Casino de la Selva Antes de la destrucción bandálica de CostCo

To the members of ecological associations, NGOs, artists, and everyone who struggles for a better world:

We requesting your support in our desperate attempt to prevent Costco from building a supermarket on a site presently occupied by a very valuable urban woods in the center of the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico; as well as halting the destruction of the murals in the buildings of the Casino de la Selva

Here is a short background on the issue:

The environmental value of the Casino de la Selva: The grounds of the former Casino de la Selva contain sit on 20 acres of a wooded area close to the very center of our city. This forested area plays a vital role in the ecological balance of the whole valley of Cuernavaca.

Its 471 trees, some of them more than 100 years old, 274 bushes, as well as its 46 other species of vegetation constitute a green island which because of its location dimension is a pillar of Cuernavaca's ecosystem. Besides,the green island of the Casino de la Selva is an essential link in the life and reproductive cycle of at least 100 species of birds and asanctuary for all the native fauna whose habitat is increasingly encroached upon by the growth of the city. This green island together with the shrinking neighboring green areas plays a fundamental role in the regulation of the city's temperature and in the purification of its urban air. This is particularly significant in that the surrounding area is one of intense traffic.

The unqualifiable act of uprooting its trees would be ecocide of incalculable consequences. The hundred year-old amates and the other 40 local species are a richness whose contribution to the city's ecosystem is invaluable and irretrievable by any form of compensation such as planting young trees. Its destruction could unleash an undesired endogamic process among the trees of our city. The resulting shrinking of the genetic pool of city's varieties of vegetation and it could induce certain trees to cease reproducing in order to avoid self-fecundation, which would cause their progressive disappearance. On the other hand, the fact that they managed to survive in the hostile conditions of a downtown area confers to these trees and their seeds an adaptive capacity that members of the same species grown in greenhouses or in more protected areas do not possess. This gives them
an additional value and makes them even more irreplaceable. On this site, known in earlier times as the Bosque de Amanalco, the water tables are only six feet below the surface, and water even surges here and there, from several springs. These springs or "ojos de agua" were known as the Gualupita Springs. The macadam and the concrete of the parking lot that would surround the CostCo-Price Club markets would block the soil's capacity to absorb and evaporate water and hence hamper its temperature regulating capacity. Covering the soil with a permeable layer instead of concrete or macadam would not help since it would facilitate the pollution of the water tables by the toxic fluids emanating from cars.

Nothing can substitute the unique ecological richness of the Casino de la Selva site or compensate its demise. In few words, the site of the Casino de la Selva plays a unique role in the preservation and conservation of the quality of air and water, the regulation the local climate, the care of plant and animal species and the quality of life of the inhabitants of Cuernavaca. Nothing, not even corrective local and foreign investments, be they as big as the whole State Budget, could compensate for its destruction. Why should we tolerate the destruction of what we already have? Why should we suffer the demise of something both good and irreplaceable, which, besides, is the basis of life?

One of Cuernavaca's peculiarities is that it is a city of more that twenty language schools regularly visited by North American students. Thanks to its once luxurious vegetation and agreeable climate, it was an ideal choice for foreign students of our language and culture. Unfortunately, voracious capitalism and exacerbated consumerism are destroying our culture and our natural richness. Please HELP US!

Help us to convince the board of directors of CostCo that the site they chose for their project in Cuernavaca is the worst of all possible choices. A radical NO to the destruction of the green island of Casino de la Selva by CostCo or anyone else.

[This document was drawn up under the supervision of Dr. Rafael Monroy,
Director of the Ecology Department of the Autonomous University of the
State of Morelos (Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, UAEM);

And it is signed by:

 Guardianes de los Arboles  Grupo de los Cien  Unión de Grupos Ambientalistas México DF  Consejo Ciudadano para la Cultura y las Artes de Morelos  GAIA, A. C.  Creadores de Arte Público de México A.C  Taller Espacio Verde  Movimiento Bicicletero de Cuernavaca  Rescatadores de la Biosfera  Desarrollo Integral Autogestionario, A. C  Grupo Ecologista del Mayab, A. C. (Quintana Roo)  Movimiento Ciudadano en Defensa del Medio Ambiente (MOCEDMA)  Equipo Pueblo  Espacio de Salud, A. C.  Convergencia 8 de Marzo ( que agrupa a 20 organizaciones de mujeres)  Juventudes Democráticas de Morelos  Ayotl, A. C.  Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación  Organización Nacional, Técnicos y Manuales  Escuela de Arquitectos de la UAEM  Convergencia Sindical y Social  Grupo de Estudio y Reflexión  Centro de Derechos Humanos Don Sergio  Comisión Independiente de Derechos Humanos  Cultura Joven, A. C.  Colectivo "Pensar en Voz Alta"  Comité pro Defensa del Patrimonio Cultural de Banamex  Centro de Encuentros y Diálogos (CED)  Amigos del Patrimonio Cultural del Estado de Baja California  Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A. C. (Sonora)  Locatarios del Mercado Adolfo López Mateos  Pintores del Jardín del Arte Cuernavaca y 1680 firmas de ciudadanos de Cuernavaca.