Green Map San Miguel

Getting the most out of nature and your money
by Signe Hammer

The Aves y Agaves joint membership drive kicks off the first joint project between the Audubon Society and El Charco, an auction of nature-themed art by San Miguel de Allende artists.

San Miguel poised to become an International Seed City
by Molly Blakemore

Vía Orgánica is an affiliate of Consumers International (CI) and will participate in “Ciudades Semilla” or “Seed Cities,” a network of like-minded individuals in Mexican cities with a determination to change the way cities deal with major environmental issues such as transportation, energy use, consumption, waste and diet.

Colorful birds of Pátzcuaro
by Carol Wheeler

Georgia Conti, founder of the Pátzcuaro Birding Club, and Víctor Hugo Valencia, Michoacán’s only professional bird guide, will present a lecture on the avian wonders of the Pátzcuaro area.

A strategic alliance for the environment
by Signe Hammer with the Strategic Alliance Committee

Two of San Miguel de Allende’s foremost nonprofit environmental organizations—Sociedad de Audubon de México and El Charco del Ingenio, the Botanical Garden—have formed a strategic alliance that will enable them to work together more effectively to achieve their goals.

Los Senderos: An Organic Alternative
by Alejandro Devesa

Los Senderos will present their new chef, Warren Weekes, and celebrate the opening of La Tiendita with an event at their 275 acre development in San Miguel de Allende.

The end of an era: No dogs in El Charco
by Naomi Zerriffi

Dogs will be prohibited in El Charco del Ingenio starting November 1. This rule will apply to all areas of El Charco del Ingenio, but not to Parque Landeta.

Vía Orgánica: The Organic Way: A Matter of Life or Death
by Ronnie Cummins

The National Director of the Organic Consumer Association explains why we urgently need to adopt the 'organic way.'

Celestial Lights - October 2009
by Phyllis Burton Pitluga

Watch the skies over San Miguel de Allende this month for the harvest moon and use the moon to locate Mars, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus.

Get Ready for the bag ban
by Michaella Rodriguez

Beginning August 19 the free distribution of non-biodegradable plastic bags in supermarkets and commercial centers is prohibited in the Distrito Federal.

What's Blooming Now?
by Richard Cretcher

Recent rains have helped bring out additional wildflowers at El Charco and the large flower displays of girasol and mirasol along the highways are already appearing.

Teaching kids to take care of the planet
by Francisco J. Marín

The children participating in project Ojalá in San Miguel Viejo are making composting boxes for their community.

San Miguel's organic movement
by Molly Blakemore

Vía Orgánica continues to develop by expanding the tienda, starting an Amigos de Vía Orgánica group, creating a website, offering Yoga classes, and hosting monthly agriculture workshops.

Making the transition
by Molly Blakemore

Vía Orgánica hosts its second organic workshop in San Miguel de Allende which will introduce Participatory Organic Certification, a local, community-based certification tha relies on peer-to-peer monitoring.

From the shores of Presa Allende
by Atención staff

Over 40 people attended the Amigos de la Presa open house and participated in this new initiative to clean up the Presa.

Celestial Lights - September 2009
by Phyllis Burton Pitluga

A tour of the Milky Way Galaxy and this month's sky calendar, which includes the Autumnal Equinox.

Know the Green Network
by Atención staff

Slow Food's Terra Madre Network preserves, encourages, and supports sustainable food production methods.

News from Salvemos al Río Laja
by Robin Luxmoore

Salvemos al Río Laja continues the work begun in 2000 to restore the watershed drained by the Río Laja, which runs by San Miguel de Allende.

The Río Laja and Our Future

Atahualpa Calder Sosa, an community activist and expert on watershed management, discusses the damage to the Río Laja basin and its impact on the life of rural communities.

El Grito of the Green Revolution 2010
by Roger Jones

A revolution of consciousness is taking root in central Mexico.

Luscious, spacious and delicious!
by Jennifer Hamilton

Vía Orgánica is reviving the ecological dream of Rancho Las Palmas in Atotonilco. The House and Garden Tour will visit Vía Orgánica this week.

Audubon Sightings
by Walter L. Meagher

Wayne and Susan Colony search for the nesting site of barn owls in El Charco.

Green companies join forces
by Ben Ptashnik

The Green Store, a cooperative of four companies in San Miguel de Allende that offer sustainable products and services, celebrates with a Gala Opening and Fiesta.

