Inagural Speech of the semester

Hearing the engineer Alexis Mazol was very inspiring. It is fascinating the fact that just with a few words you hear from someone who has a lot of experience can encourage you to do so many things. He is known in many places of the world because of the work that he has done to protect nature. He won the Environment Goldman in 2002. His love for his land encouraged him to do all that he has accomplished. He began the project of “Auto Gestión Comunitaria”. The goal of this project is to protect the environment and promote the conservation of our culture. He also founded Casa Pueblo which is the headquarters of his works.

   

Ing. Mazol encouraged us, the students, to follow our dreams and have faith. “Those are the two keys you need in life. You need to help your island and see what can you do to help it. The only way we can save our country is if the people unite with motivation and help as much as they can.” he said. 

There is so much we can do to help our country now more than ever. When we finish something, we have to continue and do another project that will be of benefit as well. We should put all of our knowledge and service and offer it to Puerto Rico. Learn as much as we can and see how we can use it to make our community a better one. Thanks to the café, Madre Hilda, that is located in Casa Pueblo, they can do the projects they want. It is an economic independence for them. Casa Pueblo is an eco-friendly house. They use solar energy instead of the normal electricity because of how expensive it is. They also have Bosque Escuela a school that gives their class outdoor, a radio station that it is dedicated to the environment, and a music school that promotes our culture.

            

On the other hand, he has been part of several protest and historic events that involves the environment. He talked about how in 1980 the people of Adjuntas joined forces for 15 years to prevent the exploitation of the mine. It was because of the perseverance of the people that they won the case. He was a part of the protest against “Ruta Gasoducto” which they also stopped. Casa Pueblo joined forces with engineers of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus, and together they created Posterriqueño which is a focal alternative with an 83% of efficiency. Bosque Foresta is another project that is in charge of managing forests. They have been doing this during 20 years now.

            

Definitely, the engineer and his group of work has done a lot of positive things for Puerto Rico. They focus on all of the aspects that we, the citizens, have to take care in our daily life. This serve as an example that there are many ways in which you can involve with the community and help as much as possible. There is always something to do. I learned that instead of complaining, we have to get our hands dirty and help our country. He admired Eugenio Maria de Hostos because it was him who teached America to think. For Mazol, the University should be a place in which you have to learn as much as you can from all the faculties so that when we graduate we can be useful and use our intellect to help our country, not to send it back in time.

"El que no quiere a su patria, no quiere a su madre." - Calle 13