The entire ecology cried for it. The
revolution
Is also for lakes, rivers, trees and animals
Father Ernesto Cardenal
As I mentioned in my previous post, it is easy to criticize others without an education. One can go through a university and have a Ph.D and make criticisms without being fully informed of the situtation. One of our readings for this course that I have found the most educational from a human standpoint has been The "New" Chureca: From Garbage to Human Dignity by William Grisgby Vergara. La Chureca is situated outside Managua and is the largest open dump in Latin America, covering over 42 hectares with garbage. Although the conditions for the people who live and work in La Chureca sound like something out of The Divine Comedy, La Chureca cannot be dimissed as a useless horror. La Chureca is a valuable source of direct income for the thousands of people who pick through the 1,200tons of trash that arrive daily (including plastic water bottles from eco-tourists, hah), who then recycle and resell what they find in a complex economic chain.
La Chureca is a source of indirect income for those that benefit from those that work there, such as the women who pickle chilies in the jars that come from the dump. La Chureca is not isolated - it is not the only place in the world where this happens. Although it is easy to critize these "untouchables" and enact and enforce laws that require their children to attend school, school costs money and when the children are not working the families lose money. What is the right thing to do? What is the ethical thing to do? I don't think it's good or healthy for children, or anyone, to be working in the conditions described, but when you start to educate yourself of the facts and the importance that the workers of La Chureca provide for the economy and the environment, taking a hard stance becomes difficult.
This afternoon while discussing our final projects with Dras. Skar and Pinou I raised the topic of La Chureca and the complexity of the issues surrounding it. Environmental degradation and child labor are not things that I can defend, but I think that La Chureca needs to be studied and discussed. When an eco-tourist buys a bottle of water, or when I buy a bottle of water on my way home from Las Camellias, La Chureca most likely its final resting place. Places like La Chureca remind us that there is no ¨away¨ - everything has a final resting place, or is picked through by people whose hair has changed colors from all the chemicals they are exposed to. I am not immune from many of the things that I critically examine and find horrific, and through studying and examining the whys and hows, I think change can be enacted through study, critical analysis and dialogue.
I have been reading Enviroment Under Fire: Imperialism and the Ecological Crisis in Central America by Daniel Faber. He devotes an entire chapter to the Nicaraguan Revolution and the "liberation of nature". It is hard to divorce the environment from politics. In the United States, debates on "simple" environmental issues are complicated along party lines.
When the Sandinistas came to power, they started a series of projects to assuage the environmental damage facililtated and encouraged by Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The literacy campaign of 1980 included environmental education, and in 1986 a new constitution was approved with an article asserting the right to "live in an healthy environment: it is the obligation of the state to preserve, conserve and rescue the environment and the natural resources." Faber writes that the Sandinista government Nicaragua created and implented one of the most comprehensive programs for environmental education, protection and restoration.
Although the marks of environmental destruction and degradation are clear to my scientifically untrained eye, in my brief time here I can see the efforts being made to protect, defend and restore Nicaragua's land. Our work in the reforestation project and witnessing the efforts of IRENA (now MIRENA) at La Flor are evidence of conservation efforts.
Here is a picture of what I think is the local Sandinista headquarters, located directly across the street from my house.
A rough translation of the text is:
We´re going ahead for the front
We just turned 30
Let´s go for more victories!
We can win!
I hope they are talking about the environment as well as politics, but as I already wrote, the environment is political.
I have been asked to cite readings for my blog as these entries are part of my diario, but I urge you to read them to educate yourselves on the lives of others. I have been learning so much here through the synthesis of course readings and careful observation of my own. I have been very quiet recently because there is so much to take in and I don't know how to share it. Sometimes I find that it is easier to express myself through written words because I can edit my thoughts, and it is important for me to blog publicly instead of keeping a semi-private diario so all of you can gain a sliver of understanding what it is like for me to be here.
- Mercedes
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