The global energy crisis is touching the lives of millions around the world.  Whether we live on the paved streets of New York City, or in a small farming community in Bangladesh–we’re all becoming more and more aware of the resources we use that are finite.  On the cobble stoned streets of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, it is no different.  With a population of over 500,000 inhabitants, our limited amount of resources is clear.  There are mornings where you turn the tap on in the kitchen to find sputtering air, instead of water–or where the cost of the memelas you buy at the corner stall has gone up because coal prices have leaped in the marketplace.  But some in Oaxaca are designing tools to use limitless resources for day-to-day needs.  We can learn a lot from their ingenuity and passion.

Oaxaca is a city that boasts an average of 311 sunny days a year; and with a latitude of 15-degrees above the equator, that sun is hot.  So, it makes sense why Oaxaca bears the nickname Tierra del Sol (Land of Sun).  What better idea, then, to exploit that limitless resource for daily use?  Meet Michale Götz, a Swiss inventor and solar energy specialist. He, along with two partners, converged to consider how solar energy could be harnessed for use by the plethora of street food vendors in Oaxaca City.  For years in the city, the common practice of those who sell tacos, tlayudas, memelas, even hot dogs, was to burn coal over open comals (or clay griddles).  Over time, many vendors have switched to using gas, hooking small tanks up to metal griddles or grills fixed to their mobile carts.  On arriving to town, Götz met Lorena Harp, a local Oaxacan who had already been designing and promoting small solar ovens for use in homes around the city.  Their energies and ideas combined.

Harp researched local food vendors in the city to suss out their needs and practices.  The ideal candidate for a pilot solar project emerged close to home, just down the street from her house.  There she met Alfredo García. The group put García’s taco stand and practices to use to test a new sustainable project to harness the sun’s rays to create steam to cook his tacos.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story.  Check it out yourself at Treehugger.com!  Here’s a link to a short video you can watch about the work the group is doing in Oaxaca, and their specific challenges and achievements with García’s taco stand.  But for me, Götz, Harp and García serve as a strong example of how ingenuity and an open mind can give birth to some great ideas for a sustainable tomorrow.  Is there an example of  ingenuity for a better tomorrow in your neck of the woods?  Share the story here!  HarmonyWishes would love to spread the word.

A solar taco-filled belly “saludos” from Oaxaca!

Megan