Guatemala looms large on the world map of appropriate technology, thanks to our Fernando and his Ecofiltro, a deceptively simple device that has saved lives, enhanced livelihoods, and averted misery the world over. Access to safe drinking water, often elusive, is now available even to the impecunious. The filter uses cheap materials (clay, sawdust, etc.), plus some activated silver to remove organic and industrial contaminants. At this writing, some 88,000 Ecofiltros are in use in 27 nations.

Ecofiltro has just been chosen by infoDEV, a World Bank agency promoting appropritate technology, as one of the world's top 50 small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, competitiveness, and job creation. It is the only SME chosen from all of Central America.

The beneficiaries include 75 indigenous highland Guatemalan women making a living by selling Ecofiltros to their peers, and servicing them. Check out the site.

The filter, designed in 1981, won earlier World Bank recognition in 2003. This time, however, the government of Finland is sponsoring an additional prize for 20 finalists among the 50. Lake Atitlán Rotary, where Fernando Mazariegos is vice president, is urging Rotarians everywhere to go online and support our brother Rotarian.

Ecofiltro, with a factory near La Antigua Guatemala and others being built in Cambodia and Ghana, also owes its success to the business acumen of Philip Wilson. But Fernando, a Guatemalan chemist who also owns a Panajachel pharmacy, has never received any remuneration for his contribution --- only gratitude, respect, and, most recently, a well-deserved and paid-for trip to Helsinki.

To vote for Ecofiltro --- and Fernando --- follow the steps below, whether you are Rotarian or not. It takes as little as four minutes. Please, do it now; the voting ends on Tuesday, May 31. Then revisit us at atitlanrotary.org to find out if your vote helped put Fernando over the top!

1) Go to the Ideas Project site.
2) Register by clicking on "Login" at the top right. The next page will let you create an account OR use your facebook account.
3) Once logged in, just go to Ecofiltro's page and click "Like". Their profile page is www.ideasproject.com/ideas/4127

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala is pleased to announce that effective May 9, 2011, persons who wish to take their cats or dogs to the United States will no longer need to have their pet health certificates authenticated by the Embassy.  This measure is intended to streamline the process of travel for owners and their pets.

Based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control regulations, only a rabies vaccination certificate is required for entry of the pet into the United States.  Travelers are still expected to comply with Guatemalan documentary requirements, i.e., the export certificate issued by the Agriculture Ministry of Guatemala (MAGA) to take the pet outside of Guatemala.

NOTE: A town hall meeting will take place in Panajachel at Posada de Don Rodrigo, 10:30 am, on Thursday, May 12. American citizens and their families are invited to attent. Embassy and consular officials will be giving presentations of interest to US citizens and addressing questions. Free hors d'oeuvres will be served. Click here for additional details.

Underdevelopment [is not solely about economic problems whose consequences are easily understood], but about a series of circumstances and reasons, prominent among them being neglect, irresponsibility, ignorance, and the absence of logic as well. These elements are found in people of whatever socioeconomic class [regardless of education level, sex, or ethnicity]. It is worthwhile to explore the validity of these considerations as they apply to a new and national ecological tragedy, the algae occasioned by the current cyanobacteria infestation of the waters of Lake Atitlán, which is on the verge of becoming, if it has not done so already, a new Amatitlán.

At this moment, there is a reaction over the the possible death agony of one of the world's most beautiful lakes, which is a prime source, as well, of tourism revenues and, consequently, of thousands of people living on its shores. The government proclaims its readiness to carry out the necessary measures to fix the problem; the private sector is redoubling its efforts to initiate the battle; Guatemalan scientists are preparing their recommendations to avert the death of the lake; and [our national legislators] are rushing to craft laws to protect it. And so on --- the list is long. But if the true causes of the aforementioned ecological tragedy are not removed, then all this activity will be merely palliative and without genuine impact.

What has happened in Atitlán is a test of the interplay of a series of factors which have combined to produce a situation from which it is difficult and sometimes impossible to rectify. The main questions [at this point] should be about why this happened. Why is there algae? Why were the wake-up calls made by scientists ignored? Why are there still no laws against the dumping of human wastes in the [formerly] crystalline waters? Why have the municipalities not gotten interested until now? Why hasn't adequate information about the nature of algae cycles been provided ... Why has the construction of water treatment plants been thwarted, and the contamination allowed to run unchecked?

Education is essential, but above all is the conscience of individual responsibility. The absence of this is the real cause of the dumping of [gray and black water residues] and of every sort of garbage taht originates from municipalities as well as from vacation cottages and even, in some cases, from hotels [or varying levels of luxury] located near the shoreline. [The growth of individual responsibility is] a slow process, but it must be given teeth by the resolve to severely punish those who violate laws relating to the protection of Atitlán. The building of the treatment plants needs to take place under the urgency of keeping the implementation time to a minimum. For all this, the affected public must be duly informed.

This challenge, which is in some ways herculean, must take place place through a an entity which includes representatives of the government, the academe, the cities, and the private sector. It needs to be independent [and empowered] to take decisions and actions. Furthermore, it is imperative to analyze the similarities and the differences [between the plight of Atitlán and that] of Amatitlán. or of any other Guatemalan lake, so that the political commitment of mayors, governors, legislators, ministers, and presidents to refrain from politics as usual and think about the negative effect, in the medium and long run, of not giving due consideration to the death agony of Lake Atitlán, a circumstance that forces us to forget, for the moment, political and ideological differences.

Translator's Note: If you would like to see the original text of this article in Spanish, click here.

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