Here’s to ‘The Future We Choose’!

Posted on by stanleyobando

Today’s Daily Boost is a book we all need to read. The attitude shown in this photo (reposted from @cfigueres at the New York Stock Exchange) by authors Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac is the same spirit that comes across anytime Christiana, the architect of the Paris Agreement, enters a room.

I got a big dose of it when I heard her speak last year and when my daughter got to meet with her to talk about climate change. The whole world deserves to have that experience, and now we all can! “The Future We Choose” is out now – more here.

Who’s changed your world for the better since 2010?

Posted on by stanleyobando

During this momentous week that will wrap down 2019 and usher in a new decade, I want to do something a little different with the Daily Boost: zoom out and reflect on what’s past and what’s ahead. (In Friday’s Post, I hope to feature some of your responses!)

In that spirit, since Monday is the day I try to highlight people who make the world a better place, I want to ask: who’s changed your world the most in the past 10 years? Who are you watching for action and inspiration as a new calendar opens up before us?

I’ve been inspired by so many, in so many places. In a quiet valley teeming with life, all thanks to the efforts of a hard-working family. At an oasis of calm and learning at Parque Viva in Desamparados. At a tranquil university campus in Ciudad Colon. At a stadium where a woman blazed her way into the history books and inspired a whole nation of girls. On an Instagram account where a woman opened up space for searing personal stories, brushing away shame and stigma one post at a time.

And there was so much inspiration from outside Costa Rica. Barack. Michelle. Greta. Chanel. The women of #metoo all over the world. My God: in 2010, there was no “Hamilton” or Beychella. How lucky we are to be alive right now.

As I head into 2020, I’m convinced that leadership does, can, and must now come from everywhere, especially when it no longer comes from the places we used to seek it. It feels like, amid all the destruction, the world is growing up. This is scary and exciting. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter). 

Day 45: Women at the forefront

Posted on by stanleyobando
Movimiento Guardianes de la Naturaleza logo

Here is what Jessica Sheffield, an incredible Costa Rican leader in environmental education and the creator of the Guardians of Nature Movement, had to say yesterday in La Voz de Guanacaste about women’s leadership at this beyond critical moment in the history of our planet. This translation is excerpted from Jessica’s Facebook page:

Women play an essential role in the conservation of our natural resources. We are leaders with the potential to achieve a critical transformation in the protection of nature, ensuring the well-being of our communities and the planet.

In Costa Rica, a large number of women are leading initiatives that are transforming society. Christiana Figueres promoted the Paris agreement on climate change; Karla Chaves Brenes leads the Latin American recycling program ecoins; Alejandra Monge-Jiménez directs the Corcovado Foundation, which protects the Osa Peninsula, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet; Zdenka Piskulich is the force behind Costa Rica Por Siempre, one of the most consolidated conservation NGOs in the country. There are many other prominent Costa Ricans achieving change through their leadership initiatives.

Our formal education, especially during the early childhood years, is mostly led by women. During my three years directing Guardians of Nature, I have noticed the extraordinary power that teachers have, inspiring and educating a new generation of children, the guardians of our natural resources. Given the necessary tools and resources, teachers will educate present and future generations about the need to live in peace with nature.

Costa Rican women have leadership roles in our homes as well. Even though times have changed, many of us still take care of our children’s food, select products that benefit their health and the environment, and educate the family about the proper use of resources. Above all, we are an essential force and engine in the marketplace with the ability to influence the supply of products and services through our own consumption.

…I am confident that, little by little, there will be many more guardians of nature, women who exert great influence from their homes, jobs and social circles. Thank you to all the girls, moms, and professionals who make this difference every day.

Amen!

And on that uplifting note, here is a recap of this week’s posts:

Monday Motivation: An anniversary that celebrates Costa Rica’s elementary schools!

Tuesday Beauty: An artist whose social media feeds make me smile.

Wellness Wednesday: The curse of multitasking.

Travel Thursday: The one thing every visitor to Costa Rica must pack.

Bonus: Over at Poems on Demand, I tried my hand at a sonnet. Shakespeare may be agitating just slightly in his grave, but it was fun. You can see it and my other poems here.

Have a wonderful weekend and wish me luck (more about that on Monday!).

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter). 

 

Day 40: Time for my yearly viewing of Kristen Bell’s sloth video

Posted on by stanleyobando

Man, I just realized that today, day 40 of the Daily Boost, is the day of my current age, and therefore a great opportunity to reflect on the (pretty insane and numerous) life lessons I’ve been taught this year. But man, it’s Friday, my brain is tired from all those life lessons, and this photo of a happy sloth is giving me life.

“Why are people so obsessed with sloths?” a friend asked this week. “Aren’t they kind of smelly?” Yes, smelly and eating gross things out of their fur. For me, that’s part of the appeal, I think, because then when you’re on the couch with Cheetos crumbs on your shirt, you know that your spirit animal is an internationally loved icon.

You know who loves sloths more than all of us? Actress Kristen Bell, and even if you have no idea who she is (in which case you do not have kids who are practically catatonic with excitement over “Frozen 2”), I guarantee her retelling of her encounter of a sloth will make you laugh. I go back to it at least once a year – not kidding. Watch it here. You’re welcome.

And here’s a recap of this week’s Daily Boost. Wishing you a slothful weekend covered in Cheeto crumbs (or maybe kale chips are more your scene – but eat them messily, and in sweatpants).

Monday Motivation: A true badass came to Costa Rica for the world’s toughest mountain bike race.

Tuesday Beauty: A message of galvanizing hope from climate action icon Christiana Figueres.

Wednesday Wellness: Let’s talk about anxiety.

Thursday Travel: Baby turtles set off to sea.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter). 

 

 

Day 37: The time has come to set aside childish things

Posted on by stanleyobando

Last night, I had the opportunity to hear Christiana Figueres speak. And here’s what she had to say, this global advocate for the fight against climate change: “Things are so much worse than we thought, and so much better than we ever imagined.”

In other words: The next ten years, she told us, is the time period available to us to make a choice between two drastically different worlds for our children. It is truly our last chance to heave humanity onto a different track toward regeneration and abundance – or hurtle on. We truly do have the power, and this is terrifying, but should also be galvanizing. Inspiring. Irresistible. Even, for Christiana, “fun.”

In other words: “Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life,” as John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address in 1961. Except the timeline is drastically reduced; the possibility of nuclear war is now the certainty of environmental destruction; the time for the choice has arrived right on our doorstep; and one of those mortal hands belongs to woman, thank you very much.

In other words: I came home from the dinner and looked at my phone and saw that my president had begun the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, the negotiations of which were Figueres’ landmark achievement, and I understood for the first time why people like Christiana do not seem to be stuck on U.S. shortcomings quite the way I have been, because the time has come to set aside childish things. Even when this includes your president and your government. Especially then.

When your leadership is blindly amoral, you must look elsewhere, and in this case, the alternative is right in front of us. It is marching through our streets. It is holding up a very clear recipe for change and success. There is no mystery to reducing our carbon emissions, house by house and then nation by nation; there is a growing family of what Figueres called “stubborn optimists;” there is no morally defensible place to be except inside that growing family; and, well, here we go. Here we go.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! You can also find me churning out small, square poems on any topic under the sun (here on the site, on Instagram or Twitter).