A Home Grown Economy
A dollar spent at a store owned by people who live in a community will produce three to six times the positive local economic impact compared to a dollar spent at a business with absentee owners such as publicly traded companies. These local businesses are also able to understand the immeasurable intrinsic value of their communities and react more quickly to local demands, causing them to lend more strength of the community and deliver more tailored products to its customers. With this in mind, Kalu Yala plans to find ways to partner with these small business owners in order to beat the global competition.
If there is one thing my Dad loves it is tools. Walk into his shop and you are guaranteed to find any tool to suit your need. This was great growing up because it enabled me to build, and bring things from my imagination into reality, whether that be a deck chair, a new handle for a [...] Read More
The concept of what is natural is culturally based and is ever shifting.
Our act of manipulating nature has been driven by our demand for food. Our landscapes reflect and dictate what is on our forks. We have tools, both technical and ideological, that can enable us to considerably improve landscapes. The transfer of food is the connection they have with one another. We have this with the earth and its diverse energy supplies. Whether you explore, pick, or vote with your fork…it matters. Read More
In their 2011 paper ”The tree planting and protecting culture of cattle ranchers and small-scale agriculturalists in rural Panama: Opportunities for reforestation and land restoration” Garen et al. explored the reasons why cattle ranchers and small scale farmers in Panama have maintained a tradition since pre-European contact of both planting and protecting valuable multipurpose trees and shrubs on the land [...] Read More
by Zac Long
Posted In: A Home Grown Economy, Farm to Table Living, Voices of Kalu Yala, Wandering Thoughts
If one were to assume that living in the jungle is easy, they would be mistaken. While this may be true for many, there are plenty of ways to make life possible in the bush. When life becomes possible for any individual within the jungle, the benefits will, in turn, appear clear as day. One [...] Read More
by Aki Saunamäki
Posted In: A Home Grown Economy, Crafted Investing, Our Global Community, The Creation of a Culture
Sustainability economist and author of the book Prosperity without Growth, Tim Jackson thoroughly addressed the problem of the ecological limits of a finite planet in one of his recorded conference speeches that I happened to find a couple of days ago online. I was fascinated by this public speech and will definitely put his book [...] Read More
In this blog post I hope to continue to expand upon the potential of Agroforestry in the Kalu Yala Valley and specifically investigate a piece of legislation that could be of great help in a push for an expansion of the Agroforestry Project. However, I must first give a quick recap of the Agriculture Teams [...] Read More
These last few years, the Panamanian tourism market has been growing quickly, and by following the steps of neighboring Costa Rica, the country has started to make a name for itself in the global community. Due to its tropical climate, attractive geographic location and use of the American dollar, Panama has become a top tourist [...] Read More
In researching the potential for different agricultural techniques that could be employed in the Kalu Yala Valley one stood out to me in particular, Agroforestry. Right about now you may be asking yourself, just what is Agroforestry? In order to answer this, I will turn to a paper written by Robert D Hauff in 1999 [...] Read More
I believe that the land is the body of a community, and sustenance the veins. In order for humans to thrive, one must consider the health of the land as a whole. In order to truly nourish and heal our body and soul, we must realize the effect we have on the ecosystem we are [...] Read More
by Victor Ansley
Posted In: A Home Grown Economy, Adventures in the Tropics, Crafted Investing, Designing the Village, The Creation of a Culture
Spring Semester has started at Kalu Yala and our interns have arrived ready to be immersed in study and practice of sustainable development. This semester we are pleased to introduce two new faces to the KY Business Program: Aki Saunamaki: Hailing from the nation of Finland, Aki studied at Helsinki Metropolitan University of Applied Sciences. [...] Read More
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