Monteverde Institute: Culture, Community, and Health

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  Manual for a vegetable garden, April 2020

  India Fleming-Klink

  This manual seeks to generate support material for the families of Monteverde in order to strengthen diversification and value the contributions that the orchards generate in the food security of the area. These productive systems provide immediate benefits to the food, health and economy of the families and their communities where they are located. The manual describes the different stages of the preparation, establishment and handling /care of the vegetables that are planted in the garden.

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  Manual para una huerta de verdura, April 2020

  India Fleming-Klink

  This manual seeks to generate support material for the families of Monteverde in order to strengthen diversification and value the contributions that the orchards generate in the food security of the area. These productive systems provide immediate benefits to the food, health and economy of the families and their communities where they are located. The manual describes the different stages of the preparation, establishment and handling /care of the vegetables that are planted in the garden.

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  COVID-19 experience survey, April 2020

  Marissa Hamby

  With the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world, there have been many recent changes to the way that we all live. In the past month or two, myself and all of my fellow peers abroad have been asked to return to the States from their various study abroad locations. While I was abroad in Costa Rica, I was able to watch the other countries slowly unravel and witness how they planned to deal with the increasing virus cases. However, both my home state of South Caroline and Costa Rica seemed to be on the backside of the virus spread, and both were relatively “safe”. The first virus was recorded in the United States on January 21st in Washington State, and did not reach South Carolina until March 6th. Coincidentally, that was the date of the first coronavirus case in Costa Rica, as well. With both locations receiving the virus at the same time, I have been able to watch and witness the response efforts. I got a very hands-on experience of the response effort in Costa Rica until I was forced to leave on March 17th to my home in the states. Since then, the cases numbers have increased in both locations, and I now have a real-time experience of the efforts here in South Carolina, as well as contacts in Costa Rica. In most places around the world, the term “social distancing” has been used to reduce the spread of the virus. Because of that, many of us are working from home, now doing everything online that was in person, and limiting our interactions with others and the outside world. Both Costa Rica and my hometown of Hilton Head Island are tourist economies, meaning this social distancing can ruin the livelihood of many families and the overall economy of both locations. In order to get more of an educated idea of how the virus is affecting the everyday lives of my fellow community members and citizens of Costa Rica, I sent out a survey to investigate. The goal of the survey was to compare the differences in COVID response, community wellbeing, unfulfilled needs, available and unavailable resources, effects of employment changes, and overall concerns and thoughts between South Carolina and Costa Rica. Together, these factors will help identify the economic, social, and political changes and challenges of these times. The survey was spread through the teachers and parents of some of my local schools, through my social media, connections to my local retirement community and their relatives throughout the States, and through my connections back in Costa Rica. Both English and Spanish forms of the survey were distributed in order to include the Latino community in my area and for accessibility in Costa Rica. I attempted to reach all demographics, but I was not completely successful. Although I received a majority of responses from South Carolina, my original effort was the speak broadly about the effect of the virus throughout the United States. Therefore, I have responses from several states around the country that may be used as supplementary materials and information throughout my research. In total, I received 127 responses from the states, and 12 from Costa Rica.

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  El futuro de la urbanización y el cambio climático, April 2020

  Makeyla Hayes

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  The future of urbanization and climate change, April 2020

  Makeyla Hayes

  Urbanization is an inevitable process that affects all countries and major cities. As societies continue to adapt to urban development, the environment is left defenseless to these changes. Through environmental, economical, and social analysis, this case study of Boston – the capital city of Massachusetts – examines the impact of urban growth and development on climate change. Urban areas are densely populated and constantly experience population growth and overpopulation, making them more vulnerable to climate change. Unsustainable practices and living increases the impact that communities and residents have on the environment. Environmental gentrification has been implemented to resolve the consequences of urbanization but at a social expense. The adverse effects of climate change can disrupt and damage major industries and infrastructures that support local and national economies. While cities have enforced urban adaptation plans, this has proven to not be sufficient enough to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity. This paper aims at analyzing the potential of sustainable urban development and living to reverse the effects of climate change.

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  COVID - Tourism, April 2020

  Christina Pevey

  The COVID-19 virus has affected everyone around the world. At the moment there is no cure for the virus but thousands have recovered. This has caused economic problems from big companies down to individual families. For example, Costa Rica. I will focus on the town of Santa Elena and surrounding areas. The data that was collected was based on a survey that was sent out to the community. The survey included questions referring to their jobs, sectors, and reasons for suspension of contracts. I limited the surveys to the surrounding areas and to specific questions that I wanted to focus on. The reason for this research is to attempt to come up with possible solutions that can help with these communities. The area is heavily relied on tourism as their main source of income. The impacts differ from the beginning and throughout the course of the pandemic.

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  COVID - Turismo, April 2020

  Christina Pevey

  Please contact the Monteverde Institute for access to this article.

