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Children of Flint Water Crisis Make Change as Young Environmental and Health Activists

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Monday, April 22, 2024

Dozens of the children of Flint, Michigan's lead-contaminated water crisis have turned their trauma into advocacy 10 years after it began

Dozens of the children of Flint, Michigan's lead-contaminated water crisis have turned their trauma into advocacy 10 years after it began

Dozens of the children of Flint, Michigan's lead-contaminated water crisis have turned their trauma into advocacy 10 years after it began
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Tonnes of microplastics infiltrate Australia’s agricultural soils each year, study shows

Without swift and effective action, composting may become an environmental crisis, rather than a solution.

Gary D Chapman/ShutterstockCompost applied to agricultural soils in Australia each year contains tonnes of microplastics, our research has revealed. These microplastics can harm soil and plant health and eventually enter food crops, potentially posing a risk to humans. In Australia, more than 51% of organic waste – including garden and food waste from households – is recovered and processed. Much of it is turned into compost. However, every kilogram of compost we sampled in our study contained thousands of tiny pieces of plastic, invisible to the naked eye. They come from a range of potential sources, including compostable waste bags used by households to store food scraps. Without swift and effective action, composting may become an environmental crisis, rather than a solution. The research revealed every kilogram of compost contains thousands of tiny pieces of plastic. SIVStockStudio/Shutterstock The problem with microplastics in compost As Australia’s landfill sites become exhausted, finding new uses for organics waste has become crucial. Composting is widely promoted as a solution to managing organic waste. It is comprised of decomposed plant and food waste and other organic materials, which is applied to farms and gardens to enrich the soil and improve plant growth. Many local councils provide residents with kitchen caddies and “compostable” plastic bags to collect food waste. These bags can also be bought from supermarkets. These bags usually contain some plant-based substances. However, some contain fossil-fuel based material. Others may contain “bioplastics” such as that made from corn starch or sugarcane, which require very specific conditions to break down into their natural materials. Research shows some compostable bags are a source of microplastics – plastic particles smaller than 5 millimetres. Some compostable bags are a source of microplastics. Hurricanehank/Shutterstock Once applied to soil, microplastics can accumulate over time, posing risks to soil health. For example, research shows microplastics can alter soil structure, limit plant growth, hinder the cycling of nutrients and disrupt microbial communities. This in turn may affect farm productivity. Microplastics can also further degrade into “nanoplastics” small enough to be absorbed by plant roots. From there they can enter stems, leaves, and fruits of agricultural products consumed by humans, posing potential health risks. Internationally, evidence is growing that compost can introduce significant amounts of microplastics into soil. However, little is known about whether organics applied to farm soils in Australia contain microplastics. This study sought to shed light on this. What we found My colleagues and I investigated microplastics in processed organic waste. We took samples from 11 composting facilities in Victoria. We found every kilogram of compost contains between 1,500 and 16,000 microplastic particles. In weight, this equates to between 7 and 760 milligrams of microplastics per kilogram of compost. In Australia, about 26% of compost produced at organic waste processing facilities is used in agriculture. So, we estimate that between 2.7 and 206 tonnes of microplastics is being transported to Australian agricultural land from compost each year. Most microplastic particles we found were “microfibres” and “microfragments”. Microfibres usually derive from synthetic fabrics. Microfragments come from larger plastics, such as packaging material. We then analysed bin bags marketed as compostable or biodegradable, and found their physical and chemical characteristics were very similar to some microfragments we found in organic waste. The microfragments may be coming from other sources as well, such as plastic containers and bags, and plant string scooped into the bin when people collect garden waste. Various microplastic particles from compost samples as seen under the microscope. Hsuan-Cheng Lu Where to now? This study provides the first evidence of microplastics in processed organic waste in Australia. It underscores the need to better understand what happens to microplastics during the composting processes, and how microplastics affect soil health. Policies such as the National Plastic Plan and the National Waste Policy Action Plan promote composting as a key strategy for reducing landfill waste and supporting a circular economy. But these policies do not adequately address the risks of contaminants such as microplastics. In fact, there are no national standards in Australia regulating microplastics in processed organics. The absence of clear guidelines leaves composting facilities, waste processors, and end users vulnerable to unintended plastic pollution. To address this serious environmental issue, urgent action is needed. Authorities should take steps to limit the flow of microplastics into compost, including developing guidelines for composting facilities, waste management companies and households. Monitoring should also be used to track microplastic levels in processed organics, identify their sources and assess the impact on soils and food safety. Shima Ziajahromi receives funding from EPA Victoria, EPA NSW, Water Research Australia, Queensland Government through an Advance Queensland Industry Research Project, co-sponsored by Urban Utilities, Sydney Water, SA Water, Water Corporation (WA) and Eurofins Environment Testing Australia. This project was funded by EPA, Victoria.Frederic Leusch receives funding from the Australian Research Council, EPA Victoria, EPA NSW, Qld DESTI, Water Research Australia, Seqwater, Urban Utilities, Sydney Water, SA Water, Water Corporation and the Global Water Research Coalition. This project was funded by EPA Victoria.Hsuan-Cheng Lu receives funding from EPA Victoria. This project was funded by EPA, Victoria.

Crisis
Agriculture
Food

El Salton Sea es el lago más amenazado de California. ¿Puede una nueva reserva natural frenar la situación?

Una nueva entidad de conservación supervisará las obras para mejorar la vegetación, la calidad del agua y el hábitat natural en Salton Sea.

Read this story in English La neblina se cernía sobre el lago Salton Sea en un reciente día de invierno, mientras las cigüeñuelas de cuello negro y los kildeer vadeaban en las aguas poco profundas, picoteando crustáceos.  Algo más surgió unos pasos más cerca de la orilla del lago: un hedor a huevo podrido y salado que flotaba desde el agua.  Salton Sea está casi el doble de salado que el océanoargado de escorrentía agrícola y susceptible a la proliferación de algas que expulsan sulfuro de hidrógeno, un gas nocivo. También es un refugio para más de 400 especies de aves y una parada clave en la ruta migratoria del Pacífico, una de las principales rutas migratorias de aves de América del Norte.  Los funcionarios estatales han luchado con el deterioro de la condición del mar a medida que sus aguas se vuelven más sucias y su huella se reduce, exponiendo el polvo tóxico que flota a través de la región.  Este año, el estado dio un paso hacia una solución: creó la nueva Reserva de Salton Sea y destinó casi 500 millones de dólares para revitalizar el cuerpo de agua en deterioro. Si bien los fondos ayudarán a restaurar la vegetación nativa y mejorar la calidad del agua, algunos organizadores comunitarios creen que, en última instancia, se necesitarán decenas de miles de millones de dólares para salvarlo. Y la reserva por sí sola no puede abordar el impacto de su contaminación en la salud humana, incluyendo las elevadas tasas de asma entre los residentes de la zona.  “El Salton Sea es una de las crisis de salud ambiental más urgentes en el estado de California”, dijo el Senador estatal Steve Padilla, el demócrata de Chula Vista que escribió el Proyecto de ley para crear la entidad conservacionista el año pasado. “Es un desastre ecológico y de salud pública… Salton Sea Conservancy garantizará la permanencia de nuestras inversiones en limpieza y restauración”. El bono climático de California, aprobado por los votantes en noviembre, destina 170 millones de dólares a la restauración del Salton Sea, incluyendo 10 millones para establecer la reserva. El Fondo Estatal para la Reducción de Gases de Efecto Invernadero también destina 60 millones de dólares y la Oficina Federal de Recuperación aportará otros 250 millones, según Padilla. Se espera que el gobernador Gavin Newsom, la Legislatura, los distritos de agua locales, los gobiernos tribales y las organizaciones sin fines de lucro designen a 15 miembros para la entidad conservacionista antes del 1 de enero.  La nueva entidad conservacionista administrará los derechos sobre la tierra y el agua y supervisará el trabajo de restauración detallado en el Programa de Gestión de Salton Sea de 2018, un plan de 10 años para construir 30,000 acres de hábitat para la vida silvestre y proyectos de supresión de polvo.  “La conservación es necesaria para garantizar su finalización, pero también para mantener y gestionar permanentemente esa restauración”, dijo Padilla. “Esto no es algo que se hace solo una vez y listo”. Con 35 kilómetros de largo y 15 kilómetros de ancho, Salton Sea es el lago más grande de California. Su forma más reciente se formó en 1905, cuando el río Colorado rompió un canal de riego y millones de litros de agua dulce inundaron la cuenca, creando un lago interior que abarca los valles de Coachella e Imperial. Los pelícanos alzan vuelo en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Sonny Bono Salton Sea en Calipatria el 15 de julio de 2021. Foto de Marcio José Sánchez, AP Photo Pero ese no fue realmente su comienzo. Aunque Salton Sea tiene fama de ser un accidente agrícola, se ha llenado y drenado de forma natural durante los últimos milenios.  Versiones antiguas de lo que se llamó Lago Cahuilla han aparecido cada pocos siglos desde tiempos prehistóricos. En sus configuraciones más antiguas y grandes, los nativos americanos colocaron trampas para peces a lo largo de la costa. Se llenó tan recientemente como en 1731, estudio de hidrología de la Universidad Estatal de San Diego encontrado. Esa historia natural demuestra su valor para la región, dicen los defensores. “Necesitamos tratar Salton Sea como un ecosistema importante para el medio ambiente en el que vivimos”, dijo Luis Olmedo, director ejecutivo del Comité Cívico del Valle, una organización comunitaria con sede en Brawley. Durante su apogeo en la década de 1960, el lago salado era un zona de juegos acuática para las celebridades del Rat Pack, incluyendo a Frank Sinatra y Dean Martin. A finales del siglo pasado, su salinidad aumentó y la calidad del agua se desplomó, lo que provocó… muertes masivas de peces y aves, incluidos los pelícanos pardos en peligro de extinción.  