I’m ready to go as far and for as long as we can. My only expectation is to come back different.
These are incredible times to be an environmentalist. Of course it’s hard—we’re up against some of the greatest challenges this Earth has ever faced—and the majority of these trials and predicaments human-created. Still, when someone says, “It’s really hard right now”, I can’t help but think that, well, of course it is. That’s why we’re here, right now. We’ve been given us this time and this space and these battles because we are the people for whom they belong.
I still have hope that each generation may be wiser than the last, that there are people of all nations committed to making this world home again. I’m open to letting a dream carry us into the future…convinced that real change may come in acts of healing.
Be it the vision of the Amazon, or a view from the shore of a different sea…soil of a different texture or a tree with bark made of colors we have never before witnessed…a language we don’t know or a new alignment of the stars…may we be thankful for the time to reflect, and the chance to stand in wonder of life, to bask in the newness…thankful for the reminder that we are alive.
Costa Rica has developed an international reputation for being an especially green, environmentally-minded country. It’s reforestation efforts, extensive national park system, wildlife protections, and renewable energy goals have made it a leader in environmental management.
Unfortunately, the agricultural and food production practices employed by the country’s large-scale producers (and increasingly many small-scale producers as well) are not aligned with these policies.
I can only hope that every year has this kind of an impact on me—that every year finds me in new places, meeting new people, and trying new things. That every year challenges me. That I remember again and again how to be uncomfortable. That I lose myself and find again. That I hold tight to this sense of love and responsibility to this Earth and her children.
It’s essential to get lost. Sometimes it’s the only way to find out where we belong.
Food production around the world faces a major threat: the disappearance of pollinator species. Why, rather than shrinking at the possibility of a multi-faceted problem, we have not responded with multifaceted solutions?
If we are going to continue to be able to grow food on this planet, then we need to begin paying attention to nature once again—relearning how to mimic her in order to provide for future generations.
I love these waters that are beginning to feel like home. They are untamable and unforgiving and beautiful and wild.
And I know that the sea carries out punishments to those who do not respect the signs–to those who fail to read her. There is no tolerance of those who fail to take a long careful look at the horizon, or for a species that satiates life giving waters with chemicals and trash and unconscious behavior.
Commercial fishing is not the only “big industry” ripping apart Costa Rica socially, economically, and environmentally. Industrial-sized monoculture farming, imposed by several politically powerful global companies, is swiftly destroying the land and wrecking havoc on the health of the local people as well.
