La Vida Sustenible

Now that school has started, life has pretty much taken a complete 180 degree rotation from what it was just a little over a week ago. After just one day of getting to know each other, the School for Field Studies Center for Sustainability and Conservation has thrown us in to its extremely structured way of being. The Center is organized as a small compound, with multiple aspects. There is a dorm building with one indoor classroom and a common room, along with library and computer room (although getting internet to work is a nightmare). There is also a kitchen/eating area, an outdoor classroom, an office area, a pool, soccer field, chicken coops, pig pens, and farming area/greenhouses. The program is composed of 34 students, all of whom attend all of their four classes together daily. Each week we have classes from Monday-Wednesday, and then go on a field trip and have field lectures/classes from Thursday-Saturday, with a day off on Sunday.

A typical day of classes looks like this:
Breakfast 7:00-8:00
Natural Resource Management (Introduction to Tropical Soils and Agroecology) 8:00-10:00
Economic & Ethical Issues in Sustainable Development (Energy as a motor development: The case of renewables) 10:00-12:00
Lunch 12:00-1:00
Chores 1:00-1:30
Costa Rican Culture and Society (A Brief History of Costa Rica Part II: From coffee oligarchy to present days) 1:30-2:30
Tropical Ecology and Sustainable Development (Neotropical Forest Dynamics: explaining high levels of species development) 2:30-6:00
Dinner 6:00-7:00

Sustainable living at the Center has many more aspects than I could have ever imagined. One of the major accomplishments they have achieved is becoming part of the International Rainforest Alliance Certification. This process encompasses the entire center, from water usage all the way to employee treatment. The RFA Certification allows the Center to improve on academics, administration, and farm management. It enhances record keeping exponentially and also sets an amazing standard for surrounding farmers and community members. Some of the efforts that are currently underway involve, but certainly are not limited to the following; creating a socio-economic policy, commitment declaration, management programs for water, waste, and recycling, promoting health and safety to higher standards, energy management by means of fuel, and electricity, and community development projects to be an organization focused on stakeholder benefits as opposed to solely shareholders. Living sustainably feels great. Taking quick, cold showers is oddly refreshing and collecting the eggs, oranges, and lettuce I will be eating every day feels so healthy. Farm work is exhausting, but being able to develop and cultivate the land I am working is extremely rewarding. At home I always turned the lights off when I left a room, but this new level of sustainability is incredible.

This past weekend we took our first fieldtrip to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica to compare different types of farms. The first farm we went to was called "El Zota" project. This farm of just under 80 hectares of land is maintained by a family of six along with two outside workers, and is almost completely self-sustainable, absolutely completely organic. At the farm we saw their cows, pigs, horses, crops, forests, and endless amounts of biodiversity that all intertwine with one another to create an ecosystem that provides the family, and other families as well, with over 80 percent of the food that they consume. The main lesson of the day was how to create organic fertilizer. We collected leaf litter filled with microorganisms from the forest floor, combined it with a rice byproduct, along with molasses and whey, and compacted it into large barrels that will ferment for approximately three weeks. After the three weeks, the microorganisms will have multiplied extensively and the compost will be placed on top of cow and pig manure. Three weeks later, the microorganisms will have completely transformed the manure into clean, organic soil that will be used for the growth of most of the farms crops. The process was absolutely amazing, not only because of how simple it was, but because of how simple it was.
The following day, my mind was blown in a completely different way. We went to the Costa Rican Dole banana plantation to see a mono-crop farm. This plantation has millions of genetically modified banana plants that are not organically fertilized, sprayed with multiple pesticides, grown in bags, and given liquid sealants. The process astonished me; I never expected to be so horrified by just a few pesticides. The lack of nature that existed in this farm was almost scary: especially after realizing that all of the plants were clones of one another. Unlike El Zota, this plantation does not have a Rainforest Alliance Certification, and is only partially organic. It is so intimidating to see such a large organization, which my family has financially supported for longer than I have been alive, have a way of functioning that I question so greatly. It absolutely is more work to be organic but as of late I am convinced that it is absolutely worth it, but I have to wonder what it would take to convince Dole shareholders to feel the same way? How many pesticides can be applied before leadership steps in and says enough? For the sake of my banana loving father - I have to hope not too many more.

Dirty Compost Hands!

Collecting Leaf Litter

Adding molasses to the whey

Dole Plantation