Granitos de Arena's Summer 2008 Ecological Rally a Huge Success (March 2009)

Granitos de Arena's most recent ecological rally in Ciudad Guzmán in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, took place on Sunday, June 8, 2008. Ten teams, each composed of ten young people, took part in a variety of educational, cultural and sporting activities in the local Parque Ecológico (ecological park). A fortnight earlier, 21 teams competed in a preliminary day of activities to qualify for the final stage of the rally on 8th June. One of the things each team had to do in preparation for the rally was to collect used batteries for recycling, with points awarded depending on the weight of batteries gathered. Overall, 360 kilgrams of batteries were collected.

After the rally, there was a march to the central plaza in Ciudad Guzmán, where the prize-giving ceremony took place. At the same time as the march, a short road race was organized, which was open to the public. One male and female member of each team in the rally also competed. The first 50 people who registered in this event were given a colored T-shirt to race in, in one of the three colors used by the local government to promote its new program to separate the collection of rubbish in the city. The T-shirts also included information about what type of recyclables was linked to each color.

Overall, the event was a great success. Participants said that they really enjoyed it and its educational impact was evident. In addition, over 40 students from the local university participated as staff in the organization of the rally and its associated activities.

As a result of the success of last year’s event, an expanded program is planned for 2009. This year there will be two ecological rallies on the same weekend. The first rally will take place on Saturday, May 23rd in the high school in Goméz Farías, a small town close to Ciudad Guzmán. This rally is being organized by two university students who were key members of last year’s organizing group. The second rally in Ciudad Guzmán will be organized along similar lines to last year’s. Every classroom of each secondary and high school will be visited in April to raise awareness and to recruit teams of young people to participate. As well as expanding the event to a weekend, we are planning to generate much more publicity in order to foster greater environmental awareness in this part of Mexico. The University of Guadalajara, based in Ciudad Guzmán, will help with this by providing expertise and resources for the promotion of the rally.

Additionally, and importantly, we are planning much more follow-up to the rally. An environmental club will be created for young people to provide an educational forum about environmental issues, where, for example, films can be shown, talks given, and further events organized. Meetings will be held once a month to begin with. To do this an organizing committee of young people will be formed from participants in the rally. For more information please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .