Click here to see our new photo album, this time from Zancudo and Pavones Pincha aquí para ver el album de fotos del viaje a Zancudo y Pavones Klik hier om het album om Pavones en Zancudo te zien
At the offset of this world pandemic, I kept on thinking how the Corona would impact on the most marginalized members of society. As the World Health Organization insisted that we should wash our hands well and often, wear a mask and stay at home whenever possible, I kept on discussing with Frank what would … More Pandemics and poverty
One of the wonderful bits about my current volunteer work is that I am doing hands-on research (again). And this time, not with the idea of developing or testing a theory as it is often the case in academia, but with the humble and simple goal of improving people’s lives while ensuring the long-term conservation … More New insights into job downgrading…hands-on research again!
When people think about innovation, they usually portray technological artifacts. But innovation is much more than that. In simple terms, it is about the capacity to change. As it goes, many conservation projects require individuals and organizations to change, to adopt new practices, to abandon others. This is where an economist with an Economics of … More Economics of Innovation and Conservation
As some of you might have noticed, this last week I have not been so active on the blog. The reason for that is that as part of the volunteer work, I have been (finally) in the field, doing interviews with fishermen in some rural areas in Costa Rica. It has been intense and tiresome. … More A fisherman’s life from the peephole and what it can teach us about poverty, conservation and life
Today I woke up before the alarm totally rested. The sun was shining in the room and the jungle was awake. I could hear the collared forest falcon with his early pooouu pooouu. In the distance the howlers and the scarlet macaws. In between, the “pipopipos” (the wood rails). Just like every morning. But today, … More Taking pleasure in the small things in life
Have you ever felt that there is never time to learn new things that could make your work better…but that are not extremely urgent? That it is faster to do things “the old way” since learning the “new way” will take too much time? Do you tell yourself “I will do it in summer when … More New insights into job downgrading…the blessing of having time to learn new things
Forget me if I get too serious. But one of the outcomes of the volunteer work in conservation is that I started to think about how economics can contribute to conservation. Hence, this series of (more serious) blogs. I started discussing, in general, the links between economics and conservation. And in this blog and future … More Ecological economics and conservation
Have you ever wondered how someone with an economic or social science background can contribute to conservation? I had asked myself that question many times while we were preparing for the sabbatical and our volunteer work in Costa Rica. I searched the internet looking for examples of volunteer work in conservation and it seemed to … More Economics and conservation
It is now a little over two months since Costa Rica published its first report on the Corona crises. At that point in time (11th of March) there were 22 reported cases of infected people. Today, there are 863 of which, only 288 are active cases. This country of 5 million inhabitants has suffered only … More What a tiny tropical country can teach the world about managing the Coronavirus crises
THE FLIP FLOP LIFE 