Today we went shopping early in the morning for souvenirs, which I bought several things, and this afternoon I met up with two of my friends who live here before coming back to the hotel for our lecture and then our last group dinner.
Our lecture consisted of environmental development within Costa Rica, beginning with the ultimate discussion of what sustainability actually is. Of course we say in loose terms that sustainability is the practice of living within our means today so future generations may live without the consequences of our decisions today, but what does it mean in Costa Rica? Mauricio discussed how Costa Rica has a goal to be completely carbon neutral in the near future, but is it feasible? The slogan for Costa Rica's environmental efforts, and perhaps the tourism industry, is "No Artificial Ingredients." To sustain their slogan with activity, the government is investing in payments for environmental services, purchasing lands (in which there is an international competition), ecotourism and bioprospecting. What are the consequences of such actions though? He mentions things such as islands surrounded by pollution because of the single focus, green and gray conservation agendas wrongly presented as independent when they are interdependent, and conservation of biodiversity is actually threatened with such activity. The focus for Costa Rica is land use: when do they create national parks, what are the hints of subtle deforestation via farmers and their cattle, and is the land sustained but used in a practical manner? I think the point of this discussion was to induce thoughts of provocation: when we say we are doing good, do we realize that every action has a reaction that could potentially be harmful? I think the issues were interesting and were necessary to be presented, and feel that Mauricio presented the material in a very thought-provoking manner. It was the perfect way to end our trip in Costa Rica; essentially, after everything we have seen, what is the future of Costa Rica and its' interdependent business, government, and environmental ideologies? Can it continue with conflicting interests?
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