Costa Rica. 4b. Global Virtual Town Hall

Oct 26, 2017 by heather mcphail

A-What does it mean to “decolonize”?

B-What does it mean to “decarbonize”?

C-Map the two terms, “decolonize” and “decarbonize,” indicating the points of overlap between them. Why must the two be carried out together? Provide brief examples from things you've learned throughout the unit to support your ideas.

D-How can you as students participate in this process on various levels? Provide examples

A- In my opinion colonization is not considered a bad thing, it's just not managed correctly. A example now a days is REDD+, they have the right idea in what they want to do, but are they doing it correctly? we talked to some indigenous communities here in Costa Rica and they where not in favor of  REDD+ since they take their land in order to protect them. As I said before they have the idea they are just not managing it correctly, since land is one of the most important things in an indigenous community. In one of the communities they told us they have this "home remedy" that worked for almost any kind of pain, so they said that if REDD+ found it they would make it their one, and it won't workout as well for the community. 

There also has to be a balance between colonization and nature. In the community they told us that the government doesn't take in account their opinion, and I wonder how can they do environmentally friendly decisions if they are not hand in hand with nature, and most governments only take into account the amount of money they will make or lose. 

B- Decarbonize means to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels, like petroleum. To reduce carbon dioxide yo can do many things and one of them is trying to use a more ecologically friendly transportation, it can be bicycles, walking, public transportation even, in my country riding a bicycle is not the safest idea, since we don't have bicycle lanes, but we do have efficient public transportation. Another thing we can do to mitigate carbon dioxide is by planting trees, this is something that most people know but don't do. We have to give back to earth what we are taking from it, we are just visitors in this planet since we all leave it at some moment, you just can go to someones house destroy everything and not buy for it after, being on this planet is the same as being in someone's home, eventually we are gonna have to leave and we are not gonna leave it destroyed for the next generations to come. But to do all what we have to do to give back we have to start by showing people that this is real, they have to be aware of the problem. 

C- As I said before colonization is not bad just not managed correctly, and this bad management created an excess of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. This is the way decolonize and decarbonize are related. 

D- We can participate in many things and one of them is in projects like the one we are in now, we can also participate by the simple act of talking to people about what global warming is and how is affects us. 

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