Climate change

As the rainy, wintery season comes to an end, the Parcilan community (and us eager Brits) await the arrival of a dry and hot summer, which is set to last a mere six months.

For the past six months, Nicaragua has gone through the rainy (monsoon) season, however the amount that has fallen is not anywhere near what communities such as La Grecia and Parcila were hoping for. 

A country that often suffer from floods, now for Nicaragua droughts are the main issue. 

Hola guapos! Friday 12 August 2016 was International Youth Day. This was designated by the UN General Assembly and had twelve main priorities. This year the main focus is ‘the road to 2030; eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable production and consumption.'

This blog marks the end of our eleven weeks in Parcila and twelve weeks in Nicaragua, so it would be an appropriate time to reflect upon our reasons for coming on the project. I knew before coming here that the time would slip away from us, but that foresight doesn’t help when it comes to saying our goodbyes. There is so much I’ll miss about being here; even as I write this, my host family and our chickens are huddled in the house to escape a thunderstorm. 

The world seems to be waking up to the issue of climate change and just how precarious the situation of the environment is. The condition of the environment hangs in the balance and it is the choices that we make that can make such a huge difference. Days like World Environment Day (WED) help bring these issues to the consciousness of people all around the world. 

Once I hurtled ever on

Twisting here and thither

Once I rumbled and I rolled

Once I was the river

Now I gurgle and I gasp

Where once I rushed and roared

As cattle steal a thirsty gulp

Which I can ill afford

Once great men observed and wrote

Each one doubting never

That while man stumbles and he fails

I’d go on forever

They dreamed of all I’d oversee

With nature’s right divine

To watch unmoved and unperturbed

The unfurling grand design

5 June marks World Environment Day, but here in Honduras Day of the Tree is celebrated on 30 May, and the two naturally go hand in hand quite nicely. Lately, our team here in Honduras, has had the environment around us on the mind quite a bit, especially with these occasions coming up.

Will we say that we were right?

When millions flee drought-ravaged homes

And we turn them from ours, will we say

That wind turbines are an eyesore?

Will we say it would not have worked?

Should floods become as part of our seasons

As the first greens of Spring, will we say

That solar was unreliable?

Will we keep our priorities?

If political differences one day succumb

To the instinct of survival, will we say

“Well, what about jobs?”

Will our doubts not subside?

This week we had the exciting opportunity to learn from and help a reforestation organisation. Carbono Comunitario is an organisation that works with local communities and families in the San Juan de Limay area. They provide them with roughly 1,000 plants per plot of land, and educate them on how to sustainably plant, maintain and cut the weaker trees. As well as improving the fertility of the land and helping our changing climate, the cut down trees act as another source of income for the family.