This past week’s activities primarily consisted of understanding global and local food systems and exploring ecotourism and all its implications, both the good and the bad. Our transition from learning about food systems and globalization to ecotourism was represented by our departure from the La Selva Biological Station to Rancho Margot. Rancho Margot is not only an active sustainable farm that hosts students, schools, and volunteers but is also a popular ecotourist location, as it welcomes individuals who are interested in sustainable agriculture or secluded vacation locations. Our exploration of understanding food systems was supplemented by a visit to an organic pineapple farm and a family-owned local banana and plantain farm. Contrastingly, our exploration of ecotourism consisted of several activities such as a boat tour of Tortuguero National Park, a visit to the Baldi hot springs, a hike at the Mistico Hanging Bridges that overlooked a volcano, and a bat and a chocolate tour at Tirimbina. Experiencing ecotourism firsthand has challenged my perspectives and preconceived understanding of the impacts ecotourism has on not just local economies and the environment but also on the individuals who reside in popular ecotourist locations.
To understand sustainable agriculture, as previously mentioned, we visited both an organic pineapple farm and a family-owned banana and plantain farm. The pineapple farm was a refreshing learning opportunity as we were able to actively participate and engage in the experience. I learned that pineapples do not in fact grow synonymously to carrots and that they prove difficult to grow. Pineapples do not have natural growing seasons and will not produce fruit unless the plant is stressed. To stress the plant, one can deprive it of nutrients or deny it water. However, at a pineapple farm, the plants must produce fruits at similar times for efficient harvesting. To stress the plant, this farm uses ethylene, a naturally occurring gas often produced by apples. Because of their use of ethylene, this organic farm is not a certified organic farm, as certified organic implies no chemicals are used. Additionally, one pineapple plant can only produce one pineapple fruit a year. So much effort, attention, and care are required to produce one pineapple fruit and it frightens me that we can mass produce this fruit.
Similarly, the banana and plantain farm also taught me that growing food is such a delicate and intimate process. We have genetically modified this fruit to alter its taste and number of seeds. Because of this modification, the only way to grow banana fruit is to take a baby plant from the mother plant and grow it independently; no seeds can be planted. Like pineapple plants, banana plants can only produce one bunch of bananas during their lifetime. After that, the plant must be taken down and replaced by a younger plant. This process, like the pineapples, requires care and a close relationship with the plant. Mass producing these fruits seems unnatural and learning about them and seeing them firsthand forced me to question the ethics of the food systems we have installed in our world. At the banana farm, there was a field of pineapples being grown for Dole, and the stark contrast between intentionally growing fruit and growing fruit for profit and the masses emphasized the differences between the treatment of and the relationship with the environment and how we understand the Earth and its provisions. After these experiences, I thought often of food sovereignty and security in a global and a local context. It alarms me that we can manipulate these delicate foods and mass produce them, yet we simultaneously have food insecurity all over the world and a surplus of food (uneven distribution of surplus) all at once. I continue to reflect on this as the trip progresses and as I return home to the United States.
The ecotourism portion of the trip presented its own set of challenges. As I was participating in the activities, I was hyperconscious of my role in and impact on the spaces I was occupying. My pondering began in Tortuguero when we arrived at the town near the national park. The town seemed like it was only there for the purpose of tourism, and that people’s livelihoods depended on the attendance of tourists. There was also an elementary school directly next to the path to the beach. People could walk by the elementary school and see the children playing on the playground or learning in their classrooms. That placement seemed intentional to me and was as if the school and the children were on display, or at the very least was invasive. It was an uncomfortable observation and I wondered if this placement would be the same if the town was not reliant on tourism. I acknowledge and recognize that ecotourism presents benefits in terms of funding conservation efforts, but its impact on the local residents and communities appears to be downplayed in the context of the ecotourism narrative. Visiting Tortuguero National Park made me reflect on my impact on local and national economies and whether it’s possible to ethically be a tourist.
This week’s activities no doubt challenged my perspectives and understanding of the world around me. I am incredibly fortunate to be in a position by which I can be challenged in these ways and all my experiences thus far, both the good and the bad, have always given me something to contemplate. In addition to these contemplations, I have enjoyed working on my research project with Audrey. We are researching the relationship between air quality and fungal and lichen biodiversity and abundance. Although we have not begun to collect data, we have been preparing our methods and materials. We will begin data collection at the Piro and Las Cruces research stations, which are our next destinations. Our method includes using a transect line with 8 sample sites along the transect line at each location, with a total of 16 sample sites. Each sample site will be 50 meters apart. At each location, we will measure the air quality with a digital air quality measuring device, and we will quantify the fungal biodiversity using a 1m x 1m PVC pipe quadrant and by counting the number of species present, and we will quantify the lichen biodiversity by estimating the proportion of lichens on a given tree. I look forward to collecting the data and doing statistical analysis to uncover any relationship (or lack thereof) between air quality and the biodiversity of these species!
Until next time 😊
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