Day 10 – Global Business / Loma Miranda

Throughout the trip, we have learned about various companies that make money off of the resources of the Dominican Republic. Today we learned more about the Canadian mining company Falcondo, who has been doing their business within the DR for a while. They have extracted minerals from the mountains through various destructive ways, and in doing so have polluted many of the main water sources of the populace to the point where the locals cannot drink it. So far, the company has excavated and destroyed two of DR’s mountains and now they plan on excavating another, Loma Miranda. Due to this, the locals have decided to take a stand and try to prevent Falcondo from destroying their beautiful home. They are currently petitioning for Loma Miranda to be declared as  national park to prevent any mining from being done in the area. As the day went on, we met with members of the protest group and witnessed the amount of dedication and hard work they are putting towards their cause. We also saw how much damage Falcondo’s mining does to the environment and learned about how it affects the country as a whole on top of the consequences it presents to the locals. What caught me off guard today was how little the government is doing to stop Falcondo, even though much data has been gathered in proving how horrible the company is affecting the country. Being around the locals and seeing how much they fought for what they believed in was very inspiring. They had minimal resources and mostly relied on donations and yet they are still able to come together and fight their battles. After a while, one of the members took us up Loma Miranda to show us the beauty they are trying to protect and how they all live off of the natural environment. As we went up the mountain, we saw how clean and clear the water was and it was explained to us how each part of the mountain was benefiting those that lived on it. We saw pools within the river that are used for recreational purposes and some pools where the locals collect their drinking water. This mountain truly provides for its inhabitants and it was just beautiful seeing how those people returned the favor by protecting the mountain.