Earth day events not to be missed
Caminos de Agua celebrates Earth Day with a focus on challenging environmental issues and what individuals can do.
Tuesday, April 12, 12:30:San Miguel’s Water Crisis and What You Can Do About It
The water of San Miguel’s aquifer is dropping at a rapid and unsustainable rate and is contaminated with toxic levels of heavy metals and minerals. Dylan Terrell, executive director of Caminos de Agua (formerly CATIS Mexico), will explain the main water issues facing San Miguel Tuesday, April 12, at 12:30 p.m. at Rotary, which will be at Hotel Mision, Salida a Queretaro 1. The presentation will be free and in English
Caminos de Agua has been working on an integrated approach to water issues in the region, conducting extensive water quality testing in more than 70 rural communities within our watershed since 2012. In addition, Caminos has initiated an urban water-quality monitoring program for San Miguel de Allende. New information on water quality issues will be presented in both national and global contexts in this presentation.
In addition, Terrell will report on the progress of a new low-tech fluoride absorber which Caminos hopes to begin piloting in 2016, and on an adapted rainwater harvesting system, which Caminos and partners began implementing in other communities in 2015.
Tuesday, April 19, 1:00: Optimism for the Future, Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende.
Caminos de Agua Board Member, Rob Lerner, presents at Bellas Artes in conjunction with the Audobon Society. Rob is a biologist, technologist and practicing sustainability advocate. He came of age with the modern environmental movement in the early 70’s, as a student in the Environmental Studies program at UC Santa Barbara. Rob hasn’t always been so sanguine over prospects for the planet, but he finds hope in current advances in science and technology, and especially in the work and commitment of the next generation of planetary stewards.
In this wide-ranging presentation, punctuated with slides and video clips, Rob Lerner will share recent developments in renewable energy, regenerative agriculture and other fields that make him hopeful. He’ll also share some novel ideas from leading ecologists on how to think more about nature in our post-wild world.
Without picking winners or predicting the future, Rob will make the case for a better-informed and more nuanced conversation on some of the core issues confronting humanity today, and along the way challenge some of our assumptions about what it means to live sustainably, for example:
How Monsanto has given GMOs a bad name, and the role genetic engineering can play in agriculture, nature conservation and the future of our species
How Fukushima has given nuclear power a bad name, and the potential of “next generation” technologies to power our future;
How industrial meat production has given beef a bad name, and the role livestock can play in healing degraded landscapes;
How the U.S. corn lobby has given biofuels a bad name, and the role the they may play in our future transportation infrastructure;
Why finger-pointing at China over pollution and environmental degradation is a false canard, and how they may lead the world on the path to a sustainable future.
Rob will also share ideas, practices and the simple choices we all can make in the way we live our lives to secure a sustainably prosperous future for generations to come. There’s sure to be some spirited conversation following the formal presentation!