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I´m actually having a hard time coming up with fixes that I can work on, so I thought I would solicit some suggestions from the rest of you.
Here´s the deal – my husband and I are currently volunteering in Nicaragua for blueEnergy, a NGO that is working to provide sustainable energy systems & solutions for rural communities on the Atlantic coast of NI. We are living with a bunch of other volunteers in a communal house in Bluefields. We'll be here for a total of 6 months (2 of which will likely be spent actually living in a rural community), and then it's off to travel & work elsewhere in Central America for another 6 months or so.
My lifestyle has changed a lot since December when I was back in the States. The funny thing is that although my carbon footprint is really a lot smaller here, I find myself fantasizing about making changes to how I want to live when I get back to the States. I´m already planning to do a lot of things that I always wanted to do but never got around to, like focus on eating local foods (and gardening), starting a compost pile, riding my bike or walking places instead of driving, drying my clothes on a clothesline, and generally working to find creative uses for things and solutions that doesn´t involve buying new things all the time. But I´m already doing those things here! I guess it is somehow unsatisfying because it wan´t my choice to do these things (at least not directly); this is the way things were before I got here…
So, any ideas on what else I can do? Things that I can actually complete in a month get extra bonus points because I could use them for the for Day 6 Tour-de-SixLinks task (I'm still behind). Thanks in advance!
Here´s the deal – my husband and I are currently volunteering in Nicaragua for blueEnergy, a NGO that is working to provide sustainable energy systems & solutions for rural communities on the Atlantic coast of NI. We are living with a bunch of other volunteers in a communal house in Bluefields. We'll be here for a total of 6 months (2 of which will likely be spent actually living in a rural community), and then it's off to travel & work elsewhere in Central America for another 6 months or so.
My lifestyle has changed a lot since December when I was back in the States. The funny thing is that although my carbon footprint is really a lot smaller here, I find myself fantasizing about making changes to how I want to live when I get back to the States. I´m already planning to do a lot of things that I always wanted to do but never got around to, like focus on eating local foods (and gardening), starting a compost pile, riding my bike or walking places instead of driving, drying my clothes on a clothesline, and generally working to find creative uses for things and solutions that doesn´t involve buying new things all the time. But I´m already doing those things here! I guess it is somehow unsatisfying because it wan´t my choice to do these things (at least not directly); this is the way things were before I got here…
So, any ideas on what else I can do? Things that I can actually complete in a month get extra bonus points because I could use them for the for Day 6 Tour-de-SixLinks task (I'm still behind). Thanks in advance!
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Come on Ali, couldn't you do a little more? Give a crap, won't you? :)
(I'm really trying to think of something here)
(but my stalling for time isn't helping.. )
Well, here's a question, to turn your question on its head:
If people there are doing all of the pretty-sustainable stuff already, (in large part as an economic reality), what can you do to make more sustainable lifestyles keep going as economic conditions improve?
Is there a way to instill an understanding that as development increases, there are things to judge a potential new technology / way to do things by it sustainability (as well as its obvious cost and time)?
If so, are there any particular issues that could serve as a test-bed for that method?
1. Trash!!!!!
2. Reforestation
3. Agriculture! (promote native grains that require less pesticides or chemical fertilizer, or different ways of planting, etc)... yay, Amaranth! Across Central America, agriculture has been affected by NAFTA, CAFTA and other factors, often leading to crop dumping, depressed prices, trouble for farmers and pressure to use more chemicals for a higher yield. New agricultural ideas are often more than welcome. This could also include supporting fair-trade/environmentally friendly coffee, sugar, bananas (and sharing any news you find out about that with the rest of us!).
4. Conservation/protection of natural lands; in Nicaragua this includes those famous endangered sea turtles, plus rain forest regions, etc. Could you maybe educate kids about these issues, depending where you are?
5. Value the local culture, including the local language -- this also depends on exactly where you are, and what kind of rural community you'll be in. Where I've been, indigenous peoples are often extremely shy about their culture and lifestyle, and having an outsider come in and demonstrate interest and respect can be huge.
6. Spend time with kids. Play soccer with them, read books to them, wash hands and brush teeth with them. Help them get medical attention if they need it, including deparasitization. Teach them about your bluEnergy project, maybe let them get involved in some small way. Education can have a massive impact in how people will value their environment -- and kids that are healthy and encouraged can go on to become biologists, engineers, lawyers, etc.
You probably know muuuuch more about Nicaragua than I do :) However, I do know that because Nicaragua is not the most popular tourism spot, it has developed a niche in ecotourism. Perhaps something can be done with that?
Check out Oxfam's priorities -- http://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns ; http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/camexca
Another one of the big things we want to work on is encouraging them to clean up the community, since animal poop and trash are pretty much everywhere and contaminate the water in the wells. There are some other people working on biosand water filters (such as promoted by Practical Action and CAWST), which they are trying to implement in some of the communities this year.
Kaitlyn - I'm going to look at those links for additional ideas & materials, thanks! Do you have any good links for info on agriculture? It's something I would love to work on, but don't know much about. I'd really like to learn more before we go to the community.
