“You can’t call it sustainable when you cut down the mangrove,” Paul Sanchez-Navarro Russell is in the middle of a rant about hotel development. I’m sure he has no shortage of these as the director of an ecology conservation organization.

“There are solutions to the problems [Akumal faces] in resource destruction and bad management,” Paul continues. “But [these solutions] need to take precedence over the immediate economic interests of a few.”

Obvious, yes, though it’s this message that needs to be said and said loudly if Akumal has any hopes for reducing human impact and recovering what it’s lost so far.

Having worked in environmental policy for years now, it’s clear Paul is up for the challenge, if not inspired by it.

His Work

Six years ago, Paul stepped up as Director of Centro Ecologico Akumal (CEA), the ad hoc environmental authority in the Akumal region.

“I was really inspired by the challenges of strengthening the organization and to be able to work on so many issues focused in one area,” he explains.

But being able to work on so many issues is what accounts for Paul’s very hectic schedule.

“There is no typical day,” he laughs.

Last Wednesday, Paul took a sick sea turtle to the animal hospital before conducting a press conference and then dealing with an electrical failure that shut down the entire office.

When I met with him a week and a half ago, he was wired on Diet Cokes and stealing time away from rubbing elbows at an eco-fashion event in Tulum.

“This is sort of normal,” he insists.

Though he may not be able to predict his erratic day-to-day, Paul has very clear goals for Akumal:

- to establish a locally managed sea turtle refuge
- to protect the mangroves and ecoparks surrounding the tourism area
- to use sustainable water treatment technology to control water pollution

He also wants to continue to be able to see the stars at night, and, of course, for the lost coral reef to grow back.

At Matador, we would like to see all that as well.

The Organization

Founded in 1993, CEA is a non-profit organization dedicated to marine and coastal protection, sea turtle protection, and water quality in the Akumal region.

Roughly ten years later, the organization recruited Paul from their technical advisory committee. Previous to CEA, he served as the Biodiversity Policy Advisor for World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International as well as for both the WWF México Program and Pronatura.

Currently, the majority of his efforts concentrate on harmonizing Akumal’s growing tourism industry with CEA’s environmental conservation agenda.

“We want to demonstrate to everybody that you can have business without hurting nature. Right now, [Akumal's tourism industry] is not sustainable, but we’re working toward it.”

It’s not easy trying to convince everyone from government officials to independent fishing boat operators to look beyond the immediate financial gratification of current tourism practices and endeavor to establish something sustainable, but it’s all Akumal has.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Photo by Crazy Creatures

In the last three years, the region has lost almost 80% of Mesoamerican reef due to water pollution and the influx of tourists.

Fortunately, CEA’s presence is bringing about a positive change: beach front hotels have agreed to help facilitate the nesting of endangered sea turtles; the Mexican government has made it a federal offense to interfere with sea turtle ecology; and CEA is developing eco-certifications to encourage hotels to practice sustainable tourism.

How You Can Help

You can help CEA through financial donations, item donations, sea turtle adoptions, or by volunteering.

The organization accepts volunteers for each of their six programs throughout the year. Interested parties should visit the website for more information and volunteer applications.

“Remember that each action you take to improve how you use the Earth is important. There is no effort too small. Expect more from yourself than you do from others.”

Couldn’t have said it any better, Paul.

Community Connection

You can read more about Global Environmental Issues on Matador.

For other volunteering abroad opportunities and information, check out our Volunteering Abroad focus page.

On Tuesday, Google threatened to cease cooperating with China’s internet censorship practice, adding the possibility of closing all Google operations in the country, a decision spurred mostly by last week’s sophisticated, cyber attacks aiming to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Fortunately, according to Google, the attackers did not achieve their objective as only two accounts were hacked, but no email content was accessed.

Due to the serious nature and human rights implications of these attacks, Google is taking to its blog to talk about the investigation into the attacks and how it has changed Google’s stance with China.

From the blog: “These attacks… have led us to.. review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

Since entering the Chinese market over three years ago, Google has been criticized for abiding by Chinese censorship law and restricting search results on google.com and google.cn, Google’s website in China. Though little is known about the technology behind how Google is self-censoring search results, it’s been clear that Google is consistently updating its filtering methods.

Earlier this year, Google blocked all searches for “Tiananmen Square” regardless of page content (even directions to the location had been filtered out) for eight days, after which search queries only turned up uncontroversial results such as links to shops in the area and benign, cheery photos of downtown Beijing.

