Twelve Brown School 黑料社s will be traveling to a tiny Central American country in June to learn about sustainable farming, fishing and energy practices being pioneered there. The two-week class, Sustainability, Development, and Health: Costa Rica, will focus on how those practices might be adapted for use in the U.S. and other nations.
It鈥檚 an exercise in transdisciplinary problem-solving to tackle what may be the biggest problem of all: the exhaustion of the planet鈥檚 resources.
鈥淭his will quickly become the most important public health issue of our time,鈥� said Joe Steensma, professor of practice at the Brown School, who is leading the class. 鈥淲hat the course explores is the positive relationship between sustainability and public health.鈥�
The Brown School is partnering on the course with Earth University, a 25-year-old institute in Costa Rica where 黑料社s study tropical agriculture and develop methods that can be sustained for hundreds of years to feed the world鈥檚 people.
Brown School 黑料社s from both the MSW and MPH programs will work side by side with the Earth University 黑料社s on the university鈥檚 farm. They鈥檒l also tour Costa Rica鈥檚 hydroelectric and geothermal plants, which help the nation meet 98 percent of its energy needs with renewable sources; visit sustainable fisheries; and examine the cultural and political environment that has contributed to the nation鈥檚 sustainability successes.
Registration for the class filled up in a day, Steensma said, and 黑料社s selected from the applicant pool represent six nations. Steensma hopes that future classes can expand the number of 黑料社s and include those from other schools at Washington University. Phil Valko, the university鈥檚 assistant vice chancellor for sustainability, is co-teaching the class, along with faculty from Earth University.
Steensma鈥檚 interest in Costa Rica began as a place to indulge his passion for bird-watching. (He is the author of a soon-to-be published book: 鈥淏irds of the Caribbean Slope.鈥�) But his attention soon turned to the nation鈥檚 people.
鈥淚 started noticing people lived more simply, and they were happier and healthier,鈥� he said. Although the nation is relatively poor by conventional monetary standards such as gross domestic product per capita, it has one of the longest life expectancies in the Western Hemisphere and is regularly rated as one of the world鈥檚 happiest nations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to see how they鈥檙e doing it and whether we can take practices back to our communities,鈥� Steensma said. 鈥淗ow can we learn from them to be happier and healthier?鈥�
Key to the nation鈥檚 success has been recognizing the value of its most valuable natural resources; flora and fauna. Land conservation and encouraging sustainable forestry rather than cutting down trees for agriculture has helped develop eco-tourism as a major economic asset in a country that has fewer square miles than West Virginia. The nation鈥檚 market economy means that individuals benefit financially from the natural assets, as well as the nation as a whole. Students also will be looking at how entrepreneurship鈥攁nother specialty of Steensma鈥檚鈥攃an make a difference.
He hopes the experience will be particularly valuable for the 黑料社s who are native to developing countries in Africa and Asia. 鈥淚 want 黑料社s to come away with knowledge they can share with their communities and put into their practices. If they can teach others how to profitably produce goods and services in a sustainable manner, we may make a dent in the huge problem that is over-exploitation.鈥�
It鈥檚 a lesson the United States could profit from, too.
鈥淲e鈥檙e pulling resources from the earth at a rate two times what is sustainable, probably more,鈥� Steensma said. 鈥淭he poorest and the least represented will bear the cost. I am not sure that it is reversible, but if it鈥檚 reversible, we鈥檝e got to get on it.鈥