15 minutes with... Homero Aridjis.

Nation's leading environmentalist lashes out at politicians and reveals his empathy for Sysiphus

Recognized worldwide as one of Mexico's top writers, Homero Aridjis has become a pillar of the nation's environmental movement, while remaining a passionate leader of Grupo Cien, which he founded in 1985. Grupo Cien, a collection of artists and scientists, serves as the launching pad for Aridjis' campaign to protect what he calls a country too committed to development and ignorant of damage to its natural wonders.

Although best known for his zealous defense of the monarch butterflies (he helped establish sanctuaries in his native Michoacan), Aridjis also actively campaigns against excessive logging and environmentally unfriendly tourism and energy projects, often placing him at odds with the nation's political and corporate forces.

In a casual discussion with BUSINESS MEXICO, Aridjis slammed the nation's most prominent politicians--President Fox and Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador--calling the former an unread fool in bed with corporate interests and the latter a power-hungry populist in the mold of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Tough words, yes, but Aridjis' independent perspective, stature as former ambassador to the Netherlands and Switzerland and damn-the-torpedoes approach to environmental causes has won him a worldwide following and drawn countless honors, including commendations from the United Nations and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Artistically, he has few peers in Mexico, and his prose and verse have been translated into 12 languages. He has twice received Guggenheim fellowships and been shortlisted for the New York Times Book of the Year (1991 for "1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile").

However, it has not all been honors and awards for the soft-spoken Aridjis, who related his plight to that of Sysiphus, the mythical Greek mortal condemned to the futile task of pushing a boulder up a slope only to have it roll back down again. The environmental movement in Mexico is like that, he says.

Although his remarks are peppered with pessimism and his outlook for the country is decidedly gloomy, he remains proud of his past achievements. He cites Grupo Cien's "three great victories" (the establishment of sanctuaries for butterflies, great whales and sea turtles) and says he finds solace in the great balm that is artistic creation.

BUSINESS MEXICO sat down with Aridjis at a coffee shop in the affluent Mexico City Lomas area and discussed the country's environmental problems as a rare March rainstorm muffled the sound of what he called the city's interminable traffic jam.

Much was made about the change in government from the PRI to Fox. How has that affected work to protect the environment?

It's becoming worse. There are many problems, but there is no government policy on the environment. Fox doesn't care about the environment.

Do you think he has been worse than the previous presidents? Well, they all have been bad in their own way. Zedillo was bad in his own way. I cannot say he was wonderful. But the big problem now is the lack of definition in regard to environmental policy. For example, there is a lot of logging in the monarch sanctuaries. These loggers often have weapons and when the guards have no weapons, they are not prepared to face these people. Then you have to make a decision to implement enforcement. In this sense, the government has not responded, and we are having a terrible social problem.

What do you mean social?

It's like when environmental problems become social problems. With the monarch butterflies, you have these situations developing with uneducated people that are not prepared to accept this (pro-environment) way of life.

But doesn't logging produce revenue that these communities need?

The big problem is that the political system has not changed. They are not creating economic alternatives for the local people. You have a demographic problem, poor people living in a protected area and they say, "Why don't we take this." The government has not the capacity nor the political will to stop the logging.

How do you control something like that?

You need a demographic policy within the country that you don't have now. Also, the lack of law is a problem. People don't respect the rules, the law, and they invade protected areas. There is no authority, and the authority does not have the capacity to stop these loggers. And it is not just with the monarchs.

You have this problem everywhere. You have this problem in Chiapas in the Lacandona Jungle, with the ranch of the Americans (Rancho Esmeralda, shut down by pro-rebel sympathizers earlier this year). That was a completely unlawful invasion of private property, and they were not protected by the state government or the federal government. There was no law.

But haven't some argued that this falls under a larger issue of land reform?

They wanted to take the land. For me, it reminds me of revolutionary Mexico, where groups of people invade private property and there is no protection of the government. And that is a very dangerous situation for the country, not only on environmental terms.

You say that the politicians don't care about the environment. What is your opinion of the Green Party then? We are living in a very political climate. For these parties, all that matters is the vote. And so they become populist and have to make concessions to the people.

But don't you think people care about the environment? Yes, people care. But the problem is the whole policy of the government and the parties is to attract votes. As I said in an article in Reforma, the trees don't vote. So the politicians don't care about the destruction of the forests.

So you think that is the main problem with the environment, overlogging and deforestation? Because much has been made recently about the polluted bays of Acapulco and Zihuatenejo.

The logging is out of control in the country. You also have a lot of areas controlled by drug traffickers, and it is very difficult for the government to protect the environment in these areas, not to mention the social problems.

How do you protect the environment then?

Well, it is very difficult, because wherever you go you find criminal elements, lack of government, lack of enforcement of the laws. How can you protect the environment in a country where you have a lot of social unrest?

