The Japanese method of creating forests comes to Mexico

In English, the Japanese concept satoyama translates as “village” and “mountain.” These are rural environments where communities manage forests and farmland based on a sustainable system, harnessing their resources without harming them, in a kind of sacred pact between humans and nature for living in harmony. A notion that today, more than ever, needs to be applied in Nezahualcóyotl, a municipality in the State of Mexico, where gray asphalt is the rule and green is the exception. Nezayork, as it is jokingly known, burns to the rhythm of cumbia music blasting loudly in its streets, which were built on what was once Lake Texcoco. Now they are, literally, on salt. After World War II, Japan poured all its efforts into an ambitious economic recovery plan, with one consequence: urbanization and industrial growth broke that pact with nature throughout the country, including the satoyama. The environmental crisis began to manifest itself in alarming levels of air and water pollution, and illn ... Read full article.