Where does your electricity come from?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Maria

I have been teaching at schools all around St. Lucia and most recently, I went to teach at a primary school in Castries. I showed up and was kind of thrust into the classroom without any introduction and so the kids had lots of questions about who this strange woman was that was suddenly in charge of the class. I told them about how my job mainly consists of working towards getting clean water throughout the island and teaching about it, and I mentioned the “pig poo power” project in Mabouya Valley. (We are collecting pig waste – that would otherwise be washed directly into a nearby stream- in a biogas digester that will produce methane which our student engineers at UTC will hopefully be able to use to produce electricity). Kids love pigs, and they love poo, so this of course captured their attention. “EEWWWWW!!!” One kid declared “I will never use electricity again if it’s made out of poo.” So I asked them where they thought their electricity came from – not a clue. That’s ok, I can understand that the children are young, so I explained the quick basics.

Then, I was relaying this story to some adults… and they had no clue as well. That’s a little more concerning. So I wonder, do you know how your electricity is made? I think I’ll dedicate this week of blogging to some different electricity sources!

Comprendes español?

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Maria

This morning, EGE Haina had the grand opening of their windpark in the Dominican Republic. Not only did the company opt to bring a clean, alternative energy source to the southwestern region of the country, but they also decided to launch a social program for the towns that neighbor the new wind park – and Caribbean SEA was involved! EGE Haina released their video today of all the different projects they’ve implemented so far – watch to see Mary Beth doing water tests with some great folks!

reduce, REUSE, recycle!

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Maria

I harp a lot about reducing waste (which is VERY important!) but when you do have waste, the next best thing you can do is to REUSE! There are so many creative ways to reuse your plastic, but I hadn’t seen this one before! Cupcake holders! love it.

http://paperplateandplane.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/recycled-packaging-for-cupcakes-cookies-and-macarons/

What other cool re-uses are there for plastic bottles?!

Many thanks to the Mango Beach Inn!

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Maria

Mango Beach Inn in Marigot Bay, St. Lucia has always been one of our biggest supporters!! The Verity family has been such a blessing and I am sad to say I just moved out from the beautiful bed and breakfast yesterday after having stayed there the past two weeks. I cannot thank John and Judith enough for all their hospitality! But I can recommend that you stay there when you come to visit me in St. Lucia!

(and if you have a place to stay already, then I’m going to go ahead and recommend that you come to Marigot and eat at the Rainforest Hideaway!)

You know why I love St. Lucia?

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Maria

Because as I hiked through the forest down (yay!) to the beach (even more yay!) in Belvedere with my dear friend and fellow camp counselor, Menalick, I saw (and half the time, ate) fresh coconuts, cacao seeds, Jamaican plums, limes, golden apples, nutmeg, tamarinds, almonds, cashews, breadfruit, and dasheen. That’s just what I was able to identify! Plus there are tons of other local foods here that are SO tasty and really plentiful! It’s always interesting for me, no matter where I am, to go into grocery stores and see what everyone is eating, and I don’t know why but it surprises me when I see foods from other countries here. Why? Why import this trash food from thousands of miles away when there’s SOOOO much wonderful food here?
But then I realize that as an American, I am guilty of doing that for probably 99% of the meals that I eat. Sure, I may shop at whatever branch of Whole Foods is in my area, or try to eat at local restaurants, but let’s face it – it’s expensive! And how backwards is it that I have to pay more for something that HASN’T traveled over 100 miles from my stomach!?! Eating local foods is one of the most effective ways to live an ecofriendly lifestyle because it not only reduces gas use and carbon emissions, but if it is a native plant (or at least one suited for the environment), it requires less maintenance in terms of water or fertilizer resources!
Though I am excited about many many things about my time here in St. Lucia, being able to afford to eat locally (and actually not to much otherwise since imported food tends to be pricey) is one of my favorites!

How much water do YOU use?

