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I chose to do my internship in Puno, Peru which is located in the central Andes at the very southern border that Peru shares with Bolivia. This city of 200,000 is situated on Lake Titicaca, a glacial lake that is 250 meters deep and 190 km long, with a catchment area of 58,000km squared. It is also the highest navegable lake in the world, sitting at 12,507 feet above sea level. I approached a local non-governmental organization called Instituto Peruano de Investigacion Quechua Aymara Jatha-Muhu, (Jatha and Muhu are the Quechua and Aymara names for “seed”, respectively) to ask them if they could host me. Their current focus project is the management and improvement of raising guinea pigs for commercial sale and household food security. However, they also work on various projects throughout the Province of Puno, especially in Moho Department, on the northern edges of Lake Titicaca. They have field representatives in at least 8 different small villages where they help with water management, including the topic of water scarcity, sustainability projects, agricultural management and ensuring that these projects meet the needs of the people, economically, spiritually, and environmentally. I will be visiting at least 3-5 of these villages during my six weeks here to do both key leader interviews with the employees at Jatha-Muhu, with the alcaldes or local mayors, and focus groups with a mix of men and women agriculturalists. My research focuses on the feasibility and applicability of an ecosystem approach to sustainability projects in this province within indigenous Quechua and Aymara communities.
I started out the week flying into Arequipa, and staying for two days to acclimate to the elevation. Most people take diomox when they come to the Andes, but I chose to do it the hard way. I have experienced headaches, vomiting and light headedness since I arrived- classic symptoms of altitude sickness. I then spent two days traveling through Colca Canyon as a way to familiarize myself with rural living and many of the water management techniques that the indigenous people have been practicing for millennia. On the way from Arequipa to Colca Canyon, I observed wild and domesticated camelids, endangered Andean condor, chinchilla, Andean hawks, and many other indigenous wildlife. I also took notes on the human built environment: corrals for domestic camelids, alpaca and llamas, are often situated near bofedales, which are like high altitude oases or wetlands. These areas are host to the most nutritious fodder for camelids and vicunas can also be seen taking advantage of these little green plants that are ubiquitous in these wetlands. These wetlands are fed by both rainwater and mountain snow melt. These bofedales occur around 4200-5000 m.s.l. Another aspect of indigenous water management is the “andenes” or terraced mountainsides. Most indigenous settlements are located in the bottoms of narrow valleys, where there is not enough arable land, so farmers have built terraces all the way up the sides of the valley. However, this is not simply an adaptation to a lack of land but moreover, it creates microclimates in each parcel of terraced land, it helps conserve water and soil, as well as improving water filtration through the soil. Interestingly enough, as Puno grows and urban sprawl continues, you can see where the terraces have been built over in favor of urban housing.
Through my internship advisor, I learned that there are two basic types of community organization for water and land management here. One is a system of parcialidades where each family owns a plot of land and their parcels may touch one another but each family farms their parcel of land independently. The second type of organization is called “suyo” and it is an ancient type of social organization in which mutual aid figures prominently in all aspects of life. In indigenous Andean agriculture, suyo means that the community owns a certain number of hectares which they farm as a group, which also creates a certain amount of safety from risk. For instance, if, during the season, a family plants potatoes and quinoa and corn, and one or more of those crops fails, the other families who had a better season will come to their assistance and vice versa in other years. This is an example of “reminding” people of their traditional practices that may have been buried in colonial history.
I also learned from walking around with my host in Puno, that despite have one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, that citizens of Puno have to boil their drinking water. Also, if you go down to the pier near the lake, where they have small paddleboats and families spend a few hours on the weekend, because wastewater from the city is not treated, green algae has invaded the parts of the Lake closest to the shores of Puno. Ducks still paddle around in it, but the lake trout eaten in this region don’t inhabit this area and the pollution also threatens the famous Titicaca lake toad.
On Monday, I begin my interview with the employees in the Instituto Jathu Muhu to see what their approach to sustainability is and how they perceive the idea of ecosystems approach for their projects and how applicable it could be. I also will be traveling to a small village in Puno Province, accompanying a Jatha-Muhu field representative and University of the Altiplano anthropology student to check in on how the organizations’ projects are going. I will also be conducting focus groups in this village, as I will be staying two or three days (sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag- next to an alpaca I hope!)