So what can change this? Getting a president that cares about the environment?

At the same time that you have these social and political issues in the country, you have a president that is promoting development. Many of his projects, like Escalera Nautica and dams, have profound effects on the ecosystems. These are Fox projects, and they violate the environmental laws of the country.

So what can you do to combat this? Your group, Grupo Cien, raises awareness?

Exactly, we raise awareness and try to prevent destructive projects and destructive policies.

This is a daunting thing, trying to counter all this economic and political power. Words cannot do that, right?

No, you have to balance the protection of the environment and development that can affect the environment so that you can have development in places where the environment is not affected.

What do you think are the biggest problems for the environment right now in Mexico?

The biggest problem right now is the destruction of the forests and the disappearance of animals and fauna because of the destruction of their habitat, pollution and the traffic of fauna. This is a big problem, the disappearance of fauna. And water. Medium and long term, Mexico is going to face a terrible problem with water shortage.

Let's talk about the cities. What is your opinion of Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his plans such as building a second level for traffic on the (main Mexico City transit artery of) Periferico?

He is a very authoritarian mayor. He is a very populist leader of Mexico City. One of the big problems that the country is facing is that we are going to have a (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez-style president in Mexico.

That is if he gets elected in 2006.

Well, to me it seems like he will be.

I hear your criticism of Fox and Lopez Obrador. Are there any politicians out there that you respect, that you think are good for the environment?

The situation, the picture is very grave, because now--as I told you at the beginning--we are driven more by popular politics than environmental policies. The country is watching as political parties fight over power and that is the big problem.

And environment gets shorted on that?

Exactly. The environment is forgotten.

You don't have a very positive view of the Mexican government.

No, it is because we have been fighting them for 18 years. I have seen changes in government and new faces and we face problems every time. It is really like the story of Sysiphus. We push the rock up and it rolls down again, and you have to push it up again and it rolls down again. The environmental movement in Mexico is like that. You have to keep fighting for the same things many times. With the monarch butterflies, every year there is trouble. There never comes a point where you say, "All right, now I can relax. Now, I can walk away." Every year there is a problem.

There has been much made about oil and electricity reform, that it would be selling the country somehow. Do you think the country is being sold out environmentally?

The problem is that the electricity and oil sectors have been run in a very corrupt way in the past. They have been very inefficient and done very bad business for the country. The people have not gotten the benefits of the nation's resources.

What do you see as the future of Mexico environmentally?

We are going to face a big crisis. The problem of deforestation as I told you, and we are going to face a very critical crisis of water. We are going to find ourselves without forests within a very few years, without fauna, with polluted rivers and lakes and seas and terrible pollution in the cities.

What do you think the average person can do to try to stop this?

The only thing that we can do is try to increase awareness and raise the collective environmental consciousness. As you can see in Mexico City, every day there are more cars. The traffic jams are everywhere and throughout the day--everywhere, and every hour in the day. And it is going to be worse. Mexico City is becoming a difficult city to live in, and there are days when it seems like a nightmare city.

And you think that Lopez Obrador contributes to that? Well, he has not solved the problems. He is not responsible for the actual situation of Mexico City, of course. It would be unjust to blame him for Mexico City's environmental situation. But he has not been able to solve it, and the environment, as a matter of fact, is not on his agenda.

On another topic, given your status as a world-renowned writer, how do you feel about Mexicans' reading habits? Mexicans read very little. If you look at the size of the population and the number of libraries or bookstores, it is not in balance. There are many cities that have no libraries, no bookstores. This is not a country of readers, beginning with the president of Mexico. He is not a big fan of books. If you took a look at the list of the books that he has read, I don't think that you would be impressed.

Do you think that now, with everyone worried about war with Iraq and the other troubling issues in the world today, that people forget about the environment?

Of course, there are bigger issues. But the environment and pollution is a big problem too. Yes, there are other issues too here--crime, not just here in Mexico City, but on the border too, with the murder of more than 300 women in Ciudad Juarez, the disappearing of forests, the social unrest. We have many things to be worried about.

How, as an artist, do you deal with that? How do you not get too negative?

I try to keep working on my poetry and trying to advance my spiritual and moral position. At the same time, I try to be very realistic. But to be honest, I am pessimistic about the future of Mexico City and Mexico in general. I say think of your children and think of yourself and try to make Mexico City a better place to live. The problem is that people care a lot about material things. They care too much about having a car, and they don't think of the environment. When you look at the Mexico City landscape, you see a traffic jam.

Is it hard for you produce art, to produce beautiful things in a place that can at times be quite ugly?

Well, sometimes I have to be in the solitude of my room so that I can have my own world. The outside Mexico City world, full of cars and full of violence, is a world that I don't like. I read books, I read poetry, I listen to my music and that way I have my own world. I love art.

Matthew Brayman is the editor of Business Mexico.