All day long it is
possible to hear motorboats out on the water, marsh birds and forest birds
calling out and cattle calling and grazing. At night the sounds of crickets and
frogs are audible, and it seems as though nothing is willing to give me the silence
I have found comfortable while snorkeling the coral reefs of Bocas del Toro in
Panama. I sit in a plastic chair (because the more comfortable hammock is
presently occupied) and look out at a cattle pasture and part-time swamp
towards the boat dock where we arrived from. This space will become a mangrove
ecosystem in fifty years, according to resident biologist and Executive
Director of the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation (ITEC) Pete
Lahanas, but I digress. I want to discuss engineering and construction work on
this biology station built by ITEC. The information gathered was acquired by
interviewing Pete Lahanas and from the ITEC webpage, itec-edu.org.
The
total property that is described as Bocas del Toro station today is a 70-75 hectare
space along the coast. About half of this space is secondary and old growth
tropical wet forest. It is situated on the north end of Isla Colón near the
Village of Drago, which is made up of 95% indigenous peoples.
The current
station consists of a dormitory for students, a dining hall and a laboratory
with two classrooms on the second floor and a library. Total construction for
these three buildings took one year approximately and funds were raised through
donations. Costs were reduced by making deals for cheap lumber from the U.S.
and shipping them with Chiquita cargo containers. When you walk into the rooms
wiring and plumbing are visible, walls are of basic construction. All water on
the station is collected from rain water and stored into four 5000 gallon
tanks. Pressure is created by a concrete water tower and there is no heating
system for the showers. Heating is not necessary, however. Meals are prepared
by locals from the village, usually relatives of the manager, Enrique Dixon
Brown, and were very satisfying after days swimming out on the reefs.
Electricity is obtained by a gasoline generator that is only run early in the
morning for breakfast and the afternoon and evening for class activities until
about 10:00pm. However, gasoline is expensive and must be imported from the
mainland, and Pete hopes that they will be able to install solar power cells in
the future. This station is now 16 years old and its upkeep is driven by
student courses like ours and donations.
It was a very
welcoming station and it brought up ideas on what standards of living and
sustainability meant to me. Remember we are talking the tropics, so hot water
isn’t really necessary and I could always heat water in the kitchen. This
station could achieve a state where the only thing that was required to
physically bring was food and gas for cooking and the occasional construction
upkeep. It is nice to see a place always striving to achieve the ideals it
desires: promoting education and conservation.
Now comes the
tricky part, continuing to live and act with respect for nature and minimizing
my environmental impact, while inspiring lives who would not think to change
the actions in the days of their lives in order to minimize environmental
footprints. I suppose I am most impressed that the station on Isla Colón
practices low impact on an island where a ferry must bring supplies to the
population twice a day.
Yet many do not
live on a small island. Many of us have great opportunities on the mainland, in
great cities, in the country side, having wealth and influence on city and
government laws and actions. The greatest challenge to sustainability for
people, industrial agriculture, and governments is the effort it takes to be
sustainable. The real goal should be to think of sustainability not as
requiring effort, but being simply being a part of the culture, be it the
social, religious, or business culture.
Ace Spitzer
University of Northern Colorado
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