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Seeds of Change is where I’ve gotten most of my non-GMO organic seed supply. I have no idea where you’d get like product in Costa Rica. Maybe Naturastyle.com would have them. Someone should know. Or maybe contacting an organic farm near you.
An infectious agent is destroying banana crops/trees already! Worldwide erradication of bananas crops is predicted to occur by…
Sorry folks, do your homework. You’ll be shocked.
This, not surprisingly, was the germ of an idea for another book I am researching, to make into another spiriual romantic thriller. Guess the principle female character should be a pealer (aka stripper).
Sorry folks, I can’t resist a pun or two when the opportunity to contrast the sad with the funny arises.
Please point me to the research on this as I would love to look into it further!
We are living in VERY dangerous times and people insist on thinking that it’s no different this time but they’re wrong – it is VERY different this time.
Scott
Guru – Please point me to the source of your assertion that Costa Rica gets the majority of its revenues from import taxes. What happened to Tourism, Coffee, Sugar, Bananas, and all the light industry installed there in the last 20 years?
Regarding deforestation in Costa Rica, it is true that years ago there were incentives for people to slash woodland for farming & ranching. This policy may very well have been prompted by the World Bank. I know it is also true that illegal tree harvests are still taking place. However, there has been tremendous reforestation going on there for two decades now, as well as continuing efforts to expand the protected areas, which already make up a greater percentage of land than any country in the world. I think the World Bank also recognizes mistakes it has made.
Regarding US multinationals, there’s definitely some sad history there, but there’s a good side that should be acknowledged. US companies operating in Costa Rica offer some of the best employment opportunities around for Ticos. Ask them yourselves. They are well paid, well treated, and highly trained, which is more than can be said for many Tico companies. Don’t forget, many US entrepreneurs learned how to conduct business in large US firms, then went out to do it on their own. Ticos can do the same, and that is a positive thing for the country.
Regarding CAFTA, while there are still many inequities out there, and many people will suffer through the change, it is a case of pushing a fledgling bird out of the nest to see if it will fly. Costa Rica has several fine institutions that did great things in the past. The ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) did a FANTASTIC jobs providing Ticos with electricity, even in very rural settings. AyA (Aquaductos y Acantarillados – Waterworks) did an equally terrific job in providing quality drinking water. As far as the MEP (Ministerio de Educación Pública) is concerned, I never bought the “95%” literacy rate (what does that mean anyway?), but no one can say that Costa Ricans aren’t highly educated, they are. In my opinion, they’re much more globally aware than gringos.
HOWEVER, the times, they are a changin’, and I don’t think we can go back. Sure, there are inequities and injustices that need to be righted, but the fact is that Costa Ricans have recently stagnated in a protected environment. There is no such thing as a “free market”, but there is certainly a “freer market”, and that’s what Costa Rica needs, the opportunity to compete head to head in the world. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Incidentally, in case you haven’t heard there’s a very large segment of the US population that’s against CAFTA, and NAFTA, because of the very same things that Costa Ricans are afraid of. My comments about Costa Rican protectionism are equally applicable to the US. The greatest promoter of the “free market” greatly limits immigrant labor, food and textile imports, as well as foreign ownership of national companies on “security” issues. The US also provides huge incentives for farming and other industries to continue to engage in unproductive activities.
In Costa Rica, the ICE has since become a formidable barrier to progress, impeding the success of businesses of all sizes because of its poor handling of the telecommunications market. There’s nothing worse than a slow, inept, beaurocratic octopus of a governmental agency with a monopoly over one of the fastest paced high-tech industries around, one that can make or break a business. It’s ironic that Costa Rica’s idealic past prevents it from accepting change when it’s undeniably needed. Nicaragua and El Salvador, countries with less than stellar pasts, are embracing change because of it. Costa Rica is taking baby steps into the future, screaming and complaining all along the way.
We all need to break down the walls that inhibit free trade, because this will bring us all closer together. There’s pain in change, but none so great as the absence of change.
That said, I agree that systems are not in place to keep it fair, or to minimize the pain of transition.
With regard to Mexico, I believe that NAFTA has had a tremendous impact in Mexico. The Mexican economy of today is thriving compared to 20 years ago and before. These free trade agreements have helped the US as well, in that we too are stronger for it, and are more prepared for the future, in spite of the pain it has caused here.
There’s an interesting link between the seed issue and a single global economy though. The less seed variety, the greater the risk of famine. The fewer economies, the greater the recessions. However, I still believe that linking economies and international business both on large and small scales (even an American B&B in Costa Rica) is the best avenue toward political stability and social justice.
Edited on Jul 15, 2006 07:09
NAFTA did nothing in Mexico but make the rich richer. Just ask any of the 400 Mexican immigrants who were at the fiesta I attended last week. Does the peasant in Mexico have a better life? NO! He’s trying to get across the border to work here. Free Trade is just another word for globalization — it ain’t about benefitting the little guy — yeah, maybe some gringo will not have to pay such exorbitant taxes on his monstrous SUV he wants to bring to Costa Rica, but for the rest of the folks, it’s bad news. I don’t want to eat GMO food and I’ll take ICE any day over WorldCom, MCI, or Sprint, or any one of those crooks who ripped people off. Don’t kid yourself, if the World Bank and the IMF are involved in anything, it’s the kiss of death. Ask Evo.
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