{"id":12196,"date":"2018-06-06t12:55:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-06t12:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/is-the-business-of-sustainability-for-everyone\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07t19:39:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07t19:39:37","slug":"business-sustainability-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/business-sustainability-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"is the business of sustainability for everyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"
by molly glick<\/strong><\/p>\n as a toddler, diwigdi valiente ogled at the strangers on his family\u2019s remote island. these sailboats brought visitors unlike anyone he had ever seen: blue-eyed, blonde-haired, and \u201csuper pale.\u201d as these sailors stopped at his island en route to colombia, valiente gathered vegetables from the island garden. \u201ctake, take, take!\u201d he would declare, a natural entertainer. today, it\u2019s no surprise that valiente runs an innovative hostel business.<\/p>\n valiente\u2019s mother is panamanian and his father is guna, one of panama\u2019s eight indigenous groups. originating in colombia, spaniards uprooted the guna in the 16th century.<\/a> this spurred centuries of guna migration to panama\u2019s san blas archipelago, also referred to as the comarca guna yala. over 360 islands constitute the comarca, with approximately 49 currently occupied. the guna peoples\u2019 next move, however, will be propelled by an entirely different force.<\/p>\n due to rising sea levels, the guna residents of the san blas islands face major flooding and are expected to eventually evacuate to panama\u2019s mainland. if you ask valiente when exactly the guna must pack up their lives and leave, he can\u2019t give a definitive answer.<\/p>\n \u201cthat\u2019s a very difficult question. four years ago, there was a budget to move the island people to the mainland. the (panama) government changed, and the budget was gone,\u201d valiente says. \u201cthere is not a specific time.\u201d<\/p>\n the fate of san blas may resemble that of other vulnerable land masses. a 2017 study<\/a> by the journal of coastal conservation found that islands in the western pacific ocean have experienced a rate of sea level rise that is about four times greater than the global average. the climate change-induced factors<\/a> behind this disparate sea level rise include changes in trade winds and melting ice sheets. as a result of significant flooding, small islands in micronesia have vanished completely.<\/p>\n as the guna contend with the repercussions of global industrialization, people like diwigdi valiente see opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201ci am committed to building the most sustainable hostel chain in the world,\u201d valiente says.<\/p>\n he left his job as international tax auditor at panama\u2019s ministry of economy and finance to found the bodhi hostel chain in 2014. valiente and his business partner allan lim both consider themselves environmentally conscious. most importantly, valiente says, they are equipped to handle the business side of things. valiente and lim hold each hold bachelor\u2019s degrees in hospitality, management and business.<\/p>\n the pair began bodhi modestly and opened a hostel inside a volcano, in panama\u2019s village of valle de ant\u00f3n. within its first year, bodhi el valle de ant\u00f3n was named the best hostel in the country.<\/p>\n valiente says the company is focused on more than just hospitality. bodhi\u2019s non-profit mission, burwigan, educates guna children \u2014 a generation of potential climate refugees \u2014 about climate change. valiente accomplishes this through art projects, demonstrating the precarious fate of their islands through watercolor paintings of sea creatures.<\/p>\n \u201ci realize that if we don\u2019t make a change soon, it\u2019s going to be too late for us,\u201d valiente says. \u201cbut i would say the more access to information you have, the better. that\u2019s what i\u2019m trying to do with my project.\u201d<\/p>\n the second bodhi hostel opened this march at kalu yala, a sustainable \u201ctown\u201d tucked in the tres brazos valley. eco-inclined tourists, or perhaps those looking for a party in the middle of the panamanian jungle, can lodge in a hostel run completely on solar panels. if you\u2019re looking for an idyllic beach vacation, you can opt for the guna\u2019s san blas islands.<\/p>\n just as these islands begin to submerge, an indigenous tourism industry run by guna families thrives.<\/p>\n \u201cmore and more (guna) people are having businesses in tourism\u201d valiente says. \u201cpeople that used to dive for lobster or fish will not do that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n it\u2019s impossible to traverse panama without encountering embroidered patches of fabric with striking embroideries that seem to move on their own. mola art has become an quintessential souvenir, though they represent more than a mere decoration. the molas preserve traditional guna stories, which are rooted in a reverence for the earth as dictated by prophet ibeorgun. a hummingbird flits across the mola, delivering the message of the gods. vertical stripes of thread denote the sun shining<\/a> through the bamboo walls of the guna home.<\/p>\n molas are a symbol of resilience, valiente says, created after spanish missionaries demanded that gunas wear clothing. they display the same patterns historically employed in traditional body art, rooted in the mother earth and father sun binary that is present in each aspect of everyday life. this notion of living in balance with nature was present long before western notions of carbon emissions and battery-operated cars. yet, it\u2019s all at risk. as flooding threatens the gunas, so does time itself.<\/p>\n‘symbols of resilience’<\/h2>\n