Lake Chapala Green Group March 1 Meeting

Mark your calendars!

The Lake Chapala Green Group will hold its March meeting the first Tuesday, March 1. We are very pleased to have Jaime Navarro as the guest speaker. Jaime has a vision for a sustainable living community west of Ajijic, and is heavily involved in raising organic produce. He is using green houses effectively to reduce water consumption and for pest control. For Jaime that is just the start. He owns a sizable bit of land on both sides of the carretera and wants to develop a sustainable community using solar energy, gray water recycling and more. He is an excellent speaker and will address organic farming and sustainable communities.

You won't want to miss this. The meeting starts at 3:00 on the Neill James patio at LCS. Mark your calendar for March 1.

Organic Tianguis—New Place! New Day!

Great news from the Green Transitions in Action Committee.

Our farmers' market is moving to the Centro Laguna Plaza (new mall at the junction of the Libramiento and the Carretera). The move will take place on Tuesday, February 15th. The hours are the same, 10:00-1:00. Lots of safe parking.

Thank you and see you there!

Note: For the week of February 7th the farmers' market will still be at Hole in One on Wednesday from 10-1.

Amigos del Lago Public Meeting Feb 15, 2011

Hello everyone!

The February public meeting of Amigos del Lago will be held on Tuesday February 15th (a week later than normal), at 6:30pm in Azucena Bateman's office at Ocampo #30 in Ajijic. This shares its entrance with the Early Bird cafe. Everyone is welcome, we hope to see you there!

Amigos del Lago

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CORECCION—El sesion sera el martes febrero 15!

Hola a todos—

Nuestra sesion publica de febrero 2011 sera el martes febrero 15 (una semana mas tarde que normal), a las 6:30pm en la oficina de Azucena Bateman, Ocampo #30, Ajijic. Este se ubica en la misma entrada con Early Bird cafe. Todos son bienvenidos, te esperamos!

Amigos del Lago

Moringa Tree Planting on Saturday 2/5/11

This is not an "official" Green group activity, but I thought you might be interested.—Editor.

Hi Everyone, We invite you to join us this Saturday for the Moringa tree planting project.  We have shovels, pails, tarp, etc. along with soil, compost, peat moss and sand to do the new mixture to put in plastic bags and put in the green house....and the seeds for the new Moringa trees. This is a research project to grow the most nutritious trees on the planet here in Ajijic area.  Plans are to plant 100 trees or more on Saturday.  Please come and bring gloves if you have them, your own water and an extra shovel or pail if you wish. We know they CAN grow here because I have several grown in my courtyard at home.  Our last plantings were too cold outside and all compost (not any sand or peat moss) and these will go inside. We will be at Jaime and Sara's Rancho Salud greenhouse.  When you go towards Jocotopec you will a large sign across the road; within a mile on the left side (after the Familiar Restaurant) is a small white sign with Rancho Salud.  Please drive in there.  You will see the large greenhouse there on the left. Looking forward to seeing you. Lau'ana Lei 766-0096 or blessedclay8@yahoo.co

Lake Chapala Green Group Feb 1 Meeting

Todd Stong Covers New Topics, In-Depth

Todd Stong will be the guest speaker at the February meeting of the Lake Chapala Green Group. Dr. Stong always has a wealth of information to share and we have asked him to focus on several topics:

1) The wetlands he has proposed for areas around the lake,

2) The proposed water pipe from the lake to Guadalajara,

3) Aquaculture, and

4) Hydroponics.

We know that you may have questions on these and other topics so are asking that you think about and send us those questions ahead of time so that Todd can include answers within his presentation. There will still be an opportunity for followup after he completes his presentation.

If you will respond to this email with your questions as soon as possible, we will see that Todd gets them.

See you at the LCS back patio, 3:00, February 1st.