Photo: mandiberg

Besides confirming that they had indeed abandoned old methods, Google would not provide more information on the topic.

For every search, Google informs users in China that “in accordance with local laws and policies, some of the results have not been displayed,” a necessary compromise, Google felt, in order to allow the company to provide information access to a fifth of the world’s population.

Being the second most widely used search engine in China, behind Baidu, Google knows it will have “potentially far-reaching consequences” should the company choose to leave the Middle Kingdom.

As for now, Google can only promise us they “are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.”

Photo by: midorisyu

Recently, supreme research brains at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science discovered a way to genetically modify a a type of bacterium to consume CO2 and produce isobutanol, a liquid fuel that can be used as a gas alternative.

And the process only requires sunlight to get going, meaning this achievement carries with it all sorts of cleaner, greener, cheaper energy implications.

Revolutionary? You betcha.

The modified bacterium potentially serves as not only a fuel substitute, but also an environmental cleanup agent through its consumption of carbon dioxide, the villain in our global warming story. Researchers say the ideal place for this bacteria is next to power plants emitting carbon dioxide so the plants’ greenhouse gases can be swallowed up and recycled into liquid fuel.

Unfortunately, the research is only in its initial stages, making it still too early to tell whether or not this will be the bacteria that saves the world.

Until then, we should continue doing our part to try and reduce emissions as we watch the infamous emissions clock climb to unfathomable numbers.

You can read more about the research here on the online edition of the science journal Nature Biotechnology.

Photo of Dr. Jane Goodall by: JJ W.

One of the largest political conferences of the year, the UN Climate Change Conference draws various experts, political figures, media members, and other participants to discuss climate change and international efforts to combat it. The Copenhagen conference aims to achieve four main issues:

* Ambitious emission reduction targets for developed countries
* Nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries
* Scaling up financial and technological support for both adaptation and mitigation
* An effective institutional framework with governance structures that address the needs of developing countries

This year Dr. Jane Goodall has put her global tour on hold to join the conference in hopes that her presence and presentations will help emphasize the importance of local communities putting in efforts to fight deforestation, a major contributor to global warming.

From her press release:

“According to Dr. Goodall, “Any agreement reached at Copenhagen should include direct funding to local communities to assist in protecting carbon-rich forests.” This support, she explained, can be achieved through the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) financing mechanism to the benefit of both local communities and the goal of REDD to provide long-term protection of forests.

At Copenhagen, Dr. Goodall and Dr. Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute’s director of conservation science, will demonstrate a pilot project that, with the aid of Google mobile and web-based mapping technologies, will enable local communities to provide accurate and timely forest monitoring data that is essential to meeting REDD’s goals.

The project will allow local communities in Tanzania and Uganda and indigenous Surui people in Brazil, along with their institutional partners, to exchange experiences and find ways to mutually support ongoing carbon/REDD project development efforts in these geographic areas.”

Watch this video which examines the complicated array of issues facing negotiators who specialize in REDD issues: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. Video courtesy of Clean Skies.

Also check out Managing Editor Julie Schwietert’s article “It’s a bad time to be an iceberg” discussing some of the effects of global warming.

Photo: imgur

In his New York Times Op-Ed column championing sweatshops in third world countries, Kristof admits he is “just about the only person in America who favors sweatshops.”

Despite suffering the common criticisms of unhealthy conditions, abuses, low wages, etc., sweatshops, Kristof maintains, “are only a symptom of poverty, not a cause, and banning them closes off one route out of poverty.”

For many citizens in poverty stricken nations, a factory job is a “cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty,” says Kristof. To take that away is more harmful than helpful. To be a garment worker is far from the worst thing out there.

In order for poor countries to pull themselves out of poverty, they must develop their manufacturing businesses. And if this means constructing sweatshops in third world countries, well, as “bad as sweatshops are, the alternatives are worse.”

Kristof makes strong points about looking at sweatshops through the lens of impoverished third world residents and being realistic about what factory jobs, no matter how low the wages in comparison to US standards, can provide.

Though, as Matador member Kelsey Timmerman points out in his comment on the post, “[Kristof's] argument ’sweatshops are good’ is too simple, just as is the one ’sweatshops are bad.’ ”

While Timmerman agrees that such factory jobs are incredibly important to the workers, he worries that Kristof’s column “encourages apathy” among consumers through it’s bottom line.

