Costa Rica’s focus on sustainability makes the country seem impressive and progressive to me. Before researching Costa Rica, I always thought of beaches, massive jungles, and fruits. As I do more research, I am realizing sustainability is almost like a brand identity for Costa Rica. As we learned in the pre-departure meetings, at one point CR had lost much of its forest areas, but over time it was able to come back through various conservation efforts. One of the most impressive conservation methods is that they exclusively use sustainable forms of energy. They focus on things like hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar.

Another initiative that stood out to me was their Payments for Environmental Services program, which pays farmers to maintain their land or use sustainable practices that do not affect the wildlife. This idea of sustainability can also be seen in local business because they place a special priority on an idea called sustainable tourism, which basically means they go out of their way to reduce their impact on the environment in regards to tourism.

They also promote tropical agriculture sustainable through things like coffee and bananas. Coffee production has been connected to lower carbon farming efforts, and the banana industry has programs related to environmental monitoring and sustainability standards. For example, “Banano de Costa Rica” is a geographical indicator that organizations use to help track the carbon emissions of farming. It is very clear that they go out of their way to ensure sustainability.

I am excited to go to Costa Rica for the fruits and animals. I am not looking forward to the heavy rainfall, but all of that is offset if the fruits and coffee are good.