Ecological Rally, Mexico 2007

The serious environmental problems that Mexico faces, in common with many countries, have been compounded by a notable lack of environmental awareness and education in the country. Thankfully, though, this situation is slowly beginning to change.

There remains, however, a strong need to find creative and convincing ways of educating the Mexican people about environmental issues, so that they become more aware of these issues, and start to take steps as citizens and politicians to tackle them.

This project aims to offer an innovative and powerful way to build environmental awareness and action in a Mexican city, located in the predominantly rural region in south Jalisco.

Project Background

For the past two years, an English language school in Ciudad Guzmán has organized a rally on a Saturday in May or June, primarily to promote the school and other sponsors of the rally, and also to offer a fun and interesting day of activities for the young participants age (16-25) in the rally.

In each of the past two years, the rally has been very successful. For the next year (2007), the idea has emerged for creating an 'ecological rally', that is a rally with explicit social and environmental purposes, in addition to its other aims.

Ciudad Guzmán is a city of around 100,000 people, and occupies a strategic role in the south of Jalisco, being the largest city in this region. Given its relatively small size as a city, it is possible that an 'ecological rally' can have a major impact on the city.

Aims of the proposed rally

To create an event which is going to capture the attention of the population of Ciudad Guzmán about the importance of the environment;

To use the rally to promote environmental education and awareness;

To create an event which will make a concrete difference in the lives of the inhabitants of Ciudad Guzmán; for example, the event can help to clean the city of litter and/or to publicize a recycling project that the new president of the municipality wants to initiate;

To create an event which is fun, creative, stimulating and educational for the participants.

Features and logistics of the proposed rally

That the event occurs for two days on 9 & 10 June, which is the weekend immediately following the International Day of the Environment, Tuesday June 5;

That all the activities involved in the rally have a positive impact on the environment, for example, planting trees, and using canoes to clear the nearby lake of rubbish;

That none of the activities involved in the rally leave a significant environmental footprint; this implies, for example, the use of bicycles, buses, and horses or donkeys instead of cars. In addition, that the prizes in the rally are both worthwhile, and congruent with its environmental aims (for example an eco-tourism holiday for the winning team);

That the rally promotes education and greater awareness about the environment in Ciudad Guzmán;

That on, or close to, the International Day of the Environment, June 5, an academic conference or special lecture can be organized regarding key environmental themes;

That other key local stakeholder organizations are involved in the rally, such as the municipal government, CEMEX (one of Mexico's largest companies which has a factory near Ciudad Guzmán), the regional center of the University of Guadalajara (CU Sur), the Technological Institute of Ciudad Guzmán, and the civil society organization which, together with the Federal Government, manages the nearby National Park. In fact, the involvement of all these key stakeholders has now been secured;

That the rally can publicize and promote important environmental projects which the local municipal government wants to carry out, for example, a recycling center;

That between 10-15 teams of 12-20 young people compete in the two-day rally;

That the teams are composed of students from the same secondary schools, universities and other educational institutions in Ciudad Guzman;

That there is a qualifying process before the rally, in which each team that wants to participate in the rally must complete a project which improves the environment of their school, university or local community;

That some of the activities of the rally occur in the National Park of the Nevado, on the slopes of the volcano, as well as in and around the city of Ciudad Guzmán;

That a party can be organized for the night of June 9 or 10 to provide further funds for the expenses of the rally;

That the option is explored for involving a national television chain in the filming of the rally, and also with the filming of a possible quiz show format that could be part of the rally with questions based on environmental themes.