Dr Tina Nibatchi, Dr Alvaro Salas Castro, and Christian Freitag, JD, PhD join the Nosara Podcast to discuss their findings from the Nosara Research Project and what this information means for Nosara going forward.
Category: Environment
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Nosara Social Science Study Report to the Community: Four Perspectives on a Sustainable Future in Nosara, Costa Rica
Dr. Alvaro Salas Castro is a frequent quest on the Nosara Podcast. You may remember him as the leader of the community round table event at El Local last July 29th. This event was hosted to share & gather information for the Nosara Social Science Study.
A team of high level social scientists including Dr. Alvaro Salas, Tina Nabatchi, Christian Freitag, and Greg Munno are conducting the study focusing on Nosara’s ability to become a model community for the world, or just another standard beach town.
There are many different levels to the study which evolves around the sustainable future of Nosara. After the event they have been working hard on processing the data further with the first results now coming out.
We just received the publication of the research which we’ll include here below as a downloadable PDF as well as the Abstract from the publication:
The town of Nosara on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula is home to a vibrant community of diverse residents and is adjacent to an important turtle nesting site. However, tensions between lifelong residents, more recent transplants, visitors, and developers have increased as more of the
world discovers this once-isolated haven. Climate change, income inequality, and alienation from a
distant government apparatus have further complicated effective land-use planning and fractured
social cohesion. Using a mixed-method approach of in-depth interviews (n = 67), Q methodology
(n = 79), and public deliberation (n = 88), we explored residents’ priorities for the future of their
town. The results indicate four different perspectives on Nosara’s future. Despite the tensions among
those four perspectives, they show consensus on one overarching community issue: the need for
a sustainable development plan. The case also shows how Q-methodology can assist scholars and
practitioners who embrace participatory approaches to policy development and conflict resolution in
the environmental arena.For more background on this also include below is one of the earlier Dr. Salas episodes if you haven’t heard about this research before. More news and updates about the next steps and process will follow soon, so keep an eye out for any new updates!
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NP #137: Kyle Bombard’s Nosara Podcast episode
Kyle Bombard moved to Nosara at 10 years of age. He attended local schools, learned Spanish and made lifelong friends while his family opened the Harbor Reef hotel and wildlife refuge. He holds nothing back in this episode and shares his feelings on a myriad of issues from the past, present, and future.
This one covers a ton of ground, and we hope you enjoy it!
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Did anyone else get sick from surfing during red tide? My luck may have run out
I’ve been surfing through this entire red tide experience and taking my chances… However, it might have caught up to me.
Throughout this high season, I’ve been receiving emails and photos and hearing from several community members asking about this and others claiming to have gotten sick… But unfortunately nobody seems to know why the red tide is getting worse in our area.
To be upfront about it, I’ve grown used to red tide and just kept surfing. So I 100% acknowledge I knew I might get sick, yet paddled out anyways. Surfing is my primary source of entertainment and exercise, so I decided to paddle out most every day this high season. However, my luck may have run out.
This past week or so I’ve been experiencing an array of physical issues. First a constant head throbbing about 10 days ago. I’m quite used to my head hurting from a TBI injury so I didn’t pay it too much attention. But about 7 days ago my fever spiked up significantly along with strong stomach issues.
Taking a shower itself was challenging with shivers from freezing immediately followed by profuse sweating. About 4 or 5 days ago, as my head continued to pound, the fever started to break but other symptoms came in. First were sores in my mouth then the following day hives began circulating all around my body.
