Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen

On Monday, I was invited to attend a conference with local environmental groups presenting their various projects to the local media and representatives from the Office of Environmental Affairs for the Municipal Government of Solidaridad. Held in the grand auditorium of the Municipal Plaza, six eco initiatives were presented for the consideration of the assembly including Ak Lu'um International School  and their 1st annual "Eco-Reto", a challenge for local families to design and build the best eco-friendly toy. Also addressing the group were representatives from the Direccion de Medio Ambiente del H. Ayuntamiente del Municipio de Solidaridad promoting the Riviera Maya's monthly recycling program and a new state of the art landfill project that is now underway (CIMRES), also under the supervision of the Municipality. Other presentations came from the World Wildlife Federation with an ambitious proposal to reduce the carbon footprint of the Riviera Maya travel industry and Moce Yax Cuxtal A.C. with their Living Museum of Ancient Urban Trees. We also heard about an initiative to promote sustainable urban agriculture within the various neighborhoods in the city of Playa del Carmen and the Amigos de Sian Ka'an A.C. spoke about their efforts to save our precious reef system.

I was impressed with the information imparted and the quality of the presentations themselves and hope to receive more information about each of these organizations. Of course, I was in attendance primarily to support Itzel and the Fundacion Ak Lu'um A.C. but I was delighted to see so many other important and viable initiatives in the works!

For more information on what can and is being done to reduce carbon emissions, visit Live the Deal. See what your country has committed to doing to help preserve the environment.