Escape to the Tropics for J-term in Costa Rica

If you’re someone passionate about sustainability, bring your interest to Monteverde, Costa Rica this January for three profoundly, impactful weeks studying Sustainable Development for the Tropics. You’ll earn three credits exploring ecotourism, renewable energies, and agriculture and come away empowered by the initiatives this small Central American country is putting in place for a greener future.

There’s no better place to take your environmental studies to new heights than the new CIEE Global Institute in Monteverde. The campus is nestled in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range, some eighty miles from the country’s capital, San Jose and 5,000 feet above sea level. Modern labs, classrooms, bungalows, recreation areas are all part of the 150-acre farm, 60% of which is devoted to conservation. Thirty percent is open area used for food production and just 10% is the main campus. The campus sits right below the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in a premontane wet forest, where students and visitors can hike at their leisure and get to know the biodiversity of their neighbors.

“Costa Rica is a model for the west and developed world,” said Dr. Karen Masters, director of the Global Institute. “Students will be amazed at Costa Rica’s initiatives to preserve its incredible ecosystem. And they’ll see firsthand that the myths about sustainability being expensive and unscalable are just that, myths.”

A combination of in-class lectures and field work will be complemented with tours of local eco-tourism and renewable-energy businesses as well as local coffee farms so students can get an insider look at how a community is working together toward sustainability and resiliency.

Learn more about January in Monteverde