WHEN SEASONAL SUMMER RAINS soak the parched, arid Baja desert, a rapid evolution dramatically altering the landscape takes place. Within days of receiving the life-sustaining moisture, a profusion of life erupts with flowering plants and animals that last until the ground dries up once again. ...read more
FOR DEVELOPERS DAN SHORE AND ROBERT HEFNER, what was once just an idea to utilize environmentally-friendly construction techniques to build beachfront residences in La Paz is becoming a reality. Construction is now underway on La Concha Pearl, 33 luxurious beachfront condominiums on one of the most pristine beaches in La Paz. ...read more
Against tremendous public outcry, NOM-029-PESCA-2006 went into effect on May 15th. This regulation, promoted as a way to stop the over-exploitation of sharks and rays, was rejected during the last two Presidencies, but strongly supported by commercial fishing interests in Ensenada, Sinaloa, Sonora, Mexican Fisheries (CONAPESCA) and some Mexican and United States NGOs. ...read more
CABO PULMO REEF, THE ONLY LIVING HARD coral reef in North America, is one of the most biologically diverse ocean ecosystems in the world. The seven-mile long aquarium is a brilliant underwater kingdom that provides sanctuary for hundreds of species of marine animals including birds, sea turtles, numerous species of fish, whales, and sharks. In the 80’s, commercial overfishing nearly destroyed the delicate balance of the coral reef ’s ecosystem, but this problem was largely resolved in 1995 with the creation of the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Reserve that, among other things, banned all fishing within the protected area. ...read more
YALI’S QUESTION In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond proposes a theory to explain the apparent gap between the First World and the Third World. His thesis was sparked by a question posed by a New Guinean named Yali who asked the Europeans upon their arrival to his country in 1972, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”...read more
For all of this and more, we have fallen in love with her spirit, her ocean, her reef, her animals and her people. And it happened so fast that we didn’t know what hit us — we found ourselves deeply heartbroken at the possibility of getting it all wrong, falling short, and losing her forever....read more
