Excerpt: … One night not so very long ago, I could be found barefoot, my jeans’ cuffs rolled up, peeping at star fish in tidal pools under Puerto Peñasco’s night sky, full of its stars. I shared this glorious experience with a group of flashlight-wielding Colorado university students and their renowned professor of invertebrate science, thanks to the local Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans, CEDO. … /
/ … CEDO’s educational programs include classes for all fifth graders in town, contests, annual beach cleanups, four natural history talks a week free to the public, guided nature walks, training for agricultural producers, summer camps and a rich library. Its research facilities provide lodging and classrooms for study groups, as well as a laboratory.
The institute supports scientific investigation and application for appropriate technology in tourism, fishing and other natural resource management. In addition, CEDO personnel alert community members to projects that threaten the environment. The institute’s Gran Desierto Botanical Garden, a prime target of the developers, is a showcase of native, rare and endangered plants of the region.
CEDO’s contributions are all the more significant given that the government is short on money for environmental education. For example, the intended federal visitors center at the field station for the nearby biosphere reserve protected area is nearly abandoned due to lack of funding, and its displays are collecting dusk in darkened rooms.
If you want to shore up CEDO’s chances of surviving in tact, some simple steps to take are: Join the more than 800 people who have signed the petition in support of CEDO at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CEDO7/; send money to help CEDO pay lawyers’ fees; let other people know about the situation; and above all, make sure nobody buys any condos from Fuentes del Mar. (Read the whole long article about CEDO on eluniversal.com).