Rush Limbaugh is fond of making light of the so-called “environmentalist wackos.” These are people with a neurotic concern that human “progress” is encroaching on the environment in irreversible ways. For a long time these types were considered odd and anti-progressive by most people. That is, until Al Gore showed us all that it’s not nice to try to fool Mother Nature. Now to present yourself as “green” is quite fashionable in a vacuous sort of way. I am reading an excellent book of Costa Rican literature entitled La Loca de Gandoca by Anacristina Rossi. It is a fictitious account, though within the context of actual occurrences, of a woman’s battle to save the Refugio Gandoca, a protected area located on Costa Rica’s extreme southern Caribbean coast, very near the border with Panama. The book caused quite an uproar in the environmental community of Costa Rica when it was written back in the early 90’s. I read a passage this morning that really got the gears of thought churning. In it La Loca laments that while in the throes of passionate love she missed seeing the train-wreck arriving in the form of foreigners greedily buying up the land of the refugio from poor blacks of the region. She speaks of how these foreigners hate the naturaleza of the Refugio, the flora and fauna, and only want to extend the golden sand of the beaches. So they cut trees, drain marshes and burn away vegetation in their greedy and lustful attempt to extend the beach. They cut the trees to build platforms over the wetlands adjacent to the rivers so as not to dirty their feet. Acts such as these cause her to have real hatred for these people who have suddenly invaded her precious Refugio and pierced its natural silence with sounds of “progress.” This is a form of progress that La Loca has no desire to see occur and is determined to thwart. However, the corrupt authorities that be in Costa Rica aren’t quite on the same page as La Loca on this topic. And so goes this “David and Goliath” account of how one woman tried to hold back human progress that threatened the destruction of the land and sea she so intensely loved. As I read I began wondering why we humans are in such a constant battle with nature. Why do we seem to hate it so that we take such pains to roll it back so as not to “dirty our feet?” Why is an intense love of nature considered odd and out of the norm? Why is it that to make a bold attempt at protecting nature will quickly get you placed in the wacko “tree hugger” category? These are questions I pondered as I read. Or, are the real wackos the Rush Limbaugh’s of this world who promote the continued destruction of the planet in the name of human progress? By continually pushing against nature I am afraid that we are foolishly plunging ourselves toward the brink….the brink of ultimate consumptive destruction.  If those convictions qualify me as “El Loco” then I am happy to be in good company here in Costa Rica.

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