Sustainable Paradise: Playa Viva, Mexico

Ever have one of those mornings when you wish you were waking up in an oceanfront tree house in a sustainable community in Mexico? No? I never did either until I read about the real estate/resort development Playa Viva (renderings above and below) while doing some research for a green travel article.

Located 30 minutes south of Zihuatanejo on Mexico's Pacific Coast, 160 of Playa Viva's 200 acres have been set aside as a nature preserve and turtle sanctuary. For about $139,000 you can buy 1/10 ownership (4 weeks of use/year) of a thatched-roof casita/tree house made of locally salvaged wood. Even the furniture is made of leftover construction wood. Solar energy will supply 100% of the development's energy needs (which, considering the casitas have neither air conditioning nor TVs, should be relatively low). The development will donate 1% of all revenue back to the community and is beginning an organic farming program that will create jobs for local farmers.

For those of us who don't think fractional ownership of a tree house in Mexico is in the cards, the development plans to open a boutique hotel on the property in 2010.

Check out my article over at HeliumReport for more info on Playa Viva and the Villages of Loreto Bay, another sustainable development being built in Mexico.