The need has been voiced by residents, agencies and government workers alike. Many citizens do not seem to comprehend how their individual behaviors are connected to the larger springshed. A video that integrates the science of hydrology, innovative graphics, photographs and video of springs throughout the last century, mapping technology, interviews, and testimonials will help educate, inspire and unite Floridian residents (native and transplants).

Conceptualizing development should be understood in terms of imagination and conservation should be understood in terms of creative solutions (informed respectively by Arjun Appadurai and Vandana Shiva). Thus, Cuban Voices and Visions for a Cuban Future is a documentary I am formulating based on footage I took while doing my doctoral research in Cuba. The title is derived from an interview in which a collaborator when explaining what was important about development for Cubans is that it be created and implemented by Cubans—and by that she meant Cubans who live in Cuba. Thus, this documentary will illustrate how Cubans who live on the island view and envision their future. Throughout this film, threads of vital issues like Cubanness, race, gender, religion, social movements and ecological movements are interwoven.

Kichwa cosmovision, alternative livelihoods and fair trade connect the Andes, the Amazon and other nations in a unique and laudable way. This research is based on work that I initiated in 2003 (though the initial interest and preliminary fieldwork began in 1996). In 2005, I founded an organization called aMandala: local to local to offer a small outlet following guiding principles of fair trade and cultural exchange to several indigenous families in Peguche who have crafted textiles for generations. I am now in the process of expanding the awareness-raising and cultural exchange aspect of the work.  To accomplish this, I am creating a storyboard for a documentary on these families that live and practice ritual at the foot of a sacred waterfall where their ancestors not only connected with the spirits but also raised sheep for the wool to weave the typical ponchos that they wear and now sell. As Elsa, a young Kichwa indigenous woman and friend explains, “we are a town of artisans since the time of our grandparents, who taught us how to work with this craft from generation to generation… we like the foreigners to understand this about us. They can get to know our culture through our artesanía, our textiles. For example, in each textile’s design, we express our identity and nature. Each one of the colors has a meaning. Like the indigenous flag pacha kata: yellow stands for gold, richness and wealth; blue stands for the sea, the clouds and the sky; red symbolizes the blood of the people; and green represents nature and agriculture.” An improved understanding of Andean and Amazonian spiritual ecology is significant to not only the current academic debate on the politics of conceptualizing and conserving nature, but also to global collaborative, community-based conservation and development endeavors. Additionally, in these times of precarious neoliberal markets, there is a lot to learn from fair trade principles.