Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreigners support their local communities by using sustainable methods to preserve the land and the environment.

• Author: Jones, Dennis
• Position: Essay

Amy Schrift is a pioneer of sorts, unlikely as that might seem. A native New Yorker, she is slight of frame, wiry, and strong from her labors. Her thick, black hair frames lovely dark eyes that betray her intensity of purpose. Schrift speaks passionately about growing her own food, working with local farmers to develop markets for organic produce, and translating for sustainable farming classes. She is part of a growing legion of foreigners who are trading in what they see as the materialism and unsustainability of their modern cultures for a simpler life.

Historically, Costa Rica has been ecofriendly. It has set aside a higher percentage of land as national parks than any other nation in the Americas. Government programs assist landowners with reforestation, helping to bring land back to its natural state. Costa Rica also has a large foreign population, many of which are retirees from the United States and other countries. Most live in urban communities, but a large number has also found a new life in Costa Rica's rural communities.

The presence of foreigners and their desire for land is having an impact on Costa Rican society and culture. Typically, foreigners come from more technologically advanced societies into these rural areas where the population fives a more isolated, agrarian life. The impact of their arrival is profound and not always positive, but a number of examples exist where foreigners have become agents of change who add to the richness of Costa Rican fife. The Costa Rican government hopes to encourage such balanced exchanges.

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Having previously reaped the benefits of modern society, a numbers of foreigners now seek a lifestyle closer to the natural world, a lifestyle of sustainability. Encouraged by the Costa Rican government, they work to improve their own lives and the ecology of their adopted land. As they transform themselves and become active in their new chosen communities, they also bring changes and benefits to isolated villages.

In the five years since Amy Schrift arrived, she has made great strides towards converting a coffee farm that was previously operated with chemicals into a paradise of organic sustainability. First, she and her "co-creator" and helper, Rafa, removed over 2,500 coffee trees. The remaining land was consumed by hundreds of pejibaye trees which produce heart of palm. They harvested the young heart of palm and removed the pejibaye that were too old for market.

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When she bought the farm, there were no structures on it, but Schrift found an old house built of native hardwoods...