Quito Seed Bank

During Pre Service Training for Omnibus 105, the trainees visited the Munipio of Quito's tree nursery in Cunuyaco. I came across this article in the Miami Herald that talks about the seed bank at that nursery, comparing it to a Noah's Ark for Andean tree species.

Sin dejar huellas

Leave No Trace is a well-known non-profit organization in the United States popular with outdoors enthusiasts that teaches people how to "enjoy the outdoors responsibly," and believes that the "empowerment of people to develop a sense of communal ownership of the outdoors generates a more sustainable, more environmentally educated global community."

"Sin dejar huellas," the Spanish term for Leave No Trace, is a great program to introduce in our sites. It might be most helpful for those of us who live near national parks, reserves, or other more or less natural areas because the principles are generally applicable to backcountry or frontcountry use. However, principles like "Dispose of waster properly" can and should followed, of course, in any place wild or not. The idea of LNT is to apply one's respect for nature to all aspects of life - whether you live in the city, the country, the beach, the mountains, wherever. These are the principles:

1. Plan ahead and prepare
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces
3. Dispose of waster properly
4. Leave what you find
5. Minimize campire impacts
6. Respect wildlife
7. Be considerate of other visitors

And each principle has a number of guidelines that you can read here: http://www.lnt.org/programs/principles.php

Also, LNT's Powerpoint document that introduces the program is available in Spanish to download here: http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/47661/SinDejarHuellas2008

A much smaller version of LNT website in Spanish is located here: www.lnt.org/programs/en_espanol.php

They have only one video in Spanish about PEAK, a program that promotes responsible recreation and environmental respect in kids. You can find more about PEAK and the situation cards on the LNT website. This is the less-than-engaging video:

De acuerdo o de ninguna manera

Another resource I want to throw out there is a mostly wordless video by LNT that focuses dramatically on three situations. It's a little crazy and in many cases not relevant but it might be fun for kids to watch. Plus the lesson that all three scenarios teaches is to rise above pride and clean up less considerate peoples' messes for the benefit of everyone (because who else is going to do it?).

Leave No Trace Extreme Stewardship

I'm lucky enough to live at one of the entrances to a very large and diverse park in Ecuador with some very nice hot springs just a three-day round trip hike away and an erupting volcano only two days' walk from where I sit in the other direction. Every so often the school director takes a group of kids into the park to these hot springs, called El Placer. My idea is to incorporate Leave No Trace activities into this trip with help from the concepts section of the LNT website (LINK). The park requires that the kids are at least 12 years old so the activities will have to be designed around that. As it's a three-day trip, I have this sort of rough schedule thought out so far:

Day 1: Before leaving, introduce the concept of LNT with a dinamica. Discuss what it is, why it's important, and what they can do during their visit to practice LNT.

On the way out, I'd like the group to stop by the park office for a talk with the guards (the "Plan ahead and prepare" LNT principle). Themes they can briefly cover are: park rules and regulations (and why they exist) and what natural things they should look out for. At this point I'm planning on giving out small activity booklets (each a plastic zip bag because it rains perpetually here) that ask the kids to draw out things they see - animals, plants, birds, insects, vistas, the hot springs, anything. Maybe if this project happens and I get the booklets done, I'll post an update and share the booklets!

So during a lunch break we could discuss more LNT and do another dinamica - at this point I think it would be good to discuss trash disposal because they'll all probably have food-related garbage.

At night we'll either be camping or staying in cabanas, so here would be a good time to discuss how to minimize campfire impacts, where to camp, and where to put smelly objects like food so animals can't get it.

Day 2: In the morning we'd discuss breaking down camp properly. At some point, we'll arrive at the hot springs. It's not exactly LNT, but we could talk about how hot springs form and why there are hot springs here.

Day 3: During breaks, we could discuss what we've seen and share our activity booklets. And my plan is to present all the participants with a 'sin dejar huellas' certificate of completion, based on the LNT certificate you can find online and edit to Spanish.

