After discussing the priorities of Monteverde with Don Guillermo, I learned the relationship between sustainability, conservation, and productivity. The natives that lived here for thousands of years before the quaker immigrants had been practicing these three ideals long before any foreigners stepped foot in Costa Rica. They would live along with the forest instead of abandoning it because they had no economic obligations that could be satisfied with natural resources such as lumber, dairy, or gold. They would not only conserve the ecosystem they lived in, but also sustained their living habits.

However, it seems productivity counteracts sustainability and conservation as people are driven to almost forget about the needs of the environment and focus only on their own. Pollution is commonly associated with productivity especially regarding traditional fueling of machines like cars. Vehicles increase productivity by decreasing travel or transport time, but negatively affect the environment by polluting the air. In turn, the climate changes and destroys the health of rainforest ecosystems.

In Monteverde, the cloud rainforest territory is decreasing because the clouds are rising higher. As the clouds rise, there are less trees that are engulfed in clouds. This causes a problem for Monteverde’s income because there will be less interest in the area and therefore less tourism. As for the rest of Costa Rica, as the weather gets hotter, there can be adverse environmental effects. I would prioritize sustainability because if we cannot live without destroying our environment, we will lose  a lot of resources necessary to human survival.