Mexico the Green!

I’m at my summer internship at New Ventures Mexico, I just finished drinking a container of freshly squeezed orange juice…. and I panic! There are 5 recycle bins to choose from and I can only tell what they mean by their pictures! Which one: organic compostable, organic non-compostable, or something that looks like cell phones? Lucky for me this time, the container in my hand matched the picture on the bin, and I was able to successfully recycle….whew! My office just exemplifies the power and increased activity of the green movement in Mexico!

I have been in Mexico City for one month now working as an MBA intern for New Ventures Mexico, which is multi-faceted non-profit that among other areas focuses on green solutions via accelerating new businesses. I have become more aware of my ecological surroundings since working here, but mostly I am impressed by the conscious effort to better the environment that is evident everywhere in Mexico City. Almost all the public trash bins have an option for organic versus inorganic. New Ventures helped incubate a bicycle company that offers renting of bikes for free just to cut down on car traffic.

The CSR growth in Mexico is on fire! A few weeks ago, I attended a gathering of the local professional chapter of Net Impact. Featured speakers included Epok a CSR consulting firm, and their client Cenepolis, a cinema company. In the room was an audience varying from Wal-Mart and Prudential to Fundacion de Ethos, a new thinktank. All that attended were keenly interested in how to advance CSR movements in their organizations. When Epok finished their methodology talk, Cenepolis discussed the success of their vision repair program; giving ocular medical attention to the needy. http://www.cinepoliscorporativo.com.mx/

I was amazed how the bulk of this movement is not only starting but is really exciting to the professionals of Mexico. I had to think a bit why Mexico is trying so hard to be green, to add CSR, when in the states it seems we are cutting the budgets of those departments and tightening our belts. I thought of the image I had of Mexico before I left for my internship: negative, scary, dirty, dangerous, and possibly backwards. I could not have been more wrong. I truly believe that the society of Mexico, led by their businesses, are striving to achieve the extra mile in the green movement and in CSR to prove wrong the international negative hype!