Mexico City

On January 1st, in Mexico City, new reforms to the Solid Waste Law that prohibit the marketing, distribution and delivery of disposable plastic bags came into effect. [...] the Mexican capital generates about 13 thousand tons of garbage per day, of which 8,600 tons are sent to landfills and only 1,900 tons are recycled.

Every day 6.6 billion car trips are made in the metropolitan area of the capital.

"Fueled by hot and dry conditions, the fire season in Mexico has been intense in 2019, leading to poor air quality. From January 1 to May 13, Mexico City registered only nine clean air days. News reports stated that more than one hundred active wildfires were blazing in 17 Mexican states as of May 13." On May 17, an environmental emergency was declared in the city due to poor air quality.

"Mexico's population of wild jaguars has grown 20 percent in the past eight year.s.. a bit of good news for an iconic species whose numbers have been declining. There are an estimated 4,800 jaguars in Mexico, found the study, carried out by a consortium of institutions and academics with remotely activated cameras triggered by sensors. That was a 20-percent increase from the first edition of the study, carried out in 2010."

“Xochimilco is one of the only places where human interaction has actually improved the ecology,” Murad says, as we ride in the trajinera to a chinampa. “The creation of the chinampas led to more species and biodiversity.”

“Climate change is expected to have two effects. We expect heavier, more intense rains, which means more floods, but also more and longer droughts. If it stops raining in the reservoirs where the city gets its water, “we’re facing a potential disaster."

"With their greenish waters and blue herons, the canals and island farms of Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, are all that remains of the extensive network of gleaming waterways that so surprised the Spanish invaders when they arrived at the site 500 years ago. But the fragility of this remnant of pre-Columbian life was revealed last month, when a 20-feet-deep hole opened in the canal bed, draining water and alarming hundreds of tour boat operators and farmers who depend on the waterways for a living. The hole intensified a simmering conflict over nearby wells, which suck water from Xochimilco’s soil and pump it to other parts of Mexico City. It also revived worries about a process of decline, caused by pollution, urban encroachment and subsidence, that residents and experts fear may destroy the canals in a matter of years."

Built on a fragile, ancient lakebed, Mexico City is sinking up to 30 cm (11.8 inches) per year as its underground aquifer is drained to meet the water demands of a population of 22 million people.

"Mexico City is flooded in pollution. Activities for its inhabitants are limited. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable. Months-old images of Beijing come to mind, when the Chinese had to shut down the entire city due to the smog covering streets and avenues. The Megalopolis Environmental Commission announced that the 'Hoy No Circula' (a public policy that limits the use of cars) will be enforced strictly without exceptions. Citizens will wake up angry because they'll have to commute to their daily activities by public transportation, fight over a cab or carpool with strangers."

"In a split second, everyone started talking about pollution. Radio stations give hourly updates on the rising ozone levels and point out how close the city is to reaching yet another environmental contingency. Newspapers fill out their front pages with panoramic photos of an urban landscape covered in a grey and yellow-ish shadow. Drivers Tweet photos of vehicles producing filthy smoke. The old habit that consists on enjoying outdoors activities carelessly has been replaced by constantly updating the map of the city to anxiously corroborate the quality of air."

“We drug them to keep them from feeling pain. We use a slightly thick syringe to insert a centimeter-long and wide chip; its messurements are like the fine tip of a pencil. With this we know who is who, male, female; if he is ill, if he got a fracture or if he has died; we've even found the chips in stomachs of snakes. ”

"Biologist Armando Tovar Garza of Mexico's National Autonomous University said Tuesday that the creature 'is in serious risk of disappearing' from the wild. Describing an effort last year by researchers in skiffs to try to net axolotls in the shallow, muddy waters of Xochimilco, Tovar Garza summed up the results as 'four months of sampling—zero axolotls.'

The Air Quality in Latin America report, published by Clean Air Institute in 2013, indicates that in the region, Mexico City is the most polluted.

"ECOBICI is the public bicycle system in Mexico City that has integrated the bicycle as an essential part of mobility. [...] it has been adopted as an effective alternative to travel in Mexico City, not just to complement the mass transport network, but for the benefits it brings in health, the environment, saving travel times and improving the quality of life. "