Environmental Prize winner comes to San Miguel

San Miguel de Allende is excited to host Jesus León Santos, a leader in the grassroots environmental movement, who is helping his fellow campesinos to retrieve pre-Hispanic agricultural traditions and save their lands.

Cello at El Charco

The well-known Mexican cellist Jimena Giménez Cacho offers a Bach cello concert against the splendid backdrop of the botanical garden.

From El Charco
by Naomi Zerriffi

Activities at El Charco this week include an opening ceremony for the new Donor's Garden and birdwalks with Signe Hammer.

An introduction to organic farming
by Rick Wendling

Two local organic farms and the environmental consultant Jesús Ignacio Simón Zamora are presenting a one-day intensive overview of organic farming techniques with a hands-on workshop.

Wildflower scene at El Charco
by Richard Cretcher

Early season wildflowers are blooming at El Charco del Ingenio botanical gardens.

Measure your carbon footprint
by Emily Hendricks

Expresión en Corto has teamed with Televisa Verde and Pronatura to bring the NEUTRALIZATE Carbon Footprint Station to San Miguel de Allende during the film festival.

PEASMA makes environmental advances
by Eugenia Velasco

The Environmental Education Project in San Miguel de Allende is educating a new generation by promoting awareness, love, and respect for the environment. PEASMA reports on the success of this program during the past school year.

Expresión en Corto recycles

In keeping with this year's theme, Greenlighting responsible environmental practices, Expresión en Corto will launch the first prototype public recycling program in San Miguel de Allende during the 10 day event. Otto México will provide recycling containers and RECIQLA will collect the recycled materials.

Much ado about beans!
by Kirsten West

San Miguel's Culinary Explorer, chef and cooking instructor Kirsten West, joins the Slow Food Chapultepec chapter for '20 Chefs - 20 Varieties of Beans' in the floating gardens of Xochimilico.

How to… get a permit to prune a tree
by Krishna Villena

Pruning or removing trees requires a permit from the Ecology Department, use of a recommended professional tree trimer, and a donation of young trees.

Callistemon viminalis/Weeping bottlebrush

The weeping bottle brush is an attractive tree that can be allowed to become shrubby or pruned to a weeping form.

Green San Miguel
by Atención staff

Club Verde (Building Green Club) and the Fondo Verde board demonstrate how government, entrepreneurs and NGOs can work to gether to improve our environment and life quality in San Miguel.

Saving Green
by Atención staff

Save money and support the local economy of San Miguel de Allende by becoming a member of El Charco del Ingenio or Sociedad Audubon de México.

World Environment Day Festival in San Miguel
by Krishna Villena

World Environment Day celebrations in San Miguel include more than 50 conferences, exhibitions, concerts and workshops during the week of June 1-7. Local government departments, the universities of Querétaro, UNAM and Guadalajara, and several nongovernmental organizations are participating.

Celebrating World Environment Day in Mexico
by SEMARNAT

Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources SEMARNAT announced that Xcaret, Quintana Roo will be the site for the celebration of World Environment Day on June 5.

About World Environment Day
by United Nations Environment Programme

Commemorated each year on June 5 in a different city, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. This year’s theme for World Environment Day (WED) is Your Planet Needs You! UNite to Combat Climate Change.

Organic Way comes to San Miguel
by Ronnie Cummins

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has formed a new sister organization in Mexico called Vïa Orgánica, or the "Organic Way." Vía Orgánica will operate a grocery and café in the Guadalupe/Aurora neighborhood of San Miguel de Allende. Their organic farm and conference center near Atotonilco will offer classes in farming, cooking and alternative medicine.

Grow organic vegetables with a little help
by Mary Ann McFadden

Organic farmer Pedro Ramírez Juárez, a member of Vida Verde, gives the author advice on caring for her organic garden and fruit trees. He offers consulting services for designing and maintaining your own organic garden.

When pigs fly
by Georgeann Johnson

Factory farming of animals increases the likelihood of cross species virus such as the current strain of swine flu.

Recycle this: Origami seed starter pots
by Rick Wendling

Simple instructions for recycling your old copies of Atención San Miguel into seed starter pots.

Give us your best shot
by Jane Sallis

Entries in the San Miguel Garden Club photo contest for their 2010 calendar must be submitted by June 15. This year's theme is 'celebrations.'

Mexican wins environment prize for land renewal program
by The Goldman Environmental Prize

Jesús León Santos won the Goldman Environmental prize for his land renewal and economic development program in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. His organization, the Center for Integral Small Farmer Development, uses traditional Mixteca indigenous practices to restore the regional ecosystem.

