My time in Costa Rica

After many of the experiences I have had in Costa Rica, I have realized that sustainability is a necessity for the future of business and the world. I have taken great interest in the different practices that companies have begun looking into. We watched the eleventh hour, it was a very interesting movie. It was kind of shocking to see the impacts that our businesses have made on the world. The biggest factor that played into this was the Industrial Revolutionwhich began in the early 19th century. This began the large scale manufacturing and the use of heavy machinery and many carbon producing processes. This was a time when the US thrived but it was not underrstood then that our success would eventually result in long term struggle with the environment and our natural resources.

Being a college student I realize that when looking for a job in a few years I will be looking for a comapny who has the same values that I do. I will be looking for companies that have a strong sustainability program that I can be a part of.

Cradle to Cradle sent many good messages on how little things we do can make a huge impact. Anything from change a chemical in a product to planting a seed somewhere can help in this sustainable revolution as some may see it. He describes how currently the world has a mentality of cradle to grave and we assume that everything we buy initially will be throw out never to be used again. He suggests a shift of attitude to a cradle to cradle point of view, where all products and resources should have the ability to go back in to the earth as they were once taken from it. This is his main point. It will not be quick or easy but in order to achieve the goal of sustainable living, these are steps necessary to take.

I intend on furthering my knowledge and use of sustainable practices after this trip. It will be interesting to go back home and look for unsustainable practices that are all around me but I never noticed before.

Coffee in CR...again

On the way to one of our volcano trips, we visited a local coffee plantation. They have won awards like many of the plantations in Costa Rica. We did not stay very long and unfortunately my camera was dead so sorry but no pictures.

With over 500 billion cups consumed every year, coffee is one of the world's most popular beverages. The coffee market has become a very successful one to have business in. The pricing of coffee can go very high for premium coffee. It is amazing to see how much companies can charge for a single cup.

According to the International Fair Trade Association and the other three major fair trade organizations (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association), the definition of fair trade is "a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade¨. It offers better trading conditions to marginalized producers and workers. Fair trade organizations, along with the backing of consumers, campaign for change in the rules and practice of conventional international trade. This kind of regulation can increase the price of coffee because of the necessary benefits given to the workers.

Fair Trade Coffee is something that Costa Rica has tried to implement in their practices. It is a huge economic provider for the country so in order to maximize the country´s success, using FTC is a good option.

Ecotourism 4

Another note on Ecotourism was our stop at Cahuita and Manzanillo, Puerto Viejo.

In Cahuita we went snorkling. It was very fun but frustrating as well. I was not able to avoid the corral reef because of all the waves. I ended up hitting it which apparently kills it in addition to scratching you up as i found out the hard way. But, I did see some cool fish. I used a disposable camera so that is preventing me from showing any pictures of it except for a few.

When we had lunch on the island near the snorkling area we saw many white faced capuchin monkeys, who did there best to steal our food and other items. We also saw snakes on the trip. We saw the eyelash viper. It is highly poisonous but we were still able to get within a few feet of it.

We also went to the Poas Volcano. We were very lucky that it was not clouded over as usual. It is at such a high altitude so there are always clouds blocking the view. We arrived at the perfect time.

We did not stay there very long and so afterwards we headed to the Lo Paz waterfall and butterfly gardens.

There we saw snakes, frogs, birds, monkeys, and butterflies, oh yeah and a few waterfalls.

There were many different species of tropical birds. They were landing on a lot of people and some were even biting.

We took a trail that traveled down the mountain along side of 3 or 4 waterfalls. They were huge. Below is a a picture of me and my roomate PJ.

My friends wanted to hop on the ox cart. Not really sure why it was in the park, but whatever.

Butterfly gardens were interesting. The blue butterfly below is not actually blue it just takes that shade on because of the way the sunlight hits its wings.

We were also at a hummingbird area with hundreds of hummingbirds. I thought they were going to take my head off.

Lastly we saw some monkeys, they were known to pee on people if you got too close to them.

More Ecotourism

Another area we traveled to was La Selva Research station. It was purchased in 1968 by the Organization for Tropical Studies and declared a private biological reserve and station. Since then, it has become one of the most important sites in the world for research on tropical rain forest. The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) is a non-profit consortium that has grown to include 63 universities and research institutions from the United States, Latin America and Australia. We were very lucky to be able to visit this place.


One of my favorite things I have seen was the poison dart frog a.k.a. the Blue Jean Frog. There were so many of them around the rainforest.

