Today was our last day in Monteverde where we learned so many things about sustainability and saw so many spectacular views and interesting species. After checking out of our hotel in the morning, we went to what might have been my favorite activity so far in Monteverde, maybe even our entire trip! Life Monteverde is an educational farming center that both grows and roasts coffee beans and strives to teach others the sustainable practices they use to do so. These Tico farmers all seem to be very much so connected with the land and since this is the essence of their culture, they wish to protect the land as much as possible. That’s where sustainability comes in.
Sustainability works to preserve the land’s resources as much as possible for future generations along with being as efficient as possible in terms of economic success. Recently, these Tico farmers have been faced with some shifts in weather patterns, the most recent example being the continuous rainfall during the dry season that destroyed many coffee trees. As issues such as this continue to pop up, it is very important for these Tico farmers to have flexible mindsets in order to come up with innovative ways to counteract climate change by increasing the number of sustainability practices.
While at Life Monteverde today, we were tasked with coming up with an idea that could improve upon the sustainability practices that they already use like biodegradable fertilizers and composting. Our team had the idea of setting up a sort of volunteering system where Life Monteverde can pursue their main goal of educating others on sustainable farming while at the same time getting some “free” manual labor. This way they can integrate a modern lifestyle that these volunteers likely hold with their tried and true sustainability practices in order to make our planet a better place for everyone to live and hopefully protect land that isn’t even their own. And finally, here’s a picture of a pretty flower I saw at Life Monteverde, I highly recommend making the trip out to visit!
