Fair Trade

Sustainability in general to me means being able to continue forever in some kind of cycle for an infinit amount of time. I think that these kinds of cycles are almost exclusively found in nature, and go on all around us without us even realizing. Today, the word sustainability is often used to describe one's diet, agricultural practices, along with the management of raw materials, and even animal populations. Personally, when I think of sustainability I think of my first visit to Southwestern University as a prospective student. After my flight arrived in Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, I was waiting for a cab and noticed a green bumper sticker slapped on a pole of something that I can't remember. It was forrest green with a golden tree emerging from between the words in the website "FincaBellavista.net." A week or so later when I was on my computer, I remembered the bumpsticker and visited the website. I was really intrigued by finding that it was in fact a 350 acre sustainable treehouse community in the rainforest of Costa Rica, just six miles from Golfo Dulce. They use practices like hydroelectric and solar power, zip-lining from one treehouse to another for transportation, and recycling what little waste they do have, and still being carbon neutral. With a large river and beautiful waterfall running through the community, I picture this as the ideally sustainable situation- not just living harmoniously with nature, but living comfortably and enjoyably with nature.

http://www.fincabellavista.net