Four decades after Colectivo Ecologista Jalisco began organizing for Mexico’s environment, its founders, former members and young organizers gathered in Guadalajara to celebrate a legacy stretching from anti-nuclear campaigns to organic food markets and cleaner air. The anniversary brought together people who helped shape that work — and others carrying it forward.
There was Erik Saracho, founder of Alianza Jaguar, whose survival of a shooting earlier this year underscored the dangers facing Mexico’s environmental defenders; Jorge Gastón Gutiérrez Rosete, a CEJ founder and University of Guadalajara researcher working in forest restoration; environmental lawyer Juan Eduardo Alvarado Angulo, who helped advance public access to environmental information and justice; and Mario Silva, a former CEJ member who went on to lead Guadalajara’s metropolitan planning institute, IMEPLAN.
At the center of the gathering was Maite Cortés, elegant in a black dress instead of her customary khakis and rolled-up sleeves. The environmental educator, Ecotienda founder and recipient of the 2025 Premio Jalisco in the environment category had helped turn concern for the planet into practical ways to protect it — and drawn generations of students and young organizers into the work.
Founded in June 1986, CEJ joined the movement questioning nuclear power and its risks. Its public education later ranged from exhibitions about Chernobyl’s children to workshops on seed patents and medicinal plants, bringing seemingly distant environmental debates into local conversations.
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