Posted on September 27, 2011 by laura

We talk a lot about how important water is and how it’s becoming a more precious and valuable commodity, but do you know how well you’re doing at curbing your water use? Check out this handy dandy little water footprint calculator from National Geographic! All you do is answer some questions about various aspects of your lifestyle, and it’ll tell you where your water use is concentrated.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-footprint-calculator/

Why do you need a whole questionnaire to figure that out, one might ask. The answer is that water use isn’t just confined to the water that comes out of your home faucet. Sure, the length of your shower, how often you water the plants, and how many dishes you wash all determine your water footprint. But there’s so much more you might not even consider! For example, when was the last time you bought a new laptop, pair of jeans, or even a juicy T-bone steak?? There’s water that goes into the manufacturing and transportation of electronics, clothes, food, and more and that has to be added into your footprint!

After you measure your water footprint, take a moment to consider how you can reduce your own personal water usage. Can you come up with three things you can reduce, reuse, or recycle in your everyday life? With every little change you make, not only will you reduce waste and unnecessary consumption, you’ll reduce your water use too!

The average US citizen uses close to 600 liters of water per day. If you think it’s impossible to reduce your water use at all, consider that in most African nations and many in central and South America, the average person uses less than 50 (or in some cases, even less than 10) liters of water per day!

The Ugly Journey of Our Trash

Posted on September 26, 2011 by laura

Check out this cool graphic from Project AWARE! And remember, the Tennessee River Rescue happens October 1st, so be sure to help out if you’re in the greater Chattanooga area!

St. Lucia’s New Resident Herpetologist

Posted on September 20, 2011 by laura

As sad as we in Chattanooga are to lose Maria to the islands for the next year, how lucky is St. Lucia to pick her up! No more than a day into her time there, and she was already picking up cane toads the size of her head!

I’m flying solo… but not really

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Maria

Day 1: Captain’s Log
Thanks to the wonderful growth of Caribbean SEA over the last couple of years, I am able to live and work in St. Lucia for a year! I’ve been there twice before for summer camps, but this is my first time here by myself. And yes, part of me is nervous because I am leaving a great (great great great!) network of friends and coworkers behind and I absolutely love the city of Chattanooga, but at the same time, I am so excited! I’m so optimistic about this coming year and I think that there are plenty of opportunities to be had. And as nervous as I am about leaving my amazing Chattanooga support team, I am realizing how great of a support team I have here too! And although I never had too much of a shell to begin with, this is gonna make me break out of it for sure! It’s gonna be a fun year, St. Lucia!

Diving in the DR

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Maria

Come see what we’ve done in the DR!

Now now now, just because I haven’t been blogging doesn’t mean that we haven’t been working!

One of the projects that we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks has been in the small town of Juancho in the Dominican Republic. We have been working closely with E.G.E. Haina, which is an energy generating company in the DR. For a little bit of history, E.G.E. Haina has built a windpark near Juancho, but since the windpark doesn’t create jobs, they’ve decided to help the community in other ways, which is where we come into the picture. Mary Beth has taught several health and sanitation classes in the area and has worked with teachers there too. There are other projects in the works too that include artificial wetlands, protected marine areas and ecotourism.

When I went down there in August with Mary Beth, we were getting certified for Reef Check, which creates a baseline assessment of the status of the reefs. Let’s be honest though, as much as I would LOVE to keep going back and doing Reef Check, it’s not exactly feasible or ideal for a bunch of us to travel to Jauncho every year to dive, which is what a proper Reef Check site needs. So, we have 2 of the local fishermen that have been selected from their local cooperative to be SCUBA certified!! These fishermen (whom I know and can personally vouch for – they are two great guys!) will be Reef Check trained and have other diving related responsibilities too that will ultimately benefit the whole community.

However, as any diver knows, getting certified is not cheap even in the US, which doesn’t have the kinds of import fees that the DR has… we have to raise about $500 to get them through the classes… and believe it or not, I’m not asking you for money (though of course if you want to donate to this cause, it would be GREATLY appreciated), but ideas! How can we raise $500 relatively quickly?

boating in the bay at Juancho