Residentes del área sufren de problemas respiratorios, mientras el polvo del lecho del lago expuesto se arremolina en las comunidades vecinas. El año pasado, un estudio realizado por la Universidad del Sur de California descubrió que casi una cuarta parte de los niños que viven cerca de Salton Sea padecen asma, aproximadamente entre tres y cinco veces el promedio nacional. Un próspero punto de encuentro para las aves A pesar de su contaminación, el lago sigue siendo un hábitat clave para la vida silvestre. Un conteo de aves de Audubon en agosto de 2023 arrojó un récord de 250,000 aves playeras avistadas en un solo día, según Camila Bautista, gerente del programa de Salton Sea y el desierto de Audubon California. Si bien la contaminación del agua del mar y la disminución de la pesca lo hacen menos acogedor para las aves piscívoras, como los pelícanos, las aves que anidan en el suelo, como los chorlitos nevados, proliferan en la costa en expansión.  “El Salton Sea sigue siendo un lugar de gran importancia para las aves, y estos proyectos de restauración son importantes para garantizar que siga siendo así”, afirmó Bautista. El Programa de Gestión de Salton Sea de California enumera 18 proyectos de restauración, incluyendo algunas iniciativas clave que ya están en marcha. Estas incluyen proyectos masivos de restauración acuática, así como iniciativas de revegetación, según la subsecretaria de la Agencia de Recursos Naturales, Samantha Arthur, quien supervisa el programa de gestión. En el extremo sur del lago, el proyecto estatal de conservación de hábitats ha añadido casi 5,000 acres de estanques, cuencas y otras fuentes de agua, según el rastreador de proyectos del programa de gestión. Las imágenes del sitio parecen un mundo acuático de ciencia ficción, donde la maquinaria de movimiento de tierras transforma la costa en una red de pozas de 10 metros de profundidad.  Los trabajadores mezclarán agua altamente salina del mar con agua dulce de su principal afluente, el Río Nuevo, para alcanzar una salinidad objetivo de 20 a 40 partes por mil, explicó Arthur. A ese nivel, el agua puede albergar al pez cachorrito del desierto, un pez importado adaptado al agua salobre que antaño prosperaba en todo el mar.  “Estamos diseñando una salinidad objetivo para sustentar a los peces y luego atraer a las aves”, dijo.  Cubrir el suelo expuesto con agua también debería mejorar la calidad del aire al suprimir el polvo, afirmó Arthur. Ese proyecto comenzó en 2020 y está previsto que finalice este año. Una ampliación del hábitat de conservación de especies añadiría 14,900 acres adicionales de hábitat acuático para aves piscívoras, con islas de anidación y descanso y estanques de distintas profundidades. Se prevé su finalización en 2027.  El plan de manejo también incluye plantar vegetación nativa alrededor de la costa o fomentar las plantas que ya existen allí.  “Vemos 8,000 acres de humedales que han surgido naturalmente a lo largo de la orilla del mar”, dijo Arthur. “Lo mejor de esto es que proporciona un hábitat permanente para las especies de aves”. El estado está ayudando a lograrlo plantando vegetación nativa en el lado oeste del mar, para crear hábitat y reducir el polvo. Creando soluciones basadas en la naturaleza Bombay Beach es una aldea artesanal situada en el lado este del Salton Sea, salpicada de remolques oxidados, automóviles abandonados e instalaciones de arte emergentes. Primera foto: El mar de Salton en Bombay Beach el 4 de febrero de 2023. Segunda foto: Gente en el Mar de Salton en Bombay Beach el 4 de febrero de 2023. Fotos de Ariana Drehsler para CalMatters También es el sitio de un proyecto de restauración encabezado por Audubon California, que añadirá 564 acres de humedal para 2028. Creará bermas en la costa para permitir que el agua se acumule de forma natural, formando estanques poco profundos que atraen aves acuáticas y playeras, dijo Bautista. “El mensaje de este proyecto es hacer que sea lo más autosuficiente posible y trabajar con soluciones basadas en la naturaleza para que no sea algo superdiseñado”, dijo Bautista. Estos proyectos forman las primeras fases de un esfuerzo de restauración más grande, dijo Arthur.  Mientras los funcionarios estatales y los socios sin fines de lucro están apuntalando los humedales y plantando vegetación, el Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército está estudiando soluciones a largo plazo para Salton Sea Olmedo cree que los 500 millones de dólares asignados ahora son sólo una pequeña parte de lo que en última instancia se necesita para salvar el mar.  “Todo cuesta más y no es descabellado pensar que tenemos un pasivo de 60 mil millones de dólares”, dijo. “Quiero ver miles de millones de dólares invertidos en infraestructura”. Silvia Paz, directora ejecutiva del grupo comunitario Alianza Coachella Valley, con sede en Coachella, señaló que la reserva se centra principalmente en la restauración del hábitat, pero que los riesgos para la salud humana derivados de su contaminación aún requieren atención. Desea que se incluyan más estudios y servicios de salud pública en los planes a largo plazo para Salton Sea “Es un gran logro que hayamos establecido la reserva”, dijo. “En cuanto a abordar los impactos generales en la salud, el medio ambiente y la economía, la reserva no fue diseñada para eso, y aún tenemos mucho camino por recorrer para encontrar la manera de abordarlo”. Este artículo fue publicado originalmente por CalMatters.