Pura vida or “pure life” is the local saying here in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It describes the lifestyle of the local people and through eco-tours like horseback riding and canopy, zip lining you can certainly understand and participate in local Guanacastean or “Ticos” past times. When we came to La Hacienda de Norma we had a great welcome. We had the opportunity to experience the eco-tours offered here at Pura Aventura.
For the horseback riding, we were paired with horses before moving through the pasture to head to the mountains. All horses were great and tame, especially for a first time rider like myself. There are many chances throughout the tour to learn about the local fauna and flora in the area including the Guanacaste, or “ear tree” which was given its name because the seeds are shaped like an ear lobe. This tree is also the province’s national tree. The one we stopped by was more than 100 years old and had sprawling branches reminding me of the Live Oaks found in the North American. It is important to note that throughout the year there are two very different climates at Pura Aventura. In early May, Guanacaste is still experiencing the semi-arid climate which usually lasts from September to April. While riding up the mountain range and going to the canopy, we could notice the dry season is still in effect now during the second week of May.Some of the trees in the valley are green but the rest are dry and waiting for the rainy season. I was surprised to learn that the river (more like a stream now) that we rode across and the horses drank from flows into the pasture in October. The good thing about the changing climates is that on the tours you will experience different species throughout the year.
On our trip, we saw two families of howler monkeys in different locations as well as the woodstork, green parrot, motmot and magpie bird. The canopy zip lining provided safe, fun, and exciting experience. The views were of the valleys and mountains and were spectacular with few notions of any civilization. The guides pointed out one coffee farm in the distance. One of the guides, Amed, was our “paparazzi” and took many pictures and videos of us on the zip line.
At the end of the day, the guides told me about the local myths or “legendas” in the region including “the Mona” or monkey and “the Mayor.” Both concern rebellious women who turn for the worst after neglect from their husband. Mona, is a story of a man who womanized his wife and drank all night. As a result she turned into a monkey and locals to this day claim they hear the sound she produces in the night (most likely the howler monkey). One account had said Mona arrived at someone’s house and videos of her may be found on You Tube.
In the time since I have been very busy helping the eco-guides here write in English and post their everyday experiences to the Pura Aventura blog. I also have been conducting interviews with the local “Ticans” here about the saying Pura Vida and documenting their history and culture. I will post more on my findings next week!
-Toni Granato, Global Sustainability Master’s student
     On Tuesday, 14 May 2013, we arrived in Vilquechico which is a district in the Department of Puno. I was accompanied by two managers from JATHA MUHU: Wilmer and Juan, and four undergrad student interns from the University of the Altiplano: Damian, Reynoldo, Vanessa and Melissa. We arrived at 0830 more or less, stored our luggage at the place we were staying, which was with one of the ladies who received a grant of guinea pig. Then we went out to do surveys on the capacity for the guinea pig farmers to enlarge their business and to commercialize it as well as to assess the level of commitment and motivation by the members. At the same time, Jatha Muhu employees were also taking detailed notes on how many and what types of guinea pigs each member had, as well as making sure they were keeping up with their own note-taking on guinea pig numbers in the notebooks they were supplied for each month.
The first woman we spoke to did not want to show us her cages where she keeps her guinea pigs. Possibly because she has not been maintaining them well or keeping them clean. That was the judgement of one of the Jatha Muhu employees. The woman used the excuse that she didn’t have the key to open the galpón where the guinea pigs are kept. The next woman asked if we could come back because she had to get her kids ready for school and milk her cow. We watched her milk her cow, so that was true. Then when she was done, we were ready to move on so we did not register her or administer the survey.
We are right on the edge of Lake Titicaca. In the survey with one of the young women, she said they look at cows as a marketable livestock brining the best price, and everything else is for household consumption, including sheep and guinea pig. They have fields that they tend- both grassy, moist areas along the edge of the lake as well as andenes or terraced fields on the hillsides.
