Stranded

Stranded in the UK, the result of volcanic eruptions in Iceland which have forced volcanic ash into the atmosphere and closed the majority of European airspace.

No signs on when the situation will clear - although reports indicate that this Volcano, Eyjafjallokull, erupted for some 13 months in 1821; it's last recorded eruption.

It could be a while then, although it brings to our attention the fascinating workings of mother nature as well as some interesting points of environmental debate.

Firstly, an article in yesterday's Guardian alludes to the huge CO2 emissions savings that will be made through the thousands of grounded planes and idle jet engines. (Probably equal in magnitude to the thousands of pounds the airlines are losing)

Secondly, for those scientists who would criticise our overly anthropocentric perspective on global climate change, this might be an example of how one very simple and common act of nature can have the same deleterious effect on the earth's balance systems as our human induced activities. Both through the explusion of CO2 and through the process of 'global dimming'.

Not so however say the scientists reported in the Guardian article. Apparently the CO2 emissions savings from the airlines - some 2.8m tonnes as of yesterday - far outweigh the mere 15 thousand tonnes of CO2 spewed out by Eyjafjallokull daily.

A sign of the times to see the speed with which the Environmental Transport Association made this CO2 emissions reduction figure public.

A busy week in Monteverde. Martha Honey, journalist, author and Executive Director of the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CREST) came here to talk on Sustainable Tourism as part of a broader panel discussion. Martha is generally recognised through her book 'Ecotourism and Sustainable Development; Who Owns Paradise?' which I understand is now core syllabus reading for many ecotourism degrees.

Martha has been a hugely influential figure in the evolution of eco and sustainable tourism and I would recommend anyone to access the Center's website (above). In fact their recent study on the impacts of tourism related development on Costa Rica's pacific coast is, I hear, crucial reading even if it makes uncomfortable reading for Costa Rican government policymakers.

From Martha Honey to el Instituto de Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) the Government's Tourism Ministry, who came here Thursday to talk about the Government's new national and international marketing and PR strategy.

Nothing new here although it was interesting to see the work of McCann Erikson in much of the new marketing ideas. I even hear the I.C.T has put their European PR account out to tender and my old company - Weber Shandwick - is in the running. Good luck to them.

We also secured a further meeting with Ruth Alfaro, Head of I.C.T's Tourism Development, to discuss Government contribution to the sustainability project we want to run here in Monteverde. Good for Monteverde if we can secure some solid commitments (which I hear isn't easy!).

Anyway, more on that project in later blogs.

It's 3-3 in the England-v-Scotland game; my country needs me...

Sustainable Cuba

Anyway, in response to my previous post about the 2010 Yale/Columbia study (see below) my friend Jem suggested I check the score of Cuba. I’ve just done it and it comes 9th overall and 2nd in its peer group, The America’s.

So, according to this study Cuba is the 9th best environmentally-performing country in the world and the second best in The America’s (second to Costa Rica only).

Old news perhaps? And, yes, it is.

Jem actually blogged about this in 2006. He read the 2006 WWF Living Planet Report and, in his own words (which I hope he doesn’t mind me replicating here) found;

“On page 19, in a section comparing the amount of resources each country is gobbling up in comparison to the social development they have acheived, as indicated by the UN’s Human Development Index, shows that only one country has achieved a level of social development and environmental protection that can be considered “sustainable development”. That country? Grey-painted communist Cuba”

Obviously there are explanations for this. See Jem’s 06 posting on Jem Bendell’s Journal. And the compilers of the 2010 Yale/Columbia study highlighted a lack of data and poor data sources in a New York Times article. Did Cuba massage the figures?!

A bit possibly, but the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Cuba is more sustainable than most.

Start as you mean to go on...

So this is my first blog post to what I hope will become an interesting and useful - if not sometimes lighthearted too - take on sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues in Costa Rica and Central America.

Interesting because, despite its size - a population of only 4.5m and a land mass of 51,000 thousand square kilometers (Island has 70,000!) - Costa Rica is generally considered one of the most sustainable countries in the world.

At least that's if you believe the 2010 Environmental Performance Index produced by Yale and Columbia Universities or indeed the persuasive environmental marketing of the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT); the Government's Tourism Ministry.

Light hearted bacause I don't believe everything I read and am told, and because Costa Ricans never take themselves too seriously either.

So, here I'll start and we'll see how we go. English for now, but maybe the odd post in Spanish in the future. And please forgive my english spelling. It was never very good, but seems to have degenerated badly now that I'm writing regularly in Spanish!