Crisis
Health
Science

Elderly and suffer from hoarding disorder? Support groups fight stigma, isolation

Clutter creates physical risks. A cramped and disorderly home is especially dangerous for older adults because the risk of falling and breaking a bone increases with age. And having too many things in one space can be a fire hazard.

A dozen people seated around folding tables clap heartily for a beaming woman: She’s donated two 13-gallon garbage bags full of clothes, including several Christmas sweaters and a couple of pantsuits, to a Presbyterian church.A closet cleanout might not seem a significant accomplishment. But as the people in this Sunday-night class can attest, getting rid of stuff is agonizing for those with hoarding disorder.People with the diagnosis accumulate an excessive volume of things such as household goods, craft supplies, even pets. In extreme cases, their homes become so crammed that moving between rooms is possible only via narrow pathways.These unsafe conditions can also lead to strained relationships.“I’ve had a few relatives and friends that have condemned me, and it doesn’t help,” said Bernadette, a Pennsylvania woman in her early 70s who has struggled with hoarding since retiring and no longer allows guests in her home.This article is from a partnership that includes Spotlight PA, NPR, and KFF Health News. People who hoard are often stigmatized as lazy or dirty. NPR, Spotlight PA and KFF Health News agreed to use only the first names of people with hoarding disorder interviewed for this article because they fear personal and professional repercussions if their condition is made public.As Baby Boomers age into the group most affected by hoarding disorder, the psychiatric condition is a growing public health concern. Effective treatments are scarce. And because hoarding can require expensive interventions that drain municipal resources, more funding and expertise is needed to support those with the diagnosis before the issue grows into a crisis.For Bernadette, the 16-week course is helping her turn over a new leaf.The program doubles as a support group and is provided through Fight the Blight. The Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, organization started offering the course at a local Masonic temple after founder Matt Williams realized the area lacked hoarding-specific mental health services.Fight the Blight uses a curriculum based on cognitive behavioral therapy to help participants build awareness of what fuels their hoarding. People learn to be more thoughtful about what they purchase and save, and they create strategies so that decluttering doesn’t become overwhelming.Perhaps more important, attendees say they’ve formed a community knitted together through the shared experience of a psychiatric illness that comes with high rates of social isolation and depression.“You get friendship,” said Sanford, a classmate of Bernadette’s.After a lifetime of judgment, these friendships have become an integral part of the changes that might help participants eventually clear out the clutter.Clutter catches up to Baby BoomersStudies have estimated that hoarding disorder affects around 2.5% of the general population — a higher rate than schizophrenia.The mental illness was previously considered a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but in 2013 it was given its own diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5.The biological and environmental factors that may drive hoarding are not well understood. Symptoms usually appear during the teenage years and tend to be more severe among older adults with the disorder. That’s partly because they have had more time to acquire things, said Kiara Timpano, a University of Miami psychology professor.“All of a sudden you have to downsize this huge home with all the stuff and so it puts pressures on individuals,” she said. In Bernadette’s case, her clutter includes a collection of VHS tapes, and spices in her kitchen that she said date back to the Clinton administration.But it’s more than just having decades to stockpile possessions; the urge to accumulate strengthens with age, according to Catherine Ayers, a psychiatry professor at the University of California-San Diego.Researchers are working to discern why. Ayers and Timpano theorize that age-related cognitive changes — particularly in the frontal lobe, which regulates impulsivity and problem-solving — might exacerbate the disorder.“It is the only mental health disorder, besides dementia, that increases in prevalence and severity with age,” Ayers said.Tristen Williams helps remove clutter from the home of someone with hoarding disorder in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The homeowner asked for help with the cleanout after attending a course and support group offered by the nonprofit Fight the Blight, founded by Williams' father. (Matt Williams/Fight the Blight)Matt Williams/Fight the BlightAs the U.S. population ages, hoarding presents a growing public health concern: Some 1 in 5 U.S. residents are Baby Boomers, all of whom will be 65 or older by 2030.This population shift will require the federal government to address hoarding disorder, among other age-related issues that it has not previously prioritized, according