How can conservation be improved so that it holistically meets the needs of people and the environment? In my view, an implementation of global reparations and decolonization is needed. In this blog post, I will first review two problems posed by modern conservation. Second, I will characterize potential solutions to these problems.   The first… Read more »

Introduction After learning about and experiencing western-led conservation efforts for the past three weeks, I now have mixed feelings about the conservation efforts being done globally— especially efforts imposed by Global North entities upon Global South countries. It can be argued that modern conservation efforts are flawed because they dehumanize local communities and they do… Read more »

Coming to Costa Rica, I hoped to learn about the social and economic systems that exacerbate ecological crises such as climate change. This week, I began to consider how ecotourism may reinforce these oppressive systems. The alleged benefits of ecotourism are quite obvious— jobs are provided for the local community, and foreigners are educated about… Read more »

Introduction In Western society, many believe that the human world is entirely mutually exclusive from the ecological world. After all, the concerns of humans are entirely different from the seemingly trivial or primitive concerns of animals, plants, and fungi, right? In reality, the interests of humans and non-human organisms are aligned. The human world and… Read more »