It seems every other day I read in La Nación about another of Costa Rica’s species “disappearing.” Most recently, the Lapas of Sarapiquí, but before that, salamanders, and then last year, the Sapo Holdridge (a rain forest frog, which is now considered extinct). I give credit to La Nación for at least writing about these issues. Many newspapers wouldn’t because the readers just don’t give a rat’s behind about that stuff. I am glad I live in a place where it does matter….nature that is. Because if you think about it “nature” is like one of those jigsaw puzzles you used to do at Christmas that had those really tiny little pieces. It took a lot of effort to put all that together, but when it was completed the picture became clear and it was, well, quite nice. But then that idiot cousin came by and just to be a jerk took out a piece. You probably got really upset because even though the puzzle had 50,000 pieces, it really screwed everything up big time to take out just that one piece, right? Well nature is kind of the same in a lot of ways. It took millions upon millions of years of time and effort to create the wonderful mosaic of nature that is exhibited in the rich biodiversity of Costa Rica, as well as any of the world’s biodiversity “hot spots.” But if you take out that one little rain forest frog, it is just not quite the same. Take out the Lapa Roja (Scarlet Macaw) and, wow, the puzzle really begins to get messed up, almost unrecognizable now. Take out one of the four species of monkeys (whose populations are also decreasing at alarming rates) and suddenly it doesn’t even look like Costa Rica anymore. And the other thing is that all the pieces are linked together. If you take out one, it automatically removes another. Take out the árbol almendra (almond tree) and guess what, the piece that is the Lapa Verde (or Green Macaw) is also taken out, since that is their main source of food. And on and on it goes. So these things do matter. I am grateful to live in a place where the media is concerned about nature. I don’t know how many times I have heard commentary in the U.S. media, especially among conservative talking heads like Rush, or Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck, to the effect that any semblance of care towards nature puts you in the “enviro-wacko” category. How could you be talking about stuff like that when we have an “economic crisis” going on? Well in my view, we are living in a time when it is imperative that we be talking about “stuff like that.” I am happy to be living in a place where those conversations do take place. Unless the rest of the world catches on, we are going to end up with one $%#&*-up puzzle.
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