Educating kids at EOH

I think the most important aspect of what we could be taking from the course is the sustainability part. I want parts of the booth to focus on how sustainable the systems of Puerto Rico and Illinois are. I’ve always been a guy rooted into nature and to me I got to experience one of the most beautiful pieces of scenery that a person could witness. I think we shouldn’t take it for granted and I think we should let the kids at EOH know that even though we had fun, we only had fun because we were surrounded by all of the nature. It’s much more important to me that they get an educational experience rather than a fun one. It would obviously be best to combine the two but I would prefer them to leave with a thought like “man, I want to visit Puerto Rico but I want to see it in all of its glory.” Because unfortunately money can be  a bigger influence on some areas than trying to preserve the beauty of nature. At the end of it I want us to be able to focus on the aspects of our trip that really made us appreciate it and want to go back.

Surf’s up

Continuing on what has been an extremely eventful time in Puerto Rico we have had the fortune of being able to stay in an apartment right on the border of the Recinto Universidad de Mayagüez. Some could say we’re getting a full experience since we’re staying in an apartment with barely any of the utilities that are commonplace in Illinois. I absolutely love it, I’ve always liked camping and living very frugally so this is even more comfortable for me. We get to take cold showers as well because the weather is always at a perfect temp and then at night it gets nice and cool. I haven’t had one uninteresting day here yet. Fortunately when we interacted with the students at the university we were able to find out that they are just as concerned about the effects of human interaction on the environment as us. It doesn’t alleviate the issues we face but it helps to know that a larger global scale we can all come together as one to prevent us from destroying the only sure source of life we have. At the same time when we go to the farms here they are much different as well. I wouldn’t say they are more environmentally friendly for the purpose of helping the Earth, it’s maybe a more economic purpose but whatever works I guess. The farmers here want to grow as much as possible in as little space as possible, they use citrus trees to cover the coffee plants so they can control climate, grow more, and sell a diverse amount of crops to use for multiple purposes. This is a much more eco friendly way of doing it rather than creating mass production farms in Illinois that get carpet bombed with fertilizers and pesticides. I personally think that food should never be one of the things that people should be cheap on because it affects our bodies so intricately. I think the locals here have a much higher appreciation for their food which is why it seems like they are much more aware of where everything comes from. At the end of all of it we need to educate both sides on the sustainability of the agricultural practices on either side. There are factors we all should improve on but some of these farms are doing it completely correct here. For example we visited a plantain farm where they use drip irrigation to effectively water their plants and a fertilizer that slowly deteriorates by use of a polymer so it is easily able to be fertilized without producing any significant runoff. In Illinois we still face a huge runoff problem that leads to Eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico. I think the best course of action is to take what we learn here in Puerto Rico and apply it to what we’re doing in the farms of Illinois. Aside from the farms we got to spend a substantial amount of extra time at the beach since my last post. I’ve been pretty burned but body surfing 14-18 foot swells was definitely worth it. It’s incredibly interesting to see how much different certain parts of Puerto Rico can get. Isla Verde compared to Mayaguez is unrecognizable. It completely caters to the United States tourist and they don’t ever leave the strip. They stay on the beach and make sure that they just lay out and watch the water, I personally don’t like it and think it’s a waste of a vacation but to each their own. It’s kind of sad because they miss out on a lot, but there’s a gucci store so that makes up for it I guess.

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Strangers in Puerto Rico

As I have further progressed in my trip to Puerto Rico I have to come to learn that it is not at all what I expected, and i have completely fallen in love. I love the food, the people, the nature, the culture, everything. I came here expecting to see a place somewhat similar to the United States and the Puerto Rican neighborhoods I see in Chicago. But what I have witnessed is an area filled with extreme dynamics and diversity. You can drive for an hour starting in the greenest, oldest living ecosystem of the rainforest and end up in dry and desert-like conditions. The beaches are incredible. They must be the ones that every photographer has captured because every single part is breathtaking. The nature here is just takes me back to a tranquil mindset where I really feel like I can breathe. I remember sitting at Cafe Gran Batey with my entire study abroad group in a quaint little house where our coffee was served to us by the mother of a small family; and I just got to sit in the back and witness entirely separate groups of people interacting and enjoying each other over something as simple as good coffee. We’ve used every day here to the best of our abilities, trying to retain as much information as possible from all of our experiences. The days here feel so full, we wake up early and spend the whole day doing something. Whether that’s going and spending the day at the beach or spending the day at the farm learning about agricultural practices our day is always full of something and it’s never boring. Even sitting on the porch of our apartment looking at the street outside is better, it’s not bustling or loud. Everything is relaxed. So when I look out the car window in the rainforest and see major construction it seems kind of disturbing relative to everything I had just described. The rainforest had already had been altered for tourists and it was getting cut down even more. If this is happening in a place as beautiful as Puerto Rico then I can only imagine the direct impact in other countries where there are little to no regulations on the environment and money is the first priority. When there is nothing holding these big businesses back it makes me worried that there could be a tragedy of the commons type situation that occurs and we would lose the beauty of our planet. It’s an extreme thought yes, but when I interact with the locals here most of them say there are only 2 or 3 beautiful beaches and a few good spots to see it makes me feel like we all take our homes for granted. When I get to look at all the areas of San Juan, Fajardo, Mayaguez, and Ponce I haven’t seen one part that has made me feel the same sort of way. At the same time I reflect and realize there are many parts of Florida and Chicago that I look at all the time and take in as a regular thing. We kind of poke fun at the tourists who think the Sears tower and the bean are some incredible things, and that’s because we see them all the time. I hope to be able to interact more with the locals of Chicago and Puerto Rico and find out exactly which parts are so anticlimactic to them because then I feel I could get a better understanding on exactly what creates certain mindsets that could make it possible for people to forget what kind of landscape surrounds them.
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Our Lab Group

My name is Sergej Radovanovic and I am a freshman in Agricultural and Biological Engineering. I hope my role in the group is one of a team player and an open learner. I want to be able to absorb the experience around me and share it with my partners as well as my friends and family back home. I want to get the full experience of the culture while learning about the ecosystems and their sustainability. Currently we are staying at the Fajardo Inn in San Juan and hoping to start our journey off strong. fajardo