Day 1 Journal Entry

Today we listened to five very different people each speak about very different aspects, issues, and opinions of Belizean society. Of these five speakers, I most enjoyed Melanie, who spoke on the culture and history of Belize, and Pablo, who spoke about Maya land rights. Melanie’s lecture about the history of Belize was insightful and important to our understanding of current Belizean problems socially, economically, and environmentally. Her talk about Belizean culture and different types of people was also instrumental o our education on the ways in which Belize is trying to achieve sustainability. Melanie’s speech included the history of the Mayan people and that knowledge was essential when hearing Pablo speak about the land rights of his people. The way he talked about individuals’ Mayan identity being tied to their land and integrated with their natural resources, gave a very distinct picture of what the Maya are actually fighting for. This is a very unique issue, unseen by most of the world. The Maya do have a right to that land because they have existed there for hundreds of years. In a truly evolving and improving world, exploitation and domination of any group of people should not occur. This idea is an example of the equity/equality part of Edwards’ definition of sustainability. “Community-building recognizes the importance of cooperation and concern for one’s neighbor” (Edwards 23). I think this aspect of sustainability is most often overlooked or not included because in contrasts so greatly with the economic aspect of sustainability. Mainstream economics avoids adding a value judgment when analyzing a society or decision, however. Including social issues into sustainability requires that value judgment to decide what is equitable. Edwards also describes that “a high quality of life need not depend on material wealth” (Edwards 132). This was displayed in Filiberto’s discussion of the Maya and their way of life. He described that the Mayan people of Belize did not know they are poor until society and government told them numerous times. They do not require material wealth to be happy or successful in their society. And their way of life, even though it is vastly different from westernized and developed societies, still needs to be protected.