Today in Costa Rica we traveled to Life Monteverde and got to learn about the sustainability efforts employed by Don Guillermo and others on the farm. During the visit, Don Guillermo spoke about living a simplistic life, valuing success in terms other than money, and working to build a better environment. 

While on the tour, there were a couple aspects of life on the farm that I found interesting or unique. First, life on the farm consists of a lot of collaboration and teamwork. On the farm, people often work together on tasks or all do a separate job that contributes to a larger accomplishment or goal. Next, the problems that workers on the farm face are both similar and different to those that we face in everyday life. Like us, those on the farm have to worry about producing enough to survive, finding ways to be sustainable, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Different from us, the farm has to deal with the direct impacts of climate change, fight off crop diseases, and take care of animals all in natural and environmentally-healthy ways. Lastly, I noticed that the farm values success in terms other than just money. Workers on the farm pay close attention to their impact on the environment and their ability to teach others about their efforts. Therefore, it is not simply production and profits that make those on the farm happy, but rather the fact that they are contributing to and educating others on building a better tomorrow. 

Overall, I find the work being done at Life Monteverde to be very noble and beneficial. The engineering and design that has gone into making the farm sustainable is very unique and could possibly be used on larger scales to have an even greater impact on the world. The ability to show all of this on a generational farm is also very important as it communicates and fosters a passion for sustainability and doing things that benefit the earth. Personally, growing up in an environment such as that would make me want to contribute to sustainability efforts as I grow. I think that immersing people in conservative and eco-friendly environments moving forward would influence them to make sustainable choices and could lead to a large improvement in global health.