Who knows if this will happen or even if it will evolve into something greater. There are tons of possibilities of working with Leave No Trace. Maybe holding shorter trips into the park focusing on one principle at a time, seven principles in total - it could even develop into something like a boyscout merit program.

Good luck! If any of you incorporate Sin dejar huellas in your work, please let me know what you´ve done!

Aviturismo de Ecuador

Last weekend I attended a “Bird Observation and Identification Workshop” at La Reserva Ecológica Manglares Churute, the Reserve I work with. We spent all Saturday sitting through charlas given by a local guide who clearly has an affinity for avian. We went over the anatomy of birds, their scientific names, and the art of bird-watching. Yes, art of bird-watching. Now, when I think of ‘bird-watching’ I picture an older couple who look like they just stepped out of their Floridian condo armed with binoculars, sandals with knee-high socks, a wide-brimmed visor, and a fanny pack ready to get a quick glimpse of their sought-after bird. Not exactly my idea of a good time but to each his or her own. That night we went on a dark trek into the Reserve to get a feel for listening to birds. Unfortunately all we heard were bats (wannabe birds) as we maneuvered our way through the dark paths with our flashlights. We made it back to our tents and I attempted to go to bed early because we had to wake up at 5:00am the next morning.

It took a great effort to get out of my tent before the sun came up because I was unable to sleep due to the sound of the Panamericana traffic and obnoxious laughter from a few of the men who decided to drink Pilsner until 2:00 in the morning. We headed out away from the Panamericana into the Reserve to do some early morning bird-watching because it is the best time of the day to do so. The guide took us through the forest stopping every few feet, perking his ears to the sound of the birds and identifying them simply from hearing their call. He knew the specific bird instantly and was able to tell me a majority of their common names in English. We slowly walked behind him as he held his professional microphone in the air recording the symphony of bird songs and getting excited. His ebullience was contagious. Despite him being quite chuchaqui he was happy as a lark to share his enthusiasm of bird-observation with us.

I do think birds are interesting creatures and their diversity is mind-boggling but what I find most interesting about bird-watching is the bird-watching industry. Ecuadorian institutions such as the Ministerio del Turismo are working toward enticing foreigners from countries such as the U.S. to visit Ecuador by directing their advertisements toward birding enthusiasts. Ecuador is working to be the “Centro de Aviturismo Mundial” which would certainly bring hoards of visitors to not only to partake in the great diversity of avian but also the myriad of flora and fauna that call this tiny country home. Ecuador’s tourism initiative is putting the spotlight more on mainland Ecuador rather than the prized Galapagos Islands. The Coast, Sierra and Amazon regions offer just as much wildlife to gawk at for a fraction of the cost and tourists will also be able to enjoy Ecuador’s cultural diversity while trekking through the country’s many ecological reserves and national parks.

Although ‘birders’ are a niche market for the tourism industry it is a gold mine. Americans love birds. I never stopped to think about this statement as being fact until I began working with tourism in Ecuador. I was told this during an Eco-tourism workshop I attended with fellow NRC eco-turismo volunteers in August and I was told this again during the bird-watching workshop at the Reserve I work with. I decided to do a little investigation using good ol’ trusty Google and I found this to actually be true. The most recent statistics conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006, birdwatchers contributed $36 billion to the US economy and one fifth (20%) of all Americans are identified as birdwatchers. Americans buy birding books, birding equipment, bird-feeders, and birding tours. We participate in bird-watching competitions, we gloat our ‘observed birds’ online, and we’ve created special bird-watching clubs and organizations. We have bleeding heart for birds; what is the emblematic animal of freedom for our country? Americans will be happy to know that Ecuador offers 1,559 different species of birds, 50 of which are endangered and Ecuador will be happy to know that Americans are willing to spend the money and time to observe them.

So for those of us you who are working or hope to work with tourism initiatives in your communities perhaps Aviturismo is something your community would like to look into.