Rather than taking a black or white, good or bad side on the sweatshop debate, Timmerman feels that what people should be doing is becoming engaged consumers, asking brands where they manufacture their products and whether or not they have codes of social conduct for their factories.

“In my eyes, if an engaged consumer discovers something they don’t like about a brand they are wearing, they shouldn’t just write off the brand, they should pick up the phone and give them a call or drop them an e-mail. They should express what their concern is and see what, if any, action or response the brand is taking to correct it.”

It’s hard to say whether or not such phone calls or emails would have significant impacts on the way companies do business, but what is for sure, what both Kristof and Timmerman can agree upon, is that a general boycott of companies whose products are made in sweatshops is not the answer as it damages the lives of very workers its trying to help by putting them out of work.

What’s your take on sweatshops? Share your comments with us below.

Photo: exfordy

Yesterday, INTERPOL announced the impressive crime bust victory, codenamed Operation Costa, was a result of incredible coordination between police, national wildlife, customs, and national intelligence agency officers from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

In addition to seizing over two tons of elephant ivory, officers in all six countries conducted inspections and raids that resulted in the confiscation of other wildlife products, such as leopard skins, as well as weapons, ammunition, and vehicles.

“The success of Operation Costa is notable not only for the sheer volume of illegal ivory which has been recovered, which is among the biggest ever hauls recorded, but because it also clearly shows the ability and will of law enforcement to effectively tackle wildlife crime,” said Peter Younger, manager of INTERPOL’s OASIS (Operational Assistance, Services and Infrastructure Support) Africa wildlife crime program.

Operation Costa is the second in a series of such operations and INTERPOL is confident ‘Costa’ will provide a strong foundation for information and intelligence gathering for future actions.

While this report is undoubtedly great news, it’s simultaneously sobering to think of the animals from which these seized products were sourced. Even more disturbing is hunting for the vicarious experience of murder.

Comments? Share your thoughts below.

Ah, life’s simple pleasures. Photo: Kecko

While the rest of the world’s populations are flocking toward their nation’s metropolitan hotspots, a 2001 British census shows that Brits have been forgoing the fast-pace of the city for slower country living, a trend that has only gotten worse in recent years.

Not okay, says University College London research associate and author P.D. Smith in an article published in Wired UK magazine’s January issue.

Smith cites data revealing rural households emitting higher carbon dioxide than their urban counterparts due to larger residences, longer commutes, and multiple cars. Turns out, the regions with the largest carbon footprints in the UK are in the rural northeast, not the famed cities of London or Glasgow. London, interestingly enough, has the lowest per capita emissions. Who would have thought?

Smith argues that city living creates a low carbon economy and those who opt for country living should be taxed for the luxury.

“British people need to be cured of the insidious fantasy of leaving the city and owning a house in the country…. We tax cigarettes to reflect the harm they do to our health: we need to tax lifestyles that are damaging the health of the planet – and that means targeting people who choose to live in the countryside.”

Making exceptions for agricultural workers and those who are employed in rural areas, Smith wants to institute a “Rural Living Tax” for all other country residents, such as rich people with two houses.

But other than tax the pants off country dwellers, isn’t a better solution to aggressively promote greener living for all citizens?

Rather than punish people for choosing to live with cows and chickens, we should be encouraging the habitual acts that contribute to sustainability. The Earth is everyone’s responsibility and finding more reasons to tax certain demographics doesn’t exactly carry that message across.

Sound reasonable enough? Let those opinions fly free in the comments below.

Photo: rq?

Recently, The Fun Theory, a group promoting behavioral and environmental change, turned an average subway staircase in Stockholm into a giant, musical piano to see if they could motivate people to take the stairs more if fun were a factor. Watch the video of their results:

Additionally, the group is promoting recycling by creating a recycling bin arcade machine that makes the act of recycling ordinary bottles and cans feel a bit like playing skee ball and some serious fun.

The Fun Theory believes that “the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better.” And after watching the videos, it’s easy to see why they are so consistently successful. As BNT Editor Christine Garvin points out in her article “Yogis At Play”, one of life’s most important qualities is play.

Perpetually with one foot in the future, Japan recently brought on board a team of companies and researchers for what has got to be the most astro-ambitious project of the 21st century: the Space Solar Power System (SSPS).

The SSPS project, which Japan hopes to become fully realized as soon as 2030, will put into orbit giant solar panels just outside Earth’s atmosphere to gather the sun’s energy and beam it down to us in the form of lasers or microwaves. In the absence of clouds or that pesky ozone layer, solar energy can be over five times stronger in space than on Earth and according to the report from PhysOrg, Japan has been dead serious about this project since 1998.

