Former Costa
Rican President
Figueres Backs
Sustainability
By Samantha
Brooks,
DukeChronicle.com
Economic growth
does not have to
come at the
expense of the
environment,
said José María
Figueres, Costa
Rica's former
president in a
speech at Duke
University on
Thursday.
Figueres spoke
to students
about “Democracy
and
Environmental
Sustainability”
in the Goodson
Chapel at Mi
Gente’s first
annual United
College
Conference.
José María
Figueres, former
president of
Costa Rica,
delivers a
speech titled
“Democracy and
Environmental
Sustainability”
at the Goodson
Chapel
Thursday as part
of Mi Gente’s
United College
Conference.
Figueres, now
the chief
executive
officer of
social
investment
company
Concordia 21,
discussed
opportunities in
sustainable
markets for
economic growth
in developing
Latin America.
He emphasized
that the
economic crisis
demonstrated
that policy and
government, not
financial
markets, should
facilitate a
concrete,
environmentally-friendly
economy.
“During the last
20 years, the
markets have
been kings,” he
said. “But
policy is again
in the driver’s
seat.”
Figueres
stressed that
the key to
creating
development
opportunities is
to shift away
from the Latin
American
paradigm of
“banking on the
growth of other
countries” and
profiting from
exports to those
countries, which
are carbon
dependent.
Instead,
developing Latin
American nations
should go
straight to the
use of
energy-efficient
technologies. He
said the planet
is now
resource-constrained,
which could
facilitate
innovation.
“In our
countries we
don’t need to go
the same way in
which the
developed world
has gone about
putting together
a
carbon-intensive
economy,” he
said. “In our
case, we can be
constructive and
leapfrog
directly into
the global
economy... and
that is a great
opportunity.”
The former
president
stressed the
immediacy of
climate change
by targeting
students with
questions on the
environment and
incorporating
Spanish phrases
into his talk.
“[Climate
change] is here
today. The
numbers do not
lie. Oil is the
equivalent to
the global
economy that
blood is to the
human body,” he
said. “Do you
know the number
of vehicles per
1000 people in
the United
States? 920.”
Despite his
emphasis on
Latin American
development,
many students
who were not
associated with
Mi Gente came
away from the
speech inspired.
“I was very
impressed,” said
freshman Adiel
Mora. “I’m a
public policy
major, and I
never realized
what a big role
policy will be
playing. Now I’m
just excited to
go reconstruct
our policy
system.”
Sophomore Linda
Li said the
speech had
caused her to
think harder
about climate
change as a
global issue.
“I am interested
in climate
change, but I
wasn’t convinced
we were in a
crisis,” she
said.
“[Figueres] gave
a lot of good
evidence in
terms of what we
can do. He was
not so much
pointing fingers
as looking
forward.”
Junior Luciano
Romero, founder
of UCC and
co-chair of Mi
Gente’s
Political
Affairs
Committee, said
Figueres was
inspirational
for urging
students to
forget the “old
way” of business
and develop
innovative
alternatives.
“We wanted to
bring academic
discussion to
political issues
in Latin
America,
especially
directed to
questions of how
in a context of
poverty and
inequality you
bring solutions
to climate
change,” he
said. “He not
only painted a
picture of Latin
America, but he
drew from
examples for
solutions. He
was fantastic.”
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