Film: EARTH University (Costa Rica)

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00:00:00: SOUND UP
00:00:01: [MUSIC UP – EXPLORE]
00:00:13: Costa Rica [SOUND OF BIRDS, GURGLING OF RIVER]
00:00:33: CHARLIE/NARRATOR: In the heart of Costa Rica is Earth University, one of the most unique campuses I’ve ever visited.
00:00:36: [GRAPHIC] EARTH University
Guacimo, Limon, Costa Rica
00:00:43: CHARLIE: EARTH stands for Escuela de Agricultura para la Region Tropical Humeda or, for those who don’t speak Spanish, The School of Agriculture for the Region of the Humid Tropics.
00:01:03: CHARLIE: EARTH is a private, non-profit university, offering an education in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Its goal is to contribute to sustainable development in humid tropics. EARTH’s curriculum is based on four pillars: Social commitment, Environmental Awareness, Entrepreneurial Mentality and the development of Human Values. Sustainability is achieved when balancing these four ideals. Each year, EARTH selects one hundred students from Latin America, Spain, and Uganda. EARTH’s students are motivated to make a difference in their own countries and, consequently, the world, through social and economic development. We met with a few students from EARTH University.
00:02:01: GLADYS ANDIRU, Student, EARTH University: This is really a university where one changes a lot in the course of the four years.
00:02:07: FELIPE BERMUDEZ, Student, EARTH University: You’re gonna find people from almost everywhere in Latin America, and also from Uganda, United States, Europe.
00:02:13: JULIUS MBUGA, Student, EARTH University: My first impressions about this university is that they are very practical.
00:02:18: GLADYS: We also have developed so much we’d loved to get our hands on the work. Like, some of us, I think, we’re interested - would feel very uncomfortable to just sit there in the office and managing things. Real help is we’ve got this zeal to work with the people.
00:02:32: JULIUS: I thought that they gave more practice to students and I looked at that as an opportunity to learn very well out in this field.
00:02:44: CHARLIE: EARTH seeks to nurture a new generation of agricultural leaders with an emphasis on environmental and social conscience.
00:03:00: CHARLIE: Probably the most fun part of my job is finding young leaders. Today, I met Juan Pinto, our guide, who will walk us through the rainforest.
00:03:03: JUAN PINTO, Student, EARTH University [GRAPHIC]
00:03:10: CHARLIE: Juan wants to become a conservationist and promote eco-tourism in his native country of Costa Rica.
00:03:18: JUAN: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] Even before I started at EARTH, I was very interested in biology and wildlife. And what better place than EARTH with 2,500 acres of protected forest, to study all of this. This tree is called Naked Indian, and it has several medicinal uses. And at EARTH, they are using it in a chemical compound with the aim of finding a cure for Chagas disease.
00:03:49: CHARLIE: Juan is a future leader. You can feel his passion, especially when he talks about conservation.
00:03:58: JUAN: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] Yes, wildlife is the most interesting to me: the conservation and protection of wildlife. That’s why I’m at EARTH, not to become an agronomist, but I think the skills I learn at EARTH will help me to integrate conservation with community development. Because many biologists know what the problems are, but not the causes.
00:04:23: CHARLIE: After graduation, he will dedicate his life to an eco-tourism project that integrates conservation, education, and community development.
00:04:33: JUAN: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] I am going to dedicate my life to conservation, definitely. And I am sure that having all this knowledge will really help me to be able to connect with people. Without people, you will never have successful conservation.
00:05:09: CHARLIE: EARTH teaches students how to farm in a way that is in harmony with nature. My favorite project at EARTH University was the Animal Compassion Project.
00:05:20: CHARLIE: What is today’s current practice and what does EARTH University do that distinguishes that practice?
00:05:25: DR RICHARD TAYLOR, EARTH University: Okay, current practice is that everybody yells, uses sticks, uses electrical probes to move animals. We are trying to teach there – teach the people to understand the animal, rather than to try to force him to do something that he doesn’t want to do. You should have been here nine years ago. You couldn’t open your mouth. Flies would go into your mouth. I mean, we were desperate with the problem of flies. For that, we can use EM, which is Effective Micro-organisms. Well, this is what decomposes the wood, everything that falls from the tropical rain forest. We spray this on the floor. (COW MOOS) What we do is we put a layer of about two inches of sawdust and then we let the cows come in for a month and they accumulate the manure there on top of the sawdust. And so, these micro-organisms go and act directly on the organic matter and they transform organic matter. This process actually avoids having the composition of the organic matter. You don’t have smell. If you don’t have smell, you have fewer flies coming in. This solved the problem 100%. It doesn’t smell like manure. Smell it.
00:06:31: CHARLIE: It looks like brownie mix.
00:06:33: DR. TAYLOR: It looks like dirt, like soil, black soil.
00:06:38: CHARLIE: What an experience, the Animal Compassion Project. So, here I am, sitting on a two-ton bull. This bull was more docile than my golden retriever. I just laid on him and took a siesta. The students at EARTH are aware that one of the great challenges in the world today is the preservation of the rain forest, with the balance of agricultural development. The sustainable farming practices taught by EARTH support entrepreneurship and eco-sensitive agriculture in the developing world.
00:07:17: CHARLIE: I was introduced to EARTH University through a friend of mine named Michael, who was one of the original founders of Whole Foods. During our visit, we learned about the unique partnership between EARTH University and Whole Foods Market in the U.S.
00:08:01: CHARLIE: Many students plan to start their own businesses, creating jobs for people in their native countries.
00:08:06: GLADYS: I am not alone on this earth. I have to help the people who are down here. I have to help my people so that they become better. Because here, we learn that things are done in a group. As one person, you cannot really stand. You need the others to be around you, to be able to make a better world.
00:08:22: FELIPE: To be successful with the people who are around you.
00:08:25: CHARLIE: Part of the agreement is that after graduation, the students will go home and make a difference in their own communities.
00:08:32: GLADYS: That’s why some of us we are thinking, okay, there are very few jobs. Instead of scrambling for those few jobs, we should go out and then you create more jobs where many people can benefit, even the poor because the idea is to treat them well.
00:08:44: CHARLIE: And that’s what makes EARTH University so unique is that not only do students learn agricultural practices, but they have to develop their own business plan.
00:08:55: GLADYS: I want to set up a business back home and the idea is to do three months internship in South America – that would be, like, a rose farm, where I could learn about the production. Then, I move to the U.S. where I can learn about the business part. Then, I go to Holland where I can learn about the market.
00:09:13: FELIPE: For the next five years, I would like to study to keep (UNCLEAR) and keep working and to learn production and then, probably after five or seven years, I would like to start my own business.
00:09:23: JULIUS: After graduation, I’m going to work with a conservation organization.
00:09:30: CHARLIE: Upon graduation, they have a dream in their hand to go back to their respective countries and they now try to implement it.
00:09:58: GLADYS: EARTH University is the place where dreams come true.
00:10:04: EARTH University www.earth.ac.cr
00:10:07: www.explore.org
00:10:09: END OF FILM

Now Viewing: EARTH University

Drawing students from around the world, EARTH University in Costa Rica teaches future leaders how to implement agricultural techniques that drive economic progress while still respecting and preserving the earth's resources. It's mission is to promote sustainable development and eco-sensitive agriculture in the developing world.

: Costa Rica
Location:: Limón
Date:: November 2005
Grants Awarded:: EARTH University (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) ($600,000)