The Estancia Hotel reopened its doors to the Nosara community this Saturday, December 3rd, for the “Sustainable Nosara Expo” Fair. Beginning at noon, about 250 people enjoyed the different activities that the expo offered.
Sustainable Nosara Expo commenced with the traditional Guanacastecan typical dances performed by the Santa Marta and Serapio Lopez schools. Elderly men and women also joined the dance group to give the public a spectacular show.
The principle objective of Sustainable Nosara is for the community knows and work together united under the same direction to advance efficiently, to ensure that achievements are reflected in a way that is noticeable and positive for everyone in the town.
In the expo, they celebrated the advancement of all of the sustainability projects that they’ve been working hard on, including “Blue Flag Adopt-a-School" and environmental campaigns against Styrofoam, which is used in selling food to go. They offered new ideas for avoiding garbage, such as transparent plastic bags that are oxi-biodegradable, biodegradable cleaning products and 100% biodegradable bottles.
About twenty stands were presented with active organizations from Nosara like Nosara Animal Care, which rehabilitates animals that are homeless, abandoned, injured or sick and also conducts campaigns for castration and vaccination. Nosara Wildlife Refuge and SIBU Sanctuary share a common mission to rescue wild animals that are injured, orphaned or homeless, providing them with medical attention and rehabilitation to later be released into their natural habitat.
Nosara Red Cross and the firefighters were also important participants, in addition to the Association of Wastes and Recycling, the DavidKitson public library, the Lagarta Lodge Refuge and the Surfing Nosara Foundation, which receives money by means of donations and utilizes the money in the local public schools.
The fair developed during the afternoon with sales of empanadas filled with rice and chicken, watermelon, coconut water and pineapple juice, local artisans, exhibitions of recycled art presented by the private Home School Beach Academy, games for kids made from recycled materials, face painting and the Del Mar Academy stand, where the children presented songs and poems about the environment, leaving a clear message of how important water is for all living beings and the planet earth.
Another non-government organization that presented its project was Costas Verdes (Green Coasts), formed four years ago by Costa Rican youths and biology and natural science educators, who are dedicated to reforesting the coasts. This year they initiated a plan in Guiones beach, planting a thousand trees of coastal species with the help of area volunteers, students from different universities and schools.
The Nosara Civic Association was a big help in driving the reforestation project, donating the economic funds to start. The Harmony Hotel acts in alliance, collaborating with the maintenance of the trees. Likewise other private companies, as well as volunteer hands, are invited to participate to obtain more funds to expand the project.
Marco Johanning, from Nosara’s Chamber of Tourism who also forms part of the Sustainable Nosara team, said, “We want to preserve Nosara, driving sustainable development, development considering the local communities, education, so the town has opportunities to establish its micro businesses, to be able to generate its income and so they aren’t pushed out when foreigners come, as happens in other coastal communities in the country.”
Among all the projects on behalf of the environment, Jessica Sheffield, from the Association of Wastes and Recycling, expounded an interesting and novel project about sustainable homes. Beginning in March of 2012, they will be registering the homes that want to participate. They will be evaluated October and December of 2012, by various public entities, including the Minister of Health and the National University.
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