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cjones


83 Blog Entries
1 Trip
309 Photos

Trips:

so-journ

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Anthony
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Challenge to science

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador


Last week I checked out a book from the library at Rio Muchacho titled "Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition," written by Wendell Berry in 2000. This book has a lot of significance for me, as it challenges not only many commonly accepted beliefs of our society in general, but especially those advocated and taught in the universities - even more specifically within the field of population biology, which was my area of concentration in college. It is essentially a review and critique of ideas presented in another book called "Consilience" by E.O. Wilson. Although I haven't read this book, Wilson wrote the textbooks for 2 of my courses in college and from other articles I've read I think he well represents the perspectives of my biology professors.

I had the good fortune to hear Wendell Berry speak about a year ago at the Prairefest conference on sustainability organized by the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. This is the first book I've read by him but I doubt it will be the last. There's so much depth in his writing that for me it has to be taken in small doses and reread several times. I could probably write an entire book myself on thoughts that have been unleashed by reading this review of another book.

WB refers to the dominant modern wordview as "science-technology-and-industry" and he opposes the obsession with or being first or original in human endeavors, the preference for novelty vs. timeless truths, as well as the view that knowledge is always good and that accumulation of knowledge and communication of scientific or literary information should be unrestricted. When it comes to scientific knowledge, certain technologies such as nuclear engineering, agricultural biotech and cloning may be better left unexplored. Knowledge and "solutions" do not necessarily result in a net gain to the world after considering the destruction and new unsolved problems created by them. In literature and the arts (including popular media) the artist or author as a member of society and party to personal relationships bears responsibility for betrayal of confidence and for influencing other members of society. In regard to conservation, WB sees more potential in people who have come to know and love a place and its individual living inhabitants, and in those inspired by God's love for creation, than in a scientific reduction to abstract concepts such as species, ecosystems and biodiversity to be managed with technology as if parts of a machine.

On the farm, we get up before 6 AM to do chores before breakfast, then have classroom instruction and practice in the field both morning and afternoon. On many nights after dinner, we've watched videos on food, agriculture, conservation and development-related topics. On other nights we learned to make products from food grown on the farm like chocolate, coffee, cheese and marmalades. Also had Spanish classes for a couple of hours a day this past week. Saw a toucan in the wild for the first time and up close - feeding on a fruit of a papaya tree.



permalink written by  cjones on November 17, 2007 from Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Rio Muchacho

Canoa, Ecuador


Arrived yesterday at the Rio Muchacho organic farm - about 30 minutes drive inland from Canoa.

Thursday, I met with the staff of Yanapuma at their office in Quito to discuss a sustainable development internship the first 3 months of next year and also to share in the traditional celebration of Dia de los Muertos by preparing then drinking a purple juice called "colada morada" along with bread in the shape of dolls called "guaguas de pan." Afterwards, we went for dinner, live jazz and good conversation at a nearby restaurant.

Friday and yesterday I traveled with the other students from Quito to the farm where we'll be taking an organic agriculture course for 4 weeks. Today we had a short introductory class, then the rest of the day off at the beach in Canoa, where there's internet access. Strange that we're at the equator at sea level and the temperature is still cool.

permalink written by  cjones on November 4, 2007 from Canoa, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Spirit of sustainability

Quito, Ecuador


On the bus to Quito, I finished a book called Tropical Forests and the Human Spirit, which describes the contemporary trend in forest conservation toward local community management of forest resources. The book refers to the concept in economics called the "tragedy of the commons" which maintains that given the freedom to do so, individuals will pursue their self interest in exploiting common resources, which ultimately leads to their destruction. The unanswered question in the book is how the "tragedy of the commons" can be averted.

Traditionally, forest peoples have often sustainably managed their lands and resources when their societies have been united by common spiritual beliefs and prohibitions against destructive practices. But what is to prevent self-interested exploitation when communities have recently settled their lands, communities are fragmented and have lost a cohesive value system, or modern values have encroached upon and replaced traditional ones? Isn't an inner transformation necessary for a truly sustainable and just way of life?

Unfortunately, Christianity has developed a bad image for itself in the eyes of many compassionate advocates for conservation and social justice. I think part of the image problem could be justified given the actions of some missionaries in the past, but the rest could be attempts by the System, what the Bible calls "the world," to discredit a way of life that threatens the selfish ambition and materialism it promotes. However, taken to heart I know of no better guide to a spirit of sustainable development that can heal and save commmunities and the natural world. I think the church needs conservation and conservation needs the church.


Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:8 & 9


That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:13

permalink written by  cjones on November 1, 2007 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Pasto

Pasto, Colombia


Now in Pasto in southern Colombia, after spending most of the last 4 days with Emilio - Sunday at an amazing private nature reserve called Nirvana run by the family of a friend of his, then the last 2 days traveling with him from Cali. He had to go to work in the forest just east of here (with indigenous communities in the Putumayo) and offered a ride in his car. Many interesting sights along the way, including many army or police checkpoints, especially between Cali and Popayan, which is in an area of much guerrilla activity in recent years. We were stopped a couple of times and searched once. Drove through some very diverse and beautiful terrain. Pasto seems like a nice town but I'm not going to have much time to look around since I need to be in Quito tomorrow. It's much cooler here in the mountains and has been raining much of the time.

permalink written by  cjones on October 30, 2007 from Pasto, Colombia
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Emilio's farm

Cali, Colombia


Today I met a friend of my friend Naresuan who lives here in Cali, and is a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund working on conservation, sustainable development and land use planning in the Putumayo department to the southeast. This was completely unplanned before yesterday and an incredible opportunity for me to learn more about Colombia and many of the things I'm most interested in learning about on this journey!

