by Martín Buen Viaje

I left the advertising business a long time ago. I closed my own production company when it was at the height of its success, when I realized that most of the video commercials I was making were for companies that were polluting the planet.

Very recently, I returned to be part of the making of a video with the opposite impact, the aim of promoting the conservation of nature through carbon credits.

I was to be the eye in the air with my drone, documenting the beautiful forests of Oaxaca, with centuries-old trees, but also chronicling the felling of trees and the growth of urban sprawl.

Yaax Carbon, the project developer company that commissioned the video, has been implementing environmental management plan solutions for more than five years. They raise money and other resources to support the conservation of green areas in our beautiful country, acreage in the hands of qqq ejidos, communities and private owners.

It is difficult to understand how carbon credits work. In overly simple terms, they are environmental credits, implying a commitment to biodiversity over the course of 30 to 100 years.

Yaax Carbón is investing resources and sowing hope in communities in the southern highlands of Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Michoacán, Durango and Chihuahua, as well as protecting the urban forests of Mexico City. In total they have are stewarding almost 400,000 acres.

The most beautiful thing about the time we spent filming in Oaxaca was the way we were received in each community. Everyone, including the children and the police all expressed with great emotion their gratitude and hope for this project. Some grandparents spoke to us in their Zapotec language. These elders were the true protagonists of this story and their testimony will be a central part of the video.

The purpose of this audiovisual piece is to show the world the natural riches of Mexico to continue obtaining resources for their conservation. He who pollutes pays is the new law in Mexico to penalize polluting companies so they can compensate for the damage they do.

I hope that soon they modify this law, because now polluters can continue to pollute if they continue to pay. According to my way of looking at it, it's a license to kill because they have money. But still, it's an achievement, allowing the planet to keep some of the few forests, lungs of the planet, that we have left.

During the week of shooting, I very much enjoyed the sunrises and sunsets. Those are the best hours for filming. We heard a pack of wolves. We were told that there are many pumas and we saw a golden eagle that almost ate my drone, approaching it as if it were a snack. But I think the great bird understood that we had come to support its environment and gave us that opportunity. A deer bounded across the cobbled driveway in front of our truck. It was a great richness to be able to see wild animals in their habitat.

Thanks to Diego Medina Riveroll, Gus, David, Dan and the IUM FILMS team for inviting me to be part of this project, also to Belén and the Yaax Carbón team. I have to say that I never had so much fun filming with a client present.

I hope to add 2,500 acres here in San Miguel to this project, to rescure the few wild spaces that remain. Those interested in helping can message me privately.

Soon we will screen the video so that these important projects and messages fly further, above all, so that young entrepreneurs understand that it is not about having the best company in the world, but about having the best company for the world.

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Martín Buen Viaje is an explorer of native peoples. He explores pre-Hispanic mythology and its connection with power animals through their myths, making expeditions with naturalists, biologists, scientists, geologists, naturists, artists and shamans among others.

He is a member of the board of directors of Huerto Roma Verde CDMX, a representative in San Miguel de Allende of Extinction Rebellion, an ambassador of the Quetzal of the Triunfo Forest Reserve in Chiapas, a member of Hatch, journalist in Lokkal, photographer, documentalist, content generator, former publicist....

www.martinbuenviaje.com
IG:@martinbuenviaje

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