EfD Central America center director Francisco Alpízar participated as part of a panel for the national radio show “Nuestra Voz” on January 14, 2015. The topic under discussion was: Practices to reduce the ecological footprint of Costa Rica to be urgently included in the education system. The panel approached critical issues on improving the practices to reduce the ecological footprint in the country.
Part of Alpízar’s participation was to explain to a wider audience the main facts on how to measure the ecological footprint and the lack of engagement of citizens to promote awareness of and reduce the ecological footprint in Costa Rica. “How can we improve on the consumption side and protecting the environment? These are two different paths, but small changes can lead to big differences,” stated Alpízar.
Other contributions focused on the components of behavior of the Costa Rican citizens that are causing a bigger ecological footprint and three different ways to use this concept:
- To know how sustainable we are as individuals,
- This allows us to compare on a national level and to detect which countries are committing our future, and
- To determine patterns and consumption trends.
Alpizar pointed the difficulty of national authorities to create and obtain more detailed information on behavior of the Costa Rican population in terms of environmental issues and the lack of the knowledge to own the problem and face it as a personal issue.
To close the show the panel approached two critical issues on improving the practices to reduce the ecological footprint in the country. First the transportation sector and second, the importance of communicating environmental issues in the education system.
To listen to the entire radio show click here. (Spanish only)