the·leaf·project
COSTA RICA - Did you ever want to care for your own piece of the rainforest? And make sure that no one would ever cut down a tree or harm a single animal? Do you wish you could watch the dollar you just gave to save the rainforest at work?
The·leaf·project, Earth Island's newest project, will make it possible for students to adopt their own patch of rainforest ecosystem. Using classroom presentations and computers, theoleafoproject will connect students in California to research teams in Costa Rica, where work is underway at the project's 200-acre research site in the mountains of the Osa Peninsula. The Osa, a green hook of land that juts into the Pacific just north of Panama, contains a treasure of biodiversity. Unfortunately, this unique region's future looks bleak: Its ancient rainforests now are threatened by clearcut logging and gold-mining.
Project co-director Dale Carter, a public educator with 10 years' experience in teaching and administration, spent five years working with Costa Rican environmental lawyer Jose Raffael Echeverria Zeledon before selecting an appropriate site for the research center and eco-camp. Last year, Carter climbed to the top of the highest summit on the Osa. Surveying the majestic rainforest and the calm waters of the Golfo Dulce, Carter was alarmed by the scars of rainforest destruction that checkerboarded the panoramic view. He knew at that moment that this was the forest he wanted to save.
The project site is bordered on the southeast by the 1,000-acre Lapa Rios Eco-Tourist Resort and on the west by another large tract of land being reforested by two fellow Americans, Penny and Albert Foster.
Co-director Jason Nedelman left a successful career in business and marketing to spend two years studying environmental philosophy. He found a second home in Costa Rica, working as a rafting and nature guide in the rainforests of the Osa. Capitalizing on their respective strengths in education and marketing, Carter and Nedelman laid the foundation for this ground-breaking project in 1995.
"Students are bombarded by negative images of environmental destruction and have difficulty finding a constructive outlet," Carter states. " We provide an avenue for children to assume responsibility for their future. Through the use of computers and the development of local eco-clubs, we give them access to community-based organizations and to our research site in Costa Rica. Our curriculum in the US - for elementary through highschool students - emphasizes the cause-and-effect impact of our daily choices and actions on the greater world. Rainforest ecosystems are a terrific model for our connection to the global ecosystem. We use the interconnectedness of rainforest systems to demonstrate how we all play a role in the life of our planet: If we lose one small part of the system, it affects the greater whole."
Eventually, Carter says, he would like to see environmental studies enjoy the same academic status as history and social studies.
How the·leaf·project Works
The·leaf·project provides the following benefits: a real-time connection between the rainforest and the classroom via an interactive website containing a chat room, the latest research findings and photos from the field; information on local and global environmental groups; a teachers' environmental education resource book; a framework for forming "eco-clubs" at their respective campuses; and a quarterly newsletter focusing on youth involvement in their environment.
In addition, the·leaf·project will host an annual essay, art and science contest for students. The winners will receive scholarships to visit the research site and eco-camp. Students will learn about the rainforest firsthand by working onsite with researchers and the local community in Costa Rica. All members of the Osa community - farmers, fishers and professionals - will be invited to participate in all levels of the project's work.
Starting with Marin County, California elementary and high schools, the·leaf·project plans to help coordinate an environmental-awareness-and-responsibility program for all California schools. "Civics and health are required subjects in California highschools." Nedelman notes. "Students should be required to understand that personal health relies upon a healthy planet. If our children are required to learn about their responsibility as US citizens, shouldn't they also be required to learn about their responsibility as global citizens on an ever-shrinking planet?"
High Hopes and a Low Impact
The·leaf·project is constructing a minimal-impact, sustainable research site and eco-camp in Costa Rica. The camp will collect and store its own water and produce its electrical power from the sun. Work will focus on the reforestation of the clear-cut areas on the project site, and on research covering the entire peninsula.
"Though this region supports such a vast array of plant and animal life, we cannot expect the rainforest to just grow back," Nedelman reflects. "Due to soil bleaching and erosion caused by the loss of huge sections of the canopy, the earth will not support the seeding and growth of new forest. We have lost 90 percent of the reef system in the waters of the nearby Golfo Dulce due to erosion caused by clear-cutting and gold-mining. We have to find the best solution for supplementing the soil, without using artificial fertilizers or repeating previous mistakes. The solution has to be natural. In addition, we must be responsive to the needs of the local population in every aspect of the project. It is their home, and their knowledge of the region is invaluable.
"Our long-term goal," says Nedelman, "is to purchase critical properties and employ reforestation to create a 20-mile biological corridor connecting the eco-camp to Corcovado National Park."
Theoleafoproject begins its pilot educational program in Marin County in January of 1998. The project's website is slated to debut in April. The on-site research center is set to open on Earth Day, April 22, 1999, and work on restoring the biological corridor to Corcovado will begin on January 1, 2000.
The·leaf·project welcomes feedback, ideas and input from the educational community.
What You Can Do: The·leaf·project is supporting its reforestation, research and education efforts by directly connecting students to their very own piece of the rainforest. Project members will be able to "adopt" 10'X10' parcels of rainforest for a donation of $10 - a unique membership program offering a fresh approach to conservation through education and active participation. For more information, contact the·leaf·project c/o Earth Island Institute, 300 Broadway, No. 28, San Francisco, CA 94133.
A Rainforest Grows in the Classroom