(Green and Green)
No Place Here
12/7/25
The law of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé prohibits people from buying or selling land within the Comarca, and what a law that is! While there are valid critiques against this system, look what such a policy conveys: a declaration that land remains out of the reach of economics. It is a lean toward communism, towards the abolition of private property, although property ownership technically remains in the hands of communities. At the same time, the comarca conserves people’s ability to sustain themselves and even sell what they grow from the land. It is yet another example that the balance between capitalism and communism must be sought out, as countries like the US, Cuba, and the UK have balanced out for centuries, all making fatal mistakes along the way.
At the end of the day, money and even the social science of economics is a tool. Borrowing the metaphor of a brilliant friend and fellow volunteer, Josh Van Mater, a machete is a life saving tool. It makes a work day much easier if your task was to clear overgrown weeds. But a machete does not serve you well if your task is to clip your fingernails, in fact it can be quite dangerous trying to use it for such things. You need a different tool.
Likewise markets and money together are a convenient tool to measure utility, to set fair wages, and ensure healthy competition and innovation. However, it gets to a point where the tool is using us more than we are using the tool. Money, as the Comarca declares, has no place in our land, which to many is scared, invaluable. Some extend that logic to health care or to dignified housing, but those are each different cans of worms. Such a law as the prohibition of buying and selling land says that money has no place in this sphere, instead of letting money run unfettered, stomping all over our society, values, and morals. It is harmful if we try to commodify the land, nature. This is a powerful step that the Comarca has taken, and we all can learn from it.
Sustainable Agriculture and Inclusive Advancement in Costa Rica
12/10/2023
Upon what is painted as a battleground between environmental conservation and agricultural cultivation, I find synergy, harmony. I spoke with 21 stewards of land to examine their practices, pitfalls, and personal reasons. Principally bringing Black and Indigenous voices of Costa Rica to the forefront of the balance between caring for the earth and producing food.
