Well I bet you I'm gonna' be a big star,

Might win an Oscar you can never tell...

 

I suppose they're called ‘tricks of the trade.'

 

On a recent weekend I was working with some visitors on a documentary film about sustainable communities. They had shot footage of different techniques for water conservation, organic food production, the monkeys in the trees and the fish in the pond. Now it was time for the bright lights, the camera in the face, that clammy feeling in the armpits. The interview.

 

Looking back you have to admire the sophistication. Techniques of interrogation have come a long way since a country cop told me I could run for the door and he'd count one-two-three before pulling out his gun. Now they start off with the easy stuff. Get you comfortable, talking freely. There were a lot of questions about what would help small communities weather the impending storms of economic crisis, food crisis and climate change. Material that was easy to talk about. (Regular readers of The Howler Magazine can attest to that fact.) Then we took a brief break.

 

In all fairness, I was forewarned. In the next segment they wanted to directly address what they had seen on the ground here in Guanacaste. In less than two weeks they had noticed a gigantic gulf between the claims of ‘sustainability' and ‘eco-friendliness' of numerous developments and ‘eco-communities,' and observable facts on the ground. They wanted me on tape, as a credible local informant, using words like "hypocrisy", "scam", "green washing." The "F-word" was out, but "son-of -a-bitch" was OK.

 

The questions began again, and the pace quickly intensified. It was getting a bit nerve wracking but smoking was verboten due to the microphone taped to my chest. Squirming in my chair as the pressure mounted, I finally noticed the coup de grace. An extra twist of the cable between the microphone and the transmitter had effectively left me wired to the chair, immobilized, facing the increasing tempo. I was being grilled on my own pet topic. My temporary discomfort notwithstanding, the concerns of my inquisitors were right on the money. For more reasons than one.

 

First, if a couple of first-time visitors can check out a project's website and then take one look at the front gate and model home of a self proclaimed "sustainable project" and immediately detect an healthy dose of the BS factor, said project has problems with its image.

 

Second, and on precisely this point I was being grilled, how do we measure, define and establish sustainability within communities and developments?

 

Tricks of the trade, chapter two: Do as the politicians so often do. Don't answer their question. Answer your own question.

 

Still tethered to the chair, I boldly seized the initiative. It's not about sustainability, isolated in both space and time. (One of the oldest tricks in the book, if you use both "space" and "time" in the same sentence, people tend to think you're a heavyweight thinker.)  Sustainability conjures up the romantic notion of self-sufficiency. Somehow you are going to be producing everything from Asparagus to Zanahorias, and at least 3 grades of petroleum substitutes to boot.  Forget it, I said, let's be more pragmatic and try to focus instead on ‘transition.'

 

The transition movement grew out of a concern for the twin threats of climate change and diminishing supplies of petroleum. Among other things they emphasize local production of food, localized manufacturing and crafts and rational, low carbon systems of housing and transport. Given the current economic "situation", it just might be a case of doing the right things for the wrong reason.

 

Consider the advice of an anonymous "Wall Street titan," recently cited in a Wall Street Journal article. " Everyone should try to own a house... no matter how big or small, but it has to have some land, on which you should learn how to grow things."

 

Now, you ask, why on earth would a guy on Wall St. say a thing like that? I mean, OK so the banks have problems and the stock market is falling, but, hey, I don't have any investments anyway...

 

Consider this tasty morsel from a respected economist:

The global credit markets and financial systems are deeply interconnected, meaning that contagion spreading from an Eastern Europe default to the rest of Europe and the US is virtually assured. So those pressures will be felt by the entire global financial order, and such new and profound stresses upon an already extremely shaky order won't likely be endured without a genuine meltdown of the entire system.

 

A couple more references from informed commentators, to drive home the point:

 

...It's about preventing something worse than we have now, namely screaming, bug-eyed, blood-in-the-streets, rape-the-crops-and-burn-the-women panic.

 

...we will be staring at the real possibility of a global catastrophe.

 

OK, OK, you ask, but, what does a meltdown mean, how does it concretely affect my margarita at the beach for sunset, and when is the article going to transition back to "transition?"

 

Fact: a recent survey of farmers in the US found at least 15% experiencing difficulty obtaining financing for seeds, fertilizer, fuel and other costs that need to be covered for spring planting. If you add that to the effects of climate change in places like Argentina, Australia, and parts of China-also important grain producers-you begin to get the picture. No credit, no water, no seeds, no crop = no food = no eat. The imported Triple Sec for the sunset margarita may be the least of our worries.

 

Fact: 80% of what goes into your typical Costa Rican egg is imported, processed via a caged hen and delivered to your neighborhood store.

 

Fact: Ditto for the commercial chicken, pork and beef.

 

No one, and I mean no one, better epitomizes the process of "awakening" to the need for transition than the oft-quoted columnist for the New York Times, Thomas Friedman.

 

Formerly the pied piper of globalization, the author of "The World is Flat" has undergone a radical transformation. Importantly, he "gets" the synergistic relationship between the financial death spiral and climate change, depletion of forest, mineral and fish stocks, water scarcity, etc. A recent article ends with the stark words: "...for me there is no doubt: 2008 will be the marker - the year when ‘The Great Disruption' began." Call him a pessimist, or call him a realist. Or simply take note and start planning for a "transition" to what the new reality looks like.

 

Still wired to the chair, I struggled to close with a flourish before transitioning myself to a cigarette. The task of transition here in Guanacaste is much easier than in many areas. The past, of lower energy consumption, local food production, self-reliance and the thousand-and-one-tidbits of knowledge related to living off the land, is still here. It is just not evenly distributed. And importantly, it is marginal to the mainstream of the ‘modern' economy, which has only recently developed. Building a community with strong ties to locals, to local food production is not akin to re-inventing the wheel. The wheel rolls along. The cycle of local farming is still here, turning as always, with the seasons.

 

Farsighted residents of Tamarindo have added a bit of economic grease to the axle of regional farming by forging ahead with a weekly farmers' market. Developers near Paraiso have farms within their project or allocate parcels for planting corn in exchange for chopping fence lines. Rumors abound that the area planned for golf courses on a couple of nearby projects will instead be let out for local corn production in the short term.

 

These initiatives are smart for both public relations and the longer-term goal of enhancing the viability of the underlying agricultural economy. Consciously or not, they are part of transition. They are steps towards the day when the daily fare of imported wines, anchovies, virgin olive oil and frozen salmon becomes scarcer on supermarket shelves.

 

With a dexterous flick of the wrist I managed to slip free of restraint and lunge towards the pack of Menthol Lights. The filmmakers seemed satisfied with the outcome of their efforts and appeared to agree that "headed in the right direction" was as or more important than "where you are now." As for myself, I made a solemn oath to never again submit to being put under interrogation, hard wired to a chair, in front of a camera, even if the topic was transition.

 

Epilogue:

 

The day after the above interview, Monday the 16^th of March, the WWF Turtle Project of Playa Junquillal, sponsored an informative presentation on the effects of climate change-and specifically, higher ocean levels-on our area. During the question and answer session, I mentioned the need for attention to rainwater infiltration techniques in developments in order to counteract the increased threat of salt-water intrusion into underground aquifers. While enjoying refreshments, a free-lance journalist introduced himself and said he was working on a documentary about water issues in Guanacaste. Would I consent to an interview?????

 

Tom Peifer is an ecological land use consultant with 14 years experience in Guanacaste. Phone: 2658-8018.  peifer@racsa.co.cr

El Centro Verde is dedicated to sustainable land use, agriculture and development

Web site: http://www.elcentroverde.org/