to a July report by the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, chaired then by former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa..Health hazards of hoardingClutter creates physical risks. A cramped and disorderly home is especially dangerous for older adults because the risk of falling and breaking a bone increases with age. And having too many things in one space can be a fire hazard.Last year, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation wrote to the Senate committee’s leadership that “hoarding conditions are among the most dangerous conditions the fire service can encounter.” The group also said that cluttered homes delay emergency care and increase the likelihood of a first responder being injured on a call.The Bucks County Board of Commissioners in Pennsylvania told Casey that hoarding-related mold and insects can spread to adjacent households, endangering the health of neighbors.Due to these safety concerns, it might be tempting for a family member or public health agency to quickly empty someone’s home in one fell swoop.That can backfire, Timpano said, as it fails to address people’s underlying issues and can be traumatic.“It can really disrupt the trust and make it even less likely that the individual is willing to seek help in the future,” she said.It’s more effective, Timpano said, to help people build internal motivation to change and help them identify goals to manage their hoarding.For example, at the Fight the Blight class, a woman named Diane told the group she wanted a cleaner home so she could invite people over and not feel embarrassed.Sanford said he is learning to keep his documents and record collection more organized.Bernadette wants to declutter her bedroom so she can start sleeping in it again. Also, she’s glad she cleared enough space on the first floor for her cat to play.“Because now he’s got all this room,” she said, “he goes after his tail like a crazy person.”Ultimately, the home of someone with hoarding disorder might always be a bit cluttered, and that’s OK. The goal of treatment is to make the space healthy and safe, Timpano said, not to earn Marie Kondo’s approval.Lack of treatment leaves few optionsA 2020 study found that hoarding correlates with homelessness, and those with the disorder are more likely to be evicted.Housing advocates argue that under the Fair Housing Act, tenants with the diagnosis are entitled to reasonable accommodation. This might include allowing someone time to declutter a home and seek therapy before forcing them to leave their home.But as outlined in the Senate aging committee’s report, a lack of resources limits efforts to carry out these accommodations.Hoarding is difficult to treat. In a 2018 study led by Ayers, the UCSD psychiatrist, researchers found that people coping with hoarding need to be highly motivated and often require substantial support to remain engaged with their therapy.The challenge of sticking with a treatment plan is exacerbated by a shortage of clinicians with necessary expertise, said Janet Spinelli, the co-chair of Rhode Island’s hoarding task force.Could changes to federal policy help?Casey, the former Pennsylvania senator, advocated for more education and technical assistance for hoarding disorder.In September, he called for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop training, assistance, and guidance for communities and clinicians. He also said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should explore ways to cover evidence-based treatments and services for hoarding.This might include increased Medicare funding for mobile crisis services to go to people’s homes, which is one way to connect someone to therapy, Spinelli said.Another strategy would involve allowing Medicaid and Medicare to reimburse community health workers who assist patients with light cleaning and organizing; research has found that many who hoard struggle with categorization tasks.Williams, of Fight the Blight, agrees that in addition to more mental health support, taxpayer-funded services are needed to help people address their clutter.When someone in the group reaches a point of wanting to declutter their home, Fight the Blight helps them start the process of cleaning, removing, and organizing.The service is free to those earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level. People making above that threshold can pay for assistance on a sliding scale; the cost varies also depending on the size of a property and severity of the hoarding.Also, Spinelli thinks Medicaid and Medicare should fund more peer-support specialists for hoarding disorder. These mental health workers draw on their own life experiences to help people with similar diagnoses. For example, peer counselors could lead classes like Fight the Blight’s.Bernadette and Sanford say courses like the one they enrolled in should be available all over the U.S.To those just starting to address their own hoarding, Sanford advises patience and persistence.“Even if it’s a little job here, a little job there,” he said, “that all adds up.”This article is from a partnership that includes Spotlight PA, NPR, and KFF Health News.Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for its free newsletters.

