It Hurts

 One of my favorite stops on the trip to Ecuador has been the cloud forest and Carlos Zorrilla's farm. We took a long, four hour hike through, up, and down the mountains in the cloud forest. The temperature was mild, not hot but not cold either. It was, of course, humid, but it wasn't uncomfortable. The moisture retained by the shelter of the forest allows a multitude of species to grow and exist. The incredible diversity that flourishes in the area is astounding! The Zorrilla farm seemed antiquated by our standards. In the cabañas where we stayed we did not have any electricity or hot water, which to us was a deprivation of technology. The new technology that we were exposed to was that which Carlos Zorrilla has been developing himself. He has been working toward making the farm self-sustaining and reducing human impact on the environment. He grows everything from bananas to coffee, naranjillas, lemons, carrots, tomatoes, and many things in-between. In fact all of the food they prepared for us during our stay was gown on the farm or in the area.

The technology of sustainability is in its own way actually more progressive than that which we are accustomed to. While much of the world's population is destroying the environment, there are people like Carlos are working to preserve it. Humans are capable of unimaginable things towards each other and towards the world in which we live. It really, quite literally took my breath away when I saw for myself that there are still some pristine areas that humans have not destroyed. It is quite unfortunate that the areas that shelter rich biodiversity and uninterrupted natural ecosystems are rich in natural resources. It is unfortunate because it gives us humans a "good" reason to destroy these pristine environments.

 At times it seems as if the world does not value the environment that supports its very existence. Instead, we would rather be able to make one more micro-processor than save a species from extinction. Ecuador by itself does not have the ability, or the money, to preserve these ecological areas. The mineral and oil rich country is struggling to find a balance between the money that allowing the area to be mined would bring in and preserving the areas. This brings a difficult dilemma to the forefront of political and economic priority. The country needs to find sources of revenue besides natural resources in order to survive. If the area were mined, it would create vast tracts of land mad into gaping maws of holes because they need to go through a lot of dirt for a little bit of ore. There are some various groups in the world that are working to help preserve these areas. Ecotourism, such as our group of students is an important source of revenue. I know that there are people that care. Our group cares enough to visit Ecuador and gain an education about these issues hands-on. It just hurts me to think that we (the world) might be too selfish to preserve areas such as the cloud forest. I just can't help but wonder if this will still be here for my future children to see, and that hurts. 

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember,

and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli