Climate Change & Conservation: Costa Rica
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
― John Muir, Our National Parks
What can be said about our trip to Costa Rica that no one knows already? On our journey, we experienced a deep connection to the environment surrounding us and strengthened the connections among ourselves. I was able to watch my fellow classmates grow and blossom into incredibly invested environmentalists, and I had the honor to watch my leaders and friends fall more in love with the world around them. On this trip, I struggled and learned a lot about myself, but I also became more impassioned about becoming a park ranger in my not so distant future.
Getting to experience Costa Rican wilderness and wildlife was incredible. I had been to Costa Rica once before when I was 12, but my experience was limited to the confines of the resort that we had stayed in. Over our week, we saw a range of agricultural to conservation areas, very different from my previous travels. Over that time, we saw an incredible amount of diversity in the flora and fauna. We had the honor to see every type of monkey that Costa Rica has to offer (spider, howler, capuchin, and squirrel), several sloths, toucans, and all the bromeliads ones heart could desire.
Capuchin “hanging out” at Manuel Antonio
The moment that brought everything together for me was right after I had seen the family of capuchin monkeys and a squirrel monkey. Malia, Danielle and I were walking away from the magical moment we had just experienced, in absolute awe of the creatures and how comfortable they were around us. We were entering into a discussion about why it was so concerning when I heard a group of American students passing by us. When I turned around to tell the students what they were about to get themselves into, I suddenly had the best realization. At the tail end of this group, I saw him. My best friend George, who I have known since kindergarten, was about to walk past me.
George, my numero dos amigo (don’t ask)
Now, we had known that we were both going to be in Costa Rica, but we had both discussed our plans and figured it would be too much trouble to try and plan any sort of meet up. He was going to be doing nursing training in San Jose, and I was wherever the wind (aka Lindsey) decided to take me. Who knew the wind was going to lead us both into Manuel Antonio at the exact same time. So naturally, I leaned into the middle of the sidewalk and yelled “Hey dude!” at my friend, to which he had a freak out and started saying “No way!” about a million times. We were both so happy and took the moment to quickly catch up and talk. When we parted ways, Malia and Danielle were both astonished that that had happened, but not nearly as astonished as I was. Later on the beach, I told Chelsea what had happened and she laughed. She had been behind me on the trail, and she had heard George talking about our run in on the trail.
When I think about running into my best friend in the middle of the smallest national park in Costa Rica, I can’t help but value that place in my heart. I suddenly felt a connection to that location, and I know it will be special to me forever. It made me think about how Manuel Antonio was founded by the people by popular demand, because they wanted to preserve that beautiful area. There hadn’t been much reason, but without it, I would have lost out on some of my favorite memories from this trip. The crystal blue water and abundance of wildlife revitalized my sick and aching soul.
A mermaid in her natural habitat
I think the most amazing thing about the whole trip is that no matter where you went, the environment seemed to be a main concern for every person you met. People were striving to be sustainable in their practices, which is something foreign in American minds. I know we read a lot about how environmentalism isn’t a bipartisan issue in Costa Rica, how it transcends most issues because it’s something that’s based in logic. I don’t think it really hit me though that it was truly a part of the culture until we were in it, seeing it and feeling it. I mean, what can you expect from a country that is 25% conservation area? And it was amazing to see how the many levels of government worked together to make conservation efforts happen.
One of the coolest parks we talked about was the Children’s Eternal Rainforest, a collaborative effort from elementary school kids where they purchased land collectively to create the largest private reserve of land in Costa Rica. Here we see an effort that is completely private and yet insanely successful. The children of Costa Rica set out with a vision and a goal and were able to make their dreams a reality. But it wouldn’t have been possible without that underlying desire to conserve their wildlife. This just keeps reiterating in my mind the importance of education and involvement in public discussions.
Crew on the hanging bridges
The problem with the system in the United States isn’t the programs we have, but the involvement of the people who are the intended audience. People just don’t think of conservation as an important aspect of culture, because frankly, it isn’t. I was listening to an NPR segment when I came home that interviewed a western herder who was very similar to Cliven Bundy from Oregon. This rancher (who was Mormon) compared environmentalism to the “dirty hippies” of the sixties, with no God or moral principles, which honestly made no sense to me. I am definitely not the most religious person on the planet, but I can attest that the closest I feel to God is when I am in nature, and without conservation, how am I expected to enjoy nature?
Now, how is Costa Rica dealing with the effects of climate change? Head on. At Earth University, our guest student David had some very choice words for us Americans. He called us out on our nation’s inability to start any action towards bettering the climate and called us to take action ourselves if we must. At La Selva, I remember the speaker addressing the issue of climate change and how they were analyzing it. But he made a very good point that they were the science that backs up any policy action that happens, but they weren’t the actors themselves. It is easy to see that Costa Rica takes science seriously, unlike the United States. The United States could learn a lot from Costa Rica in terms of the relationships between scientists and policy makers.
The higher the canopy, the closer to God
I keep reflecting on how close we all got on this trip, and how heavily our environment played into it. I want so much to put every moment I shared with everyone in this blog, but if I did it would just turn into a sappy, sentimental list of good memories. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t put in the highlights. When we were doing the hanging bridges hike and Dr. Wasserman pointed out those spider monkeys. When Meagan and I shared a room, aka the first night without air conditioning. When the girls gathered at the pool after the first beach day. Literally every moment on the bus. The night hike and holding a red eyed tree frog. Falling into the mangrove (again the water WAS beautiful and the silt felt like a baby’s bottom). I could go on for days. But the main thing was that we were all so comfortable with each other that we could have a great time in a foreign environment. Or maybe the foreign environment prompted us to be more comfortable with each other.
A red eyed tree frog being held by a crazy lady
I know that we all had some ups and downs health wise, but honestly, they just brought us all closer together. I know that when we were at Rancho Margot, I was incredibly sick (cold, allergies, I’m still not quite sure). I know one thing for certain though, and that was the amount of love and care I received from everyone while we were there. I went with Chelsea to do yoga during our free time (which was a bad decision considering I couldn’t breath) and I ended up having to leave. When I got back to the bunks, Somerley hunted around and Carlos M. gave me some Benadryl, and everyone checked in on me. It warmed my heart to know that everyone not only knew, but cared that I wasn’t feeling well. Then we went to reflections and everyone got to meet Melody on two Benadryl forcing herself to stay awake (that Melody makes a mean imaginary pina colada, by the way). Somerley then escorted me back to my bunk and cared for me like the sweetheart she is.
The point I think I’m trying to make is this: I would not change one thing about our trip. Everything happened for a reason, and we all got what we wanted to get out of this trip. When we were doing our final reflections, I learned a lot about my friends that I hadn’t known before, and it was so rewarding to see how everyone came out of the trip changed in some way. I have the honor and privilege of getting to say I was a part of something so amazing, and I can never thank any of my classmates enough for being themselves and making a difference not only in my life, but in the world.
Pura vida, y’all
Sources:
The Green Republic
http://www.npr.org/2016/05/25/479183333/even-with-bundy-behind-bars-range-war-lives-on-for-some-ranchers
http://www.acmcr.org/history_ben.htm
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/centralamerica/costarica/
http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2011;volume=9;issue=1;spage=16;epage=24;aulast=Hoffman