Revolucionario Ecología y La Chureca

Not only humans desired liberation.
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

Tortugas paslamas

Our trip to Playa La Flor for the sea turtles was a beautiful experience. There are five species of sea turtles that make arridabas, or mass pilgrammages up the beach to lay eggs in Nicaragua, and the species that we observed early Sunday morning was Lepidochelys oliveacea, or "tortuga paslama" (English common name: Olive Ridley turtle). Tortugas paslamas are peligroso, or endangered, and I feel that the opportunity to watch their "circle or life" was bueno suerte (good luck).


(mama turtle laying her eggs)

Here is a good site to learn more about the tortugas paslamas at La Flor. Although I only witnessed the journey of two mama turtles up the beach to "give birth" to their eggs, we also saw a nest of baby turtle eggs hatch and we helped them make their way towards the sea. In the face of environmental degradation, I believe that it is everyone's responsibility to participate in conservation of some sort, especially those that participate in the cultures of mass consumption.
What constitutes conservation? This is a question that was raised over the weekend after a disagreement with other turtle watchers and "conservationists" who disagreed with our approach to conservation and documentation of the turtles. They had traveled to La Flor from Spain for an "eco-vacation", hoping to witness an arridaba as well. Is observation without documentation conservation? Personally, I don't believe so. While I don't think that every conservation effort requires documentation, I think that in order to "save the turtles" (or any endangered species) requires thoughtful and careful study, including documentation.


(baby tortuga paslamas making their way towards the ocean)

It is very easy to criticize others without knowledge of what they are doing and the intentions for such actions or beliefs. A good example is people from developed nations criticizing indigenous cultures for participating in activities that have been part of their culture for hundreds of generations. "Why don't they just stop eating turtle eggs? It's bad for the environment." The collection and consumption of turtle eggs is a cultural tradition, a valuable source of protein and a source of supplemental income for many impoverished people. Instead of criticizing those who poach, the tourists who spend thousands of dollars and consume vast amounts of petroleum to "conserve through observation" in various forms might consider investing in microloans for the economically devastated communities surrounding the resource-rich beaches so that the people living those communities do not have to resort to poaching eggs for food and profit. While tourism contributes money to local economies, I doubt that the poorest of the poor, who rely on eggs for supplemental nutrition and income often see the economic benefits of eco-tourism.



(relocation of 114 tortuga huevos!)

That said, the Nicaraguan government takes conservation seriously. There is a print campaign to discourage consumption of eggs, and I have read that there are limits on how many eggs can be harvested by local communities abutting beaches for personal consumption only. I have been reading Environment Under Fire: Imperialism and the Ecologial Crisis in Central America by Daniel Faber, which I find absolutely fascinating. Faber has enlightened me to the concept of "revolutionary ecology", a movement inextricably linked with the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Sandinistas. After the extreme environmental degradation under the Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinistas linked the importance of environmental and ecological stewardship to the revolution and self-sufficiency through the creation of the Nicaraguan Institute of Natural Resources and the Environment (Instituto Nicaragüense de Recursos Naturales y del Ambiente, or IRENA). Faber writes that the most successful of IRENA's wildlife initiatives was the Sea Turtle Conservation Campaign.


(field station and puesto militar at La Flor)

Today, La Flor has a field station for conservation with a puesto militar - military post. As the eggs started hatching, a member of the Nicaraguan Army came to stand guard over the eggs with his gun. It was surreal - 13 American students on the beach with Dr. Pinou, cranky Spanish tourists, and the Nicaraguan Army in fatigues with very big guns. All in the name of conservation. There is no American analogue and this is an experience I could only have here. I am so grateful that I saw the turtles. One mother laid 114 eggs and the soldier relocated the eggs to help protect against animals, poaching, etc. Of all the predators of the turtles, humans are the worst.


- Mercedes

Granada

Así es Granada para mí, una ciudad que mezcla tradiciones y personas de pueblos y culturas diferentes.
La ciudad es definitivamente colonial, y la mayoría de las personas tienen orgullo de su historia y descendencia española, aun que las características indígenas y sus tradiciones están muy presentes en los trazos físicos, lengua y cultura de sus habitantes.
La diversidad natural es muy rica, y me encanta experimentar las frutas tropicales, mirar las aves y oír la lagartija por las noches... Los mamones son muy deliciosos.
Desde que llegue aquí, las experiencias han sido muy intensas y en su mayor parte positivas. Me hace triste todavía mirar en las calles niños pidiendo dinero, personas más viejas con el semblante sufrido en la humillante posición de pedir esmolas. A veces me pregunto: ¿Que deben pensar ellos cuando ven los gringos caminando con sus mochilas, tomando fotos y mirando a ellos con curiosidad y muchas veces compasión? ¿Que pensaría yo se tuviese en sus lugares?
A muchas personas aquí falta una educación formal que los permitan expresar una visión más crítica del mundo que los cerca. Sin educación y visión crítica las personas se mantienen condicionadas a idea de pueblo de ¨tercero mundo¨, impuesta a ellos desde la “descubierta” por violencia física y psicológica, y que sirve bien a lo sistema económico actual.
Tal vez, al mirar los estadounidenses y europeos que andan por las calles o en la televisión, estas personas deben querer saltar en muro del Norte y buscar por las oportunidades que les faltan aquí, o por los estilos de vida que son “vendidos” a ellos como “la manera cierta de vivir”… Mas interesante seria se el país pudiese hacer mas por sus habitantes, tanto en educación, como en salud, seguridad. Pero estos son cosas que non hacen gusto los grandes dueños de la tierra, o las grandes corporaciones.
Granada es, todavía, una ciudad muy bella y diversa - en varios sentidos: tanto en riqueza como en cultura, en los trazos físicos de sus habitantes, en naturaleza… Las personas son muy amables, y las edificaciones y calles forman un museo a cielo abierto.
Me alegra mucho estar haciendo trabajo voluntario aquí, experimentar la vida en Centroamérica y compartir estas experiencias y opiniones con otras personas del mundo.

Rebeca

Tortugas

I want to thank everyone for their excitement and cooperation as we spent a lovely and rewarding weekend together at La Flor Wildlife Refuge.  How wonderful to watch turtles emerge from the water together and look for that special place to lay their eggs.  How wonderful to watch all of you engage with the park staff and help relocate eggs, record nesting, and release turtle babies.  For most of you this was your first exposure to such a natural wonder, and our time together helped you think critically about the differences between global and local conservation of resources. Some of you were able to make new connections to vertebrate physiology, and begin to think deeply about how a vertebrate transforms from living on land to living in the ocean.  I will always remember your thoughtful discussions regarding the purpose for laying more than 100 eggs per female per nesting event, and the amazement in your eyes when I told you that females can lay eggs more than once per season!  Thank you for letting me share my research interest with you and engaging me in conversation that may help me improve the way I think about my work.  I also want to thank you for giving me the encouragement to return to La Flor and work with Marlon, The Park's Director.  I was so concerned that you, as students, may not completely enjoy the rustic conditions of a typical field station but your thoughtful comments, support for learning, and encouragement gave me the strength this morning to visit MARENA and begin the preliminary process for obtaining permission to conduct research here in Nicaragua.  MARENA is Nicaraguas' national administrative organization that is analogous to our "Fish and Wildlife," and issues similar research permits.  I would be very curious to know what your new friends and families here in Nicaragua think about sea turtle conservation, and the governments strong commitment to protecting these wonderful animals.  You are all welcome to visit my lab at WCSU and continue your discussions of ways that your interests can be aligned with my work.  

Sincerely,

Dora