Dear Students,
In your classrooms you are being introduced to the concepts of sustainability. Similarly, we are beginning to encounter sustainability in Ecuador. This video will show you our experiences with sustainability over the last two weeks while volunteering at La Hesperia: biological station and cloud forest reserve.
In the video, we explain how La Hesperia encounters the three realms of sustainability: 1) Environmental, 2) Social, and 3) Economic. In most societies, fully achieving environmental, social, and economic sustainability is close to impossible for large businesses and individuals alike. La Hesperia functions on minimal electricity, stored rain water, and food harvested on the reserve farm. Additionally, the 10-30 people who live on the reserve take cold showers, feed food waist to the reserve pig, compost all remaining food waste, and produce a maximum of 25 gallons of rubbish per week. Though coffee, chocolate, and milk are produced and sold year-round, these products do not provide nearly enough revenue to cover all reserve expenses. Likewise, while the reserve has roughly 20 hectares worth of gardens and plantations, it is still necessary to buy much of the food for workers and volunteers. Through the Montessori school and the volunteer program, La Hesperia involves local and global communities. La Hesperia is working towards teaching people of all ages the importance of the cloud forest reserve and the three facets of sustainability.
Take a moment to think about how much trash Waste Management collects on your street each week, how many gallons of water go to hot showers in the morning, or even how much food goes uneaten on all the plates in your school cafeteria.
Currently, even with all these efforts, La Hesperia is only 20% sustainable. The goal is to be 80% sustainable within the next 10 years.
Greetings from Bolivia:
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting what they are doing also congratulate them.
Ask them if they passed by Bolivia, we live in Cochabamba and belong to an environmental foundation.
www.gaiapacha.org
Well much success in everything, and move on.
Great post! We took notice in the blog post that chocolate, coffee and milk doesn't produce enough revenue to cover all expenses. How does La Hesperia cover the rest of its expenses?
ReplyDeleteAlso, does La Hesperia produce 25 gallons of trash as a community or does each individual produce 25 gallons of trash per week? What do you do with your trash that can't be composted or used on the farm?
Cool video too!
Nice video! The cloud forest is beautiful, and La Hesperia looks amazing.THanks for keeping us updated about what's going on.
ReplyDeleteRose and Ryder
Lindsey's Lit block
Edge Academy
Hi!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! it sounds like you're having a really fun experience in La Hesperia! How many other Eco-Tourists are there with you?+
We were wondering: Do you encounter much Social Justice in La Hesperia? We really enjoyed hearing about how much Environmental Justice is present in their community.We enjoy watching you milk the cow! How many times have you gotten to do that??
Have you gotten the opportunity to sample any of the cocoa that you are harvesting? We were wondering how it might taste.
What dangers have you come upon in your journey so far? Have you met any other interesting people? We wish you luck, and can't wait to Skype!!
(Above comment from Rylee and Parker)
ReplyDeleteWe were also thinking along the same lines. We were wondering if La Hesperia produces 25 gallons of trash then how much trash do you think we produce? Also what do they do with their excess trash? Do they have a dump or do they bury it or something else? Do you think it's hard to live this way or is easy or do you just get use to it? Do you think that better to live this way or do you think that everyone should keep on living the way they do?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the biking like? Is it harder then you thought? Is the terrain harder then you were prepared for? Are you making it as far as you want to in a day? Did you have any problems with the bikes? Have you gotten lost? Hit any road blocks.
We heard you are in potential danger, please tell us more about this.
Hollie and Gio
The differences between what the kids from La Hesperia are learning and what we were learning at that age are so incredible. They seem so aware of the world at such a young age when we wouldn't even have heard the word "sustainability" yet.It amazes me how much they understand and want to help the world when there so young.
ReplyDeletecomment above is from Brittney and Erin
ReplyDeleteIt was cool seeing the people from other cultures. I think it would be cool to Skype you guys and the kids at the montessori school.
ReplyDeleteJoe A.
Lindsey's lit block
Edge Academy
We thought it was amazing how little waste they have compared to us.
ReplyDeleteThe video was very interesting because we didn't know there are cows in la Hesperia we also thought it was interesting how much work they have to put in everyday and how close the community is.
From,
Julia & Amanda :P
This was a great video! We think the area is amazing!!:) Has Emily milked a cow before? We noticed that everyone works together...
ReplyDeleteLiam and Daniel:)
Lindsey's LIT block
Edge Academy
I liked the video. What were they planting and where does the door in the beginning lead to?
ReplyDeleteZachary
hello the video was cool because i wanted to know what it looks like i want to have a little buddy to teach about how the edge works
ReplyDeleteAlan
Hello pedal for change
ReplyDeletewe saw your video and thought it was really cool we hope you are having fun!!!!
I was wondering...
1. Does the milk from the cow taste good?
2. Do you like it down there in south america?
3.Is La Hesperia bigger or smaller than VT?
4.What dangerous things ahev you come upon so far in your bike ride?
We can't wait to see you on skype??
Bonnie
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEmily’s Replys:
ReplyDeleteTo Hormiguita- Thank you for reading our blog! Did you know we are planning on going to GaiaPacha? We are planning on being there on the 10th of January. We are actually working on living arangements and are looking to “couch-surf” for the month we are there. Do you know of anyone who is a member? Hopefully we will get a chance to meet you when we are in Cochabamba!
Best,
Emily, Rayna, and Kether
To Edge Kids- Right now La Hesperia is covering their expenses by fundraising, grant money, and from the volunteer donations. They eventually would like to be sustainable enough to be able to produce chocolate and coffee for sale throughout Ecuador. They are probably a ways from this happening though.
The 25 gallons of trash is as a community not each individual. This trash is usually burned in a weekly bon fire.
There were between 8 and 12 other volunteers at La Hesperia while we were there.
At the moment, Alexandra and Juan Pablo are working hard to get the local communities involved in the reserve and the school. Through hiring workers from local areas, offering schooling to any family who needs it, and starting tourist programs that would create more jobs, La Hesperia does their best to achieve social sustainability.
We only got to milk a cow once but I hope I will get to do it much more in the future!
We did get to taste the coco! And it is not like your average chocolate bar because it is meant to have more milk and sugar added to it. So it tastes very bitter.
Mostly we have just heard about the dangers that others have encountered, things like people being robbed. We have met very nice people though, and they have helped us with advice on how to avoid most of these things happening to us.
It is very interesting what the kids are learning at such a young age! It has a lot to do with growing up near the cloud forest. It is similar to the way you grow up with recycling and learning about environmentalism. They are learning about the forest now, but not as much about trash disposal.
The kids were planting a lot of different things…peas, cilantro, beets, lettuce, beans, and more! And the door in the beginning leads up the hill to La Hesperia.
The milk from the cow does taste good! Like whole milk but richer and fresher!
We do like it very much down here in South America
La Hesperia is very small. It is about the size of Stowe, VT. Ecuador is about the size of 2 Vermonts.
We have only encountered stories of bad things, but not danger ourselves. We have heard of people getting robbed.