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 »
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Costa Rica: A Human Experience
My time in Costa Rica came to an end this week. No more leaf cutter ant highways to carefully step over. No more bus rides up steep, winding mountains. No more falling asleep to the sounds of tink frogs or waking up to monkey howls. No more night hikes or crossing waterfalls…. Read more »
Final Blog Post – Tate Clendening
I’m starting to think Marvin’s bus was some sort of time machine, because there is no way that we just spent an entire four weeks in Costa Rica and the whole trip is already over. The past four weeks simultaneously were some of the busiest and most tiring, yet most rewarding and fun weeks that… Read more »
What Now? Reflecting on Climate Change Action
As I am writing this fourth and final blog, I am sitting in Indiana, and left reflecting and reminiscing on the past month in paradise. But more than that I am left pondering the future of conservation, sustainability, and the inevitability of the planet. Throughout the course, we touched on biodiversity, agriculture, ecotourism, and eventually… Read more »
The End of a Journey
For my final entry in my Costa Rican blog I wanted to direct my focus on my thoughts concerning ecotourism. Considering the class and I have spent our month doing just that, I feel that it is an important topic to consider. Now that I am back in the United States, I have had… Read more »
Adios Mis Amigos
Week 4 of Costa Rica This was the last week of my Costa Rican study abroad experience. It was bittersweet because I was excited to reunite with my family and friends back at home, but extremely sad to leave the beautiful souls I now share many memories with. A prevalent theme I saw myself… Read more »
Intent and Purpose
If I have learned anything from this trip, it is that community, above all, will always be there to teach you, care for you, and work with you. I have seen so many different ways a community can impact people, the planet, and how we learn and understand one another. This trip has taught me… Read more »
Going Down the Up Escalator
As my last week in Costa Rica comes to a close, I am leaving with a greater, and more nuanced, understanding of planetary health and global climate change. I admit that over the course of this trip, I’ve been met with lots of mental strife. The events of this month have led me to question… Read more »
Final Farewell to Costa Rica
This past week has been extremely bittersweet and now the past month feels like a complete blur. Waking up in the States without my peers brings a new feeling of homesickness for a place that quickly became a sanctuary to travel through. We finally arrived at our final destination of the Las Cruces Biological Station… Read more »
What’s next?
The Citizen’s Role in the Climate Crisis I’m typing my final blog on my flight back to the United States. I honestly cannot believe that the study abroad program is over. This may have been one of the most transformative months in my life and it came at the heels of the most… Read more »
Back to Indiana
This will be an overall reflection of the program that I’m writing after getting back to Indiana. The main focus will be on my views of conservation after this experience and what I’m taking away from the program. The takeaway that has stuck with me the most from this program is realizing what lens… Read more »
The End
Words I usually spend a lot of time writing this blog every day before bed but I’ve been sick and my creativeness/desire to write is lacking. Eric I apologize if this blog sucks but I’m not feeling good enough to write something witty or of good quality. Bromeliads and Mosquitoes This week I didn’t… Read more »
Reminiscing on the Return Flight
I tried to save the majority of my reflection on the Costa Rica trip for after I returned to the US. It is hard to evaluate an experience holistically while you are enveloped in it. Now that I am back at my home, in a familiar environment, I can more completely evaluate what I learned… Read more »
My Time in Costa Rica
Saying goodbye to Costa Rica was hard. I was sad that the trip came to an end. It felt like the month just flew by and I wish I had more time there. Going into this trip I was excited to learn about all the biodiversity and sustainability that this country had to display. And… Read more »
Climate Action: Everybody(?) clean up!
