Nature itself is the best physician. — Hippocrates
ECO-LEAD 2016 In Costa Rica
Hello my fellow bloggers! And welcome back to my latest and final blog posting. As you all know, this semester I have been doing both field and library research on the different types of green spaces in Austin and looking at the difference in crime rates and types of crimes in various areas. This was all to prep for our big class trip to Costa Rica. My time in Costa Rica was truly life changing and I cant express how much I learned while my time there. I took what I’ve been learning over the semester and tried to tie it to all I learned in Costa Rica, making daily observations on the people, places, and environment of the nation.
First I’d like to give you a small refresher on my previous blog posts, for those who may need it. I set out to explore one of Austin’s highest crime rate zip codes and just observe what I saw and talk with a few neighborhood children. What I observed when it came to the green spaces and parks made me pretty sad and frustrated with our city. The city ran parks had little to offer children above the ages of maybe nine or ten, and the conditions were not very well kept up with. Trash was noticeable in many of the parks, making it look as if no one besides the neighborhood is responsible for its up keeping. Which I am not excusing people for leaving their trash behind, but at the same time I didn’t see trash bins around either for them to have a place to put it all. The kids I spoke with stated that they weren’t too upset with what they had but they did wish there was something for older kids to do. I remember thinking to myself when they told me that they weren’t too upset with what they had that it probably was because they didn’t have to see what other public parks actually look like. When I went back to look at the high crime rates, there was a lot of violent crime in the area, to include, aggravated assault and rape. In addition to violent crime was a high number of property crime.
My next blog was my observations on the public spaces and crime stats in one of Austin’s lowest crime rate zip codes. The difference was like night and day. The difference in the people I encountered, the types of parks, and definitely a vast difference in the types of crimes that were happening in the area. One main difference in the types of crimes in this particular area was an extremely low rates of violent crimes with a majority of their reported crimes being property crimes.
With less to do in the local neighborhoods, does this lead individuals to commit more crime? Its definitely a question that needs further research but I believe it plays a huge role, especially when dealing with adolescents. A study conducted by University of California states that, “Happy youth report less involvement with crime, and programs that increase happiness could deter crime and drug use.” And according to University of Washington’s College of the Environment,
- Public housing buildings with greater amounts of vegetation had 52% fewer total crimes, 48% fewer property crimes, and 56% fewer violent crimes than buildings with low amounts of vegetation.
- Public housing residents with nearby trees and natural landscapes reported 25% fewer acts of domestic aggression and violence.
- Among minor crimes, there is less graffiti, vandalism, and littering in outdoor spaces with natural landscapes than in comparable plant-less space
These are all notable statistics that could help local government and city planners to find new and improved ways to deter crime.
Now lets move on to Costa Rica and what I gained while our time there. 🙂
First, and probably what stood out most to me was the Country’s recycling system! Remember how I mentioned that during my time in the lower income communities I saw lots of trash and little to none cans for people to put trash in? Well one thing I couldn’t help but notice in Costa Rica, is that everywhere I turned there were not only ample trash bins around, but three or more of them! Why three or more you ask?
Although this is not a picture I took myself, this is pretty much what I’m referring to when I say there were three or more bins. The picture above was taken at a Costa Rican elementary school that has four bins, one for others, aluminum, plastic, and glass. These are the types of bins I noticed throughout the country. Even during our long bus drives through small villages. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, if these low income, small villages could have these separate bins, why don’t we? Something that does not take too much effort could have a lasting impact! Imagine if we placed bins such as these throughout all elementary, middle, and high schools. Our children would grow up with the natural instinct of knowing what goes in where and the importance of separating such materials. Because I know when I first got to Costa Rica before I would throw anything away I would have to read each bin and really question which bin my trash was supposed to go in, it definitely wasn’t second nature to me. LOL
Costa Rica saw ‘important increase in violence,’ says OIJ director
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110822091859.htm
https://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Thm_Crime.html