In addition to his consulting work, Emilio has a farm about a hour's drive from Cali, near Dagua, where he grows coffee as well as many experimental crops for income including flowers, ornamental plants, giant bamboo, tropical hardwoods such as mahogany, butterflies and aquarium fish. In addition he grows a variety of food for his family and is planning to open an ecotourism center. At breakfast, I changed my plans to leave Cali today and instead rode with him to the farm where he gave me a tour for a few hours. Enjoyed a lot of good conversation (in English) and views of beautiful countryside and interesting roadside market activity.



permalink written by  cjones on October 27, 2007 from Cali, Colombia
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Cali

Cali, Colombia


Torrential rains in Cartagena yesterday morning. Rivers of water about a foot deep flowed through the narrow streets and about an inch of water washed in from the streets onto the floor of the restaurant where I had breakfast. My flight from Cartagena to Cali was delayed by more than 5 hours because of the rain.

National elections are Sunday and as in Guatemala it's very dangerous to be a political candidate here. Candidates and their families are often targeted for assassinations or kidnappings. Read in the paper a couple of days ago that as of then there had been 29 assasinations, 9 kidnappings and 27 other attacks. Other differences I've heard about with elections here are that bars and liquor stores are closed the whole weekend of the elections and buses and many other businesses don't operate on election day. Wonder if that makes it difficult for some to travel to the polling place.

permalink written by  cjones on October 26, 2007 from Cali, Colombia
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On solid ground in Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia



The Melody has landed! Arrived yesterday in Cartagena after 5 days and 4 nights on the water with 9 other backpackers from the US, Canada and Sweden. It was a fun trip aside from getting seasick on the 4th day.

Really curious about seeing Colombia firsthand, since I've heard so many conflicting things about the country. Appears that all those things could be true, just that different people see different sides. Today I glanced through a book on the subject called Las Dos Colombias (another book apparently not available in English or probably in the States). There are a lot of police and military roaming the streets, but the ones I've seen so far seem no better or worse than those in the US - most seem like decent people and I'm sure they make the streets safer for gringos like me.

Met a Colombian lady who believes that most people here are not truly patriotic but have a regional mentality and are not very concerned about what is happening in another part of the country. The human rights organizations and the UN all say that the level of violence against the poor and indigenous people in the rural areas is the highest in Latin America at this time - akin to the violence in Guatemala in the 80s and most of it perpetrated by paramilitaries who have ties to the military and police. Colombia is also known to have the highest internal displacement (largely due to the violence) in the world except for Darfur - estimates are 2 to 4 million people over the past 20 years.

Back to my immediate location: Cartagena is a popular tourist destination for both backpackers and upscale tourists. The historic center is a beautiful place to walk around with colonial architecture and narrow cobblestone streets lined by 2-story buildings with balconies overflowing with tropical flowers. Such contrasts in this country!



permalink written by  cjones on October 23, 2007 from Cartagena, Colombia
from the travel blog: so-journ
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Setting sail

Portobelo, Panama


Leaving on a chartered yacht (very reasonable) for the San Blas islands and Colombia tomorrow!

permalink written by  cjones on October 17, 2007 from Portobelo, Panama
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End of the long bus ride

Panama, Panama


Arrived in Panama City yesterday after 3 days on long-distance buses from Tegucigalpa. Very heavy rains and flooding in Costa Rica, which delayed the bus 6 hours because part of the Pan-american highway collapsed. Giant waves on rivers we crossed over. This is the same highway that passes through KC as I-35.

Relaxing here at a hostel and looking into options for transportation into Colombia. The city here is very modern and not too unlike the US, but especially diverse being located between South America and the rest of Central America and the only Central American capital on the Pacific coast, so there's some Asian influence.

Read in the paper here that the "economy" of Panama grew 7.5% in the past year, but 64% of the population is in poperty with a third in extreme poverty, and the poverty has not decreased. Also read that at least by one account the richest man in the world now is from Mexico, another country where there is much poverty. Something's wrong with this picture! Whose really benefitting from the economic growth?

permalink written by  cjones on October 14, 2007 from Panama, Panama
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Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa, Honduras


In the capital city of Tegucigalpa, doing some planning for the rest of the trip and stopped in a bookstore this morning. Of course most of it's in Spanish but found a lot of good material on subjects I'm trying to learn more about such as economic, social and ecological factors affecting the situation here in Central America. Strange that the historic downtown area has a nice park and baroque cathedral but mostly US or similar fast-food chains for restaurants.

permalink written by  cjones on October 9, 2007 from Tegucigalpa, Honduras
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