Class this week has shifted to a discussion of energy and climate change. My mind has been actively sifting through these topics since last summer. I’ve heavily thought about climate change through the lens of the United States Policy and the responsibility of the Global North. My lived experiences over the past two months have… Read more »
Bigotree: Inherent Racism in Conservation
This week, we stayed at three different sites: the La Foresta Nature Resort, the Osa Piro Research Station, and the Las Cruces Research Station. There were a couple main events at each place that caused a lot of reflection between a few of us in the class, so I’ll be focusing on these events and… Read more »
With and Without Nature: Thoughts on Agriculture
For this blog post, we have been asked to pick a theme to talk about. I have struggled with picking a theme. There is the safe, emotionally distant option of talking about my research. Then there are the enormous, weighty topics that have been drifting through my mind—privilege, colonialism, climate change and all that entails,… Read more »
The Power of Communities
3RD Week in Costa Rica I just finished my 3rd week in Costa Rica. I have been so thankful for my time here and have experienced so much critical thinking and novel memories. Looking back at my time in Costa Rica, I have learned to understand and appreciate communities. Communities are everywhere, and sometimes I… Read more »
How to Survive on a Dying Planet
Costa Rica is a beautiful country far removed from the stresses of my real life. No worries, happy life, pura vida. However, as our friend Rosa exclaimed “No! Not pura vida, we have problems!” Life does not stop because I am here. There are torrential rain storms causing flood damage along the coast… Read more »
Lounging with Lizards
Leading into the third week of the Costa Rica Trip, not much research on our research project had been conducted. Stints at various eco-tourist sights prevented us from being at research stations where proper scientific methods could be enacted for the biological center projects. For instance, Will and I’s research project is heavily centered around… Read more »
The Great La Foresta Flood of 2022: A Review
In the modern world humanity is faced with a variety of environmental problems that loom and threaten productivity of humans and wildlife alike. Present environmental issues of intense natural disasters, resource exploitation, pollution, and freshwater depletion are just some of the problems that result in loss of life, precipitate political strife, and intensify existing inequalities…. Read more »
Consider Feminism
I feel the status of women and minorities is often excluded in the mainstream climate change narrative. The state of plants and animals as well as the levels of carbon emissions are generally at the forefront of the conversation, and although Earth’s ecosystems and greenhouse gas concentrations are incredibly important to consider when engaging in… Read more »
An Impending Threat
Six Degrees by Mark Lynas was an impactful book that we were assigned to read for class. In our discussion of the book, it was quite depressing. I was apart of the group for the 6th degree, and while reading the chapter I was honestly expecting it to be a lot more dramatic. Don’t get… Read more »
Week #3: Climate Change
Last I left off I was in a hotel room at La Foresta Nature Resort during a torrential downpour, sitting comfortably in my room. Meanwhile, the rooms of others in our group were flooding as they had to carry their luggage over their heads through knee-deep water that may or may not have contained raw… Read more »
The Necessity for Risk Assessment – a Lived Research Experience
We began our week 3 adventures with a 7 hour bus ride from Rancho Margot to La Foresta Nature Resort in Quepos, a town in the expansive province of Puntarenas. Puntarenas occupies much of the western coast of Costa Rica and has provided us with beautiful views and plenty of opportunities near the Pacific Ocean… Read more »
A Silent Crisis
For this entry in my blog, I wanted to zone in on a topic that carries so much importance both over the course of this trip and over the course of everyone’s lifetime. This topic is global climate change. Over the course of the third week here in Costa Rica, the daily occurrences and… Read more »
Apocalyptic Predictions
I can still picture the field behind my elementary school. My ten-year-old eyes saw infinite possibilities in that field every day at recess. Plants were scarce. The grass had been beat down by tiny feet over the years. Cars sped down the heavily trafficked road just a few feet away. Sometimes… Read more »
Let’s Talk
No Time Limits I came to Costa Rica in hopes of dropping my love for research and focus only on the MD path I’ve always wanted to do but in reality it has only exemplified my love for research. After joining ASURE and TAing for the genome engineering lab I was certain I wanted to… Read more »
Studying while the Library Burns Down
There were a lot of things I expected to gain from this trip. As a young student interested in science, I thought it would cement a love of research. As a lover of nature, I thought it would forge a strong tie between myself and the biodiversity of the tropics. Unfortunately I have found myself… Read more »
Emerging Criticisms of Western Conservation: My Third Week in Costa Rica
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 »