Welcome!  The latest class in the environmental journalism course has started in Costa Rica.  As in previous courses, the students will look at the climate issues facing our state, our country and our world.  What better place to look at those issues than in Costa Rica which has twice been named the best performing country in the world in a measure of environmental stability.  It is a measure by the National Economics Foundation and is called the “Happy Planet Index.”  

The course is one of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication programs.  It is taught on the Costa Rica campus of the University of Georgia.  This is only the second year for the course in Costa Rica.  The purpose of the course is best exemplified by the philosophy posted on the main building of the campus.

The message makes the point that “human and environmental systems are not seen as separate” (but must ) “operate in harmony with one another.”  We humans must “appreciate, protect and use nature in a sustainable way… where people seek to understand and appreciate other cultures.”

Over a three-week period, the students will produce a series of reports that expand and expound on those points.  They will deal with the controversial issues of ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ but also the human issues of living in our world. They will do it through research on line and ‘on the ground’, reporting, interviewing, shooting, editing and writing stories that we hope capture some of the beauty and wonder of Costa Rica… Georgia… and this home we call Planet Earth.