Deforestation and Development

While here in Granada, we are lucky to work with a man named Raul who worked dilligently to set up this program for us. The second day that we were here, we were able to take part in his project to battle against deforestation, and we did this by planting trees that are indigenous to the area.
It was by no means an easy task, or an easy day, at least not for me. It seems as if for every cause that people are fighting for, there are armies that fight back twice as hard and sometimes I wonder how people stay motivated to not give up although the odds may seem against them. Deforestation and habitat destruction are not issues limited to the tropics, it is a global issue.
The United States has been destroying its beaches and parks for years, and has forced the country to outsource jobs into other countries where the labor is cheaper and where the crops are able to grow. Many of our national forests are being destroyed in California due to its large underground marijuana industry, of which many families primary source of income is dependent on. Everyday, forest service law enforcement is out looking for these illegals plants that are being planted on public land. The problem is that growers leave behind fertilizers that contaminate the land, in addition to the destruction that is done because any plants must be ripped out. Many politicians point the finger towards Mexican immigrants that cross the border to plant their crops, but I´m simply illuminating a problem in the United States that is not only about ecology, but about politics as well.
On a bigger scale, is the example of how China´s growing development has forced them to take up where their farms once were in order to make room for industry. Once a country that produced soy in large numbers, has now much like America been forced to turn towards other countries so that they can grow their crops. In turn, Brazil, a country that contains a huge portion of the Amazon rainforest, saw an opportunity that would benefit themselves financially, and benefit China by providing them with soy. The problem is that the Amazon is being cut down to make room for soy to grow, and although officially Brazil may deem it illegal, remember about California´s illegal marijuana industry. Brazil promised to not sell soy that came from the Amazon, yet Greenpeace linked the soy from Brazil´s part of the rainforest to the chicken feed used in McDonalds and other fast food restaurants in Europe.
After this was exposed, the agricultural sector promised to work with the Brazilian government to figure out an effect mapping and monitoring system of the Amazon in an effort to promote sustainability. All of that being said, Alba mentioned that Granada is becoming more developed with each passing year. Will Nicaragua be growing pineapples and watermelons, or will they too be forced to grow their crops somewhere else?
Although we may never see the trees we planted grow, and someone may come and cut them down, its a fight worth fighting because although international policy effects efforts for conservation, deforestation is not a problem limited to one country, nor is it a problem that is ours. What kind of earth will we be leaving our children, and our children´s children?

FOTOS

Hola,

We have updated our photo album with some highlights from Week 1.
http://picasaweb.google.com/AlbaSkarWCSU/Nicaragua200902#

Students attended their orientation for volunteering with La Esperanza-Granada on Monday. They are in three schools from 9-12 daily M-F, and some photos from one school, Las Camelias, are new here. Friday was a school holiday and a good day for writing journals / diarios. Some of them are here on the blog for our friends to read how we are all processing course readings, field experiences, lectures with professors and invited speakers, and life in Nicaragua.

Students have small group conversation and language sessions with native speakers from 8-9 am and 3-4 pm, and an afternoon group meets with Alba for Spanish conversation on current issues. This week's topic was education, including the role of NGO's, literacy crusades past and present, and current resource challenges for schools. Next week we are discussing recent political and economic events in Central America.

Our cultural "charlas/lectures" this week and field experiences included Reforestation and Tropical Ecology; the Architecture of Granada and the Nicaraguan House; the Indigenous roots of Nicaraguan culture and Mestizaje; and the San Francisco Convent Museum with Pre-Columbian Artifacts.

This weekend Dr. Pinou is travelling with students, our local guide Raul, and another teacher from Granada to the Refugio Silvestre La Flor for camping and sea turtle study. I am at home coordinating some of next week's experiences and lectures, watching the sun rise this Sunday over my garden and listening to the bells of Granada's cathedral.

For all of our readers, family and friends, we send our love.

Abrazos,

Alba