Representing Pioneers to the World since 1999

Ecoparque, the film, explores the creation and impact of Ecoparque, the place--a park flourishing on a formerly barren urban hillside thanks to an innovative system that uses residents' wastewater not only to transform one canyon, but to make a scientific and economic case for neighborhood-scale, nature-mimicking facilities being preferable over centralized conveyance and chemical treatment for many canyon communities.

Far from being only an entry point of people from Mexico to the United States, Tijuana is also an entry point of water that collects in the Tijuana River Watershed and flows via the Tijuana River and its tributaries from Mexico into the United States, where it empties into estuaries and coastal waters of the United States. In the developing neighborhoods of Tijuana, ecologists and architects from both countries have demonstrated that a decentralized park system based on permacultural principles brings broad, demonstrable benefits and a sustainable way of thinking about one of earth's most pressing challenges -- the conservation of water quality and resources in the midst of growing populations and economies. See this film, and arid urban hillsides will start to look like potential eco-park sites, toilet piping design will become a fun and engaging topic, and you'll wonder, "How do those micro-organisms do it?"!

Neighborhood members express how the rare green area provides a valued educational center and a shaded refuge in paved-over, desert Tijuana, Baja California. Ecoparque's faculty and staff describe how the biofiltration derives safe, non-smelly, and nutrient-rich water and compost that support the diverse ecosystem that has grown up around the facility. This reuse of "waste" simultaneously serves as a welcome alternative to releasing sewage into coastal waters. Ecoparque's architect looks at why people and infrastructure are attracted to Ecoparque, and their effect on the local standards of living. The video explores the viability of Ecoparque's zero-waste method as an affordable option for outskirt settlements along the Mexican/U.S. border and elsewhere on Earth that are currently without wastewater infrastructure. A leader of the Tijuana River Estuarine Reserve uncovers the institutional pressures that may play a role in determining Ecoparque's ultimate effect.

With enthusiastic reception from students, educators, policy-analysts, and decision-makers around the world, Ecoparque is a source of critical and constructive discussion on cross-border relations, ecology, sustainable economic development, community empowerment, and architecture, and it carries a moving story of the resourcefulness of individuals within a community.

12 Reviews of Ecoparque

Oscar Romo, architect and former director of Ecoparque Wastewater Facility

invisible screen hist anchor

Ecoparque Screening History

Ecoparque, winner of Honorable Mention at EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival, 2001, premiered to an audience of 300 at the 2000 Encounter of the Binational Association of Schools of Communication (BINACOM). It has been broadcast on Student-Run Television (SRTV) and Del Mar Television. EcoParque has been a feature of the Earth Day celebrations at UCSD in the Price Center Theater. In 2001-2002, the film was screened at the Festival Internaccional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano and the Latino Film Festival of Marin. Recently, Ocean Beach People's Organic Foods Co-op, Activist San Diego, and Current Affairs Bookstore have each hosted public showings and panel discussions of EcoParque. The San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego Urban Corps, City College, and the New School of Architecture have each expressed interest; their purchases, as well as EcoParque's inclusion in WorldFest Los Angeles, The Dionysus Film Festival, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, the Headwaters to Ocean (H2O) Conference, and the San Francisco World Film Festival -- Solutions Section, are pending.

Purchasers, Endorsements, and Focus Screenings (see also Reviews):

IBOY:.

Upcoming Screenings:

Arranging but not yet confirmed for the Del Mar Enviro Fair, November 7, 2003, and in the springtime of 2004, at the Foundation for Global Community, Palo Alto, CA



EcoParque
Total Running Time: 33 minutes (English version)/31 minutos (version en Espanol
To reach the producers of EcoParque to acquire the video
or to discuss ideas, please contact:

Michael A. Bedar

1106 2nd Street #185
Encinitas, CA 92024
U.S.A.
(619) 850-5208
environ_MENTAL_Fun@yahoo.com

To capture and communicate the way people interact with places and with each other

By clicking here to view EcoParque in English in streaming QuickTime now, it is understood that online viewers will contribute their support to the Ecoparque production team.

Ecoparque links