Michele D'Agata Studies Conflict in Costa Rica

2017 Jun 13

A group of honors students from Eastern Connecticut State University spent 10 days in Costa Rica this May for a field course that examined the country's rich biodiversity and developing agricultural industry. Among the travelers from Eastern was Michele D'Agata '18 of West Suffield, who majors in Sport & Leisure Management.

"This course required students to examine the conflict between preservation of the tropical rainforest and Costa Rica's economic shift to export-focused agriculture," said Patricia Szczys, biology professor and trip supervisor.

"Our trips to plantations as well as conservation centers and the tropical rainforest allowed us to see how the Costa Rican citizens feel about the conflict, what they're doing to fix it, and put our research into perspective," said D'Agata. "Overall, I found that the citizens, scientists and plantation owners have positive attitudes and genuine concerns for the environment, and plantation owners use a number of tactics to minimize their negative impacts."

The trip to Costa Rica was the field component of a course taken on the Eastern campus during the academic year. The students toured the tropical rainforest as well as plantations that grow pineapples, bananas, peppercorn and coffee. They even participated in a community service project where they planted 100 trees at a peppercorn farm as part of a reforestation effort.