Honors Students Study Environmental Conflict in Costa Rica

A group of honors students from Eastern Connecticut State University spent 10 days in Costa Rica in May 2017 for a field course that examined the country's rich biodiversity and developing agricultural industry.

"This course required students to examine the conflict between preservation of the tropical rainforest and Costa Rica's economic shift to export-focused agriculture," said Patricia Szczys, biology professor and trip supervisor.

"Our trips to plantations as well as conservation centers and the tropical rainforest allowed us to see how the Costa Rican citizens feel about the conflict, what they're doing to fix it, and put our research into perspective," said Michelle D'Agata '18, a sport and leisure management major. "Overall, I found that the citizens, scientists and plantation owners have positive attitudes and genuine concerns for the environment, and plantation owners use a number of tactics to minimize their negative impacts."

The trip to Costa Rica was the field component of a course taken on the Eastern campus during the academic year. The students toured the tropical rainforest as well as plantations that grow pineapples, bananas, peppercorn and coffee. They even participated in a community service project where they planted 100 trees at a peppercorn farm as part of a reforestation effort.

"Costa Rica was certainly a great conclusion to my undergraduate career!" said Kayla Giordano '17, a political science and economics double major. "I think the most eye-opening part of the trip was experiencing how our food is grown and how different agriculture is in Costa Rica compared to the United States. I'm glad I spent the semester learning about the biodiversity in Costa Rica before actually traveling to the country. It was awesome to be able to identify species we'd discussed in class during excursions into the rainforest."

Written by Michael Rouleau

Categories: Study Abroad, Biology, Student Activities