Ecology

The greening of La Ropa Beach

By Wibke Langhorst

“You have to be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi.

News about the environment is rarely good these days and most often less so when it comes to regions experiencing certain growth and development. All the more reason to rejoice about some of the things that are happening on the environmental front in our very own neck of the woods.

When Club Intrawest, the new resort on Zihuatanejo’s Playa La Ropa, was being carved out of a dizzyingly steep hillside, many of us hardcore environmentalists were understandably skeptical about their assurances of concern for sustainability and the environment, so ten months after the Club’s opening I have decided to find out how well the resort is faring in ecological terms.

My 10 A.M. appointment with Susan Gomez, the General Manager of Club Intrawest, and three of her key executive team members, starts right on cue with a cup of certified organic coffee straight from the mountains of Zihuatanejo. Long before the resort opened, Club Intrawest’s former Executive Chef and Food and Beverage Director Glenn Monk had contacted Dario Galeana and Juanita Sanchez, the owners of Café Zihuatanejo, to taste their excellent shade grown organic coffee and source it for the Club’s restaurant Zi.The coffee immediately won his approval and is now being served in Zi Restaurant and Surf Club as well as offered for sale by the pound. In addition to the organic coffee, Club Intrawest also buys fresh organic ginger from one of the other growers in the Café Zihuatlan co-op.

“Club Intrawest is always looking for locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, but unfortunately, the supply is not too consistent yet,” Susan Gomez emphasizes. “Buying locally grown organic food is not only good for people’s health and for the environment, it also supports the local economy by helping local growers and saves on transportation and fuel costs.” In the meantime, the Club is beginning to experiment with its on-site organic kitchen herb and vegetable garden. In the Club’s own nursery all of its ornamental plants and flowers are grown as well as some fruit trees. “This is a great education, especially for the kids who visit us,” Susan adds, “most of them have never seen a banana outside of the supermarket before, so it is great for them to see them growing from a tree.”

But the resort’s ecological consciousness does not stop here. One major effort, explains Hector Vega, the Club’s Maintenance Coordinator, focuses on the water and energy conservation measures implemented throughout the resort. “The goal is to use energy efficiently, conserve water and lower the consumption of fossil fuels like gas, which obviously helps save money on our electricity, gas and water bills,” he says. “The added benefit, of course, is that we are trying to help reduce emissions of global warming-inducing gases and save water which is already scarce in this area.” To achieve this, Club Intrawest has installed timers for public lighting and ventilation equipment in the offices and all public areas. Energy-saving 13-watt light bulbs have been installed throughout the Club and motion sensors automatically switch off air-conditioning units in the residences when a terrace door is opened. Employees are encouraged to only use the service elevators when going up and enjoy the spectacular vistas from the winding stairways when going down.

Club Intrawest employees are taking the energy conservation measures very seriously, adds Araceli Galeana, the Operations Manager. Office staff make sure to switch off lights, fans, air conditioners and computers when they are ready to go home at night. Employees working in the in-house laundry wash only full loads in the 55-pound-capacity commercial washers, and water temperature has been set to a maximum 45 degrees Celsius throughout the resort. “Unfortunately, we were unable to install solar water heaters because of our very restricted ground space and our slanted tile roofs,” Hector Vega remarks, “ this would have really represented a great reduction in our use of gas. Everybody with a flat roof should do this here, especially with this many days of guaranteed sunshine per year.”

All bathrooms in the residences, offices and public areas have water-saving toilets, and all showers have been fitted with water-saving fixtures. All staff restrooms also feature sensor-activated taps. Key to the resort’s water conservation as well as trash-reduction efforts is Club Intrawest’s central in-house water purification system, Hector Vega adds. A sophisticated three-stage filtering system consisting of the conventional ceramic and carbon filters in addition to a powerful UV filter converts city water into purified water that is safe to drink directly from the tap. Not only does this drastically reduce the quantity of plastic water bottles used in the residences and offices, the UV filtering station also softens the water and saves detergents and cleaning supplies in the process. Club Intrawest uses only biodegradable chemicals which permit them to recycle part of its gray waters for the irrigation of the green areas.

Recycling in general is a popular concept at the resort, Araceli Galeana emphasizes. The housekeeping department in particular has gained the respect and admiration of all Club Intrawest employees. With the money the department has raised through selling the aluminum cans collected at the resort they help finance employee parties and events. The last number stood at $6,000 pesos collected in less than ten months of operation. And aluminum is not the only thing being recycled at Club Intrawest. Every day the City’s Sanitation Department picks up recyclables and organic waste in separate garbage trucks directly from the resort. Guests and members are encouraged to separate their PET plastic containers, glass bottles, paper and cardboard from all other trash in their suites. Separate containers for organic and inorganic waste are placed throughout all work areas and in the offices.

Administrative staff use recycled paper in the copy machines before it is shredded and disposed of. They are now investigating the possibility of providing the shredded paper as packing material to shipping outfits and courier services as an alternative to harmful and highly contaminating styrofoam pellets. “It may not be obvious in town yet,” says Araceli Galeana, “but in this resort and some other hotels in Zihuatanejo at least, the habit of trash separation and recycling is catching on and the City is doing a very good job in providing training materials and conducting workshops for the employees of the participating hotels. But the really great thing is,” she says smiling, “that the employees take all these practices home and start saving water and energy, separating trash and recycling at home with their families and kids.”

Their pride is visible on everybody’s faces while they are telling me about the many measures their resort is taking to conserve resources and protect the environment, but when it is Security Chief Jorge Irra’s turn, they literally light up and our whole little group is beaming brightly. “The best thing” they all agree, “are our babies.” In a protected corner of their beach the Club has set up its own turtle nursery boasting nine nests at the time of this interview. All eggs were found in nests right here on La Ropa beach, including one nest of the rare Carey Turtle. A total of 15 security personnel are in charge of taking care of the turtle nests around the clock. Four of them have official credentials issued by the SEMARNAT, the Mexican equivalent of the Environmental Protection Agency. Their responsibilities include nightly patrols of La Ropa beach as well as strict monitoring and control of the ground temperature in the nesting area. “If the temperature rises above 32 degrees Celsius;” Jorge Irra explains, “the baby turtles will be female. If it sinks below it, they will be male.” He beams, “Ours are females so they will come back here in the future and lay more eggs.”

Each nest is diligently marked with a small sign indicating the date the eggs were found, the number of eggs and the estimated eclosion date. When the baby turtles hatch they are carefully counted and then transferred to a sea water kiddie pool. After sunset and out of reach of hungry sea birds, they are then released under the watchful eyes of their Intrawest guardians and with the help of excited Club members and guests. “It is interesting how this turtle protection program has changed the attitudes of even some of our own security staff. If any of them might have been tempted before to try eating turtle eggs as some sort of miracle cure or aphrodisiac, they are now ready to defend these tiny creatures to their last breath.” Looks like it really is easy being green down there on La Ropa beach…

Wibke Langhorst is a freelance writer and environmental activist with S.O.S. Bahia in Zihuatanejo and can be reached at wibkelanghorst@mac.com or info@sosbahia.org

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November 2005 Table of Contents