The men get to go to school longer so they have more education. Also this means that they are the ones filling out the guinea pig forms that JATHA MUHU requires and by default they are the ones running the business. I suggested to JATHA MUHU that since this program is supposed to be about self-sufficiency for women, and most women are illiterate and don’t even know how to hold a pen- why don’t they create a form that is easier for women to fill out- perhaps one that uses symbols and drawings instead of written Spanish. Or what about Aymara? Also, along the lines of what Clark Erickson did with the camellones or waru waru in central Peru- creating a picture book with a few words in Aymara/Quechua to demonstrate to the locals why it was in their interests to renew their work on reconstructing waru waru. This could help the program go far. This should also be the focus of operationalizing the approach of ecosystem services.
Right now, ecosystem services is too intellectual an approach in order for it to have any tactical or ground level legitimacy with the people. I found that what I thought were basic ecosystem or environmental questions were actually too complex for the campesinos. Also, Vanessa had the idea that because a lot of kids are leaving to go to other parts, like Lima, to find jobs, that some type of management or leadership program needs to be put in place to identify and mentor future community leaders early. The younger generation is more bilingual and also younger girls, up to about teenagers are a lot more talkative and gregarious then their middle aged mothers who are extremely shy and timid about their guinea pig duties. The younger girls are more likely to speak up about their opinions and thoughts. Melissa and Vanessa, Peruvian student interns also said that these women forget what they learn the previous month about the management of cuy raising because they lack education. I might need a translator! But alas, I changed the questions to be more simple and directly related to their daily activities and this brought out a lot more from my interviewees. Vanessa helped me with suggestions for new questions that would help me elicit better answers for my research.
She said that I should ask about mining because that is a huge contaminator of the lake. She also suggested maybe if I did a survey, that might work better. Also she suggested that I ask about nature, water, plants, trees, earth and air- the basic components that predominate campesino life here or anywhere. She also said that I should ask about their chacra or their plot of land where they plant because this is the essence of their existence. They are self-sufficient farmers, surviving mostly off of what comes out of these cultivated fields and the little meat they are able to raise.
My overall observation is that when these people think about conservation they think about it in terms of agriculture because this is their way of life. So when you ask them about sustainability and food and water security, they talk about irrigation, which they want but don’t have, letting their fields rest for three years, and not using chemical fertilizers, and rotating their crops. But they also have a hard time planning ahead. The rainy and dry seasons, as well as times of flooding around the lake are becoming longer, stronger, and more unpredictable. For this reason, they feel they can’t really have a mitigation plan for these different periods of time.
They also feel isolated and marginalized from the local, municipal and national government. They say that what they have done to combat this climatic risk and risk of unsustainability is to ask for help. But they have not received much more than tools for the field. But I think they would prefer not to have to ask for help-except maybe for irrigation. They all have to bring their animals to the lake to water them too which is a huge chore and why you see men and women going to and fro in town with their livestock in tow.
Eucalyptus are predominant here too, but they are not endogamous and so I don’t know if they do something different to the environment. News flash, Vanessa just told me that they require a lot of water and they also kill the earth as their roots spread far and wide. But one farmer commented to me that they only grow them on the hills where they are not relying on water for their chacras and they are good for firewood for cooking. Some people also cut eucalyptus wood to sell at the market in Huancane.
15 May 2013
Many here, although they practice syncretic religion don{t believe as much in the Pachamama. Some of the older ones, in their 70s, say that their grandparents paid thanks and respect to Pachamama more than they do. But they still believe that they have to take care of their earth and believe that they already do this, as farmers, it is part of their job. But at the same time, there is trash everywhere. They also feel that the government at all levels doesn’t help. Vanessa told me that what happens is when someone is elected alcalde, every four years, of a district, for instance Vilquechico, that they leave all of their campaign promises behind and devote their resources and energy to their own part of the district. They try to fill their own coffers. If they do bring in a project to another village, they promise high quality materials but instead deliver with low quality materials. At its essence this is both nepotism and corruption.
