Dia del Arbol - 15 de Junio

Tree Day, June 15th

Today, on June 15th, the world celebrates Tree Day. On this day, everyone is encouraged to plant a tree to help the environment. It may not be a heavily-publicized day in many parts of the world, but Costa Rica places a lot of value in this day, as they do for all environmental issues and events.

Events included:
-Hipermas (the Costa Rican Wal-mart) promoted a large recycling program, sponsored by Kimberly Clark.
-Numerous schools sent their students to local parks to plant trees.

So do your part, and plant a new tree! Happy Tree Day!

Courses Galore!

June 11, 2009

Base is getting busy!

Today, unfortunately, we say good-bye to our 24-Day Multi-Element course. They will head into San Jose city proper today to see some sites and do some souvenir shopping. Tonight they have their final dinner together before flying home tomorrow. One students said of the experience:

"I learned that testing your fears is important in slowly overcoming them."

On Sunday we have THREE groups flying in, for a total of 20 students! The first group, Youth Business Initiative from D.C. Metro, will be here for nine days with 10 students, led by our very own Ryan Teremy, Felipe Lopez Salazar, Joe Ewing, Zach Allen, and Alex Cook.
YBI helps inner-city, at-risk youth through a mentor system, and they are using their CRROBS' experience to train next year's senior leaders for YBI's Mentor Program.

The second and third fly-ins, of 10 students total, are our Reef & Rainforest and Multi-Element. Led by Carlos Grenados, Kendra Obom, and 3-4 trainees, this group will head to Porton Rojo on Monday to begin a 3-day hike.

Bienvenidos a todos!

New Kid on the Base

Meet Scott Brown.


Age: 22
Height: 5'10"
Eye Color: hazel
Alma Mater: Brevard College
Major: Wilderness Leadership & Experiential Education
Hometown: Charlotte, NC

Scott came to us on Tuesday, May 19th, and has had quite an experience since he got here. We helped acquaint him with the staff here in the office, where he remained for only two days before going on a course. He felt right at home again on the Rio General with 24-Day Multi-Element and Leadership due to his background in kayaking.

Here are 10 interesting facts about our new Scott:

1. Enjoys all outdoor sports especially kayaking, mountain biking, dirt biking, rock climbing, fishing, diving, backpacking, and disc golf
2. Loves to design and build
3. Holds a cranial titanium plate, including five screws keeping it together
4. WFR (Wilderness First Responder) certified*
5. Enjoys introducing friends to new outdoor sports and activities
6. Learning Spanish
7. Earned 1st degree black belt in Taekwodo in 2005
8. Hobby of candid photography
9. Favorite band: Dire Straits
10. Just learned tennis, already styling the sweatband and knee-high socks

*to see more on WFR, look in our May blog archive

The Circle of... Biodiversity

June 8, 2009

News flash:

Costa Rica has oil, but it has banned drilling.


About two months ago, a New York Times author, Thomas Friedman, came down to Costa Rica for an eco-tour, and he brought back with him better understanding of how to operate a country's environmental systems. One of these guidelines includes: no drilling of oil. He wrote about the system, called "payment for environmental services," in which everyone pays for using nature. No action taken involving the country's natural resources goes unexamined. The reason? ONE minister handles every area of nature: water, mines, energy, and environment - something no other country has ever done.

This is an important new "holistic strategy," as Friedman calls it. If all of the responsibility for these environmental factors falls in the hands of one department, the advantage is having a point-of-view monitoring how these systems work together. In doing this, the minister sees the effect that one resource's restrictions/allowances have on other resources. Implementation of this break-through strategy stemmed from the conclusion that all usage of nature must be paid for. He clarifies "So if a chemical factory sells tons of fertilizer but pollutes a river — or a farm sells bananas but destroys a carbon-absorbing and species-preserving forest — this is not honest growth."

CRROBS has adopted this mentality in its organizational processes, too. For example, the staff's food stipend must never be used for beef. Reason being, if we eat beef, we aid the deforestation of Costa Rica since cow pastures need a lot of land. Our relationships with our homestay families also reflects this ambition in the way that we help fund their self-sufficiency. The payments they receive go towards hydro-electric systems, good plumbing, and healthy farms. With these, they do not have to deforest in order to


To read more of the article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

5 de junio: Día Mundial del Ambiente

June 5th: World Environment Day (WED)

Today is an important day for Costa Rica. Because of its world-renowned biodiversity and abundance of natural resources, any special days or events related to the environment get a lot of attention here in la selva. And since WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action, Costa Rica leverages it as a day to take stock on its own environmental status. One such example are EARTH University students - here in Costa Rica - who designated today to be their "Day Without Cars". The university teaches its students how to implement agricultural techniques to make profit, but preserve and respect the environment at the same time. It's mission is to promote sustainable development and eco-sensitive agriculture in the developing world.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has a special website where friends of the environment can learn more about keeping the world healthy, clean, and sustainable. This website is helpful for learning how to help the environment in your own way, as well as learning about the current issues around the world. Today's tip is

When you must have a paper copy, make sure you default your printer option to use both sides!


Or, you can also get daily updates by following UNEP on Twitter through the user name: UNEPandYou. Check these updates to do your part in helping to respect the Earth!