I’m not going to major in environmental studies. But as a biology major hoping to work in the field of conservation biology there are many relevant themes that I’ll carry with me. Before taking this class, my understanding of the issues regarding the implementation of applied biology practices were quite one-sided. I’ve always been more inclined to think about things via a biological lense rather than an economic, social or political lense. This course has stressed the fact that all aspects are essential in order to achieve positive change with the environment. Throughout this course I’ve repeatedly thought about one of my experiences with fieldwork while volunteering at a sea turtle hatchery on an island off the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua.
I spent parts of two months living and working at the small hatchery, helping translate for tourists by day, and patrolling the beaches looking for freshly laid eggs by night. What I saw was a grossly underfunded hatchery, a community of desperate egg poachers, a vibrant market for the sale of the illegally poached eggs, and a small flow of clueless tourists, of which I was one. I’d like to relate some of the key themes of this course to the experience I had while in Nicaragua.
Conservation is so much more than biology.
When I arrived on the island I was expecting to learn a lot about sea turtles, their biology and ecology and other cool facts worthy of being shared. But the conservation threats of the Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and occasional Leatherback Sea Turtles that would come ashore stemmed from a multitude of disciplines. As we learned in the first section of the course, in order to deal with environmental problems one can’t oversimplify them by focusing solely on the science involved (Hulme 2009). The conservation efforts of these turtles depended upon such diverse things as the economic livelihood of the surrounding community, the national government, the strength of the military and the number of tourists that visited the island.
It was incredibly naive and ignorant of me to expect to be able to “fix” a problem so complex without any relevant skills or experience with any of the above issues. My third post (link to third post) discussed Steinberg’s case study of the many facets of Cerulean Warbler conservation (Steinberg 2015). In the future I’ll be sure to take all underlying factors into account when dealing with the conservation of a habitat or species.
The poachers I ran into were not inherently bad people.
In ENVS 160 we talked about the power of markets to influence environmental decisions. We discussed the principles of cap and trade policies and tariffs on an international scale, but the same logic applies to the small community of Las Peñitas. None of the poachers I spoke to wanted to be feeding their families by walking and biking long distances throughout the night to find and sell the eggs of endangered sea turtles. These people were driven to do so by the dire economic situation of their town that left them with few alternatives. The market for these eggs extended as far as an hour inland, to the bustling bus stops of León.
Achieving any sort of progress with the preservation of these endangered species requires first ameliorating the surrounding community of crippling poverty, no easy task. In his book Making the Modern World, Smil stressed how large the material and economic gap between countries like the United States and Nicaragua is. I think he’d agree with me when I say that the people of these countries are and ought to be more concerned with improving their own economic and social systems rather than worrying about the populations of marine reptiles (Smil 2014). Indeed I felt foolish discussing the importance of saving a Leatherback Sea Turtle with a man trying to feed his family for the week. The economics of this situation are incredibly important and deserve more attention.
Progress isn’t always linear.
Just as authors like Philips and environmentalists like Redfoot have challenged the notions of the much-celebrated classic environmentalists, I had to critically examine my environmental-bias during my time on the island. The near absent funds of the community run sea turtle hatchery make it necessary to actually pay poachers for their eggs in order to re-bury them in the hatchery. Initially I was completely opposed to this as it encourages and allows the continuation of the poaching practice. But I began to realize that there simply weren’t any viable alternatives, and that progress towards sustainable protection of the species was by no means linear.
We spent much time learning about how contemporary environmentalists place different values on technology and are generally more optimistic about the future of the environment (Philips 2015). I wonder what the classic and contemporary environmentalists we’ve read would think about this poaching situation. Real life conservation isn’t clean, it isn’t pretty, and it’s complicated. Ideally it involves a team of experts in their respective fields combining to combat a complex web of environmentally-detrimental practices. This is what I want to do, taking ENVS 160 has taught me that it won’t be as pretty as I was hoping for.
Works Cited
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Smil, Vaclav. 2014. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley.
Phillips, Leigh. 2015. Austerity Ecology & the Collapse-Porn Addicts: A Defence of Growth, Progress, Industry and Stuff. Winchester, UK ; Washington, USA: Zero Books.
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.