These frogs have poisonous skin in which indigenous tribes used for their blowdarts. Hence the name poison dart frog.

Below is the Bullet Ant, not something you want to encounter without knowing. These ants have a sting that feels like the sting of 40 wasps.








Below are wild hogs, they are the biggest mammals in the rainforest at La Selva. They are very calm and we were able to get very close to them. There are many of these throughout the research station.

There were also monkeys, and many various plantlife throughout the area. We were able to see an incredibly diversified ecosystem while at La Selva.

Chiquita Bananas

We went to the Chiquita Banana plantation last week. We saw different initiative that Chiquita is taking to move in a sustainable direction. The Chiquita Nature and Community Project is helping to give the community and environment around the plantation the ability to survive and live in a healthy and natural area. They hold themselves to standards which is represented by their question of:

A list of way to keep their product environmentally safe for all inhabitants surrounding banana plantation.

The packaging area was very interesting showing exactly how they sort and pack the bananas.

These bananas were sort as those which would be used as baby food and puree.

Below is a member of the Grupo Nogua. They are female students, housemakers, community leaders and agricultural workers from the local community surrounding Chiquita. These women present the history, manufacturing, and current process of the Chiquita banana.

The Chiquita Nature and Community project creates groups like this provide additional income for the members of the communities. Workshops in theatre, tourism, basic administration and human relations are offered and all income goes directly to the group.

Bananas grow in tropical regions within 10 degrees of the equator.

Chiquita owns about 37,000 acres of banana farms in Central America

In 2004 alone, the company ship 136 million baxes to the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Chiquita employs more than 25,000 people

From the farm we went to the net average daily pay is $13 plus social benefits.

Chiquita is working with the Rainforest Alliance to help and conserve the areas around the plantation and keeping them out of harms way.

Rainforest Alliance auditors visit the plantations once a year to ensure adherence to the strict environmental standards that minimize pesticide use, protect the wildlife, employee fairness, and zero tolerance for deforestation.

Chiquitas plantation is not perfect, but they are taking steps to become a greener company and instead of negatively effecting the community, making it stronger.

Ecotourism

We have traveled all over this country and seen so many of the different ecotourist sites. Up to this point I could not tell you my favorite but there are a few I will discuss.

We have visited beachs such as Manuel Antonio. This is not as much of an ecotourist spot as it is just a general tourist spot. Unfortunately a majority of the time it was raining but we had a few hours where it was sunny. Not a bad view from my hotel room.

There were also some very cool views around the area as well.

Chase was very friendly with the environment and everything in it

Another place we went was the Osa Peninsula. This was a very long trip. We traveled almost 10 hours by bus and boat. It was a very nice tent camp where we stayed.

We hiked through the rainforest and saw different plants and animals Jaguar Footprint, unfortunatley we didn't actually see one.

A very common Whip Tail lizard within Costa Rica

The White Faced Eagle

A tree that has been uprooted because of the strong winds in this area.

Leaf Cutter Ants are the coolest thing I think I saw

We also learn how to open coconuts and we saw mackaws.

On the way back to camp we saw this otter that had been eaten by a crocodile. We were not aware that we would have to cross the water that the crocodile was actually in as well. I risked it and decided to stop and take pictures, just call me Steve Irwin.

During all of our ecotourism we saw many different environments and organisms that live within. The Osa Peninsula gave a very real picture of how much diversity is within the rainforest.

Coffee in CR

Our visit to Costa Rica has been devoted to a few different areas, as I explained we went to Del Cafe Tal earlier in the trip. We also went to a much larger mass producer of coffee after that. We visited the Cafe Britt plantation. They had a very entertaining presentation, but it seemed fake.

Their presentation had a lot of information on the history of coffee from the beginning in Ethiopia where sheep would eat the coffee beans and go wild all the way to how it became a commonplace drink throughout the world. They also showed us the right ways to brew it and the differences between good and bad coffee. One thing they told us specifically for all you coffee drinkers is DO NOT REHEAT THE COFFEE.

This was a cool part of the trip, a little generic, but I did learn a lot. Another part I really enjoyed was the good food we had for lunch while we were there. That is usually a huge plus for me when I am judging the places we visit.

These are the roasters that creates the different roasts of coffee. The longer the beans are left in it the darker the roast. Kind of self explanatory.
























The Costa Rican coffee industry is a large economic provider for this country.

This was very interesting to see exactly how the process occurred. Cafe Britt is an international brand. You can see exactly how they manufacture all this coffee below.