Today we visited two very interesting places near San Jose.  This morning we visited the world's first and only certified carbon-neutral airline.  Nature Air flies throughout Costa Rica and has many innovative techniques for reducing their carbon footprint on the world.  They buy offsets of forest on the Oso Peninsula to absorb the amount of carbon that they are releasing into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.  In addition to this, they run all their vehicles on biodiesel and have started a huge recycling program in the airport which serves as their hub.  A company representative spoke to us for about an hour describing their business plan, why they've made these decisions to be carbon-neutral and how it all fits nicely into the context of present day Costa Rica.

This afternoon we traveled to the University of Peace in the hills surrounding the Central Valley and San Jose.  This university was started for the promotion of peaceful resolutions to various conflicts around the globe.  It seems a basic tenet of everything from the board games Risk and Settlers to the how international conflicts start in the real world that resources are often a the focal point of disagreements.  A professor spoke to us about how natural resources are often at the root of many global conflicts.  

All for now, feeling quite tired with all this travel.

A very neat palm frond looking straight up.

Not so sure what this colorful little plant is...stunning though.
This statue was is the Peace Memorial at the University of Peace.  
Nature Air is the world's first and only certified carbon-neutral airline.  They also make sure all their fleet vehicles run on biodiesel.  Quite the company vision and mission!

Javier from Nature Air showing us the used cooking oil that is converted into biodiesel.