Pacari had claimed that their company worked so good with their farmers that the Fair Trade organization was minimalistic compared to the level they worked on. Due to this, they joined SPP instead. However, Fair Trade is a much more efficient organization than SPP. The other claim of the US certified organic is also not as realistic as the certification is easily bought than earned. Just because a product is organic does not mean it is sustainable. One beneficial claim that Pacari has done well was to increase the education and technology use of their farmers and children. But that too goes back to support and preserve Pacari’s profits as the farmers are more inclined to listen to the corporation.
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A bus system is an efficient way to traverse around cities as they cut out almost ¾ of travel time in cities such as Curitiba in Brazil. However, the busses are so frequently used that it is almost impossible to get on one in the morning. This becomes costly to Quito workers as they get an hour of work deducted from their paycheck if they are more than 7 ½ minutes late to work. Ecuador has strict driving restrictions that punish drivers with jail time for common misdemeanors such as speeding. Cabs in the area are owned by politicians so cops ignore their misdemeanors. To restrict the amount of assaults and burglary’s, cities are now supporting a pink bus system strictly for women.
As our morning in Chimborazo was relatively short, we met with our professor to discuss energy in the United States as well as Ecuador. New Jersey relies on 47% of its energy to come from Nuclear Power; Whereas the United States as a whole only relies on 19% of nuclear power for energy. Most of Americas energy sources are from petroleum and natural gas at 63%. Only 10% of Americas energy stems from renewable resources, the highest being hydropower.
In the Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal uses a third of renewable wind resources as an energy source. The wind resource was given to the island by the country of Denmark. However, wind power is extremely variable and is subject to change with a changing climate. Due to bird migrations and land use, wind power has low support for expansion. In many areas we visited, there were solar panels that were either being constructed or already in place. On Isabela Island, an entire field of solar panels was being constructed to replace the diesel generator that powered the town. The benefit of Solar Panels is that they are less variable than wind turbines and easier to measure over time. As China is interested in using Ecuador's oil reserves, Ecuador is looking to expand their diversity in renewable resources, such as hydropower. As the use of hydropower resources are cheaper and easier than using coal, the promotion of the resource has been greatly pushed by Ecuador. However, by damming rivers such as in coca codo sinclair, many residence in the area are angered as it blocks fresh water from their villages. Sources: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/06/10/wind-turbines-saving-galapagos-islands-464423.html http://www.power-technology.com/projects/coca-codo-sinclair-hydroelectric-project/
Deforestation is the largest contributor to climate change as agriculture, logging, drilling colonization, forest fires and overgrazing have taken over the natural world. Ecuador is known as a biological hot spot but is also in critical danger from loosing such biodiversity due to deforestation. There are four major regions in Ecuador: la oriente, la sierra, la costa and the Galapagos. The Oriente or Eastern part of Ecuador makes up the Amazon basin and its many national parks and reserves. The Oriente area suffers from biodiversity loss due to the extraction of oil in the area. The Sierra region of Ecuador focuses on the Andes Mountain range that runs down the middle of the country. The area is mainly used for agricultural and ranching purposes. La Costa, which borders the Pacific Ocean has many large ports and cites that have removed many mangrove land area for their sprawl. The Galapagos Islands are volcanic land masses 1,000 km from the Ecuadorian mainland. The area contains many indigenous species, plant and animal alike. Sources: https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/12/geography-of-ecuador/ John and Hunter took us through the 5 main exports that Ecuador relies on and the countries that receive each export. Ecuador is known for shipping cacao, shrimp, bananas, oil and flowers. The top five receivers of such products are the United States, the European Union, Chile, Vietnam and Peru.
Petroleum Ecuador makes 5,054 billion dollars in petroleum exports yearly. They place as the 5th largest provider of petroleum in all of South America and of total exports, 70% is from crude oil. The main extractor of oil in the nation was Cheveron Texaco that focused their energy in the Napo Province. However, this has lead to severe deforestation, contamination of water and oil spill and has polluted the stream and river systems. Studies have shown that in these areas there has been an increase of cancer rates and a decrease in reproductive and psychological health. In response to such issues, the government of Ecuador enacted the Yasuni- ITT initiative in 2007. This initiate worked on protecting the 10 indigenous groups and the area they live in. Shrimp Prepared and preserved shrimp brings in 2,587 billion US dollars to the country of Ecuador. The shrimp farmers use industrialized farming to grow pacific white shrimp. There are over 2,000 shrimp farms around the country that export almost 80% of their crop yield. Although this farming brings in a huge profit for the country, the farms themselves take mangrove space and pollute the area during the shrimp aeration process. In order to remove a section of the mangroves for a shrimp farm, they first bulldoze the land area then they dredge out the mud to place artificial ponds. A common issue within the farming practice is the frequent spread of shrimp disease known as white spot syndrome. Bananas and Plantains Ecuador has a huge banana and plantain industry within the country. Exports total 2,742 billion US dollars and is the largest in the world. Ecuador mainly ships the product to North America and Europe and work with the companies such as Dole, Chiquita, Fyffes and Bonita to market their product. The biggest environmental issue that farmers are recognizing is that more nutrients are needed to combat climate change. Cut flowers Cut or decorative flowers generate 802 million US dollars, or 9% of total exports. The flowers are the second most popular agricultural export. Flower growing increases the use of harmful pesticides that are continuing to poison the land around the farms. Cacao Cacao, my personal favorite export, generates 602 million US dollars for the country. Farmers export two types of cacao beans, CCN51 and the native plant. Ecuador is the fourth largest exporter of cacao in the world and generates 255,000 metric tons of it yearly. Yet there are several sustainable issues that have become a concern. Many farmers are using homogenized forests in hopes to generate a large crop yield, however, this directly results in the spread of cacao disease and is the reason the native species is so limited currently. Also, there has been debate on whether or not the farms should grow these species using organic methods for health or if farmers should continue to grow cacao to generate the highest crop yield. |
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ExperienceThrough Stockton University, I traveled to Ecuador where I studied Biodiversity, |