The University of Georgia Costa Rica 2014-2015 Sustainability Report UGA Costa Rica 2014 - 2015 Sustainability Report | Page 7
2014 – 2015 Sustainability Report
Welcome
In the anthropocene, with human powers
of creation and destruction expanding
dramatically, the awakening of a broader and
deeper sense of shared ethical responsibility
must be considered an especially critical
component of any strategy for the future wellbeing of people and planet.
— Steven Rockefeller
I’m often told I have the dream job— director of this
beautiful campus in Costa Rica. I have to agree, but
that is true because of the people I work with and
the community in which we are located. When I am
at the UGACR campus and visiting our neighbors in
San Luis, I truly feel the essence of ten words within
the Earth Charter Preamble: “human development is
primarily about being more, not having more.” I am
also reminded that “[t]he spirit of human solidarity
and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live
with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for
the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place
in nature.”
In 2010, Anna Claire Davis and Claudia Langford (our
first two sustainability interns), Fabricio Camacho
(our campus general manager), and I came up with
11 measurable goals we could use to demonstrate
UGACR’s sustainability commitment and chart our
progress over the coming five years. Now we’re here,
five years later. This report describes what we’ve done
and how we’ve done in meeting these goals. It’s been
a fun exercise, and we hope you enjoy reading about
what we’ve been up to, how we’ve both succeeded and
failed, and what we’ve learned from both success and
failure that help us move forward.
As the concept of sustainability becomes more
commonplace, and the study of sustainability sciences
infiltrates across disciplines within the realm of
academia UGACR finds ourselves presented with
great opportunities and also many challenges. As an
endorser of the Earth Charter, we strongly believe
that, as an academic institution and as a business
operation, we have an obligation to first internalize
and then reflect the Charter’s sixteen principles which
offer an integrated people-centered and Earthcentered ethical compass for charting the way forward.
It is our long-term goal that the UGACR campus’
physical facilities and operational policies and
procedures reflect a deep, fundamental commitment
to principles of sustainability. It is also our long-term
goal that our staff internalize this same commitment
and bring it both to their individual homes and infuse
it within our community, San Luis de Monteverde. If
the UGACR campus is a bubble within our community,
we’re not going to be a sustainable operation.
If San Luis becomes a bubble of sustainability within
our surrounding region, the Bellbird Biological
Corridor, that is not a long-term sustainable situation
for UGACR or for the San Luis community. As a center
which receives guests from all over the world to study,
research, and simply enjoy the social ecology and the
natural history of the Monteverde region, UGACR has
not simply the opportunity, but the responsibility to
practice and reflect a holistic adoption of sustainability
principles. In doing so we plant the seeds (or provide
fertilizer for seeds already planted) for germination
in communities near and far. We must also reach
out to other businesses and academic institutions
and government agencies and non-governmental
organizations to support each other in advancing
sustainability goals. Creating such cross-institutional,
cross-sectoral support networks is critical for bursting
sustainability bubbles and fostering a true societal
shift toward a new socioeconomic system which
operates with respect and care for the community of
life, with ecological integrity, with social and economic
justice, and that supports democracy, nonviolence,
and peace.
Quint Newcomer, PhD
Director, UGA Costa Rica
2014 – 2015 Sustainability Report
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