Crisis
Education
Government

Guanacaste Housing Crisis Deepens Amid Costa Rica’s Luxury Boom

Guanacaste continues to solidify its reputation as one of Costa Rica’s most dynamic real estate hubs, with construction activity showing steady growth in 2024, according to the latest data from the Association of Engineers and Architects (CFIA). The province recorded a 3.2% increase in construction compared to the previous year, driven largely by urban infrastructure […] The post Guanacaste Housing Crisis Deepens Amid Costa Rica’s Luxury Boom appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Guanacaste continues to solidify its reputation as one of Costa Rica’s most dynamic real estate hubs, with construction activity showing steady growth in 2024, according to the latest data from the Association of Engineers and Architects (CFIA). The province recorded a 3.2% increase in construction compared to the previous year, driven largely by urban infrastructure and housing projects. Yet, as development accelerates, outdated regulatory plans, environmental degradation, and a widening housing gap threaten the region’s sustainability. The CFIA reports that urban infrastructure led the construction surge in 2024, comprising 44% of the total square meters built. Housing projects followed closely at 35%, with coastal areas like Nosara, Tamarindo, and Sámara seeing a proliferation of residential condominiums catering to tourists and foreign investors. Commercial developments, while growing steadily, accounted for just 9% of the built-up area, with industrial projects at 5% and miscellaneous construction at 7%. Notably, 79% of these efforts involve new developments, compared to 14% for remodeling, highlighting Guanacaste’s rapid expansion and high demand. In key areas like Nicoya, Liberia, and Santa Cruz, real estate development is advancing at a brisk pace. However, the Association of Topographical Engineers warns that outdated urban planning regulations are stifling sustainable growth. Nicoya’s regulatory plan, unchanged for 42 years, is the oldest in the province, followed by Santa Cruz’s 31-year-old framework and Liberia’s 19-year-old guidelines—among the most antiquated in Costa Rica. These plans, meant to govern land use, protect water resources, and mitigate risks like flooding and sewer failures, are ill-equipped for the region’s modern demands. Nicoya’s municipality is tackling this issue head-on, drafting a new regulatory plan that will extend construction guidelines to coastal hotspots like Nosara and Sámara. Currently in the study phase, the project—backed by local authorities and urban planning experts—aims to address unchecked growth and environmental strain. However, completion is projected to take four years, leaving a window for unregulated development to persist. “We’re racing against time,” said Josué Ruiz, head of Nicoya’s Public Works and Construction Control Department, in a recent interview with Voz de Guanacaste. “The longer we delay, the harder it becomes to balance progress with preservation.” The stakes are high. Guanacaste’s luxury real estate boom, fueled by a 400% surge in coastal property prices between 2020 and 2023 (per the Observatory of Tourism, Migrations, and Sustainable Development), has transformed the province into a magnet for wealthy expatriates and retirees. High-end developments—such as the Waldorf Astoria and Ritz-Carlton projects slated for 2025—dominate the market, yet affordable housing remains elusive. A 2023 study by the CFIA and the University of Costa Rica found that while 26% of homes built in Guanacaste over the past decade exceed 150 square meters, the province faces a qualitative housing deficit of over 750,000 units, leaving most locals priced out. This disparity is driving displacement. In districts like Cuajiniquil, vacancy rates have soared from 32.1% in 2011 to 66.4% in 2022, as homes sit empty for seasonal use by tourists rather than serving residents, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC). “Housing has become a privilege, not a right,” said Franklin Solano, an urban planning researcher at UCR, in a Voz de Guanacaste report. “The boom satisfies economic needs for some, but the social impacts are mounting.” Environmental concerns compound the crisis. Deforestation, loss of green spaces, and damage to protected areas are escalating as construction outpaces oversight. We reported in March 2024 that unchecked development in Guanacaste’s coastal zones has led to aquifer salinization and biodiversity loss, echoing local protests against mega-projects documented in a 2024 ResearchGate study. In Nosara, for instance, luxury developments have sparked outrage over water access, with communities reliant on overexploited wells. Meanwhile, the CFIA notes that only nine of Guanacaste’s 11 municipalities use its online permitting platform, leaving gaps in enforcement—Santa Cruz and La Cruz lag behind due to inadequate technology and training. Despite these challenges, optimism persists. The Latinvestor forecasted in January 2024 that infrastructure upgrades—like the expansion of Liberia’s Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport—could bolster Guanacaste’s appeal, potentially stabilizing the market. Legislative efforts, such as the Water for Guanacaste Law signed in 2022, aim to address resource scarcity, though implementation remains slow. Nicoya’s forthcoming regulatory plan, expected by 2029, promises stricter environmental and zoning controls, but experts warn that bureaucratic delays could undermine its impact. For now, Guanacaste stands at a crossroads. As construction topped 2 million square meters in 2024—a milestone hailed by Revista Viajes—the province’s leaders face a stark choice: harness this growth for equitable, sustainable development or risk a future defined by inequality and ecological collapse The post Guanacaste Housing Crisis Deepens Amid Costa Rica’s Luxury Boom appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Crisis
Forests
Sustainable

