Hello World! We’re Isabella Cardenas  and Nicholas Loeza and we were Líderes del Día for Global Business Day! For Global Business Day we first went to La Mina Cormidom, a mining company. There we listened to our guest speaker Jonathan Ruiz, an environmental scientist who is the superintendent of operations at the company. La Mina Cormidom was first discovered in 1950 but the first production didn’t start until 2008 due to the fact that the company was working around the environmental  regulations that the government just passed in 2000. They are the first mine to start production after environmental laws and the first to use the burning of sugar cane as renewable energy. In return, the town Maimon received money, jobs, and paved streets. Once the company closes a mine, the town receives property possibly for an environmental reserve or an entity such as a park or for tourism. After Jonathan gave us a tour of La Cormidom, we gave him a certificate from Global Glimpse in order to show our appreciation to him for sharing the mines with us and for doing his best to help the environment while they are mining. When we saw the mine, we noticed that there was dust from all of the mining. At the site, the scenery changes from green trees to a gray mining expedition. We were ready to hear from a different perspective.

We then took the bus to Loma Miranda. We ate lunch while listening to Escalin, a woman so passionate about saving Loma Miranda from Falconbridge who plan on mining the mountain that’s a major water source for the Dominican Republic. In her speech to prepare us for our climb, she asked us to see not just with our eyes but with our hearts. LOMA MIRANDA PARQUE NACIONALIDAD! We and the community activist members chanted this phrase which showed how passionate they are of protecting the river, families, and the youth of the future. We were able to climb up Loma Miranda with the help of some of the youth activists in the community. Throughout our hike, we saw how beautiful the mountain was and were able to get in one of the rivers. We were left in awe as we were able to see how the river came out of the rocks in its purest form. While splashing around in the river we started to understand why the community was protecting Loma Miranda. If Falconbridge or any other mining company were to exploit Loma Miranda for its resources, the Dominican Republic would lose a very big water source that could lead to more water scarcity.

Listening to Escalin

Lastly, we took the bus back to the accommodations where we then discussed our plans about our Community Action Project (CAP). Our project is to build a concession stand for the community of Bejuco Aplastado. During this seminar, we tried to break down the structure such as identifying specific materials for certain ideas. To test if these materials for the concession would lead to sustainability we followed a best test method which consisted of feasibility, need, personal passion, and community engagement.  If we could find an idea that fits all those categories we’d have a sustainable project.

At the mine

Overall, it was quite stressful being Líder del Día because of the fact that we had to make sure we had everything for our trip to the mines and Loma Miranda. Overall, we had a fun day and learned a lot.