The Aymara people in this district raise sheep, cows, pigs, chickens and now guinea pigs. They understand the direct connection between water, fodder, plants and animals. They can and do communicate this connection themselves. They often mention the saying, “Agua es Vida.” Or “Water is Life.” This is also written on a prominent reservoir on a hill behind Vilquechico’s main plaza and municipal building. But they don’t carry out or don’t know what to do about planning ahead for extra dry or extra wet periods of time. It is too unpredictable these days, they indicate. Also, one farmer showed us that his broad beans didn’t get a chance to mature so they had to use the whole crop for animal fodder. He claimed they didn’t mature because it got too cold too soon this winter. He’s talking about right now because they are harvesting almost everything right now. The guy who said this had a cow and an Aymara wife who only spoke Aymara.
At the reunion on 15 May, in Inkakolla, I realized everyone is a self-sufficient farmer, but they would also like to be able to make extra money by selling their agricultural products at the market. Most kids have gone to the city for work. The farmers have a rationale and they are very rational. They stopped using fertilizer because it encourages the growth of worms and it also kills the earth. But they still think eucalyptus is good and that cow dung is good because they use it for fuel.
We returned early on 16 May because there was only one motorcycle to transport 6 people. Melissa and I got permission to return to Puno by colectivo.
I sat through a week-long workshop given by the Monolithic Dome Institute (MDI), which is located in Italy, Texas, and received a “Certificate of Completion”. I can build a Monolithic Dome! I find it fitting that the uniqueness of the domes matches the uniqueness of the name given to the city where the company’s headquarter is located. You may understand how unique their aesthetic qualities are once you see pictures.
The workshop is one of four given throughout the year and the people attending this particular one came from all walks of life and parts of the world. New ideas may catch a lot of attention simply because they’re new, but applying this type of thinking to Monolithic Domes would be a mistake.
First of all they are not new! The first dome was built in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. Second, the domes appeal to such a wide array of people because of the specific characteristics achieved by the type of building structure, not simply because it’s a new concept to so many people. Mainstream construction tends to focus on a few characteristics in my opinion: aesthetics, cheap, quick and easy construction to meet immediate needs.
The Monolithic Dome, on the other hand, focuses on practical, efficient and easy, long term solutions to our building needs. The week long workshop has the ability to empower its students to be able to build a Monolithic Dome on their own. Coming from a background with very little construction or building knowledge, I can confidently say that with a good set of instructions in my hands (which MDI provides) I could right out build myself a home.
Ok, so getting down to the nitty gritty. Five steps!! That’s all it takes to build Monolithic Dome? The answer is yes! Please visit the MDI’s page on “How to Build a Monolithic Dome”: http://www.monolithic.com/stories/how-to-build-a-monolithic-dome. Those of you in the construction or manufacturing business might understand the possibilities available with a construction process that’s so quick and easy. Certainly there is a science to how you spray concrete and polyurethane foam and the Airform, a key element of the dome, must be made of a specific combination of materials and in just the right way. Nonetheless, the methods used can be taught and in fact, MDI has several world-wide initiatives in developing countries where locals are educated on the process and equipped to build communities of Monolithic Domes.
Is there any other construction method that results in a super insulated structure that has received FEMA ratings for being earthquake, tornado, hurricane, mold and termite proof? How about one that results in a building with a life measured in centuries because of how stable and durable the design is?
 Bruco the caterpillar is a 240′ long, 60′ wide and 24′ high dome structure used for manufacturing the Airforms on site in Italy, Texas. This is a hard question to answer for many. “Green” means a lot of things to different people. The word can be used interchangeably with sustainable or environmental friendly. In my studies I’ve learned some of the most important aspects of buildings that are green or sustainable must consider the physical environment, social environment and the economic viability. The construction or building industry has great potential to improve our future’s environmental, social and economic status; this idea is of course not a new one and perhaps not surprising to a lot of people. Buildings require a lot of natural resources, a lot of man power and ultimately a lot of energy to construct and maintain over their lifetime.