Are we living through a ‘polycrisis’ or is it ‘just history happening’?

The term ‘polycrisis’ has gained traction as we face one disaster after another. It’s overwhelming – but diagnosing the catastrophe is the first step to addressing itTwo months into 2025, the sense of dread is palpable. In the US, the year began with a terrorist attack; then came the fires that ravaged a city, destroying lives, homes and livelihoods. An extremist billionaire came to power and began proudly dismantling the government with a chainsaw. Once-in-a-century disasters are happening more like once a month, all amid devastating wars and on the heels of a pandemic.The word “unprecedented” has become ironically routine. It feels like we’re stuck in a relentless cycle of calamity, with no time to recover from one before the next begins. Continue reading...

Two months into 2025, the sense of dread is palpable. In the US, the year began with a terrorist attack; then came the fires that ravaged a city, destroying lives, homes and livelihoods. An extremist billionaire came to power and began proudly dismantling the government with a chainsaw. Once-in-a-century disasters are happening more like once a month, all amid devastating wars and on the heels of a pandemic.The word “unprecedented” has become ironically routine. It feels like we’re stuck in a relentless cycle of calamity, with no time to recover from one before the next begins.How do we make sense of any of this – let alone all of it, all at once?A number of terms have cropped up in the past decade to help us describe our moment. We’re living in the anthropocene – the era in which humanity’s impact is comparable to that of geology itself. Or we’re in the “post-truth” era, in which we no longer share the same sense of reality. We’re facing a permacrisis, an endless state of catastrophe.But perhaps the word that best describes this moment is one that emerged at the turn of the millennium, picked up steam in the 2010s and has recently been making the global rounds again: polycrisis.Not to be confused with a “perfect storm” or the perhaps less scientific “clusterfuck”, “polycrisis” – a term coined by the authors Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern – refers to the idea that not only are we facing one disaster after another, but those messes are all linked, making things even worse. Or, as Adam Tooze, a Columbia University history professor and public intellectual who has championed the term, put it: “In the polycrisis the shocks are disparate, but they interact so that the whole is even more overwhelming than the sum of the parts.”Our globalized world is built on interconnecting systems, and when one gets rattled, the others do too – a heating climate, for instance, increases the risk of pandemics, pandemics undermine economies, shaky economies fuel political upheaval. “There’s a kind of larger instability, or a larger system disequilibrium,” the researcher Thomas Homer-Dixon says. To illustrate the situation, Homer-Dixon uses a video of metronomes on a soft surface. Though they’re all started at different times, they end up synchronized, as each device’s beat subtly affects the rest. When people see it for the first time, “they don’t actually see what’s happening properly. They don’t realize the forces that are operating to cause the metronomes to actually synchronize with each other,” Homer-Dixon says.In much the same way, it’s often unclear even to experts how global systems interact because they are siloed in their disciplines. That limits our ability to confront intersecting problems: the climate crisis forces migration; xenophobia fuels the rise of the far right in receiving countries; far-right governments undermine environmental protections; natural disasters are more destructive. Yet migration experts may not be experts on the climate crisis, and climate experts may have limited knowledge of geopolitics.That’s why Homer-Dixon thinks better communication is essential – not just to create consensus around what we call our current predicament but also how to address it. He runs the Cascade Institute, which is fostering “a community of scholars and experts and scientists and policy makers around the world who are using this concept [of polycrisis] in constructive ways”.