GTiA Film Series: February 14 Movie

“The Agro Rebel: Permaculture in the Salzburg Alps”

Presented by Green Transitions in Action

Monday, February 14, 2010
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
In the Sala at the Lake Chapala Society

Synopsis: Sepp Holzer, the Austrian farmer and forester practices "permaculture" a different kind of farming on his mountain property. With this certain form of organic-agriculture, he is very convincing and successfully. Contrary to all conventional rules and despite annual average temperatures of 4.5°C and an altitude of between 900m-1400m, he cultivates cherries, apples, mushrooms, kiwis, lemons, pumpkins, potatoes and zucchinis. He also started big permaculture-projects in Brazil, Columbia, Peru and Venezuela.

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For Extra Credit—Want to know more about Permaculture?

Links on Permaculture and Sustainability

It appears that many sustainable projects and green organizations in Mexico appear under the rubric of "permaculture."

In English: (¡No se olvide de Google Translate!)

http://theesperanzaproject.org/ ("Green News Portal for the Americas)

http://goo.gl/iyRuN (ecoaldeasmexico Google Translated to English)

http://www.permacultureusa.org/ (Permaculture USA)

http://www.holmgren.com.au/ (David Holmgren, Permaculture Co-Founder)

http://www.workaway.info/hostlist-MX.html (Volunteers in Mexico)

http://wp.me/pcX6D-m  (Mexico City Permaculture Punks!)

En Español: (Don't forget Google Translate)

http://sembradoresurbanos.org/ (México, DF)

http://www.rutaahimsa.org/ (Querétero, México)

http://www.tierramor.org/ (vecino de Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, México)

http://www.permacultura-es.org/index.php (España?)

http://theesperanzaproject.org/es/ ("Un Portal de Noticias Verdes para las Américas")

http://imagopost.com/ecoaldeasmexico/ (México)

—Bob Craft, Editor

Lake Chapala Green Group Jan 4 Meeting

Energy? It’s a Steal, with Passive Solar Design

Passive solar home design is perfect for sunny Mexico. Architect Rick Cowlishaw will show how a home that incorporates passive solar principles here on Lake Chapala’s North Shore—taking advantage of the sun, lake and mountain breezes, topography, and landscaping—saves both money and declining energy resources while providing maximum living comfort.

Our climate may be ideal, but it still varies. Designing or retrofitting a home for natural warming during our cool months and natural cooling in those warm, sticky ones requires careful use of locally-available materials and efficient regulation of sunlight and air flow. From his considerable knowledge, Rick will teach us how to “steal” from Nature’s bounty, to the benefit of all.

As an architect in Colorado and several other states, Rick Cowlishaw specialized in energy-efficient and passive solar homes. He later worked for the State of Colorado in the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation where he headed up the residential section. There he created the Colorado Green Program for the state, which led to 38 states in the US adopting similar green programs. Cohousing, a type of design for community living, is Rick’s current passion. He is also a member of the LCGG steering committee.

The meeting will be held at LCS, Neill James Patio, beginning at 3:00 pm. Bring any "green buzz" you have to share.

New Day for Organic Market

GTiA Film Series: December 20 Movie

"The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman"

Presented by Green Transitions in Action

Monday, December 20, 2010
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
In the Sala at the Lake Chapala Society

Most of us come to this part of Mexico to live the best days of our lives. This award-winning film shows how one man made his very last days the best they could be for himself and his loved-ones. The film includes scenes from Ajijic.

After the movie: Discussion led by 

• Louraisha Shaw: Reiki Master/Teacher, Reiki for Palliative Care (Ajijic resident)
• Linda Bergh: Psychologist and founding member of the Minnesota Threshold Network (visiting Ajijic)

Lake Chapala Green Group Dec 7 Meeting

Mark your calendars for the first Tuesday in December. Our guest speaker is Richard Rhoda, PhD.

Rick will bring a lot of very interesting information to this meeting of the Lake Chapala Green Group. He is a geographer, and has been an Ajijic resident since 1999. Professionally he has directed major development programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as authoring a book on development planning.

In addition to teaching several university level geography courses and publishing numerous articles in professional journals, Richard has delivered scores of lectures on such topics as modern Mexico, development, urban systems, migration, environment and demography. He wrote Geo-Mexico: The Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico, with Tony Burton as co-author.

The meeting will be held at LCS, Neill James Patio, beginning at 3:00. Bring any "green buzz" you have to share.