques to ground the information and obtain a higher learning.

February 2004
by Nadia Mora

Lots of exciting things are happening this month in the environmental program of CEA.

First, we have two great people who have joined the group: Vita and Oriol. They are from Spain and are volunteering here in CEA . Vita is Italian-Canadian and has been living in Ibiza and Barcelona; Oriol is from Barcelona and it is his first time on this side of the Atlantic. Oriol is helping the Education Program with some artistic touches.

Vita and Oriol go to the local school in Akumal two times a week to see how the kids are doing with the recycling program. It seems they are doing well, but we discovered a few things that we need to add to the program. To explain these to you I will tell you about a particular experience.

The other day, Mauricio and I went to Puerto Aventuras School, because they are very interested in having their own recycling program, so, as we did in the Akumal school, we gave them a PowerPoint presentation showing how all the liquids that come from mixed garbage are absorbed by the earth and go to the underground river systems in the region, contaminating our water and finally arriving to the ocean where all those nutrients feed the seaweed, which then grows over the coral, suffocating and killing it, and all the animals that live there. Well, I was at that point in the presentation when I noticed something in a child’s face and I asked how many of them had been to the reef with a mask and fins to see all the animals that live there? Only three of them raised their hands!!! We almost had a heart attack, because we did not know that they hadn’t seen the reef that is just off the shore. We assumed that they swam near the reef every weekend! So we have had to restructure the whole educational program and Vita and Oriol have now made a great presentation in PowerPoint for the kids.

Vita Francesca Sgardello and Oriol Ferrando Blanca write:
“Nadia and Mauricio’s surprise with the school children made us realize that education must start from the beginning, and we thought of some ways to get basic messages about nature and specifically recycling through to the children.

We decided to draw and write a very simple comic-style story representing how much has changed in the world of garbage since the ancient Mayas were around. The story has three possible endings, and the children are asked to participate in deciding which one is the best for their planet and their future. We hope this will help them understand that the choice is indeed theirs to make. In the near future, we hope the school will allow us to put up posters of the comic story in the classroom, to help remind the children why it is important to recycle. We will present the story to each class of Akumal Primary school during the next two weeks.

In order to tackle the children’s inexperience with the coral reef, we have prepared a PowerPoint presentation filled with beautiful pictures of the underwater world, which also explains what coral is, why it is important, why it is in danger and a few simple ways they (and we) can keep it healthy. We hope the sheer beauty of the pictures will delight the children enough to impact them, and once again to impress upon them that they can be the authors of change. This will be presented to the children on Environmental Saturdays. We are also planning to organize trips to the reef, in an expedition on a glass-bottom boat to visit the coral reef for real."

January 2004
Well, there is much news about the environmental program.

Last week Basilia del Socorro May Pech, a young woman who lives in Akumal and studies in the high school in Tulum, came to CEA and told us that she wanted to form a group of young people from the Pueblo to create a plan to clean Akumal, and to train, house by house, the people so they will start recycling and composting. Mauricio and I obviously were in our glory, so we had a meeting with Basilia in my house at lunchtime and we talked about all of our ideas and dreams. We made an appointment for the next weekend to have a meeting with Basila and all her friends who want to collaborate.

Sunday 14th of December we met at the Pueblos Park. When we arrived, just Basilia was there and the park was a garbage dump!!!! Yes, literally!! The night before the entire Pueblo celebrated the Guadalupe Virgins Day. The park is located in front of the Church so there were plastic bags, plastic bottles, glass bottles, paper cups, paper plates, etc., etc., etc., all over the place!!!! Soon another young person arrived and we started our meeting. We talked about the plan and the capacitating course that we can give to each of them so they can go and give the same one to all the people. Every minute more and more young people showed up and all of them wanted to sign up and join the group!!!! That same day they called themselves “JOVENES ECOLOGISTAS: POR UN MUNDO MEJOR” ― “Young Ecologists for Mother Earth.”

And at the end of the meeting we, all together and happy, cleaned the entire park; we filled one trashcan and three big plastic bags!!!!