1. I worked a little with a group called Desea (desarollo sostenible en accion) during the fall, they are doing community-constructed biosand filters, along with training courses and monitoring. They're doing a lot of monitoring, which is actually fairly unusual and really cool. They're still not sure what their outcomes will be like, but they're committed to carrying the work forward, finding issues and fixing them -- amazing, in my view, as many groups tend to go in, do something and leave without becoming so involved and outcome-oriented. It's a really great group, and I'm sure they won't mind me sharing a little bit about them if it's for the greater good!
A couple problems they have found:
*some people, even very smart people who have been trained with the filter, will still boil their water after filtration, having been taught for years that drinking water must be boiled
*some people do not bring filtered water with them when they go work in the fields, instead drinking contaminated river/well water while working (out in the fields, this water is very likely to be contaminated with organic and non-organic fertilizers as well as pesticides and waste from work animals)
*often the catching containers become dirty, which can negate the entire filtration process if the water becomes re-contaminated after it is purified
*especially working in indigenous communities, language coupled with general education form significant barriers; this is where searching for local leaders and forming strong, respectful relationships really comes in -- it's a sad fact that more educated people often leave communities (actually that can be part of the goal in becoming educated, so I guess it's not always sad), but I won't be surprised if this trend changes a bit with current economic issues
2. The main partner group we worked with on agriculture in Mexico was Puente a la salud comunitaria, which is all about amaranth - http://www.puentemexico.org/main/es/. I don't know if it will be at all relevant to your work in Nicaragua, but it provides a very interesting model!
Based on my limited International Agriculture and Rural Development coursework, agricultural projects usually relate to:
*soil and water conservation and recovery
*reforestation (often with goal of soil/water conservation)
*crop diversification
*IPM; transition away from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
*formation of coops to transport and sell products
*introduction or development of value-added products and programs, marketing
*school farms
*local medicines
I guess the most important thing is that anything you do must be community-based. While local knowledge about agriculture cannot be downplayed (they are life-long experts!!), you also have a tremendous amount to share because, hey, you can read fluently and use the internet! Remembering that you have more to learn from local farmers than you will ever have to teach them, start conversations and remember their concerns. Are they not getting enough money for their crops? Do they feel like they need more fertilizer? Is there interest in diversifying crops? Do people in the community own the land they farm, or are they working for larger banana/coffee/tobacco companies? (I don't have experience with the latter case.) Are any value-added products produced, like soaps, juices, jams? What assets does the community have, what knowledge does it have, what interests does it have? Target any ideas you might have towards what you are told, towards what the farmers themselves already want to modify a bit.
When people have been excited about some change, I've found it really effective to pull up the bigger picture of how agriculture has changed over time. Food was grown on this land for hundreds of years before pesticides even existed; before they did xyz; now pests have developed resistance to chemicals and it may be time to try the old ways again (if this is an issue in your particular area). Big one for me was that amaranth used to be a staple crop in the region, until it was outlawed during colonial times -- always must be very sensitive and general in talking about such issues bc you never know the opinions of the particular person you're talking to, eg, does this person see the coming of the Spanish as a positive, which may be the case esp with people who are more religious. Any number of issues like that exist. I ran workshops on planting amaranth, harvesting amaranth and cooking with amaranth, as well as giving presentations on the nutritional benefits and working with people in their homes and in their fields. Some people were way more excited about it than others. To be honest, it would have been much better if we had been there to plant a month earlier; our harvests weren't great because we planted late. But, because we also planted community and family gardens with squash, carrots, onions, etc, they liked us anyhow :)
Interesting article about Nicaragua in particular, with general info about agriculture in Nicaragua as well as particular advice about IPM (Integrated, eg not purely chemical, Pest Management) for tomatoes, coffee and plantain: http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/1896
I know that's a very long and rambling answer, but I have no idea what you will be confronting so I don't know what is relevant! If you end up with any specific questions, I'll probably be able to find you answers through programs I've worked with or Cornell's IARD department (I don't know much at all about husbandry, but I do know one of the world's leading experts on the topic!).
3. When I was younger, I worked with a group called Amigos de las Americas; I requested that they send me the amazing education materials that they use so that I can bring them to Peru with me in the fall, and just yesterday they arrived on CD! They seem very open to the idea of sharing these materials. While the entire thing is way too big to send in an e-mail, I could send you chapters of interests -- especially those full of activities to engage kids in education about cuestiones medioambientes and salud comunitaria, including such classics as "juega de la cadena del arbol" and "la piramide de la vida"... I've got it both in English and Spanish! If you're interested, let me know how to get it to you -- could e-mail or print it out and send it.
The same program was in Chontales and Granada/Rivas last year. They worked on education/youth leadership programs in Chontales with Plan-Nicaragua, and on preventative health projects in Granada/Rivas with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and Education.
Hey cool - I volunteered with Amigos de las Americas when I was younger too! I would absolutely be interested in the chapters you mentioned. In fact, I've been scouring the internet for things like that this week. We're getting ready to (hopefully) go into the community next week, so the sooner the better.
... Just wondering what the appropriate way to get you my email address is.... Umm. (Unless someone has a better idea I'll just put it in as a comment later.)
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