Sustainable San Miguel: First forum on future trends
By Francisco Peyret; Translated by Atención staff
October 31, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Municipal authorities and representatives of several sectors of our community have become concerned with the recent trend toward social polarization and the inadequate use of natural resources.

We feel compelled to design new public policies and private initiatives to change the course of our local and regional economies, aiming at continuous and sustainable growth.

The current municipal administration is now, after two years of intensive work, ready to present information that is indispensable for planning the future of our region. We have plans for the organization of all the municipal regions, the first comprehensive long-term vision for the municipality created by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). We also have comprehensive plans for carefully considered economic and social projects that will help us manage our water resources and land reserves. Moving forward, it is necessary to make the relevant presentations that will allow us to work together with professionals and interested citizens, get some feedback and then publish documents that will become part of the database for the design of the municipality’s future strategy in the realms of nature conservancy, management of land and water resources and public policies regarding economic growth and social responsibilities.

Many in San Miguel de Allende are convinced that, thanks to the demographics and geographic size of our community, we can convert the city into a model of preservation of cultural heritage and a development model in terms of recuperation and conservation of our environment. All this involves generating a new culture of managing our natural resources and examining the ways we generate wealth. 

A group of civil servants, business people, representatives of nongovernment organizations and private individuals have met over the last nine months to develop the project Sustainable San Miguel. Its mission is to promote consideration for the environment in the planning, design and execution of all projects through the creation of a multidisciplinary event that will allow us, business people, consumers, students and the interested public to create a new culture for managing of human, material and natural resources. 

The philosophy of the project states that no human activity should be conceived or planned without consideration for the environment, and the future existence and success of any such activity will depend on this factor. The megatrends have shown us that all design, fashion, food, entertainment, art and means of production have close, vital ties to problems of the environment and its protection.

We wanted to create an event that would be accessible for the general public, and this is why Sustainable San Miguel includes focused topics discussed at five different venues:

Instituto Allende (Patio de la Pérgola): conferences aimed at business people, artisans, students and anyone interested in methods of designing and producing goods and services will be presented. 

Instituto Allende (Galería James Pinto): sessions will focus on water conservation and the environment, so it is important that public servants, members of nongovernment organizations, researchers, students, real estate developers, builders, members of professional associations, investors and foreign residents attend. 

Teatro Ángela Peralta: here the topic is “Tourism and its Trends” and it should be of special interest to the sector’s operators and interested students. We open with a lecture by Dr. María Velasco, researcher at the Universidad Complutense de España, on the theme “Tourism in Heritage Cities and Sustainability.”

Auditorio Miguel Malo, Bellas Artes: Thinking of the children and with the idea of promoting environmental education we organized, with the support of Peasma, a number of conferences, workshops and recreational activities.

Hotel Real De Minas: specialized workshops will be held on bio-architecture and using energy-saving technologies.

We are organizing activities that will take place all year round that will allow us to have a real forum on the themes that are important to us and our future. We welcome all suggestions and need the participation of all interested persons. We are sure that this is a great opportunity for our municipality, and we need to create a new culture that will allow us to enhance our future. 

Contact Francisco Peyret at peyretf@yahoo.com.mx.  For more information consult the website www.sanmiguelsustentable.com.  

Francisco Peyret: Dirección de Turismo, Fomento Económico y Relaciones Internacionales

Creating a green economy for San Miguel
By Ben-Zion Ptashnik

Conference
San Miguel Sustentable
Sun–Sat, Nov 9–15
Instituto Allende, Hotel Real de Minas,
Bellas Artes, Jardín esplanade

As we watch the financial crisis and gaze into the abyss of a worldwide recession, we must ask what the future holds for San Miguel and how we can we keep this beautiful town economically viable. The good news is that the first international conference and expo called San Miguel Sustentable: The Global Challenge is set for mid-November.

At the Instituto Allende, speakers from Mexico, Italy and Spain will address global warming, water conservation, sustainable development, recycling and renewable energy.

Workshops at Hotel Real de Minas focus on training architects, builders and individuals on incorporating solar technologies into home designs and how to use green technologies and building materials. Trainers from a model ecological town in Brazil are coming to give five days of workshops.

Exhibits on the Jardín esplanade include adobe homes, wind generators, rain-water harvesting equipment and solar panels.

The organizers of the week-long event expect the conference/expo to evolve into a ongoing program.

Sustainable San Miguel is a group of private citizens, businesspeople, environmentalists and public officials who have met over the past eight months to chart a course toward sustainability. Our goal also is to create opportunities for ecological entrepreneurship and jobs creation in green technology. The group’s work could not have come at a better time. Our dream is to turn San Miguel into a model city where waterways and green zones are protected and enhanced, and where solar power and rain-harvesting are embraced.

We envision our town as a Latin American center for conferencing and educational programs. We dream of a Centro and Parroquia lit up at night by photovoltaic solar panels and energy-saving light bulbs. We envision new developments having mandatory rain-water harvesting. And we dream of San Miguel as a destination point for Mexicans to buy recycled products, water-saving devices, low-flush toilets and wind generators.

Our local economy is fueled by tourism and the second-home industry. Tens of thousands of people, both native sanmiguelenses and recent arrivals, have come to depend on the jobs created in these industries. We must plan for how San Miguel can thrive in the face of the world economic downturn that will surely reduce tourism and homebuilding here. We must create alternative economic opportunities for workers and seek new ways to attract tourism, so that the town’s restaurants, hotels and other enterprises remain viable. Green economic development and entrepreneurship is one possible solution which has been successfully employed elsewhere.

We could focus on the city’s water and energy supplies while planning for economic diversity and enhancement of tourism with ecology, creativity and sustainability foremost in our minds.

Future growth could focus on businesses that sell products made from recycled materials, products that use solar and wind energy, or products that filter, conserve or harvest water. We seek a different way to attract businesses, visitors and shoppers to San Miguel.

We can create a teaching/learning environment here that could attract thousands of people for environmental conferences, workshops and job training. Just as we attract tourist dollars with poetry or writers’ conferences, we can fill our hotels with conferees and students who come here to meet about global warming or training programs for solar systems and wind generators.

San Miguel may be the ideal place in Mexico to accomplish such a green utopian economic dream. The citizens’ group who developed the San Miguel Sustentable concept believes the city has the critical mass of forward-thinking individuals, savvy educators, retired entrepreneurs, architects, artists, writers and intellectuals who can embrace the dream and move it forward.

Ben-Zion Ptashnik is a retired state senator from Vermont.