Why Even Care?

By: Me, Dried up Riverbed near Sixaola, Coast Rica

As I wrote in my profile I have had an incredible opportunity to see so much of the world in the past five years. My passion for exploring and protecting the environment started in High School when I was taught some basic ecological concepts that made me realize the intricacy of the natural world but also how everything is connected. There are fundamental reasons why the natural world functions as it does and those reasons are critical to the survival of wildlife and subsequently for us humans. My interpretation is that there would be far fewer natural disasters if we had maintained the conditions of ecological systems as close as possible to their natural state.

I was able to accompany a University of Redlands Conservation May term course in 2009 as a teaching assistant. The course was meant to help students recognize all that goes into conservation, from a community grassroots facet to government instated rules and regulations.
While we were visiting the South East corner of Costa Rica we were told a story about a town in the area. This story solidifies my reason for caring about the environment and wanting to protect what is left.

Costa Rica has been taken over by fruit production companies for years and years. Dole has been one of the major stakeholders in the Costa Rica fruit industry and unfortunately they have caused a lot of harm to the environment and subsequently to the people.

There is a town called Sixaola and it is situated downstream on the Sixaola River on the border of Costa Rica and Panama. Sixaola has it local trash dump just upstream from the town center but it is fairly unregulated and not taken care of. In most developing countries trash disposal is not up to the standards that we see in developed countries. Hospital refuse goes to the town dump as well as mechanical parts and other hazardous material.

Upstream from Sixaola is where United Fruit (previously owned by Dole) has many of their plantations, mainly banana plantations. Years ago Dole had completely clear cut all the forests in the area to plant banana trees. The clear cutting also took out the forests along the Sixaola River. There is a crucial reason for why trees and vegetation in general rest along rivers. The roots grow deep into the ground and keep the soil in place. As rivers flow the water slowly erodes the riverbank, carrying the sediment and soil down stream. Tree roots protect this from happening. An increase in sedimentation (soil being eroded and taken down stream) along the river bank, decreases water quality but also makes the riverbed more shallow. Combining the issue of no longer having the appropriate amount of vegetation to soak up the water and a shallower river bed, the river will consequently overflow.

This is exactly what happened in Sixaola. No longer were the river banks covered with vegetation and trees to protect the soil from eroding, so when heavy rains came the river overflowed and severe flooding occurred in the area. The river water quickly filled the Sixaola dump and carried all the refuse into the town. Not only did the flooding destroy the town but the amount of trash, syringes from the hospital, and other hazardous material also flooded the town. It took months and months to clean up and still to this day the town is dealing with the repercussions of upstream deforestation.

The point that I am trying to make is that the trees were there for a reason and should have never been cut down along the river. Wetlands protect coasts from oceanic forces such as waves and hurricanes, but we have destroyed those and put up cities. Wetland plants clean the water and keep it purified for us humans to consume but we have dredged them and covered them up with cement.

Trees exist to protect river banks, soak up water, provide shade, take in CO2. Birds exist to eat insects and keep an equilibrium, bees pollinate most of the plants we grow and without them our food chain could easily collapse. I am guessing that you get the point by now. Nature functions the way it does for a reason and we have to help keep it intact. Nature is intelligent and we need to listen and watch it much more carefully. We could learn a lot.