By Pia Martin DVM

Costa Rican national authorities along with the United States signed a symbiotic alliance in January to create the Energy Efficient Center (Centro de Energía Eficiente).

This center will promote research, development, and use of cleaner and more efficient energy that will allow this country to reach its objective of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2021. In other words, Costa Rica wants to mitigate the carbon that is created here.

“This is just the beginning. A committee of eight people will have to identify priorities and the best method to operate”, Gloria Villa, of the Energy Department at MINAET said. She is also very enthusiastic as it is an alliance with the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (RECOPE).

The building to house the project will be located at the University of Costa Rica and the Dean of the University, Yamileth González, stated that this institution will reinforce research on more efficient energy but above all, it will teach the community what is learned.

“This center will also train professionals on efficient energy and clean technologies. Their experiences will help other countries in the region,” said Peter Brennan, in charge of business at the US embassy.

This idea was born last year in Trinidad & Tobago during the Cumbre de las Américas, when US president, Barack Obama, proposed the initiative. Then the regional countries applied with their own projects. “Costa Rica was chosen due to its leadership in environmental issues,” Brennan stated.

The US Department of Energy donated $100,000 as part of a Low Carbon Community Initiative in the Americas, the Presidential House said.

This is great news for Costa Rica, Kids Saving The Rainforest, and the environmental community!

Filed under: Kids Saving the Rainforest, María Pía Martín on February 24th, 2010
No Comments »

By Janine Lacare

I write to you today to let you know, not so much about the organization, Kids Saving The Rainforest, (KSTR) but more on how it got started.  KSTR is a 501 (C) 3, non-profit organization that was founded 11 years ago in 1999 by my best friend Aislin and me.

Here is our story:

Being the young kids that we were, we decided that we wanted to start making money all on our own. We started out by making paper-Mache bottles and painted rocks as paper weights.  We set up our little (but crazy-cute) roadside stand on a “recyclable” cardboard box, selling our items to passing strangers.  Although we made a couple of bucks of some random passerby’s, our intentions to save the rainforest had not yet begun.

(more…)

Filed under: Janine Licare, Kids Saving the Rainforest on January 24th, 2010
No Comments »

There are just a few problems with raccoons living so close: they often trash houses, crawl spaces and gardens in their search for easy food and nesting sites. They can spread disease. They can get aggressive if they don’t get the food they expect or if they run into a pet. Avoid run-ins by keeping them away from your home.

First, meet the neighbors!
Raccoons are medium size mammals weighing about 13 to 18 lbs (6-8kgs). They are nocturnal and very intelligent. They are very agile, fast, and have five dexterous toes on each front foot. They are excellent runners, climbers, and swimmers making them formidable opponents.

However, they aren’t dangerous as long as they’re kept out of homes, not fed and not cornered.

Raccoons also can carry diseases that are dangerous to humans, as well as distemper which is infectious to dogs. Raccoon feces also contain parasites which are transmissible to pets and people, some are fatal.
(more…)

Filed under: Kids Saving the Rainforest, María Pía Martín on December 25th, 2009
No Comments »

by María Pía Martín, DVM

The sloths are part of the Xenartha order which also includes anteaters and armadillos. This bizarre order is only found in Central and South America. They are different from all other animals in that they have an unusual lower back vertebrae and two vena cava (returns blood to the heart, the other mammals have only one).

Evolution

They are some of the most ancient mammals and have been on Earth for more than 60 million years ago. For example, they are so primitive that their reproductive and digestive tract open into a single chamber called cloaca, like birds and reptiles.

At the beginning, the Megatherium were 6 meters (20 feet) tall giant ground sloths.

(more…)

Filed under: Kids Saving the Rainforest, María Pía Martín on November 23rd, 2009
No Comments »

by Janine Licare, Founder and Spokesperson KSTR

The art of shell collecting dates back thousands of years.  Over time, shells have been used as currency, treasures and game pieces to different civilizations. In present times, shell collecting has led to the birth of conchologists, malacologists, among other words rarely used in the English language. The OCD reaction some might have towards picking up shells and storing them on their balcony or in vases in their living room is leading to a shortage in adequate sized homes for small sea creatures. Shells provide shelter to invertebrate animals with no mechanism of protection or self-defense.  Every so often these creatures trade homes depending on how fast they out-grow their current homes. Those beautiful shells you keep on your shelves are actually the dead carcasses of sea creatures. When clams, oysters, starfish and mollusks die, their shells wash up on the beach with the tides and are taken as a shelter to those who do not have the mechanisms to create them themselves.

(more…)

Filed under: Janine Licare, Kids Saving the Rainforest on September 20th, 2009
No Comments »