Costa Rica is paving the way to prove sustainability is achievable nationally! Looking in from the outside gives me a lot of respect for this country that tries so hard to impact the environment as little as possible. Costa Rica has even been recognized by the UN as a template for sustainability, being called the “living Eden”.

Costa Rica’s efforts towards sustainability make the country so much more extraordinary in my eyes. They are so progressive in ensuring that we have a planet to live on as time goes by, we all should learn from their example to preserve the earth as much as possible. Their mission of ensuring growth harmonizes with nature has led them to a brighter and greener future! Here are three of some of their most impressive initiatives:

Costa Rica has increased their recycling from 2015-2017 by 469% thanks to their “pay to throw” program. The main idea behind this initiative is to charge residents per garbage weight they generate, pushing them to recycle as much as possible. They are fighting hard to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced and thrown away.

Over 90% of Costa Rica’s energy comes from renewable resources such as hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar. Over 2/3 of this energy is made up of hydroelectric due to significant recent investment! They are a shining example of where most countries are trying to get to in terms of energy production.

25% of all of the land in Costa Rica is preserved as national territory. The preservation of these areas is so important because even though Costa Rica only makes up 0.03% of the surface area of the globe, it accounts for 5% of the total biodiversity! Costa Rica is striving to protect and ensure that all of these different species thrive and continue to do so.

I’m so excited to travel to Costa Rica to see all of the efforts they have made to be so sustainable!