Banana - Post 1

When we were at Cinde yesterday, there was a diagram in the presentation that showed that in the past coffee and bananas were the main exports and means of finances for Costa Rica. However, in the past few years, there have been many other things added to the list of exports and because of that, the percentage of banana exports has decreased. I always thought that Costa Rica was known for the production of bananas because it was one of the main ways that the country received money. I expected that when I came to Costa Rica I would see bananas everywhere and that house houses would have tons of bananas. However, when we went to the grocery store with our host family, the bananas in the store were the worst bananas I have ever seen. They were so brown and had knats swarming around them. In our house there are tons of bananas but they are also very ripe. I am assuming that this is because they export the good bananas to other countries and keep the not so good bananas here in Costa Rica. I actually can not wait to see the banana plantations.

Dole News:
http://www.csrwire.com/News/11782.html

I found this really cool atricle about how Dole is trying to be more sustainable in Costs Rica by purchasing carbon offsets equal to the amount that it generates from its transportation in Costa Rica. This is all because of the goal for Costa Rica to become carbon nuetral by 2021. Dole is one of the first to step to the plate in terms of the new goal for Costa Rica. "Dole is determined to take the lead in environmentally friendly production and distribution methods," said David A. DeLorenzo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dole Food Company, Inc. We will not be visiting Dole, but Chiquita, which I beleive says they are making efforts to be susatinable, but really that isn't the whole truth.