Sustainability in Rural Mexico

With six years under its belt, Bosque Village (near Patzcuaro, Michoacan in Mexico) a self-proclaimed combination of a campground, a rustic retreat center, a permaculture farm, and a forming ecovillage, has come a long way!

With its roots in the desire of founder Brian Fey, an expat from Washington State, to experiment with sustainability, a large and diverse collection of creative and enthusiastic individuals have come together to create a confluence of ideas and action. Bosque Village is a concept under perpetual development and a place to inspire and communicate the message of walking lightly on our earth.

Sustainable living is key to the foundation of this magical place. With no water available other than that collected from rainfall, no reliance on outside electricity (all solar powered), Bosque Village returns the gifts nature has bestowed. Propagating and planting native plants and trees is an ongoing process as is the documenting of local flora and fauna. They even grow the beautiful and important agave plant directly from seed!!

We will be communicating with folks at Bosque Village to facilitate the sharing of success and challenges folks around the world are having in implementing similar projects. If you know of other projects such as this, please get in touch with Visionary Values and also, if you wish, directly with Bosque Village.

We encourage you to check them out! We also want to let you know that it is not a dangerous place to visit! We have recently returned from a long-term visit in the state of Michoacan and encountered nothing to fear!

This is why we have such a @#$%ed-up energy policy in the USA!!

When folks spew garbage like this it is no wonder we have such a steep climb towards changing our nation's dependence on non-renewable energy sources! Listen, if one looks only at the bottom line and sees nothing else connected to it, a perspective such as this one looks brilliant!

To state that solar only works when it is sunny is just mis-information and simply untrue! The energy production is certainly reduced, but to use this as an argument against solar power is rubbish! Just think of how many people and animals die every year directly and indirectly due to our insatiable thirst for oil and coal! When was the last time someone perished using solar energy?

So, calling an industry "unprofitable" when so little has historically been spent on alternative energy and big oil has spent lots to derail legislation in its favor, is a bit over the top, wouldn't you say?!? Throw in all the tax funded incentives and subsidies they have gotten and the gap is even larger! In fact, as of the middle of last year, investment in green power sources in the US had actually dropped 8% due to our shaky economy.

When hugely successful companies like Exxon spend only around 1% of its profits on alternative energy sources and BP 2.9% (the most of the big five oil companies), where is the money going to come from?? Where is the commitment to sustainability?? NOWHERE!!!

Well, that's not entirely true...WE NEED TO BE THE AGENTS OF CHANGE!!! We will do it through our demands that these tactics change. Certainly in light of the outrage over the recent coal mine deaths and the very recent (and very devastating!!) BP oil spill, we have a GREAT OPPORTUNITY, but perhaps we are not noisy enough!!

Visionary companies need visionary consumers. Folks who demand only the most ethical behavior and smartest decisions. Maybe our standards are too low? Any comments???