Nine Reasons To Be Bullish on Costa Rica… And Petrified!

This article may shock you and there will be no apologies for that because we, every man, woman and child on this small, fragile planet are facing enormous, life-threatening problems that mankind has never encountered before.

In the next 10 years, many people (myself included) believe that we will face a series of catastrophic resource wars as well as the very high probability of a serious nuclear conflict.

1. Political Instability: Unlike most nations in Central and Latin America, Costa Rica has been a stable and democratic country since it’s independence in 1948. “It has no standing army, and its citizens enjoy one of the highest life expectancy levels in the Western hemisphere and higher living standards than their war-torn neighbors.”

That’s the good news and the bad news. Good because Costa Rica is a wonderful place to live. It’s also the bad news because the country is unprepared to deal with what may come in the future.

But then again, nobody is prepared for what will come.

According to Time magazine in 2004, “some 3 million more illegal aliens will enter the country (USA).” You’d think with all that money the USA spends on homeland security, apart from succeeding in making your life miserable when you fly into the country, they might be a bit more successful in stopping the flood of illegal immigrants on the border.

But as times get tougher, it’s because of this kind of illegal immigration that the overall stability of Costa Rica will change as many more people from much poorer Central American countries flee to Costa Rica looking for a better life. At present, “There are 500,000 to 700,000 Nicaraguans working in Costa Rica, half of them illegally.”

2. Wars Will be Fought Over Water: “Billions of people will face severe water shortages.”

Thankfully Costa Rica gets plenty of water. In some areas there is certainly a water management problem primarily due to over development and a lack of infrastructure but we do have plenty of water.

3. Peak Oil: “Peak oil is the point in time when extraction of oil from the earth reaches its highest point and then begins to decline.” Many experts say we have already reached the peak. Others say not yet, but within the next few years. Whoever is right, oil is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity all over the world.

“One thing is clear: the age of easy oil is over,”said Chevron’s Chairman and CEO David J. O’Reilly in July 2005. The price of oil affects everything “Food is energy. And it takes energy to get food.”

Thankfully, Costa Rica is considered an LDC (a Less Developed Country), and yes! We will suffer but as you can imagine, “The least petroleum-dependent communities will survive best.”

4. Real Estate Crash? What will happen to real estate prices in the most northern parts of the US, Canada and Europe as the price of oil continues to rise and the cost of cooling and heating a home doubles again?

How would that affect real estate prices in other parts of the US and Costa Rica as more people search for more affordable real estate?

What will happen to our senior citizens in the community who are living on fixed incomes? Some of whom will not be able to afford to heat their homes?

5. Wars Will Be Fought Over Food – Pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers: “Most synthetic pesticides are made from petroleum products.” And “… without pesticides we could lose one third of world crops each year. Without pesticides, U.S. food production would drop and food prices would soar.”

Costa Rica is a fertile country and although we use a huge amount of pesticides it’s the large foreign owned multinational fruit companies that use the most. As an example, “In 1993 the banana sector accounted for 57% of all pesticides sales, despite occupying less than 10% of Costa Rica’s agricultural area.”

Because it is so fertile, if you are living in a rural area of Costa Rica, it would be much easier for you to grow much of your own food in Costa Rica than in would be in most places. You could also buy or barter for your own produce locally which should not be difficult.

6. Natural Energy – Costa Rica’s Volcanos: A significant amount of Costa Rica’s electrical energy needs are renewable, met by geothermal (volcanic) and hydro-electric power. In six years of living here, I have only ever been in one home that had a heating system installed.

“Thus, Costa Rica is fairly well insulated against oil price fluctuations and is able to maintain relatively cheap electricity price levels that are almost the lowest in the Americas.”

Obviously if you live at the beach where it is much hotter then air conditioning is essential for many people. This would make life very much more expensive. But in and around the Central Valley area, you don’t need heating and hardly anybody ever uses conditioning.

7. Global Warming: It would seem conclusive now that global warming is here to stay. While it is difficult to prove that the causes are man made, it isn’t getting cooler and as we have all seen, we have experienced some very strange weather!

“The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a “tipping point” beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.”

“If we don’t take action very soon, we could unleash runaway global warming that will be beyond our control and it will lead to social, economic and environmental devastation worldwide…”

In which case, a beach front property, wherever it may be, not be a smart investment after all… Your ‘ocean view’ property may be become an ‘in the ocean’ property!

You would probably be safer at higher altitudes and as sea water infiltrates the various aquifers, access to fresh drinking water near the ocean will also become more difficult.

8. Increasingly Toxic Global Environment: “The U.S. has used more DU (depleted uranium weapons) since 1991 than the atomicity equivalent of 400,000 Nagasaki bombs.” Because of this “… the World Health Organization announced in a press release that global cancer rates will increase 50 percent by 2020.”

Please note that this does not just affect the ‘enemy,’ that press release spoke of “global cancer rates” and this is not short-term. “Depleted uranium remains radioactive for literally billions of years.”

“Out of 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are dead, and by 2000 there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. This astounding number of disabled vets means that a decade later, 56 percent of those soldiers who served now have medical problems.”

“In a group of 251 soldiers from a study group in Mississippi who had all had normal babies before the Gulf War, 67 percent of their post-war babies were born with severe birth defects. They were born with missing legs, arms, organs or eyes or had immune system and blood diseases.”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or Democrat – our fathers, brothers and sons are dying because of the weapons their own government gave them to fight the ‘enemy.’ And, they will continue to die horrifically painful deaths for years to come.

On a side note, “Costa Rica condemns the use, possession, treat of use and the development of nuclear weapons. We believe that there is no ethical, legal or strategic justification for the development of weapons of mass destruction.”

And last of all, the real petrifying, eyes-wide-open shocker!



9. A High-Probability Nuclear War: Vice President Dick Cheney, the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) drew up contingency plans for a “large scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and nuclear weapons.”

On the 25th September it was reported that “Top-ranking Americans have told equally top-ranking Indians in recent weeks that the US has plans to invade Iran before Bush’s term ends.”

The Pentagon drafted document “Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations” dated March 15th, 2005 envisions the use of nuclear devices against non-nuclear adversaries “to ensure success of U.S. and multinational operations,” “to demonstrate U.S. intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter adversary use of WMD,” and “against an adversary intending to use WMD against U.S., multinational, or alliance forces.”

But don’t worry! According to the Pentagon, tactical nuclear weapons are “safe for civilians“. (???) Their use has been authorized by the US Senate. God help us!

However, as I write this, apart from a zillion retirees from the USA, Canada and Europe knocking on the doors – nobody else seems to want to invade Costa Rica and should the US go ahead with their plans to spread ‘freedom and democracy’, most people would agree that retaliation against Costa Rica is unlikely.

Written by Charlie McCormack* who is ex-Special Forces now happily ‘retired’ in Costa Rica.

* Pen name.

Note: The correct the independence date for Costa Rica is September 15th, 1821, not 1948. What happened in 1948 was the “revolution” and the change of the Constitution by means of a legal “constituent process” where the army was abolished, and the socialist structure of the State was set up.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.