Hello blogging world! I created this blog several months ago in hopes that I would start writing more, but it has been dormant ever since. Now I am traveling through Ecuador for a few weeks and being abroad always brings out the journaler in me, so I´m going to give this blog a go!
My name is Carmella and I hail from the capital of consumerism: Miami, Florida! Oddly enough, my main interests lie far from that world and within another one, the sphere of sustainability. I think a lot about issues such as environmental education and the importance of integrating nature into a child´s upbringing and education. Since graduating from college, I have been trying my best to acquire skills that I deem important to sustainability, such as the knowledge of how to grow my own food, keep bees, stay healthy using medicinal herbs, or how to process veggies for storage. There´s a lot to know, and I´ve ony begun to scratch the surface.
Traveling is another passion of mine (I blame it on my parents!); I just can´t seem to shake my crazy case of wanderlust! I mainly travel for work (my father is the captain of a sailboat so sometimes I go abroad to do some work as a crew member),visiting far-flung family and friends, or volunteering. Currently, I am in Ecuador to volunteer for an organization called Jatun Sacha Fundacion who do environmental conservation all over the country. In a few days, I will be heading into the Choco rainforest (one of the top 25 hot spots of the world due to its high levels of biodiversity and endemism) to plant trees on land that used to be primary rainforest and has since been razed and converted into plantations and livestock grazing or logged for wood. It´s amazing to see the changes that they have made in just a few years. They have converted land that was a barren wasteland back into a vibrant rainforest, complete with the incredible biodiversity of all sorts of animals and insects. Walking through the forest, you can hear howler monkeys high up in the trees or see the famous long-wattled umbrella bird! They also have an enormous diversity of hummingbirds (colibri) and frogs!
Okay sorry, I´ll stop nerding out about nature...
So anyway, back to the blog! I invite you to join me on this journey, whether it be off the beaten track in a remote corner of the rainforest planting trees or back in my crazy hometown fighting traffic. This may sound like a rather self-centered venture, but I hope that this can turn into a space for discussion and community rather than just me spewing my thoughts. Please feel free to comment, argue, share ideas, etc. We all have so much to learn from one another!
I look forward to sharing this space and these experiences with you all. Should be quite the wild ride!
cheers, Carmella