Here’s another testimony sent in to me asking for anonymity, but to be published:
Hola Rich,
I have gotten poisoned by the red tide twice now. The first time while surfing, the water definitely had the red tint to where I could not see my feet hanging in the water below. But when I was wrapping up my session I found myself in a dark red patch with no visibility at all. That afternoon, my eyes, ears, and throat began itching in the worst way possible. The back of my throat was red-streaked and I was down and out for 4 days. The second time was last Wednesday, was out surfing between Bakers and Main Beach and it was not terrible at first, but then I started working my way south towards Bakers and it was significantly worse. Similar to the first time, I found myself in a dark red patch with no visibility at all. I paddled out, went straight home, showed, jumped in the pool, showered, then I used alcohol drops in my ears, and used a neti pot with iodine solution. That afternoon. same as the first time my eyes, ears, and throat began itching in the worst way possible. The back of my throat was red-streaked and I was down and out for 4 to 5 days. This time was worse as it was painful to pee.
Year-round resident surfer**The reason this is anonymous is this resident doesn’t want businesses or locals to be angry at them for potentially hurting tourism. However, they care about safety and want people to know about their recent experiences.
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NP #120: Nick Mcalpin shares serious water knowledge & personal opinions in this 38 minute Nosara Podcast episode
Nick Mcalpin joins Rich for this new episode of the Nosara Podcast to talk about wastewater, storm water and soil management. He explains the problems Nosara has with these three topics and the possible ways we can all start to contribute to the solution. He also shares his own way of living in his property which can inspire many of us to live life differently and in a more ecological way.
Here are some links of interest:
https://www.instagram.com/plain.surf/ (Nick’s instagram where he posts a lot about his property and alternative ways of living)
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/ (a book Nick mentions)
https://www.instagram.com/nosarapodcast/
https://www.facebook.com/NosaraPodcast -
NP #116: Dr’s & Scientists from the Nosara Research Project are inviting ALL area residents to participate in a survey to prepare for July 29th round table event (8 minute short version)
In this Nosara Podcast, Dr. Alvaro Salas-Castro, Dr. Tina Nabatchi, & Dr. Christian Freitag invite ALL Nosara residents to participate in an important survey.
They explain there are 3 phases to this project. Phase 1 is now complete, Phase 2 is this survey (see below links to participate & instructions), and Phase 3 is the July 29th round table event, when all of Nosara’s collected information will be shared.
They are requesting as much participation as possible from all demographics and want people to know their opinions and concerns are included and important. Their goal is to share collective information in a manner promoting unification and dialogue thus providing an opportunity to progress.
Queremos participación con todos en la comunidad!!! Inglés o español todo bien.
This was carefully written understanding there are multiple steps and it might be confusing for some.
Its in English and/or Spanish.
*SURVEY ESPANOL*
http://tinyurl.com/nosara-estudio
*SURVEY ENGLISH*
https://tinyurl.com/nosara-study
What’s happening is truly unique and an opportunity for our community to unite for a greater cause no matter our background or financial status. Participation will make a difference.
*Two important tools to help fill out the survey* 😉
VIDEO TUTORIAL (Español y Ingles)
FAQ (Ingles)
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NP #115: Dr. Robert Edgeworth explains scientific results about Nosara’s water pollution; Asks homeowners and businesses to support a cleaner Nosara
In this Nosara Podcast episode, Dr. Edgeworth explains the ocean water pollution situation in Playa Guiones and Rio Nosara areas plus calls residents, in particular homeowners and businesses, to support a cleaner Nosara based upon the data from their water collection study.
He explains Dr. Vanessa Bezy’s efforts on this project, how it is funded, and shares some of his personal opinions about leadership in our area. Robert states: “It’s a big responsibility to apply government power against people’s property rights… So if you want to do that, at least do it well.”
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NP #114: Dr. Salas says his results are showing Nosara is in a ‘ticking time bomb’ situation and wants to help; announces July 29th event with other leading scientists focusing on Nosara
In this Nosara Podcast, Dr. Alvaro Salas quickly addresses the hotbed of contention surrounding the building regulations and announces he is bringing some top level scientists in his field to Nosara on July 29th event to help us address much more than just the building regulations.
Big thanks to everyone participating in the study and those helping make this event happen. It looks like El Local & The Gardens is the location for the event.
We’ll have more details soon including a podcast episode with the scientists to further explain what’s happening.