Today we visited the cloud forest reserve (established with the help of the Alabamian Quakers). After visiting the preserve and talking with Don Guillermo of Life Monteverde today, it was easy to notice the competing interests of productivity, conservation, and sustainability – especially when faced with climate change when the area that first was supposed to be all farmland for the Quaker settlers was made to be a preserve.

Challenges that are unique to Monteverde are the heavy reliance on the tourism industry for their economy which was devastating during Covid and this struggle was common with other areas in Costa Rica because tourism is the biggest industry in the entire country. So at the time what needed to be prioritized was the circular economy and keeping money in Monteverde. So the whole area could survive and keep schools open.