Response to "Working Paradise"

Is it really a paradise?

Friday's presentation done by Maddie and Berni was titled "Working Paradise" and it talked about the misconception of Costa Rica being this perfect and unending resource of exotic rainforest. Some of the main points: the government's failed attempt to better the ecosystems, the use of a pesticide containing copper sulfate ultimately destroyed many of the lands, and the misleading reforestation data.

During the question and answer phase we went more in depth onto the presentation's main points. We discussed how a popular presentation map is based on deceiving government data, so called green washed. This data takes into account not just different types of forests but also counts coffee and some palm plantations which artificially inflates the percentages of forests. The more accurate percentages of rainforest in Costa Rica is 27% of the country's landmass, not 47% like the map makes you think. Another discussion centered on the recent decisions by the government to pave the roads into Monteverde and several of the national parks. This construction is a double edged sword as it increases tourism accessibility and boosts the economy but it invades the biological corridor crucial to animal and plant survival.

A spark of interest ignited when the topic of the government's participation in sustainable development was questioned. With Maddie and Bernardo's presentation and the help of our Tico friends we found out that the government is not as nice and helpful as they want people to believe looping back to the idea of green washing the country, the government wants to appear on the international level as a conservationist powerhouse. Costa Rica is the leader in legislating conservation and reforestation efforts but it remains an issue that the government wants to appear more advanced in these efforts than they currently are. Especially in comparison to the current American administration Costa Rica is leaps and bounds ahead in preserving the vast biodiversity of their country.