Trip Objective

As our world moves closer to the clutches of an environmental crisis, a new educational approach is becoming popular: the simultaneous teaching of environmental science and English.  By studying at this crux of disciplines, students have the opportunity to become knowledgeable about the rising environmental problems and to acquire the eloquence necessary for the discourse and teaching about this subject.  The University of Washington Honors Program, in order to promote this development of strong interdisciplinary environmentalists, has an opportunity for students to study sustainability and creative writing in Ecuador.  And this is where the work of fourteen students, two professors, and a teaching assistant begins.

Our Objective: To contribute to the communities of Ecuador by the installation of appropriate technology and the sharing of scientific knowledge.

This link leads to a short film on the composting toilet model developed by our professor, Chuck Henry, and his partner, Marcos Fioravanti.    

On June 22, 2012, they met each other in Ecuador in order to spend a month traveling, volunteering, and closely interacting with the cultures they were working with.  From Quito, the group traveled to Yachana Lodge in the Amazon to study the ties between the indigenous and nature.  They visited an Eco-lodge in the Andes called Black Sheep Inn to help its founder, Andres, to improve the sustainability of the nearby town Chugchilan.  In Guayaquil, they had the opportunity to assist Concepto Azul and Hogar de Christo with the construction of two aquaponics systems and a bamboo house.  And in the Galapagos, Julio Pullaguari, owner of Hotel Sula Sula, supported their presentation on clean energy to the Galapagueño people.  In total, the study abroad was an experience to teach students not just how to be a positive presence in developing countries, but gave them the opportunity to see what more needed to be done, and the empowerment of experience to go and continue to do it.

What follows is a detailed documentation of our volunteer and culture experiences.  It contains links to further studies that students in the group have done concerning our array of ecological projects.

Yachana Lodge

This ecolodge, located a few miles from the growing impacts of human oil drilling, is a shining example of an environmental education center.  With its solar-powered lighting, dedication to composting, and careful use of resources, Yachana was an ideal place to begin a trip dedicated to serving the environment.  Students Sarah Schooler and Lisie Monahan have researched and compiled information on the value of these ecolodges, that are emerging to teach world tourists about the value of the environment and the small things they can do to contribute to its preservation. 

Ecolodge Poster

Black Sheep Inn

Andres and Michelle, the founders of Black Sheep Inn, are avid participants in the well-being of Chugchílan.  While we were there, the primary project was that of installing two composting toilets in the local school.  This project will ultimately help to teach Chugchílan's students about sustainability, will help the school save water, and will produce a compost with which to fertilize the school garden.

Breaking up into groups, we took shifts in walking over to the school and spending hours mixing concrete, hauling dirt, and layering rocks for the first of the two eco-toilets.  Participation in the Parent Teacher Association is mandatory in Chugchílan, and the oldest students were required to help (as they will be the only ones permitted to use the new facilities), so our building experience was one of joking and cooperation with the people that we were working for.

It is encouraging to think that there is still room for change in places like Ecuador.  If students can grow up with an acute understanding of water preservation, perhaps such eco-toilets can become more of a norm for Ecuador than may ever be possible for the Unites States.  The developed world converts clean water to black water without a thought.  More projects like this means just a little more ease for posterity.

Guayaquil

The synergy of Guayaquil-based organizations Hogar de Christo and Concepto Azul is crucial to this city.  Many of the local inhabitants live on less than two dollars a day and have never been beyond the city limits.  Their limited money goes towards purified water and the meat that hangs in the heat, going rancid before the eyes of its consumers.  There is no family planning, sanitation, or healthcare.  Working to build bamboo houses and aquaponics systems with these two groups permitted us interaction with and better understanding of the local Guayaquil people, who lived completely differently from our host families that lived only a half hour away.

In areas like this, it is key to avoid large acts of charity to the people.  The best thing that volunteers can do is to help locals feel a sense of ownership over their lives, a result that does not come from giving resources, but from making them more accessible.  This is why Hogar de Christo sells cheap bamboo houses to impoverished families.  This low cost, however, is why student groups like our own are elemental to the houses’ construction.  Bamboo houses are only a temporary fix, lasting between three and five years, but they can be reinforced with concrete to improve longevity.

The rocky ground ensured that the most difficult part of the build was digging holes for the posts, but by the end of only eight hours, a grateful woman, her two children, and her husband had the home they had been waiting on for months.  They became the very first family in all of Guayaquil to have its own composting toilet.  This is an important step forward in improving sanitation and from a cultural standpoint, can give families the feeling of wealth that is associated with the luxury of an indoor toilet (cultural considerations, as well as environmental and monetary ones, are key in this line of work, sometimes it is easy for one, while doing humanitarian work, to forget that the work he is doing is for real humans with preferences and values).  As a fellow student, James Liu, said, this toilet is an important symbol of progress in how something so simple can make such a big impact.

We worked with Concepto Azul during the final stages of the production of their first prototypes for two aquaponics systems.  Our group helped to assemble these two different models which, after more testing and efforts to lower cost, may prove to be an effective way for locals to raise their own fish and vegetables with only a simple, closed environment.  Giving people the opportunity to grow their own food rather than to purchase it from the questionable stands at the market is an important step forward in promoting preventative health. 

For more information on aquaponics, follow this link to James Liu, Sarah Egler, and Emily Chan's project: Ecuador Aquaponics

To read more on composting toilets, you can read Kevin Tsuchida's presentation here: Composting Toilet Presentation

Galapagos-Hotel Sula Sula

There are alternative energy projects emerging in the Galapagos.  For now, the Ecuadorian government subsidizes oil for cheap electricity.  And it's a difficult thing to think about, but such unsustainable systems have a time limit hanging over their heads.  Oil spills have pernicious effects on the delicate environment of the Galapagos, which the locals depend upon for the income from tourism.  It isn't just more environmental, alternative energy is more economical in the long run.  And Julio Pullaguari, the owner of Hotel Sula Sula (and also a fantastic park guide) enabled us to hold a presentation to the local people concerning doable forms of alternative energy.

Patrick Deeny built a small model of a solar water heater, and Taran Dike put together a solar panel.  The presentation of each of these mini replicas is yet another step forward in the movement to make the Galapagos more sustainable, and thus able to sustain tourists and locals for generations to come.

Education in the Galapagos is notorious for its lack of project-based learning.  An added benefit to alternative energy is an opportunity to teach sustainability to Galapagueño students.  Such an element within the curriculum would be crucial not only to ensuring the success of the use of solar panels and wind energy in the place of oil, but it would also help to create the sense of place that is lacking in the Galapagos.  In environmental work, it is important not to underestimate the power of an emotional connection to land--especially land that is so important to our world of modern science.

Taran Dike's documentation of the solar workshop can be found here: Solar Presentation