What is surprising to me is how the Monolithic Dome can be part of the building industry for such a long time and not become more recognized for its ability to be sustainable. A good handful of individuals have noted their green building characteristics and have capitalized on them, but in the long term scope the domes simply haven’t caught onto main stream green building practices. Why do you think that is?
The Monolithic Dome has the potential to be the greenest building ever constructed. Several basic aspects of the structure give it some sustainable qualities right off the bat. First off, the stability and durability of the structure is such that its’ lifetime is measured in centuries. Consider the reduction in cost, resources, energy and man-power that not having to repair or demolish and reconstruct a building would bring. The Monolithic Dome is made of rebar, shotcrete and polyurethane foam, which is used for insulation. Sustainable has been defined as the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. Not having to rebuild the core structure of a home, school, office building, manufacturing facility and any other type of building provides sustainability in the very essence of the word’s meaning.
The other quality of the Monolithic Dome that supports sustainable development is its ability to reduce the need to cool or warm the interior environment. Energy is a big topic in the world of sustainability and in economics because our society revolves around energy and energy requires a great deal of monetary investment. Therefore, when we consider the amount of energy needed to power our buildings it makes sense to consider ways to reduce the energy demand of those buildings. Monolithic Dome owners can testify to energy savings in their power bills. They can testify to a larger range of time in which the temperature inside of their building remains constant and fluctuates by a very small margin, even during the hot months in the State of Texas. If this is not enough the Monolithic Dome Institute claims that their buildings save an average of 30-50% in heating and cooling costs. I’m not exactly sure, but given the dimensions of Bruco (detailed in picture above) what might you expect the electricity bill to be during the summer months for such a building? (keep in mind it’s used for manufacturing purposes). I have records of the electric bill and would like to compare!
Other qualities that make the Monolithic Dome a candidate for the greenest building ever invented is the efficiency in the building phase, the easy access around the world for the few building materials required and the cost of building one. When compared to a conventional structure, the Monolithic Dome costs the same, if not less, to build. In addition, further savings can be realized by looking at the reduction in cost of energy bills and maintenance or re-construction costs. A wood panel on a vulnerable part of a home that has soaked up a little too much water and is rotting will not be a concern in a Monolithic Dome, for example. The outside of the dome should be coated with paint, but structural maintenance is rarely needed. Roof shingles never have to be replaced, as they are not a necessary part of the structure. Furthermore, the domes can be equipped with any type of instrument, mechanism and appliance that would further aid in reducing the carbon footprint of the structure, such as rain water catching systems, efficient appliances, solar panels, et cetera.
I can find a few areas in which the Monolithic Dome’s sustainability or “green” building rating may be criticized by some. No, wait. I can only think of one; perhaps the manufacturing process in the materials used or the materials themselves? For an expert in the field, conducting a life-cycle analysis seems to be vital to fully understanding the costs and benefits of Monolithic Domes, but I find it hard to believe that such savings in energy and cost, as outlined above, could outweigh any negative aspects associated with the building materials.
Is there any quality I’m missing that would keep Monolithic Domes from being an absolutely sustainable type of development?
Kia Ora! (hi in Maori).
After a long 24 hour journey from Tampa, FL to Auckland, New Zealand, I’m finally getting accustomed to the time difference. which is a little more than a day ahead. After taking a couple of days to get acclimated and figure out the bus system and where to get food, I began my four weeks at the New Zealand Tourism Reasearch Institute. NZTRI is affiliated with Auckland University of Technology and they work on several projects related to sustainable tourism such as ecotourism and Maori tourism.
I was immediately placed in a research group that is working on gauging visitor interest to the island of Motutapu. Currently, Motutapu is closed for visitor exploration, but Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED) is interested in finding out if people would be interested in taking part in a “3 day island journey experience” on Motutapu, which will be a 3 day walking experience around the island. The adjacent island, Rangitoto, is open to visitors, so a few people surveyed have expressed concern for preserving Motutapu’s pristine condition. The results of the survey will help ATEED decide whether or not to open Motutapu for visitor exploration.