And the most wonderful and unexpected thing for me is that all the kids and teenagers were having a blast!!!!!
Nadia Mora

December 2003
It is difficult to describe all that has happened in the program without telling you the entire story:

Mauricio Bautista (an incredible, sensitive and creative person who has been working with kids forever) and I, Nadia Mora, started a recycling program with the kids on October 7. On that day we went to the school; when we arrived, Kate Riley was with the kids planting the wetland and we had lots of fun. The group of more or less 40 kids divided into 6 groups and we put one group at a time in the wetland with two shovels, plants and instructions. And this kids!!!! Wow, they love to dig and help. It was very impressive to see the input of these future men and women!

After that, a little bit dirty but happy, Mauricio and I went to all the classrooms to start with our computer and a great PowerPoint presentation that Emilio Talancón designed. In this presentation the kids see all the liquids that the mixed garbage produces. They see how in the dumps all this garbage together produces lots of stinky fluids that are absorbed by the earth, because the Yucatán Peninsula is like Swiss cheese. We have underground river systems everywhere. All these juices that the garbage produces end in the underground rivers and finally in the ocean, where all these organic fluids are plant food and feed the alga that grows over the coral and kills it, killing like this all the wonderful ecosystem that exists in coral reef.

Buuuuuut, buuuut ― we tell the kids, we have a very easy solution and you can be part of that: Let’s separate the garbage!!!!! Like this, it is not garbage any more!!!! It is plastic and cans and glass and organic matter!!!! And here we have a yellow container for you and your classroom ― in this one you will put paper; and in this blue one you will put glass and cans; and in another container in the playground you will put plastic bottles!!!! At this point all the kids were very, very excited and they were screaming the answers to my questions: What do you put in the yellow box? “PAPER!!!!!!” And in the blue one????? “GLASS AND CANS!!!!!!,” they said.

The other part of the program is ENVIRONMENTAL SATURDAYS. To reinforce the recycling program, we plan a field trip with the kids to Hidden Worlds. This is a wonderful cenote park where the owners are very interested in community projects. They offered us transportation for the kids from Akumal to the park, a guided tour and free popsicles or sodas at the end of the tour. Mauricio and I were in heaven with the idea, so we planned the first Environmental Saturday with kids of the 6th grade. Hidden Worlds staff picked us up at the school in the pueblo and they took us to Hidden Worlds. There we gave the kids the presentation about recycling and then we all climbed in the “Jungle Mobile” call El Leon and they took us on a great ride through the jungle. We saw all kinds of trees, and the guide explained to us all the properties of some of them. We saw big lizards, colorful flowers, a termite colony, blue sky in between the trees, birds, and yellow, green, orange, and blue butterflies. We had a blast but that was just the beginning!!! Then we arrived at the parking place. We stepped into an ant house, some of us were bitten and then we finally arrived at the cenote. We went down and our breath was taken away when we arrived at a big rock island surrounded with the most beautiful blue crystal water, full of stalactites and stalagmites. Then the guide gave us a walking tour and he explained to the kids all about the stalactites and stalagmites and how the water filters and forms them. Finally we jumped into the delicious water.

When the kids were having a blast splashing and enjoying the beauty of that natural place, Mauricio got their attention and asked them, “Hey kids, what do you think would happen if we had a big garbage dump above of us??????” And the kids looked at the roof, and at the live stalactites with their crystal drops of water hanging on them, and one said, “All the stinky juices will come to this beautiful water where we are swimming and then go to the ocean.” That was a magical moment and a lesson that none of those kids will forget.

On the way back we sang a great song about recycling and at this time the kids were completely happy and vibrant!!!!!

The following week I went to the school to collect the recycling from every classroom and I had a shock. The boxes were either empty or full with plates with food, dirty glasses, etc. So we organized a contest and the group that separates more in one month will go to the recycling center in Xel-Há park. Now everyday that I go to the school, the boxes are full of the right stuff. Plus they are going around in the surrounding area and picking up plastic and glass bottles!!!!!!!!!!

We love it, and do you want to hear a secret? The 4th grade is in first place. We will tell you the rest of the story next month.

If you have any comments, suggestions, experiences, stories or lessons that you want to share with us to enrich our program, you are welcome and we will really appreciate your input!

Mauricio and Nadia