The Environmental Side of Life....

So I will dedicate this blog post to a more environmental perspective on Paraguay and my site of Encarnacion.
So, I tend to talk a lot about the heat these days whenever people ask me how im doing. I suppose this is me becoming Paraguayan because my conversations with Paraguayans usually go like this, “Its really hot today,” “Yup, I’m really sweaty,” “yup, want some terere?” “yes,” “so you really don’t eat meat? Not even chicken” “nope, not even chicken.” “It is really hot out today.” “Yea, I hope it rains.” “Its hard to function when its this hot.” “Yea, I think I am going to go walking right now for a bit.” “Are you crazy? It is way too hot out there!” “Yes, but I cant stand sitting in the heat anymore, at least I will be moving” this is proceeded by many strange looks and confusion as I walk through my neighborhood and receive long stares as I walk by in the middle of the day as everyone is sitting in the shade drinking terere. This is how they realize that my looks are deceiving and am actually not Paraguayan, but a loco norte.
Many Paraguayans believe that this year is one of the hottest that they have experienced, which means I have great luck! Or not at all…But anyways, I have heard a couple, litereally, of Paraguayans say, I heard that it is more hot because we keep cutting down all the trees in the country…BINGO!!! Let my role as an environmental educator proceed. So, I continue to explain that this is true, trees play a vital role in the climate and are making it much hotter than ever before experienced. This is interesting because Paraguay has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world for a country of its size, and continues cutting trees. My site is situated in the Atlantic Forest of the Alto Parana (BAAPA), which is a major ecological and economic resource. Sadly, little of this forest is left and on the drive from Asuncion to my site, you can see the forest islands all around with either agricultural plots taking the place, or simply grazing land. I have heard of these forest islands in my environmental classes, but actually seeing them really gave me a new realization of what they actually mean, and how devastating they look.
Another important issue here I encountered the first day in Paraguay is trash. I gasped in horror when I saw my first Paraguayan take their soda bottle and throw it out the bus window…I suppose I got used to it after this happened repeatedly when they were walking down the dirt road to throw their candy wrappers on the floor, lots of soda bottles, and plastic bags. Many of the houses where my friends lived didn’t even have trash cans. The reality is, there is not an adequate trash management system in general, so most Paraguayans either throw it on the ground, place it in a hole in their backyard, or put it in a pile across the street to burn. Burning is the most popular method of controlling trash since digging holes can be labor intensive, especially in the heat.
There are also the problems brought about by the dam. These problems are large and include things such as water contamination as the lower parts of the city become inundated, lowering of fish populations, and new climates as the river expands in size. The dam has so many problems associated with it, not only environmentally, but socially. I have been researching the history, and this dam was largely funded by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, which really makes me question the whole project. It is owned by both the government in Argentina and Paraguay, and the contract was created while both countries were in dictatorships, so they largely benefit outside companies, and a lot of the loans given by the international institutions has been “unaccounted for.” So, the Entidad Binacional was created in hopes of mitigating social and environmental problems created by the dam, such as my neighborhood, where they built all the houses for those displaced. I am pretty sure a statistic said the Entidad has actually only barely used about a third of its money with the rest being “lost.” On a side note, because I have a lot of academic interest in world institutions such as the World Bank and their “development” aid throughout Latin America, I am working to research this more and hopefully write a paper about this with the help from a generous professor at UC Santa Cruz. Needless to say, it couldn’t be more of a perfect site as I live in a displaced community as the inundations are still taking place and about a 5 minute walk from the Entidad.
So, there are a lot of environmental issues, beyond the extensive social issues, going on here in Paraguay which I am trying to learn about day by day. I know my thoughts are too radical for the politics and role of the Yacyreta Dam, in this country as Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to remain neutral, it seems like I need to help in some way to show people that not all development projects are bad and can actually help the people, especially in terms of the environment. Currently I am trying to work with the Red Cross here in the city on AIDS education and am hoping to start help leading discussions with adolescents about environmental issues and self-esteems, drug addiction, things that are affecting them currently in this border city. School will begin at the end of February, so I will have more work then as well.

Another side note, there was another Churro siting as I was on the bus and the man next to me was selling them…Yes, I bought one, it was fate….

Also happy birthday to some people I wish I could be celebrating with: my dad, Chuck Norris!!! Wahoo, A certain Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria who goes by the alias of Tobias Highlander Hewitt, and a new adult to the world, Dempsey.