Important moments split history into before and after. I can’t remember where I first heard this, but it has stuck with me for a very long time. I usually think of this in the context of world history, but I realized that it applies to my own life too. I will forever remember the times before coming to Costa Rica as just that. And my time here isn’t even over! I have had experiences that changed my perspective on climate change, academics, my social practices, my diet choices, international travel, and many more things.
I am a person that easily falls into habits. A lot of the things that I do, I do only because I have done them for a long time. This trip has been a chance for me to question some of these rituals and reconsider decisions I made in the past. I wouldn’t say it is a big part of my personality, but my environmental impact is something that is important to me and it has been since middle school. Many of the practices I have now to help minimize my footprint, I started doing at that age (being vegetarian, biking, composting). However, I have changed so much since then, and this trip gave me the chance reconsider, and a perfect environment to do so. It was easy to forget that this was a class and not just a nature immersion experience, but I learned a lot about climate change on a larger scale than I have before. But how am I going to take this knowledge and reflect it in my actions? For one, this was my first experience with international travel with hopefully many more to come. This experience has showed me the full spectrum of what that can look like. From the buggy bathrooms to the pool side bars, I have experienced the full spectrum of tourism. In the future, as I explore other parts of the world, I will be aware of the impact my tourism has on local communities as well as ecosystems and be able to choose my trips responsibly. Also, as I said in our final reflection, this trip has encouraged me to test out new practices at home. I am a creature of habit, but that can be an advantage as much as anything else. I want to take cold showers, eat more consistently, and learn more about my local ecosystem. I made a deep connection to this place because of how much I learned and I think I could connect even more with nature back home if I sought to learn more about it. Another big change I plan on making is with my diet. I haven’t eaten meat in any form for 7 years and it is another one of those things that has just become a habit. I haven’t considered if it still makes sense for me in a long time. During this trip, I saw thing that have made me consider reverting back to my meat eating ways but with an asterisk. One of the things I observed in all the time we spent in various places around Costa Rica, is just how universal a desire for conservation is needed in order to be successful. Some of the research groups were doing surveys within Costa Rican communities and almost every person they talked to had biodiversity and the environment in the forefront of their minds. On top of this, they way they showed this support wasn’t passive, we went to places like the organic pineapple farm and the banana plantation. The people their were going out of their way to be environmentally conscious, making the jobs more difficult for the sake of the planet. It made me realize that my choice to be vegetarian is more of a removal from the problem than a solution. I do believe that there are sustainable, environmentally friendly ways to produce meat, but my actions in no way reflect that belief. My plan when I get back home, is to support the places and people that are doing it right, not just frown on those that are doing it wrong. Otherwise, I’m not encouraging the kind of change I want to see like the Costa Ricans have been doing for decades. The social aspect of this trip was vital to the experience, however, it is not why I came. In my mind, the connections with people were always secondary to connections with the place we were in. I consider myself an introvert of social environments usually tire me out. This was true on occasion while in Costa Rica, but not nearly as often as I though. The people I got to know (which was pretty much everyone) became a safe place and a constant in an unfamiliar context. I think this made me realize an important thing about myself. I do like being alone sometimes that is what I need, but being with other people isn’t always draining, it can be helpful and comforting as well. This is something I have surely already witnessed, but it took this experience for me to formalize it into a cohesive idea.
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