{"id":795,"date":"2016-10-09T18:47:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T18:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=795"},"modified":"2016-10-09T18:47:15","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T18:47:15","slug":"preserving-a-paradise-the-owu-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainability.owu.edu\/?p=795","title":{"rendered":"Preserving a Paradise: The OWU Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"
(Photo by Alejandro Orozco)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Ohio Wesleyan alumna, professors, and students are teaming up and using high-tech geography in Costa Rica to help preserve a rich and wonderful ecosystem.<\/em><\/h3>\n
Working with Geoporter\u2019s Amy Work \u201904<\/strong> (far left), the OWU team included (from left) Professor John Krygier, Olivia Lease \u201917<\/strong>, Michael Durfee \u201917<\/strong>, Christopher Pessell \u201918<\/strong>, Luke Steffen \u201916<\/strong>, Maddy Coalmer \u201918<\/strong>, and Assistant Professor Nathan Amador.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking out at the lush, vivid greenery around her simple home in Costa Rica, Amy Work \u201904<\/strong> can scarcely believe her good fortune. The sky is a gorgeous blue, a crystal-clear ocean is nearby, colorful tropical birds swoop overhead, and the sunshine is endless.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from her growing-up years in Westerville and her college years at Ohio Wesleyan University, where weather tended more toward overcast skies and freezing Midwest winters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you would have told me when I was in college that I\u2019d be living in the tropics and working I would have said you\u2019re joking, there is no way,\u201d Work says. \u201cNow I know that anything\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lofty sentiment, to be sure. But one she believes in so firmly that she\u2019s trying to pass it along to other OWU students by inviting them to visit\u2014and learn\u2014in her little piece of paradise.<\/p>\n

Work\u2019s life on the eastern coast of Costa Rica centers on something she was introduced to at Ohio Wesleyan: GIS\u2014geographic information system\u2014technology. In its simplest form, it\u2019s a way to display several sets of data on a single map so users can see and analyze the relationships between each. Accessed through computer software, the technology is used in fields ranging from archaeology to mosquito control to politics\u2014anything that can use location as a factor.<\/p>\n

GIS technology was growing in popularity in 2000 when Work was an OWU freshman taking a mapping course taught by geology and geography professor John Krygier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThat class talked about how maps have helped us understand the world over time, and at the end it talked about GIS,\u201d Work says. A follow-up class taught her the nitty-gritty of GIS and convinced her of its power. By the time she graduated in 2004 with a triple major in geography, urban studies, and environmental studies, she knew she wanted to pursue a career centered on GIS.<\/p>\n

Work was sharp, focused, and fully engaged in learning about GIS, Krygier says, especially in upper-level courses where students used the technology to help map potential pathways for future Delaware bike paths. Eventually, Delaware created new paths based on the students\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s one of those people who has a vision and can see the parts needed to make it happen,\u201d Krygier says. \u201cWhat Amy got in that class was that there\u2019s a tool that can make big, good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Syracuse University with a master\u2019s degree in geography in 2006, Work became an education and GIS coordinator at the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, or IAGT, in Auburn, New York. Through her work there she met Anita and Roger Palmer, founders of GISetc, a for-profit company that helps educators learn to use GIS in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Beginning in 2009, the Palmers began traveling to the Costa Rican coastal village of Bahia Ballena to introduce GIS to community leaders, in the hopes the technology would help the village transition from a farming-and-fishing economy to a tourism economy. When it became obvious the couple\u2019s yearly visits weren\u2019t enough for the project to prosper, they asked Work to live and work there full-time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what she\u2019s done since August 2012. She\u2019s funded by Geoporter, a nonprofit organization set up by Work, the Palmers, and two Bahia Ballena community members. It\u2019s designed to send educators around the world to do exactly what Work is doing in Costa Rica: solve local issues with GIS. This is Geoporter\u2019s first project.<\/p>\n

A hallmark of Geoporter is helping communities help themselves, Work explains. \u201cThe community members are the ones who are doing it,\u201d she says. \u201cThe community has the goals and the objectives, and the focus is on getting community members to use the technology themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bahia Ballena leaders decided to tackle trash in the streets with the help of GIS. For a decade, trash had been picked up curbside at homes, but in public places, residents tended to toss it on the ground, Work says. As a result, trash ended up in local streams and then in the ocean, reducing the area\u2019s appeal for tourists.<\/p>\n

Work suggested mapping where trash was coming from as a first step. In 2013, she and community members collected trash at specific intervals on the road, counted the kinds of trash found there, and mapped the results using GIS. They found a high concentration of candy wrappers outside grocery stores near schools, for example, from students buying candy on their way home. Soccer fields\u2014popular community gathering spots\u2014had food wrappers and bottles.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife in Costa Rica revolves around family, church and soccer, so on Sundays the entire town shows up to watch the games. And there were no trash cans near the soccer fields.\u201d \u2013 Amy Work \u201904<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLife in Costa Rica revolves around family, church, and soccer, so on Sundays the entire town shows up to watch the games,\u201d Work says. \u201cAnd there were no trash cans near the soccer fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

An analysis of the mapped trash produced action within the year: Trash cans with sections for recyclables and sections for non-recyclables were added where they would reduce the most trash, and an education program encouraged residents to use the cans.<\/p>\n

Since then, trash in streams has diminished and more is being recycled\u2014exactly what Geoporter was set up to accomplish.<\/p>\n

To spread the word about the success and encourage others to embrace the technology, Work turned to her alma mater. She contacted Krygier, who had first taught her GIS, and his new colleague, Nathanael Amador, and asked: Would Ohio Wesleyan students be interested in working with Geoporter?<\/p>\n

