Tican to His Roots
Fabricio Camacho & the UGA Costa Rica Carbon Offset Program
Delta Flight 900 from the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta to the Juan Santamaria Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica had an exciting start as the captain recognized Vicky Simmons, a sweet-smiled woman who had just completed her 35th year as a flight attendant with Delta. Everyone clapped as the other flight attendants presented her with a gift. Vicky beamed ear to ear as everyone congratulated her; then she proceeded to be one of the best, most attentive flight attendants I’ve ever had.
After Vicky’s recognition, I settled into my window seat, and the remainder of the flight passed relatively quickly as I watched a mediocre Hugh Grant movie that I’d never heard of and now can’t even recall the title of, all the while taking for granted the fact that there is always a cost to the things we do in today’s modern society.
It was my thirteenth time on a plane, but not once had I ever thought about the many environmental sacrifices it takes to get me wherever I’m going.
Until now, sitting in the uniquely named “Motmot” classroom, named, as many of the classrooms here are, after a beautiful bird species abundant here in Costa Rica, listening raptly to Fabricio Camacho as he describes the carbon offset program in place here on the breathtaking University of Georgia Costa Rica campus.
“There is about 1 metric ton of CO2 released for every student who flies here. 250 students every year. So we’re trying to teach students and people to live sustainably, but we aren’t living sustainably.”
We are beginning our fourth day here at the UGA Costa Rica campus in San Luis de Monteverde. Our newly established routine consists of early breakfasts and early bedtimes, hikes and tours and so many orientations. We stumble into the Motmot classroom about 20 minutes late because, as usual, we’re a little clueless about where we’re supposed to be on campus. And there, we meet Fabricio.
Fabricio Camacho is Tican to the bone. He grew up in the southern part of Costa Rica. His upbringing on his family’s farm instilled a strong work ethic in him and, as he says, “generated [in him] a special sensitivity to the environment.” He has hungrily pursued that environmental sensitivity in his many continued studies, as he has a Bachelor’s degree in Forestry and Management of Natural Resources, a Master’s degree in Environmental Leadership, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Sustainable Farming. No wonder UGA Costa Rica is so lucky to have him as their General Manager here on campus.
“We’re trying to slowly but surely change the paradigm. That’s why you see that many of the activities you guys do here, they have a relationship, or they help you develop relationships and connections with the environment, with the community, with the beauty of nature, with the beauty of people. That’s what we are talking about here.”
Fabricio, with his kind eyes and calming presence, is just one example of the beauty of people here in the community of San Luis, and his work in this community is just one of many examples of people living their lives in a way that benefits both their communities and their environments. He is admired and renowned by everyone who works with him, to the point where many of us had already heard his name floating around before even knowing whom he is or what he does here.
Fabricio got his start at UGA Costa Rica working as a naturalist intern and in the business office. Shortly after, he was promoted to General Manager by Oscar, the General Manager at the time, who left to work fulltime at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, the same Oscar who happened to give us our Spanish-only Cloud Forest tour just yesterday.
“There’s a lot of talk about a concept called sustainability or sustainable development.”
Fabricio energetically begins his talk about carbon offset and the program in place here at UGA by addressing the changes that have occurred in human society since the start of the Industrial Revolution. We use machines to increase productivity and prosperity in our lives, but oftentimes neglect to recognize the impacts that those machines make on our home, the earth. We must reach a point where our productivity and economic growth are in balance with the needs of people and of the environment. Finding equilibrium in this three-way relationship is the key to sustainability.
When you take a step back and look at the numbers, the statistics on carbon emissions are immediately overwhelming, so much so that many people choose to ignore them entirely. That is not the case here at UGA Costa Rica, and it certainly isn’t the case with Fabricio. Fabricio’s philosophy is that energy expenditure is not the evil of all evils. Rather, it is something we require in order to develop into a holistic person.
“Every single thing that we do nowadays we are producing an emission. We don’t have to feel bad about it, okay? That’s how life works. But that doesn’t mean that we have to ignore the impacts that we are generating in the environment by having our lifestyle.”
Fabricio directs our attention to the classroom we sit in. He wants to know the impacts we are generating right here, right now. Breathing is mentioned as the primary release of carbon, and Fabricio chuckles amicably. But he wants us to dig deeper, see more. We point out the electricity being used to power the TV monitor and the computer.
Fabricio asks us if we have seen the ways that this campus counteracts the release of carbon and the subsequent environmental impacts. Immediately, people begin spouting out the ways we’ve seen that UGA Costa Rica is different.
The hot water in our showers is 100% solar heated. The buildings, the walls, the quaint rocking chairs on the front porches, the picnic-style dinner tables, the bunk beds reminiscent of summer camp, all are made entirely of teak wood because it absorbs carbon most efficiently. The bio-digester is an advanced piece of machinery that basically takes all of the waste from the plumbing and converts it into methane gas, which then powers all of the appliances in the kitchen. Everywhere we look, there are recycling bins to minimize the amount of unnecessary waste produced by UGA Costa Rica. All of the food we eat is either grown or purchased locally, generating food security within the community of San Luis.
“When we did that inventory of negative impacts, one of the main impacts, one of the big realizations that we had is that we are making a lot of efforts so that this campus is sustainable. The water, the energy, the food, the natural resources, that we use here they’re used carefully but we didn’t realize necessarily before that the largest impact we were generating is having you guys come here.”
Today, Fabricio is giving this talk to teach us, to inspire us, to encourage us to make personal changes in our lives, even when we return to our daily routines in the States. But he is also giving this talk to preface an activity, a hands on opportunity to make a different here and now, a chance to mitigate that metric ton of CO2 that was released in order for each one of us to travel here.
His enthusiasm and passion for this topic is evident and contagious. You can see it in the way his eyes light up. Many of the students in our group grew up recycling, and thus, we all at least have a surface level appreciation for the topic. However, when Fabricio dismisses our class to go help Lucas with the tree planting, our excitement begins to wane as we realize we won’t actually be planting any trees today. Instead, we will be packing soil into bags and planting the seedlings in the bags to germinate.
“One of the main principles of sustainability is being able to understand, what are the impacts an operation such as UGA Costa Rica generates in the environment and in the local society. We did an inventory of all the positive impacts we generate in this community and all the negative impacts. We are in the process of developing initiatives so that we mitigate the negative impacts.”
However, it’s hard to stay grumpy when we’re surrounded by the beauty of the Costa Rican outdoors. Soon enough, everyone is scooping dirt and enthusiastically packing it into tiny black bags. Somehow, there’s something satisfying about digging your fingers down into the cool, black dirt and knowing that what we’re doing is significant. We’re part of the cycle. We are preserving the beauty of our world. It may seem small right now, but the impact of the trees we plant is huge.
“Problems are opportunities. We have a great opportunity to change, to make internal changes in our lifestyles and internal changes in our societies so that we respond to a fairer world. It’s all about justice. It’s all about respect for each other, for the environment. If we keep that perspective, there is a lot of hope. There are a lot of chances for us to be successful.”
This, the beauty we seek to protect…