“Constructive” is a key word here. “You’ve got to get the diagnosis right before you can go to the prescription,” he says. Finding that diagnosis means looking at how stresses on various systems – climate, geopolitics, transportation, information, etc – intersect and identifying what his team calls “high leverage intervention points”: “places where you can go in and have a really big impact for a relatively low investment”. The Cascade Institute’s proposals target what they have identified as key drivers of the polycrisis, such as polarization and climate change, by, for instance, improving school curricula to bolster students’ understanding of disinformation and expanding the use of deep geothermal power.In addition to bringing people with disparate expertise together, the Cascade Institute, part of Royal Roads University in British Columbia, has developed an analytical framework for understanding the polycrisis, and it operates a website, polycrisis.org, which serves as a hub for the latest thinking on the issue – including critiques of the concept, Homer-Dixon says. The site contains a compendium of resources from academia to blogposts that explore the polycrisis, reflecting, for instance, on what’s already happened in 2025 (a tenuous ceasefire in Gaza, California wildfires, Trump upending the global order, an AI-bubble selloff, and the outbreak of bird flu).A burning house during the Eaton fire in Altadena on 8 January. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty ImagesThere has been some backlash to the idea of the polycrisis. The historian Niall Ferguson has described it as “just history happening”. The political scientist Daniel Drezner says its proponents “assume the existence of powerful negative feedback effects that may not actually exist” – in other words, when crises overlap, the outcome might not always be bad (for instance, the pandemic lockdowns might have had some short-lived environmental benefits). Some point to past crises as evidence that what we’re experiencing isn’t new.Homer-Dixon disagrees. “We’ve moved so far and so fast outside our species’ previous experience that many elites don’t have the cognitive frame to grasp our situation, even were they inclined to do so,” he wrote in 2023, when the term was the talk of Davos.It’s all a bit overwhelming, as Homer-Dixon acknowledges. “If you’re not really scared by what’s going on in the world, you’re braindead,” he says.On the other hand, “t​​he crisis can actually be a moment for really significant change,” he says, “because it kind of delegitimizes the existing way of doing stuff, the existing vested-interest stakeholders who are who are hunkered down and don’t want anything to change”. For instance, while Homer-Dixon sees Trump as an “abominable” figure, he also notes that, “like an acid”, the president dissolves norms around him. That creates the risk of disaster but also offers opportunities to change the world for the better.“This really is a critical moment in human history and things can be done,” Homer-Dixon says. “We don’t know enough about how these systems are operating to know that it’s game over.”And the term itself, as terrifying as it is, can also be a strange comfort. “I think that’s useful, giving the sense a name. It’s therapeutic,” Tooze told Radio Davos. When the world feels like a nightmare, identifying the condition gives us something to hold on to – a kind of understanding amid the chaos.

Crisis
Government
Transportation

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