Cleaning the beaches with Gerardo
Gerardo is twenty-seven years old. He has been working at Harmony for about one and a half years and his job is all about sustainability! After studying biology with an emphasis in sustainable development he believes in using natural recourses in moderation so that they are available for generations to come.
His job started at reception but when he found out that there was a job available as sustainability coordinator he spoke to management and applied for the position. Now for the last nine months he has been doing what he loves most.
I was lucky to catch up with Gerardo as he was teaching one a staff member all about the trees and the gardens of Harmony. It amazed me how much information he had about every tree! He could even tell me what animals use which particular tree and for what purpose. He told me which plants were exotic, or native. How the plants came to Costa Rica and approximately how old they were. It was fascinating!
But Gerardo is not only responsible for educating the staff at Harmony. Also the guests and the local community are important to him. These are his three levels of education. First you teach the staff, then you teach the guests and then the local community. In these three steps Gerardo is determined to get through to everyone. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.
On two occasions during my stay at Harmony Gerardo organized a beach clean. The staff at Harmony get together every week. They invite the locals and even the guests to join in to help them pick up the rubbish surrounding the Hotel and on the beaches. On one occasion we even drove for twenty minutes down the road to where Gerardo knew the beach needed to be cleaned. We ended up taking twenty-four kilos of rubbish and plastic from that beach. It’s great to see Gerardo isn’t just focusing on the area around Harmony. He is focused on Costa Rica!
On another occasion I noticed the shame on the faces of local artists who dumped their rubbish behind a tree where they were selling their jewelry whilst we were cleaning. They said nothing but looked in shame as I was taking photographs of people cleaning up their mess. This is also another effective way of creating awareness within the local community. Gerardo wants to invade them. He wants to surround them and hopefully one day they will catch on and start dumping their rubbish where it belongs. Once they are used to doing that the next step is educating them to recycle. One step at a time!
On the first Friday of every month Gerardo gets together with the children of the local primary school. They pick up rubbish throughout the local community of Nosara. The children are really starting to catch on and are very enthusiastic about cleaning up rubbish around the town. They are given responsibility and therefore they are starting to act as if it is their duty to pick up after them. They are even starting to communicate with the adults, setting an example, which is another effective way of getting the local community involved.
Gerardo really is an inspiring person. He has great vision and I thought he was very determined and confident. It’s great to see someone taking control of a local community and educating them about sustainability and recycling. As stated before, it won’t happen overnight but it will happen. I know Gerardo is the perfect man for the job.
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