Leadership Overload

When I began blogging, knowing that I needed to create a theme of leadership, I anticipated having some struggle. Yet as my time in Costa Rica continues, I find myself constantly writing down all the different leadership scenarios that I find shocking, incredible, or just interesting, and end up needing to minimize my blog entries as to not exhaust my fingers (and my limited computer time).

To start off with one of the two leadership models I found most interesting this week, I wish you all the opportunity to visit the ecotourist town of El Sur, Costa Rica. Located on the boundaries of Carrara National Park, El Sur has endured the growing pains of an area transitioned from privately owned property, to agricultural property, to government owned property, and now property being transformed into secondary rainforests. This community of now approximately sixty people has seen at least three major influxes in their population within the past three generations. As the government changes their opinions on what the optimal usage of the land will be, people have found opportunities in El Sur, settled, and when government ideas change, so does the population. Yet the current 60 residents have stuck by their land and are now implementing their own ideals of what is right. El Sur, as I mentioned, is an ecotourist town. They are provided with subsidies from multiple NGOs worldwide in order to start up a sustainable tourism opportunities. They have a small hotel, where volunteers of students stay and can roam the rainforest on their "trail" (an incredibly adventurous bushwacking hike), work with students, visit their old school sugar factory, or explore the process of bee keeping. The townspeople welcome new members of the community with open arms, and strive to do things that I sometimes don't understand why everyone doesn't do; provide tourists with a way of experiencing Costa Rica in a way that doesn't deplete the environment, teach people Spanish while learning English, serving typical Costa Rican dishes and housing in typical Costa Rican living spaces. As a tourist, I for one am here to learn, and I appreciate that others want to teach me about their culture. It is hard to see McDonalds and Hooters full of people while driving through the capital of San Jose, when I know that the people of El Sur struggle to even initiate this process. It's so hard to have the strength in leadership to create programs like these, when society is not necessarily valuing having culturally enriching experiences, but I highly admire the efforts of the people of El Sur to try and break us of our habits.

The second, and most frightening aspect of leadership I have learned about to date involves the production of genetically modified organisms. Today we had a lecture at the Universidad de Costa Rica on the pros, cons, and history of GMOs, followed by a lecture back at the center of the effect of GMOs (in terms of plants, aquaculture, pharmaceuticals, and industry) on ecology, and ended the day with a debate on whether or not we thought GMOs could provide food security for the world. Several facts stuck out to me throughout all of these lessons. First, 76% of all the food consumed in the United States is genetically modified. 76 % of all the things I eat, were initally created in a peatree dish. Second, currently the world produces enough food to provide food security for its entire population. Instead, people are dying of obesity while others are dying of starvation. Third (and fourth), the United States is the number 1 producer of GMO products, and none of the companies are required to label their products as being genetically modified. As our debate finished, after long arguments being hased out, we came to a few conclusions. We all agreed that any company that isn't willing to openly label its product as being genetically modified, isn't agreeing to it for a reason, and that for lack of a better word is sketchy. We also agreed that food security cannot only come from GMOs. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone, so why aren't we? Why is our government not concerned about all the starving people, and why is no one in power doing anything? On the subject of power, why are there seven companies that run the food supply of the entire world? At what point did we all sit back and become helpless, at what point did we say it was okay for 76% of all the food we eat to be derived from an unnatural source, and at what point did these GMOs only exist for America's obese to become just that? Sure, GMOs are terrifying in hundreds of ways, herbicide and pesticide resistant, clones and mutations of one another, genes of multiple species combined to one, but our inability to stand up and decide that this is enough, or our lack of knowledge about what we are putting in our bodies is incredibly more terrifying.

So what do we do? What do I, as one 19 year old in Costa Rica, do about the global issue of food insecurity. Do I ask my parents to shop at Whole Foods and spend four times the amount of money just to "stick it to the man" and in reality, change nothing? Do I become an apathetic citizen who knows she can change nothing? Do I pretend I know nothing? As today went on, these questions ran through my head, and I am skeptical to say they will stop soon. I want to say I will change all my eating habits so I know exactly what I am putting into my body, but I pride myself in being a realistic person. I wonder, though, what it would take to spark a flame in our country's body as the flame has been sparked in mine. And I wonder, what I could do to help with that. For now though, it is just going to be lots of thinking, and lots of blogging. If all 354 people who have already viewed my blog read about GMOs, and tell every person they know about the concept and whatever their opinion may be on them - that is a lot of people. So for now, I've done what I can, and while I know (again, I pride myself in being realisting) that probably 2 people who read this will actually make an adjustment to what they eat (one of them being my grandmother), but that is enough for now. I challenge you all to at least think about it this though - you don't smoke because you care about your body, don't you believe you have the right to know what else you're putting in it?

I recognize that this has become more of a ramble directed at my current frustrations, but it is a difficult pill to swallow.

More happily - I have a homestay this weekend! I have requested to stay with a family who speaks only Spanish, which should be an EXTREME challenge that I couldn't be looking forward to more! In terms of assignments, we are in the midst of performing a carbon footprint analysis and also a field study on the effects of tourism on local environments. The center continues to be mentally, physically, and emotionally stimulating as the days progress. I constantly miss home, but I also constantly feel more at home here. It gets overwhelming at times, but these are the thoughts I want to be having, the classes I want to be taking, and the education I am so incredilbly greatful to have been granted. Though the thoughts going through my head are frusterating, they are based on material I am so lucky to be acquiring.