For all of those in Florida that have ever complained about heat and humidity, Panama City ratchets up the humidity to a level I have never felt before. However, the thick wet air also has a little something extra in it – opportunity. Panama City has an electric feel of possibilities as the economy has experienced double digit growth over the past few years, the canal expansion project is nearing completion (2015), and development has begun to explode. I hope to produce sustainable business models and development ideas that can be incorporated with the massive growth, creating a economy that values a triple bottom line approach and a city that can avoid the pitfalls of many American cities.
While my time in Panama will be spent mostly in Panama City it begins with a 35 minute trip out to the Tres Brazos Valley where the first sustainable jungle village Kalu Yala is being built. The Kalu Yala site is about 5km past the small 5oo person town of San Miguel on a roller coaster of a dirt road. If you do not have a rugged 4×4 vehicle with strong axles prepare for a 2-4 hour hike up and down some of the most intense terrain in the world, only a very small group of Panamanians dare to venture out this far! The views from the trip to the Kalu Yala are breathtaking as clouds wisp at mountaintops, leaf cutter ants are blazing trails at your feet, and the enchantment of a jungle rain forest surrounds you. Upon arrival at base camp by Rio Pacora, it sinks in that this is real and the adventure is just getting started.
Kalu Yalu base camp is comprised of 5 ranchos where all of the 80 of us will be living for the next few days. As you can see in the photograph a rancho is a totally open living space about 7 feet in the air with local palm leaves as a roof. The locals have perfected this style of building and have shared this knowledge with Kalu Yala after they witnessed the gringos many misguided attempts at jungle construction. There is no electricity, our water is brought in by PVC pipe from a small mountain tributary, we use composting toilets, but life could not be better. It was great to be totally off the grid even though everything I had was soaked by monsoon rains and sleep was hard to come by. The rain and thunderstorms were so amazing and powerful as the rainy season has just begun, we were treated to fantastic lightning displays and massive flooding and landslides, the road we hiked in one was absolutely washed away. Over then next few days we swam, hiked, explored flora and fauna, and best yet we bonded as a large family learning the values of Kalu Yala and how we can do without many of the luxuries we take for granted. I have definitely left the jungle a different person, kind of like when Luke Skywalker left Dagobah.
The Panama City location we are staying at is amazing as we can look out too the ocean and see massive ships line up to use the canal and are right in the middle of all of the action with Parque Urraca right across the street. While I will discuss this more in my next blog I wanted to bring up that in our first few nights here we were treated to fantastic visits and discussions with leading Permaculture expert Stephen Brooks (La Ecovilla in Costa Rica, Kopali Organics), Entrepreneur Jimmy Stice (Kalu Yala), TEDxWaterloo creator Ramy Nassar, and Digital Entrepreneur Mackenzie McAleer. Very powerful group of people and it was amazing to hear their experiences and stories.
Until next time…
Brian Clair
On Tuesday, 21 May 2013, we arrived in Vilquechico this time to finish up the registrations and surveys. We also went this week because I was invited by the folks in Carpa to come for a special lunch. They prepared oca and papa as well as tuna fish salad. They made an in ground oven by making a dome with dried up pieces of chacra and lighting a fire inside the dome with leftover plant stalks from the harvest. Once this fire got going and was really hot, which took about an hour, Mr. Mario came out with a large stick and started caving in this earthen oven dome, a little at a time. This released hot coals and earth into the bottom of this dome, where one of the women started dumping raw potatoes and oca. They did this in layers, once all the of the papa and oca were mixed with layers of coals and hot earth, we waited 45 minutes for everything to bake. Then we ate! Delicious.
On Wednesday, 22 May 2013, we got up early to catch the bus into Conima, which is located in Moho Province, Departamento Puno. The ride took about 2 hours and it covers some higher terrain. Conima is situated on a high bluff overlooking the lake, much higher than the land in Vilquechico which softly curves downward into the lake. In Conima, we conducted a workshop with videos on how to kill and clean guinea pig then I took the floor to talk about a female owned businesses in the U.S. When we were done, once again I took my place as guest of honor as we lunched on papa, oca, maíz, little fried patties and tuna, chicken and beef salad. I met with the manager of agropecuary projects for the province of Moho. His name is Cesar and while we only got to speak for a short time between the workshop and lunch, I have written him an email with the attached stakeholder and focus group questions. Hopefully I will be seeing him again or hearing from him soon with his answers to the ecosystem services question.
