Reto Sustentable de la UPN Cuernavaca
Estudiantes (UPN)
La Universidad Pedag贸gica Nacional sede Cuernavaca, en los 煤ltimos a帽os ha sufrido el problema聽de la escasez de agua, un problema que ya afecta a pr谩cticamente toda la capital del estado de聽Morelos; esta situaci贸n se ha agudizado todav铆a m谩s, porque el n煤mero de estudiantes ha聽aumentado como resultado de la apertura de nuevos programas educativos que ofrece la聽Universidad. En este contexto, las estudiantes del quinto semestre de la Licenciatura en聽Intervenci贸n Educativa (LIE), como parte de la materia Desarrollo Sustentable, conjuntamente con聽el profesor Jorge Dom铆nguez, decidimos iniciar un 鈥渞eto sustentable鈥� con el objetivo de fomentar聽entre la comunidad universitaria el ahorro del agua.
La Universidad cuenta desde hace muchos a帽os, con un sistema de fuentes, que aunque muy聽atractivas, consum铆an mucha agua debido a que cuando 茅sta se ensuciaba o adquir铆a el color聽verdoso del agua no tratada, deb铆a ser sustituida por agua potable nueva. Para reducir el consumo聽del vital l铆quido, y despu茅s de un diagn贸stico participativo, decidimos que la mejor manera de聽ahorrar agua y mantener atractivo el entorno de la Universidad, un estanque ser铆a la mejor聽manera de combinar las necesidades con las oportunidades.
Gracias a la buena disposici贸n del Director de la Universidad, el Maestro Aroldo Aguirre, pudimos聽disponer del espacio y las facilidades para nuestro estanque. Sin embargo, no ten铆amos la聽experiencia t茅cnica para hacer un estanque con peces y plantas, entonces recurrimos a la聽ex-alumna, tambi茅n de LIE, Antonia S谩nchez, quien ya hab铆a realizado un estanque en una escuela聽secundaria como parte de un proyecto de intervenci贸n, apoyado t茅cnicamente por la profesora聽Valeria Davila (Upemos) y financiado por el Proyecto Planteles Educativos Sustentables, por supuesto tuvimos que hacer un聽trabajo adicional de investigaci贸n.
Lo primero que debimos hacer fueron equipos que se encargaran de las distintas tareas,聽(investigaci贸n, dise帽o, materiales, adquisici贸n de peces, etc). Una de las primeras cosas que聽hicimos fue el filtro, si quer铆amos mantener a los peces sanos deb铆amos garantizar su bienestar. Ya聽venden filtros para este prop贸sito en tiendas especializadas, pero con lo que cuestan, no聽pod铆amos darnos ese lujo, por lo que debimos hacer un filtro nosotras mismas, de manera m谩s聽artesanal, pero igualmente efectivo. Gracias al profesor Jorge que nos don贸 su caja pl谩stica del聽archivo de su oficina tuvimos el material inicial, seguramente no le hac铆a mucha falta porque su聽oficina es un desorden de cualquier manera; el resto de materiales tambi茅n eran de uso diario en聽la casa (cepillos de limpieza, esponjas y fibras de lavado, tela de perl贸n y piedra volc谩nica que hay聽en la propia Universidad).
Otro equipo se encarg贸 de buscar qui茅n nos podr铆a donar un par de peces que se convertir铆an en聽los primeros moradores de nuestro estanque, ahora tenemos un par de carpas Koi, las plantas聽que colocamos son las que ya se hab铆an reproducido del estanque de Antonia. Finalmente despu茅s聽de algunos intentos y errores tenemos nuestro estanque funcionando, los peces parecen聽perfectamente adaptados y sobretodo, estamos ahorrando agua, el profesor Jorge lleva una bit谩cora en la que se registra el agua que se consume, lo que nos permitir谩 evaluar el cumplimiento de nuestro objetivo.
Nuestro prop贸sito inicial lo hemos cumplido, ahora esperamos que nuestros compa帽eros y聽profesores nos apoyen, haciendo suyo el deseo de comprometernos no s贸lo con el cuidado del聽agua en la Universidad, sino con lo que implica un compromiso con el desarrollo sustentable.聽Desde luego, las cr铆ticas no han estado ausentes, pero son las menos, la mayor parte de las聽personas nos han hecho sentir bien con sus palabras de aliento y apoyo, por ejemplo, las se帽oras聽encargadas de la limpieza nos han apoyado de manera extraordinaria, gracias por su colaboraci贸n聽y material que nos han facilitado, pero sobre todo por su entusiasmo. Gracias tambi茅n al proyecto聽de Escuelas Sustentables quienes nos facilitaron el financiamiento para este proyecto.
The UPN Ayala’s Sustainable Challenge
UPN Students
The Cuernavaca campus of the Universidad Pedag贸gica Nacional has suffered a problem of water scarcity in the last few years, a problem that practically has affected the whole capital of the state of Morelos. This situation has worsened because of the increase in the number of students as a result of the opening of new educative programs offered by the university. In this context, the students of the fifth semester of the Educative Intervention Degree (LIE), as part of the Sustainable Development course, in conjunction with professor Jorge Dom铆nguez, we decided to start a sustainable challenge with the objective of encouraging in the campus community the economy of water.
The University counts with a system of fountains that although attractive, consumed a lot of water since it has to be substituted with new potable water when it gets dirty or takes a green color because of the non treated water. To reduce the consumption of the vital liquid, and after a participant diagnosis, we decided that the best way to save water and maintain the surroundings of the university attractive, a pond would be the best way to combine necessities with opportunities.
Thanks to the good disposition of the University鈥檚 Director, Professor Aroldo Aguirre, we were given access to the space and support to work on our pond. However, we did not have the technical experience to make a pond with fish and plants so we recurred to a former student, also from the LIE, Antonia S谩nchez, who made a pond for a High School as part of an intervention project, supported by Valeria Davila (from UPEMOR) and financed by the Sustainable Campuses Initiative. Of course, we had to do additional research.
The first thing that we had to do was to make teams that would take on different tasks (research, design, material, acquisition of fish, etc.). One of the first things we made was the filter, if we wanted to maintain the fish healthy, we needed to guarantee their well being. They now sell filters for that purpose in specialized stores bu because of their cost, we could not give ourselves the luxury of purchasing one, that is why we had to make the filter ourselves, in a more handcrafted way but just as effective. Thanks to professor Jorge, who donated us his plastic archive box from his office, we had the initial material. He probably did not need it because his office is a mess anyway; the rest of the materials also were of daily home use (cleaning brushes, sponges and cleaning fibers, perlon fabrics and volcanic stone that is found in the University itself).
Another team took the responsibility to find someone who could donate to us fish, who would become the first guests in our pond. 聽We now have a pair of Koi Carps and the plants that we placed are the ones who had already reproduced in Antonia鈥檚 pond. Finally, after a few tries and mistakes, we have our functional pond. 聽The fish look perfectly adapted and most importantly, 聽we are saving water. Professor Jorge has a logbook where the water that is consumed is registered, which permits us to evaluate the accomplishment of our objective.
We have accomplished our initial purpose. Now we hope that the rest of the educational community and professors support us, making it their own wish, not only to care for the water of the university, but also to make a committment to what sustainable development implies.
The critics have certainly not been absent, but they are the least, the majority of the people have made us feel good with their supporting words. 聽For example, the ladies in charge of the cleaning services have supported us in an extraordinary way. We thank them for their 聽collaboration and the material that they made available to us but above everything for their enthusiasm.聽 A big thank you to the Sustainable Campuses Initiative, who gave us access to the financing for this project.