Wikipedia: Bird watching

Aviturismo de Ecuador

World Tourism Organization

Birds of Ecuador and Birding in Ecuador

Expats Birding in Ecuador

Photos and Info of Ecua-birds

Science and art

Working at the local colegio with teachers and students in the natural sciences classes taught me a lot about the importance of how one teaches something. I remember that some of my best teachers growing up were able to teach me far more by sharing their love of the subject...or by making it at least a little more interesting. In September 2010 I was giving charlas, organizing activities and incorporating more environmental education material into the curriculum along with a science teacher. I found that it didn´t make too much difference in terms of knowledge retention on the part of the average student until I began doing more hands on exercises and mini-labs with them. Of course, by the time I realized this I also realized that the teacher I was working with wasn´t as keen on putting extra hours into lesson planning as I was; not too much changed after I left at the end of the term.

Earlier this summer I was invited back to work at the school. My other project was wrapping up and I began to consider how I might be more effective if I were to return to work with the natural sciences classes. The material being taught hadn´t changed and I was, in all likelihood, bound to encounter the same apathy for the subject. But then I began to wonder how it could be different if students actually cared about what they were learning? Well, I certainly can´t make people care about something but I can spice up their cut-and-dry classes up with something more fun. I proposed doing an art class that aimed to reinforce what was being taught that week in the natural sciences classes. So far I´ve found that there seems to be a lot more participation and interest in what we cover. The kids look forward to my weekly visits and are sure to be in attendance on the days they know I´m coming. As of right now they may not be crazy about having to learn the anatomy of a flower or how the carbon cycle works, but the art class activities that they do has generated a lot more enthusiasm. The overall goal is to help cultivate creativity through hands-on activties related to the environment and knowledge about our natural world.

I typically have two 45 minute blocks that are split up by a short morning recess. For the first part of class I show a presentation and give a short lesson with the aid of a projector. During the second 45 minute block the students do the art project that is associated with the presentation. Last week we covered the theory of evolution as it relates to animal mimicry and camouflage. We showed a series of photos where various insects and amphibians are able to hide themselves or scare off predators using mimicry and then explained how animals have evolved over time to look like other things in order to survive. The students enjoyed trying to identify where or what the animal was.


For the activity portion of the class, the students constructed finger puppet butterflies that were colored and created so that they would blend-in to a drawing of leaves and tree foliage.


I used a software program to take all the color out of a photo so that the kids wouldn´t have to use additional class time having to draw out leaves and trees. If you don´t have a photo program that will do that, you can always go to Crayola.com/colorme to print out a coloring page using a photo that you select. The kids can color it in and then design their butterfly to ¨blend in¨with the colors that they´ve applied to that drawing. You simply cut out a butterfly template on regular paper. You also need to cut small strips of paper that can later be rolled and then glued to the butterfly template, effectively serving as the butterfly´s ¨body¨and the area where the finger holds up the puppet.

This is just an example of one activity that we´ve done. I try to get as much input from the teacher as I can for future art classes. If any of you have suggestions or ideas for activities that you´ve found to be particularly successful, I´d love to hear them.

Communication Breakdown

We’ve been through a charla or two (or three or four) regarding “Effective Communication Techniques” during PC training sessions and I dare say almost all PCVs had a Speech class in high school and college. We know more or less how to tailor our messages to our audience but we’re communicating and working with a different culture.  Are these techniques actually useful in the real world? Since I’ve been at site I’ve no doubt made mistakes when attempting to communicate my messages and I’ve also dealt with cultural barriers that I was not prepared for  that seem impossible to overcome in the real Ecuadorian world.

I’m going to tell you the story about my first Comité de Pro-Mejoras meeting in my community. I was to be formally introduced during this meeting as well as given the chance to talk about the tourism initiative in my community. The meeting started late of course because we had to wait for half of the people who formally signed up for the Comité (two years ago) to attend to legally hold a meeting. I sat in the front of the room with my counterpart, the secretary and the treasurer. The remaining 24 people sat in the perimeter of the room leaving a sea of desks and chairs between them and us. In the middle of the room there was a bookcase and a filing cabinet where four women sat on the other side, hidden from those in the front of the room. My counterpart began the meeting by talking about a sensitive subject regarding the construction of a communal house and a park at the school. About seven people people had opinions: a few had opinions that they liked to talk about for a good ten minutes, some had opinions that were more important than others so they interrupted people who were already giving opinions, one had opinions that needed to be shouted and the other 75% of the room, well, had no opinion. These people just sat in the tiny little school desks looking uninspired and uninterested for the entirety of the meeting. Almost all of them were women. I couldn’t understand why someone would sign up to be a part of a committee and not participate whatsoever and even hide from the view of the committee leaders. Lesson learned: This is common in the culture of my community.

