El Cairo, Banana Plantations, EARTH University

Last week also proved to be an educational and ethical experience as well. We visited a banana plantation and learned about the worker's conditions and the problems surrounding the businesses. The United Fruit Company was given land for a hundred years to use as banana plantations, and while that time is now up, there are several enormous plantations in Costa Rica. The workers work with such speed and strength, and are extremely impressive but must suffer harsh conditions. The banana trees only give one bunch of bananas per tree (a bunch is around 150 bananas, and groups we consider to be bunches are actually called hands). The workers wrap the bananas in plastic to protect from bugs, and cut down the bundle. They then pad the bunch for travel, and hang it from a long cable that will pull them to the factory. The workers must then cut down the rest of the parent tree so the son tree might grow to produce its own bananas. The workers work in groups of 3, one cutting the bananas, one carrying them to the cord, and when there are 5 bunches hanging the other worker pulls the cord the mile or so back to the factory. They are paid per bunch, and make on average $20-$25 a day. They are provided with housing on the plantation, but these houses are tiny and they must pay for their own electricity and food. The workers live a hard life. EARTH University (to be discussed later) provides all the bananas for Whole Foods, and I encourage you to buy these bananas :)

Pineapple plantations use an enormous amount of pesticides, and are an enormous problem for the citizens of Costa Rica. We visited a small town, El Cairo, that is located right next to a pineapple plantation. This town does not have safe drinking water, and it must be trucked in every day. the water has a high level of bromacil (i think) form the pesticides from the plantation, but the government will not step in and help due to the size of the plantation. 10 people died from cancer in one month in the small town, due to the effects of this chemical. The water is not safe to drink or to shower in, but the government only trucks in a certain amount of water, and therefore the town must shower with the infected water. They cannot create a resovoir for the rain collection due to the air pollution by the plantation, and citizens are constantly ill with stomach problems and aches. Our class plans to write letters to the plantation and to the local governments (one town person is going to trial next week) to see if our support can change anything at all. It is an awful situation, and terribly sad to hear about.

We also visited EARTH University, which I absolutely fell in love with. It is a non-profit University that actively seeks young leaders from the humid tropics as well as 20 other countries and provides them with the education to make a change in their communities. They are founded on a belief that People can change the world, and are a catalyst for change in local communities. The students live on campus with roommates from different countries and economic backgrounds and are not allowed cars on campus to minimize the economic gap between students. They are completely carbon neutral, and planted over a million trees world wide on their annual plant day. (I plan on participating this year) The university is agriculture based and grows most of the food served on campus. We ate the bananas on their farm, and drank the milk from their cows. They have a yogurt and dairy line served on some air lines and export to Whole Foods Co. (Look for the EARTH label). My favorite part of the university is the community out reach program where they must volunteer in local communities. The students also start their own business plan and put it into action throughout the year. My friend's deals with rural tourism. The students must spend a semester in a different country doing an internship, and he plans to come to northern Michigan to work in rural tourism here. I am extremely impressed with the university and all that they do. CR has a goal to be completely Carbon Neutral, and EARTH is helping in this goal. They have installed over 100 biodegraders world wide, and have a sustainable garden using trash. The soil is carbon and tire parts and something else I don't remember, but mixed in with the plants are pop cans to take up space and help with water drainage. They also use old jeans, tie them off and fill them with soil. They cut holes for plants, hang the pants and use them as planters for peppers. The students are innovative, using old trash cans and tires for planters. It is not a pretty garden, but it provides the herbs and vegetables for the university. Lettuce is not usually grown in such a humid climate, but with their new soil, they can grow it.

EARTH is also a leading technological and research institution. They conduct several projects, and I urge you to check out their website. They accept 100 students a year, and grant 50% full scholarships, and 30% partial scholarships. They care more about a student's leadership and ethical potential than their academics, and provide remedial classes for those students who do not have access to a proper high school education. MSU has a study abroad program with EARTH, and students can also come just for research purposes. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL campus, and if I was going into agriculture I would definitely spend a semester at EARTH. As it is, I hope to continue some of their practices at home. My favorite: Every month citizens of CR have an option to pay $5 to combat the carbon admissions of their cars. this money is then collected to purchase trees which are planted in an area to help reduce the carbon admissions. I hope to use this idea in a smaller way in my own life back home. Another thing San Jose does is limit the cars on the road. Once a week, every car is not allowed to drive. For example on Mon if your license plate ends in a 1 or 2, you cannot drive your car in the San Jose area and must take a bus, taxi,walk to work. Then on Tuesday, cars ending in 3 and 4 must not drive. Of course this only works in a city area, and can be combated by owning more than one car, but it has increased car pooling and bus use in the city.

Well here is my update up to Wednesday, next will be in Tortuguero where I was blessed with the opportunity to see a sea turtle lay her eggs.