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  Inventario turístico de Monteverde 2019-2020, 2020

  Yeison Lizano Rojas

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  Inventario cultural del distrito de Monteverde 2017-2019, 2020

  Monteverde Institute

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  Greywater management in the Monteverde Zone: Perceptions, challenges, and solutions, August 2014

  Greywater is the wastewater produced by kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, showers and laundries. In Monteverde, Costa Rica, it is a popular practice to discharge untreated greywater into the local surroundings. However, there has been a growing awareness about the negative environmental impacts, an increasing concern in regards to public health risks, and a push for better greywater management strategies in the region. Over a six-week period, a research team, with collaboration and support from the University of South Florida, the Monteverde Institute, and the National Science Foundation implemented various anthropological and engineering methods to assess the perceptions and characteristics of greywater in the area. A greywater treatment system was also partially reconstructed at the Monteverde Institute, including two biogardens. The research team completed one biogarden and further construction and maintenance information was provided to the institute in order to aid in its completion and future care. Both the Monteverde Institute and research team hope the biogarden will serve as an educational resource for the greater Monteverde community. Lastly, the research team worked with a local and recently formed water commission in identifying zones of risk for greywater discharge in the Monteverde Zone, as well as established relationships with residents of a neighborhood to potentially serve as a pilot site for implementation of a community greywater treatment system. In addition to this report, a technical report regarding the design of the biogarden at the Monteverde Institute and a executive summary for the water commission with three suggestions for the future have been created. In response to the need to address pressing greywater issues, the research team hopes this study and its results serve as a platform for future investigations regarding greywater management in the Monteverde Zone.

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  Keyhole garden: A key to nutritional health, August 2014

  Economic transformations have had consequences for nutrition and health in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica (Himmelgreen et al, 2013). A rapid shift from agriculture to a mixed economy based on tourism continues to morph the nature of the community (Himmelgreen, 2013). As a result of the shift to ecotourism, many in Monteverde suffer from varying levels of food insecurity (Himmelgreen, 2006). The Community Health and Globalization Field School is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and organized by the University of South Florida and the Monteverde Institute. This year’s researchers explored the role of home gardens in addressing food security issues, community perceptions of healthy food, solid waste management and gardening, utilizing methods from the disciplines of anthropology and engineering. This project built on the foundation of last year's research project, which culminated in the construction of two keyhole gardens on the Monteverde Institute grounds, the first of their kind in the Monteverde zone. As suggested by last year's research team, this year the garden was constructed in partnership with an organization for the elderly and disabled. Researchers worked on adapting the keyhole garden design to better suit the needs of this community organization by taking into consideration the needs of the elderly and/or physically disabled.

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  Manejo de las aguas grises en la Zona de Monteverde: Perceciones, retos, y soluciones, August 2014

  Kristin Hall, Erynne van Zee, Shirley Castillo, and Corbyn Cools

  English language abstract not available.

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  An overview of animal waste water management: Biodgesters in the Monteverde Zone of Costa Rica, August 2014

  Chelsea Solomon, Roberto Infante Rosado, Yanelis Hez, and Melissa Ortiz

  There has been an increase in environmental awareness since Costa Rica promised to be carbon neutral by 2021. Governmental organizations such as a high school in Santa Elena and Earth university have taken it upon themselves to fulfill this initiative through the implementation of more environmentally conscious technologies, i.e. a biodigester at a local high school in Santa Elena. The problem was that there was no sort of investigation understanding how the community within the school and the town’s community would react to this new addition. We were also asked to give information to the school so that they may better understand how the biodigester will affect them and may track the progress of their carbon neutrality. Free-listing, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and participant observations were methods used in order to understand the school’s community and the town’s community’s perceptions of animal waste water management. pH, BOD5, soil nutrient tests, and total and volatile solids were used to analyze surrounding biodigesters and provide suggestions to the school. The school’s surrounding water supply was also analyzed in order to understand the environmental impact of the school before the biodigester is implemented. We realized that the youth had been exposed to technologies like biodigesters much more than older generations; but the older generations had much more expertise in other forms of animal waste water management. Through the lab results we understood that the school will experience environmental benefits from switching from an anaerobic lagoon to a biodigester not in the increase of the cleaning of the waste but mostly the methane collection; it will provide a source of saving while decreasing the emissions of the greenhouse gas.

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  Toma de muestras y analisis: Pruebas de laboratorio de las aguas tratadas por la biojardinera [PowerPoint], August 2014

  Erynne Van Zee, Corbyn Cools, Shirley Castillo, and Kristin Hall

  A manual of laboratory tests done of the water treated by the grey water garden.

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  Manejo de las aguas grises en la Zona de Monteverde: Percepciones, retos, y soluciones. Renovación de una biojardinera en el Instituto Monteverde, July 2014

  Erynne Van Zee, Shirley Castillo, Kristin Hall, and Corbyn Cools

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  Women in ecotourism, April 2014

  Emily Doherty

  Ecotourism is one of Costa Rica's main industries, and while it brings huge economic capital into the country, these new opportunities are not equally distributed among all genders. Women are slowly gaining social equality, but currently women are limited by only getting specific domestic jobs in the ecotourism industry. Many argue that ecotourism in Monteverde is empowering women and it is true that more women are getting jobs outside the home, however, they are generally still confined to domestic types of jobs like cleanin and cooking. A survey of 12 businesses in Monteverde revealed that out of 22 outdoor educational ecotourism guides, only 2 of them were women. The women who are working in ecotourism are not being active members of the experiential process.