 My next anecdote regards a meeting my counterpart and I held to form a Comité de Turismo. Since it was our fourth meeting regarding the subject I was beginning to lose my optimism for forming a group of people to help me develop a Plan of Operations. This meeting initiated like all of the others which have become characteristically negative with a “this just won’t happen” sort of attitude when all of a sudden my counterpart said “let’s stop with the negativity”. The room went silent and I took the floor. I literally drew out my idea of a structure of the Comité on a dry-erase board and directly asked them questions. It turns out that I failed to communicate to my audience that at this time we only need a small group of people, decision-makers if you will, not the entire community. Within ten minutes they all agreed to form a Comité de Turismo and elected two supervisors and decided the rest will be the executors. Lesson learned: get the people directly involved in the conversation to know if you are getting your message across and when there is negativity in the air bring it to everyone’s attention and ask for more positivity. These two examples illustrate that we can indeed change our method of communication to foster idea generation and pro-activity but there are some things that we will have to learn to deal with.

I supposed that’s where all of those “techniques” we’ve learned come into play. To freshen your memory I’ve given a short summary of the techniques that I find to be useful as a PCV in Ecuador.

Participatory communication:

Without going into a tangent about facilitation (I think we’ve had enough of that) I will simply say that as a PCV we’ll certainly be more effective if we talk with people rather than at them. During charlas or reuniones we need to make a conscious effort to get those in attendance to voice their opinions and contribute to the conversation. If two heads are better than one, then imagine what eight or nine could do.

Multi-methods of communication:

Sometimes it is necessary to bring in a visual to illustrate the message you’re trying to deliver. Could you convince an eco-club how cool a tire garden would be without showing them a picture of one?

Simplify your message:

Shout out PCVL Ian on this one. In the book “Made to Stick” they emphasized how important it is to simplify your message. Simplify in the sense that it’s best to leave out all of the fluff and unnecessary details that will just complicate and scramble your message. I doubt the participants of a family garden would really care about the scientific names of the microorganisms living in that compost pile you’ve been working on.

Active listening:

Effective communication should go both ways. You need to be able to listen just as well as you speak. As a PCV one of our most important jobs is to listen to our community members. I’m going to say the ‘f’ word again; we are here to be facilitators. Let your project members do a lot of the talking and come up with their own ideas.

The purpose of this post is not to give a lesson on effective communication but rather, hopefully, spark conversation regarding what we’ve learned thus far when attempting to effectively communicate with host country nationals. How do cultural barriers affect the value of our message? Has timidity been a problem for you with children and women? Have you had language barriers affecting your method of communication as well? Has your gender played a role in the way your message has been received? How do we know if anyone received our message and will they give us feedback?

I would like to facilitate participatory communication and ask, what do you think? We’re actively listening.

Solar bottle light bulbs

As you know, there are countless uses for empty plastic bottles.

Here is another one to add to that ever-growing list: a solar-powered light bulb.

You can watch the YouTube video below to see how they are installing these solar-powered bulbs to houses in the Phillipines. If your Internet access doesn't permit you to watch the video, don't worry. I have taken screen shots and explained the process below.



This first picture shows the inside of a home in the Phillipines in the middle of the day. You couldn't tell the difference because it is so dark.



You take a piece of tin roofing and cut a hole to place the large bottle. You need to seal it in place.



Then you fill the bottles with water.



Put a bottle cap's worth of chlorine in the bottles.



Cut a hole in the roof for the bottle to fit into.


Place the bottle in the roof.


Let there be light.


Social entrepreneurs in the Philippines are turning solar-powered light bulb installation into small businesses. It does not require technical training, and all the materials are readily available.