Paixtle-picking: Lend us your gardeners

Honor Earth Day in San Miguel de Allende by cleaning-up Parque Landeta and removing paixtle, a local epiphyte, from the trees in El Charco.

Tune into Earth by turning off
by Atención staff

San Miguel de Allende participated in the annual global event Earth Hour organized by the World Wildlife Foundation. Several residents discuss why their lights were on or off during this event.

The most radical thing you can do: Staying home as a necessity and a right
by Rebecca Solnit

While the fortunate among us may view limiting travel as giving something up to benefit the environment, others are pursuing the right to stay home as a fundamental human right.

Eat well: San Miguel's organic farm
by Rick Wendling

Toyan Rancho Orgánico, located just outside San Miguel de Allende on the road to Querétaro, is a utopia of fertile fields, fruit trees, happy farm animals and some unique surprises.

Opera in the canyon
by Oliva Ledón

El Charco celebrates one of the four great solar fesetivals of the year with a Spring Equinox Ceremony and a concert in the canyon's natural ampitheter.

Audubon showcases birds of Pátzcuaro
by Carol Wheeler

George Conti, founder of the Pátzcuaro Birding Club, will talk about the avian wonders of Pátzcuaro accompanied by photos from San Miguel resident Wayne Colony.

Vermiculture at Productos Orgánicos Don Juan
by Rick Wendling

A trip to the earthworm farm cooperative in Don Juan Xidó, across Presa Allende from San Miguel Viejo, with Miguel Gil to see how they produce 'worm tea' liquid fertilizer, compost and red worms.

The BWF Alternative Fair and CEDESA: Water and Food Sovereignty
by Holly Yasui

The Alternative Fair of Women Artists, sponsored by the Bernard Weisman Foundation, will feature a presentation by Chela Martinez of CEDESA in which she will discuss groundwater issues that affect San Miguel de Allende and regional strategies for defending water resources.

Building Green Week, the seed of change
by Gastón Bensión

Building Green Week will include an exhibition by Arnulfo Mancera of his product, blocks for vaulted ceilings made without contaminating the environment

Green Building conference

The featured speaker for the San Miguel green community meeting on February 18 will be Rick Kahn, an accredited Leed builder and green-building consultant.

Audubon annual meeting

The annual membership meeting of Audubon de México is March 17 at Teatro Santa Ana.

How to… buy plants at La Candelaria plant sale
by Krishna Villena

San Miguel de Allende's festival of plants and flowers, La Candelaria, is in Parque Juárez this week. Krishna Villena explains the origins of Caldelaria and what to look for when buying plants.

Green Week in the Biblioteca Pública
by Jesús Ibarra

The Biblioteca Pública will host a 'Green Week' focused on building green. It will include exhibitions, conferences and films on ecological issues.

Organic Food Fiesta

Full Moon Organics debuts with an Organic Food Fiesta that aims to bring environmentally aware people and business together.

Banco Vivo: Fresh vegetables straight from the garden
by Rick Wendling

Banco Vivo is a new co-op farm near Atotonilco that will plant, tend and harvest a garden for you. Seeds and growing methods are all organic.

Celestial Lights
by Phyllis Burton Pitluga

How our solar system was formed. February's Sky Calendar explains how to use the moon to learn to recognize different planets and bright stars.

Waking up from a stupor after hitting the Wall
by Ben-Zion Ptashnik

The economic collapse may make 2009 an opportune time for comprehensive ecological education and action. "Green community" meetings on Wednesday evenings bring together private citizens, business owners and environmental activists to chart a course for socially responsible development and ecological sustainability in San Miguel de Allende.

Hermes Arroyo: naturalist, artist, and teacher
by Krishna Villena

In addition to creating fabulous mojigangas, Hermes Arroyo is a teacher and artist at the botanical garden. His love of nature is expressed in art that incorporates natural elements and reuses natural materials from El Charco.

Something to celebrate
by Al Zerriffi

The Municipality of San Miguel De Allende and El Charco Del Ingenio will transfer custody of Parque Landeta to UNAM. UNAM will build a Center of Multidisciplinary Research to conduct research and provide training in ecology and environmental studies.

Celestial Lights
by Phyllis Burton Pitluga

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, which Mexico will celebrate with a Noche de Estrellas on January 31. This month's Sky Calendar includes five visible planets.