On Thursday, 23 May 2013, I entered the Municipal office in Vilquechico once again, seeking a more authoritative voice than just the manager of civil registration. This time I met with the manager of agropecuary affairs. While he did not have time that morning to do an interview, he did make copies of the stakeholder and focus group producer questions and we made a date to do a telephone interview. Unfortunately I inadvertently forgot about our telephone interview last Friday and I have subsequently made contact by voice mail. Hopefully we will get together by phone or I will stop in again this week in order to do the interview. Thursday was a very productive day as I was able to conduct 3 focus groups in Sicta. I found that this community is much more traditional when it comes to paying respect to Pachamama. These focus groups gave me a little bit more variety as far as local practice, thought and custom.
On Friday , 24 May 2013, my coworker Melissa accompanied me to her school, the University of the Altiplano where I spoke to one of the tenured professors of anthropology. He is also on the board of directors of the Binational Organization of Sustainable Use of Lake Titicaca. We conducted the stakeholder interview in front of his anthropology class for roughly 45 minutes. They had all been partying the night before so they did not have very much to add to the conversation. We touched briefly on the fact that for an anthropological type study like mine, it takes more than six weeks to get to know the people in the communities I am visiting. He said this may be why I am not eliciting the more in depth answers to my focus group questions that I was looking for.
 Greeting USF sustainability enthusiasts from Vienna, Austria! I have been in the heart of Europe now for nearly a week and have much to report! In my short time being here, I have been able to utilize a world class public transportation system. The electromobility technologies along with supreme timing efficiency have made it possible for even foreigners to navigate the European continent with ease. Thus far, I have been to Bratislava, Slovakia to compare sustainability lifestyles while focusing my attention on transportation.
What I have found thus far is many European cities are very old, many dating back to the Middle Ages. While many cities have continued using the foundation for
architecture and development, close quarter living appears to be a reoccurrence
in many cities. For this reason, the streets are all very narrow(able to fit horse
carriages, bicycles, etc., not 4 lane roads for cars). What Austria has
done is develop a rail network of street cars that are massive and can hold
hundreds of people at a time while using very little space. These street cars
abide street lights, signs, and all other street rules and regulations.
The environmental impact to reduce carbon emissions from massive amounts of road traffic is undoubtedly one of the many reasons Vienna is so clean, making the city so aesthetically pleasurable. Not only is the public transportation more environmentally suitable, it is more efficient than owning and operating a private vehicle. The monthly passes are €45 (about $70) which offer unlimited, anytime, any method travel. There is no need to know what time the bus, rail, or subway arrives because the next ride typically does not exceed more than 10-15 minutes. Sustainability is a lifestyle here, and there is much to learn. Stay tuned next week for my blog which should report my findings in Budapest, Hungary.
I am 3 weeks in and finally feeling settled. Buenos Aires is a lovely city if you don’t mind the lack of trees, the dog poo all over the streets and the polluted air from the traffic. This is my first time in a very large city so it has definitely taken some adjusting.
As for my work, I’m interning at Fundacion Vida Silvestre Argentina (Wildlife Foundation of Argentina). It is the Argentine partner of the WWF. While my office if located in Buenos Aires, the project I’m working on is located in the Misiones Province near Iguazu Falls! The project is attempting to evaluate ecosystem services in the town of Andresito and then develop a payment scheme that will put money into a fund for ensuring sustainability of the natural resources. The users of the land and resources will be the ones who provide the money as a way for them to offset their negative environmental impacts. The money will be used as incentives for landowners to keep certain portions of their land intact, especially maintaining riparian buffers around the main stream of the town. Part of my job is to work with the community and the University of Misiones to develop a local community watershed committee.
This is important and exciting work, as nothing like this has been attempted in Argentina. If successful, it will set a precedent for how other sensitive areas can be preserved using market mechanisms.
Stay tuned for fun updates from the project!
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