Just a svelte island floating in the eastern Pacific, Japan depends on oil imports to run much of its machinery. If SSPS becomes a reality, Japan estimates the electricity produced will be six times cheaper than current in-country costs. “We’re aiming to produce stable, cheap power and hydrogen at a target price of 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour,” research scientist Hiroaki Suzuki was quoted saying in the Scientific American.

But powerful lasers beaming down from space don’t exactly inspire confidence in the court of public opinion and the very twilight zone nature of the SSPS project has got all the science and technology blogs aflutter. Tonic admits that the plan “sounds so very far-flung and fanciful,” while Tech.Blorge refers to it as “as a nod to science fiction.”

And while Matador is committed to greener living (hey, we sent one of our MatadorU students to take on the No Impact Week Challenge), we’re reserving opinion until the 2020 test launch.

Around this time last year, Matador published this article about US commitment to renewable energy, though it is clear that, much like as with cell phones and robot girlfriends, the Japanese have outpaced all others once again.

What do you think about a giant laser beaming super concentrated solar energy down from outer space? Share your thoughts with us!

All images courtesy of Rafael Smith

A few weeks later, he stumbled upon an article about the need for better shelter solutions in refugee camps. It was then that Smith knew he wanted to focus his design on refugee shelters.

“From the beginning I knew I wanted to get away from consumer products, which is a grand majority of what we concentrate on as industrial design students. I knew I wanted to do something that addresses the basic needs of the living,” Smith said. “I wanted to design a project that would impact people’s lives.”

Conceptualized as Smith’s senior undergraduate thesis project, Über Shelter is quickly gaining national attention for its innovative and philanthropic attributes.

Primarily made of recycled aluminum, the refugee shelter Smith designed utilizes lightweight materials and focuses on sustainability. The Uber Shelter is collapsible and intentionally designed to be erected with few tools, minimizing potential transportation and construction complications. Additionally, each structure is stackable, which can help cut the size of refugee camp sites in half.

As a base unit, Über meets the immediate need for shelter after an initial crisis. But Smith is also focused on providing the most beneficial design for refugees. After speaking directly with a Sudanese refugee about camp needs, Smith decided to incorporate the three modern conveniences of a stove, electric lights, and a refrigerator in his design.

These conveniences are shipped and distributed in a separate upgrade package after basic shelter needs have been satisfied. For Smith, Über is a “shelter solution that meets the needs of emergency response but also provides refugees with a more personal place to live.”

While the Über Shelter is the recipient of designer, environmentalist, and activist acclaim, it still has a long road of refinements ahead. Smith is currently focused on reducing the shelter’s weight and cost for easier shipment and maximum dispersion.

“I think the base idea is very strong; however, there are several improvements that need to be made before this idea will be a serious candidate for replacing other shelter solutions,” Smith said.

“My plan is to create the best possible product with the resources I have. If the idea is good enough, I have no doubt that along the way the right people will help take this to the next level.”

Among those who have taken an interest in Smith’s project is Josh Messmer, who offered his civil engineering skills to help refine Über’s structural stability and engineering issues. Smith knows that for Über to become a truly useful shelter solution, he needs the input of other professionals.

With this in mind, he elicits opinions and criticism from other designers and engineers; he also presents his project in front of panels of competition judges. Smith also admits to the personal need to experience poverty first-hand in order to design truly effective products to help combat it.

“I come from a middle class western culture,” Smith said. “A dream for me would be to live or volunteer somewhere in the developing world, in order to better understand certain environments and situations. My goal is [to design] products that assist the developing world, especially products that will assist people living in extreme poverty.”

For Über, Smith ultimately hopes the final product can be shipped all around the world by being able to adapt to different climates. Once a crisis is resolved, the shelters can be cleaned out, packed up, and shipped to the next location that needs them.

“I realized how much potential and need there is for design as a means to address poverty. The separation that exists between rich and poor nations and individuals became very real to me during this project,” Smith said. “If [my] idea is truly good enough, I can’t imagine any better feeling than seeing people benefit from this product in a refugee camp or after a disaster.”

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Learn more about refugee situations by reading “Waiting for Life to Begin in a Burmese Refugee Camp.” If you’d like to make a direct difference in the lives of refugees, be sure to peruse more than 350 organizations in Matador’s community, many of which provide services to various refugee groups.