The idea jelled when Work returned to the states in 2014 to be inducted into the Ohio Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame for her starring role on the Battling Bishops\u2019 national title-winning women\u2019s soccer teams of 2001 and 2002. She talked up her GIS project with Ohio Wesleyan President Rock Jones and by 2015, Amador, with Krygier\u2019s help, was offering a travel-learning course to Costa Rica. Such courses are a core element of The OWU Connection, helping students connect classroom learning with real-world practice in global settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel such a connection to the students at Ohio Wesleyan,\u201d Work says. \u201cI wanted them to see what I\u2019m doing with my degree and to instill in students that you can apply your knowledge to anything and, if you have a passion, follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal had clicked with Amador, an assistant professor of geology and geography who\u2019d begun working at Ohio Wesleyan in 2014. He was teaching Environmental Alterations, a required class for environmental studies majors, and added the Costa Rica portion as an option for additional class credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Amy does embodies the point of the course, which is how humans impact the environment,\u201d Amador says. \u201cAnd it ties together the whole idea of being at Ohio Wesleyan, which is that graduation isn\u2019t the end of your involvement with the University community.\u201d<\/p>\n

By December 2015, five students, along with Amador and Krygier, were bumping along the mostly unpaved roads of Costa Rica. Each had completed an environmental project centered on the country before their trip, and their 11-day visit expanded on those projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good model. Our alumni are spread out all over the world, and I\u2019m hoping other travel-learning courses will take advantage of that.\u201d \u2013 John Krygier, professor of geology and geography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Madeleine Coalmer \u201918<\/strong> examined the effects of ecotourism, global warming, and climate change on water supplies in Costa Rica. She wanted to find out what could be done in the future to reduce yearly water shortages during the dry season. She soon realized that even her use of water at home in Youngstown, Ohio, could ultimately affect the water supply in Central America.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my mom picked me up from the airport after the trip, the first thing I told her was I\u2019m going to be more cautious of how much water I\u2019m using,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Coalmer also learned how much opportunity her chosen major, geography, can provide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmy\u2019s work shows that you can be successful and flourish with a geography major, and for her to have taken the same classes in the major that I\u2019m taking meant even more,\u201d Coalmer says. \u201cIt showed me that I could reach out to others and have connections all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Pessell \u201918<\/strong> of Cincinnati had studied the impact of African palm-oil plantations on the soil, water, animals, and plants of Costa Rica. African palms were brought to the country after Costa Rica\u2019s banana-growing industry shut down. While they\u2019ve helped the economy, native mangrove forests have been destroyed to make way for the plantations.<\/p>\n

Pessell\u2019s view of the industry changed when he visited a plantation on the trip. He realized he\u2019d inflated its harm to the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed it was like a tree farm, but there was a carpet of plants under the trees and a ton of different bugs,\u201d he says. As long as the plantations aren\u2019t expanding, he says, it doesn\u2019t appear they\u2019ll do additional damage to the environment.<\/p>\n

Pessell particularly enjoyed another trip project: testing water in the Bahia Ballena area to ensure clean drinking water is available. After the trip, he helped map the data and hopes to add more as additional testing is done periodically.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopment has encroached on the amount of water available,\u201d Work says. \u201cWe\u2019re mapping the water quality and the stream flow to understand what\u2019s happening and to ensure that our dirty water is taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work cemented Pessell\u2019s plan to pursue a career in water-quality testing when he graduates with his geography major.<\/p>\n

In addition to the palm-oil plantation, students and professors visited two national parks, a bat sanctuary and a pineapple plantation; kayaked through mangrove forests; and took a whale-watching tour (but, unfortunately, saw no whales.)<\/p>\n

Interestingly, neither Work nor Amador had opportunities similar to the Costa Rica trip while they were students.<\/p>\n

Work\u2019s plans to travel abroad were dashed by 9\/11. Instead of traveling, she applied her GIS knowledge on local projects as a student, such as the bike-trail project.<\/p>\n

For Amador, plenty of opportunities for study and travel existed at The Ohio State University where he obtained his undergraduate degree, but he had no money to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think part of my passion for this is living through the students, letting them take advantage of these opportunities,\u201d he says. \u201cI was interested in getting students to really understand what it means to study this content outside of the classroom and to understand that people are employed doing what you\u2019re learning in this class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re mapping the water quality and the stream flow&hellips;to ensure that our dirty water is taken care of.\u201d \u2013 Amy Work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The January trip was the second time an Ohio Wesleyan student had visited Work. The first was a year ago, when graduate Christian Gehrke \u201915<\/strong> took a University drone to Bahia Ballena to capture a birds-eye view of the community. The new imagery updated some from 2011 and has a higher resolution. Work will use it to see changes in the environment over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources to acquire a drone,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the student had the technology to help us advance what we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krygier hopes the collaboration with Work spurs similar collaborations with OWU alumni.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good model,\u201d he says. \u201cOur alumni are spread out all over the world, and I\u2019m hoping other travel-learning courses will take advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Costa Rica, the link between alumni and OWU continues. Amador visited this summer to take more water samples, and another OWU student took additional aerial photos with a drone.<\/p>\n

Work appreciates the extra hands, the equipment and the enthusiasm that students and professors bring to the Geoporter project, but she also sees the collaboration as a way she\u2019s giving back to the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to share with students what the University taught me,\u201d she says. \u201cIt provided me with the foundation to know that you can learn and do whatever you want to. It shaped me into what I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer from Columbus, OH.<\/em><\/p>\n

To learn more about the GIS project and travel-learning course, see flickr.com\/photos\/geoporter\/<\/a> and geoporter.net<\/a>, or contact Amy Work at amy@geoporter.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally published 09\/21\/2016 in the OWU Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n

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