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  Self-assessments of happiness before and after hiking in Monteverde, Costa Rica, April 2014

  Janeanne Levenstein

  Conservation of the environment and natural systems is important for many reasons and motivations for conservation efforts can come myriad perspectives. Following E.O. Wilson's (1984) concept of biophilia, this study seeks to explore the effects of nature on human happiness with the hope of providing evidence that environmental conservation is important for human well-being. Surveying entrants to the Curi-Cancha Reserve in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and using a self-case study, I find a positive relationship between hiking and level of happiness.

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  Horse power, April 2014

  Jesseka McGee and Roberta Duarte

  Horses pass through Monteverde every day, and while they are mostly for tourists, a few country folk still ride them around town. They are almost unknown across Monteverde these days; they are rare enough that children point and wave when a horse goes by. When we mentioned the possibility of using horses for a sustainable future in Monteverde, collegues and a few community members tended to burst into...well, horse laughter. That will never be necessary, they told us - we will just use bio-fuels as easily as we do petrol now, or create something new. This project proposes to offer Monteverde an alternative way of living sustainably. Although horses would be difficult to introduce into today's traffic in Monteverde, we decided to accomplish this goal. After working closely with El Refugio, a local horseback tour company, we concluded that the main difficulties are the courage of investing in a new project and time commitment. El Refugio staff mentioned that even though horses and nature are not always a good mix, turning out too many horses on small acreage results in demuded pastures (which is neither attractive nor environmentally friendly), horses have several obvious advantages over cars. Horses require no fossil fuel imports and contribute nothing to climate change. El Refugio staff stated that it is cheaper to maintain a horse than an automobile. Overall, horses are not the fastest transportation option, but neither are cars and huge bus tours in downtown Monteverde traffic - and in a crisis, slow movement is better than none. Together, we believe horsepower could continue to move tourists and community members in the area. This, then, is our modest proposal. We believe that fossil fuels are running short, and horsepower is the kind of transportation we would like to see the Monteverde community using in a few decades.

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  Comparative impacts of American imported cheese and queso blanco, April 2014

  Madeleine Wojack and Amanda Lueke

  The purpose of our project was to compare the impacts of American and Costa Rican dairy production. Although Costa Rican dairy production is pasture-based and uses less resources, it is also done closer to tropical forests and can directly impact the biodiversity of these important ecosystems. We used previous studies on American and Costa Rican dairy production to conclude that American dairy production is so unsustainable that the potential loss of biodiversity in Costa Rica is preferable. We concluded that local, pasture systems with good land management practices are better for all communities involved in dairy production.

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  Mapa del Sistema de la Biojardinera Instituto Monteverde, 2014

  Monteverde Institute

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  Carbon neutrality protocol for Costa Rica, 2014

  Kayla Parker

  Costa Rica is seeking to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. As part of this goal, businesses and organization that operate in Costa Rica will be required to produce GHG inventories or face monetary penalties. The original goal of this project was to produce a complete greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, as defined by the international standards of ISO 14064, of the organic coffee farm known as La Bella Tica located in Alto San Luis, Costa Rica. After extensive research, it was found that the specific equations for calculating GHG emissions are not readily available to the public and a complete report was not possible. This report seeks to fill the information gap, and provide an overview of the standards as well as the process for obtaining certification for carbon neutrality in Costa Rica.

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  Community gardens around the world: successes and benefits for healthy communities, 2014

  Mia Rizzi and Jillian Miller

  Our research focused on the ways in which community gardens can foster ecological and social sustainability. We first completed a literature review in order to identify the benefits of community gardens. We then assessed several case studies in order to ascertain what makes a community garden successful and the ways in which projects have positively altered communities. Finally, we conducted an interview with Sergio Aray who is involved with a community garden project in the Monteverde area, in order to gain an understanding of what he is hoping to accomplish through the creation and maintenance of a community garden.

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  Bird visitation in native vs non-native windbreaks in Monteverde, Costa Rica, 2014

  Kayla Smith and Sarah Hayden

  Reforestation in Monteverde, Costa Rica began in the 1980’s and 1990’s and initially used non-native tree species to form windbreaks. In our study we examined bird preferences between native versus non-native trees in windbreaks. We examined three different sites with both native and non-native windbreak tree species. We found that the average bird visitation for windbreaks with native trees (4.17 birds) was not statistically different from visitation in windbreaks with non-native trees (3.50 birds) (T-test p= 0.6). This is not what we expected or other studies would suggest. Future studies should include a larger sample size with more homogeneous ages between the native and exotic windbreaks.

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  Senales por la Cocina [PowerPoint], 2014

  Erynne Van Zee, Shirley Castillo, Kristin Hall, and Corbyn Cools