Say No to GrinGoVerde and Certain Death in Cancún or “What the Mayans Knew All Along”

Dredged, carved and hedged, Cancún stretches into the sea that is its key to the global economy and its ancient survival. Located over a giant aquifer with meteoric filters that preserve fresh water in sinkholes called cenotes throughout the peninsula bioregion, the city was built on swamplands, in contrast to the rich highland rainforest to the southwest.
 Despite increasingly dramatic hurricanes, Cancún’s population has exploded from 3,000 to one million in just 30 years, as you can see in the picture. But viperous hotels suck the water, energy and coveted tourist dollars through corporate tornados that tear through this port to the Mayan Yucatán with dizzying efficiency, as borders, military, and politicians fall to the wayside.

Posters advertising eco-awareness decorate a pen of wetlands across the street from new condos and parking lots. Recycling and composting bins visibly target tourists in three languages but are notably absent from the residential areas where the workers that empty the bins live. In the Bronx we call it green bling, but here maybe it’s gringoverde. To be fair, it’s certainly not just gringos. The tourist infrastructure proudly displays its international heritage; from Japan to Argentina to Holland to Israel, it seems everybody wants a piece of the Mayan sacred homeland.

While caravans converged in Mexico City for a global action for climate justice today, Federales rolled into Cancún to secure the streets before the grassroots arrive for the Diálogo Climático. One might not even know the big business of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 16) is well underway; nestled away at its exclusive Moon Palace beyond the southern tip of the peninsula conquered by luxury hotels, safely outside of the reach of public transportation. The remaining oblivious tourists cruise through astroturfed wetlands, perusing purchase choices frantically catered to them.

As Wikileaks lays bare US government maneuverings, I hope other countries will be emboldened to reclaim the UN and prove wrong the naysayers eager to portray COP16 as a failure already. It has to be embarrassing to be widely considered to be ineffective and beholden to the US economic, military and political agendas, particularly now that everyone can see that the Emperor has no clothes. Kings and delegates are people too, and subject to the same ego bruising and reactionary boldness as any playground. When better to gamble than when death is the certain alternative?

They will have an easier time getting outside the military checkpoints to learn from the thousands of climate justice activists than we have getting in. Anyway we aren’t trying to access this imperialist commodification of an elite gringoverde lifestyle. Thankfully for all of us, many creative and conscientious folks have jumped through the bureaucratic hoops, pooled resources and suffered through the fossil fuel burning traffic to sit at the table with them and share ideas for collective survival. We are educating ourselves; sharing local solutions, technology, food and strategies for surviving climate change. We like to share. Where better than in this land of the Maya, named by the Aztec as the land of riches, where volcanoes conspired to provide fresh water, and fruit and fish abound?

Maybe in your town, where nature has conspired to save you too, as long as you’ll let her.