Throughout our time in Costa Rica, we have explored ecotourism in many different aspects. At first, I wasn’t sure what ecotourism is. To be honest, I had to look it up… It is as simple as it sounds. It is protecting the land, minimizing pollution, and also supporting local people while educating people and tourists…
Author: Makenna Berg
Better care, better future
Limiting tourism could be very difficult for Costa Rica to do. Think about it, we are tourists here right now too. We have been to a few different forests exploring them. One thing that Josue said on the bus to the cloud forest today did stick with me though. He told us, “We used to…
Sloths before profits
On this trip, we have learned so much about sustainability, including the good and bad. Sustainability is using land in a way that protects wildlife and keeps the planet healthy while balancing economic growth, environmental protection, and social wellbeing. Some examples of this would be solar energy, wind energy, protecting rainforests, national parks, etc.Sustainability has…
No tourists, no trees
I believe that there are many different benefits but also costs to commercializing nature. For example, if you want to conserve nature but also have people there daily, it can become very trashed, or people can step on different plants and animals. If people do this, it doesn’t really fall under conservation anymore. Conservation is…
Only rain and Pura Vida here
The rain today was very unexpected! It would start, then stop, then start, then stop, and on and on. It was actually crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It would POUR so hard for 5 minutes and then be sunny skies a few minutes later.I will say, it was cool to see how…
Respectfully, I’m not a farmer
If I grew up in a family of farmers, I think I would be way more interested in tourism than keeping family tradition. No hate to my family, but I think we can all agree I’m not a farmer. Part of that comes from the long days and the other part comes from all the…
Literally ate the compost
Before today, I never thought about the triple bottom line. To be honest, I didn’t even know what it meant. The triple bottom line is when a business incorporates success by people, planet, and profit. Most businesses just focus on profit, but when you focus on the triple bottom line, you can become even better….
Brewing Pura Vida
Café Britt was such an amazing experience. We got to learn about all the different types of coffee, how coffee is made, and even got to try some! I found it so interesting that coffee plants take 3 years to fully grow and harvest. It was way longer than I expected. I personally didn’t know…
One has cows, one has corporate emails
We were able to visit 2 different companies today, one being Kyndryl and the other being Dos Pinos. Both of them have very different models that they implement. Kyndryl is a huge international business. This brings lots of jobs to Costa Ricans which helps with investment as well.Dos Pinos is owned by Costa Rican farmers…
Lots of confusion with some laughs!
I have had some pretty difficult times while talking to my host family. I personally am not the best at Spanish. Actually, I don’t speak any. That has been such a challenge for me. During dinners, we leave google translate open so we can talk to our family. I would say I am pretty surprised…
Exploring La Paz!
Today we were able to explore La Paz waterfalls and the areas around them. We learned many different things, including that they did not have heavy machinery come in and build everything, because they didn’t want to disrupt the land.I have been wrestling with if everything I observed today was sustainable in all aspects. I…
Before We Arrive!!!
As far as I know, Costa Rica has been really big on environmental sustainability for some time. As an outsider, this makes me think that the country is really clean and not wasteful. To me, it seems like they are trying to contain their land and keep it healthy. I think the focus on sustainability…